Tuesday, May 10, 2011
Black Market Produce
... An Anarchists' Answer to Capitalized Food.
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Over the years I have struggled to understand why we need more and more government when it comes to the things we eat. Over the last year I have been building a small urban farm that is growing hard to find foods. I grow Gia Lan and other oriental vegetables that are far to costly or impossible to find here in Indiana. And now it seems that government and the people who run it are making it impossible to sell those products.
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That is why I'm starting a "Black Market" for my produce. I'm simply just skipping the miles of red tape and the socialist style leadership of the local Farmers' Markets. In simple terms I'm just going to sell the produce to the consumer without government permission.
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You don't pay taxes when you buy your produce at the local supermarkets here. You don't need to ask the local Marsh if they have a permit to sell edible goods. You aren't required to see the local Meijer's insurance information to purchase your cabbage.
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That is why I'm inviting those here, north of Indianapolis, to inquire about the produce I grow. Without the need to pay local governments' insurance I can lower my prices. Without the need to pay nearly five times the worth of my crop out in fines and fees I can lower my prices. Simply put, cutting out the government and their minions, I have lower prices.
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Note, the cartoon above is not mine nor did I purchase it from its original owner... just to add to the seemingly illegal activities of the day.
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On a different note I should explain what an Urban Farm is. Its based on making a simple garden into a much more productive and much more expansive practice. In doing this I grow more than any family could consume in a given season (instead of four or five tomato plants I use sixty). This produce is then harvested not simply as needed but in much the same manner as a small farm, on set days that are put in place for days of sale.
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Every inch of unused space is used for growing edible plants (herbs, vegetables, and fruit). Every plant I raise comes from seed or root starts. And most importantly, I do not use chemicals in any way. No herbicides, pesticides, or artificial fertilizer.
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Plant foods used are all based upon decomposed plant matter or worm castings. This decreases the plants need for more and more artificial food sources which compose the mass produced chemical fertilizers. It also grows stronger and better plants while keeping the soil clean and healthy.
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I collect rain water and thus do not need to water my plants from city water sources. This practice is complemented by the practice of irrigation that mimics or reproduces the methods that have been used for centuries. Trenching and mounding is complemented even more by using old coke bottles buried in the soil where rain water goes directly to the plants' roots.
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Other methods of "organic" style farming are implemented to break up the pest insects' life spans. This keeps me from needed to use chemicals to kill the pest. I then build ecosystems that foster the growth of beneficial insects and animals. This adds to the inhospitable environment for the destructive insect populations.
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Sound like a practice you can support? Don't worry, it isn't totally illegal. It is just not the method of selling produce that the government has manufactured around here. And the produce I am growing is much healthier than anything you will find in the supermarkets.
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