>Sell locally. Herbs should only go a few feet from the garden to the
>kitchen.
>Teach people in the cities to grow herbs. If you had to pay all the real
>costs
>of making and disposing of the styrofoam, as well as of the roads, fuel,
>trucks,
>etc. you would not be able to make any money selling herbs...
>
>Grow something that your neighbors will buy and eat, instead.
I have to respectfully disagree, Bill.
Diversity is the spice of life and human cultures were exchanging foodstuffs
long before there was styrofoam or roads or combustion engines. Are you
seriously suggesting that Marco Polo should have stayed home and cultivated
basil?
Growing for a local market is great when it's available, but to make a decent
living every such farmer must live within 25 miles of a major metro center.
That excludes an awful lot of folks from full-time farming and condemns many
others to poverty. Some folks don't have many neighbors, or the ones they do
have don't have much money.
Realistically, at least 95 out of 100 city dwellers aren't going to grow
their own herbs. They're going to jump in 95 cars and drive to the most
convenient retail outlet. Wouldn't it be better if we convinced them to buy
farm-direct from growers, whether they live next door or halfway around the
world? One truck delivering parcels of mail-ordered herbs to 95 shoppers uses
up much less of our resources than 95 shoppers driving 95 cars to the market.
Michael Hofferber
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FARMER'S MARKET ONLINE
Box 277
Shoshone, ID 83352-0277
fax (208) 886-7602
e-mail marketfarm@aol.com
http://members.aol.com/marketfarm/farmers-market/
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