Corby Kummer has a fascinating piece in the print Atlantic about the Nuestras Raices Farm in Holyoke, Massachusetts, a non-profit group that's helping to stabilize the economically depressed and crime-ridden town of Holyoke, Massachusetts by teaching people to farm.
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Green Acres
24 Mar 2008 02:13 pm
Comments (11)
It's a little odd to call Holyoke and its population of 40,000 "urban", unless that's a euphemism for "brownish in complexion on average". It's got a mayor, so it's officially a city, but it's not like trying to plunk down farms in New Haven or even Springfield. Close proximity to other farming communities also helps.
Good news, though. Holyoke can use all the help it can get.
Amen, amen. I believe very strongly that the solution to many of our society's problems could be solved by a return to a more agrarian society. This is particularly the case for so many of our immigrant population- Mexicans, Puerto Ricans, Hmong, Dominicans- who come from farming backgrounds and would no doubt love to be farmers again and return to their roots if only our society would give them support in doing so.
The return to the land will make us a healthier, happier, more equal, less greedy, and less individualistic society, and would eliminate the problems of the inner cities by converting destitute inner city residents into prosperous and self reliant members of peasant cooperatives.
Venezuela is at the current moment trying something very similar, an effort to depopulate the shantytowns and get people back to the land, and to their roots.
Is the Atlantic just feeding material to StuffWhitePeopleLike.com now?
The return to the land will make us a healthier, happier, more equal, less greedy, and less individualistic society, and would eliminate the problems of the inner cities by converting destitute inner city residents into prosperous and self reliant members of peasant cooperatives.
You used prosperous and peasant in the same sentence. Only way that's going to happen is if they grow weed.
I like to think of The Atlantic as something white people like.
Matt's got a point. The Atlantic isn't exactly Vibe. Although maybe it could aspire to the somewhat more ethnically diverse readership of, say, Foreign Affairs.
Subsistence farming is what made this country great.
It's got a mayor, so it's officially a city, but it's not like trying to plunk down farms in New Haven
Erm, well, there is a bit of small-scale urban agriculture in New Haven, and room for more. New Haven proper also has a population of 124000, which isn't all that different in degree. Unless you mean "Greater New Haven," which then includes even more arable land, stables, etc.
This is a great idea! Eventually these poor people will be able to move off welfare and qualify for Federal agricultural subsidies!
"It's a little odd to call Holyoke and its population of 40,000 'urban'" I grew up in Holyoke and still have much family there. It is urban no matter it's size. But this is something good from a city that has minimal good. Family members are police officers in the city. It is as tough as many multiple times its size.
Comments closed April 07, 2008.
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Heads in the Sand
Sharecropping?
Posted by Fred | March 24, 2008 2:30 PM