this post was submitted on 01 Nov 2023
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[–] rbesfe@lemmy.ca 91 points 10 months ago (2 children)

"No, stop farming, infant mortality rates are supposed to be over 50%!"

[–] kandoh@reddthat.com 22 points 10 months ago

They're going to be 100% every few years due to flooding destroying the crops!

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[–] ComradePorkRoll@lemmy.ml 55 points 10 months ago (1 children)

The farming is okay. Just make sure to discourage anyone from feeling they have some sort of divine ownership over the land. Examples:

Little Johnny says "This is my land!" Knock that little bugger over and say "it's mine now."

If John says "God has given me this land to carry out his will!" turn that fucker into fertilizer so that he may be of use to society.

[–] FastAndBulbous@lemmy.world 7 points 10 months ago (1 children)

So if you spend months preparing a harvest, you'd be cool with someone turning up in the night and taking the crops after you've done all the hard work? After all the land wouldn't being to you.

[–] ricecake@sh.itjust.works 10 points 10 months ago (42 children)

They took more than was fair, so it wouldn't be fair.

Group ownership of a resource isn't in conflict with controlling the resource, or having laws and practices to determine how it's used.

Kinda like how we all own Yellowstone park, but no one is free to bottle and carry off all the water from old faithful.

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[–] toaster@slrpnk.net 40 points 10 months ago (16 children)

Small-scale, local farming is where it's at. Growing a bucket of potatoes on a balcony or helping out at a community garden are small but achievable steps to bring the food closer to us. In addition to sustainability, it promotes knowledge of how to produce our own food and reduces dependence on large-scale monoculture farming.

It's nice to walk a few paces and pick up an ingredient for dinner with the satisfaction that you nurtured it. But mainly, I just don't feel like going to the grocery store as much lol.

Check out !BalconyGardening@slrpnk.net :)

[–] camelbeard@lemmy.world 9 points 10 months ago (1 children)

I think most of the things you say are true, but small local farming isn't going to solve world hunger. The bigger a farm gets the more efficient it can operate. The progress we made as a species boils down to how much more efficient we can do stuff.

[–] toaster@slrpnk.net 4 points 10 months ago (1 children)

For sure! Industrial-scale farming has been integral to the population growth of our modern society. It doesn't hurt to alleviate a small amount of pressure from those systems at a local scale in a sustainable way. I mainly just find it fun to grow a few veggies here and there and thought others may be interested. :)

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[–] Moghul@lemmy.world 8 points 10 months ago (1 children)

I do sure wish I had a balcony. I grew peppers and cherry tomatoes on my windowsill a few years in a row but the effort isn't worth it for an apartment...

[–] toaster@slrpnk.net 6 points 10 months ago (1 children)

I feel ya! We work with what we can and if the space you have isn't feasible, then that's okay if it simply doesn't work out.

That being said, here's a few options to consider but do what you want. :)

One option is to grow some herbs since those tend to get pricey and they therefore offer the best bang for your buck. Plus they take up little space. Starting from seeds is the most cost effective (only a couple dollars for 1000s of seeds). Sow them in an empty plastic egg carton, nursery pots, or other upcycled plastic container. Then, you can germinate and grow under grow lights. Don't bother with "grow light" marketed ones. Just the brightest, whitest generic LED bulb will do. If you run it all day, it'll only cost a couple cents per month. Then, you can harvest fresh herbs year-round! Lamps can be found for cheap and sometimes free on Facebook marketplace.

Another option is finding a community garden in your area.

[–] Moghul@lemmy.world 3 points 10 months ago (1 children)

I do already keep herbs going as much as possible! (though I don't do it from seed, lazy bum)

The community garden idea is great, but the ones in the city center here are... expensive and quite "hipsterish".

[–] toaster@slrpnk.net 6 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) (1 children)

It really is so much more convenient getting seedlings!

Also that's bizarre that your community garden is expensive - kinda defeats the purpose of it.

Anyways, enjoy the rest of your day Moghul!

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[–] vsis@feddit.cl 4 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) (1 children)

I grow tomatoes in my balcony. Constructive and fulfilling activity, love it.

But I can't imagine eating like 15 tomatoes per year lol

[–] toaster@slrpnk.net 4 points 10 months ago

And that's ok! Nobody expects to live off of a small garden, nor is it feasible for everybody to grow everything they eat.

It provides many benefits already, such as being a fulfilling activity as you said. It also cuts down on food waste since you can harvest when you eat it and leave it on the plant for a bit longer otherwise. It also reduces trips to the grocery store and reduces emissions of importing food over long distances. Finally, it's much cheaper if you grow from seed and upcycle plastic containers for planting. Especially if you grow expensive crops like fresh herbs.

Thank you for referring this community. Its the first time I see it and it was very inspirational. Cheers

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[–] Fleur__@lemmy.world 22 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Could've been hunting mega fauna with my homies but here I am with depression and anxiety

[–] Wogi@lemmy.world 15 points 10 months ago (2 children)

One theory is that hunting and gathering stopped because the human population exceeded what could be supported by mega fauna, and early peoples had no choice but to settle down and defend what resources they could gather.

It likely started with semi permanent settlements, simple fortifications that could be returned to year over year, and when it became too difficult to leave again, or when they found themselves unable to return to a location they were expecting to, they settled down permanently.

But you really can't go out and hunt when you can't leave. So they started to depend on agriculture, and what livestock they'd been able to keep with them.

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[–] Flughoernchen@feddit.de 19 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Farming basically invented work and employment. They should have realized something was not right about that back then.

[–] DragonTypeWyvern 81 points 10 months ago (5 children)

It invented having a relatively reliable food surplus.

I wish I could make all these neoprimitives actually live the life for a week so they shut up forever about it.

[–] Coasting0942@reddthat.com 33 points 10 months ago (2 children)

Practically every single tribe on the planet decided that the odds for farming was better than rolling the dice every year.

[–] Krackalot@discuss.tchncs.de 22 points 10 months ago (13 children)

I think it's more likely that it was better odds, and those that continued nomadic life died off at a much higher rate.

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[–] dangblingus@lemmy.dbzer0.com 19 points 10 months ago (48 children)

Just don't assign corporate ownership of the fields and it's all good baby.

[–] fosforus@sopuli.xyz 4 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago)
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[–] bouh@lemmy.world 16 points 10 months ago (1 children)

I find it so funny that these plastic and credit score are a problem since like 50 years but somehow farming and civilization would be responsible for it. Like capitalism is the only outcome for civilization. It's scary how people are conditioned with this.

[–] Daft_ish@lemmy.world 4 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago)

Some people believe technological advancement only has one single path. Innovation can only occur as a fixed formula where defined conditions must be met. For example, industrialization can only occur if coal and oil exists.

It's a very arrogant stance which assumes we know everything about the nature of the universe and what is, is all there could ever be.

[–] fosforus@sopuli.xyz 7 points 10 months ago (1 children)

They knew. Agriculture is what created the whole concept of "work".

[–] TheSanSabaSongbird@lemdro.id 5 points 10 months ago

I would argue the opposite; that semi-agricultural societies --pre-columbian California is a good example-- had no way of knowing where an increasing reliance on predictable harvests would eventually take them.

[–] cro_magnon_gilf@sopuli.xyz 7 points 10 months ago (2 children)

No! You're looking at this the wrong way. Bisophenol A is the most affordable gender affirmation therapy in existance.

[–] tryptaminev@feddit.de 9 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Only works in one direction though.

[–] SpaceNoodle@lemmy.world 11 points 10 months ago

You'd think it would work on other boy bands as well

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[–] Zehzin@lemmy.world 6 points 10 months ago (2 children)

bro credit scores aren't even real

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[–] match@pawb.social 5 points 10 months ago

that's stilt houses and rice terracing. those people are gonna invent rectangular sails and fire pistons

[–] etuomaala@sopuli.xyz 5 points 10 months ago

Do you think it is possible for our current level of scientific knowledge to exist in a hunter gather society?

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