Eat Chit & Die Spammer

It's not so much the population gain making intensive farming necessary.......or at least wasn't when the practise started, it was economics, and being taught in agricultural universities like religion. The concept of an acre's production or even a tree's potential production seems like such a simple concept, but it isn't. It should seem to be a no-brainer that a hundred bushels off a plot, verses ten, should be a good thing.....right? Well, it depends on what and how you do it and concerns an issue of burning bridges behind you. Agriculture is big business. Big, big multi-national business and it overlaps other industries in conglomerates and it funds all sorts of grants and grows all sorts of research and essentially has directed what has become of our farming sector. I was studying agriculture when the tide was turning in that direction and was being embraced at university level without question towards intensive farming. Not because it was necessary in our country, but because it was profitable (more so to the supply, seed and chemical business, than the farmer, btw) I think of Orwell's "Animal Farm" and I think of the horse. That is what we are doing to our (family farmers) and farmland. It was not done out of necessity to feed the starving multitude like seems to be the general concensus here, but choice and is profit driven. You all have heard of farms being paid not to produce to their potential? It wouldn't exist if we had to use intensive production to feed our people. What has happened to farming is exactly parallel to what has happened to every other business in this country, and that is the failure of myriads of smaller independent producers who simply could not compete with the capital and backing of corporations. In this case the factory farms. If you look to other countries in Europe, you will find they have finally awakened to farmland protection and trusts to keep arable land in banks for future needs. It's not so popular here. When a small farm starts struggling and throws in the towel, they don't have any incentive to put it in a trust to keep the land value cheap enough so another farmer can buy it. It's sold to a developer and fertile farmland ends up under macadam or McMansions. It's a very short-term and nearsighted choice. Think monocultures and think the lack of genetic diversity. Think the Irish potato famine. Then think of what will become of our food suppliers who are obliged to plant the latest seed provided by one or two companies who produce it for half the world, who have it under patent, and who comes up with things like terminator genes to protect their profit. We need to be independent with our food supply. We will lose that capability one day, just like we lost the ability to be independent with our energy supplies. When we do that, we depend on "developing" countries to supply us and then whine when they cut down rain forests to do it. What's going to happen when there are no more countries to develop?

wimom, I think you are a very caring person toward your stepkid, and I think you only want the best for her. BUt try to think about how I , and probably other people read your story. Your daughter is thirteen. She is at the age where she is faced with pressure every day, from all kinds of sources. Her mom has , in your words, been pressuring her . Her mom has two phone calls a week, and I think it is probably a testimony to how difficult things must be between the two households, that the calls are court ordered. In most houses , kids of divorce at 13 can freely talk to either parent, as long as they want, as often as they want. Now, the situation. You were out. Daughter was on phone with her mother, for twice the usual time. When you came home, your other children ratted her out and told you. She didnt. That says to me she wasnt particulary bothered about it at the time. The first thing your husband did was fly to the computer and complain to the ex. NOw, what I read from this is ( please dont be offended) a) your husband, and maybe you, are as easy to annoy as th emom is b) your daughter feels caught in the middle because she either is too weak to set any boundaries ( which is dangerous as a teenager), OR , she feels very strongly that you disapprove of her talking to her mother, and she feels compelled to either hide it from you, or act indifferent in front of you because she senses your disapproval. In my opinion, she really does feel caught between a rock and a hard place. You arent doing yoru stepdaughter any favours to be flying to her supposed defence at her age. You are perpetuating the problem with mom, and not allowing your stepchild to grow by letting her handle it herself. She will never learn to have the self confidence to handle a tough situation if you dont let her. I really think its time for you and your husband to stop the war...there will be no fight if one side just doesnt play. Let the mom be an idiot if she wants to , but you and your husband dont have to fall into it as well. Your daughter is the one who is suffering here, because she loves BOTH her parents, and she doesnt want to displease either of them. You will probably find that your stepdaughter will , after floundering a bit, learn to handle this all on her own. Let her grow, and do the thing that is appropriate for her age. She isnt a baby. Trust her enough to let her figure it out on her own. Hands off the phone communication, thats between your daughter and her mother. BUt make sure you dont show your disapproval in an attempt to influence the stepkid. THats just as bad as what her mom does by pressuring her...its still pressure, albeit a different kind. Good luck

I still do phone calls occasionally with my siblings (I used to talk about nothing for HOURS on the phone with my now deceased Mom.) But with the grandkids & adult kids, no one wants the hassle of writing or checking e-mail, so we text. A LOT. And I get kept in the loop with them all via tiny snippets of their lives. Like my DD texting me that they were at a carnival & DSIL won a giant stuffed animal they were going to give to one of the dogs to "play" with (he destroys EVERYTHING.) She woudln't have called to tell me that. Or composed an e-mail. Or when DDIL texted me when I was in the mall about the flight schedule they could book & would that be ok for me to come stay with the grandkids. Texting is so much more right now (for those of us without I-phones) than e-mail. And the BONUS (over phone calls) is that you get a permanent record (like the flight days, times) which sometimes the phone call memory doesn't come through with.