First Offering of 2010

Welly, welly, well, my little droogies. Here we are 14 days into a "new" year and barely a peep from your friendly neighborhood SoapBoxTech. I hope I will be forgiven for the stolen lines but part of the reason things have been so quiet here is a bit of a lack of inspiration to write. I do feel a bit of "groove" returning however, so we'll see how things go.

I recently finished reading a book that I received for Christmas from my excellent-gifting little sister, which presented some reality which can be a tad discouraging to some of us who are trying to return to an agrarian kind of life. "The War in the Country", by Canadian author and journalism professor Thomas Pawlick (writer of "The End of Food" as well) lays out some compelling evidence of government support for large-scale industrial agriculture operations, as opposed to smaller local operations, in Ontario and by extension, the world in general. I am not interested in trying to review this book, but I do suggest that people try to give it a read and pass it along to their perhaps less aware friends.

From my perspective, I think the situation might even be worse here in Alberta. With a significantly lower population there is less opportunity for local producers to build alternative local markets, and it seems to me that agricultural evolution here has led to the development of some massive and influential industrial grain and livestock operations here yet which remain family run and "local". This means that the strong rural vote here in Alberta still tends to side with what more and more people seem to finally be recognizing as very harmful practices; morally, ecologically, and nutritionally. In these cases, the "we're just trying to feed our family" defense is repeated ad nauseam. But as long as urban consumption and political power support this situation, intentionally or otherwise, it will remain the case.

On the upside, my mother's egg business is introducing us to more and more local people who are concerned about this stuff, and who are trying to make their own change. But then you meet the sort of fellow who suggested we get into the sheep business as he felt confidant that he could offer a market of 300 or 400 lambs per year...for sacrificial purposes. I try not to judge but I'm not even fond of eating such young flesh, never mind sacrificing it. It's hard to imagine a God demanding such waste in times like this, but what do I know.

Anyway, that's all for now I guess. Ciao for now, bellas.

PS: I meant to share this on New Years Day....well, Night I guess: