WEBVTT - Earthbound Almanac 0:00:03.360 --> 0:00:06.400 All right, welcome to it could happen here a podcast 0:00:06.440 --> 0:00:08.719 that is about fifty of the time introduced well and 0:00:08.720 --> 0:00:10.719 about fifty percent of the time us talking about how 0:00:10.720 --> 0:00:14.760 we're bad at introductions, and today it is it is 0:00:14.800 --> 0:00:20.119 just be Christopher, but with me is Hadley and Mike 0:00:20.360 --> 0:00:24.480 from Labilia Commons, who are here to talk about many things, 0:00:24.600 --> 0:00:27.639 one of which is there is the first edition of 0:00:27.640 --> 0:00:31.319 the Earthbound Farmers Almanac. Hey, Hey, how a how are 0:00:31.360 --> 0:00:33.440 you two doing today? I heard I heard there's maybe 0:00:33.440 --> 0:00:37.400 a thunderstorm rolling in. Yeah, we're doing pretty good. UM's 0:00:37.440 --> 0:00:41.240 gonna be glad for the rain, I guess, yeah, yeah, 0:00:41.280 --> 0:00:45.200 it'll be good. We're gonna talk a little bit first 0:00:45.240 --> 0:00:48.120 about Labilia Commons. So how did that project start? I know, 0:00:48.200 --> 0:00:50.279 I know something from the beginning of the pandemic, But 0:00:50.600 --> 0:00:52.840 had you all been working on this kind of stuff before? 0:00:53.200 --> 0:00:57.280 And yeah, I just wanted roasty a little bit of that. Yeah, 0:00:57.320 --> 0:01:03.279 So it kind of started um last year during the pandemic. Basically, UM, 0:01:03.360 --> 0:01:06.080 basically at the beginning of the pandemic, we had UM 0:01:06.480 --> 0:01:09.039 just like a surge of interest in these like kind 0:01:09.040 --> 0:01:13.319 of mutual a groups UM and the largest of which 0:01:13.360 --> 0:01:16.400 that formed in New Orleans specifically, which some of us 0:01:16.400 --> 0:01:19.000 helped form, was called New Orleans Mutual Aid Group, which 0:01:19.120 --> 0:01:23.200 was doing like food distribution. It kind of stemmed out 0:01:23.200 --> 0:01:26.000 of a project that was already um running like a 0:01:26.000 --> 0:01:30.000 food share, basically getting excess produce that was coming into 0:01:30.040 --> 0:01:33.240 the port and distributing it for free in front of 0:01:33.280 --> 0:01:36.880 like one of the gentrifying grocery stores. Um. But within 0:01:37.000 --> 0:01:41.039 like I want to say, like a couple of weeks UM, 0:01:41.080 --> 0:01:45.080 there was such a surge of interest in doing that 0:01:45.120 --> 0:01:48.120 type of like volunteer or whatever where that there was 0:01:48.160 --> 0:01:51.160 like a ton of labor to make it happen, and 0:01:52.320 --> 0:01:55.280 that basically meant buying tons of produce eventually because the 0:01:55.360 --> 0:01:58.360 ports eventually shut down and there wasn't any produce coming 0:01:58.360 --> 0:02:02.920 from anywhere at the beginning of mimic and basically buying 0:02:03.000 --> 0:02:06.120 tons of produce from like Costco, and that labor meant 0:02:06.160 --> 0:02:09.800 like waiting in lines for you know, wrapping around entire 0:02:09.880 --> 0:02:15.400 like massive like multi city block warehouse stores, um. And 0:02:16.360 --> 0:02:20.440 so that was basically doing like food distribution. So we 0:02:20.480 --> 0:02:23.880 took the opportunity to since there was so much labor happening, 0:02:23.880 --> 0:02:27.480 that we could go and start to adjust the question 0:02:27.480 --> 0:02:30.760 of like food production specifically and and try and do 0:02:30.840 --> 0:02:34.560 that in interesting ways. UM. So, we felt like it 0:02:34.600 --> 0:02:38.720 was pretty important to start like experimenting and different forms 0:02:38.760 --> 0:02:41.640 of food production and like like ways of relating to 0:02:41.720 --> 0:02:46.360 food production. UM So, I mean this this first started 0:02:46.400 --> 0:02:50.200 with like a, um, we're basically just starting tons of 0:02:50.240 --> 0:02:54.440 seeds and delivering them all over the city, um, just 0:02:54.560 --> 0:02:58.000 driving around from We had like one centralized nursery that 0:02:58.040 --> 0:03:02.520 was run out of the warehouse, and that was a 0:03:02.520 --> 0:03:05.000 ton of labor as a really time consuming. It was 0:03:05.000 --> 0:03:10.160 super centralized, and so we moved from that into a 0:03:10.280 --> 0:03:15.919 number of other projects. Um. Short shortly thereafter, we put 0:03:15.960 --> 0:03:19.640 together like a like a collaborative mushroom production group where 0:03:19.680 --> 0:03:23.680 we were um getting people who had been growing mushrooms 0:03:24.000 --> 0:03:29.280 and teaching folks and like doing skill shares to produce 0:03:29.400 --> 0:03:33.680 oyster mushrooms out of buckets. We started doing some like 0:03:33.919 --> 0:03:39.080 woodlock production of Chautaukis, which has like since expanded pretty dramatically. 0:03:39.560 --> 0:03:43.840 Um And yeah, just like kind of like things that 0:03:43.840 --> 0:03:46.880 that draw people's interests like that, and and and think 0:03:46.920 --> 0:03:50.200 about like how you can grow food in an urban 0:03:50.480 --> 0:03:59.200 or peri urban scenario fairly interestingly and like with joy um. Also, um. 0:03:59.240 --> 0:04:02.680 You know after this, we we were reached out to 0:04:02.800 --> 0:04:05.280 by folks that were like, well, I want to grow herbs, 0:04:05.560 --> 0:04:11.400 and rather than specifically getting like a lot and covering 0:04:11.440 --> 0:04:18.400 it in different herbal medicines, we reached out had already 0:04:18.400 --> 0:04:21.680 had folks reaching out to us. UM. So if someone 0:04:21.720 --> 0:04:23.760 came up with the idea of well, let's just all 0:04:23.960 --> 0:04:26.280 grow in like our backyard suns of herbs and let's 0:04:26.279 --> 0:04:31.280 find herbs that already grow abundantly around us to kind 0:04:31.279 --> 0:04:35.960 of collectively share the experience of harvesting and um and 0:04:36.080 --> 0:04:40.440 turning those into medicines. Um. And so now there's like 0:04:40.480 --> 0:04:44.280 this Herb Commons group that the labor is distributed. It's 0:04:44.279 --> 0:04:48.360 distributed geographically, um, but there's these like meet ups where 0:04:48.400 --> 0:04:52.800 they're bulk herbs are given up, Yeah, given out just 0:04:52.839 --> 0:04:58.039 like in a canal space and um. Yeah, like there's 0:04:58.320 --> 0:05:00.599 skill shares happening there in and there's kind of some 0:05:00.680 --> 0:05:05.039 community being built around that. Um that that happens in 0:05:05.080 --> 0:05:09.160 a very decentralized manner. Yeah, it's definitely very decentralized. There 0:05:09.160 --> 0:05:12.480 are working groups that are part of Lobelia Commons that 0:05:13.160 --> 0:05:15.960 I'm like not entirely sure what they're doing any given 0:05:16.080 --> 0:05:18.440 day or you know, what's going on. I'm involved in 0:05:18.480 --> 0:05:21.640 like a couple particular projects within it UM, and I 0:05:21.680 --> 0:05:24.360 think that it's really flexible for folks who are trying 0:05:24.400 --> 0:05:26.400 to get involved. They can kind of be involved at 0:05:26.440 --> 0:05:30.599 whatever level they want. Like, um, if somebody doesn't want 0:05:30.640 --> 0:05:32.560 to go to a bunch of garden work days or 0:05:32.600 --> 0:05:34.800 a bunch of meetings or something, which you know have 0:05:34.880 --> 0:05:37.000 been a great way for us to like see each 0:05:37.000 --> 0:05:39.599 other and see our friends during the pandemic and stuff, 0:05:39.640 --> 0:05:42.120 is to get together for these work days outdoors or whatnot. 0:05:42.160 --> 0:05:44.919 But if somebody wants to just like do nothing but 0:05:45.080 --> 0:05:48.680 sprout plants at their own house and then somebody will 0:05:48.720 --> 0:05:51.480 come pick up those seedlings and and you know bring 0:05:51.520 --> 0:05:55.960 them to one of our decentralized nursery spots, that's great. Um. 0:05:56.040 --> 0:05:58.080 That's one of the other kind of projects we have 0:05:58.160 --> 0:06:01.240 we call the decentralized nursery, And that's kind of like 0:06:01.360 --> 0:06:05.039 just something that people already do at a certain time 0:06:05.080 --> 0:06:08.320 of year. You know, gardeners will regularly start more plants 0:06:08.320 --> 0:06:10.200 than they need and then just kind of give them 0:06:10.200 --> 0:06:12.680 away to friends and neighbors and stuff. And we tried 0:06:12.720 --> 0:06:15.080 to just make it a little bit more of an 0:06:15.080 --> 0:06:18.039 intentional thing. Um. And this was also kind of growing 0:06:18.080 --> 0:06:20.560 out of like at the very beginning of the pandemic, 0:06:20.640 --> 0:06:24.360 and we were actually doing seedling deliveries to people, which 0:06:24.360 --> 0:06:26.080 made sense of that time, but it was like very 0:06:26.160 --> 0:06:29.200 labor intensive. Um. So we kind of moved to this 0:06:29.240 --> 0:06:33.080 model of having just like free stands in front of 0:06:33.120 --> 0:06:37.599 houses on street corners in different places. Um. You know, 0:06:37.600 --> 0:06:39.520 there's already like a bunch of free fridges around New 0:06:39.640 --> 0:06:41.640 Orleans and things like that, and so this is kind 0:06:41.640 --> 0:06:44.040 of like the free plant version of that, and it's 0:06:44.080 --> 0:06:47.760 really easy for somebody to just set one up. Um. 0:06:47.839 --> 0:06:51.159 And then that kind of also allows us to like 0:06:51.600 --> 0:06:55.080 work on this other aspect of of decentralizing food production, 0:06:55.120 --> 0:06:57.599 because like that's definitely one of our goals, right is 0:06:57.640 --> 0:07:00.760 to like not have a tiny percentage of population be 0:07:00.760 --> 0:07:02.520 the only ones who know how to grow food and 0:07:02.880 --> 0:07:06.360 doing it under the control of a tiny number of 0:07:06.400 --> 0:07:08.479 corporations that own all the land. And you know, obviously 0:07:08.480 --> 0:07:10.320 we're trying to get away from that food system, and 0:07:10.360 --> 0:07:12.440 so one of the ways we can think about doing 0:07:12.480 --> 0:07:16.800 that is finding ways to really decentralize some of the 0:07:16.840 --> 0:07:20.640 skills that are UM that are necessary. So for example, 0:07:20.680 --> 0:07:25.920 like if somebody's growing avocados for our nurseries, UM, the 0:07:25.920 --> 0:07:29.720 thing about growing an avocado from a pit actually is that, uh, 0:07:29.760 --> 0:07:34.840 that tree probably won't produce fruit. It actually needs to 0:07:34.840 --> 0:07:40.200 be grafted. UM. So we can have people starting pits, 0:07:40.280 --> 0:07:44.440 and then we're also you know, sharing the knowledge of 0:07:44.480 --> 0:07:48.680 how to graph these things, UM because we kind of 0:07:48.720 --> 0:07:51.960 like see a future in which a lot more people 0:07:52.720 --> 0:07:56.520 um will need to be involved in food production. But also, 0:07:57.320 --> 0:07:59.520 like Mike was saying, like, we want this to be 0:08:00.440 --> 0:08:02.680 not like a job that it feels like people have, 0:08:02.800 --> 0:08:05.400 but this joyous kind of thing that's just a part 0:08:05.480 --> 0:08:09.240 of everyday life. Yeah. One of the other things that 0:08:09.400 --> 0:08:12.640 I was I was interested in is you know, so 0:08:12.640 --> 0:08:16.960 so part of part of what I think the beginning 0:08:17.000 --> 0:08:19.640 of the Earth Performers Romanac is about is talking about 0:08:19.720 --> 0:08:23.920 how I guess people people have this tendency to sort 0:08:23.960 --> 0:08:26.720 of focus on climate change is just like the only 0:08:26.760 --> 0:08:30.320 sort of climate thing that's happening. And you know, I 0:08:30.320 --> 0:08:32.240 mean there's obviously the yeah, there's there's a bunch of 0:08:32.280 --> 0:08:35.200 sort of stuff that is climate change, but isn't the 0:08:35.240 --> 0:08:37.200 weather that are sort of you know, things like the 0:08:37.200 --> 0:08:39.840 phosphor cycle, things like the nitrogen cycle that are breaking. 0:08:40.559 --> 0:08:45.840 But simultaneously, I think it's it's also true that you 0:08:45.840 --> 0:08:48.520 know that that that kind of stuff, and this is 0:08:48.480 --> 0:08:50.760 also something that's that's talked about in there is is 0:08:50.800 --> 0:08:52.959 going to have a large impact both on sort of 0:08:53.720 --> 0:08:56.320 like even just what what kind of biomas exist in 0:08:56.360 --> 0:08:57.920 the in a very short term. And you know, another 0:08:57.960 --> 0:09:02.319 product of that is, you know, is that the sort 0:09:02.360 --> 0:09:04.360 of increasing grade of storms. And I was wondering if 0:09:04.360 --> 0:09:07.080 you all could talk a bit about what happened after 0:09:07.120 --> 0:09:11.040 Ida and how both just sort of in the short 0:09:11.120 --> 0:09:12.880 term in the long term, that the sort of the 0:09:12.920 --> 0:09:15.880 increase of just hurricanes. And I hesitate to call natural 0:09:15.920 --> 0:09:18.200 disasters because you know that there's there's a whole thing 0:09:18.280 --> 0:09:21.280 about how these disasters are sort of manufactured in a 0:09:21.280 --> 0:09:23.840 lot of ways, but how how that's been affecting how 0:09:23.960 --> 0:09:26.320 y'all think are sort of thinking about and working with 0:09:26.440 --> 0:09:31.079 these kind of mutual aid projects and food production. Yeah, 0:09:31.240 --> 0:09:36.360 so I think with IDA, it's kind of complicated because, um, 0:09:36.440 --> 0:09:38.240 you can almost look at it, look at it as 0:09:38.280 --> 0:09:42.319 like two different storms. Um, because what happened in New 0:09:42.400 --> 0:09:45.760 Orleans versus what happened and say like home or the 0:09:45.880 --> 0:09:50.920 river parishes. UM, these areas that are you know, generally 0:09:51.480 --> 0:09:56.200 south and west of New Orleans, UM are are are 0:09:56.280 --> 0:09:59.839 kind of like two different animals in some ways, Like well, 0:09:59.840 --> 0:10:03.160 how up in New Orleans specifically relates to infrastructure. So 0:10:03.200 --> 0:10:05.240 like what you're saying, like the kind of quote unquote 0:10:05.320 --> 0:10:10.480 natural disasters thing, that's UM, you know, that's a pretty 0:10:10.480 --> 0:10:13.000 commonplace way of looking. I mean it's not a very 0:10:13.120 --> 0:10:17.679 radical UM conception that like these aren't natural disasters wherever 0:10:17.679 --> 0:10:21.520 the disasters is created. As soon as UM there was 0:10:21.559 --> 0:10:25.000 the attempt to create a colonial New Orleans in the 0:10:25.000 --> 0:10:29.000 first place. UM. So this became honestly part of like 0:10:29.600 --> 0:10:32.640 national discourse as a result of Katrina and most famously 0:10:32.720 --> 0:10:36.320 because of the Army cord engineers failure UM teven five 0:10:36.400 --> 0:10:41.720 and UM. So what happened this year UM was with 0:10:41.720 --> 0:10:45.880 with Hurricane Ida was the one of the main transmission 0:10:45.920 --> 0:10:50.960 towers UM for the the energy Energy Corporation in New 0:10:51.000 --> 0:10:54.480 Worlds is called energy outside of the guilt South are 0:10:54.600 --> 0:10:57.880 familiar with. So the entergy tower fell into the Mississippi River. 0:10:58.400 --> 0:11:00.320 You had that happening at the same time times that 0:11:00.679 --> 0:11:03.520 thousands of power lines fell down. The power lines are 0:11:03.640 --> 0:11:07.880 are are on poles and very prone to getting knocked 0:11:07.920 --> 0:11:11.400 down even just during the during any day of the week, UM, 0:11:12.360 --> 0:11:15.600 And so there wasn't actually really much flooding UM that 0:11:15.679 --> 0:11:18.760 was happening. It was it was primarily wind damage, so 0:11:18.800 --> 0:11:22.280 that the tower falls into the river, power lines down. 0:11:22.440 --> 0:11:25.640 You had something like I believe fifty five barges in 0:11:25.679 --> 0:11:29.200 the Port of South Louisiana falling into their falling off 0:11:29.240 --> 0:11:32.440 their moorings and floating around just crashing into things, just crash, 0:11:32.800 --> 0:11:35.480 and like there's like several ferries that connect the east 0:11:35.559 --> 0:11:38.160 and west banks of the city. Um, those fell off 0:11:38.160 --> 0:11:41.480 their moorings. So so like the physical infrastructure of the 0:11:41.480 --> 0:11:45.040 place and and how that relates to beyond New Orleans 0:11:45.080 --> 0:11:48.880 is New Orleans is located at the very um southern 0:11:48.920 --> 0:11:52.760 reach of the Mississippi Rivers Port of South Southern Louisiana, 0:11:52.800 --> 0:11:55.360 which is like a fifty five mile port I believe 0:11:55.400 --> 0:12:00.440 a fifty two um that processes like sixty percent of 0:12:00.440 --> 0:12:02.360 all U S grain going to exports. So it's like 0:12:02.400 --> 0:12:09.160 a massive, really really important piece of American capitalist infrastructure. 0:12:09.559 --> 0:12:12.760 So that's when when those boats follow their mornings, it's 0:12:12.760 --> 0:12:17.280 not like oh this like whatever point like by you problem. 0:12:17.280 --> 0:12:23.560 It's a very serious imperial problem. UM. But so for 0:12:23.559 --> 0:12:26.560 for the average person living in New Orleans, UM, this 0:12:26.640 --> 0:12:29.160 looked like I think I think it ended up being 0:12:29.160 --> 0:12:32.360 for most people around a week and a half without power, 0:12:32.440 --> 0:12:35.760 which if anyone's lived even with air conditioning in New 0:12:35.880 --> 0:12:39.560 Orleans for a summer, um, it's it's extremely difficult to 0:12:39.559 --> 0:12:43.280 live uh here during the summer. UM. It's that it's 0:12:43.320 --> 0:12:46.880 obviously not impossible when we have modern amenities, but when 0:12:46.920 --> 0:12:49.160 you're when you're without those, when you without the refrigerator, 0:12:49.200 --> 0:12:53.640 when throughout without the freezer, air conditioning, it's it's really 0:12:53.679 --> 0:12:58.079 really really hot, um, you know. Uh. So that's what 0:12:58.160 --> 0:13:00.680 was happening in New Orleans. There was some some damage 0:13:00.720 --> 0:13:05.440 to people's roots, there was some you know, fairly fairly 0:13:05.440 --> 0:13:09.920 substantial damage to the structures. But what happened to the west, 0:13:10.120 --> 0:13:16.720 in cities like Laplace, UM, which is about thirty miles 0:13:16.760 --> 0:13:21.079 west of New Orleans, UM, that's where you started to 0:13:21.120 --> 0:13:26.640 see like very severe flooding, very severe um damage to structures, 0:13:27.080 --> 0:13:32.520 places like Homer Lafitte UM. Porchean, all these places that 0:13:32.520 --> 0:13:34.760 are closer to the coast, that's where you saw the 0:13:34.840 --> 0:13:37.520 real heavy destruction. So a lot of people have been 0:13:37.559 --> 0:13:41.000 framing what's happened down the Bayou and in the river 0:13:41.080 --> 0:13:45.040 parishes as we would say, um as like those places Katrina, 0:13:45.720 --> 0:13:50.760 because it's the destruction was was so total in that way. Um, 0:13:50.840 --> 0:13:54.600 so the way that you relate to um that type 0:13:54.600 --> 0:13:58.120 of again quote unquote disaster is much is much different, 0:13:58.120 --> 0:14:02.640 whereas what happened in war lens Um is more of 0:14:02.679 --> 0:14:06.400 a continuation of what could be called like a series 0:14:06.440 --> 0:14:21.640 of apocalypses that have been happening since colonization. I think 0:14:21.680 --> 0:14:24.720 that's a that's an interesting point also that that that 0:14:24.760 --> 0:14:27.960 I want to talk about a little bit about US 0:14:28.040 --> 0:14:30.800 grain exports because I think that that's another part of 0:14:31.720 --> 0:14:35.960 this whole food system question that is important on a 0:14:36.000 --> 0:14:38.680 scale that I don't think people understands, Like, you know, 0:14:38.840 --> 0:14:42.080 it's just for fodent background for listeners. So when when 0:14:42.120 --> 0:14:45.560 all of the sort of giant like free trade agreements 0:14:45.600 --> 0:14:48.400 went into effect, um, you know, so so the free 0:14:48.400 --> 0:14:50.200 tradermn are like okay, you're you're not supposed to be 0:14:50.240 --> 0:14:53.800 able to like have government subsidies of of agricultural products. 0:14:54.400 --> 0:14:56.560 And there's there's a couple of carve outs that were 0:14:56.800 --> 0:14:59.680 put into this now almost all of them. There are exceptions, 0:14:59.720 --> 0:15:02.200 for there's a couple of like weird manufacturing stuff in 0:15:02.280 --> 0:15:04.440 like Italy and Germany that have carve belts. And the 0:15:04.480 --> 0:15:08.360 other big one is that the US government is allowed 0:15:08.400 --> 0:15:11.200 to just do enormous levels of agricultural subsidies that no 0:15:11.240 --> 0:15:14.160 one else, like really in the world is allowed to 0:15:14.240 --> 0:15:17.600 like matched. I mean do like you know, you know 0:15:17.640 --> 0:15:19.600 if if if you try to have grand subsidies, right, 0:15:19.600 --> 0:15:21.280 it's like you know, the I M F will come 0:15:21.320 --> 0:15:23.200 after you, like you know, you're not allowed to do it. 0:15:23.240 --> 0:15:25.640 But then you know something that you have the US 0:15:25.720 --> 0:15:29.680 producing all of this like this. I mean it it's 0:15:29.680 --> 0:15:32.280 it's not it's not really cheap, right, but it's it's 0:15:32.400 --> 0:15:35.000 you know, this enormously subsidized grain that nobody can actually 0:15:35.000 --> 0:15:38.840 really compete with. And I think that's that's like an 0:15:38.880 --> 0:15:43.000 interesting I was wondering what, like how how how do 0:15:43.000 --> 0:15:45.360 you guys think about that in terms of you know, 0:15:45.360 --> 0:15:49.160 try trying to do decentralized I guess O your culture 0:15:49.160 --> 0:15:52.840 in a place that's to a large extent this sort 0:15:52.840 --> 0:15:56.200 of like conduit of grain to the rest of the world, 0:15:56.200 --> 0:16:00.000 but in a way that like also inhibits those places 0:16:00.040 --> 0:16:02.320 from actually you know, having their own kind of like 0:16:02.400 --> 0:16:06.720 essentialist agriculture. UM. I mean I can speak a little 0:16:06.760 --> 0:16:09.440 bit about like what that kind of does to our 0:16:09.520 --> 0:16:13.560 context of like making it, Like especially when I see 0:16:13.560 --> 0:16:17.960 people in the kind of organic gardening farming world trying 0:16:18.080 --> 0:16:21.080 to go on this model of like, well, we're gonna 0:16:21.120 --> 0:16:26.080 make you know, regenerative agriculture profitable, and we're gonna make 0:16:26.120 --> 0:16:33.040 it somehow compete with conventional agriculture. UM. And I guess 0:16:33.040 --> 0:16:37.080 I just don't really think that that is feasible in 0:16:37.160 --> 0:16:40.160 that in that terrain. Like you know, if if we're 0:16:40.160 --> 0:16:43.040 trying to compete on that same terrain and we're competing 0:16:43.080 --> 0:16:47.280 with these absurd subsidies, it definitely just the same problem 0:16:47.320 --> 0:16:50.320 that you see around the world where people aren't able 0:16:50.320 --> 0:16:52.680 to afford to grow their own thing because there's no 0:16:52.680 --> 0:16:54.640 way they can they can sell it as cheaply as 0:16:54.720 --> 0:16:58.320 as us grain. UM. So I think it's more important 0:16:58.400 --> 0:17:01.400 to sort of like look at like there's there's a 0:17:01.440 --> 0:17:04.360 piece in the almanac actually that sort of gets into 0:17:04.400 --> 0:17:07.000 this this issue of like, well, are we really growing 0:17:07.119 --> 0:17:10.919 enough food in in this regenerative way, Like you know, 0:17:10.960 --> 0:17:14.000 we we don't even hardly grow that many grains or 0:17:14.000 --> 0:17:16.000 that many high calorie things. A lot of things are 0:17:16.040 --> 0:17:18.959 just focused on vegetables and things like that. And like, 0:17:19.040 --> 0:17:21.560 I think that's a really important critique. And also I 0:17:21.600 --> 0:17:24.520 think that the way out of it isn't just gonna 0:17:24.560 --> 0:17:29.639 be us trying harder or something or um. Like the 0:17:30.119 --> 0:17:33.480 future I nvision for us, like really changing the food 0:17:33.480 --> 0:17:39.240 system kind of involves like really large scale expropriation of 0:17:39.440 --> 0:17:41.960 that land where the grain is being produced and of 0:17:42.080 --> 0:17:47.040 those huge machineries, those huge like satellite power or satellite 0:17:47.040 --> 0:17:51.040 directed you know, plows and tractors and whatnot that are 0:17:51.320 --> 0:17:55.760 that are doing this stuff. Um. And so like when 0:17:55.760 --> 0:17:58.000 I'm trying to think about like the impact that a 0:17:58.040 --> 0:18:00.720 food project is having or like a food this project, 0:18:01.040 --> 0:18:03.560 I don't try to think like we're trying to replace 0:18:04.760 --> 0:18:07.800 uh agro business on its own terms. I think like 0:18:08.160 --> 0:18:13.159 we're trying to be an ally or an aid to 0:18:13.520 --> 0:18:17.320 any kind of antagonistic sort of social movement that actually 0:18:17.359 --> 0:18:19.280 is going to create the conditions where like we can 0:18:19.320 --> 0:18:22.000 all get together and start to actually address these problems, 0:18:22.640 --> 0:18:28.000 UM without being hindered by you know, things like private property. 0:18:28.359 --> 0:18:30.200 So I guess that that that that's a good point 0:18:30.240 --> 0:18:33.520 to to jump into the Almanac from. I think, yeah, 0:18:33.520 --> 0:18:35.560 do do you want to just introduce the project a 0:18:35.560 --> 0:18:37.000 little bit and then we can talk about some of 0:18:37.000 --> 0:18:39.840 the stuff in it that I thought was really interesting. Yeah. 0:18:39.920 --> 0:18:42.600 So the Almanac kind of came out of like a 0:18:42.600 --> 0:18:46.480 little bit of a like partially is like a joke. 0:18:46.600 --> 0:18:51.320 You know, we're like everyone gets the UM the almanac 0:18:51.359 --> 0:18:55.040 and kind of you know, it doesn't really relate too 0:18:55.119 --> 0:18:58.720 much to UM like most of us what we would 0:18:58.720 --> 0:19:03.199 be growing UM. So it posited something like different, you know, 0:19:03.280 --> 0:19:06.600 something that that does kind of grapple with some of 0:19:06.640 --> 0:19:09.680 the questions of you know, growing food and kind of 0:19:09.960 --> 0:19:11.840 the conditions we live in. Maybe you can speak kind 0:19:11.840 --> 0:19:14.200 of yeah, I can even just I'll actually just read 0:19:14.240 --> 0:19:16.280 the back of it because I think it speaks to 0:19:16.320 --> 0:19:18.960 it pretty well. This is a farmer's almanac for the 0:19:19.040 --> 0:19:21.520 end of the world. Growing food used to be a 0:19:21.520 --> 0:19:24.119 lot more straightforward when you plant your okra at the 0:19:24.160 --> 0:19:27.400 same time every year like your grandpa did. Now we've 0:19:27.400 --> 0:19:31.000 got to be ready for anything. Late spring freezes, freak 0:19:31.119 --> 0:19:34.320 heat waves that bring plants out of dormancy to early 0:19:34.960 --> 0:19:39.240 fire season longer every year, the polar vortex. And if 0:19:39.240 --> 0:19:41.560 that wasn't enough, we've also got to contend with the 0:19:41.600 --> 0:19:45.480 fallout from breakages in the global supply chain. When millions 0:19:45.480 --> 0:19:48.040 of gallons of milk get poured down the drain and 0:19:48.160 --> 0:19:51.480 mountains of potatoes are left to rock. It's a world 0:19:51.560 --> 0:19:55.280 that calls for a new kind of farmers almanac. Today's 0:19:55.320 --> 0:19:58.720 crisis has roots in the earliest moments of land theft 0:19:58.760 --> 0:20:03.000 against Native people's, a process that has continued alongside hundreds 0:20:03.040 --> 0:20:06.920 of years of slavery and colonization. The way forward out 0:20:06.960 --> 0:20:09.359 of this mess will mean grappling with the crimes of 0:20:09.400 --> 0:20:12.520 the past, as well as charting a new course guided 0:20:12.560 --> 0:20:17.040 by Black and Indigenous knowledge, creative experimentation and food production, 0:20:17.840 --> 0:20:22.000 and paying attention across generational and species devides. So I mean, 0:20:22.040 --> 0:20:24.879 what one like very concrete example of like how this 0:20:24.920 --> 0:20:26.880 farmer's on the neck is different than what you might 0:20:27.000 --> 0:20:31.000 see just from the standard almanac. Is um, you know, 0:20:31.080 --> 0:20:34.240 we we don't have like oh it's it's May, it's 0:20:34.320 --> 0:20:37.040 time to plant corn or whatever, because I mean, first 0:20:37.040 --> 0:20:39.600 of all, that that was never that useful as for 0:20:39.680 --> 0:20:43.080 a publication that's meant to be used across this vast continent. 0:20:43.200 --> 0:20:46.160 You know, it's going to be different everywhere, um, where 0:20:46.200 --> 0:20:49.919 you're going to plant things at which time um. But 0:20:50.080 --> 0:20:53.560 also like those standard resources that we would go to 0:20:53.760 --> 0:20:56.439 like for here, for the Southeast for example, or wherever. 0:20:56.640 --> 0:20:59.320 Like if you're looking at something that was made a 0:20:59.320 --> 0:21:02.560 few decades, know, it's not going to actually be accurate 0:21:02.680 --> 0:21:06.200 or it's going to give you undo certainty about where 0:21:06.240 --> 0:21:08.639 the seasons line up and things like that. So you know, 0:21:08.680 --> 0:21:10.920 instead of telling people exactly when to plant their seeds, 0:21:10.960 --> 0:21:14.120 we have a chart that has the actual German Nation 0:21:14.200 --> 0:21:18.320 temperatures of like all the major annual vegetables that people 0:21:18.320 --> 0:21:21.840 would want to grow. Um. And then we also have 0:21:22.000 --> 0:21:27.160 like the monthly notes from this local farm in New Orleans, 0:21:27.280 --> 0:21:30.240 so you know, located in this area, you can you 0:21:30.240 --> 0:21:32.040 can also get a really precise view of like, oh, 0:21:32.040 --> 0:21:35.520 they were planning this, then they were harvesting this. Then. Yeah. 0:21:35.800 --> 0:21:39.080 I think that we hope to make something that was 0:21:39.200 --> 0:21:41.879 you know, our our original focus was something that was 0:21:42.080 --> 0:21:45.560 specific to New Orleans in the region, um, you know, 0:21:45.640 --> 0:21:48.960 in the Gulf South and the Southeast generally, because we 0:21:49.040 --> 0:21:53.440 are so aware of the you know, the differences or 0:21:53.480 --> 0:21:56.800 what have you between growing through here and growing food 0:21:56.800 --> 0:21:59.400 in Ohio or something or whatever. And we all get 0:21:59.440 --> 0:22:02.240 these sames seats you know, out of Walmart or Lows 0:22:02.359 --> 0:22:04.800 or whatever, and try and grow the exact same plants 0:22:04.800 --> 0:22:08.479 all over the place to trying to um hone in 0:22:08.520 --> 0:22:12.520 on some of that local perspective. UM with me withally 0:22:12.600 --> 0:22:16.119 in terms of like getting some like folk tradition, getting 0:22:16.200 --> 0:22:21.920 some um, you know, anecdotal evidence about you know, things 0:22:21.960 --> 0:22:25.600 that worked with things that people are trying. UM. And 0:22:26.359 --> 0:22:29.399 but I think that that was that was fairly successful. UM. 0:22:30.680 --> 0:22:33.040 I think I think aside that we weren't really expecting 0:22:33.080 --> 0:22:36.320 as much was just the amount of national and even 0:22:36.359 --> 0:22:41.080 international UM kind of grasp that it had. UM. I 0:22:41.080 --> 0:22:45.000 think a lot of people like could could use something 0:22:45.080 --> 0:22:50.119 like this in their area. UM. And it's fostered some 0:22:50.200 --> 0:22:54.320 really interesting connections for people that are experimenting in New York, 0:22:54.400 --> 0:22:57.000 for people that are are growing things or thinking about 0:22:57.040 --> 0:23:00.439 maybe UM food systems and how they relate to prisons 0:23:00.440 --> 0:23:05.080 in California or UM even you know as far away 0:23:05.080 --> 0:23:09.800 as Brazil. UM. It's kind of began to foster a 0:23:09.800 --> 0:23:14.920 connection between Labelia Commons and a group called the Bogus, 0:23:14.960 --> 0:23:18.640 which translates roughly to like the web of People's UM 0:23:18.760 --> 0:23:23.560 in Brazil, so called Brazil UM, where it's kind of 0:23:23.560 --> 0:23:29.280 like experimental agroecology project that's very specific UM specifically focused 0:23:29.400 --> 0:23:35.040 on UM, you know, sovereignty, land stewardship, kind of following 0:23:35.080 --> 0:23:38.600 a little bit in the tradition of the Landless Workers movement. 0:23:38.600 --> 0:23:41.600 If anyone's familiar with mst UM, it's kind of following 0:23:41.600 --> 0:23:45.520 in that tradition a bit UM, but is heavily stewarded 0:23:45.560 --> 0:23:50.600 by Black and Indigenous knowledges. Yeah, so I was something 0:23:50.640 --> 0:23:52.600 I think of a like a kind of pleasant surprise 0:23:52.680 --> 0:23:55.240