Development encroaches into the countryside
New houses creep onto our farms and fields
Blacktop streets checkerboard rolling hills
Infrastructure circulates underground
*
Cry for our farmland // fast disappearing
More mouths to feed // less land to grow crops
Farmland going into extinction
Who’ll grow our food?
Linda at d’Verse asked us to write a Quadrille of 44 words using the prompt extinction. Some believe Climate Change is going to bring us to the edge of extinction, but I believe it is the population explosion that will be our demise. When all the farm land is gone where will our food come from to feed billions of people?
The land in the photos is across from the development where I live. It has just been rezoned for more than 400 new houses. The field grew up in weeds this summer. This week they began getting ready to put in the infrastructure.
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Where’s the “sad” button when I need it? There is land that is not as fertile where homes and sidewalks and shopping centers can be developed. What must we do to preserve our fertile land for farming? Help!!!
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I am with you on this for sure!
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Who will grow it and where?
I used a Wendell Berry title in my quadrille, and then here is the situation he laments and writes about, the devastation of farmland (and farm culture).
You must be devastated. Ouch.
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Yes, it is very sad indeed!
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I’m sorry this is happening where you live. This is our harsh reality 😔
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Yes, reality is happening all around!
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A sad reality filled with unanswered questions.
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Indeed it is… questions left unanswered! Thanks.
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Really like this one Dwight. My wife’s family are farmers, as well as horse and cattle folk. Each year the struggle to keep afloat seems to increase. Our nephew had a nice small farm going, but he had to sell it to BigAg, and now he works for them, managing the farm that used to be his. Some day our food will be grown in tiered aquaponics facilities many stories tall — all owned by BigAg. The small farmer may be wiped out, which would be so very sad. My son has started a 1,500 square foot “suburban garden”, which in the last four years, has provided about 40% of our annual fresh vegetables, and all our herbs. My wife and I also live on the property. He has begun canning in the past year, for off-season consumption. He is learning how to rotate crop to nourish the soil, and how to create his own compost. He has increased the productivity each year for four yeas now. He is doing all this, with help from his wife and my wife, while also being CEO and partner in a small tech company. He feels his garden is essential to the future of our family.
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Thank you Rob! I really appreciate your knowledgeable response, especially since I realize how hard it is for you with your eye problems. Your son’s garden sounds wonderful. I raise a few tomatoes and some other vegetables in a small backyard plot. It is wonderful to eat fresh out of the garden. My tomatoes I planted in May are still growing and producing now that the weather is cooling some. Take care and thanks again. Dwight
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I hear you. This is so upsetting to watch.
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It really is disheartening to see!
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sad words
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Thing is Dwight, it’s a poem for the world, happening where I am and where I read of, a cry for sanity.
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Yes, and only to get worse as populations mushroom.
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Sadly so.
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Indeed, who will? I love this Dwight.
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Thank you Linda!
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i echo your sentiments here Dwight …
I was in Nepal in 2017 and was totally shocked to see how suburbia had taken over the fields. Apparently after the 2015 earthquakes more than a million moved into Kathmandu valley as they feared a repetition of the mudslides and losses they’d suffered. The harvesting fields had been built out. They already have so little land I’ve no idea how they will feed the masses now.
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I like this description: “Infrastructure circulates underground” It reminds me that so much is going on with urbanization that we don’t see.
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There is a lot going on that we don’t see, but feel the effects!
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I wonder too… maybe in the end we will live from the sludge coming from tubes.
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Does not sound very appetizing! Our food is already processed so much few know what real food tastes like anymore!
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Ohh deep 😥😥😥
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Thanks!
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There are way too many isolated single houses already for the environment…and yet they keep building. It’s a shame.
We have farmer’s markets that small local farms use to sell their wares, but I wonder how long they can survive. Still, there are roof farms and vacant lots being used to grow things even here in the city. We each have to fight back in our own ways…(I once raised some peppers in a window box–but now I stick to herbs–but then I still have farmer’s markets for the time being). (K)
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Yes, it is a real dilemma. Not sure what the answer is to resolve the situation. Thanks for sharing.
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A horrible situation to watch from a front row seat. Devastating.
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yes, it is very sad to see!
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