Visionary Research - Chats about Neo-Amish - Part 1

Neo Amish its a quirky little term I came up with years ago trying to describe to a friend of mind what I had in mind when I talked about creating a farm where people could come and learn what it was like to live in the 1800's at the beginning of the industrial revolution much like the Amish do but with modern tech such as using the Internet to sell the crops grown or using GPS to figure out where to put a garden plot so it gets the most sunlight.

 

“But why even do it who would even want to see the farm” My friend asked me. I told him I think more and more people are starting to realize how fragile our current food production system is, how much we don't know about where our food comes from, who makes sure our food is okay to eat and what people are doing to crop food faster and more than ever.

 

“Isn't growing food faster and more than before a good thing”, My friend replied. Not always I told him, chicken now a days are grown with 24 hour artificial lighting, almost force fed with food laced with growth hormones and antibiotics. A chicken today is ready for market almost a full 30 days before one that is raised organically. The factory raised chicken is raised so fast that a good number die due to their organs and bones simply can not keep up. Also eating these growth hormones not a good thing. To be rude and crude, look at how many girls are starting their periods at 7 and 8 instead of 10-13 like they did a few decades back.

 

Also overuse of antibiotics has led to the rise of super-bugs, the antibiotic resistant strains of flu, TB and staph infections. You have to remember I told him, that virus evolve and mutate to become better at what they are born to do. Its a arms race, we come up with better antibiotics and the virus response by building a better defense. Pretty soon they are going to be viruses that could wipe out humankind if we don't stop.

 

“What about the work load, how will you find people willing to do the back breaking labor with no modern tools” He mused, Again I expected this comment. Its what people have done for years, most of the world still works this way. We are setting ourselves up for failure because the more we rely on machines and other people the less of a person we become. I think people are really starting to thirst for the experience the adventure of their forefathers. Of knowing they can tell people you see that cabin, I built it by cutting the wood by hand, by shaping the wood by hand. Also they know that cabin will probably outlast any quickly and shoddily build house of today.