Actually there are two, but I want to comment on the one entitled, "Haitian Farming".
I am often saddened by the folks who choose to clear cut their woodland holdings. I am a part time logger and I understand using a woodlot as an income source, but just like any bank account, once it's gone...it's gone for a lifetime.
After reading Joe's story and seeing the devastation done by clear cutting on highly erodible land, especially mountain sides, makes my insides hurt. The damage is not for just one lifetime, but for many! It will continue to effect men for generations, if they can feed themselves that long.
In the story there are very hard working farmers who can barely eke out enough food to survive. They and their livestock consume feed stuff so completely that there isn't any left even to compost. So building soil is hard, just keeping the status quo is a major job.
My hat is off to those farmers scratching out a living in those mountains. Although it is more of subsistence farming than making a living.
The article is well written. It took me to a place that makes me even more thankful for my farm and woodlands. It makes me appreciate the fact that I can build soil with my own compost. It makes me grateful for the ability to make a different use of a failed crop, like pumpkins in a drought. I still fed the small ones to the pigs....but if my whole crop was to feed myself and family along with the seed for the next years crop...that takes farming to a whole different level.
Joe, when you make an appeal for funding to help the village get the heifer and bull they need, put me on the list as a donor. I would indeed like to help. I believe those folks are looking for a hand up, not a hand out and I will help them help themselves.