My buddy Greenie has the kind of rare sincerity that occupies the border between childlike innocence and experienced optimism. It is this, among other things that got me to go to the inaugural meeting of the Maui chapter of the Farmers Union. Now I'm not much of a participator or meeting goer as such. Lets say I've had my share and leave it at that, but seeing as how sustainable development, which includes forms of farming is the bug that infected me with the incurable disease of wanting to know what free feels like, nothing short of a radical curioscopy will stop the momentum toward participating in the unraveling of that mystery. To that end, it is always good to meet pilgrims on the path and hear what they have to say.

There were many familiar faces. Certainly a good turnout. People brought food and seeds and plants and the aura of hope that accompanies all such meetings designed to define and consolidate possibilities for satisfying legitimate needs and concerns regarding the production of food and the critical move toward "sustainability" which is such the cool buzzword these days, dontcha think?

My pal nurse Natty came along. We had just come from a screening of Avatar and were a might agog with the spectacles afterglow. We settled in the midst of the group and awaited the beginning of the formal portion of the meeting. Good time to check the room for familiar faces. I am always heartened to see so many old friends. Mostly because they're still breathing. Natalie has a degree in urban studies and has been to her share of organizing committees and programs designed to green up urban settings. I figured it would be good to be able to bounce my impressions off someone to see just how askew they are.

The room settled and folks sat down as the meeting began. Now Vince has the good humored enthusiasm of a Marx brothers film mated with the devotion to a cause normally reserved for the zealotor  phase of the twice born. His clear grasp and depth of understand speaking volumes about the hands on approach he has taken to create ways of supporting the farming community. He opened the proceedings.

Next, the interim president guy introduced the interim other guys and gals and a certain territory was defined. That territory included local and national organizations, government programs designed to fry your brain while indicating that there will be some money down the road if you stick to the freakin' parameters set out by said agency. Oh joy. I don't mean to be cynical. Its actually just experience based knowledge that tends to make me reflect on the real meaning and purpose of pursuing sustainable cultural models.

So, we're told that the farmers union will give us a voice. It will give us solidarity. It will give us dental and eye care. All that stuff has its merits, but does it represent a move toward realistically funding the farmers of Maui County in a way unencumbered by government agencies which are understaffed, underfunded, overwhelmed with applicants and often have the side effects of hair loss by pulling and anxiety spasms? Does it really give us solidarity with a national membership of nearly a half million coming from very different and sometimes disparate backgrounds? Such things run through my head at such times.

We heard from soil conservation and bamboo lady. The buzzkill started to set in during conservation ladies talk and got physically uncomfortable by the time bamboo lady finished.

Here's why. Solutions are inherent in problems. Sustainable developments seek solutions designed to limit, to the point of eliminating all outside inputs to the system. The question then becomes, do we as a local community of farmers seek to reach out to national organizations or state and federal funding to get what we need to farm, or do we eliminate the need for those inputs by tapping the private sector right here on Maui?

I heard the figure of four hundred thousand bucks available state wide this fiscal year, with no new projects being funded until next year. Lets say we changed our focus and thought of that in terms of four hundred people who were willing to cough up a thousand bucks apiece a year. People who were conscious of the goals set by our local and individual needs. People who understand the times and are willing to support local food production because they want to be assured that there will BE local food if the turds hit the turbine. People to whom a thousand bucks a year is chump change.

It seems inconceivable to me that given the capacity to network and develop grass roots connections with the locally empowered that it would be all that difficult to generate that kind of scrilla, and if we can't, well then at least we know we're screwed and might as well stick to the business of getting our hands dirty and flying under the radar.  Hell, I take down three to five bills at the farmers market and I'd be more than willing to contribute a weeks take to the kitty. I'll bet if we had a show of hands at the meeting for such an idea, we would have raised twenty or thirty grand a year, or more. Us helping us. Stick the cashish in a local permaculture credit union, develop equipment leasing systems, computer networking including forums and web site linking, share information and badda bing, we're a locally and privately funded non profit which is linked inextricably to a community of supporters who understand the importance of the connection and all that it implies.

From there its just a matter of managing the funds in such a way as to take care of the real needs, not wants of the farming community, from funding well planned start ups to helping out old timers with worn out pond liners, to promoting educational outreach, workshops and farm tours. All of this in the name of working together with the people who will be eating the food that we grow and enabling the experience of being connected to the farms that grow the food that keep their families healthy. Do we want less expensive health insurance or the unabashed  freedom to insure our good health through the basic support and respect for the work that we do to serve the needs of the public? Just asking.

We left the meeting early, 'cause my head was beginning to turn to moosh. Nurse Natty listened with patience to my rambling observations as we motored home and after kicking my ass at gin rummy went to work creating more of her bottle cap earrings which she sells at the farmers market. Of course she stuffs them with zucchini, onions and bell peppers to give them the credibility necessary to make an appearance at the market. Talk about a great gig. You get to try out all the new local beers while recycling garbage into very cool and oh so trendy bling.

The light is dawning on market day. The day we have recognized as eat with reckless abandon day. I'm off to weigh up some Jaboticaba and vacuum seal some raw coffee. Ciao bella!

The more you show, the more we'll grow. Peace muffins, Jp