Demise of something special...

[Latitude33]

Please pardon me while I wax nostalgic. I was born, and have lived most of my life, in Post WWII suburbia. Yet, on the fringes, there was still a connection to the land, to farming. On my mother's side, the family was very much involved with agriculture but on my father's side it skipped a generation or two. Where I grew up, farming was near at hand. The adjacent community of Dairy Valley dominated L.A County in agricultural production into the 1970's. (Please don't do the math) Because of this activity, there were all the usual supporting businesses, chief among them, the feed stores, mercantiles and mills.

Over the years, anything zoned ag moved away. Pushed out actually. The space created became pre-planned communities, chain stores, malls, later to be termed by some as sprawl. Sadly, today, most kids do not know where there food actually comes from. In suburbia, that connection to the land is lost.

One of the few respites during that transition though were the feed stores. To me as a youngster, these were havens, the last bastion of farming culture, the last place where a young person could still imagine life on a farm. The smells, the feel, the liveliness of the animals. Places where local folk gathered, whether it was to exchange gossip, or as I later learned in life, men met for the gathering of the Liars Club.

Sadly, these are mostly gone now from my area. In their place eventually came what I term "Boutique" exotic pet stores.

Please cherish and support your local purveyors... lest this happen to you.

Lat33

 

[JaeG]

The same thing is happening in Auckland, New Zealand. In-fill housing on tiny sections, or apartments, and the rural spaces are disappearing, pushed out by their area being rezoned as urban and being subjected to horrendous rates. I'm in my 30s and I think it's an absolute tragedy. Which is why my husband and I are looking to move somewhere rural where our children can get back to nature, where we can grow our own fruit and vegetables, have some goats to provide us with milk, breed some chickens without worrying about the noise a rooster makes.

 

[cavemanrich]

It is called modern progress. Can't stop it. Eventually all things will change. 1 thousand years from now those exotic boutique pet stores will also be gone. Things go in cycles. 2500 miles east of California, in Detroit City, neighborhoods are being torn down and turned back to farmland. At least the effort to do so is there. There are peeps that look over the area and reminisce of how it was once the area where they lived and played.
There is a beautiful song, sang from a Guatemala orphanage. Title "Todo va a cambiar" I have the CD. There is no You tube version of that particular song. There are many versions of songs by that title. Translated it means Everything will change. When I listen to it, I realize how true it is. Kind of sad, but we just cant stop or turn back time.

I looked very deep and found the song but by a different artist. Listen and tell me what you think.

 

[perchie.girl]

My family was part of that farming industry you so eloquently spoke of... Oranges and berries and farmstands... My Grandpa was a share cropper till he moved here in the late forties. In and around Yukaipa... Because of his skills he was the go to guy for setting up farms Grading the land so it drained properly.... setting up the berry farms with the wire supports....

Then farming his own land Oranges mostly along with a truck garden to feed his family.

On Grandmas side it was Grapefruit....

My other grandpas family were peach growers and packers.

during the winters Dad lit smudge pots before heading to high school...

I lived these stories growing up but never had the opportunity to experience it all. Sigh.

deb

 

[drumstick diva]

lovely song