Saturday, February 2

There Are Polyculture Farms, Are There Polyculture Studios?

When you think about the idea of local farms, what comes to mind?


For me it's a polyculture farm, as opposed to the industrial giants that plant giant monocultures (of say, corn) so that they can successfully fill all of WalMart's thousands of orders.

Assuming the information I've been reading is correct, a polyculture farm - one that has different types of produce and different animals - can;
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-Be healthier for the environment
-Be more nutritious for consumers
-Produce a higher quality of food,
-Avoid the use of pesticides
-Act as it's own ecosystem
-Support local businesses
-Make for happier animals







At least, all of these things seem to be true of Polyface Farms, which is the particular farm I have been reading about. If you read about how this farm operates (say, in The Omnivore's Dilemma), you might come to the conclusion that this is the ideal way to farm, and wouldn't it be great if everyone had local farms again?

At least, that's the conclusion I came to, and thanks to a friend I have started wondering, is there such a thing as a craft polyculture? A complete studio ecosystem? I'm thinking about it more before I write out my answer.

Is there any way artist's materials and practices can help support each other?

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