Serious man

I talked to a serious man today. If I can meet his set price than I can sell my pepper sauce to his bar for hot wings. I'm excited about this chance, if I can find a way to keep my  ethical standards and have a green business I soon will have a second income and will meet my short term goal to pay my grocery bill each month. I will need to find a whole sale source of organic gochu pepper from a farmer that I respect and understand his philosophy. I'm generally of the mind that I want to support the farmer who is doing the good work, di-rec-tly.

I met J today for 2 dinners since each one was disastifying for different ways. The company made it all worth it. I had dinner with J. J is a foodie and chef in waiting- I say this because she could be with an opportunity and the pressure to go full-time and sling it out as a cook. I'm thinking that it would be great if I evenrtally could find a business opportnuity to support her ideas and my collaboratively. She has dreams of being a food vendor of the gourment ilk and bring to LA a good street food stand. Street food stands are great start ups. They require small over head and a DIY spirit and perhaps a little crazyiness to do something good in a mediocre quantiy over quality country in the USA mainstream. It can be done as J has pointed out and people like Anthony B of No Reservations fame has covered. (Look up food raves in the NYtimes.)

I dream about my small and green business on my own terms and standards with feet on the ground approach and humility and the pride needed to push that standard of quality. I say this knowing I've done so little but I want to do more. My small business would supply people like Jamie with condiments and fermented foods that can only be done on a small scale to maintain the quality and the love. But the business would incorporate more than just food but also herbalism on the small scale. My business could blur food and medicine, pleasure and healing, sustaining and fasting.

Eventually, I would like to grow my own food as well but just not on the same level. I see myself as a jack of all trades and business so I can continue to grow and my business model will change with me. I don't want to be Bill Gates. I don't want a big business because I don't evey want my standards to diminish as tasks get handed to people who aren't interested in my mission or don't share my idealism. Then again, I've just said it now I have to prove it.

Thats why I appreciate the serious man I talked to today. He is not a believer of my mission but I can give him something with my high standard and it doesn't matter if the other products he buys fits my ethics. He can do business with me, then I can give him my standard and quality. But what I appreciate about the serious man is that he is serious and smart enough to be in a position to take risks on the small business. That's a seriously good thing.

The Why of Dogmatism

My wife, S, expressed a belief that dogmatism is a flaw with humanity because some people will not change regardless of  the reality around them. They will not accept change even if it is
 Maybe it's a arrogance of head-thinking or a naivety of heart thinking and I don't know either way.

Why is this? I am honestly stumped. Does any reader have an idea?

Khaki Markets and The New Alternative: Apprenticeships

I read a brilliant post in Causabon's Blog about what she dubs khaki markets in the US. These are underground markets for environmentally friendly product on a small local scale that do not have scale to pay for the required permits and equipment. Government regulations were made to protect consumers from large scale corporation cutting corners and was a way to check industrial agriculture and meat regulations. But as Michael Pollen reports in an Ominivore's Dilemna these regulations which began in the early 20th century sepparated the farming and processing meat which was important for began driving farmers out of business. To be green, we need to think locally again. However, it seems that the trend in the world is still on big companies and growth and expansion and its unsustainable consequences. Sheryll's argument is that we shouldn't be forcing people to do this. What she argues is that: "The better system would be to work in concert, to build a regulatory system that focuses not on means and technologies - not on whether you have a 20K pasteurizer - but on whether you can produce milk that is safe to drink; not on whether you have three sinks but on whether your jam is safe to eat. A shift from ends to means would serve us all - and shift khaki back to green."

I'm thinking about this as I go into fermentation festival 2. There will be many selling products that they make which will not fall under Korean regulation or maybe does or maybe doesn't.  The point is that the scale of law and regulation we would not understand without lawyers to do what needs to be done. There is a very small  of a chance that we would be harrassed since the Korean government is quite libertarian when it comes to Koreans selling their food and wares from blanket.  But in NY my father said there was very little you could do because of permits.

This ties together with something Mike at MikeInDaegu blogged about. When it comes to education people need alternatives. It's a great post because it covers what I haven't mentioned which is that we need people our age going into professions that don't involve offices but other places and education needs these reforms if only to stop thinking in terms of working for Big Businesses. 
 
He talks about the book by John Taylor Gatto, called "Dumbing Us Down: The Hidden Curriculum of Compulsory Schooling" 

Gatto has radical ideas for the school system which is to stop compulsory schooling, reviving apprenticeships, give money to places like libraries, give money to students to invest in their education, and lessen the competitiveness of schooling I assume for those who are interesting in academics.

These reforms make sense in the changing business environment. Big businesss can no longer offer what seduced people which was a job stability, and health insurance, and pensions. Our education system is built on educated people for a work force or for academia. We have to stop thinking in terms about white collar being better than blue collar or that the highest pinnacle of education is a Ph.D. There aren't enough jobs for people in professional classes.

They would require giving the individual trust and power to fail in seeking a new person for themselves. However, these failures are necessary for our growth as people. This notion has been well argued by teachers in TEFL who find that experiential learning is the best learning. But anyone is has a job understands how much is learned by doing that we could incorporate into our lives.  This is approach is even necessary for some to learn out all. These learners are kinesthetic going to schooling which favors audio or visual learners.

My wife's brother seems connected to that idea.  He didn't do well in school but when getting a job for an agricultural company he convinced them to give him an aprenticeship to become an agricultural engineer. The apprenticeship was work and study and he did well with that.

These types of opportunities are available when people leave school but many people don't have time to play around and explore until after they finish school and even then we are discouraged from pursuing it.

Anthony Bourdain, has said that when he told his parents that he wanted to be a chef they couldn't have been less pleased than if he said he wanted to be a criminal

A friend of mine is interesting in food and running a food business but she was heavily pushed into academia and now an Ivy League Education later she still dreams about these things.

The belief that the pinnacle of education is a P.HD., an MBA, a law degree or a medical license is not very useful for a sustainable living and it is advantageous in the moment perhaps but not for the long term health of the USA.

I don't know if Gatto mentions it but these problems are problems in a society that is consumer driven and highly regulated. The risks of starting a business or the low pay of it is endemic to a system that "values more not less."(Causabon's Blog).

All these things would require serious changes in infrastructure and support a local economy that many will resist and I suspect we are in for knocks before people make these changes when they have no other choices.

As it is we live long enough to pursue this things that are at least dream then. But I think seriously about these things from the comfort of a cushy job with no sustainability itself. The recognition of my own need to create some stability for myself gives me hope that others will do the same. For the good of themselves and for everyone.