Arroyo Grande, city of flowers, and vegetables, and a really great idea. (Mojave: home, quality of life) - California (CA) - City-Data Forum

.highnlite · 08-15-2012, 09:41 PM

"The Farm" Arroyo Grande In Bloom / America In Bloom 2012 YouTube Competition - YouTube

nullgeo · 08-15-2012, 09:58 PM

Outstanding! Thanks for posting. The Farm project, giving the elderly a productive role and place in the community is as good as community projects get. Outstanding.

Funny, for all of human history and pre-history, until the 1930's when American Social Security began to take shape, the elderly were valued as family -- and community -- contributors for the most part. And now, in less than 100 years out of 100's of thousands of years, the elderly are increasingly warehoused, useless. Visited on alternate weekends and taken out for a lunch. Prior to Social Security, the aging population had roles and value. Now our culture places emphasis on independence from supporting the very core of our development: the ones that brought us into the world and nurtured us. This Arroyo Grande Farm project puts meaning back into lives of immense past contribution.

Fontucky · 08-15-2012, 10:12 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by nullgeo

Funny, for all of human history and pre-history, until the 1930's when American Social Security began to take shape, the elderly were valued as family -- and community -- contributors for the most part.

Well, not ALL of human history, ergo:

Karl Haupt, writing in the mid nineteenth century, gives a particularly dramatic (and relatively recent) example of socially sanctioned European geronticide in Lausitz, a region in today's Southeast Germany. Himself a German, Haupt is quick to emphasize that this shameful custom was practiced by Slavic groups living in this region. His account follows:

During heathen times the Sorbian Wends of Lausitz practiced the shameful and gruesome custom of ridding themselves of their old people who were no longer able to contribute. When, a father would be struck dead by his own son A son would strike his own father dead when he became old and incompetent, or he would throw him into water, or he would push him over a high cliff. Indeed, there are many examples of this, even after the advent of Christianity. For example:

Herr Levin von Schulenburg, a high official in Altmark, was traveling among the Wends in about 1580 when he saw an old man being led away by several people. "Where are you going with the old man?" he asked, and received the answer, "To God!" They were going to sacrifice him to God, because he was no longer able to earn his own sustenance. When the official grasped what was happening, he forced them to turn the old man over to him. He took him home with him and hired him as a gatekeeper, a position that he held for twenty additional years.

Source: Karl Haupt, Sagenbuch der Lausitz, Zweiter Theil (Leipzig: Verlag von Wilhelm Engelmann, 1863), p. 9.

Northwest of me in the Mojave High desert, there's a place called Old Woman Springs. That's where the local nomadic tribes would drop off their elderly women to die.

Then there's that Eskimo thing with the kayaks...

nullgeo · 08-15-2012, 11:00 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fontucky

Well, not ALL of human history, ergo:

Karl Haupt, writing in the mid nineteenth century, gives a particularly dramatic (and relatively recent) example of socially sanctioned European geronticide in Lausitz, a region in today's Southeast Germany. Himself a German, Haupt is quick to emphasize that this shameful custom was practiced by Slavic groups living in this region. His account follows:

During heathen times the Sorbian Wends of Lausitz practiced the shameful and gruesome custom of ridding themselves of their old people who were no longer able to contribute. When, a father would be struck dead by his own son A son would strike his own father dead when he became old and incompetent, or he would throw him into water, or he would push him over a high cliff. Indeed, there are many examples of this, even after the advent of Christianity. For example:

Herr Levin von Schulenburg, a high official in Altmark, was traveling among the Wends in about 1580 when he saw an old man being led away by several people. "Where are you going with the old man?" he asked, and received the answer, "To God!" They were going to sacrifice him to God, because he was no longer able to earn his own sustenance. When the official grasped what was happening, he forced them to turn the old man over to him. He took him home with him and hired him as a gatekeeper, a position that he held for twenty additional years.

Source: Karl Haupt, Sagenbuch der Lausitz, Zweiter Theil (Leipzig: Verlag von Wilhelm Engelmann, 1863), p. 9.

Northwest of me in the Mojave High desert, there's a place called Old Woman Springs. That's where the local nomadic tribes would drop off their elderly women to die.

Then there's that Eskimo thing with the kayaks...

I guess you missed the part where I wrote " ... for the most part."

Quote:

Originally Posted by nullgeo

... the elderly were valued as family -- and community -- contributors for the most part. ...

The eskimo kayak thing? You mean where the elderly went off to die by their own decision and schedule? ... it is my understanding this is also what was done at Old Woman Springs.

Yes, there's a history of primitive suicide and assisted suicide.
And I am congratulating another side of the story ... the one where "for the most part" the elderly have been honored and valued and a part of the workings of a family and community -- until they, the elderly, recognize it is their time to go. In the case of what .highnlite has posted, these folks are feeling productive and useful again in their small way. By providing the fruits of their labors, they contribute food to those in need in the community. I think it is outstanding.

Fontucky · 08-15-2012, 11:16 PM

Calm down pops. I'm simply adding to the ebb and flow of a topic that, up to this point, is blessedly non-partisan isn't about taxes or the demise of California. In other words, I thought I'd chip in rather than ignore it like I do those others.

Bulldogdad · 08-16-2012, 06:50 AM

Manny, Moe and Jack.

You know the Pep Boy's Guys or dare I say the three.........

Anyway nice landscape themed thread OP.

Won't even touch the old person thing. Even I have boundries.

.highnlite · 08-16-2012, 08:01 AM

As you saw, some of the folks are in wheelchairs, the whole farm is wheelchair accessible. Some of the folks with alzheimers or dementia who cannot care for themselves know exactly what to do when a watering can is put in their hands, that is profound.

Some of the folks who have sat, depressed, for years are now happy gardeners.

My wife tells me that one of the very striking things about the program is that you hear laughter. If any of you have spent time at an assisted living center, laughter among the folk is not all that common.

nullgeo · 08-16-2012, 08:15 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Fontucky

Calm down pops. I'm simply adding to the ebb and flow of a topic that, up to this point, is blessedly non-partisan isn't about taxes or the demise of California. In other words, I thought I'd chip in rather than ignore it like I do those others.

Checked my blood pressure after you submitted your observations last night ... checked again this morning ... running steady at the low 70's over about 110 level ... heart-rate under 60 bpm ... we're still good ... and those elderly are still getting a great final chapter ... as I wrote: "outstanding".