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Re: Scope or focus of newsgroup





>If the answer is: You can't draw a clear line or definition, then we
>can expect the majority to shift the definition to follow their
>interests.  If the answer is: we want to include as many people as
>possible and get them to think organically, then we still need to hold
>up a clearly defined goal so they can see which way to go.  This may
>seem like a nit, but to someone just learning about these things (the
>youth of the world) it becomes significant.

   I think you're being narrow-minded. It's not like I moved into a yard with 
a healthy, functioning ecosystem. To have allowed it remain as is without 
significant intervention on my part would have been determental to the 
micro-ecosystem in that yard and to the larger ecosystem in my neighborhood. 

 So a discussion on organic gardening becomes extrememly relevent to me and my 
neighbors as we try to restore the health of our small corner of the 
enviroment, and it combines very nicely with any discussions on backyard 
ecosystems. I haven't been following this newsgroup long, but I feel like I 
have learned from it already.


>This line of reasoning leads to the question: Is it possible to deal
>with the daily garden questions and still keep a longer term ecological
>perspective?

 When you're dealing with "pocket" ecosystems, ie. a homeowner's greenspace 
it is, IMHO,  determental to seperate the two.

  I enjoy my garden, it is a place I go to recharge and relax. I share that 
garden with 4 cats, 2 dogs, and uncountable squirrals, birds, bugs, etc.
We have to learn to share this small space, and keep city and health officials 
and neighborhood associations happy. That requires that I manipulate my 
backyard ecosystem. I want to do that in a fashion that benefits the 
enviroment as a whole while keeping all the above mentioned parites happy and 
healthy. So organic gardening methods ARE realvent to discussions of 
ecosystems for me.  I suspect alot of people face the same problems I do.

cottonmouth
prudd@ss1.csd.sc.edu


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