This article is really dumb. It's only 3 acres, there's no way that satisfies 2,000 households' caloric needs, it's just a small supplement.
Not to mention that it's 'free' because of volunteers. I can also feed myself for close to free by growing my own vegetables...but it's way more efficient to just work and pay for food.
Agreed. It's a little bizarre how gardening went from being a default feature of American life to REVOLUTIONARY INDUSTRY-DISRUPTING IDEA in less than one generation.
There are indeed numerous statistical inaccuracies.
However,
Let's see if we can pick out the good here.
When you say it's a little bizarre, you're right. We are massively estranged from almost all forces that supply our life. Just as the average American has no idea how to host a website from scratch on DO, most don't know where their food comes from, how to fix their car, has no financial literacy and no civic literacy.
After years of animal husbandry, our leaders have moved toward treating the vast majority us like agricultural elements, simply repeating one small action of a larger whole for our whole lives. Projects like this can help get us out of the matrix.
As most people who try to grow food learn, it's not a one-size-fits-all activity. The art of food production has many, subtle, non-sexy details. Real world experience counts for an awful lot.
I'm not saying we must all live in tipis, playing homebuilt instruments around a fire, wearing dresses from from potato sacks, BUT living life out of debt with a strong degree of self-sufficiency and freedom from The Invisible Hand of corporate life will bring us a lot closer to our pursuit of happiness than the apparent Ponzi scheme of centralized economy.
Not to mention that it's 'free' because of volunteers. I can also feed myself for close to free by growing my own vegetables...but it's way more efficient to just work and pay for food.