Re: Plant more in '44

On Sun, 7 Dec 2008 06:06:55 -0600, budd1y1@xxxxxxxxx (Ronny TX) wrote:


John:
No surprise because people living beyond
their means enough that the "credit
crisis" (whatever that is) affects them
do faddish things. Sales will drop again
next year.

Ronny:
I hope it won't drop that much. And as far as people living beyond their
means,I don't personally know of anyone that doesn't do that,including
me and I'm poor. Yet when I go grocery shopping or such like,I nearly
always end up buying somethings I really don't have to have or even
need. Thought some about that last night. Considered just one thing I
buy now and then and thought,well,what if I didn't buy it and just saved
that money-put it away as a savings instead of spending it? What if I
did that with other things I don't have to have;but just want. And what
if I simply kept up with the price of each item I chose not to buy and
saved that money back? And I can see that my doing that way,even on my
limited budget,I would have a nice little chunk of change over say 3 to
6 months. Enough I think so that some unexpected small bills would not
come as such a surprise and shock to the bank account! (ha)

I guess that I'm "poor" too, then, since I've not been able to work for
several years and my savings are just about gone. Yet, I've managed to
arrange things so that my income is a tiny bit greater than my outgo. If
you're doing the same then you're not living beyond your means.

This poor thing is pretty funny. All a state of mind. I spend less in a
month than some people do at a single meal and yet I'm anything but poor.
Living in the mountain paradise that I've dreamed of all my life is anything
but poor. About the only "consumer" product that I really need is the
internet and I'm really bustin' a nut at $6/month :-)


John:
Personally, I have a black thumb.

Ronny:
I choose not to believe that! :-) Nope,no such thing as a person with a
black thumb! Only people that don't know how to grow things in their
area of the world! :-) And what isn't known,can be learned.

Oh, I don't know. My ex's thumb was as black as mine. She loved indoor
plants but she got to the point where she didn't even bother to buy them
because she was so good at killing them. Now my grandmother.... She could
make rock grow.


John:
I
managed to kill tomato plants this year
and only get 4 little tommy-toe sized
berries from my surviving 4 Rutgers
Heritage plants. My pepper plants never
sprouted their second leaves.

Ronny:
I may be remembering this wrong;but it seems a good while back you said
you have little land on your place that is not shaded? If that's
right,then too much shade will really mess with growing of things like
tomatoes and peppers.

I selected a spot with about 4 hours of direct sunlight a day. Best I could
do. After the first month, I tried a month of augmenting the sunlight with a
metal-halide grow light. No change. I had all the local green thumbers take
a look, scratch their heads and give up on what might be wrong. I fertilized
like they told me to. No weeds or anything. Just no growth. After the month
with the grow light (which did actually help a little), I computed how much
power it was consuming, pulled the plug and went back to the local farmer's
market. I really just wanted the experience of growing things again for the
first time in about 30 years.



John:
Besides, I'm not physically or medically
able to do much "mini-farming".

Ronny:
Not saying you have to;but can you manage say even one 4x4 foot or 4x3
foot raised bed? Or a few small crops grown in large containers?

Let's put it this way. Here are some pictures of my place.

http://www.neon-john.com/RV/Tellico/Cabin/index.htm

To walk from the side door to where #1 photo was taken now totally winds me
and puts my "needing a new one" right knee into so much pain that I have to
hit the pills. We're pretty sure that the winding is the onset of
diabetes-induced heart failure. Since I can't afford the roto-rooter job and
I'm too "wealthy" for Social Security to do it for me, I'm not worrying about
it, other than trying not to do things that wind me. That pretty much rules
out gardening.

Last year I got a friend to dig the holes for my 6 little plants and the 4
pepper plants. I won't bother him this year.

Growing old, regardless of my calendar age, is a bitch.



John:
To me, the greatest bargain in the world
is the local farmer's market. The second
greatest bargain is the local grocery
store's produce and meat section.

Ronny:
Those are for well to do,rich people! :-) Just kidding and I can see
myself buying somethings there. Which reminds me,I do need to buy some
garlic bulbs and get those planted! Not many,just a few. Then later on I
might buy more and overdo it! :-)

Nothing to do with rich. I can't grow an ear of corn of that quality for a
dime an ear. I can't grow a dime tomato either, if I put any value at all on
my time. In both instances, at the farmer's market, I can pick through his
stuff and get the very best, vastly better than I'm EVER going to grow. I'll
go fix somebody's telephone or sink faucet or something like that and buy my
veggies with my handyman money. Or just barter for it.


John:
Anyone who thinks that there is going to
be anything like '29 or '39 is watching
WAY too much TV news.
John

Ronny:
I don't know what will happen? And to me, that very uncertainty is one
of the best reasons for me to grow more of my own food. That plus my own
home grown food is simply cheaper,healthier and safer all the way round.
And I can know exactly how my own plants were grown and how they were
not grown.

And if we had a real crash in the US,then I don't think it would be like
1929 either; but instead,I think it would be much worse. Why? Because in
1929 there were many more people here living on farms/farmland and many
more people who knew how to grow and store much more of their own food.
We don't have that today and even the farmers we do have,few raise and
store any of their own food. So they're just as dependent on the grocery
stores as most everyone else is.


I don't care what happens to cesspools, er, cities, though I don't agree with
your assessment. One of the huge things that made '29 so bad was lack of
communications. People panicked because they didn't have any info on which to
make decisions.

As long as the net stays up (it will, even if we have to resort to pre-high
speed linked modems and BBSs), we will have sufficient information (notice
that I didn't say "news") to work with.

I was thinking about that this morning as I was occupying my, er, thinking
throne. If the government and "official" economy crashes and burns, there is
absolutely nothing to keep us from declaring our own currency. After all,
what is a dollar other than a piece of paper that represents a mutually agreed
upon value?

PayPal could have circumvented the official monetary system, had they not been
such thieving b*stards and been so greedy. They almost succeeded anyway.
Craig's List is another contender. I can see it now - Craig's Bux. I may not
be able to buy a big screen TV with Craig's Bux (at least not at first) but
I'll damned sure be able to buy food and other necessities. In this area,
there are enough Mennonite communities to ensure that.

If the power goes off, I can live without utility power for the length of time
it will take me to rig up a water wheel in the river. I already have the
parts on-hand. The only reason I don't do it now is that the forest service
nazis won't let me. During a national dust-up, they're targets and not
impediments.

I was serious when I suggested that you're watching too much "news". Or
perhaps living in a remote community like this that requires us to plan for
the worst every day gives me a different attitude. My weakest point right now
is with my prescription drugs. I'm gradually remedying that by stockpiling
them. MY goal is a year's supply. Wal-mart's $4/$10 formulary has been a
Godsend in that area.

John
--
John De Armond
See my website for my current email address
http://www.neon-john.com
http://www.johndearmond.com <-- best little blog on the net!
Tellico Plains, Occupied TN
If the letters PhD appear after a person's name, that person will
remain outdoors even after it's started raining.

.

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