HOPE AND OBSERVATIONS

Up and getting ready to get after it. I am thinking about planting some Fall garlic. You can Google the ordeal and get some fine instruction if you pick this video to watch. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MYfcb3LAoX4. My dream of planting Fall garlic has always been thwarted by some damn thing that made me fear it would get tilled under. But that row under my balcony is just the place. Good soil and easily guarded. Besides, ain't anybody going to get a tiller on that slope. I know where a pine grove is that is right next to the road and will provide lots of free mulch. Watching that video I found that 73% of all the garlic consumed in this country is from China. I think I will prefer the locally grown. The wife buys bulbs of garlic from the Amish and I am sure they will germinate and give me some produce. Garlic is a survival food and pretty necessary to good health, if you are interested in that sort of thing. Eat lots of garlic and onions and echinacea and you will go a long way toward keeping the flu off your back. There are other things if you are interested. Go to my wife's blog, The Handmaidens Kitchen, and she will tell you about flu fighting herbs and food. She is at http://handmaidenkitchen.blogspot.com/ and you can score her e-mail address on the right side of the page is a column "ABOUT ME". Good luck on fighting the flu and eating good food. You will need to keep healthy in the future without having to resort to the medical system. They will be swamped and if Obamacare goes through they will be then they will be even more swamped.

The inclination of the human family is to use whatever is free and use it to the fullest. We used to have big tanks of gasoline that was free to the villagers. And gasoline was 30 cents a gallon back then. One crazy guy burned 3 or 4 tanks every weekend driving around is some old wreck he acquired that didn't get very good mileage. But when gasoline went to $1+ a gallon, that all had to stop. The cars of those who worked in the business every day were kept fueled but the extra cars were held back. When health care goes into effect, if it ever does, everyone and their maiden aunt will be gong after it. Even the homeless will be using it. Come in and complain of chest pains and you will get three hots and a cot pretty easily. I reckon that beats going to jail for loitering or illegal hanging out. But it will get used like free beer at a July picnic. I mean to tell you that free medical care will be like offering candy to little kids. It is gonna get used like there is no tomorrow. Doctors offices, clinics, hospitals, all of them, will be doing business like never before. If it becomes law then you can tally it up. And maybe we ought to have it. Beats the hell out of fighting wars and ripping off other countries and all the other things America is noted for. But our idiot gov't won't stop their adventure in overseas lands in order to benefit the people. War is too popular to give up. Profitable too.

We are getting a pretty good rain right now. Plenty of thunder to go with it. It's been going about 2 hours so far and everything is pretty well soaked.

The row I have to plant my garlic in is about 150 feet long. Plenty long enough for a garlic growing experience. Hell, it ought to produce al the garlic in the world! And it will be easy to plant. But there is a section that is shaded by a Walnut and I have been told that plants do not grow well under a Walnut tree. Anybody got anything on that? You hear all kinds of stuff but you never get a message from someone who knows, unless you are a survival blogger. Preppers will help you out! But we have good locally grown garlic and we should be able to get a crop. Crops that are from your area should give you the best results. They are already proven to be genetically suited for your weather and climate. And I am here to tell you that counts! Those humble Cranberry beans are just growing like gangbusters. I am going to give some away to the lady who runs the greasy spoon where my BIL and I eat every Saturday morning. She kinda made me a friend this weekend when she told me that she is teaching 3 young girls how to can. She learned canning from her mother and grandmother and now she is passing it on. Damn! This country needs a ton of people like that! Most folks don't know one end of a canning jar from another. Ignorant, out-of-touch people. And they can get mighty hungry this Winter and next Spring. Wife is loading up a baking pan with some BIG beef bones in preparation to making some stock for soups and such. Naturally she chunks up a couple onions to put in there with the bones to make sure it is delicious. And how many young people know to do that? How many know how to make ANY kind of stock for soups and stews and what not? Does any girl or boy know they can take the bones from fried chicken and make stock from them? Works like a charm. Make you up a cheap batch of noodles and simmer them is chickenstock and you won't need much chicken meat to have a delicious meal. And good food makes good morale. People that eat regular will work to keep things functioning.

I just read a couple of articles by a well known gun scribe, Mas Ayoob. He was giving pointers on preparing for this Fall's hunt. You can find the article on http://www.backwoodshome.com/articles2/ayoob119.html. There is also a pretty good article by Claire Wolfe on handling any breakdowns in society. Claire is an old rebel and is still in the game. Just go to Backwoods Country Home and look for her. She is a regular and will be fairly prominent in the listings of stories.

The wife is preparing a Zucchini and Hamburger casserole and it is about ready to go into the oven. Man! I like a good casserole! And this one is loaded with Cheddar Cheese and meat and other goodies and I am getting hungry just watching it being assembled.

I think I am running out of things to write about for today so I will bid you a fond farewell. Take care and stay alive.

Michael

mboone@rtccom.net