QUESTIONS, POLITICS, AND THE GARDEN

Went to a meeting last night. Same old crowd. No one has an opinion. Just watching and waiting for the TV to tell them what to do. It seems like the fedgov support for unemployment benefits is what is holding this country together anymore. If they can keep extending the benefits then there will be no revolt, at least in the minds of the recipients of this governmental largess. Just like little children. As long an mommy is there with her milk they will be at peace. A sickening picture but accurate nevertheless. I sometimes despair of awakening the populace to the new day.

I put a question on the floor last night. "Do you, yes or no, think that society is going to collapse?" I got one yes and the rest were maybe's. My BIL made the statement that fear is immobilizing. Those who fear the future are shocked into inaction. They are scared into motionlessness. Thus we have a clue as to what is plaguing our friends and neighbors. But I say they have to get through this fear and come out on the other side prepared to take control of what destiny they are faced with and that they can manipulate. Getting unemployment benefits and using the money to feather your nest is not the thing to do. Sure, go ahead and get your house rain proof and heatable, but buy food and guns and ammo and medical supplies right along with that. The American dream is broken and shattered. It ain't happening any more. We are going to enter a new era of time in which we will become a helluva lot closer to our means of survival than we have ever been in the last 50 or 60 years. And Obama and his entourage is out beating the bushes for support of an Olympic Games for this country in 2016. What a waste of time and money. What an utter delusion to be foisted off to the public as news. He should have a national program of growing food in local areas in the works and getting people fed. But he has to play the role of El Presidente and fly around the globe burning fuel and spending money on frivolity. What a crock of shit. But he is a Chicago Machine Politician and he is trying to get the Olympics for Chicago.

The Handmaiden and her brother are down in the garden stripping bean plants of their pods. They will probably get another five rows or so. The wife will be eyeballing the Cayenne pepper plants and undoubtedly will bring a bag or so home. She is afraid we will get an unannounced frost and kill the plants. I am hawking the weather report to ease her fears. We have a huge amount of pepper plants and they all decided to bear after we had given up on them. We started buying off of the Amish and thinking we were clever in getting peppers even though our crop had not come in. Foolish folk we were. About 40 pepper plants are bearing peppers like crazy. You wont be able to get into the kitchen when they all get here! But the gallon plastic bags are starting to fill up with beans at a high rate of speed and it looks like we will eat this Winter. I am thankful for that, believe it.
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The Handmaiden and her brother just got in from the garden and the news is discouraging. The bean pods are wet and hard to get open. The beans are sprouting and busting out of the pods in a lot of cases. Some of the beans are soft and I must throw them out. Beans that have escaped their pods are sprouting plants in the garden. I don't think they will quite get to grow and mature. The Handmaiden and I have made plans to go to the garden tomorrow and strip it out. Wet or dry the crop is coming in. Green Cayennes included. I will get all I can out of this crop. Too precious to waste. I am having to cut open pods to shell out the acceptable beans. We will leave them out downstairs and they will probably dry a bit. Last year October was the time to shell the beans. This year it is time to sprout the beans. Crazy weather. Rain, rain, rain. It rained a little bit this morning while I was out on the porch smoking a cigarette. We shall carry on! I reckon it's part of farm life to postpone things you like and want to do when it is time to harvest the crops. You really want to the season to be over so you can go play but it is not to be this year. And that admonition goes for as long as we are tied to the land and it's bounty. Survival comes first. Always. We cannot set ourselves up for starving in February because we were stupid in October. You do every thing you can to be ready at all times. No cry babies, just get out there and do the work. You will be glad you did. The Handmaiden has suggested that we cook and eat the beans that have sprouted. She says they will not keep and we may as well eat them. They won't get any fresher.

Stay alive.

Michael

mboone@rtccom.net