Grow Your Own Food - Eat Locally

My Buff Orpington layer flock (a batch of chicks I acquired in June of 2019), along with 4 Heritage Rhode Island Reds, and 3 Barred Rocks make a total of 25 laying hens.  They are watched over by 3 Buff Orpington Roosters.  This flock is about to be joined by 19 Buff Orpington pullets and 1 cockerel from the October 2019 batch of chicks.

I’m currently getting an average of 15 eggs a day.  When the pullets begin laying eggs that will  potentially double over time.

So far I only have one egg customer and am trying to use up eggs as quickly as I can.  I also give eggs away to anyone who comes to visit.  I’m hoping to get more paying customers in order to offset the cost of grain.  I see people looking at the sign as they go by, but people have gotten into the habit of buying everything in one place, in large corporate owned warehouse or grocery stores.

That’s something we need to have a conversation about.  If you’re my age, you remember that a lot of grocery stores were owned by people who lived in the community.  Remember that?  If you don’t it’s because the mom and pop stores of yesteryear are all but extinct.  That actually came about from a corporate business practice of moving into a community and underpricing products to drive smaller businesses out.  Once they have eliminated the local competition, they can now raise prices and offer products of their choice.  Not necessarily products that people in the community want or need, or are good for the community.  People get used to the “choices” that are being “offered” to them and eventually they will buy what they are “told” to buy.  That’s why we no longer have fresh local bakeries, local butcher shops, and local grocery stores in every community.  That’s why local nurseries have mostly disappeared.  Book stores...All the local businesses that used to make up “Main Street” and “Downtown” in towns and cities, are all gone.

Okay, so what?  Where am I going with this?  This is not a nostalgic stroll down memory lane for me.  There is a point to that last paragraph.  The point is, what happens when we have a pandemic (like the one we’re facing right now) that impacts the supply chain of food?  When people panic, they hoard.  They stockpile.  And that creates a problem because suddenly food becomes scarce.

So what to do now?  Plant food.  Right now.  Plant in window boxes, on balconies, on patios, in gardens and vacant lots.  Learn to forage.  Get cities and towns to plant food plants instead of ornamentals all over the place.  Trees that bear fruit.  This is really important.  When I went into town for my usual shopping trip, I wasn’t thinking about stocking up.  But I noticed the shelves were a little barer than usual.  When I started talking to someone stocking shelves at the co-op, he told me how Corona Virus was causing interruptions in the supply chain.  I hadn’t thought about it.  My response was to buy some quick growing cold weather crop seeds.  It’s still cool here, but I could get seeds started and transplant them out.  Things that grow at this time of year will be mature in 45 days.  That’s mid to late April.  I realized that there is no time to waste here.

So I want to encourage everyone who can to grow what they can.  The smaller the space, the more intensive food production you can potentially get out of it.  No space is too small.  And we can all be a bit more creative about what we think of as a garden.

Why aren’t we growing more food locally?

An Alternate Reality: Episode 3-Making A Difference?

In episode 3 (recorded and posted on 3/3), I talk about the things I do to make a difference even when I don’t believe it will.

I didn’t go into a lot of detail in what I said about voting on the recording, mostly because I was having trouble with my recording tools and so I was distracted and didn’t say all I would have liked to on the subject.  I’ve gone into a little more detail here.

On Voting?

I don’t believe my vote actually counts.  I don’t believe it matters who I vote for because I think the people who consider themselves “in charge of the political process” are going to pick for us because they don’t trust people to choose their own leaders and they think they know what’s best for us.  Never the less, I still vote as if it absolutely makes a difference.  So even though I don’t believe my vote means anything, I still vote as if it all depends on me.

Because I will not give in to those who think they know what’s best for me, or what’s best for all of us.  They couldn’t possibly know because they can’t see through my eyes, or feel what I feel.  They don’t live my life and they don’t live yours.

I will not make it easy for “an established political elite” to rob me of my voice or my right to participate in democracy.  I vote because I think we can do better.  I vote like I believe it will make a difference.

Because some day it might.

On Climate Change

Another topic I spoke on, was what I do to actively fight climate change on a personal level.  I spoke at some length about that, so I won’t say more here.  It’s about choices.

An Alternate Reality

You can listen to An Alternate Reality at this link.

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A Word of Explanation

A couple of days ago, I embedded The Story of Stuff video into my post.  I would usually offer a few words (or 1,000) to accompany the post, but I didn't this time.  Partly because I was anxious to finish binding 6 more copies of The Golden Key for customers on our book website.

I got thinking about Earth Day on Friday because Google reminded me that there was such a thing.  I suppose if I still did Facebook, I would have been reminded much more.  But social media aside, the concept of Earth Day kind of annoyed me a little, but perhaps not for the reason you may think.

As I pondered this idea of Earth Day, I suddenly felt like it was only a pretense.  Only a sham.  It's just our culture going through the motions as we continue to destroy the thing that means more to us than anything else could possibly mean to us--The planet that supports us.  Our Home.  Our Mother.  Our beloved planet Earth.  If she loses her ability to sustain life, then we die.  I don't understand why this is not obvious to everyone.  I've been aware of the fragile balance of our environment since I was 9 or 10 years old.  How is it possible that the adults making the decisions to continue the destructive practices we have engaged in for too long would not be aware of something that is blatantly obvious to a child.  The answer to that question is that they are aware, but they have lost touch with their ability to care about consequences.

That describes a sociopath.  Sociopaths are identified as narcissistic with a huge sense of entitlement.  They are lying and manipulative, lacking in empathy or remorse.  They are charming and superficial, and live to please themselves, while disregarding laws, rules and the rights of others.

Those are the people who murder without remorse.  Those are the people who destroy without feeling.  Our society punishes 99% of the population with jail time and sometimes even by execution when they have been found guilty of engaging in those practices.

But the privileged few are allowed to go their way murdering and destroying, with no accountability for their actions.  They are also the ones running things on planet Earth.  They make the laws for the rest of us to abide by, but they--the 1%--are above the law.

Those are the things that cycled through my thoughts as I considered the social media flurry around this particular day, we call Earth Day.

As if we need a day to notice the planet.

But apparently, we do.  And I wondered how many people were profiting from Earth Day.  If I sound disgusted, it's only because I am.

But now something is giving me hope for the first time since the overtures of awareness rippled through with the Occupy Wall Street movement.  In this election cycle we are seeing something I've never seen before as a voter.  We are seeing people --both conservatives and progressives, mind you-- supporting the candidates that are outside of the norm.

And I love that!

To break out of that old routine that isn't serving us anymore.  Now that's progress.

So why did I post The Story of Stuff here?  Because the very first time I saw it, maybe six years ago now, I realized that this was a really good way to get that message out to people.  Here was a whole community of people all actively doing something to deconstruct the old ways of thinking by educating people.

I also wanted to stop censuring myself on my own blog.  I am passionate about resisting the status quo for the sake of the planet.  I think that The Story of Stuff is a good introductory video to hold a conversation around.  It's profound, non threatening/non triggering, and eye opening.

I hope you enjoyed it, and if you missed it, I hope you'll watch it.

The Story of Stuff

Please watch this video.

Naughty Girl Tag Team

I think Ruby (hen) and Esmerelda (cat) have formed an alliance with their end goal being to drive the humans insane.  Anyway, that's what it feels like for today.

From early in the morning, I have been kicking both of them out of the house.  And no, Ruby does not live indoors with us, but Esmerelda does and she's been crazy naughty all day.  In fact they both have been into things that they shouldn't be.

And at one point Mike caught them on the back porch together.  I'm sure they must have been comparing notes.  It's just been one of those days where I've spent more time removing animals from places and situations where they don't belong.

My last post was on Thursday the 7th.  We had a wonderful time that evening having dinner with friends.  It's not often Mike stops working long enough to socialize.  But he had a great time, and so did I.

Friday I went on my quest to Kiperts Korner Feed store and found exactly what I spent all day Thursday looking for.  Fencing materials, and they were 25% less than anywhere else I could have gone.  Everything was made in the US and I supported a local business, rather than a corporate box store.

Hooray!

Yesterday we spent the day getting the posts pounded into the ground and the first level of 4 foot welded wire clipped on.  After we quit for the day, I found out Mike had injured his shoulder the day before and didn't tell me how badly he was hurt.  After a day of helping me build the fence, he spent the night in agony.  Fortunately, he's much better today, but I didn't want to continue with the fence project because I knew he'd want to help.  It's unfortunate, because if I don't get those chickens into their new home soon, I won't be able to plant my garden.  Ruby got into the garden area so many times today that I lost count.

General mayhem rules around here.

Sticking To The Plan

It's a crazy ol' world.  And you can lay all that craziness at the feet of human beings.

Today I went on a quest to find 8 ft T posts so I could finally build the fence to the new chicken yard and thus make the garden safe from poultry.  You'd think I was trying to build a skyscraper from toothpicks or something equally ludicrous.

Finding fence posts...It shouldn't be hard.

But the world has gotten complicated and me, with my take on what it is to be a responsible consumer, well that just makes it that much more complicated.  I know this, but I am also too stubborn to give in merely for the sake of convenience.

I began my quest by traveling across town to the west side.  There is a Habitat for Humanity store, and I wanted to see if they had fence posts.  Nope.  But they did have my sink.  Not the sink of my dreams, but a pretty incredible one and for a great price.  So I bought it.

Then I went next door to the True Value Hardware store, because on line it said they had 8 ft fence posts, but nope.  They only had 6 ft. posts.  but I did buy a scrub brush, because it was a stiff natural bristle brush set in wood.  And with my stubborn resistance to buying plastic, I snapped it up.

Then I went next door to the Good Will store just in case they might possibly have fence posts, which they didn't.  But they did have really cheap enamel pans and I had been looking for cheap water pans for the chickens...again, not plastic.

Yes, lots of great stuff that has been on my list, but no fence posts so far.

I headed home and said a prayer that Mike wouldn't rain on my parade about the sink.  But on the way I checked out Lowe's.  They also only had 6 ft posts.  Pretty wretched Lowe's.

When I got home, I thought I'd quietly haul the sink via wheel barrow into the back yard.  No easy task, since it took two strong men to load it into my car.  (Double cast iron porcelain sink.)  I eased it into the wheel barrow, and got it as far as the back gate, when Mike came outside and gave me a hand.  He thought it was a good deal and a nice sink.  I think he was relieved that I got it at Habitat instead of at an antique store.

After telling him I'd had no luck finding fence posts, he got on line and announced to me that True Value had them.  I told him I'd been to the one on the west side and they didn't have the size I needed. We decided to try the one down town, so I called them.  Yes, they had 8 ft T posts in stock.

Hooray!  Mike and I drove into town, and he helped a young man load the fence posts into our car, while I was inside paying for them.  When I got out to the car, I noticed that the posts were different, but didn't know why.  When we got them home, I realized that they were made in China.

What's the difference? you may be asking.

Let's just say that for reasons of my own, I specifically sought out posts that were made in the US.  The True Value Website shows that the fence posts they carry are made in the US.  It didn't occur to me to check because I believed their website.  It's the ol' bait and switch.  Maybe not intentionally...but maybe?

I was angry.  You know, the kind of angry when you've been led down the garden path.  Nothing to shout about or anything, but it is typical business as usual in corporate America and it makes me mad every time it happens.

I could just keep them, and get on with my project.  But I knew I would never be happy about it.  I also knew that every time I looked at my fence I would get angry.  I told Mike that I was disappointed, frustrated and getting angrier by the minute.  He double checked the website and saw that I was right.  What probably convinced him was the sticker on the post driver that declared the product to contain toxic chemicals known to cause cancer and birth defects...Translated that means that there is lead in that there red paint.  I also wondered about the paint that was already chipping off the posts.

I told Mike I had to take them back, and he helped me load them back into the car.  He often thinks I'm crazy, but he gets this.

When I got back into town, I suddenly felt happy.  That's when I knew I was doing the right thing.

If you know me at all, you probably know that I work to eliminate plastic from my life, and try to reduce waste, and I am an advocate for organic sustainable local food production.  But that isn't all there is to it for me.  I also take my role as a consumer very seriously.  In my life time I have watched local businesses and even whole economies ruined by multinational corporations and I am not okay with that.  And it has shaped my habits and my strategies as a consumer.  It has been the reason I always choose local first, and often go without certain things for long periods of time and sometimes all together, to keep me from betraying my principles.  It is the reason I shop at antique stores and second hand stores, and the reason why if I have to buy from corporate America (which is everywhere), I want to know where the product was made, because it will be one of the deciding factors whether I buy or not.

Don't get me wrong...I'm not against corporations in general...just their practices and ethics.  There's an old saying that may be familiar to certain movie fans, which goes "Don't piss down my back and tell me it's raining."  That about sums it up.

I had no trouble returning the fence posts, but I did have trouble finding something to replace them.  So today I struck out at seven stores.  Even at the big box stores.  So add totally disgusted to the list of emotions experienced in the quest for the simple domestic 8 ft T post.  It's just fence posts for God's sake, not a rare mineral or secret plans or a living coral reef (since we're mentioning hard to find items here).

I returned home totally defeated, and told Mike that I would have to try Lewis County or Mason County next.  Then I suddenly remembered something..."What's the name of that little farm store on highway 99 out by the airport?"

Mike didn't know, but he found it on line.  Kipperts Korner Feed.  I called and this time I asked all the pertinent questions.  "Do you have 8 ft T posts in stock?" "Yes." "Are they the green and white made in the US posts?" "Yes."  "I need a dozen.  Do you have that many in stock?" "We have 500 of them in stock."  Now that's my idea of a farm store.  In response to my enthusiasm, she said "I love it when I give all the right answers!"  I told her she was a blessed angel and that I would be there in the morning.

And Kipperts is local.  Maybe that's why they carry what people need instead of what they want to force us to buy.