Alt Op. # 50 End of the year

Well, this is the last article I’ll write. This year, that is. There will be more next year, unless some weirdness intervenes.

            But what shall I write about now? Traditionally, articles, news reports and such tend to go over the major happenings of the past year and a few try to predict what might come to pass in the coming year.

            Last year gas prices went up. At one point they got near $4 a gallon or more, I stopped looking. Other sad things happened. Some good folks we will miss passed on. No not the big name stars though that is sad for their families; I’m talking about the everyday folks we will all miss meeting down at the Lone Oak Grocery, the Buffalo Grill, just passing in the street or getting e-mail from (Sorry, Boe. Even DSL won’t connect to Heaven.) Some really bad folks also left this mortal coil in the past year. They aren’t missed and I won’t waste more time on them.

            There were glad tidings as well. New lives came to give people joy. Some have two legs, wear diapers, and cry a lot. Others have fur or hide, hooves, horns or at least flowing mains and tails. Yeah, I’m an animal lover. Sue me for cooing as much over a picture of a puppy, a new foal or goat kid as I do over a baby human.

            As for next year, well, it looks to be more of the same as it is every year. We will certainly be entertained by the politicians as they jockey for position in the presidential race. Some will surly get a kick out of arguing politics with friends and family which can be an enjoyable pass time if it isn’t taken too seriously.

            I’m looking forward to spring and to planting something tasty both on my property and over at Community Seeds. I plan on trying some techniques I’ve been reading about that can let you grow tomatoes and other plants without bothering to weed, fertilize or even water them. I will be talking about these methods more in next year’s articles. After all I am an opinionated gal and happen to think these Permaculture ways of doing things is a darn fine idea.

            In fact there is only one part of the Permaculture idea’s that I have a personal problem with. You see, Permaculture believes everyone should cooperate. I can cooperate fine, but I’m also a loner at heart, with a bad habit of hauling off and trying to do things beyond by present physical abilities. Why? Because I hate waiting around for someone else to get the time to help me, then having to try to explain why I don’t want whatever it is done the way they are used to doing it.

            Hmm. Sounds like I have my New Year’s Resolutions right there. “Be more patient, especially with yourself as well as others, and try to remember to ask for help when you need it!”  What’s yours?

Nineteenth article in the LONL: Time goes by.

Wow. Look at that. It’s very nearly the middle of May already. Soon it will be June, then Graduation for the high school kids, then the forth of July will be here before we can blink! Then when we open our eye’s after that blink school and the fall holiday season will be starting up all over again.

Now, however, we have to get the last of the hot weather stuff planted in the gardens and harvest the end of the cool weather veggies. Then there are the things we can look forward to. Things like the graduations I mentioned above or the local Vol. Fire Departments annual BBQ dinner. That last will be this coming Saturday the fourteenth. They plan to start serving at five in the afternoon and keep going until there isn’t anything left to serve or folks stop showing up. (Just for y'all reading this in the blogosphere: The BBQ went great and tasted fan-totally-tastic! Ya shoulda been here, yum-mie! Don't know how much the VFD made on the event yet, just hope it was enough to keep the grass fire trucks on the road through the rest of grass fire season!)

I find myself working with the Community Seeds folks more than I’d planned. Brother Coop has some big plans for some things like a farmers market, organically grown produce and even vermi-composting. Things that I have been talking about here for a long time. I even have a chance to go to a conference on just those sort of things where I can learn more about them. Hopefully, I’ll learn enough to teach it to anyone I can tie down for the required amount of time. Should you be worried? Yep. I once was a Girl Scout. I know a little bit about tying knots. At least enough to know that untangling them can be tricky sometimes.

If you don’t know ‘vermi-’ refers to worms like red wrigglers and such. But of course if you’ve read enough of my articles in this paper you likely already know that.

Oh, about that conference I hope to go to with Brother Coop and another gal. If you want to find out about it just Google Growing Power. There’s some interesting information there.

I am just a bit disappointed with how many folks have adopted one or more of the nine 4x4 raised bed plots over at Community Seeds. I’ve been picking lettuce and spinach for my own use out of two of them. So Coop just told me to go ahead and pick one or two for my own. So I did. Wylie went with me this past Sunday and picked a mess of collard greens. He said they went down fine with beans and cornbread. I’ve enjoyed several tasty mixed green salads myself as well as cooked spinach.

Yeah. I did go over there and help plant the stuff. I’ve planted even more stuff since, especially some black diamond watermelons that I’m already drooling over and the plants haven’t even bloomed yet.

What I don’t understand is why some of the folks here in town who claim to be too poor to buy food haven’t lined up to get at least one of these 4x4 plots. Why they haven’t showed up to help with the tilling, the weeding, and the watering. All those things that must be done if you want to eat something that you’ve grown. I mean, come on folks! Dose the stuff out of a can really taste that much better that you absolutely have to get cash money so you can buy it at the store instead of growing your own.

Yeah, sure. It’s work. Sometimes hot, dusty and grimy. It also isn’t quick and you often have to wait for the season to be just right to plant or to harvest. To that complaint I say. SO. Get used to it. The way I see it with the budget crunch we are in there is no way the federal, state or even county government can feed us all much longer. I’m not even sure I’ll keep getting my Social Security Disability checks every month. That’s one of the reasons I’ve been wanting to turn my whole yard into a veggie garden and get chickens. Maybe this conference will give me some ideas on how to get that done.