The major currencies appear to be at War. There are no rules, and no way to predict what the various Central Banks might do... and they appear to be doing them every day.
The stealth rally in Oil might be here for a while...
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I heard some reports that there is a big drawdown in offshore oil storage that's underway. That could explain the move in oil prices since it means demand is outpacing supply in the last few weeks.
I have two pigs freezer ready, 1/2 dozen laying hens and a year's worth of feed for them. I have 300 pounds of potatoes, 50 squash, a full load of carrots, beets and turnips ready for the root cellar. 100 pounds of honey has just been harvested. The pantry overflows with jams, pickles, fruit and sauces. I have a year's worth of wheat, oats, sugar, oats and corn. The wine is fermenting as is the kraut. I don't owe anybody anything. Still I find myself with this feeling of dread today. I can't decide if I'm glad I'm no economist or if I wish I knew more.
Kathy:
No need for dread! You have it all.
I had a really, really good year on the farm. For the first time I can say with great sincerity that we produced over 75% of our food (by calories, perhaps a little better). Every year, I find I like the lifestyle more and more...and thankfully, my wife has come to think she prefers the farm to suburban living.
I know we have talked about it... my next project is bees. I have built a small hive box and need to put the hanging folders in and get some bees. I am excited about it.
I have to say that I prefer to have a milk cow to milk goats. My cow trained beautifully and gave us far more than we could consume. We made our own butter and Muzzeralla... I had sticker shock recently when shopping in South Florida... butter was $5 per pound.... our cow gives us half a pound every day!
We still have 20 milk goats, but I got a KIKO buck to breed them bigger and I am going more for a meat herd than a dairy herd.
Ms. Piggy had 9 piglets. I gave the biggest male to my friend that lent me a boar to breed her. We are going to raise the other 8 and sell 6. Our 500 pound pig from last March is nearly gone, but we have another barrow ready for the freezer.
Our sweet potato harvest was nothing short of outstanding - 10, 5 gallon buckets filled to over flowing - those came from planting 15 sweets that were sprout directly into the ground (no slips). I think the South is more conducive to Sweets than to white potatoes.
Next up - a wood stove.
OUr hard lesson on the farm this year was NEVER use cedar shavings or sawdust with chicks - we lost over 125 chicks to it. We lost another 150 chicks to a marauding animal - I had to do in several skunks, cats, raccoons... but the killing stopped.
BTW... if you eat your own dual purpose chickens, anything over 8 months is a soup or stew bird no matter what... just too tough.... but under 8 months they are tender enough to roast if you leave them in the fridge for 2 to 3 days.
Kathy... I have gained so much confidence in our life at the farm that I feel our family could weather any storm. What I know now compared to April 2006 (5 growing and harvesting seasons) is light years apart. What works, what doesn't, what's profitable and what's not, what's efficient and what's a waster of time and money... I think I have a pretty good handle on...
I've been waiting for the Euro to hit 1.20 because I wanted to buy a fancy European Ventile Jacket. Doh!
I had to hurry and buy it, before currencies and everything else goes (more) crazy.
We had a sad potato harvest of both whites and sweets. The drought about did them in. Fortunately, we have neighbors with good crops and willing to barter for labor and honey. We love our bees. This is the first year we will make any money. We're concentrating on the value added things like creamed honey and votive candles. Lots of profit and moderate effort. The pigs look terrific. We're out of bacon so the butchering can't come too soon. We rendered lard last year and that has worked out well. We're looking now a good all purpose cow. I agree with you about the butter. I buy in bulk every three months and I could not believe the increase. I'll be in Florida to do a keynote speech next month. Then I'm putting away the suitcases. I hate to travel. The farm has a hold of me.
My splits did wonderfully this year and are still going strong. The fall flow was amazing from a bee stand point. I should have enough hives to begin production next year.
My potatoes, corn and peppers didn't do well however :(
Well the peppers did bounce back but they almost refused to produce until September this year.
Next up for me is chickens and a decrease in sheep. The sheep are proving to expensive overall just yet. I am a bit apprehensive on the chickens as well because I remember as a boy that the predators, especially raccoons, just devastated them.
I wonder how well American companies heavily invested in China will do in this currency war?
Kathy:
Where are you speaking?
I'll be speaking in Windemere at a fundraising event for an agency that provides services to children in foster care. In my other life, I'm a child advocate and speak often at events like this. I do it, in spite of hating the travel and not ever making enough money to justify the pain in the neck of being away from home, because I fear that these kids, already at the bottom of the heap in so many ways, will not fare well in the coming hard times. Any support thrown their way matters. As you know, I'm an adoptive mom to four girls, two of whom have serious special needs. I know that social service work has a black eye in many places but I still believe that we have an obligation to care for those who can't care for themselves. It's the reason I am so conflicted when the abotion debate rages. I see the other side. The lives of too many children are so filled with despair and pain. I wish every person who considers all life sacred would step up and support kids like mine, kids with needs that require constant intervention and government provided services to live lives of any quality. You can't say that all children deserve the chance at life then refuse to spend the money to care for them properly. I don't want this to devolve into an I'm right, you're wrong exchange. As I say, I'm conflicted myself. I love my children but I know that there are those who resent how expensive they are. The school my daughter needs costs $67,000.00 a year with transportation. Without it, she would be hospitalized at much greater cost and have no quality of life. My youngest has a feeding tube and uses expensive formula. I wish I had real solutions. I can only follow my heart. They're here and they deserve care but I know people resent it. I still fight to get them the best. I homeschooled for years to try to avoid the theraputic school. Ah well.
Kathy,
In a country that is still working on spending ~$1 Trillion on war and the same for bailing out an oligarchic elite on Wall Street, the $67,000. for your child is a nothing.
Thank your for walking your talk and taking on a huge lifetime challenge in raising those kids.
Thank you, also, for understanding that saving a foetus is not enough.
When a baby is brought into the world, we all have an obligation to see that baseline needs are met. That includes food, shelter, clothing, and good education.
Thank you for walking your talk!
Rational Liberal
Don't you just love how the most ardent pro lifers are the ones who oppose the social benefits to the poor such as food stamps? Pro life all the way until it takes a dollar out of their pocket...
Please don't let this devolve into an us vs them thing. In my experience, we all have good reasons for our beliefs and most of us are good people just trying to do the right thing while holding fast to a value system. I don't fault anybody for a strongly held pro life stance. I just wish raising some of these kids didn't have to be so darn hard and that there could be more understanding and respect for the reasons we feel as we do.
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