So, I visited my mother today for the first time in months. She's in a nursing home about an hour away and they shut it down to visitors in March. Then she got sick with Covid-19. We didn't think she'd survive, but she got through it. However, it knocked her down and she can't get up.
Before she was walking (with a walker) freely around the hall, getting herself to the bathroom, dressing herself, feeding herself. Now she can't walk, and I'm not sure she really knew who I am. She's sad but otherwise there's nothing going on. She isn't really aware of the world and can't really have a conversation. The flame is flickering.
This has not always been a part of the human condition. Until maybe the mid 20th Century, nobody survived long in her condition. I get the account of her monthly billings from the insurance company and it's typically many thousands of dollars. Personally, I wouldn't live that way. The trouble is, by the time you get there, you can't make your own choices any more. I don't have the answer.
My mother was a schoolteacher who knew everybody in town, whose students and their parents remembered her and loved her and kept in touch. She had a worthwhile life, until my father's years-long terminal illness that pretty much squeezed the juice of life out of her. But she hung on for the next ten years. Now the end is coming.
Sunday, July 26, 2020
Saturday, July 18, 2020
The fat of the land
So I've harvested my onions and most of the garlic, and the potatoes. Everything is on the front porch now drying out. I can also pull radishes, and carrots if I want to but I haven't yet because there's still a store-bought one in the fridge. Zucchini, of course. (Do you want some?) Herbs naturally. I'm planting spinach, raab, salad greens and another round of basil in the vacated space. Pears and peaches will come in soon.
So this is just for a hobby and to get some experience and smarts. Next year I'm going big. More root vegetables, winter squash, peppers, multiple varieties of onions and tomatoes. I'm using the deep soil/wide rows method of Ed Smith, and I'll be preparing the beds in the fall. I've even drawn up a plan. Now, if they start making me drive into Providence every day it will be harder, but I think I can deal with that. I'll not work full time if it happens, for the garden and for other reasons. I think a lot of people will have settled into a new life and decided they like at least some things about it. The culture is going to be very different in many ways, I hope for the better.
Of course it will help to have leadership that is not insane.
So this is just for a hobby and to get some experience and smarts. Next year I'm going big. More root vegetables, winter squash, peppers, multiple varieties of onions and tomatoes. I'm using the deep soil/wide rows method of Ed Smith, and I'll be preparing the beds in the fall. I've even drawn up a plan. Now, if they start making me drive into Providence every day it will be harder, but I think I can deal with that. I'll not work full time if it happens, for the garden and for other reasons. I think a lot of people will have settled into a new life and decided they like at least some things about it. The culture is going to be very different in many ways, I hope for the better.
Of course it will help to have leadership that is not insane.
Tuesday, July 14, 2020
Less deep economics
We had a gay couple in the neighborhood -- neighborhood out here being a rather expansive term, they live a mile or so away from me but that puts them in a group of 12 or so households. The past tense is because they sold their house for big bucks and they're moving to Telluride.
That's news because real estate out here was very cheap. Now all of a sudden there's a demand for rural real estate. I lived in Boston for 20 years in a 1,200 square foot condo in a two family house with about 100 square yards of lawn. I sold it for twice what my 17 acres, two bedroom house, and 1,200 square foot barn were worth last time I checked. Now that may be changing. No telling if this will last or how strong the effect will be, but it's something to keep an eye on. It will be good if housing in the cities is more affordable, but not so great if they start doing subdivisions and we get even more destruction of the wilderness and suburban sprawl. So far nobody's building anything here but we'll have to see if it stays that way.
That's news because real estate out here was very cheap. Now all of a sudden there's a demand for rural real estate. I lived in Boston for 20 years in a 1,200 square foot condo in a two family house with about 100 square yards of lawn. I sold it for twice what my 17 acres, two bedroom house, and 1,200 square foot barn were worth last time I checked. Now that may be changing. No telling if this will last or how strong the effect will be, but it's something to keep an eye on. It will be good if housing in the cities is more affordable, but not so great if they start doing subdivisions and we get even more destruction of the wilderness and suburban sprawl. So far nobody's building anything here but we'll have to see if it stays that way.
Saturday, July 11, 2020
Some deep thinking about economics
Our town only has a few businesses. There's a winery that offers wine tastings, and occasional concerts and other events. A liquor store, a chainsaw shop, an auto repair shop, an acupuncturist, and a seamstress. (There isn't any gender neutral term for that, that I can think of. She is female.) There are also cornfield and hayfields, but the animals they feed are elsewhere; and two farms that grow produce. The young man next door rents a workshop from me where he makes dulcimers and other fine wood objects, and there might be other inconspicuous small enterprises I don't know about.
Anyway, that's just to put me in context. I was at the garage the other day to get some work done on my truck and I noticed that the wrecked vehicles were piling up on the premises. They have a flatbed and they get the call to pick up the wreckage when somebody drives into a tree, which happens much too often. Rand told me there's no market for scrap metal right now; they'd have to pay somebody to take it away.
That got me to thinking. The economic catastrophe associated with the pandemic has sharply reduced greenhouse gas emissions, and likely industrial emissions. There's no market for junk because there are fewer cars being made and sold. Less clothing is sold because people don't need to look sharp for work. (Brooks Brothers declared bankruptcy.) Clothing is actually very resource intensive, there's a large environmental burden to growing cotton and making synthetic fabrics. People not commuting to work and not consuming as much buys us some time for saving the planet.
The problem is, the way we distribute resources throughout the economy, at least to the non-wealthy, is through employment. And in order to employ everybody, we actually need to be wasteful. All that driving to work, eating in restaurants, drinking in bars, gambling in casinos, buying new clothing every few months, manufacturing automobiles -- that's what moves money around and keeps people from starving. And we grow most of our food on 400 acre monocultures using $100,000 tractors and ship it 2,000 miles because that actually makes it a little bit cheaper, although it also means that most of what people eat is junk. But agriculture hardly employs anybody any more.
The fact is that there are plenty of resources to meet everybody's needs comfortably, but the only means we have to get them to people are unnecessary and harmful. Most people's jobs have little or no intrinsic reward, and the harder you have to work and the more onerous the task the less you get paid. Lots of people spend two hours or more every day just commuting to work, which let me tell you is soul destroying. I could range much more broadly with this -- from music and other entertainment, which used to employ people in every town but with the advent of recording and broadcasting now supports a small number of people, a few of them fabulously wealthy, most just getting by. But in sort, mass production has replaced artisanry.
Capital intensity makes goods cheaper and drives out labor intensive forms of production. But people need fulfilling jobs, and labor intensive production generally causes less environmental damage, promotes local community, and offers more fulfilling work because the tasks are more varied and interesting, require more skill, and provide the satisfaction of making a tangible product. The logic of capitalism however tends inexorably to more and more capital intensity. The question is how we can achieve a different kind of economic order.
These thought are a bit disorganized, I know. I'm just rambling. But maybe I can sharpen it in due course.
Anyway, that's just to put me in context. I was at the garage the other day to get some work done on my truck and I noticed that the wrecked vehicles were piling up on the premises. They have a flatbed and they get the call to pick up the wreckage when somebody drives into a tree, which happens much too often. Rand told me there's no market for scrap metal right now; they'd have to pay somebody to take it away.
That got me to thinking. The economic catastrophe associated with the pandemic has sharply reduced greenhouse gas emissions, and likely industrial emissions. There's no market for junk because there are fewer cars being made and sold. Less clothing is sold because people don't need to look sharp for work. (Brooks Brothers declared bankruptcy.) Clothing is actually very resource intensive, there's a large environmental burden to growing cotton and making synthetic fabrics. People not commuting to work and not consuming as much buys us some time for saving the planet.
The problem is, the way we distribute resources throughout the economy, at least to the non-wealthy, is through employment. And in order to employ everybody, we actually need to be wasteful. All that driving to work, eating in restaurants, drinking in bars, gambling in casinos, buying new clothing every few months, manufacturing automobiles -- that's what moves money around and keeps people from starving. And we grow most of our food on 400 acre monocultures using $100,000 tractors and ship it 2,000 miles because that actually makes it a little bit cheaper, although it also means that most of what people eat is junk. But agriculture hardly employs anybody any more.
The fact is that there are plenty of resources to meet everybody's needs comfortably, but the only means we have to get them to people are unnecessary and harmful. Most people's jobs have little or no intrinsic reward, and the harder you have to work and the more onerous the task the less you get paid. Lots of people spend two hours or more every day just commuting to work, which let me tell you is soul destroying. I could range much more broadly with this -- from music and other entertainment, which used to employ people in every town but with the advent of recording and broadcasting now supports a small number of people, a few of them fabulously wealthy, most just getting by. But in sort, mass production has replaced artisanry.
Capital intensity makes goods cheaper and drives out labor intensive forms of production. But people need fulfilling jobs, and labor intensive production generally causes less environmental damage, promotes local community, and offers more fulfilling work because the tasks are more varied and interesting, require more skill, and provide the satisfaction of making a tangible product. The logic of capitalism however tends inexorably to more and more capital intensity. The question is how we can achieve a different kind of economic order.
These thought are a bit disorganized, I know. I'm just rambling. But maybe I can sharpen it in due course.
Wednesday, July 8, 2020
Potato Fruit
Yep, it's a real thing. I took a look at my potato plants today and I found what looked like green cherry tomatoes dangling from the branches. It turns out that with the right weather -- it's been humid, rainy and on the cool side here -- potatoes bear fruit. I had noticed the pretty purple flowers but didn't think much of it.
Like the foliage, the fruit is toxic. But potatoes can be grown from the seeds. They won't breed true, however, which is good for people who want to create new potato varieties -- just plant a bunch and pick the one you like. For farmers however, it might be a fun adventure to try it and see what you get, but for next year's crop, you need to stick to planting the tubers. Tubers meant for planting are called seed potatoes which makes for confusion if you try searching on line.
Tomatoes and potatoes are in the same family, along with eggplant and peppers, called the solanacaea or nightshades. Over the centuries people have bred tomato, eggplant and peppers for the fruit, and potatoes for the tubers, so many potato varieties have lost the ability to reproduce sexually and make seed. It seems mine have not however.
Even more vegetables are contributed to the human diet by the Brassicaceae, which include everything from broccoli to cabbage to horseradish to collard greens. The so-called cole crops -- brussels sprouts, cabbage, cauliflower, collards, kale, kohlrabi, mustard, broccoli, turnip and watercress -- are all considered by botanists to be a single species. By selective breeding farmers have transformed them into what appear to be radically different plants, of which we may eat the leaves, the root, the seeds, and even the flowers. So one thing to be clear about -- when you're gardening or farming, you aren't getting back to nature. You're creating an artificial environment and filling it with bizarre genetically modified organisms. And that's if you're practicing completely organic farming. Just something to think about.
Like the foliage, the fruit is toxic. But potatoes can be grown from the seeds. They won't breed true, however, which is good for people who want to create new potato varieties -- just plant a bunch and pick the one you like. For farmers however, it might be a fun adventure to try it and see what you get, but for next year's crop, you need to stick to planting the tubers. Tubers meant for planting are called seed potatoes which makes for confusion if you try searching on line.
Tomatoes and potatoes are in the same family, along with eggplant and peppers, called the solanacaea or nightshades. Over the centuries people have bred tomato, eggplant and peppers for the fruit, and potatoes for the tubers, so many potato varieties have lost the ability to reproduce sexually and make seed. It seems mine have not however.
Even more vegetables are contributed to the human diet by the Brassicaceae, which include everything from broccoli to cabbage to horseradish to collard greens. The so-called cole crops -- brussels sprouts, cabbage, cauliflower, collards, kale, kohlrabi, mustard, broccoli, turnip and watercress -- are all considered by botanists to be a single species. By selective breeding farmers have transformed them into what appear to be radically different plants, of which we may eat the leaves, the root, the seeds, and even the flowers. So one thing to be clear about -- when you're gardening or farming, you aren't getting back to nature. You're creating an artificial environment and filling it with bizarre genetically modified organisms. And that's if you're practicing completely organic farming. Just something to think about.
Sunday, July 5, 2020
The corn is waist high
True. The old saying is it's knee high by the fourth of July but we've had an exceptional growing season. After a chilly May the last frost came early. We had a bit of a dry spell that ended a week ago but otherwise very well spaced rain. My own garden is jumping. The onions, garlic and potatoes should be ready to harvest soon, then I'll fill in the beds with fall crops.
I've decided to semi-retire, at least temporarily. I've been working from home now of course, and not having to commute to Providence every day has completely changed my relationship to my land. Instead of getting in the car at 7:30 and driving while ODing on NPR, I walk down to the garden and pull some weeds or do whatever else needs to be done. So next year I'm going to go much more extensive. I'm going to get serious about it -- plan next year's garden now, prepare the beds in the fall -- I'll probably need to buy a truckload of compost since I can't make enough -- and grow just about everything I can think of.
Climate change is an unimaginable catastrophe for humanity, but it's actually good for Connecticut agriculture. Or at least it seems to be so far. But more important, the present intersecting crises have provoked many people to recognize that locality, small scale and community have to become much more important in the economy. Finding all of our food in a megamart where it came from 5,000 miles away is the wrong way to organize our lives.
I've decided to semi-retire, at least temporarily. I've been working from home now of course, and not having to commute to Providence every day has completely changed my relationship to my land. Instead of getting in the car at 7:30 and driving while ODing on NPR, I walk down to the garden and pull some weeds or do whatever else needs to be done. So next year I'm going to go much more extensive. I'm going to get serious about it -- plan next year's garden now, prepare the beds in the fall -- I'll probably need to buy a truckload of compost since I can't make enough -- and grow just about everything I can think of.
Climate change is an unimaginable catastrophe for humanity, but it's actually good for Connecticut agriculture. Or at least it seems to be so far. But more important, the present intersecting crises have provoked many people to recognize that locality, small scale and community have to become much more important in the economy. Finding all of our food in a megamart where it came from 5,000 miles away is the wrong way to organize our lives.
Friday, July 3, 2020
It didn't happen here
Yes, I've decided to try again to keep up the Windham County blog. For one thing, I'm here a lot more -- working remotely instead of commuting to Providence every day. That gives me more time for projects I've neglected, and means I'm tied more closely to this place and its people.
The most notable thing about our quiet corner in the past few months is basically, that nothing happened. While much of the rest of the country, and certainly our state, found life radically disrupted, much less so for us. For sure, people who work in casinos and restaurants, hairdressers, lots of people were out of work. But not as many as elsewhere. Our governor let most retail stores stay open, manufacturing, never closed the beaches. And out in the country here of course we all have plenty of space to go about our usual activities, visit neighbors, take a walk, ride a bicycle. We all have gardens. And the virus never really got here. There have been zero confirmed cases in my town, a total of 14 people in the entire county were officially reported deceased from the virus, and as of today, we have zero people hospitalized.
But what's different about us from rural counties elsewhere that you read about is that we played by the rules. Everybody wear masks in the stores, they all kept to reduced capacity, people keep their distance, people didn't have big house parties, the churches all closed. Of course the schools were closed as well and that was hard on people but we didn't have anybody screaming loudly about hoaxes or tyranny or protesting against the rules. Yeah, we were largely spared but we wanted to keep it that way and we did.
By the way the rural towns here vote Republican and my state legislator is a wingnut. The larger congressional district is of course Democratic as is all of Connecticut --- yes the rural areas are more conservative but not to the point of insanity. We're sitting here looking aghast at much of the rest of the country. Not that I'm feeling okay about the passover here, I'm hurt badly by what's happening elsewhere. But now as we're getting back closer to business as usual we can do it safely because there's hardly any virus out there and we can stamp out any outbreaks that may occur -- which so far hasn't happened. There's a lot to be said for doing it right.
The most notable thing about our quiet corner in the past few months is basically, that nothing happened. While much of the rest of the country, and certainly our state, found life radically disrupted, much less so for us. For sure, people who work in casinos and restaurants, hairdressers, lots of people were out of work. But not as many as elsewhere. Our governor let most retail stores stay open, manufacturing, never closed the beaches. And out in the country here of course we all have plenty of space to go about our usual activities, visit neighbors, take a walk, ride a bicycle. We all have gardens. And the virus never really got here. There have been zero confirmed cases in my town, a total of 14 people in the entire county were officially reported deceased from the virus, and as of today, we have zero people hospitalized.
But what's different about us from rural counties elsewhere that you read about is that we played by the rules. Everybody wear masks in the stores, they all kept to reduced capacity, people keep their distance, people didn't have big house parties, the churches all closed. Of course the schools were closed as well and that was hard on people but we didn't have anybody screaming loudly about hoaxes or tyranny or protesting against the rules. Yeah, we were largely spared but we wanted to keep it that way and we did.
By the way the rural towns here vote Republican and my state legislator is a wingnut. The larger congressional district is of course Democratic as is all of Connecticut --- yes the rural areas are more conservative but not to the point of insanity. We're sitting here looking aghast at much of the rest of the country. Not that I'm feeling okay about the passover here, I'm hurt badly by what's happening elsewhere. But now as we're getting back closer to business as usual we can do it safely because there's hardly any virus out there and we can stamp out any outbreaks that may occur -- which so far hasn't happened. There's a lot to be said for doing it right.
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