maybe I should start blogging again

thinking about it.

And it's summer time

Wow, just about a whole month since I posted. Let's check in shall we? There are usually about ten things which my brain is reminding me that I need to be doing more of at any given time, including but not limited to: enjoying my "youth", reading books, saving money, saving the children, making plans, following through on the plans, not eating so much ice cream (So the grammer of that clause would be "I need to do less eating so much ice cream." yes, sounds about right), making my front yard look socially acceptable, etc. Anyway, a quick look at The Oil Drum this evening reminded me what ought to be the most urgent thing on my list: consuming less petroleum. Not planning on it, but actually doing it. I believe this is a matter of survival even more than ethics and is, as such, much more important than all those other things I want to do to enjoy myself or further adorn my personality. Here is a much-reproduced image of Hubbert's Peak, a prediction of when oil production will peak globally. See the top of the hill? see about what year it's at? People are saying it happened as early as December 2005, or perhaps last year. Google peak oil and you'll find lots better info.

I found a phrase on a different oil blog rather appropos: people like myself are living in two worlds. That is, there are lots of us who are aware of what people are saying about peak oil, especially what Jim Kunstler says about "making other arrangements" (aside from any moral imperative we may feel about environmental stewardship). We are deeply concerned about being prepared for whatever lies ahead as our economy and society are severely jolted by an ever-decreasing supply of the single most important resource-petroleum. We are trying to think realistically about what kind of options we will have as global oil supplies and in turn all the myriad petro-products become less scarce. We know that this new economy, as it emerges and once it develops will look nothing like the current manic-consumerist everything-is-fine economy we are currently watching spring-break its way into its final bullrun. For example, my job at the Girl Scouts, which I love and am sometimes good at, which I believe does a lot of good in the lives of the girls with which I work, will have absolutely no place in a post-peak economy. It will not even make sense. For one thing, it is grant-funded, and I will be shocked if there is any non-profit world to speak of after the coming crisis sets in, and foundations no longer have any stock-market revenue. In addition, my job is only feasible if I drive around constantly to different program sites spending money on a variety of consumables to provide activities and snacks to the girls, many of whom are supported by parents who are barely stable, and barely making ends meet working service-sector jobs. Non-profit professionals live off the fat of the land (not that the proportion of fat to land has any bearing on my salary, but that's another story. ahem)

Anyway, I am trying to survive in this present world, to make my life work here in Mobile, to keep a pleasant home and live my life in a way I feel is ethical while the spectre of a world to come looms in my mind. Not even in my mind. It is all over the web, all over the fancy reports of important, knowledgeable people who actually have the credentials to speak on this matter: World oil production is peaking if it hasn't already and there is no amount of ethanol or biodiesel that will save us. Even if you don't believe in the peak, you've got to admit that oil is a finite resource. IT WILL RUN OUT ONE DAY. PERIOD. So, why, I ask, are we still building suburban housing tracts and mini-malls? You can only answer this question will some illogical or just plain evil response to the tune of, "I don't like living near poor people", I don't know the definition of 'finite' and therefore assume i'll always be able to drive everywhere I need to" or "I don't care about the world my children are going to have to live in, and I'll be dead before all the really bad stuff starts to happen." There is simply no argument. If you say "Oh, don't worry, they'll find more" You are answering on a faith that deserves to join the ranks of the "God is on our side in Iraq" crowd. But I digress

So I know this, and I'm trying to get ready for the consequences, assuming my future plans will play themselves out in an unpredictable, increasingly dangerous world. i'm stumped though, and I'm getting antsy because I can't figure out how to make the transition without playing the game for at least another couple of years, crossing my fingers and hoping the good times roll on long enough for us to sell our house, cash in and buy a piece somewhere. So on with the plan: This summer I teach myself chease and yogurt making, fix up my new bike, and keep trying to convince Nathanael we have room in the back yard for chickens. Here's hopin'.

Decision 08

I've been sort of bemused by the current moniker of the upcoming election. It's as if the very idea of an actual fair honest to goodness vote is so embattled, that the powers that be are just calling it a decision this year. Anyway, as I have no television, I just watched 9 consecutive Youtube clips of the recent debate between this year's democratic candidates. Part of me doesn't like any of them and is depressed at the thought that the slickest, best funded candidate will probably get chosen and won't do anything that seriously challenges the last 50 years of American foreign and energy policy, by which I mean, the policy of enabling big business to do whatever it wants at whatever human and environmental costs nessecary. You can trace this pattern of behavior back at least to World War Two, and presidents of both parties have enabled it to the point that I'm almost over hoping for anything different out of this year's candidates.

On the other hand, I was pleased to see some measure of actual candor among some of the candidates, (that guy from Alaska, HILARIOUS) although, this immediately caused me to think, "That guy is totally unelectable." I mean, he is; despite his courage in deriding US foreign policy as a war policy, cursing twice, and saying at one point, and I quote, "we've scared the bejeezus out of them" in reference to Iran. Then there was sweet little Denis Kucinich who I think is, among other things, too short to be elected president. There's a reason he's the darling of the activist community. This guy is totally unswayed by the reality of the campaign universe. For this reason, he says all sorts of things that are totally true and obvious, but which other candidates won't say for fear of sounding too extreme, like the fact that we're in the Middle East for oil, and the fact that Dick Cheney deserves to be impeached, which I think he probably does. Part of that reality however, is the fact that people simply won't elect a president who doesn't make it clear that he has no problem shooting people and blowing up other countries. What makes this even more difficult for me, and renders me unable to revert to the convenience of indignation, is that I can't reconcile this conflict for myself. I desperately want a world where the US and it's business partners leave everyone else alone and start living ethically. Where we pull back our industrial colonization of the third world and all those angry young men say to themselves, "cool, now I can get on with it" and decide we're not worth fighting and quit blowing people up and everything's fine. At this point, however, I somehow doubt the response to a new, less hostile U.S. presence in the world would be this kind. Alot of people have suffered tremendously at the hands of US economic interests, and unfortunately, a soft cuddly America would probably, rather than warming the hearts of all those people, just invite them to give us what we deserve, which is to be blown off the map. That's really what it comes down to. Enemies of the United States are real. We created them, and they have very legitimate reasons for hating us. Given the opportunity, they will kill us and we would totally deserve it. That said, I don't want to die, and most of the people voting next year don't either, so Dennis Kucinich doesn't have a chance, despite the fact that his vision for a non-violent, humanitarian America is precisely what we need. As for Barak and Hillary, eh. I am officially over Barak. I don't think he offers anything unique policy-wise. All of the lesser-known candidates had at least one moment each where they impressed me with their command of a particular issue. So, at least there is some intellect in the field this year. I particularly remember agreeing with that guy with the creepily white hair who made the point that the real threat of terrorism is the threat of nation-less enemies and that is another reason why diplomacy with existing nations is so important. That's fine. In fact, every candidate seemed much happier talking about Iraq and national defense than any other issue, especially the environment.

The next president has to take environmental issues seriously. They must be treated with the same urgency as the War of Terror has been treated heretofor. None of the candidates impressed me with anywhere near that kind of urgency. In fact, several of them took their time allotted to answer an environment question to talk some more about Iraq. None of them has any sense of the systemic changes that are required in America to combat both the problem of global warming, and impending energy scarcity. Some lame bill that requires a tiny increase in the amount of ethanol available in this country falls pathetically short of what's needed. How about reinvigorating car alternatives in this country like public transt in cities and rail travel nationwide? How about making suburban zoning illegal? Alas, I don't think it's going to happen. Furthermore, most of the progress that's been made on any important issue in the last fifty years has been locally generated. That said, I think I'll just ignore politics altogether this year in favor of seeing what I can do on my own, unless of course, the candidates keep cursing during the debates and otherwise entertaining me.

Pictures!

Here's what's going on in the garden right now. Some of these pictures are out of focus because I can't seem to take a good picture with Nathanael's camera. These are the Accidental Poppies. I planted them last winter on a whim and then thought they had dies. As I was weeding the spinach, I realized that there were a whole lot of this one weed and they seemed to be where I had planted the poppies. Smoke started coming out of my ears and I realized the truth. This picture doesn't capture how gloriously red they are, and how they seem to float in the air when you stand at a distance. Next time, I will plant them in between something else because they kind of fall over without support. They've been blooming now for weeks with no signs of stopping. Those spikey things in the next bed are my garlic and shallots which are almost ready to harvest. This is the Rainbow Chard. Hopefully you can't see how blurry the picture is. Behind the chard are two tomatoes, some lettuce and to the left of the lettuce is mache or corn salad, a lovely little green that can take the cold and has yet to bolt during our 80 degree days. There's also a great big florance fennel that will hopefully bloom soon and attract wasps to kill the army worms that are beating up on my cabbages. These are the blooms on our Owari Satsuma. Our Kimbro Satsuma has already set its fruit so Owari is a bit of a Johnny-come-lately, but the blossoms are just beautiful and the fragrance is intoxicating. Roses don't got nuthin' on citrus blossoms for smell. This is the Giant Red Mustard. I got the seeds from the Southern Exposure Seed Exchange, a great catalog that specializes in stuff that grows down here. In person, their color is really magnificent, varying from lime green veined with purple, to purple veined with red. They're also delicious and we've been eating them at least once, sometimes twice a week for at least 6 weeks. You can see some lettuce in front that we've cut for salads at least three times already and it's still growing. Behind you can see the scarlet runner beans growing up window bars that used to be on the house when the neighborhood was rougher. The taller thing is our smallest fig tree and way in the back, around the corner of the shed are the poppies but you already know all about those.
Ok, this is Kitty sitting amongst various members of the Curcurbit family. For some reason, nothing has germinated well in this bed and I just can't figure out why. What you see is maybe one fourth of what I actually planted. Anyway, there's a lemon cucumber, two Charentais melons, one zuchinni, one yellow crookneck, 4 watermelons (woohoo, one Cheyenne Bush pumpkin (not shown) and three plants that are either weeds or the yarrow I planted. so far, I can't tell the difference, but here's hopin. On wednesday, I mulched with the live oak leaves from the front yard with newspaper underneath to keep down the grass. I'm hoping to get some okra in the bed in the next couple of weeks. In the background you can see the herb bed with cilantro that's gone to flower and also the famous mating lawnmowers which now serve to hold up the clothes line. Here we have the mighty dill that is beginning to put out it's yellow umbels. Every one of these little flowers will produce a dill seed for my pickles. It's hard to tell from the picture, but these flowers are almost as tall as me and hopefully they too will attract some good bugs to the garden along with the cilantro flowers. Last weekend I made blackberry jam: You just take a bunch of berries and a bunch of sugar and magically produce jam.
Tada!








My adorable neighbor Naden has been learning to love blackberries this season. He started dancing around in the yard when I said I was going to take his picture. Can you see all the blackberry bits on his face? Behind him you can see my collard greens, strawberries, Calemondin Orange, and a pinapple plant.
These are the men in my life: Aren't they adorable. Ok enough pictures. Mr. Courtney, for whom I used to pick kumquats, gave me a basket full of mayhaws today so I have to try to make jelly with them.

I am so tired of listening to the sound of the aquarium that Alex left in our hallway

I have decided that, perhaps tommorrow, I will set the goldfish and the sucker fish free. They're already gone wild in the fish tank which I refuse to attempt to clean. There is so much algae that I can't tell if the sucker fish is still alive because I can't see it. I have been feeding them. There used to be four sparkly fish (tetra?) but we went out of town over christmas and it got really cold and I think that killed them. A couple of days later, I saw an ominous fish skeleton at the bottom of the tank. This was gross but also hilarious and one reason why I don't like having fish as pets. If your pets could potentially eat eachother, it's a good indicator that maybe they shouldn't be your pets.

Speaking of pets, I saw a headline the other day that the FDA has approved the use of Prozac on dogs who experience "separation anxiety". This annoyed me so much, and the reason for my annoyance seems so self-evident to me that I can barely figure out how to begin writing about my annoyance. The reason for my annoyance is, however, obviously not self-evident to thousands of people, so I'll proceed. I think it's best to begin by stating that nobody can legitimately argue that anybody who made this decision actually cares about dogs. The drug companies want to make money and apparently, dog owners want to have dogs but don't want to deal with them when they actually act like dogs, and bark a little and maybe poo on the floor. It's bad enough that they're keeping a member of another species in an unnatural habitat and treating it like an accessory to enhance they're lifestyle. It's bad enough that these people approve of the idea of shutting out part of the range of life experience and its attendant emotions because they just don't want to deal with it, because it actually requires some effort to grow as a person and learn coping skills and develop wisdom (all of which are potential results of pain and suffering). But to put these two things together, that is, to project onto animals the human idea that we must medicate emotional suffering, is not only idiotic, and annoying to me, but sort of unethical, and brazenly profiteering. Why can't these people busy themselves with finding a vaccine for malaria or spend the money that was going to go toward Fluffy's meds on a nice statue of a dog, which incidentally, will not need any pills to get it to be quiet. Bleck. Or better yet, send that money to me, or some other worthy charitable cause. You could fill a book with the moronic things people waste their money on, like gigantic aquariums in my hallway that essentially employ animals as decoration. I am so annoyed.

jammin'

Today, I made 13 beautiful jars of strawberry jam. t's strawberry season down here in Mobile and Nathanael and I went to a U-pck farm and got five gallons of beautiful strawberries for me to make jam. To make this beautiful jam I had to use pretty much a whole bag of white sugar, two boxes of fruit pectin, and about two gallons of strawberries. One of the jars just popped! I can hear them in the kitchen. It was actually really easy. After you mush up the fruit, you mix in the pectin, cook it for a bit and then mix in tons and tons of sugar. Then, you put the mess into jars, close them, and boil them to seal the jars. Then, while they're sitting on the counter cooling, they pop as they become sealed. I like the noise. Nathanael has been making a batch of strawberry mango sorbet which I believe will be very good. I'm not allowed to eat t yet because it isn't all the way frozen. Nathanael also made meatloaf tonight on a whim and it's really pretty good despite being a shoebox-shaped hamburger.

I'm getting excited about filling up my shelves with beautiful colors in glass jars. This is my first full season since I learned how to can and I plan to can as many of my favorite things as possible, when they're cheap and in season. After strawberries, it will be time for blackberries and then peaches and then tomatoes and pickles. I'll make mostly grean bean pickles I think, but if we get some nice peppers in the garden, I'll pickle some of those too, and maybe some squash for the hell of it. I will never, ever pickle beets because I think they're nasty. Last year at the farm, Kyle, my fellow worker, was known from time to time, to drink beet pickle brine. Upon seeing this, I remember Mike saying "That's GOT to be good for you," as if trying to convince himself. Good for you? maybe; nasty? definately.

Late in the summer there will be figs, but I don't really know what to do with figs. I'm especially excited about the blackberries because they're 100% free. A few weeks ago they were blooming and the vines grow wild everywhere. Literally. Blackberry jam is my favorite so I'd be a fool not to try to save some of this bounty. It's weird to think that people used to spend 90 percent of their time doing work related to feeding themselves. I imagine it wouldn't seem so fun if there was no other choice. What is fun, is letting the seasons guide my appetite, spending a month or a couple of weeks gorging on a particular vegetable, and getting really tired of it so I won't want it again till next year. The only thing I can't wait for is fresh tomatoes. That, and come August, I will really want some lettuce, which is hopeless in the 100 degree heat of that time of year. After reading this, I'm sure everyone can guess what their christmas presents will be this year.

comments

Dear all (Will),
I changed the settings so you should be able to comment now without being registed with Blogger. yay!!