Unexpected Linkages

The apricot tree and one of the peach trees are blooming today. I am nervous that we will have a hard frost which will destroy the fruit. I guess there's nothing to do but wait and see.

Because I have a project or two in the works, I wanted to finish up the books I've been reading so that I can go on to the next. Yes, I read two books simultaneously -- 'not sure why -- but they seemed totally unrelated when I started them. By the time I was finished this week, however, I found that their subject matters converged in a most unexpected way.

The Poisonwood Bible
is by Barbara Kingsolver, one of my favorite authors, and is a fictional account of a family which went to the Congo to "man" a mission outpost with the father, who was a Minister.

The Family is a history of the Fundamentalist Organization which has managed to infiltrate the US government.

So, I was thinking I was reading one book on politics and one novel, not realizing that both books cover religion and politics. The role of the US in undermining democratically elected leaders around the world and replacing them with dictators willing to exploit their countries is central to both books. Both contained historical information, as Kingsolver did massive amounts of research on the Congo and lived there briefly as a child.

Both books taught me what I hadn't known before and both books presented challenging ideas regarding religious belief and its effect on politics.

I've read The Shock Doctrine, so I'm aware of the pattern of US involvement in regime change, but the reign of Mobutu didn't get much press here. I do remember the name Patrice Lumumba from my younger days, but didn't quite understand what happened in the 1960s in the Congo.

Coincidentally, today I listened to a podcast which related the story of an American girl who corresponded with Manuel Noriega, of Panama, before he was jailed and deposed through an American invasion in the late 1980s.

Now, if you can figure out the linkage of the first sentence of this post to the rest, you will have given your brain a workout which will serve you well.

Last Week in October

The Fall colors are at their height now and this morning's 42 degrees feels crisp.

We've had some colder days and some hotter days and a little rain and wind in the last two.

On the farm, clean-up continues in the barns, the chicken house, and around the yards. The lawns are mowed for the last time this season. All the hay has been baled and put under cover. I'm feeding whatever freeze damaged vegetables are in the garden to the chickens.

In the houses, I am cleaning and sorting, too. The freezers are full enough to get us through without having to do a lot of driving in ice and snow this winter. After more than ten years since the last move, I've finally gotten down to the last parts for furniture, like teak book shelves and a corner computer desk which have been leaning up against a wall in the basement. Once these find their places and are put together, I'll be able to do a thorough cleaning and re-organization of the basement. Gee, it feels like I've just completed a giant jigsaw puzzle.

I had the propane tanks for the greenhouse filled to provide emergency heat if it gets too cold for the small electric heaters to keep the temperature above freezing. All the potted plants are tucked in, but there remains clean-up and organization for those days when it's raining or too cold to want to work outdoors.

We also maintain a little propane at the house in case the electricity goes out. For now, electric is cheaper than propane. I finally caught on last year, when we did not need to use propane at all, that the company was routinely charging us for delivery of propane, even when the tank was full. I don't know how many hundreds of dollars -- probably more than a thousand -- were charged for propane not delivered. Although I made a complaint to the Department that regulates utilities in Virginia, nothing could be done because the Propane Industry is unregulated in the State of Virginia!

As you can probably tell, that still burns me up.

At the time I had finally caught on (I'm slow, evidently, and too trusting) there was a series of articles in the Roanoke Times about similar problems that others were having. I think the State Legislature should be doing something about regulation, but am not aware if they are. So, for now I'm monitoring the gauges on the tanks which show only the percentage left inside. There is no system of reporting usage other than the initial ticket saying how many gallons they delivered. You must more or less know the capacity of the tanks and try to extrapolate from there.

So, I'm trying.

Ta ta.

Backwards Weather

Two days ago, a sweatshirt was too hot for working in the garden. It was T-shirt weather.

As of yesterday morning, at 20 degrees F., it was T-shirt, sweatshirt, two pairs of pants, gloves, scarf, and heavy jacket weather. Naturally, the goats are making labor sounds in the barn. We're expecting snow and ice later today, so the chances are good that they will start in for real then.

In this morning's New York Times, Verlyn Klinkenborg recounts his cross-country car trip, where the mideast was flooded and he encountered snow in California.

This morning, I read an article about Walmart selling bogus organic produce, which some of you many be interested in.

Farming and Eminent Domain in Virginia

Here's a story I just read in the New Farm Newsletter about Stoney Lonesome Farm in Gainesville, VA.

It paints a rather bleak, but very realistic story of the struggle of Virginia farmers to continue to exist in rapidly developing areas.

'Seems to me that lack of comprehensive plans which recognize the need for small family farms, especially those that use organic methods, is important in an age of energy crisis. The notion that our nation can be reliant only on huge factory farms and extensive trucking of produce across the nation is muddle-headed hogwash.

Local Agricultural Politics

We interrupt our regular ag blogging to insert some ag political news from the region:

The first hot topic around these parts has to do with the ability of local Virginia wineries to continue to distribute their own wines in the region. It seems that in 2005, a federal judge decided that the VA wineries had to use and pay distributors, as they had an unfair advantage over vintners from other states.

You can read about it, here and here.

When we first purchased this farm, my husband wanted to start a vineyard and winery. We did a lot of research; learned that the topography and altitude was perfect; and took a tour of wineries in the State to learn more.

It seemed to me that the capital outlay would be massive and I was, and still am convinced that grape growing cannot be done organically, so we shelved the idea.

Others in our area have gone ahead, at great expense and labor, to create very nice wineries and steady farm income -- a laudable feat -- only to have the big boot of government come down on them from above. Public opinion seems to be on the side of the farmer/vintners for now, and hopefully, the laws will return to allow self-distribution of Virginia wines. That would promote one solid new agricultural industry in the area and, in effect, protect a lot of agricultural land from development.
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The second topic getting a lot of attention in the region is the application of “biosolids” (sewer sludge) on cropland. You can read about it here.

It seems that farmers have the right to do this in Virginia, even though in my opinion it is simply a stupid risk to take on food crops. New federal laws regulating the ocean dumping of sewage seem to be pushing corporations and municipalities to try to find new ways of dealing with sewage disposal. This is a big problem throughout the country and I hope that good solutions will eventually be found. In the meantime, I’m wondering if large flower farms might have better use of the stuff than farmers growing food crops and/or cattle forage.

Now, if they figure out a way to make BIOFUEL out of "biosolids" the problem will be solved!