How Technology Almost Killed Mixed Farming

Technology has a way of changing the very fabric of our society, usually without our even noticing. Some major changes to western agricultural technology occurred in the 60's and 70's thanks to the development of two machines. As with all technological shifts, these new machines were intended to increase farm productivity and profit potential, while reducing the amount of human labor required. The two machines were the combine and (later I think) the swathing machine.

Before then, but since the industrial revolution and the proliferation of machines, grain harvesting was accomplished by an involved process. I'm proud to say that I am one of VERY few in my generation in North America who can say I know and have taken part in it. The first step in the process was using a horse (and later tractor) driven machine called a binder. This machine cut the ripe lengths of grain and tied them into simple bundles or sheaves. These bundles were piled on a small one ended rack which could be lowered to the ground. Friction would then pull the pile of bundles off, leaving them on the ground and the rack would lift back up to receive the next pile of bundles. At some point, someone would come along and rearrange all those piles of bundles into "stooks", or upright tipi-like structures which allowed the grain stalks to finish drying.

Once the stooks had enough time to dry, carts were driven through the fields and each bundle was pitched (yep, with a pitch fork) into the cart. Then the cart would be brought to the threshing machine where each bundle would be tossed into the front, to then be separated into grain and straw. In a lot of ways, this was ideal for the mixed farmer. This is why you used to see wooden granaries in groups of two or three, with some space in between each group. The grain could be funneled into a granary and the straw blown next to the granary, into a large pile. This straw would then be used as bedding for the herd through the long Northern Winter.


* Thanks to the website from whom I borrowed this picture. There are several old pictures of this process out at the farm, but I have not yet gathered them for scanning.

By the time I was a part of the process we were already switched to using a tractor instead of horses and/or steam engine, so we basically did it all ourselves. We also used an actual grain truck instead of the tiny grain wagon you can see in the picture above. We still have one of those grain wagons on the farm still though, not totally dilapidated yet (gosh I need to get at saving it somehow). Before I was old enough to help (and I admit I was not made to work until I was fairly old, compared to my dad for example) dad would hire a fellow to help him, and mom did her significant share of course. I never saw the days of the wandering harvest workers but I know the days were long and brutal and the pay was not much. I also know that even though we used machines, the days were long and hard and exhausted both of my parents. I think a lot of the reason I look back at it was such fondness, is that I was allowed to watch or play, I didn't have to start working my ass off at 8 years old like my dad did. I can understand why it is hard for my dad to look back at those days with much fondness, where I find it kind of...magical I guess.

But back to my point...

The introduction of the combine meant that all separation could be done in the field and all that "waste" straw could be chopped finely and blown back onto the field. Priority could finally shift to maximizing either grain or livestock production, and the benefits and alternate efficiencies of mixed farming were soon forgotten. Now grain farmers had to buy manure from animal farmers and animal farmers had to buy food for their animals from grain farmers. This created a market for alternate options like synthetic fertilizers and chemical herbicides which were cheaper but of which we are also now seeing the results. This allowed for the proliferation of "middle-man" enterprises which were ripe for absorption by the new large-scale industrial corporate agricultural sector.

So, the result of not truly pondering the outcome of technological advancements, the result of ignoring wisdom and avoiding forethought, is what we see now; a global choke-hold on sustainable agriculture and a massive struggle in front of those of us who recognize the real necessity of local, sustainable agriculture.

The Return of Codex Alimentarius?

When I became aware of the Codex Alimentarius concern, the biggest detail which made this seem a "conspiracy theory" to me was the very specific date of implementation offered by some of the loudest warning voices. Apparently on December 31, 2009 the full range of this global, UN-driven policy was supposed to come into effect, removing or almost totally restricting the ability for the general public to attain natural foods, dietary supplements (vitamins and minerals), and natural non-chemically derived medications. Then within the next year, and subsequent years, billions would die (I also find it hard to believe that these massive corporations would willingly and rapidly wipe out the vast majority of their customer base).

BUT, I have no difficulty at all in believing that these corporations would do whatever it takes to keep as many people as possible needing to buy their products. History has shown that morality rapidly disappears from societies of people beyond some general size in number. This doesn't mean that all individual members of the society see their morals vanish, but that of the society itself does seem to. This is especially the case in corporations, where the very basic purpose of the thing is to derive profit for the (and especially certain) members of the society.

So I went and tried to read Codex. I did read some of the documents and know that I should read more, but to focus on it too much would drive me mad. It is exceedingly long and detailed and indescribably boring. But some of it is pretty scary, such as the amount of attention paid to detailing what chemicals, toxins and otherwise, which were allowed in any specific product. Not getting rid of the toxins, but determining how much was considered safe to consume. And no discussion, that I saw, of the problems with overlapping various combinations of these "safe" amounts. From what I read, it did not seem so much a manual for wiping out huge swaths of humanity but for keeping them just going on in an increasingly toxic environment, internally and externally...and keeping them addicted to large-scale corporate goods.

It seemed to me that, as with all large scale control mechanisms, for one such as Codex Alimentarius to be implemented successfully it would mean doing so gradually, so as not to overly arouse the masses. One of the first specific concerns about Codex was the push for Bovine Growth Hormone to be used in ALL cows, thereby being introduced to all Beef and bovine dairy products. This has been, at least temporarily, avoided in most of the world.
Canada also has a bill in Parliament now, I cannot remember its "name", which speaks to this issue...apparently on the side of Codex. C-somethingorother has been talked about for a few years now. Personally, I thought it had disappeared as well. Silly human, losing focus...

But then, a week or so ago I heard about a National Post article which was supposedly about Canada banning the sale of all natural dietary and health products. I figured that I should have a look for this article, but kept getting distracted (very sore neck, Olympics, etc). Well today I found it and it looks like another quiet step towards restricting natural products.

The article is here (at least as this is being written).

What it actually says, and I find problems with both sides fo the debate, is that Canadian Pharmacy regulators are asking that Canadian Pharmacies do not sell natural remedies which have not been licensed by the Canadian government. I'm not sure exactly to what extent this means...is Vitamin C a natural health remedy? Can I not buy echinacea at Save-On anymore because it contains a pharmacy?

In some ways, I can see why such products might need to be regulated to a certain extent. It would be pretty easy to label any garbage as some kind of natural remedy or product without SOME regulation, especially as things are now when there is just no way one individual can properly investigate the origins of everything they consume. But at the same time, Big Pharma and other global corporations like to keep us needing more and more of their crap and to see their crap regulated less and less. I can't speak for everyone but I know on which side I stand. We don't get to demand to be taken care of, we have to take responsibility for ourselves or we lose our right to be....simple as that.

Anyway, I don't really have the time to go off onto a rant here, although it is tempting! I just wanted to point out that winning one battle doesn't mean we can let down our guard. Those who want control will always keep prodding to see what control can be taken. As much as I wish it were not so, some of us have to stand ready to oppose that control...and to be wary of becoming it ourselves.

Peace and comfort, brothers and sisters.

Red Worm Update

Well my little Red Wiggler breeding experiment continues to move along successfully but, as with most such ventures, there have been stumbles as well. Primarily, the opportunities for learning have come in regards to temperature, moisture...and bugs.

I believe that the temperature and moisture issues have actually been working together. My first bin often needed water added once in awhile, but the 3 main ones that I have been running lately have all become quite soggy in the bottom, despite having drain holes. One of them was actually draining some water out, including some VC and even some worms. I had to retrieve the wanderers or they'd have eventually drowned. The other two bins merely got soggy in the bottom and I have had to do plenty of stirring and adding of absorbent bedding in order to avoid smelly anaerobic activity.

I suspect moisture issue had two causes. One is simply that I have been feeding the worms things that have had a higher moisture content, like cast-off pumpkins from our fall harvest. The other factor is temperature. The one main bin that I have had here in the condo has been by far the least soggy of the three, whereas the worst of the three seems to be the bin that has been sitting on the cool floor of the basement at my parent's house out at the farm. So I think the trick is going to be keeping them off the floor and, if I can, away from the cool walls. These cooler temperatures really seem to slow down the activity of the worms, both feeding and breeding. Now that I have eased off on the feeding of water-heavy things to the condo bin, I am starting to see some very nice and nearly finished VermiCompost that should be ready for use in the greenhouse within a couple of months. Hopefully the other two bins will catch up quickly.

The more frustrating issue has been bugs.

In the last update I wrote about the fruit fly infestation that I was fighting. Well no sooner had I won that battle than I had an infestation of small manure flies which came from some dry cow patties that I brought from the farm. These little bastards are tiny things that like to come to my computer desk and fly up my nose when I am working or watching something. I don't know of any way to get rid of them other than to remove all food sources and let them die off, which is hard to do when trying to actively breed bins of worms in my condo. However soon I will be able to move the bins from here back out to the farm where bugs are much less of an issue. Let this be a lesson, however. Don't bring manure into your house unless it has been properly composted already. Its a lesson I should have known already but I am a boy after all!

But if you're wondering why I brought the cow shit into the condo, well, it makes GREAT longer term food and serves as bedding. As bedding it can come in real handy for sopping up excess moisture if the manure is very dry. And of course, plenty of bedding over top of added food that might attract bugs is always a good way to not attract them in the first place.

The Name!

One of the most important parts of doing business, be it industrial, commercial, agricultural or what-have-you, is having a good name. Even if the goal is building an intentional community, its usually important to have a good name. So one of the things in the back of my head when thinking about moving the family farmland forward, has been what name to call the thing. My own company has a relatively bland corporate name as it was never planned to be involved in marketing of any kind. But the farm project needed something good.

Well I think that mom gave it to me today.

I am not going to really get into it now, or tell the story of how SHE got the name, I just wanted to report this happy step forward. The story will be told, but I think I will save it for telling when I reveal the new Jackson's Corner website, which will happen before too very long.

Yep, it's looking like the home place (at least what we still own) will soon come to be known formally as Jackson's Corner or possibly Jackson's Corner Farm. Since my own personal goal is for it to become an intentional community (in time), and because I think adding "Farm" is kind of overdone and a bit redundant, I am tempted to leave it off. Feedback would be highly appreciated, however.

And yes, the farm website will have a blog section and that aspect of this blog will cease to be. I'm sure I will keep this blog around for its original purpose; ranting, news-sharing/discussing, and the search for balance and wisdom, but all the farm stuff will shift to the new site. Blog friends and regular readers will obviously be invited to the new site when it is up and running. But like I said, that could be a little while yet.

For now, back to more research and learning. Peace and comfort, all.

Farm Update

Other than the Great Owl Massacre I have not reported much from the farm in awhile so I thought I would remedy that now, seeing as I am not sleeping anyway.

It has actually been a rather slow winter seeing as the cattle herd is small. If it were not for the hens and their shed needing to be cleaned every 10 days to two weeks I probably would not really be a lot of help this winter. The last two winters have required quite a bit of snow blowing but this year we have not yet had to break out the blower. It has even been warm enough to use the tractor on some days. Just yesterday I spent 4 hours in the tractor doing some chores and clearing some snow. This is the first snow that has been moved so far this winter. Rather disconcerting considering the extreme droughts over the last two summers. If we do not get at least half again what we have now OR some decent spring rains (which we haven't seen as long as I have been back, at least 5 years) it could be a very bad year. I have actually started looking at farmland for sale in Ontario. If precipitation does not pick up here in the next two years, it may be time to consider relocating. I will likely be writing about this subject more soon.

For now though, my focus has been on reacquainting myself with the important details of working with animals on a daily basis. I have kind of a weakness with maintaining attention to reoccurring details over the long-term so it is important that I find ways to deal with this now. On the path I am choosing, one cannot just decide at the drop of a hat that a few days away from work is needed.

Getting back to the Great Owl Massacre for a moment, I thought I'd share a couple more pictures. Don't worry, none of them will be of the pile of carcasses that I drove over to a stand of brush for the ravens, crows and coyotes to deal with.


This is the original screen. In all honesty, I kind of see this as my fault since the screen was not able to be properly mounted in the window so it was just kind of jammed in place at the top. I didn't think of the possibility of some bird of prey tearing through the screen but a weasel could have easily climbed through so I should have just made the end fix then...and saved the slaughter. Ah well, live and learn.

This is the gate that I closed after the horse was out, so to speak:


This window should now be predator-proof. As soon as we get above freezing for a couple of days, I have to re-work the rear exit holes as they are not so secure currently. Happily, the ladies started laying again the very next day. It was a bit of a trickle for a couple of days but, to some surprise, they were pretty much back to their same rate within a week. I think they are currently giving about 5 or 6 dozen a day. Not bad for what I think is 75-85 birds.


Back in October, we added these four female weaner pigs to our menagerie. I meant to introduce them back then when I took this picture, but I did not get around to it until now. This is the first time in over 10 years that pigs have run about on our farm, and they have been missed greatly. These girls are intended to be meat but I suspect we may keep one or two to be bred. They are also the first pigs that I ever remember being fed hay in the winter. In the past I only remember feeding them "slop", a mixture of water, milk, kitchen scraps, fish oil, and a dash of apple cider vinegar (my dad's utility supplement for animals and people, long story), all mixed with ground barley. Thanks to the learning I have done recently, however, both the pigs and hens are being treated like the grazers they are and having their winter diets supplemented with hay. Both are loving it. Here is what the girls looked like as of mid-January:

They are growing quite impressively I must say. They are confined in a pen but it is of decent size and there is a thick layer of straw and hay at the "living" end (where they do all but crap) that they have taken to rooting deeply into, revealing and assisting in the compost activity happening about a foot down. Come spring I am considering setting up a temporary pen over in a spot that I would like to remake into a market garden plot. Then, when pig-breeding time comes, this will hopefully be the spot that we will use for one year. This will let the sows and their piglets work the space up for us a bit as well as add some good fertilizer.

I was going to talk about the worm bins some as well, but I think I will leave that for another post of its own. Until then...

Peace and comfort to all.

The Haitian Response

Just yesterday I made reference to peak oil, an issue which I have come to take seriously over the last couple of years, and my sense that it might soon come to affect our lives severely. Today I must say that I am no longer so sure of the immediacy of this problem. My reason for saying this is one that also helps to explain something that I have been wondering for the last couple of weeks.

It bothered me that this was the case, but I have been very curious what was inspiring the overwhelming response to the recent Haiti disaster. Now, this is not to say that I believed the human response to this disaster was unwarranted...far from it. But the truth is that this kind of thing happens fairly regularly with nothing like this kind of response. Of course people try to send money and food and such but rarely is there such a "high level" response. By "high level" I mean several thousand US troops and vocal involvement by names like Bill Clinton and George Bush. By "high level" I mean the Canadian government deciding to match all support fund-raising dollar for dollar. Wouldn't it be wonderful if there was such response to all catastrophes?

So what makes this Haitian disaster particularly special?

This article by F. William Engdahl at globalresearch.ca lays out an answer that makes a great deal of sense, even though it is...well...maddening.

The Razor's Edge

I doubt I am the only one who feels a strong sense of walking a razor's edge, both personally (in my case at least) and at a global level.

On a personal level, the edge is financial. Without going into too much detail, I will just say that my and my family's financial situation is somewhat precarious. Our resources have grown very thin and the opportunity for income is still restricted until some kind of short term operating funds can be arranged. Obviously this is a sticky situation since the vultures are eyeing good farmland all around the world. I hate to think that we might have to sell more land in order to continue with what is left...just doesn't seem wise in the long term. I will do just about anything to avoid that.

But on a global level, I cannot help but feel that all this personal stuff might be moot. This is where I feel the razor's edge analogy fits best. Anyone who is looking at the world through rational and truly honest eyes knows that the economic situation is highly unlikely to be on the path to a stable recovery. Quite the opposite, we are waiting for the other shoe to drop...that shoe which threatens to crash right through the floor when it finally falls, likely taking the whole house of cards down with it.

Then there is the increasing tension between the world's powers, this tension heightened by issues such as climate change, peak resources (most importantly peak cheap energy), and understandable concern about the aforementioned economic situation which is also fueled by the first two listed issues.

And all this happens as the world's greatest power seems to be marching right toward being the most recent failed Empire. We all know these empires do not go down easily so the increased police state style measures are hardly surprising, but still terrifying. Nor is it surprising to see this crumbling Empire engaged in significant foreign military activity. Only this time, a major global conflict is likely to be like nothing we have ever seen before. Yet still swords are rattled, threats made, intrigue plotted. I can't help but feel closer to this catastrophic conflict that at any time growing up in the 70's and 80's.

All told, its a little hard to get up and get going some days. Thank goodness I am not in a city, I think I might go mad.

Thoughts From Catching Up With An Old Friend

I just got off the phone with a close friend of mine from the end of high school and the first few years of college. We haven't spoken in some time, he's been married and is now divorced with a young daughter, but his is one of those voices that I think will always make me smile and bring back fond memories. But speaking with him also reminded me of how far I have drifted from the "expected" path, from the fairly typical path taken by someone of my generation in my location in the world. And it reminded me of how crazy I think that "expected" path is making people.

The lyrics of the song "Suspicious Minds" keep coming to mind, voiced by Dwight Yoakam in my head, "Caught in a trap, Can't walk out...".

Nearly all of my closest friends have succumbed to the modern western trap. I guess it should not even be called western anymore, since our style of insider capitalism has spread throughout most of the world. But I digress.

It pains me to see so many of those who have been close to me, so deeply attached to an unnatural corporate/industrial existence. They are programmed by their televisions and the billboards that are nearly unavoidable. They are jaded parents, passing on their habits (usually concentrated) to their children, guiding them right into their own little cages (complete with exercise wheel!). They mean well for the most part, yet it is too easy to remain asleep, to ignore the fact that they are constantly driven to commodify every aspect of life, down to the very basic needs.

And then there is the fact that "the system" is set up to punish those who refuse to take the bait, who refuse to stay in their cage. Certainly anti-social behavior, especially that which is inherently harmful or destructive, should be dealt with but we have obviously reached the point of ridiculousness. Anyone following the tribulations of the Ontario farmer who makes raw milk available to those who want it must surely agree that this point has been reached.

And if we have reached that point, perhaps we have already begun the long slow swing back towards common sense and balance. People ARE returning the land, perhaps at a more sustainable pace than was seen during the 70's. It is my hope that this will continue and even increase; that we will explore ways to use permacultural type techniques in order to allow a higher density rural population all the while managing impact on nature.

I sure hope that some of these dear friends of mine are able to find the strength make some of these priority shifts. I wonder if that is overly selfish of me.

The Owl Massacre

Now that the dust has settled, so to speak, and because visitors here have been surprised at the carnage caused by one owl, I thought I should write a bit further on what may come to be remembered as the Owl Massacre of '10.

This kind of situation is rather rare for a few reasons, one of the biggest reasons being the sheer amount of deaths. Owls don't usually get much opportunity for mass kills in one location at the same time unlike, say, a weasel which might often get to corner several mice. So let's look at the thing from a few steps back, both at what has been observed and from there to what likely happened.

Our farm is out in the open, the nearest tree stands being at least a half mile off, so owls have not usually been a problem. We see them fairly often but when they are around they tend to avoid the building cluster and hunt in the fields or down on the lake. Lately, however, a small flock of pigeons (cursed rats of the sky) has taken up residence in our barnyard, often hanging out in an old barn (that is no longer used other than storing some hay) or in our "chop" bin ( an old central building used for ground or rolled feed storage). A couple months back I found one dead pigeon in the chop bin, laid out in as a fine finished feast just inside the door. At the time I marked it up to a stray cat, but I have since changed my mind.

Yesterday I noticed that I could only see one pigeon nearby. So, I am thinking that all the coyote activity nearby is starting to knock down the local mouse population and this owl has been drawn closer to the buildings, to get at these fat, dumb pigeons. Then, having decimated their population, it took notice of the loud clucking sounds and the yummy chicken smells emanating from that small window glowing bright in the darkness of winter evening.

I had been told that the owl had pulled the screen off of the window in order to get into the building, which I found somewhat amazing even though it was a tad lightly secured. But when I got there yesterday I saw that the screen was torn from its frame up in one corner...the owl had torn its way through and just knocked the frame loose as it scrambled in.


Now when I was first told that 61 hens had been killed my first thought was back to years ago when a mink got into our coop one winter, and proceeded to slaughter most of them. I knew that owls tend to be a snatch and fly off sort of predator, poorly designed for multiple kills, but I still envisioned some kind of slaughter. Then dad mention the owl's wingspan and I got to wondering how many necks might have got snapped just in a couple of blows. Sure enough, when I got to the farm, I didn't see one bird that looked to have been killed with beak or talon...although I must admit that it was a big pile and I didn't see all of the birds. What likely killed most of them was actually being smothered. The sound of the owl tearing through the screen and then suddenly scrambling through will have sent the flock into a panic, which results in crowding into corners. As a matter of fact, when dad got there the first time, the owl was actually just sitting up on one of the roosts. He hit it with something, I can't remember what he said, and went to get a shovel to finish it off. When he came back in, it was back up on the roost. So apparently it was not in any kind of killing frenzy...it just didn't know how to get out or it would have grabbed a bird and been gone.

This was a real shame but it was not as devastating as it could have been or even as it first seemed. I wonder if we shouldn't have processed another 25-30 birds for meat, as the building was filled about to the maximum, if not slightly over. It is now no longer an issue at all, and, thankfully, most of the girls have already started laying again. At this point, Mom feels she should be able to continue to service her existing client base although any real cold spells might knock their production down...since their numbers are down and the room will be slightly colder. So I guess later this year we can learn how to add pullets to a mature flock without them all getting killed. I'll have to get on adding the straw bale addition to the north end, so there is more room inside next winter.

That's about all I guess.

The Final Straw?

My family doesn't tend to fare well in the luck aspect of life. Considering the devastation in Haiti and other parts of the world we should not feel too bad for ourselves, but man oh man does that get hard sometimes.

I just got off the phone with a rather upset mother. It seems that an owl pried the precariously mounted screen off the window that I put on the chicken coop, and got in. By the time my dad went to shut them in for the night, the owl had killed 61 of our hens. Sadly, the bird lost its life instead of getting to enjoy the free buffet it thought it had found. It had to die though, or it would have been back over and over.

I'm sure as hell not looking forward to the trip out there tomorrow, and learning which of my favorite hens are gone...

So this sets the fresh egg business back by over 1/3, at least, until no sooner than next fall. It might actually put the operation back longer than that, since it is likely to mean the need for a new building and pen. Money is beginning to grow very tight, so this may not be possible. It might turn out to be the straw that broke the camel's back too, if it puts my dad into a negative outlook as is very possible.

I guess we'll have to see...

First Offering of 2010

Welly, welly, well, my little droogies. Here we are 14 days into a "new" year and barely a peep from your friendly neighborhood SoapBoxTech. I hope I will be forgiven for the stolen lines but part of the reason things have been so quiet here is a bit of a lack of inspiration to write. I do feel a bit of "groove" returning however, so we'll see how things go.

I recently finished reading a book that I received for Christmas from my excellent-gifting little sister, which presented some reality which can be a tad discouraging to some of us who are trying to return to an agrarian kind of life. "The War in the Country", by Canadian author and journalism professor Thomas Pawlick (writer of "The End of Food" as well) lays out some compelling evidence of government support for large-scale industrial agriculture operations, as opposed to smaller local operations, in Ontario and by extension, the world in general. I am not interested in trying to review this book, but I do suggest that people try to give it a read and pass it along to their perhaps less aware friends.

From my perspective, I think the situation might even be worse here in Alberta. With a significantly lower population there is less opportunity for local producers to build alternative local markets, and it seems to me that agricultural evolution here has led to the development of some massive and influential industrial grain and livestock operations here yet which remain family run and "local". This means that the strong rural vote here in Alberta still tends to side with what more and more people seem to finally be recognizing as very harmful practices; morally, ecologically, and nutritionally. In these cases, the "we're just trying to feed our family" defense is repeated ad nauseam. But as long as urban consumption and political power support this situation, intentionally or otherwise, it will remain the case.

On the upside, my mother's egg business is introducing us to more and more local people who are concerned about this stuff, and who are trying to make their own change. But then you meet the sort of fellow who suggested we get into the sheep business as he felt confidant that he could offer a market of 300 or 400 lambs per year...for sacrificial purposes. I try not to judge but I'm not even fond of eating such young flesh, never mind sacrificing it. It's hard to imagine a God demanding such waste in times like this, but what do I know.

Anyway, that's all for now I guess. Ciao for now, bellas.

PS: I meant to share this on New Years Day....well, Night I guess:

Who Ees Thees Cahl-vin?

"The problem with people is that they're only human."

- Hobbes (a very wise tiger)

Somewhere around grade 8 or 9, I was introduced to something which has remained important to me ever since; the cartoon strip Calvin and Hobbes *. I devoured the few collections already published, and was lucky enough to have new releases bought for me. I still count myself lucky for that, although I doubt I recognized it at the time. At that age, something about the 6 year old reminded me of myself a few years earlier; rather imaginative and often in trouble because of it. Even at that age, I could recognize the simple wisdom in Bill Watterson's brilliant strip. And, like so many others, I was crushed when the strip was retired in '95.

When I stumbled across those old soft cover collections after I moved away from home, I would still thumb through them and giggle myself silly, once again easily pulled into the simple but enchanting world of Calvin and his best friend/tiger Hobbes, the spunky but rather lonely seeming Susie Derkins, Stupendous Man, Spaceman Spiff, various ferocious and ravenous aliens and dinosaurs and not to mention the poor, poor parents. It turns out that it's not such a big deal that the strip ended when it did. I am able to read them over and over and over again and they make me grin, laugh out loud, smile wistfully, and even tear up a little, just as with the first reading. Now I am very thankful that the author ended the strip when he did, so its real lovers (not like that, sheesh!) did not have to go through the horribly lengthy and torturous descent of so many other strips like Garfield, Charlie Brown and Archie.

A few years back, a hardcover and stunning new box set collection of the entire Calvin and Hobbes history was released. I noticed it in a mom-and-pop book store downtown and nearly dropped the $150 for it right then. Thankfully I decided not to, as I got the joyful surprise of receiving it as a Christmas present from my brother later that year. Evidently my love of the strip had not gone unnoticed. It remains one of the favorite gifts I have ever received.

Inspiring this post is the fact that I picked up the second volume of this collection recently, and am once again ensconced in wonder. I absolutely love how how much laughter and simple wisdom is contained on those pages. I really believe that they may have been a big part of developing my current consciousness, of becoming who and what I am.

I sincerely hope that parents are still sharing this strip with their children, and enjoying it themselves.

And thank you so very much, Mr. Watterson. I wish I could give you something as important in return.



*Having read through most of the wikipedia contents now, I would suggest that even those who are already fans of C and H go have a look at the link provided. I liked it anyway.

Baby, Its Cold Outside

Much of the Canadian Prairies got a good blast of winter over the last week or so, with record low temperatures being set in various places. The -45C that we hit over night a few times was unseasonal for this area at this time of year, but certainly not unheard of. It seemed to make people forget that just prior to this cold snap, many places were posting some unseasonably high temperatures as well. But most interesting to me was the fact that this was the first time I have ever heard such a cold snap cause news stories which warned of strain to the electrical grid due to such a cold spell. I wonder what this means for January and February when we often get several weeks of such low temperatures. Although, I suppose it should be noted that the cold snaps do not usually cover such large areas.

Still, it seems to me that if certain parties had their way, much of Canada would be uninhabitable for 4-6 months of the year. The only thing that makes large portions of Canada inhabitable during a typically long winter, is the consumption of energy that is primarily available only from the burning of biomass or fossil fuel. Certainly there are ways to maximize use of wind or solar energy but this would require a MASSIVE redesigning and rebuilding of our homes, food production, business and infrastructure. I certainly feel that we should be moving toward this goal with all haste, but I do not think it makes much sense to blindly limit the potential for success in the endeavor by intensely limiting the resources which may be used.

I TOTALLY sympathize with frustration towards those unwilling to budge from the status quo but to those who are crying out for someone to come along who is strong enough to MAKE people do what is necessary, I ask you:

What will you do when you're told where to live, what to do with your time at all times, how many children you may or may not have, what you may wear, etc etc, in the name of preserving the future?

That is what is being asked for when one demands the right to inflict their will on another. At that point, the only hope is that the chosen dictator is able to do the seemingly inhuman...to remain totally benevolent.

So do I then support the absolute right of the individual over the society, or the whole?
Well, of course I do not, but surely we can find a way to balance the individual and the society. That is not to deny the fact that this is an intensely complex situation. We MUST figure it out though. We're at such an important crossroad, both for Mother Earth and for humankind. I can't help but feel that simple survival just isn't enough. I can't help but feel that we must live for something.

I live for peace and comfort, for myself and for all. Happy Solstice and Merry Christmas, if I am not back before then.

Worm Warning

Well I have stumbled across one of the few pitfalls in keeping an indoor worm bin. Seeing as I go on about the benefits of keeping a vermicompost bin, I thought I should likely pass on a warning as well.

The organic waste that feeds composting worms so well, can also attract pests like gnats and fruit flies. In my case, I had gotten a bit lax with some non-bin garbage in the kitchen. This led to a minor fruit fly infestation. Now, I know how to build a fruit fly trap, and did so. But some of the flies made it into one worm bin, in which I had placed some old grapes that I neglected to properly cover in bedding for just one day. Since fruit flies propagate so quickly, the next time I opened the box I was greeted by a host of exiting flies. I immediately added cardboard and chopped straw but it was too late. Evidently many eggs were already laid and juvenile fruit flies have been crawling out from the straw like so many zombies erupting from fresh graves.

I have added another trap right inside the worm bin, and have placed some dark plastic over the lid. This should keep the young flies from being drawn to the light through the ventilation holes. All I can really do now is leave the bin this way until all the decomposing vegetable matter has been processed and the feeding/breeding cycle of the flies has been interrupted. We'll see how that goes.

As far as avoiding this situation in the future, the key is ensuring that added food is always covered in bedding. This is a good idea anyway, since it also cuts down on odors and provides a better Carbon to Nitrogen ration. But it DOES make it harder to watch the worms cluster to feed, which is a priority for many...especially before the novelty of keeping worms wears off.

Hopefully this warning doesn't turn people away from vermiculture.

Peace and comfort.

Nonsense

Warning: This post may contain the odd "naughty" word. Sometimes its just necessary.


I am sure others are noticing as well, but it seems to be a good time for nonsense and bullshit again these days. I know this is always going on but it seems like its been particularly bad over the past few weeks.

Some examples:

A) Last week, good ol' Prince Chuck and Camille paid Eastern Canada a visit, landing in Newfoundland and touring all the way to Ottawa. This visit cost we Canadians more than $2.5 million! They live in a fucking palace (more than one actually) and WE have to pay for them to come visit us???

I, for one, am not proud of Canada's formation as a British colony, nor am I proud of the fact that we remain one, even if Her "Majesty" is kind enough to refrain from interfering in MOST of our lawmaking and governance. It infuriates me to hear people talk about the grand history that we "get to be part of", in reference to the British Monarchy. As far as I am concerned, "royalty" is nothing more than polished vulgarity and a WHOLE lot of waste.

B) This should, and may become, a post all of its own. Sometimes I am absolutely astounded at the ease with which people can LIE through their teeth nowadays. I know this was always the case to some extent as well, but it is so bad now that its almost impossible to know what the truth really is, on most any given subject. Last night, for example, New York Times journalist Tom Friedman was on The Daily Show and he became the most recent talking head to claim that the Taliban is partially funding their efforts in Afghanistan and Pakistan, by growing opium in northern Afghanistan. Well, here is just one article from February of 2001 stating the the ultra-religious Taliban had banned opium poppy cultivation and heroin production. A small research effort will reveal many other such articles. So is it a different, less dogmatically rigid Taliban that is currently active, or is someone else growing all this opium in northern Afghanistan now? Of the countries actively struggling over that area right now, which is the most linked to the international narcotics trade over the past 50-odd years?

This is an admittedly debatable example but I am confidant that most readers know what I mean. So many of our politicians, media and business leaders...all feeding us lies and bullshit (sometimes by omission only, but still...) in order to get themselves ahead. And we do it to each other too. I would be lying even worse if I tried to claim that I do not let out the odd defensive lie. But I am also not exaggerating when I say that I very definitely came to realize just how personally damaging it is to do so. Even though this often puts me at a disadvantage socially or in business, I maintain that it is the best and healthiest personal policy over the long haul.

C) The constant shoving of a left-right paradigm onto the population of North America (if not most of the "democratic" world) continues to increase in intensity. And most of us seem stupid enough to buy it, to accept that every issue has a liberal answer or a conservative answer (or that its all the New World Order's fault). I do not understand why we have not rejected this corporate media and political structure which is so obviously detrimental to all but those striving to accumulate more and more wealth and/or power over others. Some would label this phenomena as Memetics and pronounce us to be as much to the mercy of these "memes" as we are to genes and genetics. I can accept the label but I cannot accept the argument that we are at their mercy. We CAN be at their mercy when we do not recognize them, but we can also deny their control when we DO recognize them. I do not deny that there are power-hungry "elites" or "powers that be", who have more access to mass control of memes...but we little regular folk can still deny them. Doing so might hurt a LOT sometimes, but it is possible.

D) I can`t help but wonder when the argument over anthropogenic climate change will get violent. It certainly seems headed that way. The new Climategate intrigue has only intensified the argument. This is another subject I have been meaning to post on for months now, but I find it hard to clearly state my thoughts. Kept simply and briefly, it is obvious to me that industrialization and expansion of the human population is causing significant damage to our planet in many, many areas...likely in many ways we do not even know yet. But I also find it very interesting that we so often lay the specific fault/solution on things we cannot easily see, and many people cannot easily understand. We are all in a frenzy over carbon dioxide and other gases as being the main fault in all the destruction and loss of diversity that is becoming more and more difficult to deny. Well it seems to me that proponents of both sides are overly stressing some facts and totally omitting others, both for rather personal seeming reasons.

For me, as I have said many times, it is obvious that we are causing significant damage to our planet, not the least of which is sucking, scraping, scooping or tunneling every last bit of natural resources out of it that we can manage. Much of this is done only to accumulate more crap that serves primarily to display as high a social standing as possible and/or to gain more control over others. But I also despair to see so much energy being put into a fault and solution that seems suspect on many levels, when we should probably be finding ways to discuss the real issues resulting from so many humans having so many different expectations of a finite world containing finite energy and resources. And I despair to see so many willing to accept living under authoritarianism, even to DEMAND it, in order to achieve what is somehow seen to be "social justice". But I also despair to see so very many individuals disdaining any social controls whatsoever, in the name of freedom.

Its all enough to give a guy a bad headache. Luckily I have a beautiful lake side farm to work at (eyesore of a landfill and all...), and those little bits of technology that help to broaden my mind while keeping it busy as I work away at mindless but necessary tasks. I think I would be a very very frustrated and cynical individual if I was still living in a large city. And I`d be a hell of a lot more worried about the day the store runs out of food.

That`s enough ranting for now I think. I will go back to being thankful for living somewhere that I have the time and full belly to consider such things, where simple survival is not yet a concern.

Peace and comfort, all.

Vermiculture Update

Time for a worm update.

There has not been quite the population explosion that I was expecting. I am still just at 3 tubs but I am just about to start an additional tub or perhaps two. My local aunt likes the idea so I am setting up a bin for her to use. Her husband, my uncle, is an outdoorsman hunter/guide and he loves to fish so I suspect many of their worms will end up bait. I feel a bit odd at 36 years old, talking like this (seems like something a 12 year old might write about!), but I think that is just some silly residual social programming that I have not quite exorcised. I am more than happy to have this beneficial little hobby that is catching on with some family and friends.

Back to my bins.

As I stated before, I was running low on drink tray cardboard so I was trying to use straw as bedding material. This has been working quite well but quite a bit of chopping helps to speed up the process and this can be kind of a pain in the ass. Scaling up will definitely require a small tub grinder or chipper but this will allow the processing of old round straw and hay bales. I think it will be a good investment because it can also chop up the bedding straw from the livestock. This is always mixed with plenty of manure so after it is piled to heat awhile, it can be shredded once more and then fed to the worms. This will maximize the nutrients and microbiological organisms present in the worm castings.

One mentionable aspect to using the straw as bedding is that I believe it has slowed their reproduction from what I saw in the first bin. That drink tray cardboard seems to provide the ideal breeding environment for these things. So anyone wanting a slow population increase might do well to find some straw to use as bedding for their worms. However, I may also be wrong about this, there may have been a low amount of adults spread among the 3 bins. The bin with the most adults seems like it has had a significant population increase lately, although I will look more closely tomorrow. At the very least, the straw provides them with plenty of oxygen and they definitely seem more physically active in it.

I have also discovered that compost worms LOVE pumpkins. This may be true for all melons but they are simply devouring the unusable pumpkins that I have been feeding them. I suppose this is because the flesh is so soft and mushy but there are not even traces of rind remaining after just a few days. I guess I will be planting lots of melons in the garden next year.

Here is a little video to give an idea of what I mean:



In the background of the video, you can hear Dmitri Orlov of Club Orlov being interviewed by KMO on the C-Realm Podcast. If you've not yet had a listen at the C-Realm, I seriously suggest it. I enjoy it so much that I have gone back to listen from the beginning. I started back in June or July and I am up to episode 129 now. That is 128 hours of listening so far! And I have loved almost every episode. From psychedelia to peak oil to philosophy, this show feeds my head amazingly well. I am downloading most of them, since I know I will want to listen again later.

Before I go, I want to pass on a little suggestion, regarding vermicomposting. After putting raw potato skins in my first bin, and turnips in a recent bin, I really suggest avoiding dense root vegetables without chopping them up quite a lot. I am not joking at all when I say these things last a LONG time in your worm bin, if you do not do so. Potato skins bits may even sprout. I would watch the starch concentrations anyway.

That's all for now, I think.

Be good to each other.

Learning

Brain....can't...take much...more...information.

I love this feeling, after a few hours spent following information thread after information thread, learning more and more...cramming more into my under-utilized brain. For example, in wanting to know why styrofoam recycling seems to be pretty much non-existent, I learned about RecycleTech, a company that designs and builds EPS recycling equipment AND which has built a market for the main product (the other by-product being air) of the recycling process. I suggest everyone lobby their local government to look into this company and removing EPS/styrofoam from our landfills. Their website led me to GreenBuildingAdvisor.com, another site that promises to jam more information into my poor brain...albeit important and required information. With all the building that I am considering, this might well be a very handy site. A worthy learning opportunity indeed!

I remember sitting in classrooms looking forward to the day when I didn't have to learn more boring crap. Windows in these classrooms are kind of like double edged swords. The natural light they allow is so important, but the view to outside can be soooo torturous. Some days I almost wanted to cry from feeling so...imprisoned.

I know now that this environment did nothing to show me the real joys of learning. I realize that there is a necessity to learn some form of structure and discipline, but I can assure anyone reading this that school did nothing to teach me discipline. I learned discipline first from fear and then from maturity...well, I kind of learned it anyway. I must admit it is a lesson I am still but barely passing (even these posts serve as distraction sometimes), but my point is in the source of what improvements there have been.

I look at a family like that of Sugar Mountain Farm, and I see how young learning CAN be...how I think it needs to be, for some. This doesn't mean that I lament my youth, at all. Quite the opposite, as I have said before I believe I grew up "better" than most of my age peers. But I maintain that such an environment as provided on the Sugar Mountain Farm, will result in happier, more balanced and more productive human beings, than 12 years of what I see as little more than learning cells within youth camps. And because of this, it always amazes me that there are not more, a lot more, ex-teachers who have lost their minds. My jab here is not intended at teachers, at all. The vast majority of them were taught how to teach in exactly the same kind of environment so, best of intentions or not, most of them are fighting a lost cause. I should also add that I feel it is very possible to create this sort of environment in an urban setting as well, even on the same grounds as education currently occurs.

My other issue with modern western schooling is the opportunity for potentially questionable social programming. Combine this with the overt AND under-toned push towards conformity and I think you have a recipe for serious trouble. It's no wonder we have a society so full of adults who despise learning, while being so intent on avoiding responsibility and seeking more and more mind-numbing entertainment...and looking more and more for someone to "take care" of everything else.

Along this line, there is another point that we should be thinking about. More and more of our information, our KNOWLEDGE, is being stored electronically. I love the internet and its opportunities, but it would seem highly prudent to be storing our knowledge physically as well, including all known languages. 10 or 20 modern Library of Alexandria's ought to keep a lot of people employed for a long time, hmm?

Learning has to be made important again, and that doesn't have to mean forced in camps.

Feed your heads, my brothers and sisters, feed your heads.

A Simple Comments Poll

Yesterday the CBC website carried a news article about a senior official/whistle-blower at the International Energy Agency claiming that the IEA is covering up information which points to validation of looming Peak Oil theories. This will have caused a good deal of buzzing around the world and that was the case in the comments section for that article as well. People on both sides, myself included, were tossing their comments back and forth. As always, I was dumbfounded at the comments of some who seem to feel that stupidly stubborn liberal environmental types who deter exploitation in sensitive areas are the main cause of the apparent supply crunch in global oil supply.

Suddenly it occurred to me that this was a good opportunity to toss out a very simple (5th grade?) public opinion poll. This is what I came up with:

Perhaps a little CBC comments section poll.

Assuming there is no real geological limit to world oil reserves (for, say 500 years), just a liberal stubbornness which prevents necessary exploitation:

Should we ignore the suggested "invisible" costs (ecological, social, health, etc) and focus solely on meeting the demand for cheap energy, ie. oil and gas?

Yes = Agree
No = Disagree

Please, if you choose to respond, do so in seriousness.

I am thankful to be able to say that I found some hope in the responses!

When I checked last, at nearly 4pm today, only 17 had said Agree. 80 people said they disagreed. I did not cast a vote but I hope it is obvious that I would be the 81st. I was definitely pleasantly surprised by this response even though it would have been nice to have a lot more responses overall.

Br`er Coyote

The star of the last post was out with me again today. Upon another look, I think this is actually a male after all...hence the Br`er of the title. I enjoyed sharing the space with him but it definitely bothers me that this shy creature is forced to hunt in such close proximity to us.




Handsome bugger isn`t he? I managed to get a short video that I thought I would share as well. I missed the pounce but, well you can see what I did get.

WARNING: This clip was recorded from inside the cab of a tractor so please watch your volume. I suggest starting quite low and increasing to comfort.



I took one more video as well, a trip from the field and back with a bale, but it is over 20 minutes long so I will need to edit it before uploading to youtube.

Stay tuned.

Thoughts

Winter is fairly set in here in NW Alberta, Canada, albeit fairly mild still. The temperature is getting above freezing most days, some days almost to +10C even, but a thick snow a couple of weeks back is keeping the feeling of winter around. Today the ground stayed frozen, as did the water which has been melting in the afternoons these past few days. I have been using the tractor to fetch the last of the straw bales from the field so the big tires were hastening melt and causing slush. Well all this was frozen today so there was quite a bit of sliding about even in the big heavy tractor (seen below). Next summer we HAVE to convert an old hay rack to carry these bales because I have spent waaaaay too many hours driving back and forth to the fields, bale at a time, this year. It is quite relaxing actually, but still a waste of time and fuel. Some steel, a welder and a few days work and voila, we'll have a cart that can carry 9 bales. This means 10 bales a trip, instead of 1.


As I have been fetching these bales, I have been given several reminders of what amazing things are often seen when one has no camera in hand. About a month back, a huge coyote was out in the field hunting for mice, as I was fetching hay bales and dad was raking straw for baling. This fellow (assuming it was male) was more bold than any other coyote I have seen (until today). Most would have darted off out of sight completely, whereas this one remained quite near us both for some time. At one point, it was right up on one row of large round bales. He hopped off as I drew near, and moved away.

Then yesterday, as I was coming in with a bale, I met a different (I think) coyote running along the road toward me. She (for some reason I think this one was female) seemed rather surprised to see me and the tractor but instead of running off completely, she just ran back the way she had come...looking back at me and keeping just a few feet in front of me, before finally scooting off the road to one side and curling back in the direction she had been headed. She ended up in the same field as I was, and would remain within feet of the tractor at times. She never did move away to a different field, and was again up on a row of the bales, this time laying down for a nice rest after hunting. She would hop down as I drove right by, but would just stretch and hop back up. As I moved away after the last pass, I looked back to see her still laying comfortable on her soft bed with a view.

I think I saw this one out hunting yesterday as well, in the same general area. The first time I saw her, she was in mid-freeze and I actually got to see her pounce and drive her feet and muzzle into the snow...and come back up with a FAT mouse. She played with the unfortunate morsel a bit before finally giving it a few serious chews, then flipping her head up and swallowing it down. Funnily, as she was frozen and waiting to pounce, she flipped 2 or 3 annoyed glances over at me and my loud tractor as if to say "will you and that racket please piss off and leave me to my meal-finding?".

I saw yet a 3rd coyote today, this one much smaller and with more yellow in its coat. I suspect it was a yearling. I think the population is so high in this immediate area as there is likely a den in the bush of the large pasture that we only use sparingly. I am considering moving 3 or 4 old straw bales out to this pasture to attract mice. This should provide plenty of food for the family of coyotes and keep them from being too interested in our chickens. Seems a good use of old straw to me. Many people would just go wipe the coyotes out but I like them. They are handsome and clever animals which keep down the rodent population. I think it would be better to provide incentive for them to avoid our livestock and to let them live and have some kind of wildness in their life. If they get to be too many, however, or should they start coming at our chickens anyway, it will be .22 target practice time...and perhaps skinning time.

All this monotonous bale fetching leaves plenty of time for thinking, and led me to wondering about trying to convince the County to set up the farmland they bought from us, as a County wildlife sanctuary. I would think such a thing would have nice carbon credit potential (though I despise the necessity for such necessary incentive). I was thinking that a non-profit agrarian organization could be set up to administrate this sanctuary, and wouldn't the family who has been stewarding the land until now be a good candidate for operating said non-profit organization?

This kind of thinking leads, of course, to thinking about all the various things which could then be done with the land. And it leads to thinking about the obstacles...

Obstacles like county bureaucrats with too much power and caught in non-sustainable development paradigms, or like County Councilors from competing districts who will not support anything that doesn't happen in their district. Obstacles like a growing landfill right next door, which generates profit for the County and whose harm to the County is not immediately visible. And obstacles like this being an area which is not yet willing to see peak resources as any kind of threat.

Oh well, I am glad to have the time for this, and the various other thinking that I am getting the chance to do. It certainly seems that a lot of it should be done as significant chaos looms larger and closer on the horizon. So often I find myself wondering how many of the people that I see scurrying about every day, give any thought to what lies beyond the next few days. They're just keeping on keeping on, I guess...but then that is exactly what got us where we are. What angers me, however, is the knowledge that a time is coming, very soon I think, where all these grasshoppers are going to need the fruits of the preparations we ants are making. Their selfish short-sightedness and complicity to brainwashing is going to mean greater suffering even for those who have tried to warn and prepare. I don't hate them for it, at all, but it definitely saddens me...and angers me.

Speaking of short-sighted...just last week I read an article that made this point so clearly. I read that the Canada Pension Plan had invested $11 billion in an Australian toll highway. I couldn't help but comment at the CBC webpage where I read the article, that this seemed a rather stupid gamble to me. This drew a few disparaging comments in return, which shows many Canadian financial types do not see peak oil as any kind of issue. Personally, even if peak oil wasn't an issue, I think privatized infrastructure (like highways) is a BAD thing that I do not want my part of our pension plan to be supporting, whether it will earn a strong immediate return or not. Luckily for anyone still reading, I will not make this post any more boring by explaining my reasoning for this just now! If anyone is interested, however, Max Keiser talks about this very issue in the last 10 minutes of his most recent Truth About Markets radio show. Max can get a little crazy but I really appreciate his ideas about BOTH the private and public sector being necessary, in appropriate balance and scale.

Thankfully, there are so many things in my life again now that are still able to alleviate sadness, heaviness, and/or anger in a moment, or a breath. Like late this afternoon, taking a few steps away from the idling tractor, standing on a low rise, looking off to the west toward the low sun glinting back at me and mixing stunning pinks into the blue of the clouds (all that CO2 certainly makes more stunning sunsets). The slow breeze had backed off and the mild, darkening afternoon forced a grin onto my face. I am glad for all my wandering, but this is most definitely right for me now. Its a looooong way from balanced, but I surely feel that I'm on the right path, even as the world goes to shit.

Peace and comfort to all.