HugelKultur planting beds.

GARDEN PLANNING

It's February, but it feels like April, or maybe late March at the worst.  The picture below was taken today, as you can see there is no snow, and the soil is pretty much thawed in the first few inches at least.  Below that, it is frozen, but I was still able to hack into it with a pickaxe.

Soon to be hugelkultur mound

If you haven't read any of my past postings, I will briefly describe the benefits of hugelkultur.  It was invented by a very wise and inventive man name Sepp Holtzer, who is Dutch.  It consists of wood mounds covered in dirt, and left to decay.  The decaying wood soaks up and retains lots of moisture from rain fall, and when it's planted, the roots have access to that water, as well as nutrients from the decaying wood.  A hugelkultur bed that's large enough may not need to be watered at all!  This has some very obvious benefits in a dry climate like mine, watering is a pain, and costs me money.  If I build a couple of these beds every year, I will eventually have enough of them that my gardening will be a relative breeze.  These mounds should be plantable immediately, with the addition of chicken manure to the pile.  The only difficulty is getting enough wood to make a decent sized pile!  

I will add more photos when I have placed all the wood, I will need to wait for the soil to thaw a bit more before I really get going, since I will need quite a bit of soil to go on top.

How Capitalism can Save the Free World

I am a Capitalist.  I provide goods that people want and need, and I make it possible for 6 billion people to exist on this planet.

The whole point of capitalism is "Capital", the real durable good that make production possible.  A farmer's tractor, the land he plants, the trees he harvests from, and the animals whose meat he sells.  Capital does not fall from the sky, nor does it grow on trees.  In order to buy the land, the farmer needed to save a down payment.  To buy the tractor, he needed to save more money.  The trees cost money, and take time to grow.  The farmer plants trees with the hope to someday profit from them, in some cases knowing that his children will be the real beneficiaries of that profit.
All of this "Capital" would not exist if the farmer did not save.  He willingly consumes less money now, with the hope that by accumulating these items, he will profit from them more in the future.  It's true that the farmer is thinking of himself, but in doing so, he is benefiting all of mankind.  If the farmer had no land, he could not plant.  If he had land, but no machines, he would have to work with primitive tools, and he could not produce nearly as much food, nor could he transport that food to the people who want to eat it.  Trees produce even more food, and feed the soil through their leaves.  The farmer has to nuture and feed that tree for many years before he can gain the harvest, while there is always a risk of the tree dying before it becomes productive.

Many people believe that capitalism oppresses people.  Walmart underpays it's employees, destroys other business, and is bad for us.  They moan about the loss of "mom and pop" stores, which are more of a fantasy that reality.  Even large stores usually have a single owner, who may be a "mom and pop" team, or a business team of 2 or more unrelated partners.  Smaller stores can, and are very prosperous, judging by the fact that we apparently still have millions of them.  Most of the people who have jobs work for an employer with less than 100 employees, which is the definition of a "small business".  Only about 20% of the workforce are employed by the "big guys".

Many millions of people are like me, the farmer, working for themselves.  Are they contributing less to the world than the Walmarts?  More?  Or, do all of these people benefit the human race through their work?
My contribution may be smaller than Walmart, but it is real, and measurable.  I use the capital that I own to provide something that people want, and they are my bosses.  If no one buys my products, I have failed, and I need to do something differently, or find a different group of bosses.  I don't get to charge whatever I want, and neither does Walmart.  The people who buy the products determine the price, and they also determine what is on the shelf, through their "votes".

If you don't like Walmart, that's a personal choice.  Don't "vote" by shopping there, and your conscience will be clean.  But maybe I like Walmart, and I want to vote for it.  Who will win this battle?  How about both of us?  You win by shopping where you want, and I win by shopping where I want.  We both get what we want, and no one loses.  Too bad politics doesn't work that way!

I hear a lot of noise about "reforming capitalism" or "paying our fair share", and I tune it out.  Just let me concentrate on producing as much of what people want to buy as I can.  Let me keep the profits of my labors, and I will be inspired to produce more.  If I produce enough, I could even start hiring people!  This is how the system works when nobody interferes.

If you care about humanity, stop trying to "help" the poor by taking from the rich.  The rich may have the money, but believe me, they would rather invest it in something useful than shove it in a drawer.  That useful investment could give one of those "poor" people a good job, or provide a better tractor for a farmer, or enable a company to create a better TV, cellphone, gadget, all of which makes the lives of the "non-rich" a little bit better.

More chickens for sale!

Just a quick announcement, we now have around 50 nice, plump older roosters for sale, at the same price as the smaller, more tender chickens.
These roosters are a bit under 5 months old, and weigh about 4 lbs each, some a bit more than that.  They are tougher than the regular birds, especially in the thigh, but the breast is much bigger, and has so much more flavor!
The legs are tender enough to eat, but I just took the whole leg and thigh and simmer it for about 6 hours in a large pot of water.  Then, the meat will be quite tender, and the water will have absorbed an incredible amount of flavor.  The minerals in the bone and marrow will now be in the water, and if you let it cool, it will actually set as hard as jello!
These minerals are very nutritious, supporting your immune system and giving you lots of calcium, magnesium, and trace minerals.  There is a reason that chicken soup is the universal food for colds and flu!

You will not find a better chicken for soup or stew anywhere, with this much flavor.  These chickens have been foraging since their first day, even during the winter, and they have never seen any antibiotics or hormones in their life.  Order now, because if you don't buy them, I just might end up eating them myself : )

PROJECTS

This week I expect to be very busy with some things.  I need to plan the location for my huglkultur bed (google search, or visit www.permies.com) and then try and dig down a bit through the soil so the logs will be partially buried.  I am going to cram old hay, and a bit of chicken manure into the spaces between logs, which will hopefully start them breaking down faster with the extra nitrogen.  I would like to have about a 4 x 16 foot area planted with huglkultur.  Then, I will need to hay mulch all of the saskatoons, blueberries, cherry trees, and asperagus plants I put in the last few years.  I will put about 6 inches around the plants, which will compact a bit.  This will hopefully keep the soil moisture high, and provide some nutrients as it breaks down for the trees.  I may also toss a bit of chicken manure too, I have probably 300 lbs of it in the shed.

GOATS

We have goats!  I purchased two female miniature nubian goats, and they have been roaming free range around the property for the last week or so.  They are very small, but I will breed both of them in March, and perhaps I will be able to sell the kids when they are grown.  I will also be able to milk them, although I won't get a lot of milk unless I milk daily.  I would be content with a cup a day or so, since I would be the only one to drink it.  The goats are easy to keep, and don't eat much.  A bit of barley keeps them happy, and they have been grazing on the exposed grass as well.  Now that the majority of the chickens are gone, I can cut my feed costs down to about $3/day for all the animals.  I could save more by purchasing barley or wheat in bulk directly from a farmer, except that I need to store it somewhere safe and dry.  I still have plans to build a barn, and as soon as the soil is warm enough, I will start mapping a location.