Eric said:
>Good points, Paul, but you seem to be showing two "extremes" and saying
>"neither is right we need a middle path". What you seem to be missing is
>that there is still a lot of ground _near_ either extreme that is still not
>preferable.
Yes, but not extreme' isn't necessarily middle either. It's too easy for
people who are trying to do the right thing' to get too polarized on either
side to the point that they hear a word like nuclear' or synthetic' and
pass it off without ever really looking at it. There was a time when most
people did the same with words like environmental' and conservation' but
most of the enemies' have moved towards the center. Too many of the
good guys' simple chose to move farther to the left rather than try to
meet them in the middle.
> As Cyndi said, nuclear or coal is not the choice we should be
>looking at. Nor is not touching Nature or making electricity illegal. Why
>no look at which of the things we use really make our lives better? Or
>should we use this much energy or that much? When the amounts required are
>decrease enough, other alternatives become "practical".
Yes and no. I can't help but feel that designing a safe nuclear power
plant is both easier and far more likely than changing the minds and
habits of practically every person in the developed world. Yes we can
sit around and talk about a world where everybody thinks before they
flip a switch but it's not likely to happen.
> . . . Since you have
>made the choice to move to Ledgewood Farm, I assume that you understand
>what I am saying about living better with less. I wouldn't be at all
>surprised if we we all on the same wave length, so perhaps Jeff had it
>right. Maybe we should be exchanging farm notes.
Yes, I've always been a minimalist when it comes to what I think will
make me comfortable and happy. But I'm the first person to say I'm not
normal. I hope that I might be able to set an example that will encourage
other non-normal people to brake away from the mold our culture has pressed
us into. Even in my wildest dreams though, that will only be a drop in the
bucket.
Exchanging farm notes helps those of us who are willing to live lighter
on the land learn new ideas to help us do so. This is a good thing and
I too hope we see more of it here. But that still leaves those who can't
or won't live this type of lifestyle. I hope this forum can also be a
place to exchange ideas concerning our ideas of the real' world too.
>By the way, I have been prunning and planning next year's expanded graden
>areas. It's time to plant out many of the plants I have been propegating
>for the last few years why we built. I've also been walking around
>checking drainage and looking for places and ways to "make the water walk",
>so it will soak in and not run off. We've had a dry winter so far (our
>rainy season), we're at about 50% of normal for this time of year, and were
>already half way through the season. We've been getting some rain lately,
>and the frogs are happy about that.
What part of the earth do you call home?
The Ozarks had a bad drought this summer. I was really surprised the last
time I crossed the Missouri River in St Louis, it was really low. We had
a wet spring and a wet late fall, but almost nothing in between. I think
I'm going to loose some of my trees. The year-end total said something
like 37 inches of rain for the year. That's about half a foot shy of
average.
>Paul, do you dry any of our persimmons? We have been enjoying some
>delicious dried persimmons (from friends). I highly recommned it as a way
>to have them all year.
I wanted to dry some, and to try making persimmon beer, but the drought
cut my crop back a lot. My trees dropped a log of green fruit starting
in July. I also missed the peak harvest while I was back here in Virginia
packing my stuff.
==>paul
