If it is a "Movement," then it is probably wrong.  Movements should be limited to plate tectonics and bowels.

If it is something that most people view as crazy and impractical, then it is probably right.  Most folks see the right thing as unpleasant and tiresome.

If it is something  radically new and different, then it is probably not a good idea.  Finding the value of new ideas takes time, and like asbestos and bloodletting, may take longer than you have to discover the drawbacks.

It is always easier to make better the good than remedy the evil.  Let natural selection be your judge.

As a member of a rural farm community, please support the small farmers.  We need more fresh fruits and vegetables, not more cattle ranches. Please push for parity for the fresh market with animal agriculture.

Respectfully,

Jim Wiegand

-- George Bernard Shaw

It makes me shudder to think of where half these kids will end up in thirty or thirty-five years.  Already I am seeing the middle-age gap, where on one side you have folks dying in their forties and fifties, and on the other side you have old folks in their late seventies and eighties who had no choice but to eat their vegetables growing up.

Soon, a decent lifespan will  come to mean making it past 50.  Again.

> The IETF has recently passed draft-iana-rfc3330bis-08. This draft
> documents the fact that the following address ranges have been reserved
> for documentation:

> - 192.0.2.0/24 (TEST-NET-1)
> - 198.51.100.0/24 (TEST-NET-2)
> - 203.0.113.0/24 (TEST-NET-3)

This seems like the perfect set of networks when you run out of other options, or need to get that latest wireless config tested! I haven't been this excited since my first NAT implementation.

This holiday weekend was a time for all Americans to consider the blessing of their freedoms, to count them and hold them up for adoration.  As a vegan, I have a particular appreciation of freedom.

I am free to stop the unnecessary killing of animals.  I am free of the worry of having to worry about promoting the spread of novel disease like swine and avian flu, tuberculosis, and mad cow disease.

I am free to stand up and declare what I will or will not choose to eat.  I am free to eat the way I want, and eat as I believe.

I a free to avoid heart disease by eliminating meat from my diet.  I am free to fend off cancer, diabetes, strokes, and the thundering advance of premature aging.

I am free to reverse my asthma, high blood pressure, sleep apnea, and obesity.   I am given the blessed gift of energy and lightness and a busy life.

I am free from the weight of causing the death of harmless creatures.  I am free from the guilt of taking grain from my brother's mouth to feed it to a salmon, chicken, pig, or cow.  

I am free to sow compassion about me, mindful all the time of the awesome power of love.  With power comes responsibility, and I thank God most for the freedom to spread the word preaching non-violence.

There are more animal products in the food chain than ever before.  Humanity has never eaten like this before.  There is also no compelling reason to choose this diet.

Today, we have an uprecedented number of food choices.  Used to be, you ate what you had.  Growing up, you ate what your mother gave you, and it was whatever your parents could raise or barter for.  In this, an unprecedented time of global prosperity, options multiply with the ebb and flow of commerce.   In the supermarkets there are over 49 000 products, designed more for the profit of the retailer than the convenience of the consumer.  With choice comes the ethical burden of choosing responsibly, backing up your ethics and beliefs with the power fo commerce.  To leave this decision to those who choose suffering and death simply to make more money is an essential surrender. I choose not to surrender.

We get to vote with our forks. Three or more times a day, we can choose Italian bread over bagels, beans over beef, soy instead of milk.   No, we are not perfect when it comes to deciding what to eat, and no, we don't always get to choose - but when we can choose, when we can influence the choice - the burden is on us to minimize suffering.  Eliminating animal products is the obvious way to minimize animal cruely, since it not only eliminates cruely, but also the opportunity for cruelty.  Having no animals precludes  the horrors of animal killing, either intentionally or unintentionally.  There can be no slaugherhouses if there are no barns.  For every neck in every pasture today, there is a thirsty blade.  Free range or caged, there can be only one end to a farm animal - being bled to death.

I call for the establishment of disengagement zones - posted areas animal products are not allowed.  These areas will make explicit the restrictions on exploitation and killing, and put the issue in front of the public.  Eventually, such signs will become obsolete, as the economic reality sinks in.  Unethical behaviour is such for a very simple reason - it does not pay in the long run.  The older our society becomes, the more we learn. In time, animal cruelty will be recognized as a mortal flaw, one that threatens not only the individual, but a crime that threatens society at large and our species as a whole.

Someday, we will all learn to love life.

Ingredients:

2 cups self-rising cornmeal (I used White Lilly Brand)

2 cups vegetable stock

1 teaspoon ground psyllium husk

1/8 teaspoon olive oil

Method:

Cream the psyllium with the stock and olive oil with an immersion blender.  Fold in the corn meal, stir only enough to form a coarse batter.  Remove the paddle from a bread machine.  Grease bread machine pan with canola spray oil and pour in the batter.  Set tobake only mode and set time to 45 minutes.  This gave a nice flaky top with a lightly browned bottom using our Panasonic SD-YD250.

 The cabling went fine, and the wedge cut - where I had gotten stuck on previous jobs- was really clean.  I was able to lean the tree over nicely with the winch and we were fairly confident that it would fall away from the house.

 Then I made the mistake of angling the toppling cut.  When the tree started to go, it skidded on the stump and fell down on the opposite side of the stump from me.  Thankfully, the tree did not come down straight at me, but it did pivot and fall toward me.  Diana started yelling and I looked up and saw it coming and ran, but it came down fast - close enough for the branches to sweep me off my feet and send me tumbling. 

I bounced up and immediately started yelling "I'm all right, I'm all right," and Diana was next to me, trembling with tears.  Amazingly, all I came away with was a couple of scratches on my forehead from the hardhat headband, a twig stuck behind my ear like a carpenter carrying a pencil, and a mystery tear in my pants.  

The chainsaw bar guide was crunched, but the engine was running, so I picked it up and switched it off.  These darn hickory trees have a habit of crunching up the bars.  Even the small tree was far heavier and far harder than I had realized.  

I felt nothing until I was getting ready to go back into the house.  The day's work was done.  I summed up the experience in three words: "Thank You Jesus."  

A lesson was learned.  I would never again pick up a chainsaw in anger.

Furthermore, the idea that free-range meat production is made lucridous by the simple fact that the animal may have a different fence to look at for some part of the day, if at all.  Adding the stress of being herded back and forth to confinement with the increased risk of disease makes free range the more cruel option.

The overall quality of plants from Stark, Shumway, Vernon Barnes, and Gardens Alive.  Vendors I wouldn't buy from again are Walnut Ridge and Burgess (aka DirectGardening.com).  The plants from Stark have been exceptionally healthy and vigorous.  Also, the blueberries from Wayside are blooming on their first spring in the ground.  The jury is still out on Summerstone.

 So get out that plastic sheeting and feed sacks and start covering those tender shoots.  If you have any tender plants such as squash or tomato outside, drag them back indoors if your can.  Frost protection methods are discussed in this article.

 There are still thousands of cubic yards of debris piled up around Salem from the ice storm.  Lots of folks are grumbling about the surcharges on their electric bills, but I for one think the NAEC workers are nothing short of heroic.  It all seems so long ago, when the historic storm plunged us back into the cold and darkness, yet the sun shines in new places and the woodpeckers are ecstatic in their newfound bounties.

Yesterday we planted five persimmon trees behind our house.  The new row of trees neatly finished up where the two native persimmons stand.  We did that in between the downpour and the sleeting rain.  Today,  we planted two dewerry in between a couple of shrubs out front.  The dewberries, and persimmons, and a few more items, came from Vernon Barnes (931-668-8576).  Barnes is a family-run business with great customer service and wonderful plants.

We also planted common sage (one out by the drive, one near the garage) and Egyptian multiplying onions  out back in the hazelnut bed.  These were in the garage window and put on a lot of healthy roots over the winter.

Out in the south plot, over by our side street, I planted two rows of Proso millet (R. H. Shumway's). I am eager about getting some grains in the ground, especially drought-tolerant ones like millet, sorghum, and millet.  If the folks in Mali can live on millet, it is worth a shot here in Arkansas. We had mulched the back plot for overwintering, and it really helped in getting the ground ready for cultivation and planting.  Underneath the pine needles and thatch, the ground was moist and rich, with the remaining weeds too weak to seriously hang onto their roots.  I had only reckoned on getting one row done, but it was easy enough to do two.

Well now my wive and me are well tired. It has been another long day.  We are still settling in, and getting our new plants established.  Not only do we have to plant the garden, we are establishing a sustainable edible homestead.  The fatigue is greatly eased by the thought of the rewards that lie ahead.  And the thought of the pioneers who went ahead, and broke the earth for the first time, tempers any idea of taking pride in our accomplishments.

• Water in the morning so roots have time to take up moisture before it evaporates during the heat of the day.
• Install drip irrigation or soaker hoses to put water right at plants' roots and prevent runoff.
• Frequently check irrigation systems, sprinkler heads, etc. for leaks.
• Water deeply but infrequently, causing roots to reach down into the soil for moisture and strengthen growth.
• Cover beds with a 2-inch layer of organic mulch to keep roots moist and cool.
• Reuse household water
  as much as possible (e.g. water from rinsing and cooking pasta and
  vegetables, cleaning aquariums, and emptying coolers, vases, etc.).
• Put up a rain gauge to help manage your water needs.
• Clean decks, patios, sidewalks, etc. with a broom instead of a hose.
• Install rain barrels, cisterns, or other water-catchment systems to take advantage of more natural rainfall and save it for later use.
• Keep weeds out; weeds steal water.