Limping along .and. good-faith proposal in the event of a failed-harvest

Imagine my surprise! I got in two hours time-on-task today.

It wasn't pulling weeds, though. It was lugging water (38 minutes) with the remainder being cutting wood, loading it into a wheelbarrow and wheeling it to the pile that goes to the guy whose property adjoins the Upper Orchard and who heats with wood. The orchard floor is still a mess and clearing it will make it easier to maintain.

While some of the chunks were substantial, the dead-lifting I have been doing made the physical handling of the wood not-that-bad.

Drought and the price of food

The price that a farmer gets for the amount of wheat that goes into a loaf of bread is less than the cost of the printed, plastic bag that the baker packages the loaf of bread in. 

And bread is not typically thought of as a highly processed food. What that means from a practical standpoint is that the price of wheat could double and if nobody in the value-chain took advantage of the excuse, the price of a loaf of bread might increase by five or ten cents.

On the other hand, eggs, beef, pork and chicken are very sensitive to the price of grain because grain is a larger percentage of the cost-per-pound.

Hogs are efficient converters of feed. The last 200 pounds of gain for a 240 pound hog is about 650 pounds of "concentrate", i.e. grain, soymeal, brewer's waste and pedophiles. That 650 pounds of concentrate coverts to about 120 pounds of boneless meat.

The retail price of that concentrate at a "farm store" is about $45/100 pounds or about $2.40 per pound of meat.

Of course, the commercial producers don't pay that much per 100 pounds of feed. They don't by the fancy bags with the pretty pictures on them. But as a home producer, you can get a feel for how sensitive the price of meat is to the price of grain.

Yes, I know that somebody is ALWAYS crying out doom-and-gloom regarding food prices. This year is no exception. Some parts of the corn-belt are in drought status right now. That is a big deal because the soil moisture levels shortly after the corn "tassels" determines how many kernels on each ear are pollinated and that sets an upper limit on the amount of corn that will be harvested, even if abundant rains come afterward.

What if Congress could increase the corn crop by 50%?

Sounds like a stupid question, right? Keep an open mind.

Approximately 35% of the United States corn crop is diverted to ethanol production which is used to adulterate gasoline. Federal law allows gasoline to contain up to 10% ethanol. Various reasons have been given for the practice but in real-politiks it is a backdoor price support for corn producers and it increases the profit margins for the gas-wholesalers. The net increase in energy is virtually nill.

In a rational world, Congress (or the POTUS) would be watching the food market-basket like a hawk and have a series of trigger-points. When the cost of the market-basket punched upward through a trigger-point, the amount of ethanol allowed in motor-fuel would be reduced by some amount...perhaps two percent. Then if it punched through the next trigger-point, reduced by another two percent.

If such a plan was devised (and shared with the industry ahead of time), they could make rational plans regarding the economically rational way to moth-ball marginal ethanol plants with minimal collateral damages.

From the standpoint of the corn producer, if prices are extremely high, then the need for price-supports is not a strong argument. 

For the hair-splitters

If 65% of the corn crop is currently used for food, then increasing the amount to 100% is a net increase of 100%/65%. The basis (denominator) should not be the total but the fraction of the total that is currently employed for that purpose.

That is not a 35% increase over current levels. It is a 50% increase. 

...a cup of ambition...

My anatomy is dragging this morning. Pulling weeds is hard work and uses muscles that I don't normally exercise.

The weather-guessers are promising an inch of rain tomorrow. We will see.

This is prime-time to control yellow jacket populations. Their numbers explode through August and September. There are countless videos on streaming platforms regarding various traps that involve bait (fish guts, canned cat-food, ham, hotdogs...) and soapy water. It is easiest to spot the ground nests in the late evening when the light backlights the beasts and they circle in for landings. It is a great excuse for sitting on the east end of your lawn drinking a beverage or savoring a cigar. They generally nest in sandy soils that are slightly elevated above the surrounding lawn.

I should pull some more weeds today and cut some wood but I think I need another cup of coffee first. This is the kind of morning when I would walk the property with Zeus and we would discuss the important things in life.

Can do, will do

One of my brothers was grousing about his in-laws.

They were staunch union members and their conversations were as predictable as the tunes you can play on a piano with one unbroken string.

"Everybody in the United States could be in the middle-class if they just joined a union."

Because this particular brother is a peace-maker, he kept his mouth shut.

An interesting thing about keeping your mouth shut is that your brain works twice as fast as when your gums are flopping. The following is what he could have said but chose not to.

Lines of demarcation

One of the hallmarks of unions (and professional associations) are strict lines of demarcation regarding the qualifications required to do any kind of work.

In a union factory, an equipment break-down will require an electrician to address any electrical items. It requires a pipe-fitter to address any issues that arise during the repair that involve tubing or pipe that moves air, gas, water, oil or waste. It requires a tool-maker to address any issues involving bearings or tooling that touches the parts. It requires a millwright for any issues that involve conveyor parts and the portions of the equipment that does not directly touch the parts. It requires a building-repair-general tradesman for any issues that might involve the concrete in the floors or footings. 

The work stops whenever another trade must be called. They stand around until the Fluzenbech Calibrater tradesman shows up if the Fluzenbech got bumped while the building-repair-general was jackhammering a hole in the floor.

My brother's in-laws would greet this information with glee. "Look!!! Five families are now in the ranks of the middle-class" as if this was a good thing.

The reality is that the production line that could be producing hot-dogs or Cameros or other consumer items is silent until all of the tradesmen show up. It could be as simple as splicing a broken hose but under the rigid lines-of-demarcation can only be fixed by a journeyman pipe-fitter. Even though the issue announces itself and any reasonably able-bodied 6th grader (boy or girl) can fix the problem.

My brother's in-laws think that unions magically create wealth when, in fact, they redistribute it and...in the long run...reduce the creation of it.

There are some "union plants" that have a "can-do, will-do" policy. During a breakdown during regular production hours, an electrician or a tool-maker can splice a broken water or air hose BUT...it comes at the cost. The pipe-fitter is scheduled to work over-time (time-and-a-half) to replace the spliced hose(s) during the next non-production day. The line keeps running. The pipe-fitter gets more $$$ in his pocket.

Crack, weeds and lottery tickets

If you look closely at the fourth thread from the end, you will see a crack. When under pressure the crack opened up and the spray flew 6' to 8'.

 

I keep hose repair parts in-stock. I replaced a male 3/4" hose fitting. I firmly believe that the impulse sprinkler was throwing the water an extra 3' in every direction after the repair due to the improved pressure at the business end.

In all honesty, I misdiagnosed the problem at first. I replaced the rubber washer under the assumption that the original had "crept" under the compressive load. 

Work-ticket report

I over-achieved on the weeding at 223 minutes time-on-task but under-achieved on the mowing at 0 minutes. I weeded potatoes and cabbage.

In addition to the hose-repair, I also harvested broccoli, sprayed the cabbage for cabbage loopers and tilled the patch where the spinach trials will be held.

While weeding the cabbage before spraying them, I deduced that deer had jumped into the fenced garden. The leaves were stripped off of the grafted mulberry trees and 3/4 of the broccoli had been eaten. 

I was able to give a half dozen cucumbers to a nephew whose daughter ADORES cucumbers. He has a blended family and I take every opportunity to let the newer members know that "dad" is looking out for them.

There is probably another 5 hours of weeding to do in the gardens to get them presentable but I have a volunteer who offered to help in the Upper Orchard tomorrow, so that is where I will be. I will be lugging water and my volunteer will be trouble-shooting equipment with electrical issues.

Random observations

I picked up some Black Friar plums at the local Walmart. Maybe not nectar-of-the-gods quality, but still very, very nice. I may be looking for scion next winter. Shiro and Methley are the two "toughest" Japanese plums for the northeastern US but the quality is...well, OK at best. Cummins Nursery (run by no BS people) say "Fortune" is the highest quality cultivar of Japanese plum in their part of the world.

Mrs ERJ graciously saves the pits from the plums. She would rather have me planting seeds than buying lottery tickets, even though the are the same thing when you get right down to it. 

Contractors A-A-R, work-tickets and Farmer's Carry

The contractors came-and-went yesterday.

One of the members of the crew lives north of Sparta, Michigan and commutes every working day to the south side of Brighton, Michigan. It is 140 miles, one-way and an honest two hours time when the weather is good and there are no accidents or construction.

Today's first job (mine) took him half-way back toward home. The next job will take him into the city of Detroit. From there he had to return to the south side of Brighton to drop off his equipment and then drive back home. He has ten grandchildren and likes to play golf. He carries a 9mm handgun.

Another member of the crew has a young child of about 6 months. His child is colicky and not eating well. The doctor finally sorted out the issues and surgery is required. That member of the crew is sleep-deprived.

A third member of the crew only works for "the boss" three days a week. He has his own business. Most bosses would not put up with that situation but this guy is an absolute artist with heavy equipment and they schedule jobs around his availability.

MOSTLY, I didn't try to help them. MOSTLY, I was successful.

The boss sets the tone. He was still in-transit when the first two guys showed up. I went out and greeted them. The first guy who I described was on the phone with the boss.

They started the job (i.e. working) before he showed up, which I considered pretty amazing. That is evidence of a level of trust that can develop when the same people work together over a period of time.

Other than NOT HELPING, I didn't do anything productive all day.

Today's work-tickets

I am not going to lift at the gym today. I am woefully behind in pulling weeds.

I intend to get in three hours pulling/cutting weeds.

I intend to cut the grass and move brush for an additional hour.

Core Strength

This video is long and boring and mentions a number of exercises that I never heard of. 

The link should pop you into the video at their #1 choice for improving core strength and it was something I understood.

Farmer's Carry is their #1 choice. Also known as "Lugging buckets of water in the orchard".  

 

A little bit of older music

Whether you liked the music or not, there were certain songs and movies that were iconic and captured some of the zaniness of the age. Contrary to what today's SJW kill-joys would have you believe, we were supported body-positivity even back then.

We could even poke a little bit of fun at ourselves. 

 The Bertha Butt Boogie (long)

Fat Bottomed Girls (make the rocking world go round)

And we celebrated other cultures

King Tut
 

Walk like an Egyptian

Construction update

Contractors will be on the property today. We might have to drop the power for an extended period. If so, posting will be light.

The main item on today's work-tickets is to stay out of their way while remaining available. 

Chainsaws, UPS, lost knives and arcane hardware (pop-quiz)

Somebody wanted to borrow my chainsaw

I asked "Why?" 

They replied "My friend had a couple of trees come down in his yard during the recent storms."

I told him "If I loan you my chainsaw I come with it."

Handing a random person a tool that can whack off an arm in less than one second is not prudent.

Consequently, part of my morning was spent cutting up a downed Wild Black Cherry (Prunus serotina) and Box Elder (Acer negundo). Both of those species are considered "invasive aliens" in Europe. Of the two, P. serotina is the more attractive tree.

Shipping something via UPS

A person in another state wanted a few pieces of bud-wood from one of my trees.

He shipped me a box, an expanded, polystyrene cooler and two ice-packs. He also included a return label to put on the box for the return trip.

About an hour-and-a-half of my morning was spent preparing the bud-wood, boxing it up and transporting it to a UPS Store.

Time-on-task/Clock-time

According to my stop-watch, I spent 4:38 on the two separate tasks. By my reckoning, maybe 90 minutes of it was actual time-on-task.

That is not a great ratio, only about 30% of the time was actually spent running the chainsaw or cutting scion. Time in the truck doesn't put food in the pantry.

Pop-quiz

This story start with a lost paring knife.

Mrs ERJ is quite fond of our Old Hickory paring knife. We have had it for decades. And then, earlier this week, it disappeared.

While looking through my inventory of cutting tools for a replacement, I happened across two items made of steel that I had been looking for because of other reasons. 

On two different occasions I had a need to add a degree-of-separation between these artifacts and their "mothers" thereby rendering their mother inop whilst still being able to restore their capability in a timely manner.

Timely, that is, if I had remembered the "safe place" I had stored these items. 

Bonus points for any readers who can identify the mothers of these artifacts. More photos can be provided if needed.

Closure on the paring knife

I ordered another paring knife. It now costs $23 rather than the $5 they cost in 2010. By my calculus, it is a bargain if you can make your wife happy for the cost of three cups of foo-foo coffee.