Ducks can fly very quickly and pass-shooting tends to be toward the longer shotgun ranges. A duck has the potential to have flown five feet through space in the time it takes for the shot to get there. That means the shooter needs to be shooting about five feet in front of the duck if he wants to bag the duck.
It is similar to throwing a football. The quarterback must throw the football to where the receiver will be, not to where he currently is.
Growing food is the same way. You have to prepare the fields in the early spring if you expect to harvest a meaningful crop in the late summer or in the autumn.
Many people fail because they are reactive. They remain stuck in denial until their stomach is empty...and then it is too late.
An interesting interaction happens starting at the 3:44 mark. The two young men riding in the gator are bragging up their "cred" and the older man who is the driver imparts some wisdom.
This video is a seven minute video documenting efforts in Jackson*, Michigan as they start a HUGE community garden.
I applaud the people in Jackson, Michigan who assimilated the news about global food insecurity and who are demonstrating personal responsibility and acting on that news.
I might have some minor quibbles** about the details of how they executed but they are making a huge effort.
It is far easier to ride a bicycle once it has forward motion than when it is stationary. Once moving, the adjustments are minor and incremental. Gardening is a similar learn-by-doing venture.
*Jackson, Michigan is a typical rust-belt city that has been hemorrhaging jobs for the last four decades. At one time it was home to the world's largest walled-prison.
**I about cried when I saw the rock-hard, indoor-stored, large round-bales being used for mulch. But I have to admit, they sure spread more easily than soft, decayed "waste" bales. And if those bales get a half-dozen families gardening then it was a great investment.
It doesn't look like they put the straw on thick enough to actually smother the grass. I understand they want no-till, but I think if they had worked up the soil once and then put down the straw, they would be much more successful. Once the grass is gone, it is much easier to do no-till. And I am not a farmer, but I thought no-till agriculture was accomplished with the use of Roundup/glysophate to kill the weeds.
ReplyDeleteGrammar police - Tenets vs. Tenants
ReplyDeleteThanks to its confusingly similar pronunciation, tenant (“occupant, land-holder”) is sometimes erroneously used in place of tenet (“principle, doctrine”).
Thanks for the correction.
DeleteRe: the use of premium bales for yeoman work.
ReplyDeleteThis squandering is typical of projects such as this. Let's look in on the again at the 2nd sowing, the 3rd and mid-season of the 3rd.
I submit that they're planting feel good feelings more than edible crops. The pats on the back and the acclaimed well done! wont last into the 3rd cycle.
Always I wish to be wrong in this, have yet to be.
Lets look in on the project.
ReplyDeleteI bought my new TroyBuilt Horse with the Kohler Magnum in 86 . Next spring my grandma asked me to till her up a garden at the retirement community they lived in . As I was tilling a dozen more old ladies came out and asked me to till them up some ground also. Before I was done I had tilled nearly a whole acre of untilled before bottom land . Needless to say I was well fed and at once a local celebrity . The old girls made me quite proud as I observed the gardens flourish . They put up sunshades and tables and chairs and the garden was quite a success as they stalked even so much as a blade of grass popping up in that soil . I received many wonderful baskets of produce and cookies [my granny told them of my love of homemade cookies] and welcomed many new friends into my life . It was a wonderful time !
ReplyDeleteCongrats to those folks for stepping up!
ReplyDelete