Compound Interest

If one were to invest $24 dollars and get 6.3% interest, in 400 years the investment would be worth $1,000,000,000,000 or approximately the value of all real estate on the island of Manhattan.

On May 4, 1626 a tribe of Native Americans "sold" the island of Manhattan to Peter Minuit of the Dutch West Indies company for $24 worth of glass beads and other trinkets.

Some people claim that the "real value" of the trinkets was $1150. If so, then one would need a return of 5.3% interest compounded over 400 years.

As everybody who ever dabbled in real estate learns: Location. Location. Location.

5.3% and 6.3% interest is not crazy-high, especially with technology growing and a continent being opened up just west of one of the greatest harbors in the world.

The Native Americans did not get cheated. If anything, the Native Americans cheated naive Peter since the island was probably used by several bands of the Lenape tribe.

Two hours of work is better than zero hours of work

Yesterday was supposed to be a marathon planting session at The Property. Events conspired against me and we are down to a single vehicle so I coordinated with Mrs ERJ.

I dropped her off at her Saturday volunteering commitment and proceeded onward to The Property. I had four hours before I had to pick her up with 90 minutes of that being travel time.

I planted pecan seed-nuts.

The burnt cans with the "X" cut in the bottoms did not work. The devil was in the details.

I am planting in sod with goldenrod, wild bergamot (Monardia) and blackberries. I cut downward in four places with my shovel to make a square and then pop the block of sod out of the ground. I flip it 90-to-180 degrees to bury the grass and then slice-n-dice the exposed soil.

The roots of the sod defeated my being able to effectively push the can into the ground. The problem was exacerbated by the fact that most of the cans I brought were "pull-top" style cans. The tops of those cans have a lip of steel inside the rim which blunts it. They just do not want to cut into soil with any kinds of roots.

Plan T (for Torreya)

Torreya is a very rare, evergreen, nut tree that was almost expatriated extirpated from North America. There is a group of enthusiasts who have been trying to expand its range. One of their findings was that very deep planting of the nuts helped them elude predation by squirrels and rodents.

I planted the nuts 6" deep, which seems like a long, long way*. I planted two nuts per hole with about 6" between the two nuts.

This is a promising development. An inch of rain will help "seal" the soil and reduce the smell of the newly dug soil and of the nuts.

Unfortunately, some animals, like raccoons, cannot resist digging in newly exposed dirt. Trappers use this to their advantage. But barring raccoons, perhaps the deeply buried nuts will not release enough scent to attract the local squirrel population.

I got about sixty of them planted when I saw a stranger walking on The Property. I approached him. 

No, he did not have permission.

I suggested that walking on private property during turkey season is foolhardy. While hunters are responsible for their targets and what is downrange of them, accidents can still happen. 1-7/8 ounce of #5 shot is about 320 pellets and they can bounce off of tree trunks and rocks.

He agreed to leave and not come back. 

I looked at my watch and saw that I had been working for two hours. After watching the man drive away, I decided it was a good time to leave to pick up Mrs ERJ.

I had accomplish half of my original goal for the day. 

*Native Americans in the American Southwest typically planted corn (maize) 12" deep. Modern farmers plant it 1" to 1.5" deep. The Native Americans planted it that deep because the moisture didn't come directly from rain. It was sub-surface moisture that flowed in the direction of the alluvial fan at the base of the mesa.

Ticks

When Mrs ERJ and I married, our vows included the usual "For richer and for poorer, in sickness and in health..." but nowhere in our marriage vows were there any promises should we become besieged by Ixodidae.

Frankly, we are both pretty ticked-off at the situation. 

Ticks!

Our current theory is that I bring them home on my person and clothing after working at The Property and the ticks disperse throughout the house from there.

The theory has much to recommend it. I am frequently working with one knee on the ground. The ground is grassy. Sometimes, I am even lying down while grafting.

There is no compelling evidence that washing the clothes or drying them on the "High" setting kills them.

Overkill

The word "overkill" implies that one can kill a vexing problem "too dead".

I will take my chances.

Just a very light sprinkling

The new plan is for me to disrobe to my birthday suit after working at The Property and to deposit the clothes into a sealable tub.

Then, I am to sprinkle some insecticidal gardening dust* on my clothing, install the lid and then shake the bejabbers out of the assembly to ensure the dust is spread throughout the clothing. After I take my shower, the sealed tub is to be brought inside (insecticides don't work that well in the cold) and left untouched for 24 hours.

THEN the clothing will be washed.

Forgive the pun, but there are still a few bugs to be worked out. For instance, Mrs ERJ gently suggested that I wait until I am home before I disrobe. 

*The active ingredient in Sevin used to be carbaryl which had a modest vapor pressure that allowed it to work even if the target did not contact the chemical. The current formulation uses bifenthrin as the active ingredient. Bifenthrin is MUCH longer lasting (months of activity) but that comes at the cost of a lower vapor pressure. That means that the target must contact the product before it is lethal.

Tab clearing

Gary wrote in comments asking about "the business model" of old-time, general stores

Unlike modern stores where all of the merchandise is purchased at a corporate level and is funneled to the retail outlet through a network of warehouses, the old-style, general store functioned partially as its own "market-maker".

If you ever dabbled in "collectibles" then you have dealt with market-makers. Market-makers have two prices, the price you (the customer) will pay for an item and the price they are willing to pay you when you sell the collectible back to the market-maker. The difference between the two prices is called "the spread". The market-maker also appraises the quality of the item which can have a huge bearing on its value.

The old-time general store market-maker was the broker who provided an orderly market between the myriad of small producers/collectors of eggs, butter, strawberries, blackberries, poke-greens, firewood, asparagus, apples, live animals, furs....and the people who wished to purchase and consume those commodities and "buyers" outside of the community (canners, tanners, soap and glue makers).

Why not sell direct?

There was never enough time/labor to spare having somebody going door-to-door to find a buyer.

Even if a neighbor approached you and asked you to "save a few bushels of apples" for him to purchase directly, there still needed to be a mechanism for setting the price. And what if you saved him four bushels but he only wanted two? What do you do with the extra? What if the buyer says your apples were bad apples and didn't want to pay you? What if the buyer didn't have any cash or any produce that you wanted to trade for?

The small-town grocery store had enough traffic that SOMEBODY would buy those apples. And as the season went on, the store owner would dynamically adjust the price he offered growers so he would always make a profit selling to his retail buyers. 

One way he would do that would be to look at "days-supply-of-inventory". If the item was perishable, he might stop buying when he knew there was any risk of getting "stuck" with the goods that would go-bad before he could sell them.

The shortage-of-cash issue was partially resolve by the store keeping books and crediting the merchandise they purchased against the bill the seller owed the store. This doesn't "create" money because somebody has to pay enough cash for the merchant to replenish his supplies purchased from "outside". But the crediting did make it possible for cash-strapped families to gain access to flour, salt, lard, beans, coffee and other items they could not produce on-farm.

It was also a way for school-aged kids (and pensioners and drunks) to participate in the economy and buy luxury items like shoes and fishing gear and .22 ammo, RC colas and Moonpies. They could pick blackberries, mushrooms, catch catfish, pick poke greens, sell mistletoe and collect returnable beverage containers.

Reader Dragonslayer observed "Don't farmers have large fields of soft dirt, equipment that digs large holes, and a constant need for fertilizer?"

The fact that the thief knew his way around a central-pivot rig suggests that the theft was an inside job.

If you, as the farmer, opted for the Three-S solution, how are you going to cope if you end up shooting your neighbor's kid or somebody who dated your daughter or even your own kid? Even if you are hardened enough to not feel emotional remorse, will you be able to keep your mouth shut for the rest of your life?

The Three-S solution can seem attractive when the details are abstract or we can fantasize that the perps are anonymous "sum dudes" from a far-away big city but the realities are often more complex and involved than that scenario. Even what appears to be a home invasion can be a case of your 40 year-old son getting kicked out by his old-lady...getting falling down drunk and then coming to your home in the middle of the night because he has no where else to go.

Student loans

Graduated in 2011. 19 loans! Loaned amount $46k. Now owes $83k. Link to 51 second video of angry, whining "student".

 

19 separate loans! How many years did she go to school?

She said that she qualified for a repayment plan based on her income. Since interest rates were paused for two years due to Covid, then only 12 years accrued on the interest between 2011 and 2025. If her original loans were at 6% interest (which seems plausible) then the only way for the principle to have doubled in 12 years is if she never made a payment.

Was she in prison? Was she in a coma? Stranded on a desert island? Caring for a rich sugar-daddy? Living in her mama's basement and clubbing for 14 years? Maybe she never actually graduated so she could never get a job in her field.

She borrowed money. She didn't pay (hardly) any of it back. What did she expect to have happen?

Thursday was another "down day"

Yesterday was a "down" day for me.

Mrs ERJ had other commitments so I watched Quicksilver all day. I fed her mac-n-cheese for breakfast and Lemon Custard flavored ice cream for lunch and took her to a book store.

Quicksilver has her own fan-club. I got two phone calls yesterday but they were both for Quicksilver.

Her ability to enunciate is exploding. I was actually able to follow much of her conversation. She was telling one of her fans about "Mary standing on a snake" which sounds like gibberish. She told the story with great gusto and enthusiasm.

Here is Mary

 

And if you look closely, you will see some faded green paint...and Mary standing on a serpent.

Nope. Not gibberish. Quicksilver saw Mary standing on a snake and was impressed!

Grafting hack

Apples are pretty easy to graft. The wounds knit together quickly even if the weather is on the cool side. They really don't need any special wrapping to prevent the scion from drying out, although I do wrap my rubber band with masking tape, that is more for UV protection for the rubber band and secondarily to seal any exposed wood on the scion.

The bark of the scion (twig) is there to stop the growing layer from drying out and it does a great job as long as it isn't broken.

The buds do not open until they sense a steady source of sap, so they are not a big path for water loss.

However, the top of the scion exposes wood and the growing layers to sun and wind. I believe that it is the single largest risk to scion drying out before it has a chance to heal.

I use the cap from a gallon jug of milk filled with Crisco to seal the exposed tops of scions. It is short and wide and unlikely to tip over. This is what it looks like after grafting about 20 trees.

The "hack" is to fill a cap with Crisco solid shortening and to use the cap the same way a pool player uses chalk to coat the tip of his cue.

You can coat the exposed tip of the scion after grafting or you can "Crisco up" the tip just before grafting it. The solid shortening seals the end of the twig from dehydration and it is non-toxic to plant and animal.

Most of the time it is probably not needed (at least in Michigan), but it is really cheap insurance. 

Bonus images

Have these kids ever been hungry?

Bonus-bonus image

"GFY" used to be totally, over-the-top hyperbole. Now the physical ability to do it will be subsidized by Canadian tax-payers.

Sorry, Bro. The first panel is a communist idea and communism still doesn't work.

 

Bonus video

Meth-heads or vandals stealing wire from farm equipment.

Those of us who have small operations are not immune to this kind of problem.

Wherein ERJ contemplates opening an OF account

 

I keep reading about bimbos making hundreds-of-thousands of dollars on a platform called Only Fans.

Whaddya think? Do you think I could be a star?

The cobbler's children go barefoot

The weather forecast kept downgrading the amount of rain it predicted. We are now down to a prediction of 0.36". That is much better than nothing but I would have preferred an inch.

Yesterday, I realized that I had some rootstock that I had planted out in the Eaton Rapids orchard. They had leafed out and this is a prime-time for fertilizing them.

Taking one more look at the weather, I saw the prediction had dropped below a half inch and since I only had a handful of baby-trees to fertilize, I opted to dissolve the fertilizer in water and deliver it that way.

There is no surer way to get the fertilizer down to the roots than to fertigate.

In the course of humping three gallons of water to each tree...I realized that this is when I should be grafting MY trees.

So, after giving them their water and fertilizer, I pulled out my snippers, knives, tape and scion and grafted six apples in the Eaton Rapids orchard. I almost missed an opportunity there!

Quince

The quince trees in the Eaton Rapids orchard have been an experiment.

I am strongly leaning toward culling them because they are magnets for fireblight in my orchard.

I will be keeping a close eye on them this season and make a decision in the fall.