Visions of Efficient Government Delivery of Groceries

 

All meat is some form of chicken nuggets or fish-sticks due to economics and law-suites from Muslims or Hindu when pork or beef is offered.

No bones allowed because they can be sharpened on the concrete to form shivs. That is the same reason that they are eaten with flimsy, plastic sporks; they are difficult to weaponize.

More than the USDA suggested servings of vegetables and vegetable-based proteins which can lead to excessive flatulence.

Hat-tip to my friend MTV. He told me "When a socialist says 'government run grocery stores', it is a euphemism for 'soup lines'.' I just took the idea one step farther. 

Busy, busy, busy.

I am scurrying about trying to get things done outside. The maximum heat index today is expected to be 12 degrees lower than tomorrow

I got a call from the gentleman who is doing our bathroom remodel. He gently asked where the mixing valve for the shower was. The supplier had not notified us that Fed Ex had delivered it, using the lame excuse "The Fex Ex man did not properly scan it into OUR system." 

It is all good now. The parts are in-hand and the contractor knows that.

This afternoon will be taken up with picking up sticks in the orchard, broadcasting ground limestone. This evening will be taken up with helping Southern Belle and Handsome Hombre picking up some more furniture.

Pursuant to Michael's comments about heat exhaustion in-the-sandbox, our soldiers carry obscene loads when on patrol with 80 pound packs being a starting point. They also don't always have the option of hanging out in the shade (Hey, where would YOU plant an improvised, explosive device?). 

Another thing that might hamper our soldiers is that their clothing is not designed to facilitate evaporative cooling whereas I can wear loose-fitting tee-shirts, floppy-sloppy shorts and a big straw hat.

I don't say all of those things to minimize heat exhaustion or heat stroke but simple to note that there are mitigating factors. 

A few pictures, weeds and "How to Encourage White Clover"

 

Image of tomato plants taken on June 8, 2025

Same tomatoes. The feedlot panels are 50" tall to give you a size reference.

Pulling weeds

It is good practice to shake as much dirt off of the weed's roots as possible

Then, if you are going to be lazy and sheet-compost (i.e. drop them on the ground) at least have the foresight to shingle them so the roots are separated from the dirt by the previous bunch of weed's tops.

The more experienced gardeners will notice that these weeds are very large and should have been dealt with when they were younger. We do what we can, when we can.

 

Encouraging White Clover

I want to elaborate on what I think it takes to manage an orchard floor to encourage White Clover.

In most places where White Clover grows, adding seeds is optional according to F.W. Owen. White Clover has an exceptionally high percentage of "hard seed" that requires many years to break dormancy. If you have any doubts, a pound of seed goes a long, long way with about 750,000 seeds per pound. Ladino Clover is a giant form of White Clover and is very acceptable for orchard floors.

Since the seeds are very small (approximately 1/750,000 of a pound each) they don't have a lot of reserves. That means that favorable, fertile soil must be at the very surface.

White Clover is not happy with low-pH soil. Since acid rain leaches magnesium and calcium carbonates (the primary pH buffering agents in the 6.0-7.5 pH range) out of the top layer of the soil first, it is worth your time to broadcast pulverized lime or dolomite but not work it into the soil. Lime is cheap. The cheapest lime available in small quantities locally is used in barns to improve traction. I paid $3.99 per 50 pound bag today at TSC.

White Clover roots cannot compete with grass roots for Potassium or Phosphorous. Some places have potassium as the bottleneck nutrient. Other places are deficient in phosphorous. Clover hay exports four times more potassium than phosphorous, so if you are a betting man then you would bet that potassium is more likely to be a bottleneck than phosphorous. Since the seedling's roots cannot compete with grass, there must be a surplus of potassium and phosphorous in the top half-inch of soil.

As a sidenote, the addition of lime will INCREASE the availability of phosphorous in most soils, so even if the phosphorous is marginal, you are making what is there more available with the limestone. 

Potassium and Phosphorous are expensive. 6-24-24 fertilizer runs about $32 per fifty-pound bag. a 40 pound bag of 0-0-60 (potassium) might cost you $60. You don't need a lot because you are only trying to supplement the top 1/2" to get your White Clover seedlings going, but you probably need some. My philosophy is to over-do the cheap limestone and be stingy with the more expensive P and K, using it in dribs-and-drabs to find the minimum amount required to get the desired response.

White Clover needs direct sunlight and it is too short to compete with tall grass. Manage the grass species to favor shorter species like Bluegrass, Red Fescue or Perennial Ryegrass with mowing. If you cannot see your shoelaces when you are standing in the grass, the White Clover cannot see the sun.

White Clover is drought sensitive. Short grass species like Bluegrass, Red Fescue and/or Perennial Ryegrass go dormant during dry spells and that keeps the grass component and the White Clover in sync with each other. Additionally, neither component will have deep, plunging roots that will compete with your fruit trees during dry spells. They will green up nicely when the fall rains come.

Mowing the orchard floor frequently discourages rodents. Rodents girdle young trees. Rodents are BAD. 

Fine Art Tuesday

 

July 18 was Nelson Mandela Day. That made me think of mandalas.

Which reminded me of a toy that was heavily advertised in my youth, the Spirograph.

 Spirograph art.

Boosting the Signal

This essay from The Provident Prepper is well thought-out and well presented.

The Three Pillars of True Preparedness

Before we dive into the scale, let’s establish what real preparedness looks like:

• Skills: Not just knowledge, but tested, practiced abilities that you can execute under stress.
• Resources: Organized, accessible supplies that you’ve actually used and know work.
• Sustainability: The length of time you can maintain your standard of living with minimal outside support.

Levels of preparedness

Unprepared: You might make it to breakfast

Insufficiently prepared: You might make it to dinner

Slightly prepared: Maybe half a week.

Somewhat prepared: Not totally devastated by week-long grid failure

Modestly prepared: Safe but requires a LOT of effort

Partly prepared: Safe living with modest effort (maybe three month duration)

Reasonably prepared: Safe living with minimal outside support (maybe six month duration)

Seriously committed to being prepared: Indefinite time with outside support. Already exercising decoupling skills (like producing your own electricity, water, fuel, food, entertainment). 

And while you can quibble about where the author drew the lines, it is a short and entertaining essay that isn't hard to read. 

 

Mid-summer update

I think of July 15 as the middle of summer. It is a good time to take stock of how things are going.

The fact that I am a week late in posting this summary pretty much tells you everything you need to know.

I am behind on cutting the grass, pulling weeds, tying up cucumber vines, controlling snails, picking up fallen sticks. The Eaton Rapids orchard is overwhelmed with annual grass, and the grapes have been struggling with Japanese Beetles and fungal diseases.

Compared to the last five years, 2025 has been warm and wet.

Year    GDDb50        Evap-rain

2025    1685            11.1-9.3

2024    1760            11.5-10.7

2023    1478            14.2-5.8

2022    1580            15.1-5.1

2021    1668            10.7-10.2

2020    1594            13.1-8.1 

GDDb50 = Growing Degree Days b50F: a measure of how warm the year is. Data presented is GGDb50 on July 21 for Charlotte, Michigan

Evap-rain is the Evaporative Potential - Rainfall. Data is for the span of time from May 1 until July 21. Data in inches.

On the positive side, many of the fruit trees I transplanted this spring are doing well. The persimmons and the grafted apple trees are modestly exceeding expectations.

Most of the new apple trees show between 15" and 18" of shoot growth on their main stem. An old-time apple grower once shared that his goal was to get 24" of shoot growth on trees while he was trying to grow them to-size and then he fertilized/managed for 12"/year once their canopies were "bumping" the neighboring tree's canopy. I am on-track to hit or exceed that 24"/year target.

Progress on the orchard floor has been fantastic since it was brush-hogged. I broadcast White Clover and Birdsfoot Trefoil seeds, both of which are already present in scattered populations, both of which fix nitrogen from the air. It is my firm belief from when I had cows and sheep that if you manage your pastures to have between 20% and 40% White Clover in the canopy, then everything else falls together (except drought tolerance). White Clover is literally the plant of "...flowing with milk and honey."

Another positive is that the legacy trees that I did not cull have a modest crop-load. The fruit size and color should be excellent this fall as long as we don't get a hailstorm. I am looking forward to identifying varieties and getting some labels posted. 

The new pears I planted have been sulking. Their roots were not very impressive when I planted them and I planted them in the Hill Orchard and they were planted into subsoil that has a thin smear of top soil over it.

Trees on the Hill Orchard also have to contend with Black Walnut roots.

My goal today are to purchase a cart to move mulch, purchase 250 pounds of ground limestone to encourage the White Clover, to mow for two hours and to weed in the garden for at least one hour. 

Modern Monetary Theory explained (simply enough so Sandy, the bartender from Yorktown Heights, can understand)

 

The picture shown above is a bottle of 80 proof (40% alcohol by volume) vodka.

Joe decided to sneak into his dad's liquor cupboard and have a toot. Then he added water to bring the level back up to where it was.

This is what the bottle looks like after Joe took a snort.

After waiting a week, to see if he had been caught, Joe decided to have couple of snorts. He mixed it with orange juice and milk-of-magnesia to make a Philip's Screwdriver.

To cover the evidence of his depredations on the bottle of vodka, Joe added more water.

A week later, Joe invited his friend Mike over. They both had three mixed drinks. Mike had a fondness for root beer, vanilla ice cream and vodka. Joe, being simple in many ways, stuck with Philip's Screwdrivers.

After Mike wobbled his way home, Joe topped the bottle off with water and put it back in his father's liquor cabinet.

The next week, Joe's parents went to work a concession stand at the church picnic. Mike brought over Lisa and Diane, a couple of VERY friendly girls. Half-way through the party, Joe had to add water to the bottle that was more than half empty. Joe herded Mike and the two middle-school girls out the back door when his parents came home early. He barely had enough time to add enough water to bring the bottle from the half-empty mark to full and put it back into the cabinet.

Three days later...

Three days later, Joe was trying to frighten a raccoon away from the family pet's food dish.

The raccoon sunk its needle-sharp teeth into the web of Joe's left hand.

Joe's dad, not being the kind of man to waste money on frivolous wants, took care of cleaning out the wound. He used the bottle of cheap vodka he kept for exactly that purpose. Joe's dad was very impressed that Joe did not even wince as he sluiced out the puncture wounds with the 40% alcohol.

Joe died six months later. Doctors were astounded. Death by rabies is extraordinarily rare in developed countries where everybody knows the risks.