Wealth Not Health

The US health system operates for profit. As a result, the US COVID response has been an utter failure. The goal has been ever more profit, not preventing the spread of the virus and protecting people. From selling and exporting record amounts PPE last winter while telling citizens they don't need masks to insisting on developing our own test (for big pharmas sake) delaying testing in the US for months. By contrast Thailand ginned up their tests within hours, and now have a rapid test. US lockdowns were started too late to be really effective and the rapid re-opening once profits were impacted expanded the spread. However, what bothers me the most is the lack of simple preventative recommendations like taking vitamin D.

Revolutions, Resolutions, and Resilience

Another revolution around the sun. Time to take stock and plan for next year. Looking forward and back like the namesake of the upcoming month. We got in our seed order last week. I expect dwindling supplies, so you might want to put in your seed order as well. One of my resolutions for next year is to do a better job keeping seed from my heirloom plant varieties. I've ordered some more American Chestnuts to plant, and plan to get some elderberry and mulberry trees in this winter too. We're spending way too much time cooped up inside and it is reflected in our poor health. (h/t Magi). “There was a study of more than 7,300 [COVID] cases in China, and guess how many people caught the disease outdoors?” Leung asks. “Just two.” Being outside in nature is curative on many levels.

The Longest Night

It is darkest before the dawn. Tomorrow is the winter solstice, the longest night here in the north. Light and day length begin their slow growth this week until the summer solstice in June. Throughout human history the solstice has marked time and been celebrated. This year there's an additional show in the night sky...https://earthsky.org/astronomy-essentials/great-jupiter-saturn-conjuncti...

In December, just as Jupiter and Saturn are nearly at their closest, the young moon will sweep past them. From December 16-25, 2020, the 2 will be separated by less than a full-moon diameter, just as the crescent moon is passing close. Jupiter will appear brighter, outshining Saturn by 12 times. Saturn is respectably bright, though, shining as brilliantly as a 1st-magnitude star.

Some say the conjunction of these planets on the solstice marks the beginning of a new Age of Aquarius. Despite the ravages of COVID, the Earth has made another revolution around the sun. Another year comes to an end, and what a long strange trip it has been. I'm more than ready for a new age...

Never Admit Defeat
Nor a Mistake

I once had a boss who said you should never admit a mistake because it makes you look weak. Whaaat? How can you learn if you don't recognize (and admit) failure? Seems to me that denying your mistakes is the weakness. I didn't work with him for long. I like the line in Joni's "Woodstock", But you know life is for learning. Mistakes, failures, defeats are part of the process, part of life. They should be embraced so that you grow and improve. I guess you can imagine what brought this to mind...our ole buddy, Trumpolini. But this week I really want to focus on my learning path in the garden...mistakes and improvements. I wrote a comment this week about the systemic system we've created with our greed for profit. I used my agricultural education as an example. I was taught fertilizer rates, herbicide use, animal feeding, depreciation and profit...not permaculture nor ecological farming. I was offered a lucrative job as a farm chemical rep upon graduation, but I took a low paying research position instead. It took years for me to learn to garden without chemicals, plowing, and constant weeding....production for pleasure not profit.

Freeze Tag

This week brought our first freeze of the season. We fared better than most staying in the 20's when many dropped into the teens. We had the lettuce covered with two layers of row cover, so it lives on. We sometimes manage to keep it going all winter. The cabbage, broccoli, greens and such almost always over winter here. However, we sometimes get single digit temps which zap almost everything in the garden. It has been unusually dry this season after an unusually wet summer. The climate is obviously in flux, but we've been in a sweet spot...this year. The only choice is to take it day by day and adapt as well as possible. Same thing with our economic, political, and social future. The instability of those systems have been roiled by the COVID pandemic and how it falls out is anyone's guess, but from where I'm sitting it doesn't look good. Perhaps in crisis there is opportunity.

What headlines do you want to see repeated over and over again?

Skipping Through the Holidays

For decades we've gone down to Birmingham to spend holidays with both of our families, but not this year...just phone calls. COVID is spreading rampantly and holiday gatherings WILL drive the spread. Vaccines appear to be on the horizon, and perhaps that will be the light at the end of the tunnel. The accompanying economic collapse will be more difficult to overcome quickly. I feel for all those who lost their job or business and as a result their health care...or worse yet, lost their home in the middle of a pandemic. Comparatively we're doing great... we're still eating well from our Thanksgiving leftovers, and the garden is still productive though the weather has shifted to wet and cold. It is hard to believe that it is time to start planning the spring and summer garden, inventorying the seeds we have, and ordering seed we need. Looks like limited supplies this year. Despite the situation we've got a full plate...

Giving Thanks

There is good and bad with most things. The myth of Thanksgiving which first nations peoples describe as a “National Day of Mourning” is the bad part. The better part of the holiday (IMO) springs from the intent to be thankful for the good we can find around us. Many studies indicate gratitude leads humans to be happier and healthier.

“Gratitude is good medicine,” says Robert A. Emmons, Ph.D., a professor of psychology at the University of California, Davis and author of The Little Book of Gratitude.
“Clinical trials indicate that the practice of gratitude can have dramatic and lasting effects in a person’s life. It can lower blood pressure and improve immune function. ... Grateful people engage in more exercise, have better dietary behaviors, are less likely to smoke and abuse alcohol and have higher rates of medication adherence.”

Accepting Defeat

You've got to learn to survive a defeat. That's when you develop character.

Richard M Nixon

‘The time has come’: Melania Trump tells husband to accept defeat, report says

Fox News host Laura Ingraham advised President Trump on Friday to "accept defeat" with "grace and composure" in an extraordinary shift in messaging.

By repeatedly denouncing the accuracy of the outcome, even before it has been confirmed, he is giving his supporters a green light to spend the next four years blatantly defying a Biden government, and generally causing public mayhem, on the grounds that the Democrats “stole” the election from Trump, and that the new government thus has no democratic authority of mandate.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/nov/08/the-dangers-of-trump-not...

The acronym is - situation normal, all f***ed up. The oligarchs win regardless of who is president. Max and Stacy declared Fed Chairman Jerome Powell the real winner, and Barron's magazine agrees. However I think Powell is simply an agent of the elite, creating and funneling money ever upward to the oligarchs. They are preparing for a new Bretton Woods and a "Great Reset" to save capitalism. Who will have a seat at the table? Well, the oligarchs at Davos in 2021. Somehow I don't think regular working folks are going to benefit. The writing is on the wall...

Turning the Corner

Welcome to mid-autumn and standard time. Most folks are aware of the two equinox and solstices as being the seasonal changes, but few are aware of the mid-points of each season. Halloween, All Saints Day (which is today), and the Day of the Dead (tomorrow) are markers of fall's mid-season (also called Samhain).

It is Celtic New Year’s Eve and the final harvest. It’s when the veil between the world of the living and the dead is the thinnest and when pagans believe spirits easiest roam the earth and when it is easiest to communicate with them. It is a time to honor all those who have come before, for all that was gifted to us during the year, to ask for guidance, and to set intentions as the turning of the wheel begins again.

Groundhogs day, May 1st (May day), and the Dog days are the other mid-season markers. The days continue getting shorter, and it will be nice to have light earlier. Changing between standard and DST is a bad idea for several reasons, but it seems we're stuck with it. This is the week we've been waiting for...the election will be over by this time next week (I hope), and neither outcome bodes well (in my book). Hang on for what may be a rocky ride.