The State of the Farm Blog Address

The other day, i was sitting on a bench, as i often do, during one of my breaks during the day at work, and something i read reminded me of my long unrequited desire to raise Muscovy Ducks.

A quick search on craigslist located a nearby raiser of these treasures, and this weekend, i plan to go and pick up a small flock of hatchling Muscovy Ducks and bring them home to my tiny farm.  And i am SO excited!  I just can't wait to show you pictures.  I've never had ducks before, and i'm just giddy.  

And not just because ducks have bills and look cute either.  

Muscovy Ducks are different from any of the quacking varieties of ducks that most of us have some familiarity with.  First of all, they don't quack.  Muscovies originate in central America, unlike pretty much all other ducks, and they fly, roost, have claws, are wonderful mothers, provide virtually all of their own food, and according to rumor, are some of the best meat you will ever eat.  And that's just a partial list.  I'm so jazzed!  Yes, jazzed.

Here is a picture of two full grown Muscovy drakes.  These big boys weigh in at about 15 pounds each.  

Those crazy red things on their faces are called carunkles.  Isn't that a funny word?  Say it again.  Carunkles.

Oh yeah and also, my number crunching super hero......oh look, here's a new picture......

Isn't he cute?  I love his new beard.  

Anyway, i digress.  He did some number crunching, and it appears that this year, we really are (Lord willing and the creek don't rise and something else strange and unforeseen doesn't happen) going to get bees this year!!!!!  As in this weekend!!!!!  O.k. we're going to give someone money in order to reserve our bees this weekend.  We won't actually get them for a couple of months.  It's a process.

Chickens and Ducks and Bees.  These are microfarm occupants i think i can manage to keep up with while working a full time non-farming job.  I think.

I'm certainly very excited to try!

The Beauty of Capitalism

The other day, i shared with y'all, a few of my thoughts and ambitions concerning where the products that i buy are produced.  If you missed it, you can read it here.  In response to that post, a reader, named Tracee, posted this:

"I really don't want to offend you here, but do you realize that it is American corporations that are sending those items to China to have them manufactured? The Chinese aren't dreaming this stuff up on their own! American Corporations can no longer afford to manufacture here because the labor and benefits cost do not make it cost effective for them to make any money...and that's all they care about. Money. It all comes down to money, money, money.

China gets a bad rap. Yes, there are sweat shops, child laborers, long hours and poor wages. If we want to protest that? I'm right there with you. I'm all for buying U.S. made. Just follow the chain on the products that come out of China and they will lead you right back to the good old US of A."

I appreciate Tracee's comment, and i'm certainly not offended by discussion.  :)  Here's my response:

This is the beauty of capitalism.  

Capitalism is the democratic system of economics.  

What i mean, is that every time any consumer (person who buys things) makes a purchase, she also places her vote.  She places her stamp of approval on that product and the way in which the corporation who supplied that product chose to produce it, whether she knows it or not.

Now, if i, the consumer, make my choices on what to buy, only by what i think is pretty and who has the best price, then i send a message:  "I don't care how you do this.  I'm just happy i don't have to pay much for it."

If i, the consumer, decide that my vote counts (and it does), and i decide that i want my vote to benefit my country, my fellow Americans, me, then i can send a message that i am willing to search out and pay more for products made by my countrymen, because it matters to me that my dollars, however few, eventually support business practices that cause Americans to be employed, money to be spent in America, and perhaps, more businesses to be founded in America.  

And that is what i want to do.  That is what i want to influence others to do.

Because no matter what a company does to make so they can "afford" to manufacture their products, i.e., contract Chinese sweat shops to produce their products, instead of hiring free Americans at an honest wage, they can't afford anyone to make their products, if we, the consumers, don't BUY their products.

What i mean is, if Americans won't buy Chinese-made products, then no one can make money in America, by contracting their work to China.

In a more direct response to you, Tracee, i think that maybe in my original post, i wasn't clear about part of my heart on this subject.  I want Americans to flourish.  I know that policies in the States, specifically particular areas of the States, make it extremely difficult for corporations to make money.  There are completely unreasonable rules in place.  But if going to China were not an option, then perhaps these corporations, and our politicians, would put more effort into making things work right, here, in our country.  Americans need work.  Especially now.  And the situation is endlessly complicated.  This is just the part i think that every American can take to change the tide.  I just want to send a message.  And hope it catches on.  For corporations, it's all about the money; that's why for consumers, it has to be about something else.  Let's use OUR money, to influence THEIR money, so that something besides the money, matters to them too.

And thank you so much for your comment.  I really do appreciate it.

True Story

Sunday night, i pulled out of the drive to go buy gas and noticed that something was different.  When i got to the gas station, there was a Sheriff's Deputy gassing up, who confirmed my concern.

"You've got a problem with your car there, don't you?," he accused, like an awkward rookie cop.  I much prefer the older guys who don't look at you like you're the devil if you have an expired sticker or something.  From the tone of his voice, i thought the trunk was on fire or something, but he was just pointing out that my driver's side head light had gone out.

"I thought it looked dim.  I think it just went out.  It hasn't been like that," i defended.

The deputy gave me a we'll see sort of look and left me alone while i pumped my gas.

Monday was going to be a long day.  I already had plans to go to Wal-mart and the AT&T store after work, and now i needed to add replacing a headlamp.

I left out early Monday morning, and it was a good thing because, appropriate for a day when you're driving with inadequate lighting, it was pitch black and storming -- raining cats and dogs all the way.  There's a long stretch of narrow shoulder-less, hilly, curvy country highway, followed by another stretch of more of the same but with shoulders, between my house and signs of civilization, and by the time my eyes sought out the lights indicating that first sign of civilization, they were watering from the strain of trying to see as far as the tail lights of the car in front of me, and i decided to stop for a break.

I got drenched in the 15 seconds it took me to get from my car to the store, where i bought a little snack and a drink.  I went back to the car, looked up what time i should expect the sun to attempt to rise on this stormy morning, and checked on the status of the most recent tornado warning.  After 20 minutes or so, the barely noticeable sun lit the sky enough to make traveling seem less dangerous, and i set out again.

This is the longest commute ever.

I made it to town in time to greet the opening manager at Auto Zone before he opened up a few minutes late, bought my light bulb and made it to work on time.  Wet and tired, but on time.

At break, i checked out the owner's manual on my car and realized i didn't have the tools to change the bulb.  I was hoping to get this done at lunch time, in light of my other errands.  I immediately started asking around the very small male population in my office for a ratchet set and happily received the keys to a friend's car, with permission to raid his tool box for what i needed.  Thank God.

Lunch time arrived, i got the tools, started to change the bulb, and found that the bulb i had didn't fit.  ARgh!  Back to Auto Zone.  Trade it out.  Change the bulb.

No light.  Are you kidding?

This isn't what i was hoping for.

Must be the fuse, i think.  After work, i buy fuses, change out fuses.  Still nothing.  My day is finally getting frustrating.  O.k., i'm crying.  I'm feeling helpless and irrationally stressed out .  I'm praying.  "Lord, please show me the answer."

Back to Auto Zone, i find a very helpful clerk who shows me, very kindly and without talking to me like i'm a stupid girl, that i changed the wrong bulb.

Silly, silly, silly, girl.  I feel like an idiot.  A very grateful idiot.  I consider sending my kind Auto Zone friend flowers but think he might get the wrong impression.  Cookies?  No, still wrong impression.  I guess my profuse thank-you's will have to do.  Let God bless him.

My lights work, it's dark outside now; it's 6 o'clock, and all i have to do is go grocery shopping, pay the cell phone bill and drive home so that i can sleep and go back to work.

Back to Wal-mart.  Cart full of food.  Hurry up.  AT&T closes at 8:00.  I'm the last customer at AT&T.  Because of my light bulb mix-up, i don't have as much money as i planned.
"O.k., put this much on this card.  What's my balance now?"
"Really?"
Well, that's exactly how much cash i have.  To the dollar.  How convenient.

This is the longest day in memory.  With a bonus.

For all the stress and worry and complication of this day, i finish it, feeling completely provided for.  A full tank of gas, a back seat full of groceries, and not a dollar to my name.  Completely taken care of.

If you were nearby my car on my way out of the shopping center, you heard a small war hoop escape through the open window.

I won.  This day wanted to beat me, but i won.  Not on my own.  That's the best part.  He won for me.  And i won.

Follow-up on NOT MIC

For those of you who are interested, i have created a tab on this blog, up there at the top, labeled, "not made in China."  I have listed those resources that i am presently aware of for finding businesses creating products here in the USA.

I hope that this page will grow as i learn of more and more businesses and products that we can all be proud to support, as Americans.

Please check it out and let me know what i can add.

Domesticity becomes me

Domesticity, i love you




Today is Martin Luther King Jr. Day. And i'm very thankful for Dr. King's contribution to our nation, but at this very moment, i am way more thankful to have had the day off. No offense to Dr. King, of course.



Even though the holiday season is riddled with days off from work, all of those days are usually filled with festive activity, and so today, my being home while my super hero was working, is the first real day off i've had in quite a long time.



So i pretended it was the old days. I swept the floor, and i cleaned the house, and washed dishes and made tea, and i made lunch for my darling, and i fixed dinner and baked a cake. And i truly enjoyed myself.



Sometimes i feel very angry toward the women who started the "women's lib" movement back in the day. I blame them for turning the social tide from the days when it was normal to be domestic, toward the present days when it's abnormal to not have a "paying job" or a career. This movement actually changed the economic norm of Americans to a time when most "normal" households actually require two incomes to continue in their normalcy.



I'm not really angry at those women who thought they were doing all the good, but i am a rebel to their cause. I feel the most valuable and the most meaningful and the most successful when i'm home. My dream career is domestic. I don't want a career. I want to raise chickens.



And today was a wonderful day of being domestic and raising chickens. And one day not too too too far away, it will come back. I'm sure of it.

Not MIC

I think i'm probably a little behind the ball on this one, but it's finally very important to me, so i want to share.

A few weeks before Christmas, i had a few minutes to wander through one of my very favorite stores in the world, Hobby Lobby.   I love Hobby Lobby because it is kind of a fantasy wonderland of craft supplies and craft ideas, and if you're not feeling all that industrious, you can buy all sorts of crafty looking items that someone else made.

And something in Hobby Lobby is ALWAYS on sale.  Always.

On top of all that, the music playing in the store is instrumentals of Christian worship songs, and the store is closed on Sundays, allowing all of their employees the opportunity to go to a traditional Sunday worship service of their choosing.

These are all reasons that i have always loved Hobby Lobby.

-------------------

Now, in recent months, i have been paying more attention, partially due to our present national economic condition, to where the items i buy have been made...hoping to find items that were made in the U.S.A., by my fellow-Americans.

------------------

So, while i was in Hobby Lobby on this particular evening, i was automatically flipping over every item to see where it was made.  And every single item (i was in the expansive somebody-else-made-this section of the store, which was, of course, on sale) i picked up was made in China.  Every.  Single.  Item.

I became a little frantic, walking around, flipping over items, hoping to find something from this Oklahoma-based company, that was at least made in India or Mexico.  Something.

No.  Nothing.  Not one item.

Now i didn't search the whole store or anything, but...you get my point.

And soon, i was just about nauseous.  I had visions in my heads of fleets of ships carrying adorable decorative items, all coming from china, racing to America, while trillions of American dollars traveled through the sky ( yes i need a good cartoonist on staff here at humble ambitions, inc. ) to China.  And it suddenly became annoyingly clear that if we keep sending all our money to China, in exchange for all these questionnably-made products, eventually, China will have all our money, and all we'll have is all this pretty junk in our houses.  The result of an appearances-based society.  Thinking about it makes me a little ill, even now.

Almost the same thing goes for the great Wal-mart, which is truly funnelling an awfully large percentage of the funds of middle-America straight to the big C in Asia. 

And after all these sickening cartoons in my head, i had to do a heart check and decide to make some different choices.  I'm a realistic person, and i'm not against foreign trade.  And i do think that i would like my money to go to American made products as much as possible.  But as a compromise maybe.  Until we as Americans get our corporate head on a little straighter, couldn't we just try really hard to stop sending all of our cash straight to China?  Couldn't we? 

Which brings me, (i'm not exactly sure how, to be honest), to a request.  O.k., a request with an explanation.  When i mentioned buying items not made in China to some of my co-workers, i got the annoying repetitive response, "you can't get anything not made in China."  or  "Where can you buy things made in America?"

Now, i did some internet searches and found some great resources for items made in America.  And i plan to make a section on this page that will showcase those.

But.....and now i'm finally getting to the request......if you know of someone or some company, making and selling great products here in the U.S.A., would you help me spread the word?  I would like to promote, on my small level, any company or item made in America, and let people know what really is available.

Even companies that sell stuff not made in China.

There really are quality items, for sale here, in the U.S.A., that we can buy and not be supporting the largest communist force on our planet.

Just sayin'.

Old School

Tonight, i am embarking on a new old way ...  or an old new way ...  of doing things.

As you know, i guess, a few months ago, my husband and i decided to enter the expansive and mobile world of smart phones.  Since both of us are away from home more than we are at home (these days), we decided to spend our budgeted internet money on internet accessibility in our pockets, which meant forfeiting internet accessibility from our massive and out-dated personal desktop computers.

It didn't take long before i figured out how to blog from my phone/tiny computer in my pocket (there's an app for that), but no matter how much i try, i just can't begin to get my thoughts down in blog format as easily by tapping it out on a touch phone keyboard, as i can on an old fashioned, tappity-tap-tap, full-sized, computer keyboard.

And thus, besides all the other reasons that i've been too busy to do some of the things i love the most, my smart phone was impeding my blogging. 

Boo.

So, this evening, i've gone truly old school.  I mean way, way back.  I've signed up for free dial-up from my equally old-school desk top computer.

It took me a few minutes to find the fully dusted over plug-in for the phone line on the back of my p.c., and even longer to connect and load this page, but i think this might work.  We'll have to see how long it takes to actually upload this blog to the interwebs once i type it.

So there you go. 

Here i am blogging. 

About blogging.

Whatever.

Catch you on the flip side.

Yo.

January

January.

Already?

Are you sure?

Because i'm sure i haven't gotten to do everything i planned for the year yet. I mean. There has to be more. I have a TON of stuff to do!

But that's how i feel on many New Years Days. I think, "Where did the year go?" At the beginning of the year, when all things are new, and you've survived the Christmas season, and you're looking at the beginning of a brand new-born year, a year, kind of like a life, seems like a really. long. time.

I should be able to accomplish anything in a year. A year is forever!

But at the beginning of a new year, when i plan for all things new, i must also look back to the last year, and some years, such as this year, i don't want to review what i said i would do in this past year. I'm sure it didn't happen.

Now, i know i should cut myself a break on this. What i thought 2011 was going to look like when it was still January, took a very definite turn as early as February (when i started working away from home), and then jumped off an unknown cliff in July (when my cat set the bathroom on fire). So i guess i should cut myself some slack. But at the same time, i need to take a hint.

Here's the hint:

Get ready now, 'cause this is profound and life changing.

And pretty elementary.

If you don't do the things you want to do, then you won't ever do them, and then they won't get done, and they'll still be on your list next year, and the next year, and so forth.

So if you want to do it. You have to do it.

Everyone feel wiser now?

I know i do.

Just for having thought it.

Let me get a little bit more to the heart of the issue.

There are only 365 days in a year. And as it turns out, 365 days is actually not equal to forever. It's equal to one single solitary rotation around the sun, and it will come to an all too abrupt end, shortly after Christmas, no matter how ready i am for it, should the Lord tarry. And all that i will have gotten done in those 365 days, are the things that i have actually done. Acted on. Pursued. Worked for. Prayed for. Waited for.

I cannot sit and wait on my couch, doing nothing. I have to do things as though i expect to accomplish whatever end result i'm looking for.

Ok?

Anyone confused?

Good.

Do something.