Reading Recommendations

For anyone out there who wants to read about what has happened to the American economy, Jim Quinn has an interesting series worth reading, @ The Burning Platform (TBP). Jim is a Libertarian. I have sometimes referred to Libertarians as Anarchists who don't give a damn about the earth or people generally, LOL (I have sometimes referred to myself as an anarchist, knowing full well, almost no one has any idea what anarchism actually is, i.e. the way of nature, cooperation as opposed to competition, a state among people in which no one RULES.) Jim's commentariat at his blog are not very nice :) , which I take to be something of a reflection of Jim; otherwise, he writes excellent economic analysis. I recommend his latest series, for context.

In the article I co-wrote, cross-posted @ TBP, I was very critical of Brandon Smith @ Atl-Market. He has a very heavy handed censorship policy at his website, which is to say, if you write a comment that he doesn't like, it will be gone in less than 10 minutes (I know, I timed it three times last week LOL.) I have also been very critical of him and the Liberty Movement generally, specifically for his and the movements typical denial that climate change is happening, and a belief more or less that oil is infinite. Whereas I believe most of the troubles in the world today can be traced to exponential population growth tied to oil consumption, and a consequent strain on available resources, Brandon thinks Climate Change and Peak Oil are Illuminati fictions, made-up stories to perpetuate Illuminati power.

His most recent article is a must-read however, for anyone who cares to understand what is really happening in Syria. He and I agree, many of the worst atrocities pinned on Bashar al Assad are very likely the work of al Qaeda and affiliated mercenaries in the ranks of the rebels, with the full knowledge and support of the CIA, and the leadership of America and our military leadership. The exact same tactics were deployed in Vietnam, and by the death squads presided over by President Ronald Reagan, in Central and South America. It is not too fine a point at all to say that Obama is presiding over death squads in Syria, and formerly in Libya.

I ask you to read these, because I believe these exact same tactics will be used here in America, in particular to turn Americans against the Liberty movement, which is mostly comprised of "salt-of-the-earth" Christians. That may seem unlikely to you, but think of the mood of America immediately after 9/11. One could not suggest war was a bad idea without being cursed as a traitor. Such an event, pinned on the Liberty movement, would have the same effect. Why the Liberty movement? Because they are the only ones in America significantly armed, and significantly critical of the Federal government. A financial storm is coming, and the Feds and banks and hedge funds and corporate executives are going to need an internal scapegoat, an internal boogeyman to distract the people. The FBI already has proven more than capable and abundantly willing, of nurturing would-be Islamic bombers. All they, or the CIA or NSA have to do is the same, but put a real bomb in the "Liberty Movement" patsy's hands. I think we already saw a precursor of something very like this in Boston. Remember how much of the MSM talk early on was (and remains), that it was the work of far-right conservative gun nuts. Articles like this one from the Wall Street Journal, in which the implication is, if you question your government, you are either a terrorist or brain damaged.

The point is, what the FBI/Gov says about "terrorists", Americans generally believe without question, as if it were the sacrosanct word of a Supreme Deity. It is not the word of any Supreme Deity, it is the word of men (mostly) who have built a global empire and mean to keep it, NO MATTER WHAT. They will sacrifice whoever, however, wherever, in maintenance of that power, of that influence. You might not prevent that; but you can't avoid falling prey to it, either to the financial collapse or the fear-mongering and scapegoating, if you don't know what TPTB have done and are capable of.

WHD 

End Game

It is impossible to overstate how imperilled my country feels to me right now. Not because of any traditional outside threat, but because of gross malfeasance, incompetence and indifference rampant, within. Nowhere is that more evident than in my government and MSM treatment of Syria.

It's hard to imagine that at one time, there was only a MSM, as far as information exchange is concerned. I like to the think, "back then," people had more ethics, were more moral. Maybe, maybe not. These days, based on the Mainstream treatment of Syria, at least, I'm inclined to think the whole bloody operation is corrupt beyond redemption, MSM intern - to the President of the United States.

U.S. prepares for possible retaliatory strike against Syria - LA Times

 

(Syria attacked the US?)

Have you noticed, the sarin gas attacks in Syria have gotten worse over time? A hundred here, a hundred there, just lately, 3600 in one fell swoon. Of course we are talking about real people here, mothers and fathers and children. Who are the perpetrators? Your government says it was Bashar al Assad and his henchmen. There is plenty of evidence to suggest, it is in fact the rebels gassing people, to bring International heat down on Assad's head because they are otherwise losing the war - or there is no gassing at all, or less than is reported. How wicked is that? Considering the rebel fighters are mostly al Qaida mercenaries and the like, nothing unusual here. Except they are CIA and NATO financed, no dispute there. Where's the wicked what?

There is growing evidence your government is incapable of telling the truth about anything meaningful.

So suppose Assad is the wicked bastard the US makes him out to be, which I don't dispute. And he has figured out, I can go ahead and gas my people, because it is impossible to unravel who is doing the gassing at this point. So the answer is, for America to rain bombs down on the country, so that it turns into an eternal guerilla war zone like Iraq? Unwrap that wickedness.

Of course, things are never really as they seem, in the realm of International fuck yer brother. As I've pointed out in this blog, at risk is the status of the Dollar as the world reserve currency, and the petro dollar. That is why we rain-down bombs on Muslims; to show the world that we are not fucking around. We are going to control the politics of the Middle East, and it's oil; or at least, keep the Middle East in chaos just enough not to empower it, that we might more easily manipulate it, and if any Arab country gets a little too out of line, we will bomb it back into stone tool making and camel riding.

Which of course, all of this rests on a declining foundation of resources generally. If you think the MSM tales about who is responsible for sarin gas attacks in Syria are bullshit, you perhaps are dubious about "imminent" American energy independence. Because, like, that's why we are drilling in 10,000 feet of water, and gouging it out of the earth, and fracking every where we can frack, and bombing the shit out of and destabilizing the Middle East, because we are so awash in fracking oil and gas? LOL. If you believe fracking is an energy revolution, I have a housing bubble to sell you. Which if you know anything about the talk lately, about the housing recovery, you know that is bullshit too. Btw - Yer gov says fracking does not pollute.

Which of course, all of this points to a very precarious economy, the Fed is out of "ammo", thus, walla, Assad gasses 3600 of his own people. Enter big ass military. If you can't kick start an economy, kick start a war. That THAT is the logic of monsters should be a foregone conclusion by now.

Now I don't write this to generate despair or cynicism in you. I do so that you will come to understand, America is warmongering it's way into civilizational collapse. Which is why the NSA exists, to keep track of what people like me are saying and doing, so that they can treat me and the others like me like they are treating Assad, like they have treated Iraq and Afghanistan, like they treated South East Asian and South American people and hippies back-in-the-day. Should our beloved elite decide they need to expand the definition of internal boogeyman, to wield their warmongering against. Because they are otherwise losing control over the situation. That is why it is now LEGAL for the United States government to "disappear" any American. That is why they want control over the Internet. That is why they want to restrict access to blogs like this. That is why bankers are too big to prosecute and hackers and pot smokers get the fascist treatment. TPTB are driven to madness, realizing they cannot anymore lie with impunity; there are a growing number of people out there, able to put things in context. In their madness, elite America defaults in the only way they really know how, which is the exercise of power, which ALWAYS trends toward the abuse of power, esp. in a country so rich and powerful as America. 

Anyway, it seems to me we are approaching some kind of end game. Russia and China are not sitting on their hands about this Syria bizness. They are actively engaged in undermining American preeminence. They are not just going to sit idly by as America evolves this Syria thing into an Iran thing, a la Iraq. Can you blame them? You might as well get over the idea that America is better (i.e. good), insofar as the projection of power. In fact, there is not a more corrupt, nefarious, mean-spirited, psychopathic government than ours, in the totality of it's influence, which reflects very badly on Americans generally.

So I encourage you not to sit on your hands, about your government's warmongering, dragging us into Syria. Whatever that means for you. Which I don't mean, go out and protest, as much as go out and prepare for the collapse of the dollar as the world reserve currency and petro dollar. Contradict the warmongers among you, the bloodthirsty who think any American warmongering is by definition Just. Educate yourself, start talking to people.

Because nature has no tolerance for lies, for any stance of invincibility, in the long term. Just ask Fukushima.   

Homo insane insatiable (americanus)

 

Homo insane insatiable (americanus):

A particular, -sub, -sub class of Homo sapien sapien, characterized by a deeply-ingrained sense of entitlement, invincibility, historical inevitability; while manifesting a particularly weak assessment of economic, political or ecological reality.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Huffpost is reporting that Matt Taibbi of Rolling Stone, thinks Larry Summers would be a bad choice as Fed Chair.

"In Taibbi's view, Summers will continue many of his predecessor's policies -- specifically quantitative easing, a complex policy under which the central bank purchases securities from the Federal government and private financial institutions in order to provide the financial system with capital."

To which I replied:

LOL. I'm sorry, did HuffPost mean, Qurantative Easing, a system by which the Fed "prints" money to the tune of 85 billion a month, which they give to big banks, in exchange for their bad bets on toxic mortgages and such? Every American thereby paying for it, in less and less buying power of the dollar, as in real inflation more like the 10% range rather than the next to nothing reported by the Fed? Which 85 billion the banks do not lend, but bet on riskier and riskier money making schemes, by which they will take the profit but sell the losses to the Fed? Good Gawd, HuffPost.

And by the way, Summers is the one talking about scaling back QE (though he won't.) The Left's beloved Yellen is perfectly fine with endless QE. Inflation is GOOD! says she.

I mean, how insane has this country become, when Matt Taibbi can't distinguish between which elite non-choice? How honest can he be, really? You can't tell me he isn't freaked out by the death of Michael Hastings (cue the MSM, how to insinuate a crash was drug caused contrary to the facts.) What was that, "Vampire squid?" What, vampire squid managing director is a rapist? Good Gawd, why don't we just give up the pretences and put O and GWB up for co-president, 2016. What's uglier than co-tyrants presiding over a country full of fascists? A warmongering Hilary, apologized for because she is a woman, that's what. Or yes, her status quo equivalent warmongering gangster apologizer on the Right. Fuck.

Meanwhile the Left thinks the new fight is to make a Manning a Chelsea, and one can't tell if that's some twisted homage to Bill and Hillary's heir, or just another excuse to deny the total surveillance capabilities their beloved leader O has been nurturing. We do adore our royal families. ("Turd-blossom" didn't serve GWB because g was a commoner. LOL)

(Thank you, Bradley Manning. I'm sorry so much of our country has lost it's mind.)

Do I want to live in a society where women are empowered and gay and trans-gendered people are respected? Absolutely. What is the rest of the world to make of us then, torturing people, incarcerating millions, many for the pettiest of reasons, dropping drone bombs on women and children whose men don't respect their women and gays (!), and don't support our thirst for oil, putting people away for espionage who reveal state war crimes, rapes and murders, while the rapists and murderers and their defenders go free to commit more, in the name of fighting terrorism?

Meanwhile HuffPost and most of the rest of the mainstream media can't quite agree on how much to tone down the threat of Fukushima. One week the corporation TEPCO is admitting 200-300 tons of nuclear water flowing into the ocean every damn day, with no end in sight, there is no plan; the next thing you know the mainstream media is reporting there was this one spill, these few times (read, everything is under control.)

Meanwhile my whole working life has been dedicated to the maintenance and building of an infrastructure financed by bankers, making nuclear and fracking necessary, among other hideous assaults upon the ability of the earth to sustain Homo sapien sapien. And the only people really talking about rebellion in America (Liberty, Tea Party, Libertarian) are people who think climate change is a fiction of Illuminati/Lefty types, oil is infinite, and as often as not the earth is six or eight thousand years old.

As for that Qurantative faux pas in my Huffpost comment, I think, who is more the danger to freedom in this world, fundamentalist religious types or International Financiers? It isn't an either or, actually.

Who is a total surveillance state built to spy upon? The NSA and their corporate brethren exist to maintain the power of International Financiers, corporations, banks, military, law enforcement and the state. It doesn't matter if the perceived enemy is Muslim, or any American, elder, woman or child.

I was in my local grocery the other day, and I was like, is there anything in here that isn't GMO?

Fukushima? GMO? The wars against Muslims for oil, the fascist controls and abuse of Plants and Fungi? Sounds like the makings of a holocaust to me.

Nuts.



PS:
(As for the image above, the ape didn't become human because they  discovered the use of a club. More like, the ape became human because they ventured onto the savanna and ate psilocybin mushrooms. ;) )

As for evolutionary advantage, lol, there's a podcast I did in two parts, with Blair Longley, party leader, Marijuana Party Canada (W/ RE and Monsta666) at the Doomstead Diner, coming Sunday Aug 25, 2013. Blessings,

WHD :) )

 

In the Newz...

Markets were jubilant Thursday, on newz that the United States had finally embraced efficiencies.

"Consumers and the Great Holy Market have spoken," said new Head-Ideological Spokesperson, Priss Lipsmith. "In the interest of efficiency, the Democratic and Republican parties have merged, to create the America Kicks ASS! party. Americans will be better served as a result."

When asked if s/he thought that might be contrary to the spirit of democracy and the Republic, Lipsmith replied, "What is your name? See the man in the mask before you leave."

Not everyone was such a hater. The Wall Street Gernal opined, "Too-big-to-fail has proven such a boon to the banks, it only makes sense for the Federal Government. Keeping up the pretence of ideological differences is a terrible waste of capital that would be much better served fattening the golden calf  (market) (us, bitchez)."

In a question and answer survey with new Head-Ideological Spokesperson Priss Lipsmith, the path for the new government was most assiduously outlined.

Q - The global bond market has been in chaos. There have been concerns that there is looming, a financial crisis potentially worse than that in 2008. How will this new government respond?

PL - No.

Q - No, what?

PL - Next question.

Q - Um, there are some concerns, particularly on the West coast, that Fukushima is spiralling out of control.  How does this new government respond?

PL - The NSA, FBI and CIA have all confirmed that "Fukushima" is actually a low-budget soft-porn film created by a UCLA grad student. All copies including the film maker have been disappeared, I mean rendered - renditioned.

Q - uhhh...There are rumors that the status of the "petro-dollar" and the dollar as the world reserve currency, are imperilled. Many are reporting that the Chinese and the Russians have been acquiring copious amounts of gold, in support of a gold-backed Yuan, as a replacement for the dollar.

PL - The Espionage Act is very clear. ANY information imperilling the ability of the America Kicks ASS! party to properly function as the TRUE WILL of the people, is in violation.

Q - But the Chinese and the Russians cannot be in violation...

PL - I wasn't talking about the Chinese or the Russians. Next question.

Q -  (gulp) The situation in Egypt threatens the flow of oil out of the Suez canal. With Brent crude at $111/brl, that could cripple the global economy. Does this government have a plan to contain the situation?

PL - Mubarak is back. Don't worry your pretty little head about it.

Q - But, the Arab Spring...

 PL - (sing song) Rains keep fallin on my head...

Q - And...um...a similar situation could arise in the straights of Hormuz if there is a concerted effort between Iran, China and Russia, to challenge the dollar. With a weakening Saudi state, that could spell very difficult times for America.

PL - Repeat, three times: American Energy Independence. American Energy Independence. American Energy Independence. Click your heels, Dorthy. Oz is just around the bend.

Q - But there are signs that the fracking revolution is little more than an asset bubble in the spirit of the housing bubble and the tech bubble before that.

PL - WTF did I say about the Espionage Act? Do you remember those text messages you sent to that man who is not your husband? Right. Next question.

Q - (tentatively) Many are concerned about Climate Change, that it may become difficult for humanity to feed itself, if the climate continues to be destabilized. Does this government...

PL - Well, you'll be happy to know that everyone in the America Kicks ASS! party is in fact Monsanto GMO, designed to resist climate change. No worries (Cheshire grin)

Q - (more assertively) It is also widely believed that the military and law enforcement in this country, are self-perpetuating, and growing in a way that is not healthy for the country.

PL - What is good for this gander is good for the people. All right, that concludes this question and answer. I hope I have alleviated any of your concerns about the transition from two-party plutocracy to one-party despotism. If not, the NSA will be recording any and all communications, ongoing. Have a nice day! :)

Late Summer Apex

It was reported last week that TEPCO, the corporation responsible for the "clean up" @ Fukushima, has been lying about nuclear contaminated water discharging into the ocean - that contaminated water is now, and has been for some time, pouring into the ocean, some 200 tons a day! It has also been reported this week that no less a personage than Hillary Clinton, assured Shinzo Abe and his nazi cohorts, secretly, that America would continue to purchase Japanese sea food, that the Federal government would not test it for contamination. Which means there could be nuclear contaminated sea food in America's food supply.

Where has this readily available information come from? Well, aside from the links, I can tell you where it did not come from: your friendly corporate-owned Main Stream Media (MSM). I mean, they are reporting on the spill, sort of, but not the extent of it, nor the extent to which Fukushima is a disaster IN PROGRESS, with no discernible strategy to fix the predicament other than lying about it being a predicament that has no available fix.

Meanwhile, the NSA is collecting data on every American, maybe even every keystroke as I type this. And Americans collectively yawn.

As for Hillary, I'm not sure what kind of strategy it is to turn a blind eye to the potential poisoning of Americans, if she wants to be president. But then, poisoning Americans is probably not enough to prevent a little more than half of American voters to elect her (instead of that other evil candidate.) How are they going to know anyway, if the MSM won't report it? After all, every branch of government and the MSM will line up to assure Americans they are not being poisoned, no matter what the evidence, as evidenced by the 100,000+ chemicals readily circulating in the biosphere. And Americans, so inured to chemical usage generally, even if they knew what Fukushima was, even if they knew their government was allowing potential nuclear contaminated sea food into the food supply, would probably not stop eating it, if they are accustomed, imaging as they tend to do that the government exists to protect them, whatever the evidence. If Americans will believe every word out of the FBI as if it were the gospel of God Himself, then they certainly aren't going to question the government saying the food is safe, or fracking does not pollute the water supply, or the NSA and secret courts are defenders of liberty. LOL

I mean, this is the Apex of humanity? We are the most evolved people who ever lived? The possibility of devolving is about as readily acknowledged, as economic de-growth, or that this civilization will collapse as all civilizations inevitably do. That de-volution might precede civilizational collapse, does not occur apparently, to a people who allow a "bio-tech" corporation to be put in charge of the food supply, which corporation conspires with this government, not to let the people know when their bodies are taking in genetic material manipulated by said bio-tech company. That we are being poisoned, fattened and weakened by TPTB is not cause to alarm, apparently, to a people poisoned, fattened and weakened, otherwise gorged on the entertainments.

So something like 20% of the economy is dedicated to Health Care for the poisoned, fattened, weakened and misled, and about 20% of the economy is Law Enforcement police state building and maintenance, to keep the poisoned, fattened, weakened and misled that way, and war making, and the rest of the economy is basically about making people sick, and people buying cheap toxic consumer garbage. But hey, America is the GREATEST!

I mean, I get to write this stuff, and not get hauled away to some legal, secret prison, never to be heard from again - as long as no one is listening, of course. Which, no comments on my last two posts, something like 76 listens on the Toby Hemenway podcast after a week, that's not nobody, but not enough thankfully, for government minders to come snooping around building a case to muzzle me. LOL See, talking about the Goddess has it's perks - hardly anyone will take you seriously, including, probably your government, unless there were like, millions of you taking action. Actually, I expect there are in fact millions of you, taking action in small ways, at the fringes. Most of you, less poisoned, less fattened, less weakened, less naive than your average consumer. LOL

Enjoy the rest of the summer. I don't recommend sea food at this point, though. Nor the MSM. Or the Federal government. Or any corporation, bank, or any law enforcement agency. They are all in on it. ;) LOL.

A Podcast with Toby Hemenway

A Podcast with Toby Hemenway, Author of Gaia's Garden: A Guide to Home-Scale Permaculture, published @ the Doomstead Diner, Aug 06, 2013.

WHD

Three Sisters

What have I been doing lately, @ 40? Not writing blog posts, obviously. Though I did post articles @ the Doomstead Diner in July, one on the Trayvon/Zimmerman thing and another with RE, on free speech, Constitutional hypocrisy and Brandon Smith of Alt-Market, which was cross-posted @ The Burning Platform. TBP readers called me Dumfuck and Dipshit, but I told them they were divine ;), so all is well. Otherwise I have been working @ uber garden center, uber retail outlet, doing whatever I can to undermine the system, in the gentle, easy-going way I do. I told the GM it is "insane" to throw in the trash compactor those hundreds of seed packets and all that seed starting equipment. He said my heart was in the right place. I didn't point out to him, what that implied about the condition of his own heart, nor that it wasn't my heart I was focused on, but the condition of my soul. Still, I had cajoled the Burpees women into giving me a few seed packets. 

A lot more than these end up @ non-profits, etc. Ferry Morris? Jiffy? Martha Stewart? Into the compactor.

I get down, every time I walk back to receiving, looking at the bin holding perfectly good merchandise headed for the compactor, different stuff every day. There is a crew, that is part of their job, to pull the merchandise that is to be marked down and compacted, and to throw it into the compactor. I don't envy that job, but then much of what I am expected to do is sell poisons, to kill weeds and bugs. I guarantee I have more weeds and bugs in my garden than just about anyone in this city, but not even the mosquitos bother me much, nor the hornets, wasps, ants, etc, nor even the dreaded Japanese beetle this year. More often than not, most of the time, when I try to steer people toward Eco-smart, plant derivative mostly, non-toxic sprays, they get uncomfortable, visibly, like there is something wrong with that (at least if they use that spray they won't kill every bug they aren't aiming at.) Some are dismissive, as if they know anything about it.  Sometimes I tell people the chemical they are about to buy has been linked to bee colony collapse disorder. Most of them get uncomfortable like they know what they are doing is wrong, but they buy it anyway. More and more I talk to people about my garden, and the insects and weeds there, the weeds I eat, the attracting of insects and birds and bats to eat insects. I have as yet failed to steer anyone set on buying chemicals away from chemicals, though I am not at all averse to using phrases like, "neuro-toxin", "broad-spectrum poison" and "good bugs, like monarchs". I tell them until the ants living in my garden prove to me that they are a detriment, they get a free pass, unless they come inside, which few do, there being so much to eat outside apparently. Most people can not be talked to about their chemical use. I do talk a few people out of buying general shit they don't need (this store typically comes close to doubling the sales it was built for. A few Associates act jealous that we didn't get the $500,000 upgrade next-door-city, uber retail outlet brother got. Few complain to management about the pay, shitty schedule, no hope for benefits etc). Hey guys, a good note: I've encountered a number of beautiful women who are gardening for the first time, but not really knowing what they are doing, or really why. (None seem too impressed by me in my apron.) LOL.

(speaking of ants, (and snakes))

Every day I think, I could build just about any dwelling, I can grow way more food than I can eat, I have more plant knowledge than anyone I know. And this is what my culture, the Twin Cities greater metro, has for me to do, to sell shit people don't need that is toxic to them and the earth, for $10/hr part time, with a schedule that changes every week, with only one of four shifts @ 8 hours, with 4hr shifts in the middle of the day. (Six years ago they paid $12/hr for this work.) While terrorism task force commandos ride metro transit around here busting up the few fights and arresting pot smokers @ $80,000/year? Yesterday too the GM sat us down in groups to inform us that the termination process has been simplified so it is less confusing. I'm convinced there is something like a systematic process by which they are attempting to make the situation so economically intolerable that none but the few who are well compensated will stick around long, so they can continue to hire an ever revolving workforce at an ever lower cost. I'm certain that if I were to stay, whatever meager raises I would receive would be considerably less than real inflation. A guy came in complaining that he paid more for sod somewhere else because we didn't have as much as he needed. I thought but didn't say, that's because they probably pay their people a dignified wage - your low cost facilitates wage slavery. I won't necessarily hesitate next time.

Otherwise, I am enchanted by my garden. Writing now, I'm watching a male cardinal, ready himself for a bath in the pond. He is considerably more wary about it than the female, who can be indulgent about it I judge, soaking herself repeatedly, several times a day. LOL. I've seen yellow finch, native and English sparrow, sometimes at the same time. While the male cardinal favors the gravel path, the female, the sparrows and the finch seem to prefer the beach. I've seen as many as a half dozen birds bathing at one time. :) (Excuse the poor quality - I work with an early generation digital camera running on AA batteries. Which it gobbles up like crazy but I've dropped it a half dozen times and it still works. LOL) The female cardinal. She was there awhile before I caught her on video.

I took much of the spring garden in, and planted the fall garden. Here is cosmo with borage, with beets and baby swamp milkweed.

Mr Rufalumpagus, all growed up :) LOL

It maybe looks like more than it is. Maybe forty lbs of edibles. I saved the beet and kohl rabi leaves and stems, a few of the turnip stems, freezing them to break down the cell structure, which I'll boil with other veges into soup base.

This is the peninsula out by the driveway. Swamp milkweed, evening primrose, amaranth.

These are the happiest potatoes in this garden. The ones out in full sun look ragged.

Morning glory leaf, with boltonia, and zinnia in the background.

Zinnia with borage and golden alexander. That's a potato flower on the left.

Name the flowers: Zinnia, amaranth, borage, golden alexander, cosmos, sunflower.

 

Joe Pye at top, and something white flower I forgot the name of bulb I bought @ uber garden center. 

Down in there is the lettuce bed. It will grow slow and won't bolt (go to seed) as soon.

My neighbors junk pile. Considerably more people are drawn to that than there are, drawn to this garden.

Dahlia, with a pair of morning glories poised like dragons. Here is an interesting video about the life of plants. (Head nod to Agelbert.)

One of the morning glory wrapped around the neck of the dahlia facing the other way, the other morning glory searching for an opening.

The second morning glory, not finding an opening, joins the first, along with a third.

This has become something of a food and flower ornamental bed. Cabbage that I planted as seed, late. Tomatillo that have naturalized in this garden, popping up all over the place. With scattered, young spiderwort.

 

The heart mountains there in the background are morning glories covering my compost piles.

 

Purple cone flower, near where the blue flag bloom in the spring. Tick trefoil on either side foreground. Elderberry bush, fruit ripening. A young Clapps' Favorite pear against the backdrop of elderberry.

 

My front "yard" meadow. A young couple stopped by the other day and started ripping out flowers. They said they thought the place was abandoned. I put a sign out.

Bergamot on the sidewalk. The flower petals make a nice, smokey tea. When I was planting the fall garden, I heard a couple comment to each other about what a great idea the flowers in the treasure chest are. Followed shortly by a woman who complained, as if exasperated, "What a ridiculous path we just took," as if the plants were a little too close, even touching her. 

Sunflower, bald like me :) (an offering)

This is the center of my garden, the bed where I plant something with some more sacred intent. Last year, contemplating the power of the sun to end Industrialism as we have known it, half expecting a harsh CME solar slap in the face for our polluting, insatiable ways, I planted red sunflower like the one above. This year it's all about food. Corn, beans and zucchini. 

Last evening, at the end of a grinding five day stint @ uber garden center - three 6am-starts in four days after four-months closing until midnight and later many nights - I bought some beer, Hop Rising, and some blackberry wine, and proceeded to get super high and drunk. Then I found these, some kind of native pollinator, at rest on a small amaranth, in slumber, at the center of the bed, the absolute center of the spiral that is this garden. They probably have a hive somewhere here, their ancestors perhaps having found this garden to their liking. Their offspring and their offspring ongoing might habitate here as long as this garden exists. Many people who shop @ uber garden center would spray these. I've noticed a distinct reduction in all pollinator numbers, generally.

Then I found this dragonfly.

Contemplating this scene, realizing I want every human to feel at ease as much as these insects do here, thinking about garden tours, classes, trainings, I heard a young man on the sidewalk say to his friends, "This is the yard I want!" The four of them were walking away, when he noticed me and said he loved my garden. I told him I heard what he said earlier, and that he had "made my day."

As they walked away, I thought to myself, why didn't I invite them in, to see this scene? That is my challenge, the cancer in me, metaphorically speaking, snip snip, don't get too close. I am Minnesotan too; it is said of Minnesotans, they will give you directions to anywhere but their own house. Then I saw two young men lingering on a corner down the street, one of them the young man I had spoken with, so I waved to them to come back. They did, Mike and Tom, canvassing for Sisters' Camelot. I invited them into the garden. Tom is a certified Permaculture expert. When I showed them the pollinators sleeping, reminding him, the first plant he named when he walked into the garden was Amaranth. I told Mike about the synchronicity I perceived, him saying what he said, and what I had been contemplating at the time. I told them about this blog, and the Doomstead Diner, and SUN (Sustaining Universal Needs, land acquisition, community building non-profit.) We discussed the difficulty in maintaining community. We agreed that hemp should be a foundation of an entirely different kind of economy.  I gave them $10 of uber bank, uber retail outlet money. They gave me some tobacco.

Sometime after that Melodee walked by, with three young girls, Lily, Molly and Tabitha, and a young boy named Kingston. Melodie informed me that she had been defending me to her husband, who thinks my garden is "so overgrown", telling him I grow 60% of the food I eat, even exaggerating on my and this garden's behalf. LOL. I didn't ask her how she knew that I grew so much food. I did tell her to tell her husband I have nine gallons of strawberry wine and blackberry wine brewing. Next time I see her, I'm going to tell her to challenge her husband to drink a beer with me and take a tour of this garden.

Then Tess walked by. I seem to see Tess about every six months or so. She complimented me on the garden, we talked, there was a tension in the air, mostly mine. I invited her to take a tour. She was with her big, mild mannered dog Wainright. I showed her the pollinators and the dragonfly, after I warned her that I was super drunk and high. LOL. When I explained the intent behind the bed the pollinators and the dragonfly were resting in, that it was all about food this year, I called out "corn, zucchini, and beans", and she said, "three sisters."

I was super awkward, and yet managed to proposition her in a veiled way at least three times. What would Wainright do, while.... Wisely, she declined my drunken-high advances - gross. Besides I seem to recall now, sober, she is married or coupled at least, and she is so adorable and friendly and kind that I'm sure I would get along with whoever she is coupled with, and I don't mean to sow drama like that. She did not seem to be offended, and we parted ways. Not before I reminded her though, this was our third meeting.

So as I like to repeat:

My Goddess, My Goddess, My Goddess; My name is William Hunter Duncan and I am in service to you.  

My Goddess, My Goddess, My Goddess; My name is William Hunter Duncan and I am in service to you.

My Goddess, My Goddess, My Goddess; My name is William Hunter Duncan and I am in service to you.


PS: I did a podcast with Toby Hemenway, of Gaia's Garden: A Guide to Home-Scale Permaculture, and the website Pattern Literacy. Coming to the Doomstead Diner soon.

Blessings,

WHD