Archive for October, 2009

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Acorns

4 October 2009

The boys and I went for a walk at Madison School Forest today. G picked up about 25 acorns. When we got home, we cracked them open with pliers and dug out the nutmeat. We got about half a cup of nutmeat, and it’s very, very bitter.

I found info on the web about getting the tannins out. I chopped them up as fine as I could with a knife, then put them in a quart jar with water and put that in the refrigerator. I plan to change the water once a day and taste a piece in about a week. The goal, of course, is to make them edible.

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Swiss Chard

3 October 2009

Cut, cooked, and ate some chard today, and I’m happy to report that it’s back to its Springtime taste. It seems that just a week or two of cool, cloudy weather brings it right back to its mild-flavored best. I love swiss chard!

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The “Conservative Woodstock”

2 October 2009

An old friend of mine sent me an email about the “Conservative Woodstock” that took place in DC recently. Here’s my response to him:

Thanks for the message.

BUT — anyone who is singling out Obama for blame is deceived. They are ALL (including Obama) part of a ruling elite that is uninterested in the well-being of average Americans. NONE OF THEM care about us. They care about wealth and power and perpetuating the same for themselves. The show in DC was conceived, designed, and implemented solely to turn the people’s attention away from the sickness and corruption of the ENTIRE SYSTEM and make us think one man is the problem.

With any luck the ruling elite’s time is almost over, but it won’t be if we allow ourselves to be distracted from the heart of the problem: the worship of money and material possessions and the abandonment of the ideas on which our country was founded.

The problem is that we’ve sold our souls for a few creature comforts and cheap trinkets.

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Money

1 October 2009

I complain about American culture being about the worship of money and material possessions above all. But isn’t that what I’m doing?

I don’t like the education my kids are getting in public school, I don’t like the behavior and language they pick up there. So why don’t I quit my job and homeschool them?

Because I’m clinging to my job because we have to have that middle-class income to buy the stuff we want and I’m hoping for some kind of retirement in another 8 years or so. And I fear poverty. How is that different from what most people are doing?

It’s not. We all want what we want, and mostly we want money and stuff. We’re really not that interested in freedom or liberty or equality — we want our stuff and we want a system of government that will protect our stuff from each other and from outsiders. THAT’s our true priority and belief system (the acquisition and protection of stuff). We are an amoral society.

What would a moral society look like? What would a moral life look like?

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More Frost

1 October 2009

Another light frost this morning, and then it looks like we’re above freezing for a while.

Posted in Gardening, Heating | Leave a Comment »

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