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  • From: Don Bowen <don.bowen AT earthlink.net>
  • To: homestead AT lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: Re: [Homestead] Are you a locavore?
  • Date: Tue, 22 May 2007 11:41:24 -0700

At 5/22/2007, you wrote:

A third thing: the real estate/debt crash under way. It isn't just real
estate but rather all assets are inflated in value, it's only the great amount
of imagined wealth tied up in real estate and the uncollectable loans that
inflated its value.

I think things like the collapse of the housing bubble to be mostly noise that could have severe consequences if allowed to continue. Overall credit was too easy because so much of the US economy is dependent on consumer purchases. Real property has a real value but the RE credit bubbles inflated the land based on not what it was intrinsically worth but on what one person's emotions and another's greed thought it was worth. The dot com bust left a lot of money with no place to go so it went into real estate. Now that the Real Estate market is bust you see the money running into the stock market and into the fund companies.

The Bush tax cuts have transferred a lot of money to the wealthy as has the huge deficient spending binge. That money has to go somewhere and there are only so many upside down airplane stamps one can buy.

Do you find it curious that the the proffered reason for the increase in
gasoline prices is the bottleneck of refinery capacity and yet no service station,
mega store, convenience store, no one is actually short on gas? No pumps
have 'out of gas' signs on them?

That has been a favored whipping boy for several years now. "We do not have enough because the environmentalists won't allow us to build more refineries." "Hurricane Katrina destroyed a large segment of out refining capacity." and so on. Several years ago I read a report on just that and the report's conclusion was that because of the cost of crude and the profits in motor fuel refineries have significantly improved the yield thus there being no need for new refineries. There was an attempt to close one owned by Valero in Bakersfield, CA. Mostly because the large local oil field was declining and the cost to import crude was too high. After much political wrangling it is still open.

A significant amount of motor fuel is refined near the sources of crude and imported into the US.

As of today we have a 21.0 day supply of gasoline on hand as compared to 22.4 a year ago. We import more than 1.5 million barrels of gasoline a week. Our total usage for the week ending 5/12/07 was 9.404 million barrels compared to 9.327 for the same time last year.



Don Bowen Awl Knotted Up KI6DIU
http://www.braingarage.com
My travel journal
http://www.braingarage.com/Dons/Travels/journal/Journal.html

I am omnivagant.
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Subject: [Homestead] Feeding Ewe Dam Sheep
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Well, as usual I got my little flock of 4 unaffordable miniature "lambs" that can barely take care of the pasture there is now, when all goes well. They weren't as advertised, since one gave birth!!!! Actually I should be thrilled, in a way, since she had no problems at all, unlike the giant fat ewes I've heard of; it's great to think that some day when I do have a perpetual flock, that they'll be able to take care of themselves so well on their own. And there'll be a fifth snout grazing.

Anyway, these sheep are always so skittish and so intensely flocking that it's impossible to feed just the dam, especially with the complete lack of facilities here, so I ended up with 3 fat pigs, one skinny ewe, and waist-high grass. So I've wondered a lot about how to get feed just to the ewe. The other day I soaked some fava beans, and it's working. They're so large that it only takes a few to quiet her hunger, they rattle in the bowl like grain (unlike tortilla pieces), and I can grow them in large quantities over the winter. She's aggressively ravenous, so it's easy to toss them just to her. I've thought about trying thick slices of cooked potato or parsnip (or walnut halves as a special treat). I've wondered whether parsnips contain the same hunger-suppressing compounds as fennel seed, since I always feel so satisfied after having a bowl of parsnips and cream for breakfast, or any meal involving parsnips. Fortunately they also grow like crazy over the winter here.

Advice would also be appreciated on how to fashion a lamb creep quickly and economically from things like fence posts, or whatever; it's still impossible to feed just the new lamb. I saw the dam kick it away yesterday, so at this rate I don't have to worry about its growing too big to fit through the bars!

Bill
S. Oregon coast




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