North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

["Kieran &/or Donna" <holycow@frontiernet.net>]

I read an article I mostly disagreed with except for one thing.  It said if you want to reduce consumption, tax it.  We already do that with tobacco and alcohol, so why not with oil?  If the govt would say, we need to do this for our own good, and here is a tax break on your income or something else to make it all even, I don't think Americans would be all THAT mad.  Personally, I think that anytime you trade your money for something you are going to burn up, you are making yourself poorer.  We could do a whole lot better conserving on gas, and would be richer for it.  Yet one more reason to grow our own food, to reduce "food miles" and the gas to move the stuff.  So it's not so off topic. 

    Which reminds me, my son is up in WA where it's like falling on your face easy to grow all the fruit that I have to scrabble so hard to even keep alive.  My other son commented that though everyone with fruit trees in their yards gets plenty of fruit, and may even appreciate it, few of them bothered to preserve any of it for the winter.  He said that Davy had 2 trash cans filled with winter apples, and a freezer full of stuff.  Around here, I have been watching the apple trees in older neighborhoods being cut down because people are tired of all that fruit on the lawn.  Even people with kids go buy from the grocery.  Yet for a kid, being able to go pick something and eat it on the spot is terrific fun.    Donna