Replies

http://www.goarmy.com/JobDetail.do?id=292

thread:

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2311145/posts

curious as to the history of MOS # 31E

( I gotta quit reading the news )<<<<<

A couple facts that I had not let float to the top.

My husband was a POW In germany/WW2, since he got out in poor health, they sent him stateside to guard german prisoners, in Montana as I recall.

We were bringing the german POWs here to camps, even then....

And of course the Japanese/Americans went to camps in WW2.

And there was a talk show host on KDWN radio for many years, his father was a german POW, in Minnesota, his mother met him, by talking to him through the prison fence and when the war was over, he stayed or returned here to marry her.

So the camps have been around for a long time.

If you want to read real torture in POW camps, read what the U.S. did to the Southern men, in the Union POW camps.

It always made me want to join the Southern Army and fight the north, again.

http://homegrown.org/blog/2009/08/window-farms/

Window Farms

window farm-iconic3

We received an email this morning from our friends Britta and Rebecca in NYC saying that WindowFarms now has a new web site and how-to pdfs of window farm plans:

Window Farms are suspended, hydroponic, modular, low-energy, high-yield edible food gardens built using low-impact or recycled local materials. This site is the online community of window farmers, where we share our development processes and design innovations.

These vertical gardens, located in windows throughout the cityscape, are intended to inspire others to design and implement their own window farms, creating a network of urban food production. Signs in the windowfarms will challenge people to create their own and direct them to a website where we can all share photos, plans, designs, and information. Together, we can derive viable methods for growing food under the local conditions of our own homes.
Baby cucumber growing in a window farm

Baby cucumber growing in a window farm

To learn more about Window Farms, see windowfarms.org.

To learn how to build your own, get started with How-To instructions, or start reading posts from other window farmers throughout this site.

Please share your design process with the other farmers by joining the site and sharing your design and development process.

If you would like to join the site, email us at britta@windowfarms.org. Tell us a little about yourself and your planned window farm.

You can also participate by commenting on other people’s projects, answering questions, and sharing resources.

There are interesting links on this blog for gardening.

This window garden photo, makes me think it would not be that difficult to build this one and is it really old soda bottles they are using?

granny

[Fantastic site, also has http://www.wikihow.com/Main-Page/crafts...]

Void your warranty, violate a user agreement, fry a circuit, blow a fuse, poke an eye out. Make: The risk-takers, the doers, the makers of things... Welcome to Make: Online!

http://blog.makezine.com/

[You can guess what this made me think of...LOL, in far right column, down a ways...]

Weekend Project: DIY Teleprompter Get rid of those cue cards and make a low-cost teleprompter for pro results Thanks go to Brian Lawler for the original article in MAKE, Volume 02. To download The DIY Teleprompter MP4 click here or subscribe in iTunes.... More...

Main Page/

wikiHow does not yet have an article with this exact name.

http://www.wikihow.com/Main-Page/

Page has no posts on it.....

http://homegrown.org/blog/category/diy/

A few questions (and answers) with Veggie Trader
Monday, July 27th, 2009

We first wrote about Veggie Trader back in March in Swap What You’ve Got For What You Want. In a nutshell, Veggie Trader is an free resource for bringing good food and good people together. From their web site:

Using Veggie Trader is free and easy. It works like classified advertising. You post a listing describing the excess produce you have and what you’d like in return, and then you wait for a response…

http://www.veggietrader.com/index.php

Cans Across America – hold a canning party!
Friday, July 31st, 2009

We have been calling ours a Can-o-rama, but we were never ones to conform…love this idea and encourage others to participate in this “national canning event”.
A gift from the Boston canning party organizer

A gift from the Boston canning party organizer

Cans Across America is a grassroots-inspired nationwide event that honors the revival of the time-honored art of canning.

Canning Weekend
The Canning Across America coast-to-coast can-a-rama is the weekend of Aug. 29-30, 2009. Mark your calendars!

http://cansacrossamerica.wordpress.com/

An excellent blog for canners.
granny

http://cansacrossamerica.wordpress.com/recipes/pickled-yellow-wax-beans-with-fresh-dill/

Pickled Yellow Wax Beans With Fresh Dill

photo by Sara Remington

photo by Sara Remington
Pickled Yellow Wax Beans with Fresh Dill
Recipe from Eating Local: The Cook’s Companion from Land to Table by Sur La Table with Janet Fletcher, publishing in Spring 2010 by Andrews McMeel Publishing

Equipment: Canning Kettle with Rack, 1-quart Wide-Mouth Canning Jar, Saucepan, Jar Lifters, Cooling Rack

Makes 1 quart

Winters are long in Minnesota, making a well-stocked pantry all the more valuable. At the Nitty Gritty Dirt Farm in the tiny town of Harris, Robin Raudabaugh transforms her slender yellow wax beans into what old-timers call “dilly beans,” pickling them with garlic, red chile, and clusters of flowering dill. The neatly packed jars are stockpiled in a crawl space under the house until time works its magic, mellowing the vinegary brine. The crisp beans, served with a sandwich, bring memories of summer to a winter lunch.

1 pound yellow wax beans, as straight as possible
1 cluster of fresh dill flower heads
1 large clove garlic, peeled and halved
1 small dried red chile
1-1/2 cups white wine vinegar
1-1/2 cups water
1 tablespoon kosher or sea salt

1. Fill a canning kettle with enough water to cover the top of a 1-quart jar resting on the preserving rack. Bring to a boil. Wash a 1-quart, wide-mouth jar with hot, soapy water; rinse well and put it upside down on a clean dishtowel.

2. Remove the tips of the beans and, if necessary, trim the beans so they will fit upright in a 1-quart wide-mouth jar. Fill the clean jar with the beans, dill, garlic, and chile, packing the beans in tightly but neatly.

3. Combine the vinegar, water, and salt in a small saucepan and bring just to a boil, stirring to dissolve the salt. Pour the hot liquid over the beans, leaving 1/2 inch of headspace. Top with a new lid and close tightly.

4. Place the jar on the preserving rack and lower the rack into the canning kettle. If the water doesn’t cover the jar, add boiling water from a tea kettle. Cover the canning kettle and boil 10 minutes. Using the jar lifters, transfer the jar to a rack to cool. Do not touch the jar again until you hear the pop that indicates that the lid has sealed. Cool completely. Confirm that the jar has sealed by pressing on the lid with your finger; if the lid gives, the jar has not sealed and the contents should be refrigerated and used within 1 week. If the jar has sealed, store it in a cool, dark place for at least 1 month or up to 1 year before opening. Refrigerate after opening.
5 Comments
[OK to use green beans]

[I love it when the anarchy plans/tools get used for a real and important purpose....granny]

http://homegrown.org/blog/category/diy/

Another HOMEGROWNer using Meetup.com
Tuesday, July 21st, 2009

We received an email today from Skip in Santa Cruz:

Check out our meetup: http://www.meetup.com/santa-cruz-sustainable-living/. Loads of community and events. Tonight’s event (which you can read about even after the fact) is a potluck and market table. The market table is a really important feature/idea.

Looks like a fantastic group of like-minded folks creating community. Other meetups from past and future: Water Harvesting Work Party and a Solar Cooking class.

Thank you for sharing, Skip! We’d love to hear from more of you.

http://www.anarchyinthegarden.com/

[snipped]

She read from her book and chatted with Evan. As a fellow urban farmer I was eager to learn from Ms. Carpenter’s experience. I wished she chatted more veggie and less slaughter. At one point Fern whispered to me, ”guess it’s not very exciting to talk about growing squash from seed” or something like that.

Overall it was a fun outing. Primarily because I was accompanied by a couple of amazing vegan/vegetarian uber gardeners, Fern of Life on the Balcony and Milli of Modern Sustainability.
The New Face of Gardening-Deal!

The New Face of Gardening-Deal!

I always try to figure out my place in the gardening world when I attend events like these. Would the older generation of gardeners take me seriously? A foul-mouthed, tattooed, punk that loves everything urban farming related and knows a thing or two about growing vegetables.

If you take a close look at the first picture I don’t necessarily fit into the established gardening world. At one point we were reprimanded for taking flash photography. I felt like I was back in Catholic school.

Hold on to your seats we’re here to stay!

Continue Reading
Opinion

* Quandaries July 24, 2009
* View More »

Gardenish

By Adriana Tuesday July 21, 2009
3 Comments
Gardenish

Jardineros (gardeners for my non-Spanish speaking friends), summer has sprung! The tomatoes are rolling in and I’ve got eggplant coming out of my ears. In case you didn’t notice I’ve been absent from the web. Yeah, what’s new?

The Wrigley Village Community Garden has been keeping me very busy! Mulch-A-Lot is going down this Saturday, July 25th and we’re T minus 11 days, August 1st, from the grand opening! Did I mention I’ll be giving a seed starting demo to lil’ farmers in attendance? Me, little kids, and dirt… party!

Last week Scott and I had a two hour meeting with the head honchos over at City of Long Beach Dept of Parks, Rec. and Marine (that’s a mouthful) regarding our guerrilla gardening. Scott has big plans; I’m selfish and focusing on my little hood. The good news is the city officials are into it and willing to help us! Who knew, cooperation. Scott, you’re a wise man!

In between all the politico stuff I took a much needed break and had the pleasure of meeting two cool ladies. Through the magic of the web I met newly minted Master Gardener Milli. Perched on a hill her garden is prolific and her energy contagious. She took me on a field trip like no other, Farmlab. It was a moving and inspirational experience. This snapshot is exactly the moment I fought back tears.
Farmlab-What Heaven Looks Like

Farmlab-What Heaven Looks Like

Picture it, lively Mexican music in the background, I’m eagerly speaking Spanish with everyone that’s willing to stop and talk to me, I’m gleaming with joy that I can actually carry a conversation in Spanish, bags and bags of Mexican medicinal herb seeds are genoursly being doled out, and outside, beside a bountiful garden with it’s own tranquil music, a performance venue. I think I could live here.

I’m really greatful for Milli. She gave me the shot in the arm and the kick in the rear I needed. I went home re-energized and focused.

The second chick I met was Lisa, winner of ‘Garden Anywhere’ book give-a-way. She too shared her garden with me. Visiting other people’s garden made me realize I really need to step up my game. They’re running circles around me; good job!

In between all that fun I’ve attended several community meetings and had a few TV gigs. I have an article deadline looming over my head and a guerrilla gardening workshop with Scott for Clit Fest 2009 to look forward too.

So hang in there with me folks. Much more gardening ahead!
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http://campaignforrealfarming.blogspot.com/2009/07/eight-steps-back-to-land.html

Eight Steps Back to the Land

“Farming must compete actively and vigorously with other potential employers to attract the best people” — so says a report, New Blood, just published by the Royal Agricultural Society of England (RASE). Over the next ten years says its author, Alan Spedding, “Farming needs 60,000 new entrants”. A key problem, we are told, is that agriculture worldwide “is struggling with an outdate image”.

Well — up to a point. In truth, as things stand, farmers might echo the words of Henry V’s foot-soldiers on the eve of Agincourt — “even as men wrack’d upon a strand that seek to be washed off at the next tide”. New Blood came out just before this year’s Royal Show in July which, I found, was upbeat as ever, but is scheduled nonetheless to be the last. The image of farming is indeed “outdated” — but not simply in the way that the RASE author intended. To be sure it is perceived to be too rustic, straws in the hair and rolling rrs — but it is also rightly seen to be too ruthless and too industrial; and it’s the ostensible modernity, built on cheap oil and borrowed cash, that is truly the anachronism. We need farming that can actually feed people without wrecking the rest of the world, and go on doing so. We need a radical shift — away from mere rusticity no doubt, but also away from the industrial and commercial hype.

As for the putative 60,000 — well: that would simply restore the status quo. But the status quo is a disaster. Successive British governments these past 30 years have cut the ranks of farmers to 150,000, with an average age of 60 and with thoughts of retirement. In truth we need about a million more farmers post haste to re-create the agrarian base that is so obviously necessary.

It’s clear, too, that the powers that be — the NFU, the food industry, the government, and even RASE — are not going to do what’s needed. They are not on the case. So again we see that if we give a damn about the future then we, ordinary Joes, have to do what is needed for ourselves — despite the powers that be. Outlandish though the notion may now seem, we have to get back to the land in droves, and on our own initiative. It’ a tall order. But as the accompanying article suggests, it is all theoretically do-able — and a great deal is happening already.

Read Eight Steps Back to the Land here.
[pdf]

http://thedanashow.wordpress.com/2009/08/07/breaking-carnahan-staffer-admits-to-causing-trouble/

Is there any thing new here?

I had not heard this on the radio, did hear the rest of the story.

Appears to be a lot of Tea Party info on page.

http://thedanashow.wordpress.com/

Main page, videos and photos at the protest/tea party, Carnahan:

It wasn’t a mob … until they showed up

http://campaignforrealfarming.blogspot.com/2009/07/campaign-manifesto-peoples-takeover-of.html

Wednesday, July 1, 2009
The Campaign Manifesto: A People’s Takeover of the World’s Food Supply

If we take the future seriously we need to re-think food production from first principles. We need “Enlightened Agriculture” — farming designed expressly to feed everybody, well and forever, without wrecking the rest of the world. This is eminently possible — the present failure is not only tragic, it is a disgrace. Enlightened Agriculture respects the bedrock laws of biology, and common principles of morality. It does not, as now, seek to override the laws and re-define morality to fit the market.

But agriculture that is designed to feed everyone forever is quite different in structure and technique from present-day, industrial farming, which is intended primarily and indeed vitually exclusively to maximise profit.

So the “powers-that-be” — present-day western governments, corporates, banks, and their attendant intellectuals and experts — are not going to introduce such agriculture. If we want farming that can feed our children and grandchildren, we have to create it for ourselves. We need a people’s movement, leading to a people’s takeover of of the whole food supply.

This is what the Campaign for Real Farming is intended to achieve.

Read the whole document here. [pdf]

http://joybilee-farm.blogspot.com/2009/08/linen-festival-countdown-linen-tow.html

Linen paper is easy to make from the linen tow that is the waste after combing out the line linen for spinning. The technique is very similiar to felting or making silk fusion/silk paper. So if you’ve made felt or silk paper before — linen paper is easier — no agitation and no textile medium needed.

You need:
Clean linen tow — remove all the shive and chaff that you can because the hard stems will prevent the paper from binding together. The more clean tow that you can incorporate, the finer and more stable your paper will be. For an 8 1/2 by 11 sheet of paper you need a lot of linen tow — 200 grams. Once you have the technique mastered you can add other fibers, too, like silk threads, petals, seeds, shredded paper, etc. Add these other fibers sparingly so that the integrity of the paper is not compromised.

A fiberglass window screen cut to size. It should be 2 inches taller than your want your paper to be and twice as wide plus 2 inches. You will fold the screen over the linen tow to enable you to wet it out.

A sponge to dampen the paper and to blot up excess water.

Water in a spray bottle.

An iron, pressing cloth and ironing board or protected surface.

A wooden or marble rolling pin.

Begin by opening the window screen and lay out one layer of flax tow, being careful to cover the screen by laying the tow in one direction, very similiar to laying out wool fibers in preparation for felting. Leave a one inch area free all around the window screen. This will allow your paper to spread once it is wetted out.

continues..........LOL, she is teaching this at the farm today,
So pick me up on the way to Canada, you should be able to land your space ship in my front yard, for that is the only way we can get there in time....
granny

http://blogs.miaminewtimes.com/shortorder/2009/07/burton_dales_organic_farming_1.php

Burton Dale’s Organic Farming 102 - How To Grow Your Own Food
By Jacob Katel in Locavore Express
Friday, Jul. 24 2009 @ 10:00AM
Last Friday we brought you the first installment of Burton Dale’s response to a few emailed questions regarding organic farming. Here’s part II, where Burton explains how you can do it yourself.

“How can the average working person get in on the action? Most working people do not own land of an acre or more. So until they can, I would gainsay they can have a garden that will help sustain them as costs rise and jobs disappear. I am living on an acre of land, but my age would kill me should I try to bring it into cultivation for profit. Did I tell you that I farmed in Lake City for six years before I made a profit? I could not get one dime more for my organic produce and eggs than the poisoned offerings in the market. My profit during this time was I knew I was producing food that brought life, not death to those who ate it. And we had plenty to eat.

A working person can grow enough greens to keep health easily enough on the 30th floor balcony with a five gallon bucket and a ten dollar plastic mudbox from Home Depot or Lowes.
Buy a cheap plastic water pump like those found everywhere for inddor/outdoor circulating fountains and drill a one inch hole at one end of the mud box. Place a piece of plastic window screen inside the mud box and fill the box with any good potting soil. Put the pump inside the bucket, run a plastic tube from the pump to the mudbox opposite from the side with a hole. Place the mud box on a table or support so the hydroponic solution can drain by gravity back into your five gallon bucket.

Hunt around a garden supply that has soft rock phosphate, if you decide to use any fertilizer, find one that does not contain potassium chloride or muriate of potash. It will make stuff grow for a while, but will poison your dirt. For lime avoid anything that says dolomite or magnesium carbonate, it just compacts your soil and sends nitrogen away. Any fertilizer should be potassium sulphate, and you can use Epsom salts a teaspoon to the bucket to supply magnesium. We live in South Florida so go to the beach with a garbage bag and fill it with dried seaweed (Sargassum). When you get home, cut some of it up, about three handfuls more or less, and mix it into your potting soil to supply micronutrients. For lime you can go into any Latino grocery and ask for cal the white powder used to make masa from corn. Sounds like a lot of fuss which it is until you have most of the stuff. Experiment. The plants will tell you what you need to do. It’s kind of like a new baby. They don’t come with a manual, but that doesn’t stop people from having them.

What to do? Take a half cup of your fertilizer. Not totally organic? You gradually go from this to wole organic in time. Why? Organic is life moving at a much slower pace than we expect. put a teaspoon of epsom salt in the bucket. You can even add some fish emulsion, but be forewarned your neighbors may abort your project if you do this. Now add one teaspoon of your urine and NO MORE to the bucket to provide the auxins to spark root growth. Organic? This is organic. Also add a half cup of your soft rock phosphate powder. You can also add a half cup of plaster of Paris now or later in the season. Stir everything well and don’t fret when it doesn’t all dissovle. Empty the bucket ever three weeks, and make a new batch. Every day check the level of solution and top off with tap water or rainwater if you have it.

Fill the bucket with water, manually let the pump run for a day or so to make sure it all works and go bury some seeds. I do not suggest plants because the plants are all grown with poisons you are tryin to avoid. Buy some peat pots or make your own out of an old Miami New Times. Roll a half sheet on a juice glass, smush the paper overhanging the bottom of the glass to make a paper cup. Fill with damp, not soggy potting soil, fill a tray with you homemade potting cups, plant three seeds in each cup and cover with on sheet of an old Miami New Times. Spray to keep damp when you get up in the morning and when you go to bed at night. Keep the tray dark, moist, and humid until the seeds sprout and pull the paper off. Pinch off the two weakest plants plant the survivor in your mudbox. A jobe fertilizer spike 3 inches from the each plant will get it moving.

Empty the bucket ever three weeks, and make a new batch. Every day check the level of solution and top off with tap water or rainwater if you have it. This is a repeat because it is important to your success. That’s pretty much it folks. Enjoy your garden and plant what you like to eat.”
Tags: grow your own, organic farming

[May be a good spot to keep an eye on farm news, obama style..]

http://farmwars.info/?p=1337

[Video]

Washington quietly mulls new quarantine regulations – do you have enough food stored?

quarantineJosh Gerstein
Politico.com

The Obama administration is quietly dusting off an effort to impose new federal quarantine regulations, which were vigorously resisted by civil liberties organizations and the airline industry when the rules were first proposed by the Bush administration nearly four years ago.

White House officials aren’t saying what their rules might ultimately require. But the previous administration proposed giving the federal government the authority to order a “provisional quarantine” of three business days — or up to six calendar days — for those suspected of having swine flu or other illnesses listed in a presidential executive order.

BarbBarb’s note:

Have I stressed strongly enough that we need to STORE FOOD?

Go to my Surviving the Middle Class Crash site HERE to learn the basics about food storage. While you are there, peruse the site to gain all sorts of tips regarding growing your own food and making the transition to self-sufficiency. If you have any questions, contact me from the site and I will do my best to locate the information if I do not have it already.

http://survivingthemiddleclasscrash.wordpress.com/2009/06/24/a-beginner%E2%80%99s-guide-to-food-storage/

http://sharonastyk.com/resources2/100-things-you-can-do-to-get-ready-for-peak-oil2/

100 Things You Can Do to Get Ready for Peak Oil

Sharon February 22nd, 2008
SPRING

1. Rethink your seed starting regimen. How will you do it without potting soil, grow lights and warming mats. Consider creating manure heated hotbeds, using your own compost, building a greenhouse, or coldframe, direct seeding early versions of transplanted crops, etc…
2. Your local feed store has chicks right now - even suburbanites might consider ordering a few bantam hens and keeping them as exotic birds. Worth a shot, no? You can grow some feed in your garden for Them, as well as enjoying the eggs.
3. Order enough seeds for three years of gardening. If by next spring, we are all unable to get replacement seed, will you have produced everything you need? What if you can’t grow for a year because of some crisis? Order extras from places with cheap seed like www.fedcoseeds.com, www.superseeds.com, www.rareseed.com.
4. Yard sale season will begin soon in the warmer parts of the country, and auctions are picking up now in the North. Stocking up on things like shoes, extra coats, kids clothing in larger sizes, hand tools, garden equipment is simply prudent - and can save a lot Of money.
5. The real estate “season” will begin shortly, with families wanting to get settled in new homes during the summer, before the school year starts. If you are planning on buying or selling this year, now is the time to research the market, new locations, find that country property or the urban duplex with a big yard.
6. Once pastures are flush, last year’s hay is usually a bargain, and many farmers clean out their barns. Manure and old hay are great soil builders for anyone.
7. Check out your local animal shelter and adopt a dog or cat for rodent control, protection and friendship during peak oil.
8. As things green up, begin to identify and use local wild edibles. Eat your lawn’s dandilions, your daylily shoots, new nettles. Hunt for morels (learn what you are doing first!!) and wild onions. Get in the habit of seeing what food there is to be had everywhere you go.
9. Set up rainbarrel or cistern systems and start harvesting your precipitation.
10. Planning to only grow vegetables? Truly sustainable gardens include a lot of pretty flowers, which have value as medicinals, dye and fiber plants, seasoning herbs, and natural cleaners and pest repellants. Instead of giving up ornamentals altogether, grow a garden full of daylilies, lady’s mantle, dye hollyhocks and coreopsis, foxgloves, soapwart, bayberry, hip roses, bee balm and other useful beauties.
11. Get a garden in somewhere around you - campaign to turn open space into a community garden, ask if you can use a friend’s backyard, get your company or church, synagogue, mosque or school to grow a garden for the poor. Every garden and experienced gardener we have is a potential hedge against the disaster.
12. Join a CSA if you don’t garden, and get practice cooking and eating a local diet in season.
13. Eggs and greens are at their best in spring - dehydrated greens and cooked eggshells, ground up together add calcium and a host of other nutrients to flour, and you won’t taste them. We’re not going to be able to afford to waste food in the future, so get out of the habit now.
14. Make rhubarb, parsnip or dandelion wine for later consumption.
15. Now that warmer weather is here, start walking for more of your daily Needs. Even a four or five mile walk is quite reasonable for most healthy People.
16. Start a compost pile, or begin worm composting. Everyone can and should compost. Even apartment dwellers can keep worms or a compost Bin and use the product as potting soil.
17. Use spring holidays and feasts as a chance to bring up peak oil with friends and family. Freedom and rebirth are an excellent subjects To lead into the Long Emergency.
18. Store the components of some traditional spring holiday foods, so that in hard times your family can maintain its traditions and celebrations.
19. With the renewal of the building season, now is the time to scavenge free building materials, like cinder blocks, old windows and scrap wood - with permission, of course.
20. Try and adapt to the spring weather early - get outside, turn down your heat or bank your fires, cut down on your fuel consumption as though you had no choice. Put on those sweaters one more time.
21. Shepherds are flush with wool - now is the time to buy some fleece and start spinning! Drop spindles are easy to make and cheap to use. Check out www.learntospin.com
22. Take a hard look back over the last winter - if you had had to survive on what you grew and stored last year, would you have made it? Early spring was famously the “starving time” when stores ran out and everyone was hungry. Remember, when you plan your food Needs that not much produces early in spring, and in northern climates, A winter’s worth of food must last until May or June.
23. Trade cuttings and divisions, seeds and seedlings with your neighbors. Learn what’s out there in your community, and sneak some useful plants into your neighbors’ garden.
24. If you’ve got a nearby college, consider scavenging the dorm Dumpsters. College students often leave astounding amounts of Stuff behind including excellent books, clothes, furniture, etc…
25. Say a schecheyanu, a blessing, or a prayer. Or simply be grateful for a series of coincidences that permit us to be here, in this place, as the world and the seasons come to life again. Try to make sure that this year, this time, you will take more joy in what you have, and prepare a bit better to soften the blow that is about to fall.

SUMMER

1. If you don’t can or dehydrate, now is the time to learn. In most climates, you can waterbath can or dehydrate with a minimum of purchased materials, and produce is abundant and cheap. If you don’t garden, check out your local farmstand for day-old produce or your farmer’s market at the end of the day - they are likely to have large quantities they are anxious to get rid of. Wild fruits are also in abundance, or will be.
2. Consider dehydrating outer leaves of broccoli, cabbage, etc…, and grinding the dried mixture. It can be added to flours to increase the nutritional value of your bread.
3. Buy hay in the summer, rather than gradually over the winter. Now is an excellent time to put up simple shelters for hay storage, to avoid high early spring and winter prices.
4. Firewood, woodstoves and heating materials are at their Cheapest right now. Invest now for winter. The same is true Insulating materials.
5. Back to School Planning is a great time to reconsider transportation in light of peak oil. Can your children walk? Bike? If they cannot do either for reasons of safety (rather than distance) could an adult do so with them? Could you hire a local teenager to take them to school on foot or by wheel? Can you find ways to carpool, if you must drive? Grownups can do this too.
6. Also when getting ready to go back to school, consider the environmental impact of your scheduling and activities - are there ways to minimize driving/eating out/equipment costs/fuel consumption? Could your family do less in formal “activities” and more in family work?
7. Consider either home schooling or engaging in supplemental home Education. Your kids may need a large number of skills not provided By local public schools, and a critical perspective that they certainly Won‘t learn in an institutional setting. Teach them.
8. Try and minimize air conditioning and electrical use during high Summer. Take cool showers or baths, use ice packs, reserve activity When possible for early am or evening. Rise at 4 am and get much of Your work done then.
9. Consider adding a solar powered attic fan, available from Real Goods www.realgoods.com.
10. Don’t go on vacation. Spend your energy and money making your home A paradise instead. Throw a barbecue, a party or an open house, and invite The neighbors in. Get to know them.
11. Be prepared for summer blackouts, some quite extensive. Have Emergency supplies and lighting at hand.
12. Practice living, cooking and camping outside, so that you will Be comfortable doing so if necessary. Everyone in the family can Learn basic outdoors person skills.
13. Make your own summer camp. Instead of sending kids to soccer Camp, create an at-home skills camp that helps prepare people for Peak oil. Invite the neighbor kids to join you. Have a blast!
14. Begin adapting herbs and other potted plants to indoor culture. Consider adding small tropicals - figs, lemons, oranges, even bananas can often be grown in cold climate homes. Obviously, if you live in a warm climate well, be prepared for some jealousy from the rest of us come February ;-).
15. Plant a fall garden in high summer - peas, broccoli, kale, lettuces, Beets, carrots, turnips, etc… All of the above will last well into early Winter in even the harshest climates, and with proper techniques or In milder areas, will provide you with fresh food all year long
16. Put up a new clothesline! Consider hand washing clothes outside, Since everyone will probably enjoy getting wet (and cool) anyhow.
17. If you have access to safe waters, go fishing. Get some practice, and Learn a new skill.
18. Encourage pick-up games at your house. Post-peak, children will Need to know how to entertain themselves.
19. For teens, encourage them to develop their own home businesses over The summers. Whether doing labor or creating a product, you may rely On them eventually to help support the family. Or have them clean out Your closets and attic and help you reorganize. Let them sell the stuff.
20. Buy a hand pushed lawn mower if you have less than 1 acre of grass. New ones are easy to push and pleasant, and will save you energy and that Unpleasant gas smell.
21. Keep an eye out for unharvested fruits and nuts - many suburban and rural Areas have berry and fruit bushes that no one harvests. Take advantage and Put up the fruit.
22. Practice extreme water conservation during the summer. Mulch to reduce The need for irrigation. Bathe less often and with less water. Reduce clothes Washing when possible.
23. This is an excellent time to toilet train children - they can run around naked If necessary and accidents will do no harm. Try and get them out of diapers now, Before winter.
24. Consider replacing lawns with something that doesn’t have to be mown - Ground covers like vetch, moss, even edibles like wintergreen or lingonberry, Chamomile or mint.
25. If it is summer time, then the living is probably easy. Take some time To enjoy it - to picnic, to celebrate democracy (and try and bring one about ;-), To explore your own area, walk in the nearby woods.

FALL

1. Simple, cheap insulating strategies (window quilts and blankets, draft stoppers, etc…) are easily made from cheap or free materials - goodwill, for example, often has jeans, tshirts and shrunken wool sweaters, of quality too poor to sell, that can be used for quilting material and batting. They are available where I am for a nominal price, and I’ve heard of getting them free.
2. Stock up for winter as though the hard times will begin this year. Besides dried and canned foods, don’t forget root cellarable and storable local produce, and season extension (cold frames, greenhouses, etc…) techniques for fresh food when you make your food inventory.
3. Thanksgiving sales tend to be when supermarkets offer the cheapest deals on excellent supplements to food storage, like shortening, canned pumpkin, spices, etc… I’ve also heard of stores given turkeys away free with grocery purchases - turkeys can then be cooked, canned and stored. Don’t forget to throw in storable ingredients for your family’s holiday staples - in hard times, any kind of celebration or continuity is appreciated.
4. Go leaf rustling for your garden and compost pile. If you Happen into places where people leave their leaves out for Pickup, grab the bags and set them to composting or mulching Your own garden.
5. Plant a last crop of over wintering spinach, and enjoy in The fall and again in spring.
6. Or consider planting a bed of winter wheat. Chickens can Even graze it lightly in the fall, and it will be ready to harvest in Time to use the bed for your fall garden. Even a small bed will Make quite a bit of fresh, delicious bread.
7. Hit those last yard sales, or back to school sales and buy a few extra clothes (or cloth to make them) for growing children and extra shoes for everyone. They will be welcome in storage, particularly if prices rise because of trade issues or inflation.
8. The best time to expand your garden is now - till or mulch and let sod rot over the winter. Add soil amendments, manure, Compost and lime.
9. Now is an excellent time to start the 100 mile diet in most locales - Stores and farms and markets are bursting with delicious local produce And products. Eat local and learn new recipes.
10. Rose hip season is coming - most food storage items are low in accessible vitamin C. Harvest wild or tame unsprayed rose hips, and dry them for tea to ensure long-term good health. Rose hips are Delicious mixed with raspberry leaves and lemon balm.
11. Discounts on alcohol are common between Halloween and Christmas - this is an excellent time to stock up on booze for personal, medicinal, trade or cooking. Pick up some vanilla beans as well, and make your own vanilla out of that cheap vodka.
12. Gardening equipment, and things like rainbarrels go on sale in the late summer/early fall. And nurseries often are trying to rid themselves of perennial plants - including edibles and medicinals. It isn’t too late to plant them in most parts of the country, although some care is needed in purchasing for things that have become rootbound.
13. Local honey will be at its cheapest now - now is the time to stock up. Consider making friends with the beekeeper, and perhaps Taking lessons yourself.
14. Fall is the cheapest time to buy livestock, either to keep or for butchering. Many 4Hers, and those who simply don’t want to keep excess animals over the winter are anxious to find buyers now. In many cases, at auction, I see animals selling for much less than the meat you can expect to obtain from their carcass is worth.
15. Most cold climate housing has or could have a “cold room/area” - a space that is kept cool enough during the fall and winter to dispense with the necessity of a refrigerator, but that doesn’t freeze. If you have separate fridge and freezer, consider disconnecting your fridge during the cooler weather to save utility costs and conserve energy. You can build a cool room by building in a closet with a window, and Insulating it with Styrofoam panels
16. Now is a great time to build community (and get stuff done) by instituting a local “work bee” - invite neighbors and friends to come help either with a project for your household, or to share in some good deed for another community member. Provide food, drink, tools and get to work on whatever it is (building, harvesting, quilting, knitting - the sky is the limit), and at the same time strengthen your community. Make sure that next time, the work benefits a different neighbor or community member.
17. Most local charities get the majority of their donations between now and December. Consider dividing your charitable donations so that they are made year round, but adding extra volunteer hours to help your group handle the demands on them in the fall.
18. Many medicinal and culinary herbs are at their peak now. Consider learning about them and drying some for winter use.
19. If there is a gleaning program near you (either for charity or personal use) consider joining. If not, start one. Considerable amounts of food are wasted in the harvesting process, and you can either add to your storage or benefit your local shelters and food pantries.
20. Dig out those down comforters, extra blankets, hats with the earflaps, flannel jammies, etc… You don’t need heat in your sleeping areas - just warm clothes and blankets.
21. Learn a skill that can be done in the dark or by candlelight, while sitting with others in front of a heat source. Knitting, crocheting, whittling, rug braiding, etc… can all be done mostly by touch with little light, and are suitable for companionable evenings. In addition, learn to sing, play instruments, recite memorized speeches and poetry, etc… as something to do on dark winter evenings.
22. While I wouldn’t expect deer or turkey hunting to be a major food source in coming times (I would expect large game to be driven back to near-extinction pretty quickly), it is worth having those skills, and also the skills necessary to catch the less commonly caught small game, like rabbits, squirrel, etc…
23. Use a solar cooker or parabolic solar cooker whenever possible To prepare food. Or eat cool salads and raw foods. Not only won’t You heat up the house, but you’ll save energy.
24. A majority of children are born in the summer Early fall, which suggests that some of us are doing more than Keeping warm ;-). Now is a good time to get one’s birth Control updated ;-).
25. Celebrate the harvest - this is a time of luxury and plenty, and should be treated as such and enjoyed that way. Cook, drink, eat, talk, sing, pray, dance, laugh, invite guests. Winter is long and comes soon enough. Celebrate!

WINTER

1. Your local adult education program almost certainly has something useful to teach you - woodworking, crocheting, music training, horseback riding, CPR, herbalism, vegetarian cookery… take advantage of people who want to teach their skills
2. Get serious about land use planning - even if you live in a suburban neighborhood, you can find ways to optimize your land to produce the most food, fuel and barterables. Sit down and think hard about what you can do to make your land and your life more sustainable in the coming year.
3. The Winter Lull is an excellent time to get involved in public affairs. No matter how cynical you tend to be, nothing ever changed without Engagement. So get out there. Stand for office. Join. Volunteer.
4. Now is the time to prepare for illness - keep a stock of remedies, including useful antibiotics (although know what you are doing, don’t just buy them and take them), vitamin C supplements (I like elderberry syrup), painkillers, herbs, and tools for handling even serious illness by yourself. In the event of a truly severe epidemic of flu or other illness, avoiding illness and treating sick family members at home whenever possible may be safer than taking them to over-worked and over-crowded hospitals (or, it may not - but planning for the former won’t prevent you from using the hospital if you need it).
5. Most schools would be delighted to have volunteers come in and talk about conservation, gardening, small livestock, home-scale mechanics, ham radio, etc…, and most homeschooling families would be similarly thrilled. Consider offering to teach something you know that will be helpful post-peak (although I wouldn’t recommend discussing peak oil with any but the oldest teenagers, and not even that without their parents permission
6. Now is the time to convince your business, synagogue, church, school, community center to put a garden on that empty lawn. If you start the campaign now, you can be ready to plant in the spring. Produce can be shared among participants or offered to the needy.
7. The one-two punch of rising heating oil and gas prices may well be what is needed to make your family and friends more receptive to the peak oil message. Try again. At the very least, emphasize the options for mitigating increased economic strain with sustainable practices.
8. Get together with neighbors and check in on your area’s elderly and disabled people. Make a plan that ensures they will be checked on during bad weather, power outages, etc… Offer help with stocking Up for winter, or maintaining equipment. And watch for signs that they Are struggling economically.
9. Work on raising money and getting help with local poverty-abatement Programs. After the holidays, people struggle. They get hungry and cold. Remember, besides the fact that it is the right thing to do, the life you save May be your own.
10. Get out and enjoy the cold weather. It is hard to adapt to colder Temperatures if you spend all your time huddled in front of a heater. Ski, Snowshoe, sled, shovel, have a snowball fight, build a hut, go winter Camping, but get comfortable with the cold, snowy world around you.
11. Have your chimney(s) inspected, and learn to clean your own. Learn to care for your kerosene lamps, to use candles safely, and how To use and maintain your smoke and CO detectors and fire extinguishers. Winter is peak fire season, so keep safe.
12. Grow sprouts on your windowsill.
13. Now is an excellent time to reconsider how you use your house. Look around - could you make more space? House more people? Do projects more efficiently? Add greenhouse space? Put in a homemade Composting toilet? Work with what you have to make it more useful.
14. If a holiday gift exchange is part of your life, make most of your gifts. Knit, whittle, build, sew, or otherwise create something beautiful for the People you love.
15. If someone wants to buy you something, request a useful tool or preparedness Item, or a gift certificate to a place like Lehmans or Real Goods. Considering giving Such gifts to friends and family - a solar crank radio, an LED flashlight, cast iron pans, These are useful and appreciated items whether or not you believe in peak oil.
16. Do a dry run in the dead of winter. Turn out all the power, turn off the water. Turn off all fossil-fuel sources of heat, and see how things go for a few days. Use What you learn to improve your preparedness, and have fun while doing it.
17. Learn to mend clothing, patch and make patchwork out of old clothes.
18. Write letters to people. The post is the most reliable way of communicating, And letters last forever.
19. Make a list of goals for the coming year, and the coming five years. Start Keeping records of your goals and your successes and failures.
20. Keep a journal. Your children and grandchildren (or someone else’s) may want To know what these days were like.
21. Wash your hands frequently, and avoid stress. Stay healthy so that you can be useful To those around you.
22. For those subject to depression or anxiety, winter can be hard. Find ways to relax, Decompress and use work as an antidote to fear whenever possible. Get outside on sunny Days, and try and exercise as much as possible to help maintain a positive attitude.
23. Memorize a poem or song every week. No matter what happens to you, no one can ever take away the music and words you hold in your mind. You can have them as comfort and pleasure wherever you go, and in whatever circumstances.
24. Take advantage of heating stoves by cooking on them. You can make soups or stews On top of any wood stove or even many radiators, and you can build or buy a metal oven That sits on top of woodstoves to bake in.
25. Winter is a time of quiet and contemplation. Go outside. Hear the silence. Take pleasure in what you have achieved over the past year. Focus on the abundance of this present, this day, rather than scarcity to come.

http://sharonastyk.com/2009/08/06/the-department-of-redundancy-redundancy-department/

The Department of Redundancy, Redundancy Department

Sharon August 6th, 2009

Today I’m starting another Adapting-In-Place Class, beginning with the basics of evaluating whether you have a future where you are, what your other choices are, and then triaging your situation, but I’ve already written a good bit about those things, so I want to a basic and essential element of triage - establishing redundant systems.

Why redundant systems? Well, for the simple reason that, as Yeats put, things fall apart. We all know this - in fact, we all rely regularly on redundant systems. For example, when your commuter vehicle breaks, you take the bus, carpool with a neighbor, borrow from your spouse or a friend or rent a car. Implicit in your commitment to your job is the reality that your car will break, and that you will find yourself in need of a redundant system to back you up. If you have children, you are are intimately familiar with the filling out of forms that list several “emergency contacts” - that is, people who can be trusted to tend your kids if you are not there. This is a form of redundancy - thus, if your son takes sick at school, you have a neighbor or relative who can respond, and if not them, usually another person still who can be tried. The assumption is that with parents plus multiple redundant backups, someone will always be there for your kids.

But most of us don’t have good redundant systems for our home and our lives, if the basic assumptions of our existence, which include full access to grid power and other utilities; an immediate government response to a crisis and the availability of replacement parts, utilities and tools, as well as people to install them and the money to pay for it are all available. That is, the redundancy in our system all presumes a fully functional economy, energy system and a fairly stable society. In the absence of each of these things, most of us are tremendously vulnerable.

One of the first and most basic presumptions we all need to make is this - failure is normal. This is not a prediction - I am not claiming that any particular scenario is likely. But the reality is that nearly everything breaks, falls apart or is vulnerable in some way to not-terrifically-unlikely disasters. Your plans for the future should work from the assumption that things will unfold messily, and with copious system failures. I’ve written more about this here: http://sharonastyk.com/2008/12/13/inconceivable-why-failure-is-normal-and-should-be-part-of-the-planbut-isnt/ I wrote about our strange reluctance to seriously consider the possibility of failure on both a personal and world scale,

“…this leads to a painful reality - despite the fact that winter power outages happen out my way all the time, we know for a fact that the extended outages in my region there will leave us with people who are freezing, and hungry, isolated and unable to cope. They won’t have the batteries for their flashlights, or any strategy for cooking or eating. At best, they will come out of this traumatized and miserable. At worst, some of them may actually die.

But we also know that these folks will be deemed normal, and their lack of preparation will be treated as normal. Just as people in California with no earthquake preparations or folks in Florida with no preparations for a Hurricane will be treated as normal. We treat a lack of preparedness, in our society, as completely reasonable and rational, even expected. Thus, if you are in line at a Red Cross shelter because you have no food and water in your home 48 hours after a hurricane hit Gainesville, odds are no one will even raise an eyebrow and ask why in heck you don’t have any food.

My point is not to pick on anyone (and yes, I know that there are some people who don’t have enough food access to have a reserve, but that hardly describes everyone) - in fact, I think the reason that we look upon the lack of personal contingency plans as so reasonable is that it isn’t just personal - our society as a whole has very few contingency plans - much less strategies for adapting to failure. We regard planning for anything bad as a sign of an unhealthy focus on the negative. We feel it is so unhealthy that we find that at every level of our culture - from the purely personal question of whether we have a strategy for dealing with common disasters to the international policy level where no one seems to have ever asked any questions about what might go wrong on a host of subjects - we have no contingency plans. Not only do we not have them, but we dismiss and deride anyone who suggests we make them.

All of which suggests that we have a very troubled relationship to the idea of failure. Speaking as someone whose entire body of work could probably be summarized as “Ummm…have you thought about what happens if something goes wrong?” I’m acutely aware of how unpleasant and frightening most of us find the idea of failure - and because we find it unpleasant and frightening, we are likely to dramatically underestimate its likelihood and frequency, and be truly shocked when failures happen. But in fact, we shouldn’t be shocked - failure is far more routine and normal than we expect. Not only is it normal, but treating it as normal might actually reduce the likelihood of disaster.”

And if we do have backup systems, often those systems are themselves vulnerable to failure, and we may or may not have further redundancies in the system. Now some systems don’t need much redundancy - for example, if you mostly keep ice cream in your freezer, even if you are very fond of ice cream, you don’t actually need a backup plan or system to compensate for the failure of your freezer - one doesn’t actually need Ben and Jerry’s to live, even if it is Cherry Garcia ;-), so no redundant system is required. But let’s say that your freezer holds most of your stored food, including a lot of high value meats and produce that you rely on, and that would cost you more than 1,000 to replace. Well, you think, I’ll get a generator. Maybe you even install it, and store some gas for it. But the problem is that a generator is a short term solution - it is great for a few days of power outage, and will keep that food cold. But what if, as happened last year in Kentucky, Massachusetts, New York, Iowa, Texas and several other states, the power is out for more than a few days? What happens when the gas for the generator runs out, and the gas stations have no power to pump more? Your redundancy assumes that things will get back to normal quickly - but what if that’s not the case?

The reality is that if your redundancies depend on fossil fuels, on just in time delivery of parts you don’t keep on hand, on government response being there on the ground quickly, on disasters being so localized that nearby other places can send help, rather than widespread, on somehow, things working out, your redundancies aren’t adequate - period.

Now this could end up an infinite reduction game - you could make the case that the need for redundancy never stops, and on some level, you’d be right. Let’s say my backup plan for that freezer is different - it involves me taking my pressure canner and canning up the meat in the freezer on my wood cookstove. Now someone could legitimately say “well, but what if your stove breaks, or the canner does. Doesn’t that mean you need an infinite number of canners, a backup woodstove and an infinite number of monkeys to type while you do the preserving?

There’s some truth in this - all things fail, all good things come to an end. On the other hand, the wood cookstove I own comes from a brand where 100 year old models are routinely used. Mine is less than 5 years old. There are a couple of parts that might break, and that’s why I keep a stove gasketing kit around, and have my own chimney brushes. And it is possible that some unusual situation might occur. Which is one of the reasons I’m glad I know how to make a rocket stove - and have a big old can big enough to put a canning kettle on, although I haven’t made it yet. I also make sure that there’s nothing in my freezer I can’t afford to lose - yes, I like what I have there, but I don’t allow myself to rely on it as my primary source of food. If worst came to worst, we’d invite all the neighbors for a feast and go forward from there - I don’t really need more than that plan in my head, because I know I can lose the stuff there.

So a set of redundant systems depends on several things. First, a backup that is well made and simple - or if cheap and complex, a bunch of them. Given that I don’t like the idea of buying a lot of cheap stuff, I’d prefer the former, but sometimes that may not be viable. Second, if the system is essential, you need the tools and equipment and ability to take care of it and repair it. That means looking critically over your backup systems and asking what parts might break, and how to fix them if they do. I have a box in my closet that contains only repair kits for things - often, when making a major purchase, the item comes with an inexpensive repair kit, that contains replacement pieces of things that are most likely to show wear - rust remover and stove gaskets for a cookstove, bearing oil and replacement bearings for my spinning wheel, a sewing machine belt and replacement needles for a treadle machine, etc… Now occasionally these are a scam, providing cheap parts rather than useful ones, but with well made equipment, often they aren’t. Making sure you also know how to use them - that you’ve downloaded instructions, say for, say mending harness or replacing parts on your water pumping wind turbine. Ideally, try it before you have to do it in the rain, at night, by flashlight, since that’s how it always works.

The other thing that’s needed is a mental plan to deal with failure - ok, what if my well pump breaks just when I need it? Well, I know I can filter water from the creek, and from my rainbarrels. Let’s just make sure I have enough filters or water purifying tablets. Also, how much do I mind the idea of my final, mental back up plan? I think I’d find hauling all our water from our creek really annoying. If that’s the case, and I can afford it, I should probably make sure that we have a backup well pump system.

If you do want a complex, and fossil fuel based backup - ie, you want solar panels to keep your freezer running or a generator or whatever, make sure you a. know how to fix it and b. keep tools and parts on hand. And also make sure you have a non-fossilized backup, just in case.

Redundancies can and should include sharing with others, relying on others for help, etc… We don’t always need a tool, so much as we need people. But if your plans include these, ask yourself - am I lending a helping hand now? Do I have relationships to rely on for this? If not, time to make them happen.

How much redundancy do you need? At a minimum, I think you should be as unreliant on high energy, high complexity systems as possible. For some people, comfortable living with very little, in a simple way, this will mean almost no complexities. For those tied by major illness to high energy medical systems, or caught in situations where they cannot live without these, it may still be possible to minimize resource use elsewhere, while building up as much of a safety net as possible elsewhere. Not every person will be able to do every thing - but the more you can build redundant systems into your plan, the happier and more comfortable your lives will be.

Sharon

* adapting in place
* Comments(15)

http://news.brunei.fm/2009/08/03/laila-ready-for-harvest/

Laila’ ready for harvest

Posted by Webmaster on Aug 3rd, 2009 and filed under Borneo Bulletin, ECONOMY, LOCAL. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry

Large scale effort towards self-sufficiency is work in progress

Waleed PD Mahdini

FOUR months ago, Brunei Darussalam’s goal towards achieving self-sufficiency in its local rice production received the highest boost possible when His Majesty the Sultan and Yang Di-Pertuan of Brunei Darussalam graced the event to mark the official naming of the local “Laila” rice variety and then consented to personally plant some paddy seedlings at the Wasan Paddy Planting Area in Kg Wasan. The message was clear — for the sake of our future generations tomorrow, food security for all must be realised today.

An ambitious agricultural programme was thus carefully planned, formulated and closely coordinated by the Department ofAgriculture, under the auspices of the Ministry of Industry and Primary Resources (MIPR), with technical support and collaboration of several countries, such as China and Singapore but most notably from the Republic of the Philippines, through the Philippine Rice Research Institute.

This move was hailed by the local media as helping to bolster the existing deep bilateral relationship between Brunei and the Philippines. It is also somewhat poignant in that the technical assistance that has been sought after by the government and rendered by foreign governments around the Southeast Asian region, as the logo of the 10-member regional grouping, Asean, is depicted as 10 individual stalks of rice all held together through the umbrella of the 10-member association.

Four months on, as the paddy seedlings have now changed colour from green into a ripe and healthy golden brown, officials from MIPR have been busy travelling around all four districts to initiate the nationwide agricultural drive to coordinate and realise the self-sufficiency agricultural target that it has set for local paddy farmers to increase the country’s local rice production from 3 per cent to 20 per cent by 2010.

Aside from identifying the Laila rice variety as Brunei’s new hybrid answer to its agricultural goal, other short-, medium- and long-term measures have also been identified and refined as important pre-requisites for the nation to be able to successfully ensure self-sufficiency in its local rice production, as well as to have some tangible measure of food security for its future generations.

Agricultural lands have been earmarked for expansion from the current figure of 1,300 hectares to 4,500 hectares by 2010 in order to achieve the 20 per cent target in local rice production. Eventually by 2015, some 10,000 hectares of land will be duly allocated in order to achieve the 60 per cent target that has been earmarked for that timeframe.

In addition, improved farming infrastructure, utilising the latest fanning technologies and utilising new applications of high-yield rice are among the other measures that have been identified and are being carefully implemented in order to achieve the targetted increase.

Furthermore, MIPR as the main agency spearheading this rice self-sufficiency programme has set an increased annual yield rate of between 1.5 and 2 per cent, which will include the additional numbers in the country’s average population growth.

But among the farmers at the various paddy planting sites across the country, many have indeed praised the government for its technical support and financial assistance in helping them generate the required amounts by next year.

However, much more still needs to be done. For instance, irrigation still needs to be corrected at more paddy plots around the country to ensure a successful harvest. There are still insufficient farming machines to allow the farmers to plant simultaneously across the country. Most still have to wait for paddy transplanters, mist blowers and others as there simply aren’t enough to go around. If the government really wants to achieve the target that it has set, then it also has to seriously consider acquiring more machinery to do its noble mission justice.

But in all fairness to the government, it has been commended as doing the most of what it can with what it has at its current disposal. Many still understand that this is a relatively new project that it has embarked on. And for the moment, every stakeholder on board — from the farmers, the suppliers, as well as the Department of Agriculture — realises that the road to near-total self-sufficiency will be one of constant trial and error.

For instance, to ensure that existing local rice varieties, such as pusu, adan and bario are not left to proverbially rot at the wayside, the Tutong District has been identified as the district that will continue to plant these traditional rice varieties.

Furthermore, according to the fanners, they are currently receiving the 50 per cent rebate on fertilisers, chemicals and paddy seeds — as promised by the government — as well as the financial backing from the government, which is offering a support price of B$1,600 for one metric tonne of paddy.

All these measures will undoubtedly provide much confidence in the local farmers to tranform their current mindsets from amateur, “part-time” weekend farmers to more professionally- and commercially-driven ones, which will be another pre-requisite if their continued support is to be maintained and nurtured along the country’s drive towards agricultural self-sufficiency and national food security for the present and all its future generations.