Posted on 07/24/2009 3:37:21 AM PDT by nw_arizona_granny
Weekly Roundup - Living On Nothing Edition Category: Roundups | Comments(15)
Did you hear about the guy that lives on nothing? No seriously, he lives on zero dollars a day. Meet Daniel Suelo, who lives in a cave outside Moab, Utah. Suelo has no mortgage, no car payment, no debt of any kind. He also has no home, no car, no television, and absolutely no “creature comforts.” But he does have a lot of creatures, as in the mice and bugs that scurry about the cave floor he’s called home for the last three years.
To us, Suelo probably sounds a little extreme. Actually, he probably sounds very extreme. After all, I suspect most of you reading this are doing so under the protection of some sort of man-made shelter, and with some amount of money on your person, and probably a few needs for money, too. And who doesn’t need money unless they have completely unplugged from the grid? Still, it’s an amusing story about a guy who rejects all forms of consumerism as we know it.
The Frugal Roundup
How to Brew Your Own Beer and Maybe Save Some Money. A fantastic introduction to home brewing, something I’ve never done myself, but always been interested in trying. (@Generation X Finance)
Contentment: A Great Financial Principle. If I had to name one required emotion for living a frugal lifestyle it would be contentment. Once you are content with your belongings and your lot in life you can ignore forces attempting to separate you from your money. (@Personal Finance by the Book)
Use Energy Star Appliances to Save On Utility Costs. I enjoyed this post because it included actual numbers, and actual total savings, from someone who upgraded to new, energy star appliances. (@The Digerati Life)
Over-Saving for Retirement? Is it possible to “over-save” for retirement? Yes, I think so. At some point I like the idea of putting some money aside in taxable investments outside of retirement funds, to be accessed prior to traditional retirement age. (@The Simple Dollar)
40 Things to Teach My Kids Before They Leave Home. A great list of both practical and philosophical lessons to teach your kids before they reach the age where they know everything. I think that now happens around 13 years-old. (@My Supercharged Life)
Index Fund Investing Overview. If you are looking for a place to invest with high diversification and relatively low fees (for broader index funds with low turnover), index funds are a great place to start. (@Money Smart Life)
5 Reasons To Line Dry Your Laundry. My wife and I may soon be installing a clothesline in our backyard. In many neighborhoods they are frowned upon - one of the reasons I don’t like living in a neighborhood. I digress. One of our neighbors recently put up a clothesline, and we might just follow his lead. (@Simple Mom)
A Few Others I Enjoyed
* 4 Quick Tips for Getting Out of a Rut * Young and Cash Rich * Embracing Simple Style * First Trading Experience With OptionsHouse * The Exponential Power of Delayed Consumption * How Much Emergency Fund is Enough? * 50 Questions that Will Free Your Mind * Save Money On Car Insurance
Hey, HP-
The soup turned out wonderful! I threw the last of my sprinkle parmesan cheese in with it and we all gobbled it up. Adults more so than the kids but they did eat it! I would make it again.
I emailed the SZECHUAN PEANUT CHICKEN recipe to myself so I wouldn’t lose it in this thread. That sounds so wonderful! I can’t wait to make it!!
>>>“ Please don’t take out my tonsils , You evil Money Grabber, are you a Marxist ?? “<<<
The two of us together would be dangerous..
That is the type of thing I would pull... LOL
>>>anything that comes in contact with the body ??<<<
As I think SOS (Secretary of State) Hillary said recently - “In the US we tax EVERYTHING”...
Interesting. I am searching local libraries to see if I can find the book. Am sure hubby would be interested too, but he will not use the computer. Too much of an old Mainiac.
Add some enchilada sauce (red or green) and some salsa to your tortilla soup, and keep the Velveeta (or top with grated cheese), and you have an awesome enchilada soup.
Exploiting Harvest Delays: A Healthy Portfolio Needs More Vegetables
by: Matthew Bradbard
November 13, 2009
Most commodity investors with whom I come into contact are trading energies and metals, but perhaps a healthy portfolio needs more vegetables. With the slowest harvest in over two decades, we believe more investors should be looking towards agriculture. Looking at the macro view, in our opinion, adds further bullishness, being soybeans and corn are a staple in one’s diet, and with more mouths to feed we should see demand grow exponentially in the coming years.
In the most recent USDA crop report, they expect the corn harvest to be 12.9 billion bushels, down 1% from the October forecast. They also decreased the yield by 1.3 bushels/acre, which we feel is generous and expect further reductions. While the corn crop is projected to be the second largest on record, up 7% from last year, the demand for corn and its byproducts may be growing at a faster pace.
As for soybeans, the yield was increased marginally to 43.3 bushels/acre with a crop size of 3.3 billion bushels. The usage of soybeans is projected to increase, so if the crop size or yields come into question we expect prices to respond by moving higher.
The problem has been excessive rain that has hindered farmers from getting into the fields to harvest their crops. In the month of October top growing regions around the country received at least twice the normal amount of rainfall. That in combination with unusually cool temperatures slowed crop development. Farmers have only managed to harvest about 40% of their corn crop compared with the 80% plus we have been averaging for the last 5 years. In soybeans, circumstances are not much better, being farmers have only harvested 80% and should be completely harvested at this point. Complicating things further, farmers will need to spend more money to dry their crops. If harvest delays continue for corn and soybeans, it is feasible that farmers that double-crop will be unable to plant wheat this fall.
Though we focus on corn and soybeans in this article, weather problems in Indonesia and the Philippines are wreaking havoc in the rice market. The Mississippi delta, which is a massive cotton growing area too, has encountered excess rainfall that is affecting the cotton market. In the same USDA report, cotton production was forecasted to reduce 3.8%, or 12.5 million bales.
The sad reality is that when Mother Nature misbehaves, money can be made and lost. Floods, droughts, hurricanes and other natural disasters disrupt the norm and create trading opportunities.
Buying corn in late October/early November and holding until mid-May is one of the best seasonal trades out there. This trade has worked 34 out of the last 40 years, for a success rate of 85%. This trade has had a 10-year win streak that began in 1998. Past performance is not indicative of future results. With more competition for corn inventories from animal feed, energy needs and foreign business, coupled with the growing cycle and harvest delays, we think being long corn makes sense. Corn prices have started to move higher with March 10’ corn advancing 25% off a 3 ½ year low made just over 2 months ago. We suggest gaining long exposure in March or May contracts via call options or long futures with option protection. We see the $3.75/3.80 level acting as support and expect prices to trade near $4.80 in Q1 next year.
The United States is the leading producer of soybeans, though a larger than anticipated crop from China or Brazil will have an impact as both countries are becoming increasingly bigger players. Unlike corn, soybeans cannot be stored for an extended period, which makes prices at times more volatile. For the last month soybeans have traded sideways in about a 60 cent trading range. As long as prices stay above $9.50 on the March contract we like being long. We are not currently exposed to soybeans with clients but will be looking for long opportunities on a setback. We suggest buying $1 call spreads or to trade long futures with options protection. Trading soybeans is a bit more expensive than corn and also expect more volatility, so perhaps trade a lighter position size. With an increase in harvest delays, a reduction in crop size, and as long as South .America and or China do not have an immense crop, we would expect soybeans to find their way back to $11 early next year.
Dick Morris has been talking about this a lot. He says devices like hearing aids, pacemakers, hover-rounds, dialysis machines, braces, crutches, etc. will be taxed because the medical devices industry did not play ball with the Dems. Please God, let this bill fail!!
Granny, I am so happy to report that since I started taking Pyridoxamine (a form of Vitamin B6), my creatinine has gone from around the 6.00 range (where it has been since May of 2008) to the following levels:
August (before taking B6): 6.09
September: 5.52
October: 5.31
November: 4.83
Praise God for Newsmax Magazine which featured the article about the FDA banning Pyridoxamine!!
I’m still taking the baking soda. I don’t know if acidity level gets measured, but it doesn’t seem to be doing any harm.
God is good!!
{{{hugs}}}
I wish our Tea Party could go to some of those. We’re having a food drive (in the Central Valley???) on November 22, when three caravans of Tea Party Patriots will arrive at the Fresno Fairgrounds to deliver food to our farmers.
God help us...
From time to time Eagle50AE archives the thread and posts it on a website for anyone to download. The first and second threads are archived so far. This one is getting long enough to warrant a new archive.
I’m gonna ask my hubby to try to make those bean veggie burgers. They look really good!
Landscape architecture professor travels 18,000 kilometres across the North America
to study urban agriculture
Prof. Karen Landman, Environmental Design and Rural Development, grew up on a dairy
farm, but she says her father wouldn’t recognize as farmers the people she met this
summer when she travelled more than 18,000 kilometres across the western United
States and Canada to study urban agriculture. They were growing food commercially
in the city.
“I met with academics, social advocates, people who train others in the techniques
of urban farming and, of course, urban farmers themselves,” she says.
Symposium Explores Ways to Promote Urban Agriculture
Academics, municipal planners, community activists, gardeners and farmers will gather
at the University of Guelph next week to cultivate connections between city-dwellers
and the food on their tables by encouraging farming in urban areas.
Opportunities for Action: An Urban Agriculture Symposium is a first for Guelph and
takes place Nov. 20 at the Arboretum. The all-day event is hosted by the University
and several local partners, including the Backyard Bounty project.
Fresh Food from Small Spaces
With this book as a guide, people living in apartments, condominiums, townhouses,
and single-family homes will be able to grow up to 20 percent of their own fresh
food using a combination of traditional gardening methods and space-saving techniques
such as reflected lighting and container “terracing.” Those with access to yards
can produce even more.
Texas editorial - Urban agriculture, the next cool thing
Did you know that more Texas kids are believed to be studying agriculture and agricultural
science in urban and suburban high schools than in the state’s rural academies?
As education officials told Dallas Morning News reporter Matt Peterson earlier this
week, most of the ag-related jobs now and in the future are based in urban areas,
not on the farm. “For that reason,” said the Texas Education Agency’s Ron Whitson,
“I think these courses are very relevant to our young people.”
International Living Building Institute Addresses Urban Agriculture
“The program introduces a new focus on urban agriculture, requiring a minimum amount
of site square footage be dedicated to food production except in the densest urban
environments - the more suburban a site is, the more food production is required.
“All projects must integrate opportunities for agriculture appropriate to the scale
and density of the project using its Floor Area Ratio (F.A.R.) as the basis for
calculation.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
All stories here.
City Farmer News [http://rs6.net/tn.jsp?et=1102827420832&s=1304&e=001mCd8WyWSx4RboJbxBcQ1Kl62IarOSlYnTkGEPv35ZEDjJjtiDqvWCRftP_2w0MuNobF2LGvJJWolXT9Kc9MZ4xCs3nzOziDDvyWT9S46ylodIvyanywW1A==]
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Michael Levenston
City Farmer - Canada’s Office of Urban Agriculture
I didn’t keep the list, when I saw it, as I will be paying the taxes on it all.
The t. paper is the only thing on the list that I need, too old for the others.
And if Sears Roebuck still made a good catalog, wouldn’t need the t.p.
The soup turned out wonderful! <<<
Wonderful, isn’t it fun to create something that works....
How many Heads of State bowed to Akihito?
Ya gotta see this...
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2386588/posts
Oba Mao the supplicant... Barry the pretender... Barack the groveler... Hussein the undecided... Obama the Narcissist - Uh, I - I uh well I uh I - you see I uh - if I uh.... Well, I uh wanted change so I uh could play basketball and uh golf and uh fly in Air Force 1 uh wherever I want - thats lots uh uh more fun than that uh leadership thingey... (Geesh, send in the clown - oooops he is the clown) Send in the TOTUS (Tele Prompter Of The United States) in his place... Yeah...That’s it!
I emailed the SZECHUAN PEANUT CHICKEN recipe to myself <<<
Or if you need easy storage, get a free Yahoo email account and store away, it is unlimited storage space now.
It is fun to find recipes that folks will try, let us know if it works as well, as it sounds.
Interesting. I am searching local libraries to see if I can find the book. Am sure hubby would be interested too, but he will not use the computer. Too much of an old Mainiac.<<<
The entire book is on the computer, make a tape of it and let him listen to it, if you don’t find it at the library.
There is also a Civil War book that is in 13 sections, I was too tired to copy it, but did capture part one.
And a translated Iceland book, that is fun, about a man living in the woods alone and putting out the word for a wife, and she came over the hill one day and stayed.
LOL, in the beginning, a room for him and one for his animals was a grand place, built of sod.
Now, it is a house of logs, with painted doors and windows and the animals have 2 rooms.
A nice pleasant story.
Most commodity investors with whom I come into contact are trading energies and metals, but perhaps a healthy portfolio needs more vegetables. With the slowest harvest in over two decades, we believe more investors should be looking towards agriculture. Looking at the macro view, in our opinion, adds further bullishness, being soybeans and corn are a staple in one’s diet, and with more mouths to feed we should see demand grow exponentially in the coming years.<<<
True, and with this type of investment, we will see the prices go even higher.
As the prices rise and people will not or cannot buy all that they did in the past, and more get laid off and soon we will be back living in the 1800’s and dreaming of the improvements we once could afford.
Granny, I am so happy to report that since I started taking Pyridoxamine (a form of Vitamin B6), my creatinine has gone from around the 6.00 range (where it has been since May of 2008) to the following levels:<<<
Wonderful!!!
I like good news and when it is so easy, it is worth trying.
I stay amazed at the things they decide are bad for you.
I remember when it was Sassafras tea, turned out that to meet the gov’s danger point, it required 400 cups of tea a day.
Chaparral is easier to understand, it worked and was cheap, then they outlawed it and my allergy pill is $2.00 plus per pill and is so narcotic, it has to be signed for.
They got the cheap stuff off the market.
Keep getting the good reports, that is all that is important.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.