prep « Robin Writes

Some of you have heard how damn excited I am to have grown potatoes—two 20-foot rows. Next year, that will double, at least. You may have also heard about the tomato fiasco: disappearing plants that reappeared a couple months later, and the addition, in the meantime, of a dozen seedlings.

Kinda makes “Attack of the Killer Tomatoes” perhaps a new reality . . .

My corn experiment, which was transplanting the thinned stalks in the next row, was a success!

Anyway, I did have some failures:

There is one section of the garden that killed off my pepper plants, Bell and jalapeno, and also killed off the Romaine and Butter Crunch lettuces. Weird, right? I’ll try that section again in the fall, with kale and spinach, now that it’s rested for a couple months.

By the way, weeds grow there just fine. Of course.

And about that corn. It’s short. Very short. I do have some ears growing, and I’m guessing I might get a dozen. Maybe. That’s certainly not enough for two 20-foot rows.

And the cabbage. Good grief. Besides bugs, which can be eliminated, the darn plants never quite grew any heads. Just a lot of spreading leaves.

But!

Since the deer didn’t get inside that seven-and-a-half-foot fence, I had a lot of green beans, as well as kidney and pinto. And the asparagus is doing well—we’ll be eating that next year. I’m getting cukes, and three cute little acorn squashes. Yellow squash and zucchini, well, those are self-explanatory.

The strawberries transplanted from STL are actually producing, and spreading, but I still only got a few blueberries. The domesticating of the blackberries continues, and the orchard trees look good. Grapevines, too!

So now we’re at the point where, besides sweating gallons, we’re planning next year.

Besides expanding the garden, which means the removal of a huge dead tree and a few other live, smaller ones, not to mention a stump or three and a LOT of rocks, we’re going to add a greenhouse.

I’m determined to grow lettuce, one way or another.

We’ll see how it goes, but check back in the late fall to see what’s happening. It could be quite entertaining!

My husband asked me yesterday what I thought would happen, vis a vis SHTF, regarding the upcoming election. Well, that’s a loaded question . . .

Some of you will likely be offended by what I have to say, some won’t, but I’m not directing this personally to anyone. Not even really going to discuss the candidates. So, read on:

If Trump is elected, I suspect things will be quite dicey during the time between the election and inauguration—remember, that’s nearly three months. And as president, Trump can still only do so much, as a lot depends on Congress and to which side the aisle is tilted.

I think that we’ll see more protests and more violence.

Now, if you’re not in an area where these things tend to increase, i.e., urban, you might think you’ll be just dandy. However, while physically safe, you can be hurt in other ways.

If protests block supply lines, such as trains and highways, groceries and other items may be hard to come by . . . if folks walk out on their jobs, any kind of industry, there may be a shortage of goods to transport.

If you are in an urban area, and can’t leave, keep your head down. Try to be unobtrusive as you go about your business. Avoid crowds. Check exits wherever you go. Keep up on the news. Be aware.

If Clinton is elected, the exact same things could happen for different reasons.

Reconstruction after the Civil War comes to mind. Some not-so-nice characters flocked to the South and began telling folks all manner of things: not only that they were as good as the “rich white people,” which they were, but that they could do anything they wanted, take whatever they wanted.

And lest you think I’m talking about only the former slaves, there were also many other poor, non-slave-owing people who’d felt slighted and snubbed all their lives.

Crime was rampant. The Klan was formed.

Just like “most” Muslims are peaceful, “most” Christians are not fanatics, “most” gun owners are not crazy, and the list can continue ad finitum, “most” protestors are indeed peaceful.

But some are not. And whenever you have a large crowd gathered, there are often enough nutjobs present to really start some fireworks. Mob mentality.

And that’s not just protestors. Think about, throughout history, how assassinations occurred, or how hangings in the old West were viewed as family entertainment. Too many examples to list.

I’m afraid some of these characters are going to start thinking that everything is now going to be just rosy, how they can have and do anything they want.

What I’m trying to say is that the difference in the election outcome is that these things may not end upon inauguration. With Obama in the White House for the last eight years, and civilly, things going downhill faster each year in respect to the overall vibe in our country, a Clinton administration could quite easily continue this. I don’t see, and of course this is all conjecture, any of that changing with a new president of the same party.

Maybe not even with a president of a different party.

Yes, I’m a conservative; no, I’m not voting for Clinton. Other than that, I can’t say—not that I won’t, I can’t, not yet.

As for protestors, since this may come up, and has, actually, I don’t have a problem with peaceful protests, but I do have a problem when they are so large that, proportionally speaking, there are more nutjobs present with a violent agenda.

That said, I think protests accomplish very little.

Change is necessary, yes, but change doesn’t happen because a large number of people march around or have a sit-in; change doesn’t happen immediately because you demand it, or even because it’s right. Change takes time, and is often more effective if implemented from the inside.

In other words, work hard, take care of your family, make sacrifices of your time and money, become educated—formally or otherwise, be open to discussion, and work over time to effect the change you want.

You know, that whole “catch more flies with honey than vinegar” thing.