Signal and Noise [ liff/ ]
Still barely alive.Thank goodness my (6 month, software development) contract is finished! I originally contracted to deliver 40 work-hours per month. It ended-up regularly going beyond 90. Utter chaos.
Imagine someone1 calling up a builder. "I want a wall built."
"OK!" says O'Reilly.2
"So can you have it done by Monday, then?" Notice that you have not given him any plans, nor even the slightest indication of where the wall should go, how high it should be or how long, what materials are wanted... But imagine further, that, when O'Reilly quite reasonably refuses to give an estimate, our Customer promptly throws their toys out of the cot in no small way. And a month further into the saga accuses O'Reilly of gross incompetence and/or being and out-and-out crook.
All this and more has been part of my life for the past 6 months. Oh, the money was nice to have for a change, but I'm not sure the cost was worth it. My health is still recovering -- bronchial infection as a direct result of stress... Still, it has been an interesting little sojourn back into Money World. At least we've mostly-cleared the debt piled-up by our son's (still-ongoing) Adventures at Rhodes University. All this is the reason there's been so little action on this blog: Nothing On-Topic to blog about, and I don't want to add to the stream of noise.
The only real self-sufficiency news of any note is the continuing shortage of rain. March and April both produced less than half the average rainfall (5-year average) and May saw us getting a mere 14mm. (Average for May is 71mm!) Dams are rapidly approaching Empty. I put some Carrots into the ground yesterday and cannot be sure I'll have enough water to get them established. I have the Usual Winter Suspects in seed-trays -- Cabbages, some Florence Fennel, lots of Onions and Leeks -- but they're terribly slow and late -- Slugs got into the "on-time" batch so the seed-trays are month-late desperation tries...
But still no rain! Household water supplies are fine. We are so conservative with our water that by the time our water tanks start running dry the entire region will be a disaster-area. But for the garden and fields things are looking pretty grim.
[1] I know that none of you, dear readers, would ever behave in such an unreasonable manner as this hypothetical customer. Take my word for it: They do exist!
[2] And Python fans will be shouting "Run Away!", won't they...
Plan Be Unplugged [ liff/ ]
Fit the FirstUnless you're living in South Africa, you're probably unaware that the country is in the midst of an Energy Crisis. Rolling blackouts are the order of the day; even the mines -- traditionally the mainstay of the economy[1] -- are having to deal with major power-cuts. Stories abound of commuter trains stranded, traffic snarl-ups due to non-funtioning traffic lights, hospital patients dependent on breathing machines having to be "breathed" by manual labour, telephones and network connections that stop working because the local telephone exchange exhausts its backup power. Nobody is untouched. Every one of us has a story of somebody we know being affected in a life- or income-threatening way.
My youngest brother, Richard, owns a factory that produces sugar sticks -- great lumps of crystalised sugar at the end of a stick, for stirring into coffee (or even -- ugh, gods forbid! -- tea!) Signpost to the pointymost peak of Peak Everything Civilisation, I suppose, but there it is. Trouble is, the process of producing a sugar stick takes 3 days. Three days of pernickity temperature differentials, maddeningly-critical evaporation rates and inexplicably unstable solution-flow rates. Three days. Unless the power fails. Then you get to throw away an entire batch -- 5 tonnes -- of sugar solution, and start again, hoping against hope that the power stays up long enough to make a living. It would be one thing if the business were a well-established one, with a stable, understanding and patient customer base, but it's not. They're still a startup. They produce the best quality sugar sticks in the world, at one third the price of their closest competitors, but they're The New Kids on the Block. They've signed some great customers. But those customers will evaporate if they can't deliver the goods. The fact of power-cuts every second day will produce sympathy from the individuals involved who understand the whys and wherefores; but the fact remains... the customers will go away.
The "current" energy problems are totally the responsibility of the government. Despite the public anger at Eskom, the state-owned-and-run electricity monopoly. More than ten years ago (in 1998, to be exact,) Eskom was warning government that, given government's economic growth targets, Eskom would need to build several more baseload power stations to meet the demand. Given that it takes about ten years to build a significant baseload power-station -- not to mention the getting through all the Environmental Impact Assessments and Community Consultation and Planning requirements. At the time, it was Not Politically Convenient to hear this message, so Mbeki's cabinet ignored it. So we sit with Economically Significant Power Cuts.
Recently some government schmuck tried to suggest that the power shortage was a result of Apartheid-Era Planning -- The Usual Scapegoat. Oh how we laugh! (I'll bet it was my "friend" Arshole Alec, the Arithmetically Challenged Minister Who Has Shot His Bolt. Whilst the apartheid regime certainly left us with lots of horrible legacy, this particular clusterfuck came about on the ANC's watch. The Old Nats (may they rot in hell) would never have permitted such sloppy planning! (whatever else they may have turned a blind-eye to...)
Premonition of the Great Unwinding. We South Africans are the Pathfinders. We are the first to glimpse the course of Energy Descent. Not with a bang, but with a whimper, we go.
Fit the Second
For the couple of years I've had DSL internet service, it has been great. In the face of country-wide complaints (verging on rioting, mayhem and life-threats to Telkom's management) about the Totally Fucking Useless National Telco I have been a lone voice in the wilderness saying what a great DSL service I get. Well
Fit the Future
So this is the face of the powerdown. Not in a cataclysmic implosion, does our civilization die, but little piece by little piece. Some things will undoubtedly get better even as other parts of the technological iceberg disintegrate. Not a single all-in-one unravelling of the Jersey of Warm Fuzziness, but one loose thread at a time.
Even as cellphone service improves and prices fall, fixed-line service goes down the toilet. Even as our air-force's latest toys scream by overhead, petrol prices are at an all-time high, and people are wondering why food prices seem to have skyrocketted, too. Can there really be such a disconnect in peoples' understanding?
'Tis the season for Growing Corn in Rheenendal, and never before have I seen as much acreage[2] dedicated to growing Maize. Most of it, I am guessing, contracted to American biofuel companies. Why do I not feel Warm and Fuzzy like this is a reasonable and sustainable way to provide the energy needs of 6 or 10 or 12 billion people striving to live a first-world lifestyle, driving their Hummers to collect the kids from school[4], annual holidays in another hemisphere and fresh Canadian Salmon for Summer Snacks?
The Unterste Schürer[5]
In a low-energy future -- and we're going to have one, whether we like it or not -- the planet cannot sustainably support so many of us. I realise that I risk the wrath of feminists everywhere (and The Pope[7]) but we face simple choice: reduce our numbers in a managed way, or have Gaia reduce them in an unmanaged way.
What's your choice?
----
[1] South Africa still produces something like 50% of the world's gold each year, not to mention a host of rare and obscure minerals that turn out to be totally essential to modern industry. Stuff like Cadmium and Tantalum, Vanadium, Ytterbium[3]. In recent years, though, tourism has generated more jobs and revenue to than even gold mining.
[2] Somehow "hectarage" just doesn't sound the same.
[3] http://www.privatehand.com/flash/elements.html
[4] I couldn't make it up if I tried. Not to mention that home and school are the daunting distance of some 800m apart! I sure that Little Darling's legs would break if they walked that far.
[5] Yiddish[6]. "The Bottom Line".
[6] Spelling optional.
[7] Not noted for his Feminist sympathies, I'll note[8].
[8] "A note? A-Flat[9], I'm sure. My Mother gave the gift of perfect pitch, you know!"
[9] ...or, given the state of the electrically-disconnected South African gold mines, A-Flat-Minor!
Technorati Tags: south-africa, power, electricity, peak-oil, descent, eskom, telkom, kakistocracy, kakistos
Carbon Footprint of a Wedding [ liff/ ]
Finally! Two weeks of family from all over the country. Two weeks of The Hectic Social Round. Jason and Carey safely married -- it was a very nice wedding, one of the nicest I've ever been to; very low key, casual and fun! But I do confess I'm glad its all over. The wheel of the generations has turned another turn...I knew we were getting pretty bad at the whole Social Gathering deal, but we have obviously become a bit more reculsive and hermit-like than previously suspected. Space, quiet time, solitude have become positive needs. The past fortnight, as much as we have enjoyed having all the families around, became a trial over the last few days. We, along with J&C, are the only people who actually live in this area, so friends and family arrived from all over the country -- Pietermaritzburg, Grahamstown, Johannesburg, Cape Town, Gansbaai. I shudder to think of the Carbon footprint of this wedding! Carey's mom drove from here to Port Elizabeth and back no less then three times -- a drive of three hours each way! -- to cart people to and from the airport there -- all because airfares to PE are a bit cheaper than airfares to George (our nearest airport.) A clear case where individuals' personal, localized self-interest reflects a direct contradistinction to our common interest. Crazy stuff...
Needless to say, not much has happened in the way of self-sufficiency for the past fortnight, apart from heavy harvesting the delicious baby-Lettuce mix. Thankfully the crop stood up well to the demands of the crowds!
First Artichoke harvest this morning. Only two 'Chokes, but they look great. I was not even aware that the plants were beginning to flower.
Technorati Tags: wedding, self-sufficiency, carbon-footprint, global-warming
Catching Up (A Little) [ liff/ ]
Whew! Busy times mean less blogging. Consider this a quick catch-up, and I'll try and fill in the gaps in a couple of weeks' time.Veggies
Despite the Wounded Knee (still troubling me, forcing me to move slowly and carefully, but steadily getting better, thanks!) I've managed to dig eight new beds so far, with another 5 to go before I reach my goal. I don't expect too much out of the new beds -- they still need a couple of years of composting before they reach a good level of health.
The Tomatoes have come up. The first were already showing their heads last Friday, only five days after they were sown. This is out in the open , mind-- no greenhouse, no glass, no bottom heat. Only the Tigerellas are being tardy. (Uh Oh!) Tomatillos are up, alongside Radicchio, Lettuce mix, Endive, some of the Squashes and Artichokes, and even a few of the Chillis. (That was quick!) I'll follow-up with yet another sowing of most of these again towards the end of the month.
So What's Been Happening?
So what has kept us so busy, you may wonder... Older Son is getting married next weekend, so we're having family from both sides descend on us for the coming week :-O Bride's family are all from Pietermaritzburg, Groom's from Cape Town. Don't expect much in the way of farm news for the next couple of weeks.
During a couple of rainy days early last week I managed to get closer to the finish line with a software project I've been working on sporadically for a couple of months. More when I'm closer to
The Mushroom Book arrived, Hooray! Paul Stammets' Growing Gourmet and Medicinal Mushrooms
. Wow! Everything from A to Z. So lots to learn. Already I'm trying to figure how and when to incorporate fungal growth into my soil improvement efforts.Technorati Tags: seed, gardening, mushrooms, marriage, seed-swap, seed-exchange
Seeds and Stress [ liff/ ]
The results of the weekend's planting. Doesn't look like much, does it?Spring sowing time is always a bit stressful for me. For most vegetable varieties I save all my own seed -- with some notable exceptions -- Radishes, locally-common Turnips, Cauliflowers and Broccoli. I really love saving seed, seeing plants go through their whole lifecycle, from babyhood when they're at their most tender and succulent, through girding their strength, storing up their energies to explode into flower. Ah, the Joy of Sex! Then, into their dowdy, shabby days as they develop their seed, finally to release their offspring to start the next cycle.
But for me, the apprentice gardener, its a stress mission. Did I let the seed develop fully enough last season? Or was I too paranoid of the bugs waiting to pounce on the booty? Did some weevils get into the seed? (hello Peas and Beans!) Have I hung onto the seed too long? Has some invisible bacteria taken a toll? Did I process the seed properly after harvesting?
There are lots of reasons for saving your own seed, and I mostly try and make it a policy to only ever buy, beg, borrow or steal a new variety once. After that I try my best to save my own seed, despite my notoriously poor labelling habits and generally dismal level of organisation!
Generally I sow a mix of last-year's seed, plus a bit from the year before if that's proven itself as "good" seed. That's assuming I actually have any seed from last year. Some varieties, notably the Beets and Chards, make seed that is so long-lived that I keep their seed for up to five years at a stretch. Mind you, I'm constantly sowing and growing them, so I notice very quickly if a batch of seed starts to show poor germination, or if plants are not-so-vigorous. But, as I'm filling seed-trays, popping the seeds into them and covering them carefully, there seems to always be the question in my mind, "Will they come up OK?"
Usually they do, and all my worry is for nothing. Occasionally there are "disasters", and once in a while the disaster doesn't make itself apparent until the plant starts fruiting or flowering, and I learn that I've been careless with plant-isolation distances. Then we celebrate the Wonders of Weird Chillis.
There's still a lot of direct-sown stuff to take care of, lots of beds to dig (if the damn knee will just cooperate!) But these as-yet-barren trays represent the Precious Darlings -- the Chillis, Tomatoes, Tomatilloes, Tamarillos, Squashes and Eggplants. Nothing I can do to help them now, beyond watering.
Technorati Tags: seed, seed-saving, spring, sowing
Ring Out Those Solstice Bells [ liff/ ]
Merry Mid-Orbit.Not sure if its today or tomorrow, since both days share exactly the same sunrise and sunset times. But at least tonight is the longest night of the year. Hooray! Where's the bugger we have to off to ensure the sun rises again?
Ach! well, at least the days get longer from (about) now.
Temperature was 21C today(!), so I can only assume that Real Winter is still on its way... Still time to put some Kale into the ground to keep the Chooks through the Hungry Gap. As you can tell, my thoughts have already turned to The Spring Madness and Summer Planting. I feel that I have things quite in-hand this year, since I'm already clearing and preparing beds for next Spring. I really feel that we've kicked our Self Sufficiency Efforts up a notch.
A Very Small Notch. But a Notch nevertheless!
Horrible Weather [ liff/ ]
Hot, dry, adiabatic wind from the North-West battering at the trees. Too hot for serious work, too dry for transplanting. Blowing so hard I can't even offload the horse-shit I collected on Friday into a compost bin; it would all just get blown right back into my face.No rain in sight.
I seem to have lost the seed I had for a very nice-looking Golden Wax Bush Bean. The couple of plants that have made it will have to do for seed saving. The one bean I tasted was spectacular, and I really need a couple of good bush varieties to use as interplants. As I recall, the seed was one of those packets from Baker Creek that was less-than-satisfactory. Along with the Golden Beet I was so looking forward to, what I got was dismal germination rates, and very low plant vigor.
Moan, moan, moan.
Housekeeping note - server change [ liff/ ]
Explaining why I've been so quiet lately: Migrating data and upgrading the software that runs the blogs and farm site (plus a bunch of other stuff) to a new server. Yay upgrade! Boo problems! Just in time, too, it would seem, since the old server started mysteriously and frequently rebooting for no good reason, so I'm pretty sure that its been down more than its been up for about ten days now. :-(Sorry if its all been very dodgy.
If anybody notices anything noticably untoward, please let me know -- I think I've moved everything over successfully, but not yet 100% sure, but, with the old server dying, I just want everything off it as soon as possible, so haven't had time to test all my new configuration properly.
Technorati Tags: system-admin
Aaaand... We're Back! [ liff/ ]
Back from a trip down to Gansbaai (lit.: Goose Bay) -- formerly a whaling village on the Aghulas Plain, now a tourist destination for possibly the best whale-viewing in the world. (Whales usually arrive around June and stick around until about Oct./Nov. to calf.) The occassion was a sister-in-law's 30'th Birthday Bash.Then on to Cape Town for a family get-together for First-night Pesach and visiting good friends. Best part was that I got some brewing yeast from Franz, so I'll be able to get back into homebrewing after a lapse of several years.
Hmmm.... surely if I put together an unhopped wort... then ferment... then distill... isn't that a simple Single Malt Scotch? Any experts out there?
Technorati Tags: yeast, homebrew, beer, whisky
Enlightenment [ liff/ ]
Once there was a well known philosopher and scholar who devoted himself to the study of Zen for many years. On the day that he finally attained enlightenment, he took all of his books out into the yard, and burned them all.-- from "Zen and Taoist Stories"
I am often asked by people, "What do you do?". As if the job defines the person, somehow made more mysterious by my living in the coutryside, trying to be slightly self-sufficient.
A few weeks ago, on a whim, I answered, "I am a Research Gardener."
The look of confusion and perplexity on peoples' faces is worth it, since mostly they know me as a computer geek.
Last week I was in Cape Town, visiting friends, among them a Master of organic market gardening. He was describing how he constantly questions the conventional wisdoms of the organic movement. Applying simple logic, experimentation and observation to achieve astonishing results. I said to him, "Ah! So you are a Research Gardener, too!"
Perhaps one day soon I shall burn my gardening books.
Technorati Tags: gardening, self-sufficiency, zen, enlightenment
Irish Perpetual Motion Machine [ liff/ ]
An Irish company, Steorn, claims to have invented an energy-generation technology that operates at greater than 100% efficiency. In other words, a Perpetual Motion machine. They are seeking validation from respected physicists.Now, I don't mind fools being parted from their money. But its a bit sad that some permaculture proponents buy into this sort of bullshit. As a long-time practitioner of permaculture design principles, I firmly believe that the basis of permaculture design is a firm and clear understanding of the fundamentals of thermodynamics.
Even if one does not have a clear grasp of energy principles, pure logic tells us that all the "free energy" machines and theories have to be a load of bollocks: If I could build a machine that generates "free energy" (or, at least, more energy than it consumes) I would not need to "convince" anyone that it works; I would not need to "seek validation" from physicists or anybody else. All I would need to do is build just one, and start generating energy. Then, with the money I earn from teh first one, I would build another one. Then another one, and another, and another. Investors would flock to fund me because I would be showing a positive return. In short order I would take over the world. (Not that I want to - sounds too much like work - but I could!)
So the moment a company "seeks validation" of their Perpetual Motion machine, I don't suspect, I know: Some con-artist is looking to fleece some unwary investor.
Investor Beware.
Technorati Tags: energy, sustainability, permculture, alternative energy, free energy, steorn
Mike's Psychedelic Breakfast [ liff/ ]
Chillis are back. Oh, it's soooo good to have fresh chillis every day again! No matter how oft repeated, it's true: A Day Without Chillis Is A Day Wasted. So far its only the Jalapeños and Red Hats, but it's all good...Actually, their "real" name is Bishop's Hat, but, being an open-source-software kind of family, "Red Hat" seems like a better name.
Breakfast Recipe:
Some Chillis; say 6 or 8 Jalapeños, plus 3 or 4 Red Hats. Or any hot chillis you like. (If they're not hot, what's the bloody point?) Chop them up and dump into a cast-iron pan with a little dab of butter.
I never eat margarine, being slightly suspicious of a so-called foodstuff that's only about two processing steps short of being plastic.
Fry the Chillis at a medium heat with a lid on to sweat them a little.
Add four to six small Tomatoes, halved, when the Chilli fumes start getting noticeable -- I used Ida Gold (sorta two-bite size) and Gold Nugget. Keep the lid off the pan for this stage. Start the Tomatoes on their backs first (the skin side), turning them after awhile so that the cut ends get a bit caramelized.
I remember reading that the Aztecs used to use Chillis as a punishment for naughty children: They'd chuck a handful of Chillis onto a fire, and force the child to breathe the fumes. Sounds like a hectic punishment, but probably less truly harmful than smacks.
About the time the Chilli fumes start getting serious -- the time you start coughing, your nose begins streaming, and the Dog runs outside -- crack two Eggs into the mix, and cover the pan again until the eggs are as cooked as you like.
Serve on a couple of slices of sourdough Rye bread made yesterday.
The only not-homegrown ingredients: the butter, the rye flour, the salt, oil and malt-extract in the bread, and the coffee.
PS: As I sit here writing, our Loerie has just crash-landed into the Grape Vine again for her afternoon feed..
Technorati Tags: chillis, chiles, tomatoes, self-sufficiency, breakfast
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- Recent ramblings...
- Signal and Noise
- Plan Be Unplugged
- Carbon Footprint of a Wedding
- Catching Up (A Little)
- Seeds and Stress
- Ring Out Those Solstice Bells
- Horrible Weather
- Housekeeping note - server change
- Aaaand... We're Back!
- Enlightenment
- Irish Perpetual Motion Machine
- Mike's Psychedelic Breakfast
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