Comments on: Ponies in the Poop Pile: Ten Potential Positive Outcomes of the Economic Meltdown http://www.noquarterusa.net/blog/2009/05/12/ponies-in-the-poop-pile-ten-potential-positive-outcomes-of-the-economic-meltdown/ Sun, 22 Nov 2009 04:38:09 -0800 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.6 hourly 1 By: arran http://www.noquarterusa.net/blog/2009/05/12/ponies-in-the-poop-pile-ten-potential-positive-outcomes-of-the-economic-meltdown/#comment-1204902 arran Thu, 14 May 2009 20:44:44 +0000 http://www.noquarterusa.net/blog/?p=24295#comment-1204902 Thanks for that sharing those childhood memories, Martha. Thanks for that sharing those childhood memories, Martha.

]]> By: Martha Washington Collier http://www.noquarterusa.net/blog/2009/05/12/ponies-in-the-poop-pile-ten-potential-positive-outcomes-of-the-economic-meltdown/#comment-1204897 Martha Washington Collier Thu, 14 May 2009 20:29:59 +0000 http://www.noquarterusa.net/blog/?p=24295#comment-1204897 I grew up at the foot of the Ozarks. A beautiful childhood. One of my uncles farmed watermelons, cantaloupes, strawberries, black and boysenberries. Of course they had a vegetable garden for the family as well. I remember Saturday mornings in the summer finding a bushel basket of all the good things he had left for us on his way to market at dawn. We also had a little vegetable garden and my mother canned everything she could store. She and her sisters would often have a day together when they would "put up" jams, jellies and the best bread and butter pickles ever. My grandparents lived in town about a block away from us but had a very big, deep lot where they had a barn and a cow for fresh milk and she churned butter for everyone in the family during WWII. Always Sunday Supper at their house with the whole family around a big round oak table. The farm side of the family were natural musicians as well. One bitter winter during an ice storm, we were stranded at the farm. We gathered in one big room with a big wood stove, my cousins bringing out their guitars, fiddles and mandolin. They sang and played all night while I dozed on my father's lap before being tucked into the feather bed. One of my most treasured memories of our family from those days. When we moved to California after the war, it all changed to a more materialistic life...but even then they brought a lot of their old habits with them...gardens, self-sufficiency... I grew up at the foot of the Ozarks. A beautiful childhood. One of my uncles farmed watermelons, cantaloupes, strawberries, black and boysenberries. Of course they had a vegetable garden for the family as well. I remember Saturday mornings in the summer finding a bushel basket of all the good things he had left for us on his way to market at dawn. We also had a little vegetable garden and my mother canned everything she could store. She and her sisters would often have a day together when they would “put up” jams, jellies and the best bread and butter pickles ever. My grandparents lived in town about a block away from us but had a very big, deep lot where they had a barn and a cow for fresh milk and she churned butter for everyone in the family during WWII. Always Sunday Supper at their house with the whole family around a big round oak table.

The farm side of the family were natural musicians as well. One bitter winter during an ice storm, we were stranded at the farm. We gathered in one big room with a big wood stove, my cousins bringing out their guitars, fiddles and mandolin. They sang and played all night while I dozed on my father’s lap before being tucked into the feather bed. One of my most treasured memories of our family from those days. When we moved to California after the war, it all changed to a more materialistic life…but even then they brought a lot of their old habits with them…gardens, self-sufficiency…

]]> By: Martha Washington Collier http://www.noquarterusa.net/blog/2009/05/12/ponies-in-the-poop-pile-ten-potential-positive-outcomes-of-the-economic-meltdown/#comment-1204889 Martha Washington Collier Thu, 14 May 2009 20:04:41 +0000 http://www.noquarterusa.net/blog/?p=24295#comment-1204889 <blockquote>until or if they come to their senses.</blockquote> Make that until or unless they come to their senses.

until or if they come to their senses.

Make that until or unless they come to their senses.

]]> By: Martha Washington Collier http://www.noquarterusa.net/blog/2009/05/12/ponies-in-the-poop-pile-ten-potential-positive-outcomes-of-the-economic-meltdown/#comment-1204886 Martha Washington Collier Thu, 14 May 2009 20:03:03 +0000 http://www.noquarterusa.net/blog/?p=24295#comment-1204886 Yes indeed. I just put Netflix on hold too. I'm not going to support Hollywood until or if they come to their senses. What I notice is that the excess so many of us indulged in was an attenpt to buy satisfaction. Now that I have leisure time, I'm not much interested in shopping for clothes or "stuff". Recently bought a pair of inexpensive flats to replace a pair worn out. Chose well enough to wear them until they couldn't be worn anymore...replaced as necessity not just because. I have to keep appearance up, etc., for job searches but find that about every other hair cut works just fine at Great Cuts for $16. Lipsticks, cosmetics get used up to the end of the tube, bottle, with a brush to get the last drop out. I've cut waste in many other areas as well. I found a nicer apartment in my complex for less rent and a very nice first month's discount with a big sunny patio where I can have some vegies in containers this summer. Amazing how amenable landlords can be when you do your part, pay on time and are a great tenant. Since it's only a few steps down the pathway, no moving van required. For now, off to the Farmer's Market for some locally grown tomatoes, zuchinis and baby lettuces. Can't do that when working. Hope by the time I have a job again, my own tomatoes will be flourishing. Yes, it's nice to get back to basics; having time to help family and vise versa. Yes indeed. I just put Netflix on hold too. I’m not going to support Hollywood until or if they come to their senses.

What I notice is that the excess so many of us indulged in was an attenpt to buy satisfaction. Now that I have leisure time, I’m not much interested in shopping for clothes or “stuff”.

Recently bought a pair of inexpensive flats to replace a pair worn out. Chose well enough to wear them until they couldn’t be worn anymore…replaced as necessity not just because. I have to keep appearance up, etc., for job searches but find that about every other hair cut works just fine at Great Cuts for $16. Lipsticks, cosmetics get used up to the end of the tube, bottle, with a brush to get the last drop out.

I’ve cut waste in many other areas as well. I found a nicer apartment in my complex for less rent and a very nice first month’s discount with a big sunny patio where I can have some vegies in containers this summer. Amazing how amenable landlords can be when you do your part, pay on time and are a great tenant. Since it’s only a few steps down the pathway, no moving van required. For now, off to the Farmer’s Market for some locally grown tomatoes, zuchinis and baby lettuces. Can’t do that when working. Hope by the time I have a job again, my own tomatoes will be flourishing.

Yes, it’s nice to get back to basics; having time to help family and vise versa.

]]> By: FLDemFem http://www.noquarterusa.net/blog/2009/05/12/ponies-in-the-poop-pile-ten-potential-positive-outcomes-of-the-economic-meltdown/#comment-1204798 FLDemFem Thu, 14 May 2009 15:40:44 +0000 http://www.noquarterusa.net/blog/?p=24295#comment-1204798 Didn't hit rock even when drilling post holes for the fencing. The soil here, North Central FL, is very good for growing just about anything. My place, 30 acres, was a watermelon field before it was a commercial hay field. Now it's a horse farm with great pasture and a lovely veggie garden. South FL may have a problem with lime rock, we don't. We do, however, have all the benefits of being on the limestone shelf as far as water and pasture go, it's just not that close to the surface here. Didn’t hit rock even when drilling post holes for the fencing. The soil here, North Central FL, is very good for growing just about anything. My place, 30 acres, was a watermelon field before it was a commercial hay field. Now it’s a horse farm with great pasture and a lovely veggie garden. South FL may have a problem with lime rock, we don’t. We do, however, have all the benefits of being on the limestone shelf as far as water and pasture go, it’s just not that close to the surface here.

]]> By: CG http://www.noquarterusa.net/blog/2009/05/12/ponies-in-the-poop-pile-ten-potential-positive-outcomes-of-the-economic-meltdown/#comment-1204591 CG Wed, 13 May 2009 23:41:04 +0000 http://www.noquarterusa.net/blog/?p=24295#comment-1204591 Thanks Pat, for reminding us what actually is important... http://storyofstuff.com/ a very good short video which addresses some concerns Thanks Pat, for reminding us what actually is important…
http://storyofstuff.com/ a very good short video which addresses some concerns

]]> By: SoCalGal http://www.noquarterusa.net/blog/2009/05/12/ponies-in-the-poop-pile-ten-potential-positive-outcomes-of-the-economic-meltdown/#comment-1204507 SoCalGal Wed, 13 May 2009 20:59:12 +0000 http://www.noquarterusa.net/blog/?p=24295#comment-1204507 An excellent list. Thank you. An excellent list. Thank you.

]]> By: Baba Rum Raisin http://www.noquarterusa.net/blog/2009/05/12/ponies-in-the-poop-pile-ten-potential-positive-outcomes-of-the-economic-meltdown/#comment-1204496 Baba Rum Raisin Wed, 13 May 2009 20:27:54 +0000 http://www.noquarterusa.net/blog/?p=24295#comment-1204496 Explosives? Yup! If your Florida lot is on limestone, aka, "cap rock," someone will need to shoot a little dynamite so that enough rock can be removed and replaced with real soil (deeper than the 2" of "muck" on the bottom of your sod). That way you can actually cultivate the soil rather than just dull the edges if your garden tools. For an experienced blaster, not a big deal. Friend of mine was an experienced Civil Engineering contractor, and we did my yard 30 years ago on a Sunday morning, while the neighbors were at church, and the little "THUMP" didn't even awaken my sleeping wife. No cracked plaster or glass. The dog didn't miss it, though. Explosives? Yup!

If your Florida lot is on limestone, aka, “cap rock,” someone will need to shoot a little dynamite so that enough rock can be removed and replaced with real soil (deeper than the 2″ of “muck” on the bottom of your sod). That way you can actually cultivate the soil rather than just dull the edges if your garden tools.

For an experienced blaster, not a big deal. Friend of mine was an experienced Civil Engineering contractor, and we did my yard 30 years ago on a Sunday morning, while the neighbors were at church, and the little “THUMP” didn’t even awaken my sleeping wife. No cracked plaster or glass.

The dog didn’t miss it, though.

]]> By: FLDemFem http://www.noquarterusa.net/blog/2009/05/12/ponies-in-the-poop-pile-ten-potential-positive-outcomes-of-the-economic-meltdown/#comment-1204388 FLDemFem Wed, 13 May 2009 15:10:29 +0000 http://www.noquarterusa.net/blog/?p=24295#comment-1204388 Explosives? What kind of gardening do you do? And it does save money, check the price of tomatoes and other veggies out at the store. And bear in mind, if you grow your own veggies, you can cut down the trips to the store. When the garden is producing, I can go to the store once a month for meat and coffee, sugar, flour, etc. and then eat out of the garden for the rest of the month. I use meat from the freezer, cook or prep fresh veggies, make biscuits with the flour and voila!! Dinner!! And if you can plant a couple of fruit trees, you can go out and pick your dessert, or the pie filling, off a tree. And all with one trip a month to the store. Saves gas, and money. If you get your fertilizer naturally from a compost heap, or neighboring farmers or stables, you don't have to add any chemical fertilizers at all. If you spend a bit on some wire to enclose your garden, you can keep deer, cats, dogs, bunnies, and other rodents out. Then you can cover it with plastic for a winter greenhouse for another crop. If you use the homemade stuff to keep off bugs, such as soapy water, you can do without the other sprays and powders. It can be done, you just don't use modern shortcuts. Remember, our forebears managed to grow gardens and live off them for generations before manufactured garden products were available. It just takes a little time and effort, and the research to find out how to do it. With the internet, that won't cost any gas or travel time at all, just some time and effort. Explosives? What kind of gardening do you do? And it does save money, check the price of tomatoes and other veggies out at the store. And bear in mind, if you grow your own veggies, you can cut down the trips to the store. When the garden is producing, I can go to the store once a month for meat and coffee, sugar, flour, etc. and then eat out of the garden for the rest of the month. I use meat from the freezer, cook or prep fresh veggies, make biscuits with the flour and voila!! Dinner!! And if you can plant a couple of fruit trees, you can go out and pick your dessert, or the pie filling, off a tree. And all with one trip a month to the store. Saves gas, and money. If you get your fertilizer naturally from a compost heap, or neighboring farmers or stables, you don’t have to add any chemical fertilizers at all. If you spend a bit on some wire to enclose your garden, you can keep deer, cats, dogs, bunnies, and other rodents out. Then you can cover it with plastic for a winter greenhouse for another crop. If you use the homemade stuff to keep off bugs, such as soapy water, you can do without the other sprays and powders. It can be done, you just don’t use modern shortcuts. Remember, our forebears managed to grow gardens and live off them for generations before manufactured garden products were available. It just takes a little time and effort, and the research to find out how to do it. With the internet, that won’t cost any gas or travel time at all, just some time and effort.

]]> By: FLDemFem http://www.noquarterusa.net/blog/2009/05/12/ponies-in-the-poop-pile-ten-potential-positive-outcomes-of-the-economic-meltdown/#comment-1204384 FLDemFem Wed, 13 May 2009 14:54:52 +0000 http://www.noquarterusa.net/blog/?p=24295#comment-1204384 I hope you have a generator too, since the power usually goes out with the water in a hurricane. I have my own well, being in a rural area, and I know from experience that wells need electricity to run. :P So be sure to have a generator if you want water when a hurricane comes through. Of course, you won't need it for the garden, since a hurricane dumps gallons on it, and flattens it into the bargain. I have my garden in a wire enclosure with a wire roof, horse, deer, dog, cat and bunny proof. I already have two small green tomatoes on my plants, have 12 tomato plants going, eight beans, seven peas, four cucumber and a couple each of cantaloupe and watermelon. Also have lettuce planted in the part shade of the two-board high edge of the garden. The lettuce is almost ready to eat, with the second planting coming along to be ready in time for the tomatoes and perhaps cucumbers. The cukes have a couple of little cucumbers on them, almost cornichon size. We added in to the sandy soil that is here and already very good for growing, a couple of bags of potting soil, about 4 bags of Jungle Growth which has timed-release fertilizer in it, and a few dried piles of horse poops, of which I have an abundance from my eight horses. This has made for a wonderful growing environment for the veggies and they are popping out of the ground like they are on springs. The beans are three feet up their stakes and the peas are almost two feet tall and flowering already. The mulch we are using is old hay from the round bales the horses had all winter. When we re-do the garden for the winter crop, the hay and some more horse poop will be tilled into the garden. I am planning to cover the wire with plastic come winter so I can grow tomatoes and other things, including broccoli, over the winter. By the time we till it over for next spring, there should be about another six inches of organic matter tilled into the garden. Those of you who live in driving distance of a stable can get all the free horse poop you want. Just ask them. :D I hope you have a generator too, since the power usually goes out with the water in a hurricane. I have my own well, being in a rural area, and I know from experience that wells need electricity to run. :P So be sure to have a generator if you want water when a hurricane comes through. Of course, you won’t need it for the garden, since a hurricane dumps gallons on it, and flattens it into the bargain.

I have my garden in a wire enclosure with a wire roof, horse, deer, dog, cat and bunny proof. I already have two small green tomatoes on my plants, have 12 tomato plants going, eight beans, seven peas, four cucumber and a couple each of cantaloupe and watermelon. Also have lettuce planted in the part shade of the two-board high edge of the garden. The lettuce is almost ready to eat, with the second planting coming along to be ready in time for the tomatoes and perhaps cucumbers. The cukes have a couple of little cucumbers on them, almost cornichon size. We added in to the sandy soil that is here and already very good for growing, a couple of bags of potting soil, about 4 bags of Jungle Growth which has timed-release fertilizer in it, and a few dried piles of horse poops, of which I have an abundance from my eight horses. This has made for a wonderful growing environment for the veggies and they are popping out of the ground like they are on springs. The beans are three feet up their stakes and the peas are almost two feet tall and flowering already.

The mulch we are using is old hay from the round bales the horses had all winter. When we re-do the garden for the winter crop, the hay and some more horse poop will be tilled into the garden. I am planning to cover the wire with plastic come winter so I can grow tomatoes and other things, including broccoli, over the winter. By the time we till it over for next spring, there should be about another six inches of organic matter tilled into the garden. Those of you who live in driving distance of a stable can get all the free horse poop you want. Just ask them. :D

]]> By: brodie http://www.noquarterusa.net/blog/2009/05/12/ponies-in-the-poop-pile-ten-potential-positive-outcomes-of-the-economic-meltdown/#comment-1204371 brodie Wed, 13 May 2009 13:49:03 +0000 http://www.noquarterusa.net/blog/?p=24295#comment-1204371 I live in the Ozarks where folks are used to doing the "free" things, just 'cause we like to! My old friend, Benson Fox, used to say that folks here wouldn't notice another depression, as they hadn't realized the first one had ended. Recently, a friend's daughter did a documentary for her class at the AR high school for science, math & the arts. It was about some of the folks she knows around here & why we came here and why we stay. It was a lovely, touching portrait of some folks (including me) who are very independent and self-sufficient and the joy we derive from our way of life. The best thing about it was that this girl really gets what's important, and that's because she was raised to care about things that many in our culture have forgotten about- the things Pat is talking about. And hey- if someone leaves a heap of dung on our doorsteps, we not only look for the pony, we scoop up the contribution to our compost pile & say "Thanks"! As Madame Arcati said in "Blithe Spirit", "Try to look on the bright side!" I live in the Ozarks where folks are used to doing the “free” things, just ’cause we like to! My old friend, Benson Fox, used to say that folks here wouldn’t notice another depression, as they hadn’t realized the first one had ended. Recently, a friend’s daughter did a documentary for her class at the AR high school for science, math & the arts. It was about some of the folks she knows around here & why we came here and why we stay. It was a lovely, touching portrait of some folks (including me) who are very independent and self-sufficient and the joy we derive from our way of life. The best thing about it was that this girl really gets what’s important, and that’s because she was raised to care about things that many in our culture have forgotten about- the things Pat is talking about. And hey- if someone leaves a heap of dung on our doorsteps, we not only look for the pony, we scoop up the contribution to our compost pile & say “Thanks”! As Madame Arcati said in “Blithe Spirit”, “Try to look on the bright side!”

]]> By: Ani http://www.noquarterusa.net/blog/2009/05/12/ponies-in-the-poop-pile-ten-potential-positive-outcomes-of-the-economic-meltdown/#comment-1204337 Ani Wed, 13 May 2009 07:14:54 +0000 http://www.noquarterusa.net/blog/?p=24295#comment-1204337 This is a beautiful post, Pat. Thank you for this. Certainly, we could all do with a little more introspection, a little more reaching out to our neighbors, and a lot less American Idol, no matter what the economy is doing. This is a beautiful post, Pat. Thank you for this.

Certainly, we could all do with a little more introspection, a little more reaching out to our neighbors, and a lot less American Idol, no matter what the economy is doing.

]]> By: CB http://www.noquarterusa.net/blog/2009/05/12/ponies-in-the-poop-pile-ten-potential-positive-outcomes-of-the-economic-meltdown/#comment-1204331 CB Wed, 13 May 2009 06:11:03 +0000 http://www.noquarterusa.net/blog/?p=24295#comment-1204331 Thoreau died 30 years before J. Paul Getty was born. I did read the quote in which someone said he was richer than Rockefeller because he had all that he needed and the rest of the quote implied that Rockefeller did not. Can't find the exact quote. Thoreau died 30 years before J. Paul Getty was born.

I did read the quote in which someone said he was richer than Rockefeller because he had all that he needed and the rest of the quote implied that Rockefeller did not.

Can’t find the exact quote.

]]> By: Rich http://www.noquarterusa.net/blog/2009/05/12/ponies-in-the-poop-pile-ten-potential-positive-outcomes-of-the-economic-meltdown/#comment-1204306 Rich Wed, 13 May 2009 04:25:13 +0000 http://www.noquarterusa.net/blog/?p=24295#comment-1204306 It may be emotionally satisfying to do so and the products may taste better, but I do not think it will be cheaper especially if you include explosives, water, fertilizers, bug control, and keeping away gofers, molds, mice, birds, raccoons, rabbits and the neighbors. Rich It may be emotionally satisfying to do so and the products may taste better, but I do not think it will be cheaper especially if you include explosives, water, fertilizers, bug control, and keeping away gofers, molds, mice, birds, raccoons, rabbits and the neighbors.

Rich

]]> By: Rich http://www.noquarterusa.net/blog/2009/05/12/ponies-in-the-poop-pile-ten-potential-positive-outcomes-of-the-economic-meltdown/#comment-1204304 Rich Wed, 13 May 2009 04:18:05 +0000 http://www.noquarterusa.net/blog/?p=24295#comment-1204304 Nice cartoon. The optimist is one who may or may not look for the pony, but will certainly look at the pile as an opportunity to use the situation to their advantage. An optimist is one who looks at a situation, takes some time to analyze it and then starts to look for opportunities for creative solutions. A pessimist may get stuck in anger or despair and become convinced that there is no solution. In every situation there is always someone who figures out how to make money during the worst of times. This is true in our time also. So if we look what is good and use this to create solutions for making things better, who knows what is possible? Rich Nice cartoon. The optimist is one who may or may not look for the pony, but will certainly look at the pile as an opportunity to use the situation to their advantage. An optimist is one who looks at a situation, takes some time to analyze it and then starts to look for opportunities for creative solutions. A pessimist may get stuck in anger or despair and become convinced that there is no solution. In every situation there is always someone who figures out how to make money during the worst of times. This is true in our time also. So if we look what is good and use this to create solutions for making things better, who knows what is possible?

Rich

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