Exactly. We can vote though and I hope everyone does. I will be planting much more this winter being we have very light and few frosts. I’m going to start growing grains like amaranth and sorghum to supplement my animals as I get more than just chickens. This is the time I’m glad I dropped the dime on a freeze dryer.
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im leery about bitcoin. something physically tangible like silver and gold that i control makes me feel better than something that exists on a computer. also stuff like sugar, alcohol, tobacco, salt, spices and weed are all stuff that can be traded for other things you may need or given to just keep the peace.
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i think its just laziness. our subway just reopened. it was closed for 2 months because they couldnt find workers. very sad. and there wasnt work to begin with. you would think people would jump on the oppertunity for more jobs.
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How early is “too early” for starting next year’s garden seeds indoors if a decent light setup is created? Obviously it is zone dependent, but there has to be a general limit, let’s say how many weeks/months prior to the expected last frost date?
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They are getting paid to stay home. Unemployment benefits have been too generous. Both under a Republican and a Democratic administration. It’s just too much. These benefits are far-reaching. EVERY kid in the country is eligible for school lunch and it’s up to the district or the school to decide if they’ll take it. I think it’s a terrible policy AND that a district would be stupid to turn down the money. So my kid’s private school accepted it, and the local district prepares it at a nearby public school and then delivers it. Just last week I received an EBT card in the mail. My son has the same first and last name as me. I thought it was mine until I found that I had to activate it with his birthdate. So now I’m a six figure household on EBT. I’ve contacted all of my reps (federal and state), a local AM radio talk show, and a state house rep from another district who I went to high school with. If they were interested in doing the right thing, this would be stopped ASAP. It’s not just baking in inflation, they’re taking a step to get kids hooked on entitlements and replacing the parents with government.
And yes, of course you take it. Even if you disagree, you take it. Warren Buffett does the same thing on a much larger scale. He takes every deduction he can get and is constantly telling the powers that be to raise his taxes. You’d be stupid to leave money on the table.
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@steveb4 That’s exactly how I feel about it. Funny you should bring up weed. I don’t think there will be any shortage of that. Everyone around here is now growing it. Weed fields are rapidly replacing other crops.
This is how it is with solar power too. If big oil and king coal take their subsidies, so should every homeowner who elects to have energy independence. Growing your own food is as you know a way to circumvent the system entirely, once you develop sustainable methods and practices. Shocking that gvt doesn’t advocate for self sufficiency on food, eh?
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I looked into solar myself. They are far to expensive and it works out to more per month than what you are paying. Solar also does not supply enough power to get away from the electric company.
Solar’s big on subsidies, too. I’m considering solar and not because it’s environmentally friendly, it’s actually pretty bad for the environment, but because it’s starting to make financial sense.
I actually have a friend who offered to bring a couple of sheep over to my yard next summer, and I countered with a suggestion of my parent’s yard. And my dad said that was a good idea! Upon checking with the town they do not allow “grazing animals” unless you have at least 3 acres in which case they allow two. What an idiotic policy. They’ll let you have potentially dangerous dogs that eat processed meat and let you mow the lawn, rather than let some harmless little animals graze on it for a summer.
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I think certain areas allow for chickens. I see a lot of neighborhoods that now have them in their yards.
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That was my point:
Solar in the US still gives a 26% tax credit.
Robert, my ROI at 2019 /kW pricing was approximately 7 to 8 years break even vs paying the electric bill for a 9.5kw system. Additionally I’ll briefly mention we used only 4.4kW equivalent prior to converting most appliances to electric, and I also purchased an electric car which is FAR less expensive to run on my own power than the crazy ever increasing ICE fuel prices. So in that sense, saving money on not burning gasoline is significantly reducing the time to get my ROI.
BRIEFLY - yes mining is involved with solar, but it’s a one time carbon emission vs constant emissions from non-renewable source consumption. Our panels recoup their carbon emissions vs grid electricity at year 1.5 in service on a system estimated to be in service 25+ years.
In my version of suburbia regulations are becoming more limited on chickens, but our township created a $50 yearly permit fee to have chickens. If cost savings are the point vs store bought, you’ll spend more /yr on feed and permit costs than buying cheap store bought eggs, so what’s the point? We can’t even have a rooster to breed, such a frustrating situation.
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When I was in the market to buy a house I wanted one with flowing water. Was going to build a hydro generator, but never found it. Tax credits I never looked at, but now that they are forcing all this green stuff I would imagine that will go away. It’s been a few years since I investigated it, so maybe it has changed some. Didn’t make financial sense when I added it up then.
In the last 4 years solar became economical, you should check again and look at battery storage in about 3-5 years unless you go lead acid while waiting for tech to mature.
Hydro is an enigma due to FERC regulations if grid tied. Too many Native Americans have been displaced and high value streams ruined by large projects throughout US history, and tiny projects fall under the same regulations as the hoover dam unless applying for an exemption, and that is a great undertaking in and of itself. I love the idea of responsible hydro, the company I work for has done it, it’s just a huge hassle.
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As we grow more food we have less to worry about. Soon many people will transition to alternative power like solar. Water collection is great as well. The more independent we are the more in control we are. We are still harvesting tomatoes. My mother is very clever she let the weeds grow up to tuck the tomatoes and peppers in. It’s like they have a blanket around them. They have survived freezes and very severe weather. Today her and one of my sisters came out to swap things with me they needed for what I needed. Like I said if you have plenty of seeds your set. Still have 300-400 pounds of pears on the trees and aronia in the field. We cannot use them all but I can take good care of my friends and family with the extra pears.
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To me all the green stuff does not make sense. Nuclear produces clean energy, yet there are only a few. I love electric cars. I don’t like how long it takes to charge and how few miles you get to a charge. Love the idea of home power production too. Problem with all of it is the tech is just not far enough along to get everyone on board. Including myself.
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Sorry Clark, we got sidetracked.
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I don’t expect to be able to grow all my food but I wholeheartedly believe anyone can grow some portion of their food to reduce pressure on the currently strained economy. the modern victory garden.
every little bit helps.
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If I could grow 25% of my needs, I’d be happy. I wouldn’t want to have to rely on it, though. For me there are more variables involved with growing my own food than with the supply chain at large. Too bad the American Chestnut has been decimated. Seems like that would be the number one way to easily supply a bunch of calories. I’m going to try growing Chinese Chestnuts. I’ve heard they are fine, but not as productive.
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Around here it seems like far more people hunt/fish then garden. I have a bow but haven’t gotten back into hunting whitetail but might if the price of beef keeps on its upward trajectory.
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Those rare earths are nasty, and then you have the problem of disposing the old panels down the line.
A thing about carbon emissions is the 2nd largest economy doesn’t care about this AT ALL. You’re never going to get to carbon neutral by going solar and so forth here while China just continues to build coal-fired power plants. I’m not at all worried about climate change since there literally is nothing we, at least us regular citizens or even to a great extent our governments, can do. It’s up to the space billionaires and other rich or creative people to save the day with technological innovations, or for the climate change people to actually be wrong about how much of an impact carbon emissions will have. While Musk seems to be leading the pack technologically right now Bezos’ idea to move heavy industry to outer space makes a lot more sense than terraforming Mars does. The West going carbon free does nothing about China, and it does nothing about the third world which is young and full of people who want (and have every right) to live better material lives.
If your concern is strictly (or primarily) about the environment and you could only do one or the other, I think a person should choose a geothermal HVAC setup before a solar panels in most situations.
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