Gardening season for me. It seems the down economy is making it a trend.



I remember reading that the Freakonomics writers calculated that many hobbies, including gardening, actually cost more for the end product than would buying it. I disagree. While my hourly rate for freelance work would be $40.00, I'm doing my gardening on my off days. I'm also getting a workout that I won't have to pay my gym to get. Add on the collective savings of composting my food waste, and oil savings from not buying factory farmed food, and it should add up. I'll have to carry my calculator around this year.

OK, just a quick one here. I've been reading about the popularity of blogs with "cheap living" advice, a lot of stuff I've been doing for ages. (see: http://zenhabits.net/2007/08/the-cheapskate-guide-50-tips-for-frugal-living/ and: http://beingfrugal.net/)

However, there are a few things out there worth *not* being cheap about.

Organic food: It might be more expensive at the cash register, but that's because it's not subsidized by the Department of Agriculture the same way factory farmed food is. It's also healthier in the long run.

Buying Fair Trade: I can't say this enough. Whether making sure what you buy is from a democracy, or looking for a Fair Trade label, this also pays off in the long run. When a worker is paid enough to live on, they can actually contribute back to the economy.

Supporting Local Business: I'll brown bag my lunch all week so I can have a dinner out at the Greek restaurant down the block from me; I'll also buy most of my clothes at thrift shops so I can support the indie boutiques. Remember, small businesses altogether employ more people than WalMart and pay them better.

OK, so I haven't been Catholic since I was 13, but I've been reading a lot of interfaith tracts about a universalist practice of Lent. I thought, yes! Secular Lent! Get rid of the dogmatic guilt, and use it as a pre-spring time to clean some garbage out of my life.

So, I'm trying to quit procrastinating. This has not been easy since Mardi Gras was two weeks ago, and I haven't made a blog post about it until today. However, I did start to finish a quilt that's been a backless top until now, I'm purging junk off my dining room table that's been sitting around since last summer, and keeping priorities straight with my sewing - like making the curtains before cutting out a shirt.

Maybe I'll start using some more of the downtime to get going with my Etsy.com site.

On Politics: Can I go on about the delusions of the right wing any more than has been said by any other blogger? I'm getting sick and tired of the "Obama recession" - that started at the end of 2007! I'll apologize to Rush later.

On Pop: It was so nice of all the NYC radio stations to play U2 all week - good of them to help out a struggling young band. I mean, I respect their musicianship and all; I probably won't turn the songs off the radio, but let's be real. Do they really need the help? How about some airplay and CD sales of an African artist instead of having charity money filtered through Bono?

I'm getting sick and tired of the wacko right and pseudo Libertarians bitching about the "Socialism" of the stimulus law. How many of them built their own roads or printed their own money?

However, I can't critique them better than Bob Cesca from the Huffington Post:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/bob-cesca/sean-hannitys-ridiculous_b_168033.html

Finding change as a sport: http://www.cnn.com/2009/US/02/06/found.money.family/index.html

OK, for a while, I wondered if my picking up change was a sign of insanity - and my partner would sometimes insinuate that it was. That is, until we emptied out our change jar and had $250 in it for our vacation. He's now converted to this simple bit of thriftiness, and I'm realizing that my habit of scanning the floor for change paid off when I found $50 in the Port Authority one night.

I'm all for going as green as possible, but this is a little extreme:
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/05/garden/05fridge.html?pagewanted=all

I have to agree that having an energy efficient fridge and examining the supply chain of what goes in it would make a bigger impact on resource use.

Google is Big Brother! And Libertarians are paranoid about "Big Government"
See here: http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/2009/01/29/world/AP-EU-Switzerland-Dope-Farmers.html

Goodbye Bush Reasons why I won't miss him
http://www.publicintegrity.org/investigations/broken_government/articles/full_list/

To quote John Stewart again: "I want a president that's smarter than me!"

MLK day post (yes, I'm at work): here's the reason we still have work to do: http://newsfromthewest.blogspot.com/2009/01/mlk-day-martin-luther-king-cult.html

If you can resist the urge to vomit reading this, cross your fingers that this ignorant racist won't breed and pass on the bigoted gene.

On a personal note: I wish I could join in with the Day of Service, but again, I'm at work while I still have a job. This is a good time for a charitable donation.

Does a resolution count on January 2? Since I was actually out of the office yesterday, maybe. I'll see how long this thing lasts before I let it fizzle, but I hang out all day, lurking, reading news, that I may as well throw my digital ideas out there.

One thing I wondered: should I bother? Are all the blogs and articles I read just preaching to the choir? Who knows? At least I'll do something rather than hang out.

I may as well categorize my thoughts:

Poltics: I can't let a Monday or Friday go without reading Krugman in the NYTimes. If anyone hasn't read this yet check it out: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/02/opinion/02krugman.html. I have to add that the right wing hasn't just been following the racist Southern Strategy, but also a neo-feudal ideal of killing the middle class and social safety net. Of course, the Republicans forgot that the modern economy runs on consumption. If no one buys anything, no one makes any money, even the wealthy. While I'm personally against rampant consumerism, I do vote with my wallet for good companies to support, even if it costs more.

Environment: Am I crazy? Is it just my OCD? Is this the last vestige of Catholic guilt? I've started taking home compostables as penance for using styrofoam once this week. Whoever reads this, give me therapy.

Handcrafting: recycling old denim for a dog bed mattress cover. Pictures at 11. Also, my continuing recycled knitting of various yarns (one scarf is at www.anastasi5.etsy.com).

Well, I've just been exused from work, so I must finally finish this post.