Friday, April 16, 2010

Independence Days 4-16-2010

Yesterday was tax day. :-)
I love all the coverage of the tea parties. Taxed enough already. So these people claim. I wonder though how many of them have considered going from a two person income to a one person income to get into a lower tax bracket? As Sir Greer so eloquently argued this week. Or how many of them have thought about getting rid of a car or two to diminish their vehicle tax/tag fees/gas $. No, I would bet most of them would like to continue their life as they have become accustomed to living it, wanting only that the government tax them less for it.
Don't get me wrong, I'm not completely on the side of the government here either. Our tax code is ridiculous, far too complicated for the vast majority of Americans, and at the same time far too easily circumvented by wealthy corporations/CEO types. I doubt anything will ever be done about it though.

On to my solution for the whole thing, Independence! The more I can make/do/grow at home, the less we have to buy/earn and get taxed for. :-D

1. Plant something: Potatoes went in the ground. A second set of onions got planted next to my cold frame on the South side of the house. I'm not certain if they'll like it there, but I had too many onions and can't stand to just let them die. Rowen and I planted flower bulbs too. Several neighbors have mentioned how nice it is to have someone taking care of this house again. Apparently the last occupants were creepy and lazy. A few kohlrabi seeds were planted in a container. Dave confessed he doesn't really care for kohlrabi. I like it though, so the compromise is I'll plant parsnips in the garden and just grow a little kohlrabi for fun.

2. Harvest something: Harvested another batch of Dandelions. :-) Made a second tincture.

3. Preserve something: My first tincture is ready to be strained, and I've made a second one to give to someone in need.

4. Waste Not: I gave some leftover seed potatoes to a neighbor/co-worker whose kids are planting their first garden.

5. Want Not: Just continuing my herbal medicine learning. Nothing tangible really this week though.

6. Build Community Food Systems: Encouraged budding young gardeners with my gift of seed potatoes. I am searching for a group to tap into for a community gardening push. I sent out a couple of emails to organizations. We'll see what comes back.

7. Eat the Food: We have the last of the roasted tomato sauce in the fridge. Rowen is munching his way through home-canned carrots and corn. We've used up most of the spices I dried last fall.

1 comment:

Juliana Crespo said...

One might call it interesting that Earth Day falls so close to 420. I do agree with you that the amount of time and energy and money spent on trying to control this is quite ridiculous. I don't understand how others don't see that weed is a safe drug. It certainly doesn't have the same effects that alcohol, smoking, caffeine, or even HFCS have. Wake up, America! It's more propaganda than anything. Good post!