farming

I grew up on a family farm that once had peonies and asparagus and other goodies that are very lovely.  Agriculture is tricky business at the very least because it is all dependent on the weather.  Too much rain is bad, especially all at once.  The rivers rise and the land is underwater until May or June.  Then you gotta' plant what's plantable and pay extra for potash because Canada supplies most of it and there's that tariff thing going on.  Canada hates us and so does Europe.  At this point in time, I don't think that our country is ready for a trade war.  Remember the Great Depression?  I have my great grandmother's ration book that was for gas, sugar and other things we depend on.  It was a total bust of the US economy and my Daddy grew up as a sharecropper's son during that time.  Thanks to Sam Reed he was able to attend UT Martin and graduate with a degree in agriculture.  His career with the USDA as a plant protection specialiust spanned decades chasing the Japanese beetle and other bugs that destroyed crops.  At the end, at the age of 55, he was able to retire due to his years of service in the Air Force.  Daddy lived every farmer's dream as both a federal ag employee and property manager.  

He was not particularly bright when it came to negotiating commission.  Five percent, If I remember correctly.  Yet we survived because of benefits for veterans and federal employees.  That stuff is gone baby gone.  Thanks Obama.  No wait, wrong one.  We all know things trickle down from DC to our individual states and our security.  The great state of Tennessee has repeatedly refused to accept money for Medicaid funding because...Hell I don't know.  That is the current administrations plan.  Pitch it all back to your states and let them deal with you.  As a red state resident, I'm not feeling really good about that.  Just a thought.

We are midway through a 48 hr monsoon.  Not sure how many inches but I think it will take us a while to dry out.  Plus there is snow coming on Tuesday night!  Yay?  It is what it is.  One day at a time ^j^