Excerpts from "The Law" - V

What is law? What ought it to be? What is its domain?
What are its limits? Where, in fact, does the prerogative
of the legislator stop?

I have no hesitation in answering, Law is common
force organized to prevent injustice;—in short, Law is Justice.

It is not true that the legislator has absolute power
over our persons and property, since they pre-exist, and
his work is only to secure them from injury.

It is not true that the mission of the law is to regulate
our consciences, our ideas, our will, our education, our
sentiments, our works, our exchanges, our gifts, our
enjoyments. Its mission is to prevent the rights of one
from interfering with those of another, in any one of these
things.

Law, because it has force for its necessary sanction,
can only have the domain of force, which is justice.

And as every individual has a right to have recourse to
force only in cases of lawful defense, so collective force,
which is only the union of individual forces, cannot be
rationally used for any other end.

The law, then, is solely the organization of individual
rights that existed before law.

Law is justice.

So far from being able to oppress the people, or to
plunder their property, even for a philanthropic end, its
mission is to protect the people, and to secure to them the
possession of their property.

It must not be said, either, that it may be philanthropic,
so long as it abstains from all oppression; for this
is a contradiction. The law cannot avoid acting upon our
persons and property; if it does not secure them, then it
violates them if it touches them.

The law is justice.

Frederic Bastiat - The Law(1850)

Bastiat's The Law can be found for free here and here, or at Amazon .

Other excerpts linked here: I, II, III, IV, V

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Excerpts from "The Law" - IV

Socialism, like the old policy from which it emanates,
confounds Government and society. And so, every time
we object to a thing being done by Government, it concludes
that we object to its being done at all. We disapprove
of education by the State—then we are against education
altogether. We object to a State religion—then we
would have no religion at all. We object to an equality
which is brought about by the State then we are against
equality, etc., etc. They might as well accuse us of wishing
men not to eat, because we object to the cultivation of
corn by the State.

Frederic Bastiat - The Law(1850)

Bastiat's The Law can be found for free here and here, or at Amazon .

Other excerpts linked here: I, II, III, IV, V

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Excerpts from "The Law" - III

You say, “There are men who have no money,” and
you apply to the law. But the law is not a self-supplied
fountain, whence every stream may obtain supplies independently
of society. Nothing can enter the public treasury,
in favor of one citizen or one class, but what other citizens
and other classes have been forced to send to it. If
everyone draws from it only the equivalent of what he has
contributed to it, your law, it is true, is no plunderer, but
it does nothing for men who want money—it does not
promote equality. It can only be an instrument of equalization
as far as it takes from one party to give to another,
and then it is an instrument of plunder. Examine, in this
light, the protection of tariffs, subsidies, right to profit,
right to labor, right to assistance, free public education,
progressive taxation, gratuitousness of credit, social
workshops, and you will always find at the bottom legal
plunder, organized injustice.

You say, “There are men who want knowledge,” and
you apply to the law. But the law is not a torch that sheds
light that originates within itself. It extends over a society
where there are men who have knowledge, and others
who have not; citizens who want to learn, and others who
are disposed to teach. It can only do one of two things:
either allow a free operation to this kind of transaction,
i.e., let this kind of want satisfy itself freely; or else preempt
the will of the people in the matter, and take from
some of them sufficient to pay professors commissioned
to instruct others for free. But, in this second case there
cannot fail to be a violation of liberty and property—legal
plunder.

You say, “Here are men who are wanting in morality
or religion,” and you apply to the law; but law is force,
and need I say how far it is a violent and absurd enterprise
to introduce force in these matters?

Frederic Bastiat - The Law(1850)

Bastiat's The Law can be found for free here and here, or at Amazon .

Other excerpts linked here: I, II, III, IV

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Excerpts from "The Law" - II

It is in the nature of men to rise against the injustice
of which they are the victims. When, therefore, plunder is
organized by law, for the profit of those who perpetrate
it, all the plundered classes tend, either by peaceful or revolutionary
means, to enter in some way into the manufacturing
of laws. These classes, according to the degree of
enlightenment at which they have arrived, may propose to
themselves two very different ends, when they thus
attempt the attainment of their political rights; either they
may wish to put an end to lawful plunder, or they may desire to
take part in it.

Woe to the nation where this latter thought prevails
amongst the masses, at the moment when they, in their
turn, seize upon the legislative power!

Bastiat - The Law(1850)

Bastiat's The Law can be found for free here and here, or at Amazon .

Other excerpts linked here: I, II, III, IV

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Excerpts from "The Law"

What is Law?

It is not because men have made laws, that personality,
liberty, and property exist. On the contrary, it is
because personality, liberty, and property exist beforehand,
that men make laws. What, then, is law? As I have
said elsewhere, it is the collective organization of the individual
right to lawful defense.

Nature, or rather God, has bestowed upon every one
of us the right to defend his person, his liberty, and his
property, since these are the three constituent or preserving
elements of life; elements, each of which is rendered
complete by the others, and that cannot be understood
without them. For what are our faculties, but the extension
of our personality? and what is property, but an
extension of our faculties?

If every man has the right of defending, even by force,
his person, his liberty, and his property, a number of men
have the right to combine together to extend, to organize
a common force to provide regularly for this defense.

Collective right, then, has its principle, its reason for
existing, its lawfulness, in individual right; and the common
force cannot rationally have any other end, or any
other mission, than that of the isolated forces for which it
is substituted. Thus, as the force of an individual cannot
lawfully touch the person, the liberty, or the property of
another individual—for the same reason, the common
force cannot lawfully be used to destroy the person, the
liberty, or the property of individuals or of classes.
For this perversion of force would be, in one case as
in the other, in contradiction to our premises. For who
will dare to say that force has been given to us, not to
defend our rights, but to annihilate the equal rights of our
brethren? And if this be not true of every individual force,
acting independently, how can it be true of the collective
force, which is only the organized union of isolated
forces?

Nothing, therefore, can be more evident than this:
The law is the organization of the natural right of lawful
defense; it is the substitution of collective for individual
forces, for the purpose of acting in the sphere in which
they have a right to act, of doing what they have a right
to do, to secure persons, liberties, and properties, and to
maintain each in its right, so as to cause justice to reign
over all.

Frederic Bastiat - The Law(1850)

Bastiat's The Law can be found for free here and here, or at Amazon .

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On the Minimum Wage

All this is not to argue that there is no way of raising wages. It is merely to point out that the apparently easy method of raising them by government fiat is the wrong way and the worst way.

This is perhaps as good a place as any to point out that what distinguishes many reformers from those who cannot accept their proposals is not their greater philanthropy, but their greater impatience. The question is not whether we wish to see everybody as well off as possible. Among men of good will such an aim can be taken for granted. The real question concerns the proper means of achieving it. And in trying to answer this we must never lose sight of a few elementary truisms. We cannot distribute more wealth than is created. We cannot in the long run pay labor as a whole more than it produces.

The best way to raise wages, therefore, is to raise marginal labor productivity. This can be done by many methods: by an increase in capital accumulation — i.e., by an increase in the machines with which the workers are aided; by new inventions and improvements; by more efficient management on the part of employers; by more industriousness and efficiency on the part of workers; by better education and training. The more the individual worker produces, the more he increases the wealth of the whole community. The more he produces, the more his services are worth to consumers, and hence to employers. And the more he is worth to employers, the more he will be paid. Real wages come out of production, not out of government decrees.

So government policy should be directed, not to imposing more burdensome requirements on employers, but to following policies that encourage profits, that encourage employers to expand, to invest in newer and better machines to increase the productivity of workers — in brief, to encourage capital accumulation, instead of discouraging it—and to increase both employment and wage rates.

Economics in One Lesson - Henry Hazlitt p. 139

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On Government Price Fixing

The government may try to assure supply through extending its control over the costs of production of a commodity. To hold down the retail price of beef, for example, it may fix the wholesale price of beef, the slaughter-house price of beef, the price of live cattle, the price of feed, the wages of farmhands. To hold down the delivered price of milk, it may try to fix the wages of milk truck drivers, the price of containers, the farm price of milk, the price of feedstuffs. To fix the price of bread, it may fix the wages in bakeries, the price of flour, the profits of millers, the price of wheat, and so on.

But as the government extends this price-fixing backwards, it extends at the same time the consequences that originally drove it to this course. Assuming that it has the courage to fix these costs, and is able to enforce its decisions, then it merely, in turn, creates shortages of the various factors — labor, feedstuffs, wheat, or whatever—that enter into the production of the final commodities. Thus the government is driven to controls in ever-widening circles, and the final consequence will be the same as that of universal price-fixing.

The government may try to meet this difficulty through subsidies. It recognizes, for example, that when it keeps the price of milk or butter below the level of the market, or below the relative level at which it fixes other prices, a shortage may result because of lower wages or profit margins for the production of milk or butter as compared with other commodities. Therefore the government attempts to compensate for this by paying a subsidy to the milk and butter producers. Passing over the administrative difficulties involved in this, and assuming that the subsidy is just enough to assure the desired relative production of milk and butter, it is clear that, though the subsidy is paid to producers, those who are really being subsidized are the consumers. For the producers are on net balance getting no more for their milk and butter than if they had been allowed to charge the free market price in the first place; but the consumers are getting their milk and butter at a great deal below the free market price. They are being subsidized to the extent of the difference—that is, by the amount of subsidy paid ostensibly to the producers.

Now unless the subsidized commodity is also rationed, it is those with the most purchasing power that can buy most of it. This means that they are being subsidized more than those with less purchasing power. Who subsidizes the consumers will depend upon the incidence of taxation. But men in their role of taxpayers will be subsidizing themselves in their role of consumers. It becomes a little difficult to trace in this maze precisely who is subsidizing whom. What is forgotten is that subsidies are paid for by someone, and that no method has been discovered by which the community gets something for nothing.

Economics in One Lesson - Henry Hazlitt p. 121-122

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The Price System

Everything, in short, is produced at the expense of forgoing something else. Costs of production themselves, in fact, might be defined as the things that are given up (the leisure and pleasures, the raw materials with alternative potential uses) in order to create the thing that is made.

It follows that it is just as essential for the health of a dynamic economy that dying industries should be allowed to die as that growing industries should be allowed to grow. For the dying industries absorb labor and capital that should be released for the growing industries. It is only the much vilified price system that solves the enormously complicated problem of deciding precisely how much of tens of thousands of different commodities and services should be produced in relation to each other. These otherwise bewildering equations are solved quasi-automatically by the system of prices, profits and costs. They are solved by this system incomparably better than any group of bureaucrats could solve them. For they are solved by a system under which each consumer makes his own demand and casts a fresh vote, or a dozen fresh votes, every day; whereas bureaucrats would try to solve it by having made for the consumers, not what the consumers themselves wanted, but what the bureaucrats decided was good for them. Yet though the bureaucrats do not understand the quasi-automatic system of the market, they are always disturbed by it. They are always trying to improve it or correct it, usually in the interests of some wailing pressure group. What some of the results of their intervention are, we shall examine in succeeding chapters.

Economics in One Lesson - Henry Hazlitt p. 108-109

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Economics in One Lesson

By far the most concise and easy to digest economics book I have read is Economics in One Lesson by Henry Hazlitt. It deftly dispatches a wide range of well worn economic fallacies in a little over 200 pages. It, along with an amazing amount of other economic literature, can be found for free at the Foundation of Economic Education (FEE.org). It is a classic cornerstone of any economic library, and after reading the pdf, I certainly recommend getting your own copy.

The Lesson
...

In this lies the whole difference between good economics and bad. The bad economist sees only what immediately strikes the eye; the good economist also looks beyond. The bad economist sees only the direct consequences of a proposed course; the good economist looks also at the longer and indirect consequences. The bad economist sees only what the effect of a given policy has been or will be on one particular group; the good economist inquires also what the effect of the policy will be on all groups.

The distinction may seem obvious. The precaution of looking for all the consequences of a given policy to everyone may seem elementary. Doesn't everybody know, in his personal life, that there are all sorts of indulgences delightful at the moment but disastrous in the end? Doesn't every little boy know that if he eats enough candy he will get sick? Doesn't the fellow who gets drunk know that he will wake up next morning with a ghastly stomach and a horrible head? Doesn't the dipsomaniac know that he is ruining his liver and shortening his life? Doesn't the Don Juan know that he is letting himself in for every sort of risk, from blackmail to disease? Finally, to bring it to the economic though still personal realm, do not the idler and the spendthrift know, even in the midst of their glorious fling, that they are heading for a future of debt and poverty?

Yet when we enter the field of public economics, these elementary truths are ignored. There are men regarded today as brilliant economists, who deprecate saving and recommend squandering on a national scale as the way of economic salvation; and when anyone points to what the consequences of these policies will be in the long run, they reply flippantly, as might the prodigal son of a warning father: “In the long run we are all dead.” And such shallow wisecracks pass as devastating epigrams and the ripest wisdom.

But the tragedy is that, on the contrary, we are already suffering the long-run consequences of the policies of the remote or recent past. Today is already the tomorrow which the bad economist yesterday urged us to ignore. The long-run consequences of some economic policies may become evident in a few months. Others may not become evident for several years. Still others may not become evident for decades. But in every case those long-run consequences are contained in the policy as surely as the hen was in the egg, the flower in the seed.

From this aspect, therefore, the whole of economics can be reduced to a single lesson, and that lesson can be reduced to a single sentence.

The art of economics consists in looking not merely at the immediate but at the longer effects of any act or policy; it consists in tracing the consequences of that policy not merely for one group but for all groups.

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How to Dry Foods

How to Dry Foods. Deanna DeLong. Recommended.

A food dehydrator was on my Christmas list this year, and as luck would have it, one appeared under the tree. A fairly comprehensive instruction manual accompanied the dehydrator, but I thought I would look for more guidance. This book seems to be a complete guide for home food drying. All major foods are covered: fruits, vegetables, meats, herbs, spices, nuts, and seeds. Not only does the text list foods that are great for drying, but it cautions against others that are only marginal. This will save countless hours of fruitless trial and error.

The recipe section has many jerky marinade formulations and fruit leather mixtures. Also included are many recipes that use the dried products, so you know what to do with all the things you have preserved.

I would highly recommend this if you are interested in food dehydration. Thus far I have made some pretty decent beef jerky and dried pineapple. Perhaps as I gain more skill I will post some of my favorite recipes.

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Backstabbing for Beginners: My Crash Course in International Diplomacy

Backstabbing for Beginners: My Crash Course in International Diplomacy is the true story of Michael Soussan during his time as a UN Food for Oil Program Coordinator.

Witty and enthralling, you will not want to put this book down. The book, obviously written by an insider, is severely critical of the UN. It paints a bleak picture of the political infighting that can debilitate the UN. The power players save face by "passing the buck," essentially shirking responsibility on projects to avoid having to make difficult decisions.

As someone who knows little about the UN, I was very surprised at the level of corruption involved with the UN Food for Oil Program. I was appalled to find that France, Russia, and other nations were accepting millions in bribes from Sadam Houssein. Soussan paints a bleak picture of the United Nations but the overlying theme is that of hope, change, and achieving greater good no matter what the odds.

This truly is a must read. Soussan's style keeps you wanting more. You will want to stay up later (or lay out on the beach longer, in my case) to finish this enthralling piece.

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The Upside of Down

The Upside of Down. Thomas Homer-Dixon. Recommended.

This selection was on the short list for my Christmas break reading, and while I moved through it rather quickly, I'm not really sure where to begin in its review. I have begun to shy away from the near bottomless pit of doomsday books - there is only so much time in the day, and I see no need to continue tuning into an echo chamber. I will continue to seek out solutions, however, and this volume seemed to have an upbeat message, which was very intriguing. Could there really be an "upside to down"?

There are three main themes in The Upside of Down. First, the author highlights the many problems that we face. He then draws parallels on how similar problems have destroyed civilizations in the past, namely the Roman empire. Finally, he explores the ways that we might be able to deal with our problems, or position ourselves to rebound from the crash - the "upside", as it were.

The problems we face have been covered quite a bit in recent months, so I'll just summarize them here. The author uses an earthquake analogy, with five "tectonic stresses" building to a large catastrophic release.

• energy stress, especially from increasing scarcity of conventional oil;
• economic stress from greater global economic instability and widening income gaps between rich and poor;
• demographic stress from differentials in population growth rates between rich and poor societies and from expansion of megacities in poor societies;
• environmental stress from worsening damage to land, water forests, and fisheries; and,
• climate stress from changes in the composition of Earth's atmosphere.

I've covered several of these stresses quite a bit, especially in the Global Trends 2025 post series. He makes an interesting argument about the collapse of Rome, which I found to be the most memorable portion of the book.

In the second chapter, the author describes the energy requirements of ancient Rome in great detail. There have been countless looks at the fall of Rome, but as far as I know, the supposition that energy concerns caused its downfall is a rather novel idea. The basis of the argument rests in the fact that Rome depended on a solar economy. Nearly all of the energy they used was derived from humans and animals, thus food. Perhaps the most interesting factoid of the book was the calculation of exactly how much energy (in grain and hay) it took to build the Colosseum.

The grain and hay were fed to the humans and oxen who, in turn, built the elaborate structures and the most impressive society the world had yet seen. As the empire spread further from the center, more and more energy was spent in retrieving the energy on the outskirts. This is a common concept in peak oil circles - Energy Return On Energy Invested (EROEI). As the empire collected taxes from farther out, it took more resources to pacify/protect those people and then transport the remainder to Rome.

The city of Rome became dependent on these deliveries. The citizens and social structure were maintained by an elaborate system of food deliveries and taxation systems that kept everything running smoothly. According to the author, as time moved on, the good farmland was exhausted, all the rich neighbors were raided and exploited, the supply lines grew longer and the EROEI dropped to a level that could no longer support the society. The empire inevitably declined.

As for the "upside" of decline, I found the book less clear. After a several chapter diatribe on the evils of capitalism while giving no credible alternative, he gets to the payoff - catagenesis. Like a renewal of a forest after a fire, the author describes catagenesis as a rebirth, of sorts. So we must try to set ourselves up to be able to rebuild our society after the collapse - not exactly the uplifting message I was looking for.

Even still, the book seems to be lacking in concrete examples. The author puts limited faith in "managing solutions", which is no doubt what we will try to do. After it is clear that we must take some action, we will try to manage the problem while changing our way of life as little as possible. The danger of this approach, which I agree with, is that when we delay until the earthquake has happened, it is too late.

So what should we do? We must reduce the "tectonic stresses". As we review that list, however, we remember that they are some doozies. While managing solutions have their place, the author also suggests the "prospective mind". This is where he loses me a bit...I'm not 100% sure what he means, so I'll give you a summation paragraph:

The alternative approach I advocate requires us to adopt what I've termed a prospective mind. We need to be comfortable with constant change, radical surprise, and even breakdown, because these are now inevitable features of our world, and we must constantly anticipate a wide variety of futures. With a prospective mind we'll be better able to turn surprise and breakdown,when they happen, to our advantage. In other words, we'll be better able to achieve what I call catagenesis - the creative renewal of our technologies, institutions and societies in the aftermath of breakdown.

So basically we need to be flexible so we can quickly rebound when TSHTF. It is a really good idea, but I guess I was expecting a bit more...perhaps some more solid examples on what to do. I still see the only "upside to down" is if you really hate our society now and want to rebuild it more to your liking. As I said before, that's not exactly the uplifting story I was looking for, but hey, these are crazy times. Overall, I give the book a reserved recommendation.

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Eat Safe

Eat Safe. Bill Statham. Recommended.

I found this book while perusing the new arrivals at the library, and it seems to be quite a good reference. As suggested by In Defense of Food, we should probably only eat foods that have a minimal amount of processing, and we should be able to pronounce and understand all the ingredients. If you've spent much time looking at labels, this can be a daunting task. Certain additives may sound horrible, yet be perfectly safe...and vice versa.

The book lists hundreds of ingredients and gives each a ranking - beneficial ones get two smiley faces, down the scale to two sad faces for dangerous substances. The entire list is also color coded (red, yellow and green) for quick reference. In addition to the rankings, there is a column for function, potential effects, food uses, and other uses.

I would recommend this guidebook for a quick reference, but with some caveats. Food science and medical advice changes over time, so the recommendations may not hold up as research advances. Also, certain substances affect people in different ways, so some "safe" ingredients may be dangerous for a small minority of the population. Overall, however, the book seems well researched and very comprehensive.

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Just In Case

Just In Case: How to be Self-Sufficient When the Unexpected Happens. Kathy Harrison. Highly Recommended.

I happened upon this book in the 'New Release' section of the library, and it seemed to good to pass up. September is National Preparedness Month, you know.

Many of the self-sufficiency books I have reviewed describe a lifestyle that is not practical for the ordinary citizen in the 21st century. For better or worse, most people are not going to leave the suburbs and set up a 5 acre homestead where they can provide nearly everything they need. Unfortunately, for those of us remaining in the city and 'burbs, unexpected events could disrupt the fragile web of support that we currently enjoy.

Obviously, we can all name big events that have affected large segments of the population: 9-11, Katrina, California's earthquakes & wildfires, etc. Even smaller localized events, like floods, thunderstorms and heavy snow can leave people to survive for several days without power, heat and/or shelter. Would you be ready for a 3 day outage? How about 3 weeks? It would seem that the network of modernity on which we rely is only becoming more fragile; and large natural disasters, terrorism, or pandemics could easily affect large portions of our nation in the future.

As I read the opening chapter, I quickly realized that I was fairly unprepared for any type of outage of basic service. As I read on, however, the author presented information that will help anyone get ready - just in case.

The first section lays out the author's OAR system for staying prepared. Organize, Acquire and Rotate are each integral tenets to ensuring everything is ready in a time of crisis. The book has many tips for maintaining efficiency in each of these categories.

Organize - It hardly matters if you have everything, if you cannot quickly locate it
Acquire - There are most likely several necessary items that you currently are without
Rotate - All food has a limited life, rotate canned goods into normal meals to maintain freshness

Part Two covers Preparedness, which consists of putting the OAR system into practice. Getting yourself, home, kids, pets and car prepared are all examined.

Part Three is titled Dealing With Disaster. Specific scenarios are studied, along with custom tailored advice on how to best prepare and survive. Everything from power loss to the pandemic flu are featured. (According to the author, Michael Jackson-type surgical masks are of little use)

Part Four is a foray into the arts of self-sufficiency. I did not see anything that struck me as novel in this section, except for perhaps recipes that feature "stored" food. The author recommended several other books for more reading, such as the Ball: Blue Book of Food Preservation.

I highly recommend this book for anyone. It provides easy to use advice that can be tailored to your specific situation. No one is immune from disaster, a few easy steps ahead of time could mean the difference between a slight inconvenience or major disruption...and perhaps even life and death.

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The Vegetable Gardener's Bible

The Vegetable Gardener's Bible. Edward C. Smith. Highly Recommended.

I try to only share good books with my readers, and this one is no exception. It is a thick, sturdy hardcover that will be a welcome addition to any gardener's library. For high yields, the author teaches a WORD System: Wide rows, Organic methods, Raised beds, Deep soil. The book is divided into three overarching sections:

Part 1: From Seed to Harvest

The first section is the most detailed. This is where the author lays out the basics for his WORD method. Along with several other sources, this is was the main inspiration for building my framed raised beds. There are several great chapters in this section that describe planning and executing your garden.

Part 2: The Healthy Garden

This section covers the basics of soil, composting and organic pest control. While not as detailed as the books to each of these topics, it gives a good overview.

Part 3: Vegetables & Herbs, A-Z

This section features the obligatory plant profiles that most garden books seem to provide. It truly does have quite an extensive selection of edible plants, with over 100 pages dedicated to this chapter. Each profile has a wide range of data, from planting and harvesting information to the best varieties to use.

All in all, this book is a great resource for both beginning and seasoned gardeners.

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The Self-Sufficiency Handbook - and a Few "Deep Thoughts"

The Self-Sufficiency Handbook: A Complete Guide to Greener Living. Alan and Gill Bridgewater.

As I have said many times before, I truly doubt the existence of a complete self-sufficiency book. While this text boldly proclaims as such in the title, I have not yet been proved wrong. This handbook has a lot of great information, but it is rather thin...and would serve best as only a light introduction to self-sufficiency. It would not be undesirable in a library, but hardly necessary. For those so inclined, I have two superior recommendations here and here. I would not have even written a review, however the opening paragraph struck me, and I want to share it - and my thoughts - with you.

When Gill and I graduated from art school in the 1960s, the whole place was buzzing with a new kind of freedom. Somehow we all felt that we could do it - meaning life - better than previous generations. I remember one evening sitting in a college common room listening to two young, hippy, American lecturers animatedly talking about how very soon we would all be forced by the failure of oil supplies to return to some sort of Amish type self-sufficiency - log cabins maybe, horses rather than cars, communes where groups of like-minded people pulled together to create a better society - and it was very exciting.

As they saw it, and as whole swathes of people saw it, our consumer society was living off the fast shrinking capital resources of the earth. Their thinking was that ever since the start of the industrial revolution we had been taking and dumping: taking the coal and dumping the waste, taking the oil and dumping pollution, taking the goodness from the soil and leaving it barren, cutting down trees, and so on.

The authors continue on, explaining how this shaped their desire to live in a self-sufficient and less ecologically impacting manner. They then spent the next 30-40 years of their lives scrounging around, trying to make ends meet. As I also have stated before, the romanticism of self-sufficiency does not fool me. I don't find it that exciting and I do not think it would be an ideal way to live. Anyway, the introduction instantly struck me in two ways:

1. Maybe there really is no urgent problem
2. Crying wolf...and its ramifications

First off, my gut reaction was, "Man, people really have been screaming, 'The end is nigh!' for a long time." Maybe all the people screaming about it now really are full of it, too. Maybe peak oil and global warming are not that big of a deal...and if they are, maybe they are decades or centuries away from affecting us.

Then, that little seed of doubt creeps back in. Perhaps the hippies back then were right all along, just off in the time frame. My mind continues to file through all the evidence that I have complied during the short amount of time that I have concerned myself with such matters. Yes, peak oil must be real, and the while the time frame is up for debate, the one that I have settled on is definitely within my lifetime, or at least the next generation's.

Global warming is a challenge that I have yet to tackle, and I am not a climatologist. I will have to default to the consensus of current scientific opinion and Al Gore. I fear that it is real, it is man-made, and due to the Tragedy of the Commons, it may be inevitable. The time frame on climate change is very much up for debate as well, due to its extremely complex and variable nature; but if you watch the Discovery Channel, you know it is coming pretty soon - and will not be pretty.

So, the long standing cries from environmentalist and other scientists may have been 'spot on' the entire time. Perhaps it was the relevance time between the earth's geologic clock and the 24-hr news cycle that has caused the disconnect. And ultimately, the fable of the "Boy Who Cried Wolf" seems rather fitting; and rather disturbing, considering the end result.

These are the two extremes I continue to wrestle with. And as I have argued in the past, few things in life are black and white. For my own benefit, (and hopefully yours) I will continue to attempt to search through the gray area. Depending on the source, you can get pretty good (and bad) arguments from both sides. There are folks with full time jobs that research these issues, as well as those that literally devote their entire lives to finding the truth. How can the layman be expected to sort through it all? I suppose all we can do is just continue to plug along; hoping for the best and preparing for some version of the worst.

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The New Kitchen Garden

The New Kitchen Garden. Anna Pavord. Recommended.

Another book review for your perusal...

This book is a fairly good reference to start or expand your garden. Its main focus is a small garden for the average household, surprisingly enough known as a "kitchen garden".

The first chapter highlights various garden styles and features. Being from the DK Press, the book has a definite British feel to it. (I have enjoyed all the books from this publisher, and will select books from them on name alone.) For those unfamiliar with the term "kitchen garden" (like me), it is a rather formal style, normally walled in, with a large variety of food plants for consumption by the household.

After the description and layout of the traditional kitchen garden, many other styles and features are shown; formal fruit garden, hedges, salad & herb garden, cottage garden, patio & balcony gardens, and a formal herb garden. These styles are each given rather extensive treatment.

The second section gives a biography of nearly every type of vegetable and fruit that one would care to plant. Each specimen is given at least two full pages, listing vital stats; large photographs, a basic history, how to optimally cultivate, and specific recommended cultivars. Many entries also have recipes as a suggestion on how to use your harvest.

The final section is all about improving your gardening skills - planning & cultivating techniques. Plot design, soil preparation, crop rotation, starting seeds, and a plethora of growing methods are covered, just to name a few. There are many good tips to be found here.

I recommend this book for any gardener's library. I have already used some of the tips for strawberries in my own patch. As my garden expands, this will be a good reference.

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Organic Pest & Disease Control

Organic Pest & Disease Control. Taylor's Weekend Gardening Guides. Highly Recommended.

I picked this book up to research the control of tent caterpillars. We had quite an outbreak this year, and I wanted to get a leg up on them. I have a feeling that they will be gunning for my new plum trees. Anyway, on to the review.

The book is divided into five main chapters. The first is Creating a Healthy Garden, and the next four cover each of the following nuisances: pests, diseases, weeds, and animal pests.

As I noted, the first chapter examines the importance of creating your garden from the beginning to be healthy. There will be less pests and weeds to repel if your garden is strong from the start. This seems to be a common theme in nearly all of the books I have read thus far. Some tips (these may sound familiar): good soil, choose the right plants, diversify, and recordkeeping.

Now the real meat of the book..how to identify and eliminate pests. The glossy pages exhibit large pictures and illustrations that seem to come to life. There are full color renderings as well as smaller, life-sized examples. Besides the pests themselves, the damage that they might leave behind is shown as well for forensic comparison. Along with each set of illustrations is text describing the pest, its damage, and organic ways to control it.

I would highly recommend this book for the novice organic gardener. For those with more experience, it may not be as useful, but there are many pests, diseases and weeds featured. It may be a lifesaver if your local garden store does not have the answers you need.

Oh, and for the tent caterpillars? Actually, I had originally thought they were bagworms, but this book straightened me out. So, you learn something new everyday. The book recommends manual removal, burning the nests and sprays of BTK (Bacillus thuringiensis var. kurstaki). I have also heard that pheromone traps in the spring will capture the moths before they can lay eggs.

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Bad English

Between You and I. A Little Book of Bad English. James Cochrane.

While I certainly enjoy any praise that my writing garners, the hard truth is that I am far from a literary master. I am actually running on the fumes of my high school English classes; which leads me, on occasion, to search out refreshers and supplements for my knowledge of the written word.

Between You and I is a small handbook that outlines many common mistakes committed by users of the English language. If the title causes the hair on the back of your neck to bristle a bit, you are already ahead of the game. If not... then all the more reason to read further.

The book is arranged as a large list in alphabetical order, and is written in an authoritative British tone, yet at many times is very humorous. It has hundreds of incorrect usages; words that sound similar, misused phrases/cliches, and many "half-educated" uses of language. It also highlights 'lost-causes', incorrect bits of language that have become so ingrained that they are now mostly acceptable.

It serves as a guide for those that wish to "salvage the standards of the English language". Personally, I'd just rather not sound like an idiot. Here are some examples:

could of Educated readers will not need to be told that could of represents an illiterate mishearing of the contraction for could have - could've - and can never, in any circumstances, be considered correct English.

decimate ...related to decimal...the ancient Romans dealt with mutiny by selecting one man in ten, chosen by lot, for punishment. Decimated is now often used instead of some such word as devastated, but should not be...

less and fewer Less describes quantity, fewer describes number. For example: "For a healthy diet we should eat less sugar, salt, and animal fat and fewer sweets and chocolates." It is Bad English to write e.g., "There were less accidents on the roads last year than any year since 1958."...

Many of these hints are hard to remember and may even seem rather unnatural, as some have been so ingrained that they are nearly impossible to reverse. I do not think I will become a perfect writer overnight (veritably this post has a few errors), but this book will definitely help me avoid the most egregious blunders. I recommend this to any one who wishes to improve their command of the English language, as well as keep the grammar police at bay.

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Dirt Cheap Gardening

Dirt Cheap Gardening. Rhonda Massingham Hart. Recommended.

From the title alone, I knew this book was right up my alley. The combination of gardening and frugality is a winning combination in my view. Like any hobby, gardening can become quite a money sink. Despite the best of intentions, an activity that is begun to help the family finances may end up taking more resources than it produces. This book will help you avoid such pitfalls and perhaps make the experience both more productive and enjoyable. While I have begun gardening again to learn new skills rather than completely sustain my family, I do not necessarily think that I will necessarily be making large amounts of money. That being said, whenever possible, I prefer to not squander resources.

The book is divided into ten chapters, each with its own set of tips for saving time and/or cash. I think it is an important point to remember that time is a precious resource as well, many times much more valuable than money.

1. The Absolutes
This chapter is the anchor of the book, describing the basics of gardening. All of the initial decisions you make will affect the results of your garden. Site selection is key, as well as correctly choosing plants for each site. Obviously, putting plants that require full sun into a shady spot will only cause you frustration and end up wasting resources. So working with what you have is an important point. If you are short on space, perhaps containers would be the most effective solution.
Soil quality (a recurring theme in most gardening books I have read) is very important. Compost is a cheap way to increase the productivity of your soil, and this book has several ideas on where and how to get other cheap soil amendments. Testing for nutrients and pH is also covered. Another key point (that I have had to relearn on several occasions) is water. Setting up a system that provides the correct amount of water (either manual or automatic) will save your plants from certain doom. There is no better way to waste a lot of time and money than to let all your plants die when you go away on vacation. My automatic irrigation system should pay for itself quite quickly.

2. Tools vs. Toys
Gardening obviously requires a certain set of tools, but there are a plethora of choices. Many of these are quite expensive and have limited utility. The author attempts to sort the wheat from the chaff. Depending on one’s unique needs, certain tools may be quite necessary, while for others they would only be an expensive toy. It is up to you decide, but this chapter will help you navigate the many choices.

3. Priceless Plants
The plants you (or your neighbors/friends/family) already own have the amazing capability to reproduce and regenerate into new, free plants. This chapter covers the techniques that make this possible. Seed recovery, cuttings, layering, and dividing/transplanting are all examined. Many of these techniques seem to require a large amount of patience and experience, so they may not be very cost effective right away, but considering the costs of plants from the nursery they can be well worth the effort. These skills are very intriguing to me, considering if/when TSHTF, they may be very necessary.

4. Winning Varieties
Picking the correct varieties of plants will save lots of trouble. Native plants are always a good idea, since they have been naturally selected to thrive. Tolerance to your particular climate; temperature, water and specific pests/diseases, will save much time and money. There are many varieties (sometimes thousands) of each type of plant, and some may fair much better than others in your particular area, so a little research can pay large dividends. Another consideration is the value of the crops the plants produce. Berries are very expensive, and thus provide a lot of value in a small area. However, even the most valuable and prolific crops are not worth the effort if you do not like them. Unless you are growing for sale, only grow fruits and vegetables that you like to eat and flowers that you find attractive.

5. Save From the Start
When planning your garden, you can save money by using seeds vice purchased transplants. Starting you own seed takes a bit of planning and expertise, so you must take that into account. I plan on attempting to start seeds for next year’s garden, as I think it will be a valuable skill to learn. If you start a small greenhouse, you can make a side business of selling extra seedlings to friends and neighbors.

6. Plant Wellness Pays
Keeping plants healthy is important to maintain your investment. Proper fertilization is key, remember that more is not always better. Over fertilizing is wasteful, and can be detrimental to the environment. Remember that compost is a cheap and easy way to provide your plants with nutrients. Pest control and crop rotation is also covered in this chapter.

7. Cheap Skills
I’ll just list the skills that the author suggests will improve your gardening: recordkeeping, mulching, raised beds, training/trellising, pruning and pinching. Nothing really earth shattering, but each will definitely save you time and money.

8. Landscape for Less
The next chapter provides some tips for lowering your landscaping bills, while still maintaining the beauty of your yard.

9. Longer Life for your Plant Dollars
Extending the growing season has many advantages, providing for much more productivity. You can harvest both earlier and later, allowing you to maximize your garden’s potential. The author suggests several techniques to achieve this such as hotcaps, row covers, and inexpensive homemade cold frames.

10. Reap Bountiful Harvests
Once you have maximized your output, you must not let it go to waste. If you put all that time and effort into the garden, allowing the vegetables to rot on the vine seems to be very counterproductive. The book provides tips on determination of when to harvest many varieties of plants. Also, if you are blessed with a bumper crop, allowing it to rot in your fridge or countertop is not ideal either. The usual suspects of preservation techniques are covered, as well as giving your harvest away as gifts. For more information on this topic, I recommend Ball’s Blue Book of Food Preservation.

Many of the tips and ideas in this book are common sense or are found in many other gardening texts. There are some unique aspects to it, however, and it provides the information in a concise and easy to read format. I would recommend it for any gardener’s library. You’ll notice in my Amazon widget on the left hand portion of the page that it is a very inexpensive book, so you really don’t have much to lose. I think it will pay for itself in no time at all.

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