Commodity prices are soaring. Grow food.

[orflo]

I once had a rice variety that produced a few grains outside, over here, so it can certainly be grown in a large part of the US. The name is 'Duborskian' and it was created for growing under Ukrainian circumstances, that means a short hot summer (which we don't have, we ususally have cool wet summers but just somewhat longer compared to the Ukrainian climate). It is a dryland rice, most dryland rice types can be grown under wet circumstances as well. There should be some other fine dryland rice varieties for shorter climates in Japan, maybe try the Japanese genebank:
www.gene.affrc.go.jp/databases-core_collections_jr_en.php
And for chocolate, I'm Belgian, so I couldn't live without true chocolate...Be careful with the nuts though, because these are used in all sorts of preparations nowadays they can in a long term lead to allergic reactions, especially hazelnuts are used in lots of things, from Nutella to other nutty spreads and even in all sorts of store-bought burgers, organic or not.

[mnjrutherford]

Synergy, I'm doing hazelnuts, pecans, chestnuts, and pine nuts. With your hazels (and most others as well) you need to have at least 2 varieties and preferably 3 or more, growing "close" together. Why? Because nuts release and receive pollen at different times according to variety.
NutA releases in March recieves in April
NutB recieves in March releases in June
You will get nuts from NutB but not NutA
NutC releases in April recieves in June
You will get nuts from NutB, NutA, AND NutC

Do you get that? There are some charts online that tell you about the various varieties so that you can figure out what you want and how they go together. Also, I plan to get some more hazels from Badgersett.com (can't make a link in quick reply). Check out their website.

As for chocolate... something just occurred to me. The "fruit" comes directly off of the limb of the tree. American Beauty bush also produces edible fruit directly on the limb. Are these plants related? If yes, how?

[mjc]

Feb 4, 2011 19:13:22 GMT -5 mnjrutherford said:

As for chocolate... something just occurred to me. The "fruit" comes directly off of the limb of the tree. American Beauty bush also produces edible fruit directly on the limb. Are these plants related? If yes, how?

Chocolate comes from Theobroma cacao, member of the Malvaceae family...it's actually related to the Linden and mallows. Beautyberry is a member of the Lamiaceae (mint) family.

Also typing a "[", the word "url" and a "]" before your link and a "[/url]" after will turn a cut and pasted link into a clickable one, even in quick reply.

[mnjrutherford]

Way cool tip MJC! Thanks... hope I remember it! ;o)

hmmm Linden and mallows huh? Sounds to me like a conundrum upon which we must needs cogitate! (those are my favorite words LOL) Beautyberry is a mint? I'll be darned!

[synergy]

Yes, thank you all for the tips : )

I planted something called Chocolate vine and was delighted to learn they can bear edible fruit, but somehow I am guessing they will not taste like chocolate.

www.paghat.com/akebia.html

[garnetmoth]

Hiya Atash,
I do like the Chris Martenson stuff. I think the CrashCourse could be shorter, but for folks with NO idea what is going on, its a good thorough treatment.

I am reading his Improvise/Adapt/Overcome page and enjoying it.
His focus is very individual oriented- what each person needs to do for him/herself to get ready for what is to come, and the World on the Edge book takes a much larger view of human activity. You said earlier that you dont care for its globalist agenda- could you unpack that a bit?
I think we need to start from individuals for sure, but how can climate mitigation (ie massive tree planting drives) happen without political backing? how can the poorest of the poor in Africa reverse desertification? or do you perceive it as if the individual doesnt appreciate the importance, government interference will just get ripped out when they walk away? Thanks for your insights!

[atash]

You said earlier that you dont care for its globalist agenda- could you unpack that a bit?I think we need to start from individuals for sure, but how can climate mitigation (ie massive tree planting drives) happen without political backing?

I understand your concern.

Have you ever heard of the expression: "a solution looking for a problem?"

Sometimes when people have a political agenda, they look for a problem--often even a real problem--to create the pretext for pursuing their political agendas.

The author in question used some language that immediately raised red flags regarding political affiliations. I'm not interested in finding out for sure; there are too many other problems needing my attention, that don't raise red flags.

Bear in mind that the globalists often use moralistic-sounding pretexts. It's not the pretext I usually have a problem with, it's the fact that it's a pretext.

Decades ago, I was a member of an ostensibly "human rights" organization. I honestly don't like the idea of secret arrests, disappearances, secret renditions, torture (in any situation but especially when used to extract confessions for propagandistic purposes--by the way, my in-laws were tortured for that purpose by the Maoists...and I had a college chum tortured in Turkey for basically just being the wrong ethnicity in the wrong place at the wrong time), or other abuses.

Unfortunately, the organization was not what it presented itself as being, and to a considerable degree, was operating in direct conflict with its duplicitous mission. I found out in a rather odd way--I got a letter from someone who got access to the membership list. I did not believe a word of the letter--I was naive and it sounded too fantastical.

However, later events proved without the possibility of doubt that it was totally true, and that I had been lied to and set up. I later learned that the organization was founded by a "spook", was full of CIA, MI6, and other spies, and was a front for covert operations in foreign countries, hiding behind the pretext of being a "non-governmental, human rights organization" (NGO).

Most NGOs are bogus.

www.nytimes.com/2006/01/24/international/europe/24russia.html?_r=1

An espionage scandal redolent of the cold war unfolded Monday after Russia accused four British diplomats of spying and linked some of their activities to the financing of prominent private organizations, including the Eurasia Foundation and the Moscow Helsinki Group.
A grainy black-and-white video, broadcast on state television on Sunday night and shown repeatedly again on Monday, was said to show a British diplomat picking up a fake rock that was said to conceal a communications device used to download and transmit classified information through hand-held computers.

The rock, the size of a watermelon, and the device, said to be able to transmit and receive data at distances of more than 60 feet, were seized near Moscow, prompting a search across the city for similar devices, Sergei N. Ignatchenko, the chief spokesman for Russia's intelligence agency, the Federal Security Service, told Russian reporters, according to the Interfax news agency.

A second device was found, but "the British intelligence service managed to retrieve one of the gadgets," he said.

A Russian citizen accused of complicity has been arrested, but another spokesman for the Russian intelligence agency, Nikolai N. Zakharov, declined to say whether he had been formally charged. Mr. Zakharov would say only that the spy ring had been discovered and broken up at the beginning of winter.

It is fairly well-documented that the Helsinki Group was founded by Trotskyite agents funded by British banking interests.

Think about it. There's no money in "doing good and helping others". These groups all get miraculous financing.

Similarly, a lot of "tree hugging" organizations turn out to be fronts for globalist regulation and taxation schemes.

If private actions won't solve a problem, then neither will government actions. Does it make sense that people are more moral or altruistic collectively than they are individually? Usually the opposite is the case. It is governments that wage wars and make dissidents disappear. But in an emergency, someone might rescue you from an accident or a riot.

[nuts]

If private actions won't solve a problem, then neither will government actions. Does it make sense that people are more moral or altruistic collectively than they are individually? Usually the opposite is the case. It is governments that wage wars and make dissidents disappear. But in an emergency, someone might rescue you from an accident or a riot.

Read more: alanbishop.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=home&action=display&thread=4901&page=11#ixzz1DDppSKTe

I know someone who worked as a nurse in congo and haiti.Hard work in difficult conditions,for a bargain.Of course for an organisation,not as individual.
I really don't believe in the opposition between 'individual' and 'collective'.
Very altruistic people are working in these ong's,and often they are payed by taxmoney.
Many people think this is wrong,I don't.

[grunt]

I will take the liberty of paraphrasing what Atash is saying, and he can correct me if I'm wrong
It is not the individuals working for an NGO that you have to be skeptical of - it's the NGO.

[castanea]

Feb 6, 2011 18:14:01 GMT -5 @nuts said:

If private actions won't solve a problem, then neither will government actions. Does it make sense that people are more moral or altruistic collectively than they are individually? Usually the opposite is the case. It is governments that wage wars and make dissidents disappear. But in an emergency, someone might rescue you from an accident or a riot.

Read more: alanbishop.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=home&action=display&thread=4901&page=11#ixzz1DDppSKTe

I know someone who worked as a nurse in congo and haiti.Hard work in difficult conditions,for a bargain.Of course for an organisation,not as individual.
I really don't believe in the opposition between 'individual' and 'collective'.
Very altruistic people are working in these ong's,and often they are payed by taxmoney.
Many people think this is wrong,I don't.

Altruistic people are working for many of these organizations and often are being used by these organizations for political purposes. It is rare that the organizations are as altruistic as its members.

As for organizations that use tax money, I always disagree with using citizens' money to pay for someone elses idea of altruism.

[lmonty]

Corn Prices To Soar As Chinese Imports Increase Ninefold Compared To Official Projections
Tyler Durden's picture
Submitted by Tyler Durden on 02/06/2011 20:56 -0500



Cotton, wheat, rice, and now corn. If revised Chinese import estimates by the US Grain Council are even remotely correct, look for corn prices of $6.80 a bushel at last check to jump by at least 15% in a very short amount of time. As the FT reports, "Corn prices – and with them, the price of meat – are set to explode if the latest import estimates from China are correct. The US Grain Council, the industry body, said late on Thursday that it has received information pointing to Chinese imports as high as 9m tonnes in 2011-12, up from 1.3m in 2010-11." Why is this a concern? Because "the US Department of Agriculture, which compiles benchmark estimates of supply, demand and stocks, forecast Chinese imports at just 1m tonnes in 2011-12." In other words, the whole forecast supply-demand equilibrium is about to be torn to shreds. And all this excludes the impact of neverending liquidity by the one and only, which will only make the speculative approach to surging corn relentless.

For those who think that there is any even remote hope of a respite in the endless climb in prices, we suggest reading the following:

The most China has imported in modern history is 4.3m tonnes in 1994-95 and 3m tonnes in 1978-79. For most of the past 50 years, Beijing has been largely absent from the international market, as domestic production was enough to meet demand.

But Terry Vinduska, the chairman of the council, said after visiting China that “estimates given to us were that China is short of 10m-15m tonnes in stocks and will need to purchase corn this year”. He pointed to about 9m tonnes in imports. “We learned the government normally keeps stocks at 30 per cent but they are currently a little over 5 per cent, which may lead to imports of 3m-9m tonnes.”

It is not the first warning of forthcoming massive imports. Recently, David C. Nelson, at Rabobank, one of the world’s largest lenders to the global agribusiness industry, warned that because China’s animal protein industry is so large, the order of magnitude of China shifting to become a net importer of corn could possibly be measured in tens of millions of tonnes, and in just a few years time.

“We note that China could become a net importer of 25m tonnes of corn as early as 2015,” he said. Senior executives at trading houses took note of Rabobank’s forecast.

more at link

www.zerohedge.com/article/corn-prices-soar-chinese-imports-increase-ninefold-compared-official-projections

[garnetmoth]

Id prefer this blog post if it werent titled from the lead character in fight club, but its interesting.


Found the same exact blurb on financialtimes.com, and very similar at agrimoney.com, and similar at agweb.com. :-)

[castanea]

US corn reserves hit lowest level in 15 years:

www.sacbee.com/2011/02/09/3389064/us-corn-reserves-hit-lowest-level.html

[Alan]

;D Thank god I"m not alone in this world nowdays. When I first started this site I didn't know im my fellow "doomers" would find it, come out of the woodwork, or be converted.

[mnjrutherford]

Nope, you are not alone by any means. I am also thankful to God for it!

A thought: Can one truly survive if one is alone?
My opinion: I say the answer is no. Survival means there are children to take over when I die and that those children are sufficiently skilled to live to old age leaving behind well educated children also.