Miscellany: The Trailer
One significant inconvenience has dogged me this gardening season: a new car. My old van died on me last November. I bought a 2017 Kia Sorento, which I really, really like. I like it so much, I don't like to get it dirty by transporting my implements to and from the field. I talked with a used-car dealer client of mine about getting an old pickup truck, but he said pickup trucks are now status symbols (WTH?) so I couldn't touch a rust-bucket truck for less than $3,000. He recommended I try an old cargo van, which he said he could get for less than $2,000, but the insurance on it would've ran me $1,200 a year. He then suggested I simply buy a small trailer to hook to the back
of my Kia. That was a good idea, but I didn't want to install a hitch on my Kia, spend over $500 on a trailer, and then hassle with backing it up, unhooking it every night, etc. And then it hit me: a bike trailer. The field is a half mile from my house; I have a pretty decent Schwinn bike. Marie and I looked at various options, and finally settled on the Burley Flat Bed, with a cargo net. It was the largest we could find, and it had quite a few recommendations. It's supposed to arrive later today. I'll let you know how well it works.
Meg, my teenager daughter, is both amusinged and horrified that I'll be riding my bike to the field with this thing hitched to the back. I think I'll take away her car and get her one of these instead.
GMO Battle Round Two: Inside the Coming Battle Over Gene-Edited Food. Interesting piece. Gene editing is the science of deleting DNA, whereas gene modification is the science of adding DNA. Big ag is arguing strongly that they're not the same thing. I have no idea, but why is big ag trying so hard to distance its new product from GMO?
