Monday

Miscellaneous Rambling

Can I ask an un-Catholic question? Are people in America really starving? My priest assures me they are, so I obediently donate regularly to the parish food pantry. The liberals assure us they are, since it's very hard to live on the amount of money provided by food stamps (it never crosses their minds that the food stamps are supposed to supplement a food budget, not be the food budget; and, of course it never occurs to them that perhaps food stamps do a lot more harm than good and, at the bottom line, are more about transferring wealth to the convenience store and fast food industries). * * * * * * * But where are these hungry people? Migrant workers, I suppose, which are largely invisible to me, but if I were to go to, say, Calcutta, I'm assured I'd readily see the starving all over the place. Why don't we see them in America? * * * * * * * One place I'd like to see them so I could call the police: in my town's community garden. I rented a plot there this year ($10 for a sizable slice of soil), and someone has been stealing squash from it. It really bums me out. If they're starving, they could just ask me (maybe I'm invisible to them). I think I'd help them out: "Here's $5; go buy yourself some squash; please leave my non-gmo, organic squash alone." But to go and just take it? That takes the fun out of having a garden. * * * * * * * So much so that I started digging up my Mom's spacious back yard last Saturday. She and I are going to grow squash (edible ornamentals, delicata, and butternut) in a trellised 75-square foot area. I'm providing the labor, seeds, trellising, compost, and fertilizer. She's supplying the land, plus she's tossing her compostable scraps out there. Land, of course, is all important, so it's a good arrangement, especially since my family will eat the bulk of the squash.