Monday

Miscellany

I've been to plenty of flea markets. I never appreciated that I was walking in a den of libertarianism. This 2012 book sounds pretty interesting: Flea Market Jesus. "Part ethnography, part autobiography, Flea Market Jesus is a story about alienation, biblical literalism, libertarianism, and deep-seated religious belief. It is not about the Tea Party, the Occupy movement, or the Christian Right, but it shines a light on all of these by highlighting the potent combination of mistrust, resentment, and personal liberty too often kept in the shadows of public discourse among educated elites." * * * * * * * I wonder if there's a similar sentiment among the home gardening community. The 2015 garden catalogues have started to arrive. I actually dig receiving them. If you had told me seven years ago that I'd be quietly delighted coming home from work and finding garden seed catalogues on my chair, I would've scoffed. * * * * * * * Speaking of gardening: I bought another Worm Factory. The first one is cranking out about 15 pounds of vermicompost a month and it's pretty much at capacity, with, I'm guessing, anywhere from 4,000 to 20,000 worms. I'm going to see if I can find any organic garden suppliers who will swap vermicompost for seedlings. * * * * * * * "Swap." Out west, they refer to "flea markets" as "swap meets" (I learned that from Storage Wars). It strikes me as a stupid name, but I'm not sure "flea market" makes much more sense. * * * * * * I live just miles from one of the world's largest flea markets and Indiana's largest tourist attraction: Shipshewana. My mom dragged me to the flea market a lot while growing up, but I don't think I've been to it once my adult life, though I've been to the town of Shipshewana more times than I can count (partly on business, partly for little league games, partly entertaining out-of-town relatives who want to see the Amish paradise).