Category: agorism, gardening, homesteading

Faucian Bargains in the Sentient World Simulation 

I need to keep my job!  I have bills you know!

Of course you do.  I understand.

My kids need to go to school.  My toddler needs daycare.

Yes, they do.  Don’t worry.

I was really sick last August.  It was awful.  I missed 3 days of work.

I’m sorry to hear that.

We are so overworked in our department, people keep quitting!

But why, I thought it was a good job?

Well I guess they just don’t really need the money and they don’t really care, do they!

Clearly not.  Of course, that could be a good thing for you.

Being over-worked!  How do you figure?

Less competition, more room for advancement.

Oh yes, that’s true.  Good point.  The more unvaxxed around the better for me.

Now you’re getting it.  I’m proud of you.  I have a holiday gift for you and I’m going to put your name in for our next conference in Paris.

Wow!  Thanks!  That would be awesome!

Just keep this gift up-to-date and you never know.

A Bit On Cooking

I have a nice collection of cook books and love reading them, especially the old ones. I just thought I’d share this quote that makes for some perfect pondering at the holidays. 🙂

“Good cooking is always associated with good living. Like marriage, it consists of two elements which should blend in harmony: the aliments and the seasoning. Conscientious cooking, by rendering easy the processes of digestion, promotes that serenity of mind, graciousness of thought, and indulgent view of our neighbors’ failings, which is the only genuine form of optimism. No virtues will fully promote happiness if the art of cooking be neglected by the national conscience. We owe much to the fruitful meditations of our sages, but a sane view of life is, after all, initiated mainly in the kitchen—the kitchen of the small house, abode of the great majority of the people.
“Of all books produced,” said Joseph Conrad, “since the most remote ages by human talents and industry, those only that treat of cooking are, from a moral point of view, above suspicion. The intention of every other piece of prose may be discussed and even mistrusted: but the purpose of the cookery book is one and unmistakable. It’s object can conceivably be no other than to increase the happiness of mankind.”
The Gold Cookbook by Master Chef Louis P. De Gouy, 1947

Mr. De Gouy began his career as chef under his famous father, who was then Esquire of Cuisine to the late Emperor Franz Josef of Austria. Later he studied under the renowned Escoffier. In time, his name became associated with some of the great culinary establishments in Europe and America. In France: Grand Hotel, Hotel Regina, Hotel du Louvre, Hotel de Paris, and Monte Carlo. In England: Carlton Hotel. In Spain: Casino of San Sebastian. In America: the old Hotel Belmont and the old Waldorf-Astoria in New York City. He served as Chef Steward aboard the J. P. Morgan yacht Wild Duck when it made its cruise around the world. 
From: Cookbook Village

The Year of the New Normal Fascist — Consent Factory, Inc.

And so, as 2021 goose-steps toward its fanatical finish, it is time for my traditional year-end wrap-up. It’s “The Year of the Ox” in the Chinese zodiac, but I’m christening it “The Year of the New Normal Fascist.” And what a phenomenally fascist year it has been! I’m not talking amateur fascism. I am talking […]

The Year of the New Normal Fascist — Consent Factory, Inc.

Fall Flourishing

It’s been unseasonably warm for us so far, with regular episodes of more mild weather whiplash than in recent past years. I suspect that’s about to change, so here’s the garden as it’s growing now.

It’s a first for fresh tomatoes in December around here! We are still harvesting from the ‘volunteer’ tomato jungle growing in the duck coop. It looks so pretty and is producing much more than we can munch. Even though it’s tedious work, I dry them. They come out delicious that way and can be added to all sorts of dishes or made into a pesto.

The large tomatoes pictured here are previously frozen. Freezing the surplus in summer solves one big problem around here: the tomatoes come ripe after the cilantro has gone to seed. To me, salsa without cilantro is like a bed without pillows! Now the cilantro is growing like gangbusters, and we still have fresh peppers (another first!), so we get nearly fresh salsa in December too.

With the peppers still growing strong that means in 20/20 hindsight I should not have moved a couple of them last month to winter them indoors after all. Where’s my crystal ball when I need it most?!

Turnip greens are growing faster than I can keep up! I over plant so the sheep and goats get some extra greens and the pigs love the roots.
Happy garlic started sprouting
All our favorite fall crops are doing fabulously! I plant very heavily then thin when they are still small, but big enough to enjoy. Can’t do that on a factory farm! I also don’t weed out the ’weeds’ —like chickweed and hen-bit—unless they are badly encroaching on the crops. They are edible after all and once they flower the bees love them too, at a time when very little else is available to them. This has the added benefit of habituating the bees to scout the garden all year round.
Now that’s a radish! I love all radishes, but the Korean radish is seriously impressive.

The mushrooms continue to marvel me! First we had chanterelles nearly all summer, now we have delicious ’wood blewits’ (clitocybe nuda—ok that sounds a bit pornographic, no?!) and tabescens, and lactarius paradoxus. Also pictured are either the hallucinogenic ’laughing Jims’ (Gymnopilus spectabilis) or the highly toxic ’Jack-o-lanterns’ (Omphalotus olearius). The latter I give to a friend who uses them to dye yarn. The former, if I were 100% sure of my identification, I might be inclined to try! Apparently you can tell from the spore print color, either orange or white. But, what about when it comes out whitish-orange? Too risky for me!

The cooler temperatures make even our old dogs feel a little frisky!

Play time!
Who’s gonna take me on!
Come on, chump, make my day!
Just as I expected, you wouldn’t dare! 🙂

And for a little more humor . …

Fascinate, Me?

I doubt it.
But do try, if you please.

For I hold that which is more fascinating than all the revelations on the Worldwide Web.

For I know what’s more delectable than the greatest feast any queen was ever fed.

Home-raised and home-made by just little ol’ us:
2 cheeses, pig liver pate, sourdough rye, olive oil pickles, radishes and green onions,
persimmon kombucha.

For I have felt the pleasure of the task done only for her most dear.

For I have touched the archaic wisdom without fear.


For I have sensed the eternal crafted long before His key.


For fascination is my daily bread living this great mystery.

How ya gonna keep them wrapped in illusion once they’ve touched reality?

Story Sunday: All Hail Covid — Cosmic Observation

“He’s not Covid, he’s just cold.” Graham Chapman & Terry Jones from Life Of Brian 1979. Image Credits: Warner Brothers/Getty Images/The Covid Physician From a UK doctor… I encourage you to read the entire article. I’m shocked. ~Vic What has been witnessed in the last two years is not medical science. It is the death […]

Story Sunday: All Hail Covid — Cosmic Observation

Nearly 3/4 of the World’s Dictators Receive US Weapons and Military Assistance – Antiwar.com Original — MCViewPoint

https://original.antiwar.com/?p=2012344472 by Matthew Hoh The US supports nearly 75% of the world’s dictators, autocracies, monarchies, military regimes, etc., with weapons, military training and money. Please remember this the next time someone tells you the US should do X or Y because such and such a nation is bad… Comparing Freedom House’s list of Not Free […]

Nearly 3/4 of the World’s Dictators Receive US Weapons and Military Assistance – Antiwar.com Original — MCViewPoint

But don’t worry, be happy! The consequences of such actions won’t ever come home to roost, right?! ~Kensho

Brought to you by…. — Dispatches from the Asylum

In a world where wholesomeness, decency and honesty are ancient artifacts that were only in vogue in the 1950’s, and practiced by sexually oppressed simpleton’s, thank the gods that such jerky ways were abandoned years ago. Now, in present day Sodom and Gomorrah, nearly everything is a lie, a scam, a scheme, and the expected […]

Brought to you by…. — Dispatches from the Asylum

The Peculiar Persimmon

Another brief plant profile this post, as it’s our first experience of persimmons!

The first thing you learn is absolutely do not eat them when they look pretty enough to eat. With the persimmon, the uglier, the better! If you eat one when it looks like this, you might think you just stuffed your mouth full of dead rodent fur.

If you eat one that looks like these below, you might cringe a little at first thinking you’re about to taste something rotten, but you’d be quite wrong—it’s magically delicious!

Let this funny lady tell you all about it!

It is often claimed that American persimmons are only edible after a frost and that you cannot ripen them off the tree. Luckily, this is not the case. However, most persimmons you can purchase at the grocery store are of a Chinese variety. It seems American producers have decided our own varieties don’t ship well enough.

Preserving ’wild’ persimmons is also a bit peculiar as cooking it will bring the astringent taste back. Making fruit leather was the solution for Native Americans according to this article by Mother Earth News. “When desired, the persimmon leather can be cut into small pieces and eaten like candy. It is much relished by small children this way. Or, the dried pulp can be mixed like raisins with cornmeal and other cereals to make Native American puddings, various cakes and biscuits.”

Time for us to give persimmon leather a try! And persimmon cookies, clearly. I already made persimmon kombucha and it’s positively divine! 🙂

We’ve planted a bunch of persimmon trees in recent years, but only females produce fruit. The ratio of male to female trees is 10 to 1 and you can’t tell them apart until they start fruiting, in about 7 years. Nature’s way of teaching us patience and planning!

BRAVE NEW WORLD: Toward Global Technocracy & Slavery – By Catherine Austin Fitts — RIELPOLITIK

Source – technocracy.news “…Technocracy views humans as a natural resource to be exploited, similar to oil or livestock. Controlling economic activity, therefore, requires controlling all the resources. Since energy is the gas pedal to all economic output, Technocrats create a “sustainable development” equation under their total control” Toward Global Technocracy And Slavery Image: Solariadvisors.com PDF […]

BRAVE NEW WORLD: Toward Global Technocracy & Slavery – By Catherine Austin Fitts — RIELPOLITIK

“Technocracy, on the other hand, views humans as a natural resource, no different from an oil deposit or livestock, and they are to be used as such. Humans may be more or less efficient than a robot, for example, depending on the job at hand, and efficiency trumps humanity.We’re talking about a world where most people are under 24/7 surveillance and then their financial incentives and their financial power are related to how well-behaved they are. ~ Catherine Austin Fitts

To minimize problems within this human resource management system, there needs to be maximum compliance with minimal effort, and this is where social engineering through media propaganda (brainwashing), censorship and artificial intelligence comes in. For the most part, once fully implemented, the control system will be fully automated.”