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3/3/2006

NZ: Sorting Out Some Basics

Just a couple of words to let you guys know that I'm doing fine...

Becky and I have been busy with getting some essentials together. We don't have a refrigerator yet, so we're keeping perishables in an ice chest. HA

Driving on the left side of the road is pretty easy for me. What's not easy is keeping my eyes on the road. The natural beauty of this area is beyond description. (There's going to be a website dedicated to our farmlet operations. Lots of pictures, I promise.)

Bex took me to the Bush Fairy Dairy yesterday. We bought lots of organic dry goods; millet, lentils, flour, etc. We also visited the Kaitaia farmers market. We bumped into two of our new neighbors, Terry and his wife, Kristen, who happened to be selling some of their excess vegetables. We bought a bag of garlic from them. Terry and Kristen are the local organic farming experts. Nice neighbors to have, I'd say!

Becky's Mom (Mummy) and Dad have been very kind to me, and have welcomed me into the family. They have been very supportive.

I hope to get dialup access activated soon so I'll be able to do regular updates again.

Thanks to all of you who have sent emails and contributions over the last couple of days. I'm looking forward to being able to write back to all of you.


3/1/2006

I'm In New Zealand

I made it here fine. I've been out to our property with my wife and my mother and father in law.

This area is far more impressive than even I thought it would be. I'll update when I can.


2/28/2006

Packing to Leave

UPDATE: Real update not possible. Driving to the airport now. See ya on the other side!

Please excuse low volume of posts. I'm packing for my move to NZ. I'll probably do one decent update before I head to the airport.


2/27/2006

UAE Gave $1 Million to Bush Library :.

I'd still pay attention to the guns and drugs, but this is a nice touch:

A sheik from the United Arab Emirates contributed at least $1 million to the Bush Library Foundation, which established the George Bush Presidential Library at Texas A&M University in College Station.

The UAE owns Dubai Port Co., which is taking operations from London-based Peninsular and Oriental Steam Navigation Co., which operates six U.S. ports. A political uproar has ensued over the deal, which the White House approved without congressional oversight.

The donations were made in the early 1990s for the library, which houses the papers of former President George Bush, the current president's father.




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Fatal Harvest: The Tragedy of Industrial Agriculture by Andrew Kimbrell Readers will come to see that industrial food production is indeed a "fatal harvest" - fatal to consumers, as pesticide residues and new disease vectors such as E. coli and "mad cow disease" find their way into our food supply; fatal to our landscapes, as chemical runoff from factory farms poison our rivers and groundwater; fatal to genetic diversity, as farmers rely increasingly on high-yield monocultures and genetically engineered crops; and fatal to our farm communities, which are wiped out by huge corporate farms.

Friendly Fascism: The New Face of Power in America by Bertram Myron Gross This is a relatively short but extremely cogent and well-argued treatise on the rise of a form of fascistic thought and social politics in late 20th century America. Author Bertram Gross' thesis is quite straightforward; the power elite that comprises the corporate, governmental and military superstructure of the country is increasingly inclined to employ every element in their formidable arsenal of 'friendly persuasion' to win the hearts and minds of ordinary Americans through what Gross refers to as friendly fascism.

The Good Life
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Helen and Scott Nearing are the great-grandparents of the back-to-the-land movement, having abandoned the city in 1932 for a rural life based on self-reliance, good health, and a minimum of cash...Fascinating, timely, and wholly useful, a mix of the Nearings' challenging philosophy and expert counsel on practical skills.

Silent Theft: The Private Plunder of Our Common Wealth by David Bollierd In Silent Theft, David Bollier argues that a great untold story of our time is the staggering privatization and abuse of our common wealth. Corporations are engaged in a relentless plunder of dozens of resources that we collectively own—publicly funded medical breakthroughs, software innovation, the airwaves, the public domain of creative works, and even the DNA of plants, animals and humans. Too often, however, our government turns a blind eye—or sometimes helps give away our assets. Amazingly, the silent theft of our shared wealth has gone largely unnoticed because we have lost our ability to see the commons.

The Self-Sufficient Life and How to Live It: The Complete Back-To-Basics Guide by John Seymour The Self Sufficient Life and How to Live It is the only book that teaches all the skills needed to live independently in harmony with the land harnessing natural forms of energy, raising crops and keeping livestock, preserving foodstuffs, making beer and wine, basketry, carpentry, weaving, and much more.

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The New Organic Grower: A Master's Manual of Tools and Techniques for the Home and Market Gardener This expansion of a now-classic guide originally published in 1989 is intended for the serious gardener or small-scale market farmer. It describes practical and sustainable ways of growing superb organic vegetables, with detailed coverage of scale and capital, marketing, livestock, the winter garden, soil fertility, weeds, and many other topics.