Archive for June 7th, 2010

Now THIS is reality t.v.. Does it get any better than the view from the Skandi two ROV as one of the chemical dispersant wands is dropped by a mechanical claw hand somewhere in the tangled mass that used to be the blowout preventer and the little bugger ROVer scampers to get the thing, 'cause its still spewing clouds of chemical taint into the more or less pristine waters of ground zero. The wands effluent is now clouding the camera and turning everything a kind of eerie and ghostly white. All indistinct like.

Does it become any more stunningly obvious that this latest attempt to retrieve some precious precious goo and stanch the flow is anything more than a poorly cut pipe and a rocket looking cap thingy that appears to be spewing more oil than before.

Well hold on there cowboy. There's vents in that there cap, and we're doin' what we can to shut those boogers without allowing the buildup of ice crystals which will prevent my precious precious goo from flowing to the shareholders wallets. Wallets which would otherwise, and rightfully so, be directed at purchasing something with a more lucrative return, and we can't have that.

And all this, from the sci-fi like technical wizardry to the socio-political whirlygig brought to you live from five thousand feet below the surface of the ocean, twenty four seven and without commercial interruption, although during the lost wand debacle, the server did "go down" for awhile. I'm wondering when we'll see the bud light ads start up.

Is it morbid to be fascinated by the appearance of helplessness in the face of this catastrophic episode? Like the eyes of death, fierce and offering no escape.

Oh, don't be such a poopy pants. Dontcha know that in the course of any given year, the gulf floor belches up the equivalent of an exxon valdez spill and that happy little bacteria gob gob gobble it right up? So which is it? Efficient and effective goo gobblers will take care of biz, or we get beyond the attempts to spin this thing. Its right there. Almost impossible to misinterpret. Really.

"Its almost like history unfolding before our very eyes, unky jp."

"It really is, little fella, it really is."

Surprisingly, I wasn't flooded by comments regarding the last blog, in which I described our little chicken 'speriment. I know, its pretty obvious that we have a ways to go in being able to say we don't need anything from the outside world to feed the chooks, and for now we can just try to tune the system, nutritionally and economically. Now I know you're just dying to hear how we're gonna work toward a system which produces enough food for the birds to lay up to snuff and eliminate, as much as possible the need to buy feed.

What you do is this, you build out two to three paddocks for each flock of chickens and rotate them between the paddocks while planting the previously occupied one(s) with the kinda stuff they like to eat. Throw in a few things for you too. You can plant all kinds of trees and shrubs which will get a good start while the chooks are browsing the other enclosures down to fertile dirt.

Its a bit labor intensive at first because of fencing and netting for the roof, but once built out your good to go with only minor repairs and maintenance for years to come. Some of our paddocks approach four thousand square feet with six subterranean levels conducting important research into all things chicken. Do you have any idea how much chicken poo is produced each year, world wide? These are the statistics that can only be found on sub level six. Highly classified stuff. Don't go sniffin around.

Its been a productive week. We had the blessing of cloud cover for the past few days, just in time for planting out a couple of hundred green vegetable starts as well as some amaranth. First time for us on the amaranth. Never really tried the grain and look forward to it. They sure are pretty plants and stand out in any garden. They look like skinny green beings with lots of arms and reddish brown dread locks.

Nurse Natty and I put in about ten olive trees of three different varieties. She was a big help, but a bit out of sorts that morning owing to the ingestion of an electric brownie the night before which had her wearing a befuddled smile all day. She told me later that day that she thought we were laying out a croquet course .

Purchased the trees from a guy and his partner. They showed so much enthusiasm for the humble olive tree. Somewhere between zealous religious convert and hyper caffeinated dentist. Very knowledgeable and totally into it. I'm sure that before they're done there will be tens of thousands of olive trees on Maui. And why not booby? The upcountry dry lands are perfectly disposed to the cultivation of this most hardy tree.

I'm told that two trees, properly pruned and maintained will yield a gallon or more of oil per year and that the second and third pressings can be used for cooking as well as a bio-diesel fuel source. Booya. We got twenty trees to start with and are planning out the next grove to be planted as soon as the remaining trees develop good root systems. Along with mac nut, kukui, jatropha and castor bean we are on our way to making a blend of oils to help fuel the farms future.

Hopefully within a couple of years, we'll be able to harvest enough fruit to supply all our oil and table olive needs for the year. That would be cool squared.

Lets see, what else. Oh yeah, a reminder of the party coming up on the nineteenth of June (that's a Saturday). Its a pot luck starting around four/five-ish and celebrates forty years of life on Maui. Kamaaina or what? It's also Caley Nightingaley's last night on Maui after a six month "internship" at the Rancho which no doubt, will have her mumbling non-sequiturs for years to come. Shhhhhh, don't tell her, but the plan is to have her sing her heart out all night and give us old guys the joy of backing up a young diva if ever there was.

She has been the picture of the perfect wwoofer and has successfully moved from knucklehead to pin head to chowder head in a mere six months. This is akin to finishing college in nine weeks. We have a different way of seeing around these parts. I'm already missing the sound of her singing showering the gardens.

I get the feeling that oil is to earth as seratonin is to human bodily fluids. I sense that this gushing insult depletes not only the soul of those who empathize but the spirit of the planet which we, for the most part infest with the mentality of goblins gone berserker. We are a bit of a problem, aren't we? If we can't turn to methods like permaculture and lifestyles that conform to the realities of living with nature, there is little to stop the lemming thing we're doing now, which will get increasingly dire as we reinforce the wrong priorities.

One thing that gives me hope is moving through the farm and seeing how much I've grown with the rest of the flora and fauna. There is a sense of connection to outcome that is really rare in a mostly compartmentalized existence  where we allow ourselves the luxury of not caring. Hopeless is not helpless. Ways exist. Kinda fun, really. Its like tossing yourself into the chaos instead of figuring out ways to avoid it. Lets go see Avatar again, in the comfort of our completely dark and comfy space with hyper three d laser goggles, on mushrooms. There now, much better.

The more you show, the more we'll grow. Peace, Jp