Pot Luck

How Y'all Are? (4.00 / 4)

The other day my computer had a minor stroke and apparently dumped what ever memory it had of my passwords, or the cookies that are used to log me on automatically here and elsewhere on the net. My account here was registered to an email addy that I no longer have and I couldn't remember my password so I registered a new account under my name, just without the space.

In other news, yesterday I was somewhat worried (alright, very worried) when the shipment of chicks from Missouri hadn't come in to the post office, so I went and looked at the invoice the hatchery sent when payment cleared. Ooops, I thought they were scheduled to ship on the 22nd of this month, turns out they're not scheduled to ship until the 22nd of next month.... So, a bit of breathing room.

I also butchered 3 of the yearling roosters (chickens) yesterday. Everytime I do this I gain yet more respect for people who do slaughter for a living. That's a lot of work!

I was going to use the birds for stock, they make a really rich chicken stock, but then I got a hankerin' for Chicken Cacciatore, one of my favorite chicken dishes. I tooled around the net sampling a few recipes and designed one that really turned out great. The chicken pieces I skinned and deboned (I used the breast meat and thighs) and stewed them for a couple of hours, and they turned out nice and tender. That's saying a lot for roosters that old. The birds have hides like armor by the time they're that old and if you don't cook it right the meat is so tough you can't bite through it.

Here's the recipe -

Jo's Chicken Cacciatore
© Joanne Rigutto

We have a lot of extra roosters our here on the farm. Some come along with the pullets we've ordered, some I hatch on site. The roosters are usually heritage breeds or crosses of those breeds and get quite large, ten pounders are not uncommon. The roosters generally have primarily dark meat, even the breast meat is a bit on the dark side. The meat is also very rich, reminiscent of duck or the dark meat on a turkey. Harold says they're similar to guinnea fowl (and the birds are not near as loud I'd wager!).

In order to get the birds to maximum size, and also because I want to evaluate them for their potential as breeding stock, I often let them get to a year of age, which can make for a very tough bird. Many times, when I decide to cull roos, I process them as you normally would a broiler, and then use them for making chicken stock, but today I had a hankerin' for chicken Cacciatore. I perused several different recipes and then came up with something I thought would work with aged roosters.

If you have the opportunity to work with aged roosters, please don't pass it up, for while they do present their own challenges, if handled right, they can be just as tender as the youngest broiler, and, like beef brisket, they're well worth the effort.

PS - You can make this with broilers, the meat won't be as rich, and you won't want to stew the chicken as long, about 1/2 hour should do it, just untill the thighs are tender.

Enjoy!

Ingredients -
3 full boneless, skinless breasts, split in two (you should have 4 pieces from each bird)
4 thighs, skinned and deboned, split in two
Trimmings off the carcasses

1 1/2 cups white flour
1T each garlic granules, onion powder/granules, salt, pepper
2T dried Italian herbs (McCormik or Schilling)

1/2 cup olive oil (prefferably oil that sundried tomatoes have been packed in)

2 large onions, peeled, halved and sliced 3/16 inch thick
4 large carrots, peeled, cut into 4 inch pieces and quartered
8 large cloves garlic, pealed and quartered
2 14-16 ounce cans of stewed tomatoes chopped (I like the ones with the Italian seasonings)
2 cups white wine
2 cups chicken broth

Method -
Combine flour, herbs and seasonings in a large bag or dish with sides.

Heat oil in a large electric skillet with high sides 400 degrees.

Shake or dredge the chicken, a couple pieces at a time in the seasoned flour. Fry chicken pieces in oil untill browned on all sides. If you don't have enough room in the pan to do all of them at once, fry them in batches and reserve browned pieces in a large bowl or dish.

When all pieces of the chicken are browned, remove from pan and place in large bowl or dish, reduce heat to 300-350 and add garlic, onions and carrots. Sweat the onions untill they are a light caramel color and the carrots are begining to soften.

Remove the vegetables from the pan and return the chicken pieces to pan, distributing them evenly. Place the thigh pieces in the center, with the breast pieces around the perimiter. This is to ensure that the tougher thigh pieces will stew better. Place the onions and carrots evenly over the top of the chicken, and the tomatoes with juice over that. Pour over the wine and chicken broth.

Cover with lid and stew at 350 for 2 hours, checking ocassionally and adding wine or broth if needed to keep liquid level within 1/2 inch of top of tomatoes.

When the thigh pieces are tender, serve with pasta, raviolli or gniocchi and vegetables.


"Tomorrow is the most important thing in life. Comes into us at midnight very clean. It's perfect when it arrives and it puts itself in our hands. It hopes we've learned something from yesterday." ~ John Wayne

---

by: JoanneRigutto @ Fri Feb 26, 2010 at 21:41:05 PM CST

cookies (4.00 / 2)

I dread the prospect of losing my cookies (unpleasant double entendre intended). Nevertheless, sometimes I feel a need to clean up the cookie folder. Thousands of cookies accumulate, and it seems to me they slow the computer. The Disk Cleanup system tool would let me erase all the cookies instantaneously, but I never do. I go to the folder and tediously delete the ones I know are extraneous.

I needed to log on to LVL a couple of weeks ago, for the first time since I registered. I had the email and hadn't changed the original password, so all was fine. I'm pretty sure I saw one of those "forgot your password?" links, though, in case I had lost mine.

None of this is intended to resemble advice, I'm merely making an observation.

Your recipe looks great. My own recent culinary experiments have been tame. I've been saucing filled pasta - ravioli, pierogi, potstickers, etc. - with combinations of four ingredients.

Oil
Balsamic vinegar
Mirin
Soy sauce

I haven't tried all four at once. I use two or three in combination, not measured amounts, I just dump some in. Tasty, and easier and less boring ( because less familiar) than marinara or tomato sauce.

I think that instead of buying mirin, I'll buy sake and make my own mirin. I'd be able to use honey, maple syrup, white sugar, or brown sugar, and I would avoid industrial additives.

As for how I am, I'm ticked. My computer has been messed up for about a month and I haven't been able to receive podcast subscriptions. Fixed the 'puter enough that I got the podcasts, and am now beginning to catch up - beginning with Bill Moyer. Sheesh. Three of the last four episodes have been at least partly about the consequences of the Citizen's United v. FEC decision. Enough to make a grown man lose his cookies.

---

by: count @ Fri Feb 26, 2010 at 22:36:58 PM CST

[ Parent ]

Moyers (4.00 / 1)

Ah, this week's episode is "The case for same-sex marriage." It's at least a change of topic.

---

by: count @ Fri Feb 26, 2010 at 22:42:16 PM CST

[ Parent ]

email addy (4.00 / 1)

OK, I see that if your email addy changed, the "forgot your password?" link is useless.

---

by: count @ Fri Feb 26, 2010 at 22:44:26 PM CST

[ Parent ]

Yah (4.00 / 3)

I forgot my password once a while ago, but it was while I still had the old jo@jrigutto.com email addy. I still have the domain, I just don't have a host right now. I'll get a host again here in another month or two.

On the really good news front, my older brother ran across a deal on a used greenhouse/hoophouse. I don't have the cash to buy it, but he does, so he's going to buy it for me, and I'll reimburse him for it later. This puppy is made of uprights/perlins and 18' wide bows. He was thinking that there were 15 or so bows. I went out and took a look at it today and all I saw were 8 bows, which still made it close to 40' long. He said that some of the bows and uprights had already been taken down, and the icing on the cake is that the contractor is breaking all the concrete off the uprights. I was going to do that out here, I have a chainsaw concrete cutter and a sledge hammer, but if they want to do that, far be it for me to gainsay them....

I'm thinking that I'll split it into two, probably 18' x 30' structures. One I'll use as a cold house, the Cube, my existing greenhouse is outfitted with heat lamps so I can grow in cold/freezing weather. The second 18' x 30' house I'll dedicate to aquaponics. I really, really have wanted to set up something like Will Allen's got going over at Growing Power. I probably won't do tilapia, I'd like to do crappie, but I need to check with Oregon fish and game first.

18' x 30' is 540 square feet, the Cube is 90 or 100 square feet and I can start 2250 plugs in that as it is, Mwahahaha, I'm gonna need more seed and trays!

I figured that I'd probably do around 20,000 plugs this year and I could donate a fair ammount of seedlings to low income community gardens and other charities, now I'll be able to turn over 10,000 plugs every 3-4 weeks and help even more people out, and make more money off of selling nursery stock to boot. Too cool!

"Tomorrow is the most important thing in life. Comes into us at midnight very clean. It's perfect when it arrives and it puts itself in our hands. It hopes we've learned something from yesterday." ~ John Wayne

---

by: JoanneRigutto @ Fri Feb 26, 2010 at 23:28:07 PM CST

[ Parent ]

speaking of your brother (4.00 / 1)

Have you discovered (I hope) that your inheritance tax situation is not as dire as you feared?

---

by: count @ Sat Feb 27, 2010 at 00:20:53 AM CST

[ Parent ]

Yep (4.00 / 2)

Exemption for estate tax = 3.5 million. Dad's estate is quite sizeable, but it ain't that big.

Exemption for inheritance tax in Oregon = 1 million, again, the inheritance will be nice, but not that nice. Which is good, as Pete and I want to keep the house, and if the estate was over 2 million, then we'd have had to sell it to pay the taxes on it. The next thing I'll be finding out is just how much of the last month's medical bills will be paid. SS and the Masonry Industry Trust (pension) have already informed me and/or filed requests for refunds on retirement benifit payments that were deposited into his bank account, but because he died on the 28th instead of the 30th of the month, we have to give back the money. If the medicare and trust insurance payments are like that, the estate may be on the hook for around $80,000 in medical bills. I won't know about than untill I start digging next week.

The court appointed me as administrator for the estate, so I'm starting on that project, and now that I have the court order, I can get access to all of the accounts so I can see what's owed and what ain't.

"Tomorrow is the most important thing in life. Comes into us at midnight very clean. It's perfect when it arrives and it puts itself in our hands. It hopes we've learned something from yesterday." ~ John Wayne

---

by: JoanneRigutto @ Sat Feb 27, 2010 at 09:54:16 AM CST

[ Parent ]

Oh, rah! Wonderful news! (4.00 / 2)

Please, please do diaries (with pics!) of the new greenhouse, once it's set up, and your aquaponics.

Crappies sounded like a good choice to me, too, when I read the NYT story about it.  No chance to do it here: I have a tiny apt. on the third story & my "balcony" is a fire escape...but I'd love to see what you do, Joanne.

Am looking forward to your future posts.

The most remarkable thing about my mother is that for thirty years she served the family nothing but leftovers. The original meal has never been found. -- Calvin Trillin

---

by: Youffraita @ Sun Feb 28, 2010 at 02:15:18 AM CST

[ Parent ]

I'll definately do diaries. (4.00 / 2)

I'm really looking foreward to setting up the greenhouses. David told me yesterday that the hoops and posts were all paid for, all I need to do now is to figure out when to haul them.

I talked to my neighbor who's using his trailer all day Monday, but I can borrow it Teusday. So that's probably when I'll haul them, although if i can find a cheap rental, I may go ahead and pick them up Monday. The sooner I get them home, the sooner I'll know exactly how big the two houses will be, and I can start prepping to set them up.

I'll have to knock concrete off a few posts, but the stuff I saw the other day when I looked at the house didn't look too hard. Looked like post mix, which is a concrete mix, but it's not tempered of anything, so it doesn't have much strength as far as concrete goes once it's out of the ground.

I'll have lots of ground to clear, I already have the spot picked out for the houses, then I'll have to dig a bunch of holes for the posts. Lots of work, but well worth it.

"Tomorrow is the most important thing in life. Comes into us at midnight very clean. It's perfect when it arrives and it puts itself in our hands. It hopes we've learned something from yesterday." ~ John Wayne

---

by: JoanneRigutto @ Sun Feb 28, 2010 at 08:43:13 AM CST

[ Parent ]

last job I did tech support for large e-commerce sites (4.00 / 3)

at least a 1/4 of my time was dealing w/passwords and cookies
Since we're talking computers, I'm wondering what will become of RSS feeds given Twitter? And speaking of podcast? If you don't already listen check out Moth Radio on I-tunes.

LOVE CHICKEN CACCIATORE. I don't have access to roosters or chickens..Wish I did. I am going to make this although I may have to substitute because I'm back on a no gluten diet. After much experimentation of various types of organic/grass fed/sustainable types of chicken I've settled on Bell and Evans. I recently asked the food coop I shop at http://weaversway.coop why no organic chicken? They told because of the amount of chicken sold 750 lbs per week, no one could supply it. Anyway according to my friend the chef and author who has visited Bell and Evans,its a good product in terms of sustainability/taste and the way their chickens are raised.

---

by: LeeN @ Sat Feb 27, 2010 at 07:44:10 AM CST

[ Parent ]

if you want your old acct back (4.00 / 3)

I can re-set the password. That offer goes to anyone who loses their password. Just ask, I'll re-set it for ya.

"I can understand someone from Iowa promoting corn and soy, but we are not feeding the world, we are feeding animals and soft drink companies." - Jim Goodman

---

by: Jill Richardson @ Sat Feb 27, 2010 at 00:53:59 AM CST

[ Parent ]

Preparing for Sunday... (4.00 / 2)

After a few days of gray and rain here, the sun's gonna be back out on Sunday and it's gonna be...

62 degrees!!!

:)

My plan is to rise before the sun, shower, make sure my camera has full power, pack a couple of books and my notebook into my backpack.  Grab a bagel and a coffee across the street, then catch the bus all the way up to the St. Johns neighborhood near the tippy-top of North Portland where the Columbia and Willamette Rivers merge.

From there I will walk over to the St. Johns Bridge, grab a bunch of pictures and then spend the day walking back home to SE, randomly turning down any street along the way that looks interesting.  It's about 12 miles if I walk it straight, but I think my walk will probably end up being about 15 miles or so since it'll be done in a zigzaggy fashion.

I also want to check out the new North Mississippi Avenue food cart pod, Mississippi Marketplace.  Should work out so I get there just in time for lunch.

---

by: JayinPortland @ Fri Feb 26, 2010 at 23:21:47 PM CST

Sounds like a great day you have planned (4.00 / 4)

I'm going to be helping a friend of dad's move a grape stemmer and then learning to trim grape vines, and bundling grape cuttings to bring back to root out here.

Dad had one type called Muscatt. Used for wine it's also great to eat. Tastes like papaya. Go figure.

"Tomorrow is the most important thing in life. Comes into us at midnight very clean. It's perfect when it arrives and it puts itself in our hands. It hopes we've learned something from yesterday." ~ John Wayne

---

by: JoanneRigutto @ Fri Feb 26, 2010 at 23:30:49 PM CST

[ Parent ]

Yeah... (4.00 / 2)

I have some writing ideas bouncing around in my head, let's see if I'm good enough to make them work!  This is the first of many plans I have for a project I'm working on.  Details to follow.  I'm more focused now than I've been in years, especially since after I hit near rock bottom last year.  Just gave up drinking, too.  That shit was slowing me down and not helping much.  An ongoing project in and of itself.  No more Portland Beer Guy!  Well okay, once in a while.  But not for a while again...

I missed out on grapes last year.  I think I only picked up one bunch.  Maybe I need a farm of my own!

;-P

Or an island.  My username in two years - "JayinTheSouthPacific"?  Heh...

---

by: JayinPortland @ Fri Feb 26, 2010 at 23:56:41 PM CST

[ Parent ]

i'm very jealous (4.00 / 3)

about those grapes. Very, very jealous.

My fig tree cutting actually took root but then while trying to plant it in potting soil (as opposed to the vermiculite it's now in) I knocked the roots off. I am so mad at myself.

"I can understand someone from Iowa promoting corn and soy, but we are not feeding the world, we are feeding animals and soft drink companies." - Jim Goodman

---

by: Jill Richardson @ Sat Feb 27, 2010 at 00:54:58 AM CST

[ Parent ]

Know what you should do? (4.00 / 3)

Get to know someone with grapes, then offer to help them trim and take some of the canes home, stick 'em in wet sand or soil to root, and there ya go, ya got grapes. You don't have to plant a whole vineyard.

You could also donate grape cuttings to farms you know as long as they promise to provide you with grapes to eat every year once they start producing. If they're worried about disease and want root grafted grapes, you could do that for them.

"Tomorrow is the most important thing in life. Comes into us at midnight very clean. It's perfect when it arrives and it puts itself in our hands. It hopes we've learned something from yesterday." ~ John Wayne

---

by: JoanneRigutto @ Sat Feb 27, 2010 at 10:01:08 AM CST

[ Parent ]

I have a fig tree..they grow REALLY slow here (4.00 / 4)

last year I planted catawba grapes. I actually planted for the leaves not the grapes. I love stuffed grape leaves

---

by: LeeN @ Sun Feb 28, 2010 at 17:06:26 PM CST

[ Parent ]

Oregon olive oil comes to me! (4.00 / 2)

Well, how about that!

I just found out a few weeks ago that there's a place here in Portland that does carry my beloved Oregon olive oil, and I was overjoyed that I'd now only have to travel to NW Portland instead of taking trains or buses down to Salem to get the stuff.

Well, just now while looking for something else, I stumbled across some even better news.  I don't even have to go to NW to get the stuff, because Steve's Cheese is moving over here to SE in a few weeks, and only a couple miles away from me at that!

Awesome!

---

by: JayinPortland @ Sat Feb 27, 2010 at 04:15:58 AM CST

Jim Goodman GMO op-ed (4.00 / 3)

The (too) happy story of genetically modified crops

So why do so many continue to believe, to have faith in the story, when the evidence is against them? When GM crops do not yield as promised? When a USDA report shows that farmers actually lose income by planting GM crops? When seed costs are unreasonably high, as are the fertilizers and chemicals that are absolutely required to grow GM? When consumers continue to reject GM foods, citing concerns of their serious health risks? When GM will not feed the world?

The GM story as told by the biotech giants paints the future as a happy and prosperous place; farmers are profitable, everyone is well fed and the environment is protected. The real GM story is not so happy; it is a story of market control, of environmental degradation, of deceived farmers and consumers.

---

by: count @ Sat Feb 27, 2010 at 04:42:38 AM CST

Epcot... (4.00 / 3)

Part of it (at least amongst those who aren't financially involved) is The World of Tomorrow fantasy.  Some will always have visions of the future which quite frankly really aren't all that different from the now laughable Jetsons-style space utopia which some a few decades ago thought we'd be living in by the year 2000.

There's never been a shortage of people lining up at the Snake Oil Stand throughout US history, and escapist fantasies seem especially prevalent in America these days.  

Whether via Armageddon or Monsanto, there will always be fundamentalists waiting to be Raptured.

---

by: JayinPortland @ Sat Feb 27, 2010 at 05:08:36 AM CST

[ Parent ]

LOL...Jay, which (4.00 / 3)

...erm, charlatan is not the word I want here... entertainer was it who said:

Nobody ever went broke underestimating the taste of the American public.

The most remarkable thing about my mother is that for thirty years she served the family nothing but leftovers. The original meal has never been found. -- Calvin Trillin

---

by: Youffraita @ Sun Feb 28, 2010 at 02:26:22 AM CST

[ Parent ]

Elisabeth Hagen (4.00 / 2)

PBO nominated Elisabeth Hagen to be USDA Undersecretary for Food Safety a month ago. The nomination still has not been scheduled for hearing in the Ag committee, far as I can tell.

Why not?

---

by: count @ Sat Feb 27, 2010 at 05:05:19 AM CST

No clue, count, but (4.00 / 2)

various GOPers have been obstructing a lot of appointments...b/c they can.

Me?  I think it's about time for Obama to follow Shrubbie's example and just do recess appointments.  Let the hypocrites scream as they will....

The most remarkable thing about my mother is that for thirty years she served the family nothing but leftovers. The original meal has never been found. -- Calvin Trillin

---

by: Youffraita @ Sun Feb 28, 2010 at 02:29:07 AM CST

[ Parent ]

Perhaps you're right. (4.00 / 1)

The obstructionism is on the floor. Lincoln could go ahead and get the nomination out of committee regardless of that. I would disagree with her if she's waiting until somebody figures out what to do about the Republicans.

---

by: count @ Sun Feb 28, 2010 at 03:43:14 AM CST

[ Parent ]

Lincoln... (4.00 / 1)

Can't forget Lincoln's going to lose reelection in a landslide this year, so anything she does from here on out is basically an audition for a post-politics corporate career.  I doubt she's gonna be rocking boats much from here on out.  

If Hagen's corporate-friendly enough, she'll get in fine.  If not, she'll have trouble.  I don't know much about her either way, but I do have a pretty good feeling Lincoln ain't the one calling the shots anymore.

---

by: JayinPortland @ Sun Feb 28, 2010 at 11:50:15 AM CST

[ Parent ]

Vilsack at National Press Club (4.00 / 2)

Jill wrote about a speech that was supposed to have been delivered by Secretary Vilsack a couple of weeks ago, but which was cancelled.

I think he gave that speech this week.

Vilsack at National Press Club

Tuesday, Feb. 23

C-SPAN video
Subject is child nutrition programs, with additional Q&A

Transcript

One quote of interest

That is why I am calling on Congress to increase the reimbursement rate for the National School Lunch Program, to help schools purchase the whole grains, fruits, vegetables, and low fat and fat free dairy products that our children need to grow strong any healthy. Let me be clear -- our expectation is that school meals will improve as USDA issues new meal requirements that emphasize fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and low-fat dairy products. Any increases in the reimbursement rate must be conditioned on the fact that the increases will pay for improved quality and improved nutrition, not just the status quo.

I think a major problem with the current program is that school districts are reimbursed regardless of what the serve. This is an irresponsible policy.

---

by: count @ Sat Feb 27, 2010 at 06:26:12 AM CST

(Youff ducks) (4.00 / 2)

Vilsack was my favorite in the early Primary Wars.

No, he's not perfect...

Then I liked Edwards (Youff ducks again, further this time)

b/c he seemed more liberal than anybody else in the primaries.

OK, scratch Edwards.  Now I have a choice of Hillary & Obama.

Hillary was more liberal.  And the primary was coming to PA!  (This was May: everyone expected the primary wars to be over before they even made it to May, including me).

So, Obama, the most conservative of the Dem candidates, gets the nomination.  What?  Am I gonna vote for the old fart and the stupid winker?

But -- as much as I adore Michelle Obama -- her husband is only slightly to the left of such luminaries as Richard Nixon...and is far to the right of Dwight David Eisenhower.

sigh

The most remarkable thing about my mother is that for thirty years she served the family nothing but leftovers. The original meal has never been found. -- Calvin Trillin

---

by: Youffraita @ Sun Feb 28, 2010 at 02:40:18 AM CST

[ Parent ]

primary wars (4.00 / 2)

Various people have stepped up to accept responsibility for different mistakes made during the Clinton campaign, and Mark Penn was the least of the errors. The two biggies were the decision to pretty much ignore the caucuses, except for Iowa, and the decision that the primary contest would be decided by February 25. I nearly fell down when Clinton said that, and later it came out that the campaign hadn't even made serious plans for continuing past Feb 25.

The campaign adapted quickly after Feb 25 and made a heroic recovery, but I think Obama was just too far ahead by then. Early mistakes doomed the Clinton effort, and to think - for one solid year, until Iowa, we heard that Clinton had the perfect campaign organization and was running a perfect campaign.

I hope Clinton didn't take that same hubris and arrogance into her job as Secretary of State.

---

by: count @ Sun Feb 28, 2010 at 03:23:44 AM CST

[ Parent ]

Heh... (4.00 / 1)

No need for ducking!

I was for Joe Biden first, and then I was for Edwards myself.

So, Obama, the most conservative of the Dem candidates, gets the nomination.  What?  Am I gonna vote for the old fart and the stupid winker?

Exactly.  Didn't you feel like you were in some sort of alternate universe back then on certain blogs where Obama was inexplicably portrayed as 'The Magical Savior Of Progressivism In America'?  Wtf?!

The delusions didn't / don't stop there, of course.

Only in America can a fully bought-and-paid-for corporate lackey actually be considered a 'socialist' by a sizable chunk of the population.  Are these people serious?!

---

by: JayinPortland @ Sun Feb 28, 2010 at 12:01:35 PM CST

[ Parent ]

Well...even Molly Ivins (4.00 / 1)

was pro-Obama.  She said (and I think I'm quoting this correctly) "He's the only one with any Elvis in him."

And in that she was quite correct.

I wish she were still around: I can just imagine the vitriol against the rethugs, but also her pinioning of Obama for not being liberal enough.

Oh, Molly...she called 'em as she saw 'em, and she wasn't wearing rose-colored glasses...unlike so many at Orange.

The most remarkable thing about my mother is that for thirty years she served the family nothing but leftovers. The original meal has never been found. -- Calvin Trillin

---

by: Youffraita @ Fri Mar 05, 2010 at 01:26:23 AM CST

[ Parent ]

Gov. Schweitzer (4.00 / 1)

Governor Brian Schweitzer, D-MT, was on C-SPAN last week. Always a good interview, this time he lobs a few zingers at his state's senior Senator, among other things. About 30 minutes.

Gov. Schweitzer on Washington Journal

---

by: count @ Sat Feb 27, 2010 at 11:36:16 AM CST

I love him.. (4.00 / 2)

he's the real deal.

While we're talking politics. I'm getting used to the idea that Pat Toomey is going to win here in PA. Especially if Specter gets the nomination,

Toomeys to the right of Attila the Hun.

---

by: LeeN @ Sun Feb 28, 2010 at 17:11:07 PM CST

[ Parent ]

I know you all have covered this here... (4.00 / 3)

POND-SONDE, Haiti - Haiti's rice farmers are dismayed. It's nearly harvest time in this fertile valley where the bulk of Haiti's food is grown, and they're competing once again with cheap U.S. imported rice.  Just down the road, vendors are undercutting them, selling the far less expensive grain. Subsidized U.S. rice has flooded Haiti for decades. Now, after the Jan. 12 quake, 15,000 metric tons of donated U.S. rice have arrived."I can't make any money off my rice with all the foreign rice there is now," said Renan Reynold, a 37-year-old farmer who makes an average of about $600 a year. "If I can't make any money, I can't feed my family."

"If a man is as wise as a serpent, he can afford to be as harmless as a dove" Cheyenne

---

by: Maracatu @ Sat Feb 27, 2010 at 13:48:52 PM CST

Would have been nice if the US government, wanting to help with food donations (4.00 / 2)

had paid the rice farmer $600 for his rice crop, we'd have still gotten cheap rice, been able to donate that rice or distribute it at low cost to the people needing it, a win/win situation. Instead, we probably paid more for the rice grown in the USA, pay to ship it to Haiti, donate/distribute it, and ruin a farmer's earning potential for a full year.

And some people over here, wonder why other people elsewhere in the world are perpetually pissed off at us.....

"Tomorrow is the most important thing in life. Comes into us at midnight very clean. It's perfect when it arrives and it puts itself in our hands. It hopes we've learned something from yesterday." ~ John Wayne

---

by: JoanneRigutto @ Sun Feb 28, 2010 at 08:32:47 AM CST

[ Parent ]

Ruination is the policy. (4.00 / 2)

The destruction of Haitian indigenous agriculture has been the policy of international agencies and the U. S. government through several U.S. administrations, including this one. The earthquake assists the policy, it isn't seen and won't be seen as a reason to change the policy.

---

by: count @ Sun Feb 28, 2010 at 13:18:10 PM CST

[ Parent ]

I don't think that US policy is bent specifically towards the ruination of (4.00 / 2)

Hatian indigenous agriculture it's just that our policies wind up doing things like that. I think it's one of the side effects of thinking that we're better than they are because we're more industrialised, and therefore more advanced than they are.

I see that a lot in US and western industrialized nation foreign policy towards the third world countries.....

"Tomorrow is the most important thing in life. Comes into us at midnight very clean. It's perfect when it arrives and it puts itself in our hands. It hopes we've learned something from yesterday." ~ John Wayne

---

by: JoanneRigutto @ Sun Feb 28, 2010 at 22:38:42 PM CST

[ Parent ]

I disagree (4.00 / 1)

In my opinion, you would not and could not do what you do every day if you weren't a very optimistic person with a sunny disposition. You want and expect things to turn out for the best.

My view is, American trade negotiators know very well that we cannot export wheat, rice, and corn to Mexico without displacing Mexican domestic production. Same for Haiti. The result is not incidental collateral damage, it is an essential aspect of the policy. So is the policy of selling American grain for less than the cost of production. How can that not be deliberate?

---

by: count @ Sun Feb 28, 2010 at 22:46:40 PM CST

[ Parent ]

I think it depends on the type of policy you're talking about (4.00 / 2)

What was being discussed above was Aid, not Trade. In this case it is food disaster aid. In this specific type of situation, I really don't think that the USA disaster aid organizations, either public or private, are deliberately trying to tank Haiti's economy. Just that our actions and the unintended consequences of said actions, can make it look like we're using a disaster and instead of helping, we're hurting. I was just thinking that if we'd bought the production from the rice farmer who was mentioned in the original comment, not only would we have saved a fair ammount of money (purchasing the rice and shipping it to Haiti), but we also could have supported the rice farmer who was mentioned.

"Tomorrow is the most important thing in life. Comes into us at midnight very clean. It's perfect when it arrives and it puts itself in our hands. It hopes we've learned something from yesterday." ~ John Wayne

---

by: JoanneRigutto @ Sun Feb 28, 2010 at 23:12:19 PM CST

[ Parent ]

I did gloss over the difference (4.00 / 2)

between trade policy and aid policy. You're right, the original comment was about aid.

I agree with your idea, I was just pointing out that it won't happen, at least not for American aid. Not only won't it happen, it can't happen. What you suggest is illegal under American law, although international aid agencies and other countries might be able to do it. American aid must be in the form of food from America, no matter where in the world it must be transported to, and it must be carried in American vehicles - ships, planes, whatever. Using local agricultural resources is illegal.

---

by: count @ Sun Feb 28, 2010 at 23:57:02 PM CST

[ Parent ]

Prairie Home Companion (4.00 / 1)

I just now discovered that Garrison Keillor's Prairie Home Companion shows are available for listening at the PHC website. Don't know how long that's been true, wish I'd known about it.

Although News from Lake Wobegone clips are available as podcasts, entire PHC shows are not.

Prairie Home Companion archives

The Feb 20 show featured Maria Jette, a wonderful soprano, in one song. Never heard of her, but I really liked what I heard and I'd like to hear more.

---

by: count @ Sat Feb 27, 2010 at 23:20:46 PM CST

Maria Jette (4.00 / 1)

One song, plus a duet with GK at the end.

---

by: count @ Sun Feb 28, 2010 at 00:22:53 AM CST

[ Parent ]

I got the greenhouse! (4.00 / 2)

The one I posted about yesterday. Yay!

I just have to figure out how to get the hoops and posts home now, preferably Monday or Teusday....

"Tomorrow is the most important thing in life. Comes into us at midnight very clean. It's perfect when it arrives and it puts itself in our hands. It hopes we've learned something from yesterday." ~ John Wayne

---

by: JoanneRigutto @ Sun Feb 28, 2010 at 00:06:19 AM CST

Kiwi... (4.00 / 1)

Mmm, just had a late dessert.  About 14 kiwis from the farmers' market.  :)

I can live off of these things for days at a time, and I don't even generally like fruit.

---

by: JayinPortland @ Sun Feb 28, 2010 at 02:05:28 AM CST

I hear ya on that! (4.00 / 2)

There were a lot of leftovers from the reception after dad's funeral, one of which was a full 24" party tray of kiwi, blood oranges, grapes and other fruit that I had made up (I went down and spent $76 on fruit and vegetables for trays for the memorial, now that's a lot). Anyway, I was so hungry when I got home from the services that day, and so was Harold, that we sat down and ate over half that tray of fruit in one sitting, then I went out and did the evening feeding, and came in a finished off the rest of the tray all by my self.

I don't know what came over me, it's just that I couldn't stop, especially with the kiwis. I have seed for the little hardy kiwis that I'm going to start this year, I'm assuming that they won't produce fruit for a year or two, but those little things are da bomb! They're the little grape sized fuzzless ones.

"Tomorrow is the most important thing in life. Comes into us at midnight very clean. It's perfect when it arrives and it puts itself in our hands. It hopes we've learned something from yesterday." ~ John Wayne

---

by: JoanneRigutto @ Sun Feb 28, 2010 at 08:27:17 AM CST

[ Parent ]