Vindication

Finally, an article in the Economist says what I have been saying for some time.  When the lesser depression hit with full force, people started buying less fresh vegetables and more processed substitutes.  That confirms the gut feeling many in our industry have had.  There is something satisfying about stocking the larder with seemingly indestructable canned veggies instead of watching the broccoli you purchased with no specific meal in mind turn to goldenrod in your crisper.  Not to mention the 3 bagged salads slowly fermenting in the same bin.  Even if you don't use the cans, it's an ant/grasshopper thing.  Of course, every couple of years we tend to clean the shelves and dispose of the oldest cans.  So much for thrift, but at 5 cans for a dollar on sale, it makes pyschological sense.

Trucking

If you are a grateful dead afficianado, the title of this post will have you humming all day.  According to some national owner-operator federation, there is or is not a shortage of long haul truckers to move the nation's freight.  Of course, anyone whose business depends on the whim of long haul drivers has know this for years.  Or at least, those of us in the veg business know there is a shortage of good truckers.  As far as I can see, it is a hellish job with little to recommend  it aside from the chance to see the underside of most American cities.  For the rest, it is bad food, long hours, low pay and abuse on all sides.  The story on NPR says the trucker can make $50 K/year before expenses.  I assume they mean drivers working for trucking companies.  In the bad old days, before cell phones and the internet, it was virtually impossible to track shipments if the driver did not feel like checking in.  Now, it is mostly impossible to avoid the calls of dispatch and customers.  No one cares if you had a flat, or the rush hour traffic killed three hours, or the early season snow storm kept you in a truck stop for 2 days.  I can't understand why thousands of people aren't  lined up trying to get these wonderful jobs.

No so snowy weekend

For those of us on the NCR, it was a lovely weekend.  Started out chilly on Friday evening, but warmed nicely on Saturday and Sunday was beautiful.  I got the fall garlic bed planted, harvested some beautiful lettuce for the co-op, and even played 9 holes on Sunday afternoon.  It was 36 degrees this morning as I left the house.  Meanwhile, the town of Peru, Mass. had to deal with 32 inches of snow.  As with real estate, weather is a matter of location, location, etc.

Correction

I guess you could call it a senior moment, but the title of the book I read as a teenager is "October the First is Too Late", by Fred Hoyle.  He was a mathemetician and astronomer.  The book was a complicated mish mash about time travel and double jeopardy, but thinking about it, I don't feel inspired to read it again.

October the 28th

Is too late.  Actually, the title of the Sci-Fi novel I read as a teenager was October the 29th is Too Late.  I don't remember the plot, which I will look up later, but I was referring to the first real frost of the season.  It was 32 degrees at Casa Monzeglio this morning and I'm pretty sure the basil and hopefully the galinsoga have given it up.  It's always bittersweet when the growing season is officially over, but a succession of 40 degree days have taken most of the starch out of growing plants.  The spinach, kale and collards are still growing, but beets, carrots and most other hardy veg are just marking time, waiting for the really hard freeze.  It will probably come quickly now as we are knocking on the door of November.  Meanwhile, in the wider markets, we are still stuck in a declining demand scenario.  Despite what the stock markets are doing, people still don't seem to be spending on vegetables.

MickyD and Walmart

As the pauperization of America proceeds apace, it would seem the ultimate winners (besides the 1%) are McDonalds and Walmart.  The middle class will wind up trading down to Walmart for their clothing and food, and to McDs for that all important night out.  A client who buys veg from me made the observation that McDonald stock is up.  However, Walmart is not.  One theory is while the lower echelons of the middle class have been Walmartized, the company is losing its core customers.  The vast underclass who live paycheck to paycheck are running out of money before the month is over.  Unemployment checks don't go as far, and if one spouse loses their job the money barely covers rent and food.  I guess the Dollar stores are the last resort for some of these people, and it does not bode well for the country if even mighty Walmart can't fight this tide.  One silver lining for the veg industry is when the poor can't afford the Friday night fast food fix, they can buy enough veg to feed their family for a few days with what they save on that QP with cheese.  We can only hope...

Ups and Downs

The weather here is not nearly as volatile as what they are experiencing in Colorado, but still resembles Wall St. lately.  The temps gyrate and the forecasters keep trying to make the permutations fit into their narrative of fall heading into winter.  We still have not had a frost, although tonight or tomorrow night should take care of that.  Even I am feeling this season should be over for the tender stuff.  The broader markets are so quiet it feels like the population must be on a fast food binge.  There is virtually no excitement.  WTF...