"Sri Lanka’s federal government on Monday approved a proposal that would shorten the work week of most public sector staff to four days so that workers will have time to farm their own crops, Reuters reported Tuesday, noting the measure aims to combat Sri Lanka’s worsening food shortages caused by a recent economic crisis." The value of a home garden is once again proven by example....
Of course... they are from the government and they are here to control, ooops, ahem... help. Can't control someone that doesn't rely on them. If you are self-reliant, you can tell them to take a flying f, ooops, hehehe... leap.
But most of the problems in Sri Lanka are being caused by the government finding out the hard way that their new improved socialism is in fact the same failed system that has destroyed all previous attempts to make it work. Sri Lankan economic crisis: Socialism kills slowly, but when combined with Chinese debt trap policy it kills surely Sri Lankan President Rajapaksa instructs officials to stockpile essentials, amid looming food shortage But don't worry, AOC and Bernie have figured out how to make it work this time.
We had Victory Gardens in WW II promoted by the government. It's time they promote Survival Gardens. Gotta ask what is our government doing -------nothing. Don't know what the seed situation will be--- I need to stock up on seeds.
Read recently where Russia is selling Sri Lanka oil to restart their sole oil refinery. The Russians are selling oil to a number of nations at a discount ($80-90 per barrel), with India and China buying the most. Since the Russia/Ukrainian War began Russia has sold $100 Billion worth of oil, and that doesn't include the NG that Europe buys. Russia is doing OK...the West not so good!
Just imagine if the USA developed its full oil producing potential we could be selling oil and just maybe start reducing our trillions of debt. One can dream the impossible dream.
I always wondered why the local governments wouldn't, instead of just mowing beside the interstates ,, just plow them one time and spread seeds for food plots ,, and let the nearby folks worry about caring for,,, picking and weeding ,, till the next planting cycle . But ,, I guess that makes a little bit of sense,, and might help some people,,,, and helping the taxpayers is something not on their list of stuff to care about .
Yea,, it might not be the best idea ,, but it might save a little money on mowing fees . It doesn't have to be interstates ,, if people would work it like a community garden and not be greedy ,, everything would be all peachy,, but all this may only work in a fairytale world ,,,, but that damned sure ain't what we got going on here .
Somehow over time we lost the ability to work together as a group. In a lot of primitive societies the land is held in common and you use what you need and take care of it. Used to be common pasture land, forests, garden spaces, irrigation complexes, etc. Now they teach that the failure of the commons is that it is human nature to get what ever you can in the short term even though it may destroy every thing in the long run. While many of our problems are caused by this greed, the solutions to it are in the process of destroying our present system. The new argument is that to preserve the commons, some one must regulate it, and of course there are many groups willing to take charge for our own good. Usually using the power of the government to enforce their wishes. https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.1619877114 Be very careful what you wish for as the devil often uses the fairy godmother image.
That rhetorical question had been asked as late as July 2020 of former President Trump Why Trump Should Support Community Gardens and Urban Food Forests when he was in office...and the answer is....not very much. Apparently Monilia wasn't the Eleanor Roosevelt of her time. Apparently Mrs Trump III, was more interested in rose gardens Melania Trump's White House Rose Garden revamp still sowing controversy - CNNPolitics than self sufficient organic food gardening at the White House. It is an error to expect things to happen top down by people who have more interest in pandering to and placating corporate donors than meeting the needs of the constituents who actually voted to get them elected. The more effective alternative, though requiring much harder work and commitment, is to take action from the bottom up, by practicing food growing self sufficiency, and encouraging others to do the same by example and by advocacy at the grass roots level. When I was living in one of the southern suburbs of Brisbane some 12 or so years ago, I was part of a group that established the Graceville Community Garden. I was involved in advocacy for the community garden and was a member of the steering committee which worked with neighbourhood stakeholders and with local government politicians to get the community garden established. Although there was some local opposition to the project by a vocal minority of individuals, the garden was ultimately established, and still runs today with the support of the Benarrawa Community Development Association, on which site, the garden stands. From this: Community garden wins battle to open : newsbytes Graceville Community Garden Graceville Community Garden - CGA to this:
True, though cultivating pollinators helps in pollinating productive plants that are not subject to roadside contamination....just a thought. Container gardening is an option, at least in Australia where leaded petrol has been phased out of production and distribution completely in 2002. Design guidelines for street verge gardens - CGA The generous verge garden - Sanctuary Magazine
Another factor in public/community gardens is it always ends up a handful of people doing all of the work and everyone collecting their equal share. People now days in general have no clue just how much work goes into producing a years worth of food for one person. LOL the more people the easier it gets to a point. No harder to feed 20 hogs vs 1 or plant two rows of green beans rather than a half row. a couple of Zucchini plants will take care of one or even two people for a year.... 20 will feed half continent LOL. I produce 90% of our food and it is a solid devotion of 25 hours per week April through October and 5-10 hours per week the rest of the year. either directly or indirectly (IE Baling Hay, Preserving etc) What I don't produce is what it makes no sense to produce or that just simply won't grow here. Flour, Sugar, Cornmeal, COFFEE, Vinegar, stuff like that. I do produce all of the Meats, Fruits, Vegetables and Berries. When I was producing for 300+ other people, That 25 hours per week was more like 80 hours per week in the same time frame. It also is NOT easy work when it comes to the Fruits/Vegetables/Berries. LOL Livestock is easy until something escapes and does not want to go back in Keep the water supply going, the feeders full and the hay in the rings or bunks and it pretty much raises itself. But the farm/land/firewood/mechanic/building and most everything else has been my Full Time job with all of the overtime I can muster to work for 25 years and is now my semi retired part time job. I have been fortunate to be able to earn a living this way and have a wife that that has also made a good living. If I had to go to work a 40 hours per week job with 10 hours of commute in addition..... It would pretty much be impossible to be at the level of self sufficiency we are at. Just no way I would have had the energy even when I was younger to spend 50 hours per week working off the farm and commuting and still be able to provide and produce everything needed to survive and thrive. See a lot of people buy that dream homestead and plans to be self sufficient and it all falls apart when the realization of just how much work goes into being even partially self sufficient. Not knocking folks that work full time jobs. Just saying they need to have a reasonable expectation of what they can do in reality. When I left the Military, I was one of those guys that lived cheap, saved most of my pay and all of my enlistment and Re-Up Bonuses and had a real good nest egg and a total sickness of other people and their malfunctions and wanted to live a nice quiet self sufficient life in the middle of nowhere. I made my choice and committed to it 120%. Lets be for real there is not much demand in the civ world for men that are really good at killing people and breaking things. If you know why I chose to live the post Mil life that I chose, then you know. If you don't there is no way of explaining it in ways that you would understand. But I had strong motivation to be as self sufficient as humanly possible. I am much more friendly and social now than back then but am still a pretty anti social prick Most people just are not going to have the drive and motivation I did and do have. Nothing wrong with that and nothing wrong with their choices, that go to work every day and deal with other people every day just was not a viable or good choice for me. What I do wish not for myself but for others. Is that they would get a better understand of what they are getting into before they invest $100,000+ into that rural property and plan to be self sufficient without understanding what being self sufficient entails. It would save them a lot of money and heartache. Sadly when we hit REAL food shortages and the Grocery Stores look like Soviet Grocery Stores in Moscow in the 80s.... there will be a whole lot of unhappy and very hungry people. 2020 gave little taste of that. Some people gained a better understanding and improved their skills, knowledge and understand. The vast Majority did not.
Ok ,, I'm back on board ,,, I had a weak moment there ,, thinking we all could just get along ,, fartin' fairy dust and all . I have them moments once in a while ,, thinking we can all help each other out and have a beautiful world . I just finished a 250 mile trip home ,, dealing with ( cough ) civilization. Reality is ,, civilization ain't so civil . Let them bastards starve .
I would venture to say most people in this country have no idea how to produce their own food, if it doesn't come wrapped in a package they are lost. Also I venture to say most people in this country don't know how to cook meal from scratch from all the prepared meals I see in the grocery store-----pop it in the microwave. Don't know about elsewhere but here even with the high cost restaurants are packed 7 days a week. It's gonna be e rough road when food becomes scares and the government is printing worthless money and can't subsidize all the freeloaders with all the government freebies --the natives won't just be restless they'll be violent.
