More than 2.41 million viewers!

 It's been 15 years since I started this blog. I was surprised to find the number of viewers exceeding 2.41 million. Of course, it must be the cumulative total number but not the total number of individual visitors. Still a big number. It has increased significantly for the past few months. Even 20K viewers a day! I appreciate all of you visiting this blog.

Since I quit ham radio, I wanted to substitute this blog to the communication on the radio. A few good friends are actually visiting here from time to time. Still only a limited number of them. If you are new to me or an old friend, please leave a word or two in the comment. Don't forget put your call sign and, if not a ham, your name to it. Let me know how you knew of this blog as well. I won't advertize it any way but am curious to know how this tiny blog is known to you.  

I don't think I could carry on this blog for a long time now. But, as a proof of existence on this planet, it will be pleasure to converse with you through this media, especially if we share something old in the past.

Thank a lot in advance!   

A few photos of the garden/farm

A few photos from my garden/farm.

 Already started planting vegetables for this winter/next spring. This is a white radish grown from seed. Not much pest damage. No chemicals nor fertilizers. Only compost made from pulled weeds.

Burdock plants have grown like trees this summer and have shed some seeds on the ground. A few seedlings have grown from them. Lovely ones. I have transplanted a couple of them to a farm ridge. So far, it has been rooted. Wondering if they will grow like their mother plants.

Marie gold is flowering as if it was their time now. At a corner of the farm. As told before, they work against some kind of nematodes damaging vegetables. Not only for that practical use but also for appreciation. There are a number of big bushes of this flower everywhere in our lot.

Started gardening/farming as a kind of hobby. Nowadays, considering of spending several hours in garden/farm without beind tired of, I feel it has become the main job for me. Having been a pediatrician?  What is it and where has it gone? 

 

Sweet potatoes harvest

It is the time of harvest of sweet potatoes right now. As already wrtten in a previous post, a kind of Commelina with violent fertility has been growing everywhere in the farm. It bears own "seeds" in roots in the soil. Carefully sorting out it among sweet potatoe plants, I should keep the seeds out of the soil. This is an imported kind of Commelia, they say. Sittin along  the farm ridge, I go on doing that work for a few hours a day. 

Another not very grateful news is that the harvest of sweet potatoes is not what it was expected this year possibly due to the long lasting rain in the end of summer. The harvest is still good enough for us as the savings for a year ahead. Yes, I am half seriously worrying that the possible famine or terrible inflation could strike us in the near future.

Our government plans to grow sweet potatoes for the people in case of a bad famine all around the country or even in the world. The food self sufficiency rate is as low as 36% and, considering of the cost for the agricultural materials mostly dependent on import it will become 10%. Horrible number isn't it? Rice storage could be depleted easily. Sweet potato, as they say, is a good crop to fill the caloric requirement for the people, even compared with rice. It is an advantage sweet potatoes won't require much fertilizer. However, beside that it takes at least several months to grow and harvest it from scratch, it won't grow well in humid soil and high ridge in the farm is necessary. It could be eaten by bugs and its growth depends on the weather etc as well.  I am afraid they reckon it as an easy going project. Whenever growing it in my farm, I feel it is not a very easy task. 　

The sweet potatoes harvested will be stored for 2 or 3 weeks until they get more matured and sweeter. Then they will be served for cooking, mainly as the material of miso soup or of tempura. Steamed sweet potatoes are also good. I will bring some of them to a couple of old friends.

Another farm ridge of sweet potatoes is waiting for me to be harvested soon, at least, before it gets frosty.

The oligarch around Trump

The oligarch around Trump. Don't they realize the economic disparity would cause serious instability and even conflict in the world. 

Recently, I learned the hatred against communism/socialism permiated in the US derived from the Civil War. The capitalists in the south didn't accept the idea of losing slavery which had been their asset. It seems the precursor that people hate sharing the commons discarding the right of private fortune. Of course, the failure of the communist countries after WWII etc were another factor. I believe, at least, social security and medical service should be based on the idea of socialism.

Looking at this photo of oligarch around Trump, I could not help thinking the society in the US is going forward to the opposite direction.