09:34 – Happy Independence Day. On the other hand, I confess that I’ve always wondered if the Founding Fathers did the right thing. Yes, they were saddled with a far-off king, but he ruled with a relatively light hand and the taxes he extracted were relatively low. Things might have gone on as they were for another 50 or 80 years. Slavery would probably have ended peacefully sooner than it did, and the Civil War might have been avoided. The States would have grown stronger and more distinct, and we might have avoided ending up with the incredibly intrusive federal government we have now. Instead, we might have ended up with a loose confederation of friendly sovereign States. Even if we ended up with a federal government, it might have been kept small and weak, and we might still be saying “the United States are” instead of “the United States is”.
The test garden is coming along well. Barbara is out working on it now. For the time being, we intend to keep it small. Gardening on a larger scale is too much work. But if a long-term emergency ever does make it necessary, we have what we need to (with a lot of work) expand the garden to an acre or more. Gardened intensively, that’s enough land to grow literally tons of assorted produce, sufficient to support a dozen or more people.