Wednesday, August 17, 2011

Farm Aid

 Here it is; here I am. Much ado about nothing.
a simple gate after a ton of bickering and lot of lawyers!
Wow, they are trying to balance the budget and I am wondering where they will start?
  I used to think, not the poor farmers, those who toil from before sunrise to after sunset, those who rely on the fickle weather to eck out a living scratching their existence from the hard clay of this Earth!
   My "Hatfield and McCoy" feuding vintner's job is being resolved.  Yes, I still have their gate near the front of my shop!  You might remember this story.  Three "vintners", one road and the argument over who pays the bills and who can use the road.  It all went to court and now it is resolved.  Maybe...
   At any rate they called me to say they are ready for the installation of their gate.  After three months, "what gate?" I said, "Who are you?"  Too subtle for them they saw no humor in my quibs. 
   I will install this gate today but went out there yesterday to make sure there were no problems, at least no anticipated problems.
   Forty acres seems to be the minimum size to get significant "farm aid" around here and that is what they have.  Unkempt, poorly trimmed and looking abandoned.  Forty acres of grapes and weeds.  But I got to see "the House"!
   At least 4,000 square feet, at the top of the knol, brand new and just on "the tour of homes", it was a showcase for sure!
   I could go on and on about this, describing walk in closets bigger than my living room, but just so you get the idea I want to tell you about the kitchen appliances.  No, not the whole kitchen which could comfortably seat twenty onlookers as the cook (chef?) prepared the evening meals, just the stoves and refrigerators and stuff.  $58,000 worth!  That is way more than I paid for my house, fifty-eight thousand dollars just for the appliances!  I didn't even know there could be such a thing!
   This guy sells used cars for a living.  A used car salesman with a farmer's aid package that cuts his property taxes to less than mine!
   He might, on a good year, produce one bottle of wine, a vinegar based cooking wine.  Something to give you a sour taste in your mouth.

My art and garden is HERE

3 comments:

Barbra Joan said...

ok I didn't know either.. so your not alone.. BJ

Autumn Leaves said...

Have to say that I seriously doubt that is the norm, Jer. I live in farm country and while some of the houses are gorgeous, they are often very old homes that have been updated over years of hard work. Many of the farm houses look as though they have been standing since the 1920's. And they have. Many of the farmers work their proverbial asses off and are always at the whim of Mother Nature. Never used to be so aware of it all until I moved out into the rural areas. And like all things, I'll bet there are many farmers who fall through the gaping cracks and get no aid whatsoever. I also think that is why so many farmers sell their land for big money to developers. The hard work just never paid off enough to justify all that hard work. I seriously fret the loss of our nation's farmland.

Jerry Carlin said...

Me too, AutumnLeaves, me too! I think our farm land is being lost to used car salesmen and million dollar houses!