I agree 100% with Fanderal in his recent article on “Doing Versus Studying”. I grew up helping with gardening and canning as a boy in southern Indiana. There is a tremendous difference between having helped (“Hold the bucket, son.”) and picking up the knife and beginning the slaughter of a 300 pound hog. I have spent the last 20 years raising my family in suburbia and have very fond memories of growing up in the country. Memories are not a substitute for practical hands on experience. The Millennium bug got me thinking about “What If” while the 9/11 events were the wake up call (9/11 brought me to my knees before God at which time I asked for salvation) and the Katrina disaster became the “Get your rear in gear” motivator. I have begun a modest food storage program, renewed my routine purchase of guns & ammo as well as routine instruction to my family on all survival issues. We now plan to sell our McMansion and move to the country. This past spring my mother offered me 6 extra tomato plants she was not going to plant and thus began my experiment in gardening. I learned a lot from those 6 plants. I learned that those little plants get very big. I used large pots and placed them on my back deck (note to self: put them somewhere else next year). I learned that it takes a lot of water to grow plants in a drought (100 degree F. temps in Atlanta for more than 3 weeks this summer). I learned that birds like to eat tomatoes when they get ripe (loss of 1/3 of crop). I learned that blossom rot is not good (loss of 1/3 of crop). I learned that high winds will blow your plants over and not to place them on the deck rail (1 broken pot and 3 broken pot plates). I remembered how great those fresh homegrown tomatoes taste on your plate at suppertime or on a Bacon-Lettuce-Tomato sandwich at lunch and that their flavor far exceeds the bland offerings at the overpriced grocery. I learned that the 1/3 of the crop that was harvested was still a lot of tomatoes. I learned that I need to learn or relearn many skills that I once knew and that I should practice, practice, practice. – Yonah
Letter Re: Doing Versus Studying–Wherever You Live
