From: bill@chaos.cs.umn.edu (Hari Seldon...psychohistorian)
Newsgroups: misc.rural
Subject: Re: A thank you, and an update on rural life :)
Date: 15 Oct 92 22:25:42 GMT
Article-I.D.: chaos.bill.719187942
Organization: University of Minnesota

In <1bimf3INN7cq@usenet.INS.CWRU.Edu> ag301@cleveland.Freenet.Edu (Tricia Schmidt) writes:


>Wow!  I'm overwhelmed by all the helpful responses to my post
>"rural life?".  And I'm a little tickled by the sarcastic
>response by one person (it's a good thing I can see your 
>expression while you type! :).
 
i wonder who ...

>[stuff deleted]   dirt!  Jim and I are going to clean out the
>barn, gather all the leaves, and start one of our own.

very good idea! hey you'r learning. now about the other 999,999;-)

>around the house.  It's neat to watch - amazing how much corn
>is out there!  I never imagined!  Two rows fills up the combine.

fyi it'll fill even faster if the rows are longer;-)

>it all again next year.  I had never thought about corn before.

that is one of the biggest problems i have with city life, most
people never consider where the food come from. hey wait till ya see 
potato(e)s

>And, of course, there's nothing like the surprise of waking up
>at 7 AM with a combine driving by the bedroom window.  Since
>we're so far away from neighbors we never thought about curtains.
>Quite an experience!

just wait till the cows get loose 8-O

>I like the idea of putting yougurt in the septic tank.  Sounds
>very organic.

>Apparently I am going to have to learn to do some things for

yeeeeesss. i tried to point that out in my post, glad to see that you got
the message (from where ever, hopefully *some* of what i posted
helped)

>myself.  This may sound strange to some of you, but having lived
>in the city all my life I never even had to think about a water
>line or what to do with sewage.  That's just how city life is.

this is the basic 'discussion' going on in another thread i'm involved
in. you should be able to take care of yourself, no one else has
the responsibility to coddle (you, in the generic sense). wheather
you choose to not do a job should (as much as possible imho) be based
on not having the desire, not on not having the ability.

>water to be tested in the spring after the planting, and 

you could also do it now, this way you could see if anything sprayed
ended up in your water. it will help avoid the 'well the water was good 
till *you* sprayed' syndrome.

>tomorrow I'll ask the farmers what they put on their crops.

please be, ummm, shall we say descrete in how you handle this. i mean
some farmers will get defensive 'cause another person may have started
that conversation before, accusing them of poisoning the world.
kinda like 'and how long have you been beating your (insert family member)?
ie there are ways to question and there are WAYS to question.

>They may be doing organic farming because today when I went to
>rescue one for the dog he showed me some rye seeds that they
>will now be planting.  He picked some up, ate a few, and offered
>me a few.  I don't think he'd be eating them if they had chemicals
>on them..

thats typically corn that has been treated, with a fungiside. its
easy to spot, it's pink. grasses are not typically (ever?) treated;
at least i've never seen any in the past 15 years. hmmm so
you'll have a source of rye for breads, and right outside the door.
assuming it's not being planted as a cover crop.

>Well, time to get some sleep - because I have this odd feeling 
>that they'll be driving combines around here again tomorrow ;)

yep, till their done, or it snows/rains/hails/high winds/etc.

enjoy. oh and don't invite the whole city over all at once they have
a tendancy to look at fields and see malls :-)

bill pociengel
--
llbi locgeenpi " i'm a little confused right now"