From the Transtemporal Observatory...

 Looking back at it, my present may not be your future.No good looking for news through a window to the past.Broken News is never the whole story. How to survive the cyclic challenge of historic administrative folly. Some would keep returning to the failed dependency.

Trusting in the hand me down systems can have regretable results.On offer;" Prison,Mental hospital or a bullet in the head."

Advice from my daughter whom the Colombian officials had coached: "I know they are Fascists dad,but do what they tell you."Long distance from Wales.

Principles are not things to be thrown away when times get difficult. We didn't compromise. Instead we recruited the aid of a member of the Colombian Army.We had Right in Law, therefore he was on our side. 

We got home with a fine uplifting tale to tell.  We're still standing on our hind legs without undue compromise of our moral principles.

I am not getting nostalgic. In many ways it's worse now.The old colonial empires' chickens have gradually but no less virally come home to roost.The early internet day privileged kids used to love it when their little bit of prankster rumour mongering or meming went viral. The political scientists have analysed the metrics of that liberal child's allowance,all grist to the mill of the globalist propaganda machine.Those now aging children will realize they have become victims of their own device.Enlightened preinternet warnings were ignored,reconstructed post war parental wisdom neglected. "Prepare for the crisis that is coming", that was a lot of well informed,wasted words ago. If it's only just dawning on you(as though you'd thought of it yourself), it's probably too late to adequately cope with the next phase of this troublesome decade without a high degree of initial discomfort, shortages and a sense of deprivation. I spent so much time trying to positively influence close family and friends to no avail, I nearly missed the bus myself. In retrospect I regard my past effort as well meant but naively foolish.

Let the wild things grow.An old variety, a hardy survivor. Denser than the pumped up super market offerings. Less prone to rot.

Reminiscence from four years old; My call to Mam from out in the garden..."When is dinner ready?",Mam's reply,"When you can smell the carrots." They don't seem to have retained the marvelous parfume of this root in the commercial named varieties. Odoursome and flavourful as in days of yor.The post war austerity wouldn't have turned it's nose up at these , a shape of things to come perhaps. Get used to it. Global crop failures and food shortages are real. They will effect quality, availability and price. A clump of these here robust tasty individuals allowed to self seed and mix genes freely, I  will let them wander in clumps like nomads around my garden, they'll provide a wholesome supply of all season nourishment..How we survived in the past is the key to how we will survive in the future.

Getting the beds comfortable and orderly for the long cold winter. I will be feeding the gullies between ridges with good compost and rotted manure later this season.

A dark photo image  but I like the illustrated form.  Old mulch scraped together on the raised ridge where once grew beans and maize. Boxwood thriving in the foreground. Just about visible on the right, the leeks have been cut back to discourage milldew, they will have their leaves back by winter and will be much fatter.

 Rising Earth ...

Sprouts are swelling...No one will stop us from celebrating around the table . We are blessed with abundance.

The seed from the yellow stick bean experiment. Next year I'll grow more for the bean itself. There is more seed stock yet to ripen. They make a pretty picture.