Agents of change

Isuppose by now you have heard and read all you can stand about the applications before different bodies of our county government to hold concerts and festivals and weddings and all sorts of shindigs and shenanigans.

Look on the bright side. Rappahannock could wind up with our own little descriptor. Front Royal claims to be the Canoe Capital of the World. Wonder what it’s going to be like to be called the Porta-potty Capital of the World?

Some of our old-timers have frightfully waited for the arrival of the nefarious developers with mega-millions to spend who would turn our beautiful county into a wasteland for their profits. Seems to me the more apt description of our present situation might be that line from Pogo that says, “We have seen the enemy and he is us.”

I don’t know what the answer should be.

What is the poor landowner who has hundreds of acres of open land and can’t make it as a farmer supposed to do? Sell it? Take up some other line of work? Hire a competent farm manager? Rent it to some folks who know how to profit from the land?

Or ask the county government to give you special dispensation with an open-ended permit that lets you hold multiple events, of various sizes and descriptions, and — get this — allows the permit holder to sub-let the responsibility and the liability if something goes wrong, and someone gets wronged or injured or worse?

Is this a great country, or what?

The words my father told me, that you can’t ration a rat in a corn house, seem to be coming home to roost. And if you, like me, have ever had the opportunity to clean out a chicken house, then you know what piles up under the roost poles. Heaven help us.

This year the garden has been a big puzzle for me. I don’t know if it was all the early, cool weather and lots of rain, or if I am losing my touch. Some of our early cool weather crops did well. We have had so many good salads and all the things that go in them. We have invented new ways to eat cabbage and broccoli. Some of them were pretty good; others, less so.

The other night I had new peas, creamed with new potatoes. I ate a whole bowl full of little, early beets. Our tomatoes took a hit with that one late frost, but have recovered and we will have a fine crop, albeit a bit later than I would prefer. I planted six cucumber plants. Five of them died. I have replanted my corn three times. I thought the first time it didn’t come up was because I was, again, rushing the season. The second time it didn’t come up, I blamed it on old seed. (Bob Day told me not to do it, but what does he know?)

I do have a couple of pretty rows of string beans, but my limas look pathetic. The biggest problem is just me. I don’t have the patience I used to have. I think I’m going to have to find another hobby. Maybe politics? Yeah, right!

I had a wonderful week with the kids at vacation bible school at the Washington Baptist Church. We are fortunate to have so many good kids and so many great volunteers. You folks stay well, and God bless.