Certainly it can’t be rocket science to create procedures to provide for a safe and clean environment for workers. Masks, gloves, appropriate distancing and routine cleaning along with new procedures would enable the continued production.
Many might say we have always conducted business this way. A new perspective will say we can completely change the environment to maximize safety and be productive.
Would you rather have the meat processors shut down and fire all the employees? Not needed. We are creative, smart and hard-working. I have faith in our American workers! It can be done and should be down.
We are at war - step it up and git-er-done!
AKGrannyWGrit
I think many people eat too much protein. The govt. pushes this for seniors. I am 69 and only crave about 40 grams per day. Research on line, determine what is ideal for your weight and activity level. To promote autophagy, cell cleaning, less protein is better. I agree, David, protein can be found in many foods. You just have to be conscious to get a complete spectrum of essential amino acids. Meat, animal products is the easiest.
Small–smaller than Tyson and its ilk–butchering operations and shops were deemed to be non-essential and made to close. The large outfits work their people/slaves cheek by jowl and they wonder why they become infected and fall ill or die? It’s time to start running our lives and businesses on a human scale.
Would you rather have the meat processors shut down and fire all the employees? Not needed. We are creative, smart and hard-working. I have faith in our American workers! It can be done and should be down.As my title says. That said, I would love to see big corporations take worker safety more importantly, I just doubt they will. I expect some cosmetic changes, some safety measures for the cameras but that money will still come down on doing it the cheapest way at the expense of the workers. My post was wondering how the Administration thinks a DPA order is going to change that. The cynic in me said it won't and the action is just for show. Personally I've stockpiled a little bit of meat in my freezers but honestly, I had been moving towards a less meat diet for the last few years.
Thank you Granny, I appreciate it. No breweries around here though. Not even a good beer joint although most of the local convenience stores have all the Bud that a man could want. 
It is a tough thing to get compost. I have a couple composters going all the time, one I made for grass clippings and chicken manure and another we bought for kitchen scraps. It is not enough. We add leaves and whatnot to get it evened out and it works well… but it is not enough. After getting a year or so under our belt on our farm, we decided to stick to what we could make ourselves. So we muddle. We’re winning the battle but it is slow steady going.
But for someone looking to make a change or starting out fresh? They need good accurate info. Not “It worked for me and so that means anyone who doesn’t emulate me is a heretic!”
An example: Dealing with heavy clay soils.
If someone tells you that they had a clay problem but they put 10 or 20 bags of compost on a typical 30’x40’ garden and cured the problem? They didn’t have a clay problem to begin with. They had slightly less than optimum soil that was easily rectified with a small intervention. Putting 20 bags of compost on a normal sized garden with a serious clay problem is like tossing 20 sparrows down a hungry lion’s throat. It’s not nothing but it is only a start. A small one at that.
A real clay problem saturates itself early in the season to where you can’t get in the garden for weeks at a time and then gets a hard crust that denies plants any water at all late in the season. I know because I’m maybe a bit over midway building the soil in our own garden. So far I’d guess I’ve put half a ton of store bought semi-local organic composted chicken manure, a half ton pickup bed full of composted horse manure, and a couple year’s worth of my own high test recipe of grass clippings, chicken manure, and maple leaves.
Three years in and I’m just now getting to where I am not unhappy with it. A ways to go yet, but we’re on our way. My experience is unique to my farm. I’m not saying that what I needed to do is what everyone needs to do. I’m saying that this was what needed to be done here. And ignoring those who had all the answers for totally different facts on the ground was part of the reason this is working. It’s all about crafting a local answer to a local problem.
Will
If someone tells you that they had a clay problem but they put 10 or 20 bags of compost on a typical 30’x40′ garden and cured the problem? They didn’t have a clay problem to begin with. They had slightly less than optimum soil that was easily rectified with a small intervention. Putting 20 bags of compost on a normal sized garden with a serious clay problem is like tossing 20 sparrows down a hungry lion’s throat. It’s not nothing but it is only a start. A small one at that.I know what you mean. The soil in my side yard could be used to make bricks, it has a lot of clay in it. My experience is nothing like yours based on size, but when I started I dug deep, nearly 18 inches and turned over the soil, then worked compost into the clay. Every year since (going on ten now) I've been working more and more compost into it. Even given that, I can still count on a hard crust during the Summer when rain wets it, then the Sun cooks it. I ended up putting a deeper watering system in to may few raised beds, using pvc pipe, that lets me soak the soil 6-8' down and below. Not something you can do, given the size you have. Here is my modest attempt:
All I can offer new people would be look at ways to get water into the ground, below the first few inches. I've seen things like ceramic pots which are buried with plants, that wick water into the subsurface, or pipes that do the same.
Use that tendency to crust as a advantage to cut down on weeds.
Chris so needs to do one of these, lol, but from a Peak Prosperity point of view.
[embed]https://youtu.be/Ms7capx4Cb8[/embed]
I should point out, you don’t have to eat as much meat as we do. You can get plenty of protein from vegetables, rice and beans. Plus those store much better.
I concur. While eating meat provides Vitamin B12 and protein, it also brings with it an additional measure of fat, and in those who eat too much of it a number of negative health effects – which most everyone is aware of.
Growing a good supply of drying beans, lentils, and other legumes is probably more important than keeping industrial-scale slaughter and butchering operations going. It’s possible to grow at least some of the healthful food we need right at home, and its our duty to try!
Great to see a little levity in these times. Thanks for the video. I think it is well done, hilarious, and topical…good humor.
All things in balance. We have canine teeth for a reason.
I have clay in some of my garden plots and through out my property mixed in with what is considered prime soil in spots. I compost huge piles of hay to lighten my soil and add organic material. Takes a few years to compost it right so there are no or few viable seeds in it, but it makes fantastic s oil amendment. Get some hay bails, lots of them, break them up a bit, keep wet, stir it around time to time. Takes a few years but is a cheap way to make lots of good compost. I should add that I do add some well aged cow manure, or as I call it, barn scrapings and now with my addition of chickens I will have more good compost material. Another long term compost idea I am trying out is this… I cleared 60-70 trees for more orchard space and garden space, couldn’t figure out how to dispose of all the brush left over ( a huge mountain of brush). It was too much to burn, or I would spend all damn summer on burning, and I have way too much to do for that waste of time. So, I piled the brush in a remote spot and started covering it in dirt. I figure 6,8, maybe 10 years from now when I have depleted some of my soil, I will have a large pile of composted wood and bark, which to me, is some of the finest compost you can use.
I think too many people believe we are all built the same. We are not. Every person is unique in the way their body is put together and functions. There is no one size fits all and it does get a little old hearing people say “This is what you SHOULD do”. Personally, I don’t need other people to tell me what they think I should do or what others should do. The balance to free will is that actions have consequences.
Sorry for the troll-like carpet bombing of comments. I have been hitting it hard at home and only occasionally make time to pop in here. Had a lot to say, and after putting in so much work, today I am dragging my butt a little in getting outside and getting to it. Alright, again, apologies. Back to work.
Sounds like you are making a hugelkultur bed.
https://www.permaculturenews.org/2010/08/03/the-art-and-science-of-making-a-hugelkultur-bed-transforming-woody-debris-into-a-garden-resource/
I use empty gallon or half gallon jugs, drill several holes around the bottom, and set them into the ground about 6 to 8 inches. I fill the jugs with water and whatever additions I need; compost tea, chicken manure water, magnesium, etc, and put the lid back on fairly loosely. It keeps me from giving the plants a sprinkle and a promise when I’m ‘too busy’…would rather read! I really wanted some ollas, but they were too spendy, and I’m impatient and wanted a bunch of waterers at once. Mulch on top and I’m set.
dtrammel and MQ: It sounds like you two have some inventive ways to take care of watering. I have seen a couple folks around here drive pvc pipe with holes in it into the ground to get water deep into the roots for orchards. It sounds similar to what you’ve described.
As someone else mentioned you can have a clay problem in one area and not have the problem right beside it. My garden was the worst soil on my place. At least for clay content. Why? Because the previous owners (my aunt and uncle) had a tractor and wanted to make sure they used it. So they did what so many others have done and plowed through the topsoil and brought up subsoil… mostly clay.
Argh.
The soil right beside the garden has a rich layer maybe a foot deep. More clay than you’d like but very rich. And the whole area was where the barn lot was for as long as anyone can remember. But once the deed was done? A complete rebuilding project of soil as yellow as a pine board.
Will
I didn’t realize there was a name for that. I just decided to do it based on observation. When I go out to cut firewood I have seen rotted logs that when you check the underside there is some of the richest, lightest soil you have ever seen. Seemed like a good way to create long term compost, but yes I have thought of growing stuff right in it too. Always so much to learn, never stop.
I pick up about 150 bags of leaves and grass clippings every year in the town near me. I use it all for mulching beds and making compost. I’ve figured out when the trash pickup is in different neighborhoods, and drive through the evening before. Leaf bags are smooth and trash bags are lumpy. This gives me tons of fertility that would otherwise go in the landfill. By mulching all summer, it keeps the weeds down, holds moisture and feeds the plants all season.
Lunch from my victory garden harvest … Fresh picked Arugula, Buttercrunch Lettuce, Radishes, Carrot, Bunching Onions. Canned from summer garden: Cucumber Pickles, Pickled Okra, Subway Peppers, Escabeche. Fresh baked Cibatta bread. Store bought Florida Tomato. All organic.
Yum
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Lunch from my victory garden harvest[/caption]