Jeff Pelline's Sierra Foothills Report

I’m looking forward to picking up our first CSA (community supported agriculture) share from Four Frog Farm on Tuesday — this time at the Truckee Farmers Market at Truckee River Regional Park.

“This Tuesday marks the beginning of the veggie season, so be there or be square,” writes Andrew Meyers of Four Frog in Penn Valley. “We’re looking forward to it.” So are we.

Andrew epitomizes a new generation of farmers, needed as their average age nationally creeps toward 60. “Many shun industrial, mechanized farming and list food journalist Michael Pollan as an influence,” as the New York Times observed recently.

Community Supported Agriculture is a direct way to support local farmers. In return, you receive fresh, healthy and seasonal food.

CSA members invest in the farm in spring, when funds are most needed, by purchasing a share of the harvest. Then, throughout the season—June to Oct., for example— they receive a weekly box of produce or other goods. The price averages about $25 a week.

Here’s what Four Frog is providing this week:

Arugula – 1 bunch – it will be on the spicier side since the weather is warming
Radishes – 1 bunch – ditto on the spiciness
Bok choi – about 1 lb – absolutely great in a stir fry
Kale – 1 bunch of dino kale
Rainbow Chard – 1 bunch
Lettuce – about 1 large head’s worth
Zucchini – 3 medium zuccini
Broccoli – 2 small heads
Garlic – 1 bulb of green (uncured, therefore not as strong yet) garlic

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Time magazine has a report probing what we have been discussing here regularly, at the risk of being hog tied and branded: Has conservatism lost touch with reality?

“”Conservatism is true.’ That’s what George Will told me when I interviewed him as an eager student many years ago,” writes Fareed Zakaria in Time. “His formulation might have been a touch arrogant, but Will’s basic point was intelligent.

“Conservatism, he explained, was rooted in reality. Unlike the abstract theories of Marxism and socialism, it started not from an imagined society but from the world as it actually exists. From Aristotle to Edmund Burke, the greatest conservative thinkers have said that to change societies, one must understand them, accept them as they are and help them evolve.

“Watching this election campaign, one wonders what has happened to that tradition. Conservatives now espouse ideas drawn from abstract principles with little regard to the realities of America’s present or past. This is a tragedy, because conservatism has an important role to play in modernizing the U.S.
(See “The Heart of Conservative Values: Not Where It Used to Be?”)

“Consider the debates over the economy. The Republican prescription is to cut taxes and slash government spending — then things will bounce back. Now, I would like to see lower rates in the context of tax simplification and reform, but what is the evidence that tax cuts are the best path to revive the U.S. economy?

“Taxes — federal and state combined — as a percentage of GDP are at their lowest level since 1950. The U.S. is among the lowest taxed of the big industrial economies.

“So the case that America is grinding to a halt because of high taxation is not based on facts but is simply a theoretical assertion. The rich countries that are in the best shape right now, with strong growth and low unemployment, are ones like Germany and Denmark, neither one characterized by low taxes.

“We need conservative ideas to modernize the U.S. economy and reform American government. But what we have instead are policies that don’t reform but just cut and starve government — a strategy that pays little attention to history or best practices from around the world and is based instead on a theory. It turns out that conservatives are the woolly-headed professors after all.”

The rest of the article is here.

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Editor’s note: Banks still aren’t loaning much money — helping to keep our economy stalled. Total loan volume is down, according to the FDIC. But here’s a bright spot: Some Florida banks are starting to make loans again.

“Fifty-one banks in Florida have failed since the start of 2007. Now some of the survivors are starting to make loans again,” according to the Wall Street Journal.

“In the first quarter, 29 banks with headquarters in Florida increased their total loan volume by at least 5% compared with the end of 2010, according to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.

“The modest rebound is a contrast to the overall decline of 1.7% in total loans at the nation’s 7,574 banks and savings institutions, the fifth-steepest drop in 28 years. Many banks still are struggling to overcome piles of bad loans, while some institutions with plenty of capital are having trouble finding enough eager, qualified borrowers.

“‘In Florida, more than 200 banks are still standing. Those that aren’t crippled by past mistakes ‘can find some opportunities in loan demand right now,’ says Richard Brown, the FDIC’s chief economist.

“‘We have no competitive advantage from a product standpoint,’ says Joseph Caballero, chief executive of GulfShore Bank. ‘It’s strategy and execution,’ The 3½-year-old Tampa bank’s loan portfolio grew 16% to $93.5 million in the first quarter.”

The rest of the article is here.

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Like other parents, we’re sending our child to his favorite summer camp this week — swimming, fishing, archery, crafts, folk singing. There are camps of all sorts — here’s a tea party summer camp for kids:

“Some kids trot along trails at horse camp over the summer. Others build volcanoes at science camp, learn to strum a guitar at music camp, or scale 20-foot walls at rock-climbing camp. And in Tampa, Fl., children will learn about free markets and limited government at Tea Party camp.

“The Tampa Liberty School is hosting this week-long, half-day camp (July 11-15) for the first time. The program is modeled after vacation bible school and run by parents and volunteers from a Tea Party group called Tampa 912 Project. Campers will learn about our nation’s founding principles: personal responsibility, faith, courage, hard work, reverence and thrift.

“‘We want to impart to our children what our nation is about, and what they may or may not be told,’ conservative writer Jeff Lukens, who is organizing the camp, told TampaBay.com.

“Lukens added that he’s unfamiliar with the public school curriculum, but, ‘I do know they have a lot of political correctness. We are a faithful people, and when you talk about natural law, you have to talk about God. When you take that out of the discussion, you miss the whole thing.’

“Lukens and his staff will deliver their Christian message through fun, hands-on activities.”

The rest of the article is here.

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