Belle Glade, Florida

To me, this is the saddest picture we have seen all week. The picture was taken in Belle Glade, Florida. It shows two of the eleven children of a migrant family. The older boy is caring for the younger one, who has been sick and lost lots of weight. The family is stuck in Belle Glade, because the parents lost the car. I really wish that I could hear the story of how their lives played out . . . were they able to overcome this poverty and lead happy lives?

Dalhart, Texas

One of the things that made the Great Depression so bad is that right in the middle of one of the worst financial crisis in the US's history, there was a drought of epic proportion. The rains just stopped. The picture above was taken near Dalhart, Texas, and you can see the conditions were such that farming or ranching was impossible.

Poor Family

Today's picture was taken in 1938 in Central Ohio. it shows a desperately poor man and his child. notice how the exterior of his home is covered by cardboard to serve as a wind break and some modest level of insulation. When I was growing up in the 60's people were still living in houses like this. The little town I grew up in had a Barrio, and it was filled with this sort of scene. 

Mound Bayou

Today's picture was taken in Mound Bayou, Louisiana. The picture was taken in 1939.

Migrant's Son

Good Monday morning to you all. Hope you enjoyed your weekend, and are all fired up to get back to work today. On OPOD this week, we will be looking at the Great Depression. Today's picture is from 1939, and it shows the son of Migrant Workers eating on the side of the road. As I mentioned yesterday, I believe that the Great Depression built a type of character that is sorely missing today.

Another thing I find interesting in studying the Great Depression is to go back and look at the Roaring 20's. Wow, those folks were completely caught off guard, and were oblivious to the disaster that was about to hit them. People in the 1920's had no clue how fast it would hit, how bad it would get, and how long it would last. In studying the 20's you really don't see anyone raising the alarm. One of the characteristics that can really be seen in the 20's is the Normalcy Bias. This is a mental state where people assume that everything will be OK, even when the signs are pointing to disaster. If you get a chance, do some research on Normalcy Bias. Lots of interesting articles on the internet. The other interesting and related theme is the theory of Black Swans. Both are interesting topics to help understand how things went wrong so quickly in the 1930's.

The Great Depression

Well, we had some great fun yesterday with the Mystery Person Contest. Lots of good guesses, but in the end no correct answers, so by the rules of the game, I am the winner. I updated yesterday's post, and you can read about the Mystery Woman. Now, back to this week. This will be Great Depression Week. We have not looked at the Great Depression in some time. The picture above was taken in 1938 in Jarreau, Louisiana. Children are waiting in the car for their parents.

I really enjoy studying the Great Depression. The angle I like to look at is not so much how bad it was, but how much character it built. I think it set the stage and helped define America's greatest generation. This was a generation of Doers and Savers. We have become a generation of Watchers and Spenders.

Domestic Update:

You all have been asking for a Domestic Update, so here goes. First, that peacock is definitely up to something. Now that I have gone back to work, his project out behind Chickie Town has resumed. If you look at the picture below, it appears that he has constructed some sort of large concrete slab.

I am not sure what the intended purpose is, but I noticed in the corner the initials T.D. has been marked in the concrete. The slab appears to be about 40X40 in size.

I have been busy as well. This last week I put in the first part of a fruit orchard. I had 2 18 wheel truckloads of dirt moved in, spread the dirt out, and put in 6 trees. I have 3 peach, 2 apple, and 1 apricot trees. The trees were bare root, so they do not show up well in the picture.

In the bean barn, my lettuce crop is getting going. I plant one row of lettuce each week, so it will mature over time. I did not want to plant the whole system at once, as  day would come that 350 heads of lettuce would be ready on the same day. Below, you can see the first few rows have been planted, and the first lettuce is starting to look good.

The tomatoes continue to do well. I really enjoy being able to go out in the middle of winter and pick ripe tomatoes off the vine. The vines are continuing to produce much more than we can eat.

I would really like to figure out how to have a nice corn patch and black eyed pea patch. I would likely have to have a lot of dirt moved in for that to happen. I worry that the peacocks and chickies would eat the seedlings before they had a chance to come up. So, I am still pondering how to do the corn and pea patch.