Home > Jay Bookman > Archives > 2008 > June > 10 > Entry
DEL.ICIO.USFirst the corn, now the tomatoes?
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
It has always been one of the highlights of summer, the piles of fresh corn on the cob at the grocery store. When corn was at its cheapest, you knew it was at its best, because it meant that the local crop was coming in and flooding the market.
Fresh corn on the cob, dripping with butter, salt and pepper… yes, ma’am, nothing better. Back in an earlier time, when I had enough property to grow it myself, corn picked right off the stalk was a revelation.
But in the summer of ‘08, things are different. For a variety of reasons, the bounties of fresh corn are gone, and the corn that has made it to market so far has fallen well short of the perfection of earlier years. It’s as if something fundamental had gone awry in the universe.
And now they’re pulling tomatoes off the market too. An American summer without corn and tomatoes? What next, a baseball strike?
A few weeks from now, corn from the Midwest’s corn belt would ordinarily start coming into the market. But apparently this year’s crop is likely to be stunted by too much rain, and a poor harvest is predicted. And unfortunately, what the American consumer experiences as an inconvenience may mean starvation in other parts of the world, where life is closer to the edge and paying for food is difficult.
It’s all adds to the sense that the world has gotten a bit out of plumb, economically as well as ecologically. Somehow, I suspect it’s George Bush’s fault.
(That’s a joke, people. Actually, I blame Dick Cheney).
Comments
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By Willie
June 10, 2008 8:31 AM | Link to this
California and Florida hold America hostage—can not drill for our own resources off shore! One little conversation with the Saudi’s and 300,000 barrels of crude a day will enter the market—supply and demand huh! Now Dick Chaney prayed for rain and we will lose a corn crop. I guess the liberal aka fascists will jump for joy to see America suffer. Lead the way Jay!
By yankee
June 10, 2008 9:00 AM | Link to this
Yup, life just keeps getting better every day. I can’t wait to vote for four more years of this.
By Taxpayer
June 10, 2008 9:01 AM | Link to this
I’ll be thinking about you, Jay, later this summer while I’m shucking corn and shelling peas and slicing tomatoes — all freshly picked from our little garden. It doesn’t take that much dirt to grow a few vegetables. My biggest concern at the moment is whether or not we’ll get adequate rain because I am not going to use our well water on the garden. Of course, once the corn is ready to harvest my new concern will be whether or not I have to beat off those pesky bears again. Those black bears really love fresh corn — with or without the butter.
By spence
June 10, 2008 9:10 AM | Link to this
It’s not “too much rain” that’s stunting the corn crop - it’s some idiots in Congress who decided to make fuel out of it instead of drilling and refining the oil right here under our feet! Good going, Nancy.
By Taxpayer
June 10, 2008 9:11 AM | Link to this
By the way, Jay. How did you find out about my report on the world being out of plumb. I have not released that data to anyone except the Bush Administration. I thought it would be safe there. Hmmmph! You just don’t know who to trust these days.
By Fix-It
June 10, 2008 10:09 AM | Link to this
Thank God we have all these illegal aliens here to help destroy our food crops. I have never seen so many produce recalls as I have since our government has allowed the Mexican invasion. Oh I almost forgot, they are not properly doing the jobs they claim nobody wants to do, so what have we gained?
By Jackson Norman Mowery
June 10, 2008 10:11 AM | Link to this
THere is no guarentee of oil off shore. OR how much. It is very deep and will be very expensive to extract. Don’t expect it to make a dent in gas prices if they drilled off FL, CA, or in ANWR in AK.
There is only so much oil. YOu can’t just drill a few wells and hit oil. Many times they come up dry.
Also worrisome, Mexico’s supply ( we get a large part of our oil from Mexico) is getting harder and harder to extract as is some other middle eastern fields. Meaning they are running out. They have to pump high pressure water into the fields to get whatever oil is left to come up. Kind of like licking the bowl after done with the frosting. Demand is rising, but the supply is limited. The price will only go up.
The more we slap up wind mills and solar cells the better. They will help supply power to the grid and help charge the new electric cars. They will help extract the hydrogen from the water to power hydrogen fuel cell vehicles.
Oil isn’t used for going into our gas tanks - all of the plastics that go in our goods come from plastic. What will we do when we’ve burned up all the oil?
Seen that commercial by the Oil and Gas companies on TV trying to support their cause? They say we have enough oil here to power 60 million cars and 100 million homes for 60 years. Just 60 years. Then we are bone dry. That’s not a long time. It should be a wake up call.
By Matthew
June 10, 2008 10:15 AM | Link to this
Don’t worry, when Obama gets elected, you’ll simply walk downtown to the distribution center, where they’ll check your name off a list and give you your allowed produce for the week.
By Dusty
June 10, 2008 10:18 AM | Link to this
Aww…come on, folks. Bookman told a “funny” about corn and tomatoes and you nerds jumped right in with !!! off shore drilling!!!
Congratulate Bookman!! There may be hope for him!!! I mean…anybody who likes fresh buttery corn on the cob can’t be all wrong.
But…with tomatoes all germy, I suspect they were affected by the politics of Barack Obama.
(That’s a joke, folks. Actually I blame Michelle Obama who is poisonous.)
PS….Taxpayer, would you mind dropping off a few of your tomatoes at my house. Mine are not ready yet.
By Joe
June 10, 2008 10:23 AM | Link to this
We know thats not a joke Jay. You and the rest of your cool aid drinking lib friends think when you have an itch it’s Bush’s fault. You and the Congressional dems should look in the mirror and see who’s fault it is. Gas prices and the economic downturn happened at the smae time dems took over. Imagine what it would be like with a liberal dem like Barrack Hussein Obama in the white house letting every bill pass….
By Taxpayer
June 10, 2008 10:41 AM | Link to this
Now Dusty. My post clearly indicated a crop, assuming the worst does not happen such as a terrorist-trained bear contaminating my crop with salmonella (just kidding, I really think it’s the EPA’s fault for telling us how safe “biosolids” are), later this summer. The blueberries are ripe for the pickin’ though. You just gotta know where to go. For me and the family, it’s just a few hundred feet away. So far, the bears and other animals have not been picking the plants clean as soon as the berries ripen. The bears seem to have developed a preference for my garbage instead. Now, I’m working on helping them to break those bad habits. I liken the process to the one that we so desperately need to undertake with our government but that’s another story.
By Dusty
June 10, 2008 11:16 AM | Link to this
Taxpayer,10:41
I tell you it is a CONSPIRACY!! Germladen robber bears!! Nut crackin’ birdfood stealing squirrels!! Not to mention what avian invader is munching on my blueberries!! It’s SUBVERSIVE, I tell you.
Forget “biosolids”. The Japanese used the solid stuff right out the pot for centuries. Not only did they grow great veggies, obviously they have not all departed this vale of tears in a germ laden mantle.
I think I have the cure. WASH your vegetables. Not just on Saturday night but EVERY day. Something tells me that salmonella is not raising families on the inside of tomatoes. But then again I am not an expert on salmonella family life or tomato insides. My conclusion: let ‘em eat sushi!!
PS..If you are using “biosolids,” nevermind dropping off some of your tomatoes for me. Uggg…that’s yucky!!
By swolf4810
June 10, 2008 11:54 AM | Link to this
Kinda left out the part about a huge portion of our corn harvest being used to make economicaly and environmentaly questionable ethanol which has driven up food prices across the board….and lessened the quality of the produce in the stores didn’t ya, Jay?
By Taxpayer
June 10, 2008 12:07 PM | Link to this
Dusty,
I’m sure those tomatoes were washed — with liquid. They got washed and the unsuspecting consumer gets hosed. By the way, have I ever told you the story of the warm, yellow rain. It’s one that I’m sure many people could relate to.
Then again, some people are probably better off left in the dark.
By Me
June 10, 2008 12:08 PM | Link to this
I’d rather eat picture of a tomato than a store bought tomato. Grow your own if you want something decent to eat. There ain’t gonna be any locally grown corn if it don’t rain.
By MamaS
June 10, 2008 12:44 PM | Link to this
We should not be relying on the midwest for corn. The Georgia Farmers’ Market should be full of Georgia farmers selling crops grown instate. Corn, tomatoes, and REAL watermelons with red meat and black seeds (not those little orange seedless balls!). People should have backyard gardens instead of hot tubs. I am old enough to remember community canning — when women of the community would bring their garden produce to a central point — like a church kitchen — and spend all day canning vegetable soup which was divided out among participating families, with some left at the church for the needy. We used to be able to take care of ourselves.
By T
June 10, 2008 1:06 PM | Link to this
How did Dick Cheney control the rain? You think he can do that here on a smaller scale this summer?
By Fred
June 10, 2008 1:26 PM | Link to this
Dick Cheney ate my corn.
By Leah
June 10, 2008 2:28 PM | Link to this
Can someone point me to a clean American Farmers Market near Duluth? All I’ve been to have been kinda disgusting, smelly, and not so clean.
I want locally-grown veggies and fruit but can’t seem to find any. What ever happened to the small road side vendors?
With the Lord’s help, I hope to have a plot of land to grow my own - soon!
By Fred
June 10, 2008 2:54 PM | Link to this
Dick poisoned my tomato.
By woodie
June 10, 2008 3:11 PM | Link to this
Maybe all the migrant workers went back to Mexico and American producers can’t get figure out how to get American’s to work for slave wages.
By Red Foreman
June 10, 2008 3:34 PM | Link to this
Since I am a “Bubba” ,we grow a garden…about 2 acres worth. We wont be having any shortages at Red’s house!!!!!
That is unless Bigfoot raids the garden…
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