beans or gold?

Money, money, money is the talk of the media. Even Samuel Pepys seems obsessed with money on today’s entry in 1663.

I was asked a question this week. Who is richer in times of financial crisis: the man with the gold bullion or the man with the tins of baked beans?

Taking Maslow’s hierarchical needs  food and shelter come first. Land is needed to grow food as is knowledge. Is knowledge power? What will happen to the UK land prices as house prices continue to slip? Will skilled agricultural knowledge [farming] become a respected profession once more?

I cannot answer these questions right now, but time will answer them for us. In the meantime I think more and more people will dig for themselves as opposed to digging for Britain. This will naturally increase individual knowledge about land and production even if just from small plots and window boxes.  

We have lost our two long rows of main crop potatoes to blight this year. The stinking oozing tubers are a total write off, and one cannot help but think of the plight of those affected by the potato famines in Ireland and Scotland. It is such a terrible waste of good food [and effort], but nature is unpredictable and can be the final determining factor of food production. We are fortunate however, our early crop, although planted late, seems to be least affected and we have plenty of other vegetables to see us through the winter.