On the subject of thinking about buying another anchor...

Something from the "Just plain stupid or is it a Death cult" files, EBM making an excellent point, and an American heroine in Portland...

So, new cases of Corvid 19 keep popping up down here in most southern tRumpistan with the ever-present knowledge that peak "H" season is going to get going any day now.

Yeah, you might color me somewhat nervous these days. This means that a whole lot of my thought process gets sidetracked by my pondering what I need to do now to prepare for a storm, where we're going to go when it's coming, and how to prepare for the aftermath of a storm if/when we get hit.

Having been through this sort of thing before you'd think that it would actually be easy but the added factor of being in the middle of a worldwide pandemic is something of a wild card I'd prefer not to be a part of the mix.

For instance, there are a lot more cruising boats here in Southern tRumpistan than usual due to the virus. It's just about the only place an American flagged boat is welcome in the Caribbean. The problem is that hurricane holes are too few for the normal population of the islands plus, I expect, that for a lot of the newbies here for the duration don't have much in their how-to-prepare-for-a-real-storm skill set. Those things combined could make things get real ugly real fast.

The fact is, a real storm, even if you're prepared and knowing what to do, is still a very dangerous enterprise as the tons of well-anchored and prepared boats stacked up like so much cordwood in the aftermath of Hurricane Maria attest to.

This also has me stocking up for an extra couple of months of provisions and fuel because it's not just the storm but the aftermath we have to worry about and given the current situation we'd be stupid to expect any help from the powers that be stateside this time around judging from their piss poor and less than proactive response to the virus.

Like I said, got a lot to think about.

Listening to a few Bananarama covers

So it goes...

On the current cost of yams...

An interesting read on oil, some seriously neat news from NASA, and in the "just how bag-of-hammers stupid do you need to be a Republican in Congress these days?" department...

Color me worried.

The other day while out shopping, I was appalled to see that yams/sweet potatoes were selling for $1.79 a pound. Which, I'm pretty sure you'll agree, is a whole lot of money for what I've always thought of as "poor-people food". Two years ago, I'd never even consider buying yams if they went over sixty-nine cents a pound.

The thing is, I can't recall hearing or reading about some awful yam blight or large scale infestation of sweet potato eating bugs that might account for such a steep price rise. It seems to be that someone just decided to raise the price.

What I have been reading in the news is that the powers-that-be keep threatening to send back the workforce that actually does the grunt work of harvesting the produce we eat and, if that comes to fruition, the added costs in labor with the impossible to avoid resulting scarcity of produce will make $1.79 yams start to look cheap.

Provisioning in "interesting times" is going to take some lateral thinking...

We'll be talking a lot more on the subject in the near future. But, in the meantime, check out this interesting bit of thought  from Shanty Boat Living and while you're at it you might want to download the PDF of "Sailing the Farm" as well.

Listening to the Pogues and Mekons

So it goes...

A quick provisioning tip or two...

Just another monkey doing the wrong monkey dance, in the "Need to know" department, and just in case you missed this...

In case you were unaware, things in America's Paradise tend to be quite a bit more expensive than in the US of A. That said, the USVI is quite a bit cheaper than a lot of other places in the Caribbean so, in general it pays to provision in the USVI rather than Antigua for instance. Still, I have to admit that the total on our grocery shop at the local Cost U Less can be downright painful.

Did you know that Walmart will ship groceries free to the USVI with their Shipping Pass program? The deal is you pay them $50 to join and then you qualify to have most things shipped to you "free". Which can be a huge help to the provisioning budget.

Of course, this does not include booze, fresh meat, fresh vegetables, and oddments but, as it does include most staples like canned goods and other packed foods, it is a great way to save some serious money if you need to do some heavy provisioning.

Another quick tip is that I'm pretty sure that anything you need or use regularly that comes from Mexico (engine parts and tequila jump to mind) is going to get a whole lot more expensive in the near future so you might want to stock up...

Listening to Dan Layus

So it goes...

a quick thought on a fragile infrastrucure...

Just an Earth Bound Misfit points us to a new low, a needful read, and so much for higher education for profit in my book...

Yesterday I went shopping and I couldn't help but notice some stuff that didn't make a whole hell of a lot of sense...

For instance:

Octopus was on sale but it was from Indonesia, there was salmon at a good price but it came from Russia. No lobster anywhre but there was crab from Alaska.There were potatoes but they were from Idaho and apples weren't on sale but they were nice and came all the way from the Yakima Valley in Washington state....

I could be boring and go on but the bottom line was that I simply could not find anything in a well stocked Caribbean grocery store that had not traveled at least two thousand miles for me to buy.

Just something to think about...

Listening to Brandi Carlile

So it goes...

and evil Spock might have been just around the corner...

Being poor can be tough, who actually benefits is always an important bit of data, and a sweet mini-Simmons...

Yesterday, while shopping, I noticed that Velveeta cost $14.95 for a two pound box...

So, I just have to ask...

WTF?

Really, when did pseudo-cheese-like-substitute start costing more than real cheese?

As it happens, I bought some Muenster and Monterey Jack for $5.98 a pound and I'm pretty sure you can do the math.

It gets weirder, Spam cost more than ham and canned corned beef cost more than beef roast. It was like all the poor people's cruising staples had become gourmet or some such.

To tell you the truth, I was too afraid to even go down the aisle where they keep the Ramen...

Maybe I was just having one of those stepped into an alternate universe sort of days yesterday.

Listening to The Mighty Mighty Bosstones

So it goes...

For want of a proper pantry...

Ian Welsh making some sense, a book review on the subject of slow violence, and some passionate words about austerity...

I can't help but notice that the cost of gas/diesel keeps going up and, while I'll admit that the resulting lower traffic of weekend warrior cigarette boatfolk is kinda nice but, the resulting spiraling costs that higher fuel prices cause in other areas like transport is somewhat worrisome...

You might not be aware but quite a few people in the USVI do a lot of grocery shopping with Walmart. Online grocery prices at Walmart are scary cheap in comparison to Caribbean/USVI prices plus the fact that it is not hard to get free shipping (sent via US Mail) makes it something of a lifesaver. Which, I suppose, is something that boatfolk who visit and provision in the US Virgins when they're here should keep in mind as an option. For a USVI address all you need is to have stuff sent to General Delivery. It works just fine.

Which, in a way, brings us back around to the subject of cruising boat design...

If there is one single aspect of sailboat design that drives me nuts it is the fact that storage/stowage on a modern sailboat is simply crazy. It's almost like the designers involved never gave a thought to the idea that a cruising couple or family might actually need to store food, spare parts, fuel and other such needful stuff when they take off for an extended cruise.

This is actually important...

Being able to stock up when and where stuff is cheap is a major factor in being able to cruise on a tight budget. Having a full larder allows one to be able to cruise areas where the prices are silly expensive and, more or less, stay on your chosen budget.

The thing is, on a modern sailboat of say 30-36 feet, where do you put those cases of green beans you found at thirty-nine cents a can so you don't have to pay $1.39 or more a can on some paradisaical island? Most boats can handle a month's worth of provisions but to really start saving money you need a capacity of something more akin to at least six months of staples.

So where are you going to put it?

Listening to The Wailin' Jennys

So it goes...

Who'd have thought... More micro gardening

It's funny which Boat Bits posts strike a chord with readers and yesterday's post really filled up the mail bag...

Eric over in France sent a couple of links including this one from Inka Biospheric Systems. Who seem to have some neat wall garden stuff...

Another reader, Neil, sent a couple of great links from Container Gardening which looks like an awesome source for someone doing a serious garden in a very limited place...

There was also a link to a book "Fresh Food from Small Spaces: The Square-Inch Gardener's Guide to Year-Round Growing, Fermenting, and Sprouting" which had me at the "Square inch" in the title...

A garden on a boat in the shadow of the Zombie apocolypse...

One thing I miss living on a smallish boat is not having a small garden and with the ever increasing cost and ever decreasing quality of produce the idea of adding a mini garden of some sort would be no bad thing. But hardly easy in a maximum garden space of four square feet...

"Sailing the Farm" addressed the whole idea of being able to grow your own food but at best "STF" was a seriously flawed book based more on best case scenarios and wishful thinking then actually putting food on the table.

In my current quest for an ongoing supply of cherry tomatos that actually taste like something, I have started following an interesting blog Homegrown Evolution by the authors of the most excellent "The Urban Homestead: Your Guide to Self-sufficient Living in the Heart of the City" which in turn has turned me on to Plants are the Strangest People. 

Is not the web a wonderful thing?

To come full circle, it's hardly surprising that both Homegrown Evolution and Plants are the Strangest People  are hip to the coming zombie apocolypse is it?