The frigid weather through much of the midwest and into Texas over the last week created all sorts of havoc, including on farms.

Isn't it interesting that on about the same day Instagram shut down Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s account for questioning Covid vaccines Bill Gates gets massive publicity for suggesting eating beef should be outlawed.

The Covid shutdown and subsequent time spent at home accelerated sales of video games in 2020. According to The Wall Street Journal, in just the 4th quarter of 2020, Americans spent nearly $20 billion on video games. Apparently we have plenty of money.

Wow, what a wonderful feedback in the voting yesterday for our new planned waterless worm-based public toilet set-up. If you don't know what I'm talking about, go back and look at yesterday's post before reading this one.

With our 10,000 visitors to the farm each year, toilets have been an ongoing topic of discussion for a long time. I'm an outspoken promoter of waterless systems and believe Sir Albert Howard, godfather of modern scientific composting, was absolutely right when he dreamed of 25-house diamonds, all with a southern exposure, with 1 acre in the center managed by a master gardener who also composted all the human excrement as a complete recycling soil fertility program…

How long can you keep people from associating? At some point, the desire to get together outweighs Covid risks and even regulatory pushback. We humans are social beings; isolation has been used to punish people, break people, and as a form of torture since the dawn of civilization.

In the business world, Mutual Non-Disclosure Agreements (MNDAs) are considered standard fare. Perhaps few things illustrate my contrarian mentality more than the fact that I refuse to sign them and challenge any business that wants me to sign one.

One of the nice things about a blog is that you can correct inaccuracies with the same emphasis as the original sin. Ever notice how publications bury corrections in a tiny box in the least prominent place?

People have accused me of being extreme and my hiatus reflects a time of thoughtful introspection on how I want to use this blog.

My co-author of BEYOND LABELS, Dr. Sina McCullough, has offered to do some partnering

in the same conversational format as the book. Hope it’s informative and enjoyable.

Like you, I've done a lot of thinking the last couple of months. I'm working hard right now on a new book, titled HOMESTEAD ANIMAL HAPPINESS that hopefully will be available sometime mid-to-late summer. I've realized that I can't keep up a daily frenetic blog rate; it's too much and it tempts me to wander where I shouldn't.

Here in the northern hemisphere, December 21 is the shortest day of the year. It might be the most important day of the year here on the farm.