Colonel’s Blog, Earthdate 13 September, 2024…
Hey Y’all!
Good evening and Happy fast-jet Friday from Air2Ground Farms! The fast jets today are the Mighty-Mighty F-15E Strike Eagle flying low level in Wales this week. There were so many amazing photos this week that it was hard to choose one. I liked this one because it also showed the wingman in the background in a position to watch over lead. IT RAINED!! The rock-filled, rock-hard Ozark soil needed a long-lasting light rain to soften it up enough to even absorb moisture, and that’s exactly what has happened over the past 2 days. The grass is already starting to turn green! Not long after I published the blog last week, the expectant sow had her piglets. The pic is shortly after they were born. She had 13 with one of those stillborn. Over the next 7 days she squished 6, leaving 6 piglets. That puts us at 20 piglets currently scurrying throughout their woods paddock. As a review, we have (all pure Berkshire) a group of 15 feeder pigs, a younger group of 6 feeder pigs, an even younger group of 20 (born on our farm) feeder pigs, 5 female breeders, and our boar. 47 total porcine on the farm…that = LOTS of food to be fed every day. We’re averaging around 300 pounds of feed going to the pigs every day! The top pic could be titled “The Future.” Makaylah is an amazing farm hand and is an integral part of our farm. In this pic, she is on her way to feed all of the pigs, the ram lambs, and Tank (the guardian dog that is currently with the lambs). The other pic is one of our tom turkeys. They have about another week until we process them. They have been great to have on the farm and assuming all goes well during processing, we will be raising more next year. Our plan is to take pre-orders and have them ready for Thanksgiving. We are milking Happy twice a day and that is going very well. We have enough customers that want raw A2/A2 Jersey milk that the milk fridge always has room for the next day’s 5 gallons. I haven’t mentioned it in a while, but Air2Ground Meats, our store in Ava, is doing very well! At least a dozen times a week people thank us for being open and doing what we do. We’re open 5 days a week now and people really like the consistent access to high quality locally grown meats. For us, having a consistent flow of $$ into the bank account is a huge benefit! We don’t have to rely on the weather at the market one day a week to make a sale. Speaking of making a sale…
In a first under the Biden administration, the State Department notified lawmakers that Egypt will receive the full amount of military aid this year, releasing $320 million, that Congress made contingent on Egypt making improvements on its human rights record. The U.S. provides substantial military aid to both Egypt and Israel as part of a long-standing agreement linked to the 1979 Egypt-Israel Peace Treaty. Annually, Egypt receives about $1.3 billion in military aid, while Israel receives around $3.3 billion. This financial support is aimed at maintaining regional stability (meaning we pay them not to fight), encouraging peaceful cooperation (meaning we pay them not to fight), and ensuring both nations’ military capabilities are aligned with U.S. interests (meaning we keep them militarily equal so they won't fight). The aid package also helps bolster U.S. defense industries, as a portion must be spent on American military goods and services. Over the past 3 years, at least some portion of Egypt’s money was withheld. This year’s decision to fully fund the $1.3 billion comes at a point where the United States is relying on Egypt to help put together a cease-fire and hostage-release agreement between Israel and Hamas. **Cue the “So-What?" meme…** This week, Egypt released its decision to replace its “aging F-16 fighter fleet” with Chinese J-10C fighters. I think I’ll leave that right there and let it sink in. Where’s your money going? China of course!
Check out this week’s YouTube video where we join Shelley in a peaceful and serene visit to milk Happy during a recent morning milking. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zu4UP62gfEM&list=UULFNqaipbTwMJVyld1tmsaCkA&index=2&pp=gAQBiAQB
In this week’s Dust’er Mud Podcast, we dive into the US Farm Bill and discuss what I call “Soft Collectivism” and the impacts of 88% of farmers having to go to an off-farm job to live. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i9qtOZjfhS4&list=UULFNqaipbTwMJVyld1tmsaCkA&index=1&pp=gAQBiAQB
Cheers!
Psycho & Shelley