Hunger in America: A Personal Story (And a Poll)

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Wednesday March 18, 2009 · 7:43 AM PDT

2009/03/18 · 07:43

I have been hungry. There were four months of my life (detailed below) when I had a very small income and (yes, it’s a cliché,) medical bills. Relatives and friends of mine have been hungry. Here, I present our stories, with names of my friends and relatives changed.

In all these cases (including mine,) none of us sought help. Neither I nor people I knew went to a food bank or signed up for government assistance. We sure as heck didn’t tell anybody until years after the fact. Quite honestly, I blushed and shook the whole time I typed this diary, and I considered not posting it for a week.

It’s mortifying, in the deathly sense of the word, to admit that you can’t even feed yourself or your family.

This is why I’m asking people to plant a garden. People will refuse to go to charities and ask for help. They will not refuse a big bag of heirloom tomatoes, lettuce, butter beans, peas, spinach, bell peppers, and squash from your garden, especially if you humbly ask them to take this embarrassing, over-planted bounty off your hands.

These intimate, terrible stories (below the fold) are why you should do what you can to help.

Poll

62 votes Show Results

Have you ever been hungry?

62 votes Vote Now!

Have you ever been hungry?

Yes.

42 votes

No.

20 votes

The 8.1% Solution: Multicultural "Companion" Gardening (and a poll)

tkkenyon

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Friday March 06, 2009 · 7:44 AM PST

2009/03/06 · 07:44

Unemployment has reached 8.1%, a staggering figure and the highest since 1983.

Really, it's even worse than that.

When you include people who have stopped looking for work but would like to work, the percentage rises to a 9.1% unemployment rate. (Click through the slide showon the front page for these numbers on a graph.)

When you include the underemployed, meaning people who are working part-time who want to work full-time, the figure jumps to 14.8%.

In addition, people are out of work longer. Almost 40% of those who are unemployed have been unemployed for 15 weeks or longer. That's the highest number of long-term unemployed since WWII.

Time to plant that garden. If you don't need it, people you know or food banks will.

Below the fold: Gleaned from the excellent book Carrots Love Tomatoes by Louise Riotte and sources on the internet, here's a listing of vegetables to interplant to reduce pests and disease.

TK Kenyon

Poll

30 votes Show Results

Using any special gardening tricks this year?

30 votes Vote Now!

Using any special gardening tricks this year?

Companion planting -- to reduce disease and pests

6 votes

Container gardening -- small space

14 votes

Square Foot Gardening -- to increase yield

7 votes

Smith and Wesson gardening -- to reduce deer and raccoon pilfering

3 votes

700,000 Reasons To Plant A Garden, Newspaper Seedling Pots, and a Poll

tkkenyon

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Wednesday March 04, 2009 · 7:30 AM PST

2009/03/04 · 07:30

February private-sector job losses are worse than expected, as expected.

In the NYTimes:

ADP said private employers cut 697,000 jobs in February compared with a revised 614,000 jobs lost in January. The January job cuts were originally reported at 522,000.

Economists had expected 610,000 private-sector job cuts in February, according to the median of 23 forecasts in a Reuters poll, which ranged widely from a drop of 730,000 to losses of 500,000.

About 700,000 new people are going to need your help. Food banks are already pushed to the limit, and they need more help.

It's time to plant a garden for your fellow folks.

If you live in the North, it's time to start your seedlings. Below the fold is a video showing how to make easy origami newspaper seedling starting pots. They're free, biodegradable, and organic. I made two dozen last night during American Idol.

Poll

147 votes Show Results

How much are you going to plant for food banks?

147 votes Vote Now!

How much are you going to plant for food banks?

None. I'm out of work and need the produce for myself and my family.

48 votes

A row. Doing my part!

58 votes

Goodly amounts. Folks are hurting.

34 votes

My whole yard. Eat the view!

7 votes

Tomatoes for Obama Gardeners (Share Your Tomato Wisdom, and a poll)

tkkenyon

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Monday February 16, 2009 · 6:43 AM PST

2009/02/16 · 06:43

Ketchupophobia

I'm a beginning gardener, and I fear tomatoes.

People who grow tomatoes seem like Master Gardeners. Someone who pulls a tomato out of their harvest basket might as well say, "Look upon my works, ye mighty, and despair."

My lone and level garden stretches far and away, devoid of tomato vines and stakes.

But tomatoes are a bountiful crop and are wonderful to give to people who need some produce in their lives. They're high in vitamin A, vitamin C, lycopene, and potassium, not to mention that they're tasty on pasta or in salads or chopped into rice.

This year, I'm screwing my courage to the sticking place. I'm a scuba diver, hiker, and surfer.

This year, I'm growing tomatoes in my Obama Garden. My recent research on growing tomatoes is below the fold. Please comment on anything I got wrong, and I will fix it.

Thanks,
TK

Poll

86 votes Show Results

Growing tomatoes this year?

86 votes Vote Now!

Growing tomatoes this year?

Cherry tomatoes.

8 votes

Sauce-type tomatoes.

5 votes

Beefsteak slicing tomatoes.

9 votes

Heirloom tomatoes.

18 votes

All of the above.

43 votes

Other tomatoes.

2 votes

Ketchupophobia.

1 vote

623,004 Reasons To Plant A Garden (and a poll)

tkkenyon

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Thursday February 12, 2009 · 8:53 AM PST

2009/02/12 · 08:53

The number of initial jobless claims was lower than week (ending 2/7) than it was last week, but 623,000 people lost their jobs and filed for benefits last week. In addition, 4.8 million people received unemployment benefits for the week before that (ending 1/31, most recent data available.)

President Obama said in his press conference Monday:

"[L]ocal TV stations have started running public service announcements that tell people where to find food banks, even as the food banks don't have enough to meet the demand. (Emphasis added.)"

Luckily, donations poured in to that food bank in Elkhart, IL, after Obama's mention.

However, all the other food banks didn't get a plug in Obama's speech.

More gardening below the break.

Poll

112 votes Show Results

What will you plant in your garden?

112 votes Vote Now!

What will you plant in your garden?

Tomatoes.

81 votes

Cucumbers.

5 votes

Butternut Squash.

11 votes

Cake, to let the peasants eat.

8 votes

The most sincere pumpkin patch.

7 votes

How I Thought Of The Obama Garden (and a poll)

tkkenyon

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Tuesday February 10, 2009 · 2:52 PM PST

2009/02/10 · 14:52

I don't usually get too personal in blogs, but there are very personal reasons about how I thought of the Obama Garden.

Three weeks ago, I thought we were perfectly secure, economically. Indeed, I was getting a job with the large pharma company that my husband works for. The verbal offer had been spoken and accepted. My office space was already assigned. I had stopped taking consulting jobs a couple months ago in preparation for my new job, so my consulting income dried up.

Suddenly, HR got balky. Paperwork ground to a halt.

That Friday, takeover rumors started. An article in the Wall Street Journal said that a takeover was about to go down.

By the next Monday at 7:00 AM, the takeover was the top news on CNBC.

Poll

92 votes Show Results

What's your situation?

92 votes Vote Now!

What's your situation?

Already been laid off. I'm falling into the abyss.

19 votes

Not yet, but it's coming.

16 votes

I'll probably keep my job for at least two years, unless I read differently in the WSJ this Friday.

29 votes

They won't fire me. They know I'll go postal.

10 votes

Retired. Good luck, wage slaves!

18 votes

Obama Garden

tkkenyon

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Monday February 09, 2009 · 1:34 PM PST

2009/02/09 · 13:34

This is a tough time for our country. A lot of people have lost their jobs, almost 600,000 last month alone, (7.6% unemployment at the time I wrote this,) and a lot more people are going to lose their jobs (perhaps 3.2 million more people in 2009.)

If you don't lose your job, someone you know probably will. A lot of people are going to have some very hard times. A lot of people are going to have to choose between feeding their families or keeping their house. Perhaps the choice will be between buying food or paying exorbitant COBRA health insurance rates. Or buying prescription medicine.

A lot of people are going to be eating little but ramen or rice.

It's a terrible time, maybe as terrible as the Great Depression, when Americans starved to death or came darn close to it.

Here's my opinion: This is America. We have fertile land and strong hands and open hearts. Let's feed our friends. If we feed them, then they can use their money to keep their house or pay for COBRA or buy medicine.

I'm not just talking about picking up some slimy canned green beans at the grocery store. These are really tough times. We need to not just shuffle money around but to add value to the economy.

We all need to plant a garden.

tkkenyon

Community (This content is not subject to review by Daily Kos staff prior to publication.)

Friday October 10, 2008 · 3:18 PM PDT

2008/10/10 · 15:18

The Scientists

Osamu Shimomura of Marine Biological Laboratory (MBL), Woods Hole, MA, USA; Martin Chalfie of Columbia University, New York, NY, USA, and Roger Y. Tsien of the University of California, San Diego, CA, USA have been awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for the discovery and development of Green Florescent Protein from jellyfish, GFP.

Poll

17 votes Show Results

Are American writers too isolated and insular?

17 votes Vote Now!

Are American writers too isolated and insular?

No! Tres cosmo!

3 votes

Just right.

5 votes

Can't see the writers. They all have their heads buried in the sand.

9 votes

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