Goodbye 2020

 January

The first confirmed case of the virus in the United States was discovered on January 21, 2020. The infected individual was a man in his 30s from Washington state. He traveled from Wuhan, China, but he said he did not interact with anyone known to have been infected with the virus, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention officials.

The CDC confirmed that the patient traveled through Seattle-Tacoma International Airport on Jan. 15 and developed symptoms shortly after. When he saw a doctor, a clinical specimen was collected and sent to the CDC for lab testing.

On January 31, 2020, the Trump administration restricted travel from China.

 
Covid-19 cases – US 7 cases

Life in January - Nothing much in January.  Life went on as normal. No one tried to stock up household stuff yet. No masks up. I searched surgical masks online in hope of stocking some just in case but it was out of stock every site.

February

On February 7, 2020, Dr. Li Wenliang, a Chinese doctor, died after contracting the coronavirus, he was hailed as a hero by many for trying to ring early alarms that infections could spin out of control.

On February 11, the WHO announced the formal name for the virus, COVID-19. 

"Having a name matters to prevent the use of other names that can be inaccurate or stigmatizing. It also gives us a standard format to use for any future coronavirus outbreaks," said Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Director-General of WHO, when the name was announced.

On February 23, Italy saw a major surge in cases.

Around February and March, US brought about 400-500 US passengers from Diamond Princess cruise ship back from Japan to US.  Some were already infected.  They were then quarantined at US military bases in California and Texas.  Later, Grand Princess cruise ship also docked at Port of Oakland, California.  They also had confirmed Covid-19 cases.

In February, US still lacked testing kits.  CDC could not develop accurate testing kits. FDA still had not approved private labs.

 

Covid-19 cases – US 24 cases, 1 death

Life in February - I started to apply for Costco membership as I thought it might be time to stock up household stuff.  I bought hand soap and toilet papers from Costco.  I went to buy N-95 masks from Home Depot which at that time, they started to run out of stock. I bought several boxes; some with 5 pieces, some with 10+ pieces.  I shared with colleagues at work and also a friend.  But then, I returned lots of them too. LoL

 

March

On Friday, March 13, 2020 at 3:33 PM, President Donald Trump announced a nationwide state of emergency due to the coronavirus COVID-19 pandemic.  Every state started to lock down.

New York City became the deadliest battle ground state for Covid-19 with the highest death toll. Hospitals could not handle streaming of Covid-19 patients plus the lack of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) (which was not just in NYC but actually across the country). 

US was still very behind on testing.  Once the CDC test was shown to be faulty, the FDA removed that restriction but that put private manufacturers weeks behind, and the U.S. was unable to catch up as the virus spread around the country. Around March 16, 2020, FDA approved the first commercial lab testing.

Covid-19 cases – US 185,992 cases, 3,806 deaths     GA 4,117 cases, 125 deaths

Life in March – I started to wear mask and gloves when going to Kroger.  I looked like an alien there.  After the state of emergency announcement, people rushed to buy household stuff like Lysol, Clorox, Cleanex, gloves, soap, hand sanitizers, etc and the shelves started to get emptied. As for rice, I could get the last 20 lb. bag of Japanese rice from CA.  I guess because not a lot of Asians lived in my area. Over San Francisco and NYC, I heard my friends could not find bag of rice at all.  Masks and hand sanitizers could not be found at all online or in store.

School started remote learning from March 16.   The same time as when I started to work from home.

I started to sew about 90 masks with the help of Jasmine and I mailed them to my relatives and friends in NYC, CA, TX and MO.

April

In April, New York City, the Covid-19 victims were wheeled from packed morgues into refrigerated trailers outside hospitals. No mourning at houses of worship, funeral homes or cemeteries. Several were buried at New York City’s Hart Island. Lines of caskets could be seen being covered with dirt in long trenches on the island earlier this month.

April 8, 2020, in Georgia, Governor Brian Kemp extends the statewide shelter in place order through the end of April.

April 21, 2020, Georgia: Governor Kemp announced on April 20 that many businesses could reopen on April 24, including "gyms, hair salons, bowling alleys and tattoo parlors", with restaurants and movie theaters allowed to reopen on April 27.^[470] This move has brought widespread condemnation from inside and outside Georgia,^[470][471] with Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms saying she will "continue to ask Atlantans to please stay at home" and Stacy Abrams, the 2018 Democratic candidate for governor, calling reopening "dangerously incompetent.^[470] The Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation's April 21 prediction lists the earliest safe date for Georgia to shift from social distancing measures as June 19.^[472] As of April 21, the state had more than 20,000 confirmed cases.^[473]

Covid-19 cases – US 1,061,028 cases, 57,137 deaths             GA 26,269 cases, 1,132 deaths

Life in April – I did not go any where at all except went to Kroger every other weekend.  Kroger and most of the grocery stores started to change hours of operation as well.  Kroger no longer offered 24-hr service but spent end of the day each day to cleanup.  It started to have senior hours first from 7:00 – 8:00.  Besides, it also asked customers to wear mask. Maybe about 70% customers put mask on there.  I stayed away when I heard someone coughed in the store.

May

May 26, 2020, the George Floyd protests began in Minneapolis. Protesters also gathered in Atlanta.

 

Covid-19 cases – US 1,774,034 cases, 97,959 deaths             GA 47,063 cases, 2,053 deaths

Life in May – Last day of school was May 20, 2020.  Nothing much just worked from home. I got to talk to my homestay mom and dad in Japan. Mom was about 74 and dad was about 80+.   I was glad they were doing fine.  They lived in Itoshima city in Fukuoka prefecture. They said they could see the beach and ocean from where they live. Perfect!  I was planning to go see them in 2021 actually but well, I needed to wait for the virus to be under control first.

I posted in my neighbor’s Facebook group if anyone wanted free face masks.  I sew about 35 masks for my neighbors and sew about 60 more masks for my relatives and friends in NYC.

Jasmine saw Dr. Devito, Spine doctor and we learned that she did not need surgery and she could stop wearing brace.  What a BLESSING!

 

June

June 5, 2020, the Pentagon reports biggest increase in the Department of Defense since mid- April on COVID-19 cases bringing the number up to 10,462. The DoD includes military members, their dependents, contractors and civilians. The United States Navy remains as the most affected Branch as of June 5.

 

Covid-19 cases – US 2,588,017 cases, 117,028 deaths           GA 81,291 cases, 2,805 deaths

Life in June – Jasmine worked on her 2 summer courses; Health and Geometry 2. Jasmine and I went to Costco for new pairs of glasses. Yes with masks up.  I also tried to join Nihon Go Ei Go Kai which is online Zoom meeting to brush up my Japanese language a bit.

July

July 28, 2020, the CDC calls for reopening American schools, in a statement written by a White House working group that includes Redfield but has minimal representation from other CDC officials.

Cobb County planned to open the 1^st semester on August 17, 2020 and would reopen as phases but as for when it depended on the scientific numbers such as hospital bed occupancy rate, and such.

Covid-19 cases – US 4,483,612 cases, 142,064 deaths           GA 186,352 cases, 3,752 deaths

Life in July – Jasmine and I went to IKEA. We had to wait in a long line but not that bad. We finally got pieces ready to build a perfect fit table for her room.

August

Lassiter High School started remote learning on August 17, 2020.

Covid-19 cases – US 5,925,031 cases, 171,957 deaths           GA 270,471 cases, 5,632 deaths

Life in August – School started again.  New laptop for Jasmine arrived in time before school started. Got my piano tuned for the very first time after … 8 years?  The tuner said it was not in a good shape any more several notes could no longer be tuned.  Too sad…. I have to think about what to do then.

 

September

Covid-19 cases – US 7,093,786 cases, 194,780 deaths           GA 318,026 cases, 7,021 deaths

Life in September – I started to do music collaboration with my friend in Thailand. I played piano and she sang.  She also composed her own lyrics and melody and I used a magic wand to turn it into music sheet.  It was kind of fun trying many music maker software. We were using Brandlab to record our tracks and I was using Cloudscore as my music sheet helper. Wow, that Cloudscore did voice recognition either from human voice or from instruments and translated it into notes on music sheet.  It was not perfect but It did help and I felt amazed with this kind of technology.  With Cloudscore, I could compose piano notes for both left and right hands and let it record and analyzed the sound of my notes and put them in music sheet. Amazing right?  I learned not to play many notes all at once as the software was still not good to differentiate the mixed sound of many notes altogether.  Then, later, I could use manual mode to add and adjust the notes and anything on the sheet. 

The 1^st Presidential debate was on September 29, 2020. It was the worst debate ever.  President Trump kept talking over Joe Biden.

 

October

On October 2, 2020, President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump tested positive for COVID-19, among other officials during the White House COVID-19 outbreak.

Cobb Count schools started phase opening.  For those selecting face-to-face, Phase 1 elementary school students went back to school on October 5, 2020, Phase 2, middle school students went back to school on October 19, 2020, and Phase 3, high school students went back to school on November 5, 2020.

Covid-19 cases – US 8,914,806 cases, 217,905 deaths           GA 306,790 cases, 7,979 deaths

Life in October – Got flu shot. 😊 I listened to President Trump’s Townhall meeting and Joe Biden’s Townhall meeting on October 15, 2020.  No debate that day because President Trump refused to do virtual debate due to his Covid-19.   There was the last debate between the two on October 22, 2020. This time was much better than the 1^st time.  Anyway, I did not think Joe Biden’s economic policy on his proposed new minimum wage $15 could buy-in congressmen.

 

November

Covid-19 cases – US 13,105,870 cases, 253,192 deaths        GA 422,133 cases, 8,778 deaths

Life in November – My friend, Duang and her husband, Dan visited on November 27, 2020, the day after Thanksgiving. They lived in North Carolina and they came to visit their relatives’ in Georgia every year, so, they stopped by my house every visit as well. It was always good to see my good old friends.

Presidential election happened on November 2, 2020.  Georgia was a battle ground state and required recount. In the end, Joe Biden won about 12,000 votes or just 0.2%.  It was the first time after 28 years Georgia turned into blue state. And in the end, Joe Biden won over President Trump; 306 votes VS 232 votes.

December

On December 11, 2020, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration issued the first emergency use authorization (EUA) for a vaccine for the prevention of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) in individuals 16 years of age and older. The emergency use authorization allows the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 Vaccine to be distributed in the U.S.

 

On December 14, 2020, The Georgia Department of Public Health (DPH) received the first shipments of COVID-19 vaccine 5,850 doses from Pfizer for administration in Georgia.

 

On December 18, 2020, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration issued an emergency use authorization (EUA) for the second vaccine for the prevention of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The emergency use authorization allows the Moderna COVID-19 Vaccine to be distributed in the U.S for use in individuals 18 years of age and older.

 

On December 24, following concerns over a new SARS-CoV-2 variant from the United Kingdom, the CDC announced testing requirements for American passengers traveling from the UK, to be administered within 72 hours, starting on December 28.

 

Covid-19 cases – US 19,005,788 cases, 326,867 deaths        GA 488,338 cases, 9,302 deaths

Life in December – Jasmine got her driving learner permit.  Wow, she can learn how to drive now.  And Yay!  Finally vaccines arrived as the best new year gift ever for all mankind. There is always light at the end of the tunnel, so, never give up our hope.  Stay healthy and stay strong and we can get through this tough time together!

 

https://www.wusa9.com/article/news/health/coronavirus/coronavirus-for-6-months-in-us/507-a1e04038-1bab-4f6c-8d77-440c3004619b

https://www.nytimes.com/article/coronavirus-timeline.html

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/COVID-19_pandemic_on_cruise_ships

https://people.com/health/initial-cdc-coronavirus-tests-failed-contamination-inside-labs/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_the_COVID-19_pandemic_in_the_United_States

https://www.cnn.com/2020/04/11/us/hart-island-coronavirus-burials/index.html

https://dph.georgia.gov/press-releases/2020-12-14/first-doses-covid-vaccine-arrive-georgia

 

7 ผู้สถาปนา คณะราษฎร

วงเสวนาวิชาการ หัวข้อเรื่อง “ 7 ผู้สถาปนา คณะราษฎร “ ณ ห้อง ร.102 คณะรัฐศาสตร์ ม.ธรรมศาสตร์

https://youtu.be/lTI-vI9iclk

https://th.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E0%B8%84%E0%B8%93%E0%B8%B0%E0%B8%A3%E0%B8%B2%E0%B8%A9%E0%B8%8E%E0%B8%A3

***อายุของทั้ง 7 คนในตอนนั้น คือ ยี่สิบกว่าทุกคน โดยมีจอมพลป. อายุราว 29 ซึ่งมากที่สุดในกลุ่ม 7 คน***

1 ประยูร ภมรมนตรี คุมช่องทางการสื่อสาร ทำให้ทหาร หน่วยงานรัฐติดต่อกันไม่ได้

2 แนบ พหลโยธิน แหล่งเงินทุนของขบวนการ ใครเป็นไรไป แนบช่วยอุปการะครอบครัวที่เหลือ

3 แปลก ขีตตะสังคะ หรือ จอมพล แปลก พิบูลสงคราม หรือ ป. พิบูลสงคราม หรือ หลวงพิบูลสงคราม นิยมอำนาจทหาร แต่เป็นแนวการใช้กำลังทหารเพื่อให้เกิดความเป็นประชาธิปไตย เปลี่ยนชื่อประเทศจาก "สยาม" มาเป็น "ไทย" ยกเลิกประเพณีเก่าแล้วหันมารับวัฒนธรรมตะวันตกที่มองว่าทันสมัยมากยิ่งขึ้น วางระเบียบการใช้คำแทนชื่อเป็นมาตรฐาน เช่น ฉัน, ท่าน ดำรงตำแหน่งนายกรัฐมนตรีระหว่างปี 2481 ถึง 2487 และ 2491 ถึง 2500 รวมระยะเวลา 14 ปี 11 เดือน ระหว่างสงครามโลกครั้งที่สอง (2482-2488) จอมพลป. ประกาศเป็นพันธมิตรกับญี่ปุ่นและเข้าร่วมฝ่ายอักษะ(เยอรมนี อิตาลี ญี่ปุ่น) ในขณะที่ปรีดีผู้นำขบวนการเสรีไทยเช้าร่วมกับฝ่ายสัมพันธมิตร (อเมริกา อังกฤษ รัสเซืย จีน)

จอมพลป. นับเป็นนายกรัฐมนตรีที่ดำรงตำแหน่งนานที่สุด พ่ายการแข่งขันชิงอิทธิพลกับกลุ่มกษัตริย์นิยมจนพ้นจากตำแหน่งในรัฐประหารปี 2500 นำโดยจอมพล สฤษดิ์ ธนะรัชต์ นับแต่นั้นเขาลี้ภัยในประเทศญี่ปุ่นจนเสียชีวิต

4 ตั้ว ลพานุกรม สมาชิกผู้สถาปนาคณะราษฎรสายวิทยาศาสตร์และเภสัชศาสตร์ ดำรงตำแหน่งอธิบดีกรมวิทยาศาสตร์คนแรก และได้สร้างคุณูปการต่อวงการวิทยาศาสตร์ไทยอย่างยิ่ง ซึ่งมีความรุดหน้าอย่างมากในสมัยของตั้ว เสียดายเสียชีวิตเร็วตอนอายุ 43 ด้วยโรคไส้ติ่งอักเสบ

5 ปรีดี พนมยงค์ หรือ หลวงประดิษฐ์มนูธรรม เป็นผู้ก่อตั้งคณะราษฏร์สายกฏหมาย หัวหน้าสมาชิกคณะราษฎรสายพลเรือน ผู้ประศาสน์การ (ผู้ก่อตั้ง) มหาวิทยาลัยวิชาธรรมศาสตร์และการเมือง และเป็นผู้ก่อตั้งธนาคารชาติไทย (ปัจจุบันคือ ธนาคารแห่งประเทศไทย) หลังการปฏิวัติสยามในปี 2475 เขามีบทบาทสำคัญในการร่างรัฐธรรมนูญสองฉบับแรกของประเทศ ความเห็นของเขาแตกกับแปลก พิบูลสงคราม เขาได้รับแต่งตั้งเป็นผู้สำเร็จราชการแทนพระองค์ในสมเด็จพระเจ้าอยู่หัวอานันทมหิดลระหว่างปี 2484 ถึง 2488 ปรีดีเป็นผู้นำขบวนการเสรีไทยเข้าร่วมกับฝ่ายสัมพันธมิตรในช่วงสงครามโลกครั้งที่สอง ขณะนั้นจอมพลป. ประกาศเช้าร่วมกับฝ่ายอักษะ ต่อมาฝ่ายอักษะพ่ายแพ้ แต่เนื่องจากไทยได้ช่วยฝ่ายสัมพันธมิตร ฝ่ายสัมพันธมิตรจึงไม่ถือโทษไทยว่าเป็นประเทศผู้แพ้สงคราม

6 ทัศนัย มิตรภักดี หรือ หลวงทัศนัยนิยมศึก ในฐานะของนายทหารม้า หลวงทัศนัยนิยมศึกได้เป็นหัวเรี่ยวหัวแรงของคณะ โดยเป็นผู้บังคับบัญชาการทหารโดยเฉพาะในส่วนของทหารม้า และรถรบ, รถหุ้มเกราะ (รถถัง) อันเป็นอาวุธสำคัญประการหนึ่งของการก่อการครั้งนั้น

7 จรูญ สิงหเสนี หรือ หลวงสิริราชไมตรี เคยเป็นนักเรียนวิชากฎหมายในประเทศฝรั่งเศส ด้วยทุนกระทรวงยุติธรรม ต่อมาได้เป็นผู้ช่วยราชการสถานทูตสยามประจำกรุงปารีส ประเทศฝรั่งเศส ในตำแหน่งเลขานุการเอกอัครราชทูต

นายจรูญได้เข้าร่วมกับคณะราษฎร จากการชักชวนของนายปรีดี พนมยงค์ นักเรียนวิชากฎหมาย ทุนกระทรวงยุติธรรมเช่นเดียวกัน  จรูญถือเป็นเพียงคนเดียวที่มิได้มีสถานภาพเป็นนักเรียนหรือนักศึกษาในคณะราษฎรชุดแรกที่มีการก่อตัวขึ้น 7 คน

The Omnivore’s Dilemma

Before starting chapter 3, I thought it might be better to just do a quick note-to-self what I had read from chapter 1 and chapter 2.

I had been watching Kdramas and Chinese dramas until it reached the point I could not stand both the dramas and myself anymore. Then, I asked my daughter if she could recommend me any book to read and here it is “The Omnivore’s Dilemma” by Michael Pollan.

Well, after finishing Introduction “Our National Eating Disorder”, I kind of felt yeah yeah, I know, I know, and I was not sure if the book would interest me.  Anyway, I did not want to give up on a book recommended by my daughter.  So, here I am reading the 421-page and 20-chapter book.

I Industrial Corn Chapter 1 - 7

Chapter 1 – The Plant – Corn’s Conquest

Corns are native to Central America. Corns won over the wheat because this one plant supplied settlers with a ready-to-eat vegetable and a storable grain, a source of fiber and animal feed, a heating fuel and an intoxicant. Human intervened with corns’ pollination. Early in the twentieth century, American corn breeders figured out how to bring corn reproduction under firm control and to protect the seed from copiers. Farmers had to buy new seeds every spring; instead of depending upon their plants to reproduce themselves, they now depended on a corporation.

(I asked my daughter why the author only targeted corns.  She said I should continue reading and I would understand.  OK.  OK, reading now.)

Chapter 2 – The Farm

The Naylor farm began in 1919 when George Naylor’s grandfather bought the farm in Iowa. Through decades, the seeds had been genetically modified to yield more bushels per acre and with the discovery of fix nitrogen by Fritz Harber, the Nobel Prize winner in 1920, the basis of soil fertility shifted from a total reliance on the energy of the sun to a new reliance on fossil fuel which was used in the Haber-Bosch process to produce nitrogen-based fertilizers.  In 2005, the average cost to grow one bushel of Iowa corns was about $2.50 but it was only sold for $1.45.  Why the farmers still grew more and more corns?  Based on Naylor, to subsidize the loss, so, farmers did everything they could to make more bushels of corns per acre, and if they gave up on their lands, then, other farmers would come in to still grow corns anyway. They grew 2 things; corns and soybeans. They just could not switch to grow anything else.

Chapter 3 – The Elevator

Naylor hauled his corn each October to the grain elevator in Farnhamville, Iowa.  The elevator is warehouse filled by conveyor belt and emptied by spigot. Cargill and ADM companies guide corn’s path at every step of the way: They provide the pesticide and fertilizer to the farmers; operate most of America’s grain elevators; broker and ship most of the exports; perform the wet and dry milling; feed the livestock and then slaughter the corn fattened animals; distill the ethanol; and manufacture the high-fructose corn syrup and the numberless other fractions derived from number 2 field corn (a type of commodity corn). They do not have to pay much per bushel as the loss is normally covered by the government subsidy which represents roughly a quarter of $19 billion U.S. taxpayers spend each year on payment to farmers.

Chapter 4 – The Feedlot - Making Meat (54,000 kernels)

The biggest portion of a bushel of American commodity corn (about 60% of it, or some 54,000 kernels) goes to feeding livestock, and much of that goes to feeding America’s 100 millions beef cattle. Those animals never used to eat corn at all.  Even farmed salmon now were bred to tolerate grain. CAFO (Concentrated Animal Feeding Operation) was the product of government policy; gathering so many animals together to feed them cheap corn. In 1950s, cows were 2 to 3 years old at slaughter. Now, we get there a 14 to 16 months.

Cattle, by nature, eat grass but we force them to eat corns and when it is at the point they cannot tolerate it, then, they get sick and when they are sick, we give them antibiotics.  “We are what we eat” but we are also what we eat eats too. 

 Chapter 5 – The Processing Plant – Making Complex foods (18,000 kernels)

“First we separate the corn into its botanical parts-embryo, endosperm, fiber-and then, into its chemical parts.”  These fractionated biomass control agents-the sugars and starches, the alcohols and acids, the emulsifiers and stabilizers and viscosity-then, become the mixes in processed food. Processing plants like General Mills try to make more complex food each year to make people eat more and pay more for their products. They make us to believe the blend of their complex food is really heart healthy food. We become industrial eater and deviate more and more from whole food.

Chapter 6 – The Consumer – A Republic of Fat

1980 was the year corn first became an ingredient in Coca-cola. Since 1985, an American’s annual consumption of high-fructose corn syrup (HFCS) has gone from 45 pounds to 66 pounds. In fact, our consumption of all added sugars-cane, beet, HFCS, glucose, honey, maple syrup, whatever-has climbed from 128 pounds to 158 pounds per person.

Chapter 7 – The Meal – Fast Food

This is how the laboratory measured our meal: soda (100% corn), milk shake (78%), salad dressing (65%), chicken nuggets (56%), cheeseburger (52%), and French fries (23%). We have become the race of corn eaters.

II Pastoral Grass Chapter 8 - 14

Chapter 8 – All Flesh is Grass

Polyface Farm in Swoope, Virginia, Joel Salatin called himself “I’m a grass farmer.” He raises chicken, beef, turkeys, eggs, rabbits, and pigs, plus tomatoes, sweet corn, and berries on one hundred acres of pasture patchworked info another 450 acres of forest.

 

Naylor Farm	Polyface Farm
Industrial Annual Species Monoculture Fossil energy Global market Specialized Mechanical Imported Fertility Myriad inputs	Pastoral Perennial species Polyculture Solar energy Local market Diversified Biological Local fertility Chicken feed

Chapter 9 – Big Organic

Small Planet Foods, formerly Cascadian Farm, and Earthbound Farm, successfully converted conventional farms into industrial organic farms. Compost and animal manures are used instead of NPK fertilizers. Time, space, frequent tilling and hand pulling are used to control weeds.  To control pests, every six or seven strips of lettuce is punctuated with a strip of flowers; sweet alyssum, which attracts the lacewings and syrphid flies that eat the aphids that an molest lettuces.

Rosie, the organic free-range chicken, are actually free-range?  They are called organic because they do not receive antibiotics and they are fed by certified organic feed.  Twenty thousand birds are kept inside the same shed for about 5 weeks until the shed opens 2 doors, one at each end of the shed after the 5 weeks to allow the birds to come outside for about 2 weeks before being slaughtered.  As they get used to their 5 weeks habit already, so, most of them rarely come outside to enjoy their last 2-week vacation.

Organic industrial meals are not cheap but as consumers, we probably feel better with less pesticides coming in our bodies. Though, carbon footprint produced by organic industry is not necessarily lower than conventional farming considering bulky loads of compost across the countryside and weeding the fields, a particularly energy-intensive process involving extra irrigation and extra cultivation. The need to transport produces; Asparagus traveling in a 747 from Argentina, blackberries trucked up from Mexico, a salad chilled to thirty-six degrees from the moment it was picked in Arizona, also contributes to carbon footprint.

Chapter 10 – GRASS – Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Pasture

One of the principles of modern grass farming is that to the greatest extent possible, farmers should rely on the contemporary energy of the sun, as captured every day by photosynthesis, instead of the fossilized sun energy contained in petroleum.

 Grass farmers should not violate the law of the second bite. Never let your cows to take a second bite of a grass before it has had a chance to fully recover. This prevents the land from degrading.

The more croplands turn into pastures, the less carbon footprint in the atmosphere.  But why in the world did Americans ever take ruminants off the grass, put them in sheds and feed them with corns? The answer is grass is not a commodity. Grass cannot easily be accumulated, traded, transported, or stored for very long.  Grass cannot be broken down into its constituent molecules and reassembled as value-added processed foods.

Chapter 11 – The Animals – Practicing Complexity

At Polyface Farm, the existence of 450-acre of woodland is as important as the 100-acre open grass itself. The tree provide firewood to keep the farmers warm in the winter, the woodchips are used to make compost from chicken, or rabbit or cow waste.

On the grass land, the main reason Polyface Farm is completely self-sufficient in nitrogen is that a chicken, defecating copiously, pays a visit to every square foot of it at several points during the season. Chickens also dine on insects that would otherwise bother the cows. They also pick insect larvae and parasites out of the animal’s droppings.

Turkeys eat the bugs, mow the grass, and fertilize the trees and vines in the orchard.  The pigs are treated as pigs rather than as a stressful protein machine.

Polyface Farm is built on the efficiencies that come from mimicking relationships found in nature – the efficiencies of natural systems flow from complexity and interdependence. 

Chapter 12 – SLAUGHTER – In a Glass Abattoir

 Polyface Farm slaughters chicken and sells it at the shop next to the processing shed.  The customers pick their chicken out of the tank and bag it themselves.  Having customers bag their own chickens preserves the fiction that they are not buying a processed food product.  Polyface chicken costs $2.05 a pound, compared to $1.29 at the local supermarket.

 Polyface regards chicken guts as a form of biological wealth-nitrogen the farm can return to the land by locking it down with carbon harvested from the woodlot.  When spring comes, the cakey black compost will be ready to spread onto the pastures and turn back into grass.

Chapter 13 – THE MARKET – Greetings from the Non-Barcode People

Nation had distinguished between industrial and artisanal enterprises.

Industrial farmers are selling commodities. Producer must sell more cheaply and grow bigger or be crushed by a competitor who does.  Both producers and consumers are careless. Cheapness and ignorance are mutually reinforcing.  Consumers do not know the other end of their food chain.

Artisanal production focuses on local markets, relies on reputation and word of mouth and lastly, as much as possible, on free solar energy rather than costly fossil fuels.

Consumers should relearn to eat seasonally and chefs should cook seasonal food.  Polyface Farm sells their produces to local restaurants. Chefs has done so much to educate the public about the virtue of local agriculture, the pleasures of eating by the season, and the superior qualities of exceptionally fresh food grown with care and without chemicals.

Chaper 14 – THE MEAL – Grass Fed

As long as one egg looks like another, chicken like chicken, beef beef, the substitution of quantity for quality will go on unnoticed by most consumers. Pastured eggs represent more omega-3s, beta-carotene and vitamin E than industrial eggs.  So, paying $2.20 a dozen pastured eggs are much better deal than paying $0.79 a dozen industrial eggs.

When chickens get to live like chickens, they will taste like chickens, too.

III Personal – The Forest

Chapter 15 – The Forager

Angelo, not only skilled in the arts of hunting and gathering (and butchering), but also well versed in the flora, fauna, and fungi of Northern California. He has the passions of foraging, hunting, cooking, pickling, curing salamis, sausage, and making wine in the fall. Fungi can be deadly poisonous. We need someone like Angelo to go hunt with. Even the yellow funnel-shaped chanterelle being found can actually be false chanterelle.

Chapter 16 – The Omnivore’s Dilemma

The set of rules for preparing food we call a cuisine, for example, specifies combinations of foods and flavors that on examination do a great deal to mediate the omnivore’s dilemma. The dangers of eating raw fish are minimized by consuming it with wasabi, a potent antimicrobial. Similarly, the strong spices characteristic of many cuisines in the tropics, where food is quick to spoil, have antibacterial properties.

The French, wine-swilling cheese eaters, eat all sorts of supposedly unhealthy foods, but they do it according to a strict and stable set of rules. They eat small portions and don’t go back for seconds; they don’t snack; they seldom eat alone; and communal meals are long, leisurely affairs. In other words, the French culture of food successfully negotiates the omnivore’s dilemma, allowing the French to enjoy their meals without ruining their health.

Chapter 17 – The Ethics of Eating Animals

People who care about animals should be working to ensure that the ones they eat don’t suffer, and that their deaths are swift and painless.  Maybe when we eat animals, we should eat them with the consciousness, ceremony, and respect they deserve.

Chapter 18 – Hunting – The Meat

Hunting offers human’s last best chance to escape history and return to the state of nature.

“When one is hunting, the air has another, more exquisite feel as it glides over the skin or enters the lungs, the rocks acquire a more expressive physiognomy, and the vegetation becomes loaded with meaning. But all this is due to the fact that the hunter, while he advances or waits crouching, feels tied through the earth to the animal he pursues, whether the animal is in view, hidden, or absent.”

Chapter 19 – Gathering – The Fungi

Andrew Weil points out, “mushrooms have little to do with the sun.” The emerge at night and wither in the light of day. Their energies are of an entirely different order from those of plants, and their energies are prodigious and strange. Their energies derive from the moon rather than the sun.

Mushroom like morels, they are trying to escape the dying forest, they also play a role in its renewal. The slightly sulfurous, meaty order of morels attracts flies, which lay eggs in the safety of the mushroom’s hollow stalk. Larvae emerge and feed on the flesh of the morels; birds then return to the forest to feed on the larvae, in the process dropping seeds the sprout on the forest floor. Mushrooms are hinges in nature, now turning toward death, now toward new life.

Chapter 20 – The Perfect Meal

A perfect meal is a meal that is eaten in full consciousness of what it took to make it. Stock does not come from a can, it comes from the bones of animals. The yeast that leavens our bread comes not from a packet but from the air we breathe. When we cook a meal, it is more ritual than realistic because it dwells on such things, reminding us how very much nature offers to the omnivore, the forests as much as the fields, the oceans as much as the meadows.

The End

 

 

Me

 It seems I have not written anything for such a long time.  My plan was actually to put in a memoir on Covid-19 pandemic 2020 but well, here I am starting to put it off and instead writing about myself!

It is not quite easy indeed to try to understand my own self and put them together in words and now I am not sure where to start.  😊

How about this?  Five years ago, I used to weigh 20 more pounds than I am today. At that time, I was up to the point that I could not stand myself anymore.  I felt so overweight.  I was determined to lose weight and I started to walk. From half a mile until it became 2 miles and eventually, I could jog 2 miles nonstop.  It took 2 years to gradually lose 20 pounds.  And now, I am still doing exercise about 5 times a week and still maintaining my weight.  

My body also needs less food as well.  I eat light and less in the evening these days. Even though, I still enjoy cooking. I am not a good cook but I do enjoy cooking. People always think I might cook Thai food a lot but actually I cook what I call my own food, and it is not that kind of Thai food you find in Thai restaurants.  My own food can be Rosemary Roasted Pork, Thai taste  Roasted Pork, Larb (Thai style ground pork with mint), Hainanese Chicken, Shumai, Pork Bun, Fried Rice, Tandoori Chicken, Almond baked Fish, Carbonara, Chicken Parmesan, Chicken Mozzarella, etc.  I also like to bake. I have my Signature baked good called “Ann’s Coffee Cake”.  Yummy indeed.

What else about myself?  I kind of talkative but I do love my quiet and alone moments. When alone, I check on news, reading, watching Kdrama, Chinese drama, practicing meditation, chanting and such. I am a Buddhist by the way. One item in my bucket list is to detox my soul (I mean practice meditation) at Vipassana Meditation center taught by S.N. Goenka.

 I would like to also visit so many places that I have not been there yet in US.  I love Yellowstone, Yosemite, Bryce Canyon, Zion National Park, and Muir Woods (Redwoods).  Anyway, after Covid-19 is over, I am planning to go to Japan to visit my Japanese mom and dad whom I used to stay with for several weeks when I was in Japan for a year during my college time.

During Covid-19 pandemic and working from home this year, I spent quite a bit time playing piano.  I am working on music project with a friend right now.  I play piano and she sings.  She also composes her own lyrics and melody and I use a magic wand to turn it into music sheet.  It is kind of fun trying many music maker software. We are using Bandlab to record our tracks and I am using Cloudscore as my music sheet helper. Wow, that Cloudscore does voice recognition either from human voice or from instruments and translate it into notes on music sheet.  It is not perfect but It does help and I feel amazed with this kind of technology.  With Cloudscore, I can compose piano notes for both left and right hands and let it record and analyze the sound of my notes and put them in music sheet. Amazing right?  I learn not to play many notes all at once as the software is still not good to differentiate the mixed sound of many notes altogether.  Then, later, I can use manual mode to add and adjust the notes and anything on the sheet. 

What else about me?  I do not like clutter and dust.  This does not mean I am a neat freak but definitely I cannot stand living with clutter and dust all year long.  I do not put on makeup.  I do not dress up.  What I mean is I am not beautiful physically but the beauty is in my heart and soul.  LoL 

There are still so many things about me.  But I am too Zzzzzzzzzz to think now.  Until next update.