Growing Onion Sets
Part 2

Dateline: 19 April 2016
(click pictures for enlarged views)


Last year I tried growing some Copra onion sets. The idea being, I would get them started, dig them up, put them in a garden clamp for the winter, then uncover them and replant in the spring. I wrote about it At This Link

The onions grew real well. That's them in the above picture, just before covering with straw and earth for the winter months.

I envisioned that I would open the clamp in the spring, and find the onions pretty well preserved. I would then trim the tops and they would look much like the Copra onion sets I buy from Dixondale Farms every year. Here's a picture showing bunches of onion sets like I usually buy...


So, this afternoon I went out and dug up my onions. And this is what I found...


That's not what I had hoped for. They are slimy and mostly rotted, and they stink. A few have a bit of solid bulb in them, and I'll try planting them to see what happens. 


Meanwhile, I'll be planting some Copra onion seeds directly in my garden to see if they might make a decent bulb before fall harvest. Apparently, some people can do this, but I've never heard of it in my area.

Fortunately, I also ordered some sets from Dixondale Farms back in January. They should be getting here any day now.








I'm Making Planet Whizbang Grape-Trellis Connectors

Dateline: 16 April 2016

A just-made Whizbang Grape Trellis T-Connector
(click to see an enlarged view)

Three years ago, with the publication of my Planet Whizbang Idea Book For Gardeners, I revealed an idea I developed for making a simple, solid, freestanding grape trellis of any length using common, inexpensive T-posts. 

My new concept for a grape trellis is kind of revolutionary because it doesn't require all the work and expense of putting in heavy posts, stakes and angled guy wires on the ends (to keep a span of wire stretched  tight).

 The key component for making a Whizbang T-post grape trellis span is the grape trellis T-connector (pictured above). The T-connector is a simple configuration of metal hardware pieces that I show how to make in the book. CLICK HERE to see how the connectors are used to make a trellis span.

For those people who aren't inclined to make their own grape trellis T-connectors, I make and sell them, and that's what I've been doing in my workshop this past week.

I have sold hundreds of these special connectors in the last three years, and I like to imagine all those Whizbang Grape trellis spans out there full of ripe fruit...

Ripe Concord grapes from my own vines.
(T-post in background)

My experience has been that grapes are easy to grow. In fact, they grow like a weed.... a beautiful, fruit-laden weed. If you have ever thought you would like to grow some grapes, now is the time to get them planted. And if you want a dependable, simple-to-make grape trellis, check out my freestanding grape trellis idea in the book and at the web site link above. CLICK HERE if you would like to purchase some already-made connectors.

It seems like everything these days is made out of plastic and ends up in the landfill a few years after it's made. But  not these Planet Whizbang Grape Trellis T-connectors! Except for two internal rubber bushings, these beauties are all metal. They will, in time get a little rusty, but they are made to last for decades.




Random Reflections
On The Loss
Of #2

Dateline: 14 April 2016



It was seven months ago that I wrote here about the experience of having a tooth extracted (Pride, And Missing #13). Now, alas, I have had to have Dr. Brady remove #2.

The procedure was performed three weeks ago. I'm doing fine now, but had to take it easy for a couple of days.  And I had to take some high-strength prescription ibuprofen every few hours. I'm thankful for pain relieving medications like ibuprofen.

While my former #13 had only a single root, #2 had four roots.  The tooth came out in pieces, and I could tell from the effort being exerted on my jaw that at least three of those pieces didn't come out easily.  When it was over, Dr. Brady told me again that I had extremely dense jaw bone. 

###

On this visit, before yanking my tooth out, Dr. Brady asked me what I did for a living. I'm never sure how I should answer that question. I told him I wrote books and had a mail order business. He seemed interested in that.

The conversation ensued, and I came to realize that Dr. Brady was interested in my story because he is a fellow entrepreneur. 

It so happens that Dr. Brady and his wife (who is also a dental surgeon, and a competitive runner) started a granola bar business. His wife developed the bar recipe for herself and it is made with some high quality ingredients. In time, other runners expressed an interest in the bars.  A home business was born (see the gRUNola Facebook page). The Bradys were making batches of bars in their kitchen. They were looking to expand the business.

I say they "were" (past tense) because the fledgling gRUNola business came to an abrupt end 18 months ago when they lost their home to a fire. That was, as you might imagine, a real crisis, in a lot of different ways. So, gRUNola bars are in limbo.

Anyway, yes, of course, I told Dr. Brady that I invented Granola bars back in 1975.

###

Years before I became non-famous (and non-rich) for inventing granola bars, I had a conversation with my friend John Sauro that I have never forgotten.  It was the summer of 1969.

We had just graduated from 5th grade and we were exploring in a large ditch on the edge of the housing development where we lived. The ditch ran behind Linda Jenson's house. I was in love with Linda at the time (but I don't think she ever knew it) and we decided to sit at the top of the ditch, on the edge of her back yard, in hopes that she might be home, and see us, and come outside. 

That never happened, but John and me had a memorable conversation that had a profound effect on me. It started when I asked him what he wanted to be someday. To my utter amazement, he told me that he wanted to be a dentist.  

John's father was not a dentist (dentists, and other such professionals, did not live in our working class neighborhood). But, for some reason, he seriously wanted to be a dentist, and he knew this when he was 11 years old!

As for myself, I didn't know what I wanted to be. Oh, I had long imagined that I would be a secret agent, but I didn't admit that to John. It seemed kind of silly compared to being a dentist. 

I took my future plans much more seriously after that conversation. Before the first day of 6th grade, I had my mind fully wrapped around the goal of being a doctor. I've written about this before. It was my goal for the next three years. I never got better grades in school than I did in 6th to 8th grade.  But that all changed in 9th grade, when my family moved out of suburbia, to this rural neighborhood where I still reside.

I made a clean break with all my boyhood friends when we moved. So I don't know what became of John. But I'm sure he must have done well for himself. 

###

When my co-worker Tom was going to have his prostate removed, I went to YouTube and watched a video of the procedure. It was so disturbing that I had to stop watching, and go lie down. I felt sick.

When my friend Mary had to have a hip replacement, I went to YouTube and watched the procedure. It didn't affect me like the prostate surgery, but it was still visually traumatic enough that I couldn't watch the whole thing.

Perhaps it's best I didn't become a doctor.

But, come to think of it, I felt similarly nauseous and disturbed when Marlene and I butchered our first chicken. And now, after butchering hundreds of them, it's no big deal. 

###

So, naturally, I watched some tooth extraction videos on YouTube. Watching a tooth be removed is not nearly as disturbing as watching a prostate be removed.

I discovered that YouTube has an astounding number of videos showing people pulling their own teeth, using regular pliers, or ViseGrips, or a Leatherman tool. 

Which reminds me... Fellow agrarian Scott Terry is an avid Leatherman user. He speaks of it often on his podcast. The Super Tool 300 version is what he likes. You can read his review here: Scott's Leatherman Super Tool 300 Review. One of these days I'm going to get me a Super Tool 300. But I digress.

In this next video (which you must watch) the man pulls his own tooth out with ViseGrips. I'm no dentist, but I'm pretty sure he's removing his #2 tooth.

The film is amazing for a couple of reasons. First, the guy has a remarkably nice set of teeth. Second, the four-rooted molar comes out in one tidy whole piece. That man does NOT have dense jaw bone.

The endearing part of the clip comes after the tooth is out (at 2:45 into the clip), as his wife sincerely thanks God for the success of the procedure. Then, as the movie ends, she says, "Let's pray."  That man is blessed with a godly wife.


What would possess a person to resort to pulling their own tooth? Well, I suspect the combination of poverty and pain would do it, though I question, from the looks of the tooth, whether the guy in the video above was suffering tooth pain.

And then there are YouTube videos of friends pulling teeth of friends. That's how they do it in East Texas. It's kind of a community event ...


###

So, I'm wondering.... 

How young (or old) were you when you knew what you wanted to do? 


And have you ever pulled one of your own teeth?


Reintroducing....
The Planet Whizbang
Toe-Tapper Faucet Switch

Dateline: 12 April 2016

There it is!
The Whizbang Toe-Tapper Faucet Switch.

It’s hard to believe that two years have gone by since I unveiled my Whizbang Toe-Tapper faucet switch here! Many of you reading this (97 of you to be precise) bought one of the 100 prototype Toe-Tappers I offered for sale at that time. 

For readers who are not familiar with the Toe-Tapper, it is a hands-free way to control the water in an outdoor sink (don't miss the video below). Just tap the switch with your foot to turn the water on and off. Or, if you mount the switch at thigh or hip height, you can just give it a bump to switch the water on and off.

The Toe-Tapper frees up both hands to focus on the work that needs to be done. I developed the Toe-Tapper specifically to help with the task of backyard poultry processing, but it is now permanently attached to my outdoor summer sink.

Based on my own experience with the Toe-Tapper, and the feedback I’ve gotten from the many beta-testers out there, I’m moving ahead with plans to launch a Toe-Tapper web site. I’ll be selling specifications for people who want to make their own inexpensive Toe-Tapper, along with parts kits, and already-made Tappers. The web site is at www.WhizbangToe-Tapper.com

With all of that in mind, the specifications are now in PDF format and are available for download. The 7-page specifications package can be purchased now at this link: PDF Specifications For Making Your Own Planet Whizbang Toe-Tapper Faucet Switch.

The Toe-Tapper is relatively simple to make, and I’m hoping that most people will decide to make their own. This is an economical alternative to buying and already-made Toe-Tapper, which will sell for quite a bit more than the $21.95 that I sold those first 100 prototypes for. 

If you would like to see the Toe-Tapper in action, please check out the video below. It shows my own outdoor sink (the “sink of my dreams”) with a Toe-Tapper positioned at thigh height. I think it’s a more convenient location than on the ground.






Herrick Kimball
Is Interviewed By
Stewardculture Magazine
(Part 1)

Dateline: 8 April 2016


If you publish a book and write a blog like this one, you will get requests for audio interviews and speaking engagements. Most authors crave that sort of thing. I don't. I have declined all audio interviews since starting this blog. I'm just not a quick enough thinker to be a good talker. And I'm not interested in traveling to any speaking engagement because, frankly, I'd rather stay home. I happen to like my home, and I have a lot to do here. Besides that, I'm something of an introvert.

But I've always been open to the possibility of a written interview. So when Dan Gibbs, the editor of Stewardculture magazine asked if I'd be interested in doing an interview for his fine publication, I didn't hesitate to agree to the idea.

Inside the cover of Issue #6 (pictured above) Dan Grubbs bills my interview as "rare."  Well, that it is!

I invite you to check out the interview. Here's a link: Stewardculture Magazine Issue #6

And while you're there, be sure to read the other articles too. 





The Agrarian Writings of
O.E. Baker
(Part 7)

Dateline: 5 April 2016 AD
(Click Here to read Part 6 of this series)

(click picture to see a larger view)

This is the final installment of a continuing series, highlighting some quotes from Oliver Edwin Baker, as found in the 1939 book, Agriculture in Modern Life.

###

"We must recognize that the present economic system and associated ideals have acquired during the past century almost overwhelming momentum. If the trend toward debt, economic insecurity, and depopulation can be reversed at all, it will be among the rural people. And it will come only through the spirit of sacrifice, in this writer's opinion, particularly sacrifice for the sake of the children. The past should be recognized as worthy of respect and study, and the future as more important than the present."

###

"Farmers and farm women should cease to measure economic and social standing by the newness of the automobile—the ownership of a farm without a mortgage is a much better criterion of success."

###

"Farmers, I believe, need to find deeper satisfactions in farming and rural life. Money is important, at times imperative; but the goal of life is the development of personality. As I observe the masses of the people in the cities and the things they think about, as revealed in the newspapers and the popular magazines, and see the places where they live, with brick walls around them all day long, the noisy streets beside them, and futility before them, I become thankful that I live on the land, though it be only a few acres, surrounded by green grass and tall trees, and that I can go out in the cool of the evening and work in the garden or fill the feed hoppers, and that we have four capable children to carry on the torch of life. These things are typical of the rural people. How much they have to be thankful for! I pity the people in the cities, especially in the large cities."

###

"We must subordinate the temporal values now characteristic of urban life, and accept as our guide the more permanent values of rural life.

What are these rural values? First, the family ideal, which includes the reproduction of the race, the education of the child, and the transmission of wealth and culture from generation to generation.

Second, a recognition of the divine in man, of the worth of the human soul; or, as expressed in part by Jefferson, the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. The concept of the infinite worth of the human soul is a priceless contribution of Christianity to the progress of civilization. In my opinion it laid the foundation for the growth of freedom, democracy and science.

Third, patriotism, loyalty to the State. Without peace, the protection of life and property, and the many functions of the State in promoting the public welfare, most of the things we cherish could not exist and life itself would become precarious.

Fourth, an emphasis on the dignity of labor, and its functions not only in the production of commodities but also in the development of personality. This also is a doctrine of the Christian church.

Fifth, a realization of the necessity of sacrifice, particularly of the present for the sake of the future, by parents for the sake of the children, and by citizens for the State. Such sacrifice is basic not only to reproduction of the race, but also to the accumulation of wealth and the conservation of natural and human resources.

Sixth, a comprehension of the importance from the economic, social, and political standpoints of the widespread distribution of property, particularly of the land."

###

"I conclude that the churches, Catholic, Protestant, and Hebrew, have a great role to play in rural as well as urban life. Indeed, the nation's destiny depends, in my opinion, on whether they rise to the emergency and teach the values associated with the family and rural life. The nation has undervalued agriculture and overvalued industrialism and commercialism."

###

"The potential power of the rural church allures me. ... I see no other force adequate to the task of rebuilding rural society. Could the rural ministers envision the coming of the kingom of heaven on earth, they might transform civilization within a century."

###

In concluding this series, I would like to say that O. E. Baker was a quiet voice, speaking truth and reason in the midst of a clangorous, all-consuming industrial culture. Now, nearly eight decades later, this man is pretty much forgotten. But his writings, though obscure, remain, and the fundamental truth of his conclusions are still fundamentally true.

O. E. died ten years after Agriculture in Modern Life was published. According to his Wikipedia page, he bought a large farm in New Market, Virginia. Another biography I read said that he bought the farm for his son, Edwin. Clearly, O.E. had an agrarian vision for his family. He wanted them to get back to the land. He was thinking beyond himself, to future generations of his family. He wanted the best for them. Buying land—family land—debt free was, to his way of thinking, the most valuable legacy he could leave his son. We know this because we have read this father's heartfelt writings in this series.

I Google-mapped New Market. It looks like it's still an agricultural area. I wonder if that farm is still in the family? I wonder if O. E. Baker's grandchildren and great grandchildren have grown up in a rural setting? I wonder if they have read his agrarian writings? I wonder if they have embraced his ideals in their own lives? 

I would like to think so. 


###

To go back to the beginning of this 7-part series.



The Agrarian Writings of
O.E. Baker
(Part 6)

Dateline: 4 April 2016
(Click Here to read Part 5 of this series)


click picture for larger view

This is a continuing series, highlighting some quotes from Oliver Edwin Baker, as found in the 1939 book, Agriculture in Modern Life.

###

"Five years ago I attended a conference of agricultural economists in Germany, and for a week before and a week after the conference the German hosts arranged for a few members of the conference to visit about 100 German farms, mostly "Bauern" or peasant farms. My idea of the European peasant and his farm was greatly changed by this visit.

I found the farmer, or "Bauer," a man proud of his ancestors, proud to be a farmer, and one who generally possessed a sense of superiority over city people. 

Although in many instances the house was built by the farmer's father or grandfather or great-grandfather, it was built of brick, had a tile roof, the hall and kitchen floor were generally also of tile, and nearly every house had electric light.

The typical bauer farm is 40 to 100 acres in size, but it produces as much as a 100 to 200 acre farm in most of the United States. The barns are generally much better built than in our country..."

At each farm the visitors were provided with a page or two of mimeographed information about the farm. Most of the mimeographed sheet told of the acreage of the crops, yield per acre, fertilizer used, crop rotations, number of horses, total cattle, milk cows, swine, chickens, etc.; but always at the top of the page for those farms which could claim the honor, and many of them could,was a statement somewhat as follows: "This farm has been in the family 200 years." Some farms had been in the family for 400 years, some 500 years. One farm had been in the family sine the 11th century. As we considered what had happened during these centuries, wars, economic crisis, periods of inflation and deflation, political revolutions, the thought came to us— How long ago would this family have lost its wealth had it been invested in anything else than land?"

###

"This concept of the farm as the hereditary home of the family has profound consequences. We saw practically no soil erosion in Germany, except in the vineyards on the steep slopes of the Rhine Valley. This absence of erosion is owing partly to the cool summer climate, with few torrential rains, partly to the crops grown, but partly also, and perhaps primarily, to the conviction that the land is the foundation of the family, the heritage from the past to be handed on to the next generation undiminished in fertility, and, if possible, with its productivity increased. One could sense among the German farmers the feeling that a man who lets his land erode away was not only dishonoring his ancestors but also depriving his son of the proper heritage. He is conserving both the natural and the human resources."

###

"The German farmer, when old age draws nigh, does not retire to the county seat, as many farmers in our corn and dairy belts did before the depression, and build a house that represents the savings of a lifetime, renting the farm to a tenant. Instead the "Vater" and the "Mutter" retire to a portion of the farmhouse... and a partnership agreement is entered into with the son, who, with his family, occupies the remainder of the house. Sometimes a new house is built for the old folks or for the son. This son, who later inherits the farm, does not spend most of his life, nor dies his wife, digging and delving and saving to pay off the mortgage on the farm; but in much of Germany he starts without debt, in a house that is usually built of brick, with a tile roof, and his savings are in turn used to improve the farm and educate the children. The money that the German farmer makes in good times is mostly plowed back into the land, so to speak; a new house or barn is built, or a piece of land is drained, or better stock bought. Each generation climbs from the shoulders of the preceding generation, and wealth and culture accumulate, instead of being dissipated by migration to the cities."

###

"The young man who starts operating a farm in the United States today, unless he inherits it, generally has a harder task before him in acquiring wealth than many pioneer farmers of years ago on the frontier, for he starts with a load of debt. If the youth on the farms could start life free from debt, which is particularly heavy in agriculture because of the high ratio of investment to income, the farmers of the Corn Belt and the southern counties of the Great Lakes states, and in some of the best counties of the East and South and West, within two or three generations might reach a level of culture and comfort such as the world has never known. For no other nation in the world has so extensive an area of fertile soil, and so large a proportion of level or gently rolling land adapted to the use of machinery, with the possible exception of Soviet Russia, climatic condition so favorable to the most productive feed crops, corn and alfalfa, and a market of nearly 100,000,000 non-farm people with no tariff barriers between producer and consumer."

###

"Nature has provided in the Corn Belt and the southern portions of the Great Lakes states, in many of the valleys and plains of the eastern and far western states, also in certain portions of the south, the basis for as fine a rural yeomanry as the world has ever known, but instead it is becoming a land of tenant farmers or heavily mortgaged owners living in houses many of which are little better than hovels."

###


To go to Part 7 of this 7-part series




The Agrarian Writings of
O.E. Baker
(Part 5)

Dateline: 3 April 2016 AD
(Click Here to Read Part 4 of this series)



This is a continuing series, highlighting some quotes from Oliver Edwin Baker, as found in the 1939 book, Agriculture in Modern Life.

Keep in mind, as you read O.E.'s words, that the word "farmer" can be applied not only to actual farmers, but to those who maintain small rural homesteads and embrace the philosophy of rural life.

###

"But it is also plain that the farming people who buy on credit, like city people, in order to have something they want a year earlier, are sacrificing 20 per cent or more of their purchasing power. If they could wait until they could pay cash they could have 20 per cent more goods, or they could invest it in better stock and buildings, or reduce the mortgage. Spread over even half a lifetime such savings could readily mean the difference between poverty and riches in old age. 

###

"Associated with religion, particularly among rural people, is an organic philosophy. The farmer tends to think in terms of plants and animals, or birth and growth and death. The city man, on the other hand, tends to think in terms of wheels and levers and machines, or of buying and selling. Whereas agriculture is founded on life processes, particularly as influenced by soil and weather and the laws of inheritance, urban occupations are founded on manufacturing and commerce, and the activities are carried on mostly indoors. To the city child milk is associated with a bottle, not with a cow; an apple comes from a box, not from a tree; and these early impressions influence, I believe, the ideas of later life.

As a consequence the farmer's philosophy of life is primarily familistic, whereas the city man's philosophy usually is mechanistic. The farmer lives in a natural world, the city man in an artificial world. Because of his occupation the farmer's thoughts are largely biological, whereas  the city man's thoughts are largely physical or economic. In farming the family is the economic as well as the social unit, as previously noted. In the city, on the other hand, the individual is the economic unit."

###

"The farmer deals with life. Crops are planted and harvested year after year. Individual plants die and disappear, but the production of wheat and corn and cotton goes on without end. The farmer raises horses and cattle, hogs and chickens, and appreciates the importance of good stock and of the laws of inheritance. Agriculture is based on the process of reproduction, and continuity of life. The farmer is constantly in touch with this everlasting life. It is a life subject to modification, however, as witness the dairy cow, whose production of milk has been increased twofold, possibly threefold, within a century. The farmer is the heir of all the ages, with an opportunity, through animal breeding particularly, to benefit all the ages to come. The oldest thing in the world, other than force and matter, is life... And the youngest thing in the world is life, renewed in every seed that germinates, every animal that is born. The philosophy that arises from this contact with the organic world is, I believe, an important factor in accounting for the much slower decline of the birth rate among rural people."

###

"Perhaps because of the open air, and the contact with nature, perhaps because the farmer sees the stars at night and observes the progress of the seasons, perhaps also because of stronger family ties, farmers and farm women tend to think of the past and the future; city people, it seems to me, seem to think more about the present."

###

"The materialistic philosophy of life with its emphasis on the present, which is popular in the cities today, leads to the disintegration of the family and to national and social decay."

### 

"Most of the men in the cities work for wages and the family generally lives in a rented house. The mother, unless she works outside the home, is not engaged in the production of goods, and the children seldom have work to do, except to go to school. .. A family's social position depends more on what they spend than on what they possess, Extravagance suggests a large income, and income is a major measure of success. A social code develops characterized by conspicuous consumption. Consumption virtues are replacing production virtues.

###

CLICK HERE
To go to Part 6 of this 7-part series.


The Agrarian Writings of
O.E. Baker
(Part 4)

Dateline: 2 April 2016 AD
(CLICK HERE to go to Part 3 of this series)



This is a continuing series, highlighting some quotes from Oliver Edwin Baker, as found in the 1939 book, Agriculture in Modern Life.

###

"It is my conviction that dependence upon the cities for financial credit, for standards of living, styles of behavior, attitudes, and ideals is a dangerous thing for the farming people. "

###

"A major cause of rural poverty in the United States lies, in my opinion, in the migration of farm youth to the cities. But I see no solution of the problem of rural poverty in the cessation of that migration, unless it be accompanied by the rise of village and home industry."

###

"Unless the farmers and farm women of the nation ... encourage their children to love the farm and the farming people—turn their faces toward the home community instead of the distant city—they will continue in all likelihood to lose the ownership of the land.

Indeed, they may lose more than this. They may lose the activities of the family in the protection and education of the children and youth, and provision of security in illness and old age—in fact, they have been gradually losing these functions of the family during many years. They may lose also the church as a social institution, they are losing it now. They may lose even the democratic organization of the State. As the responsibility of the family decreases, the responsibility of the government increases, and unless the people feel themselves to be a part of the government and direct its policy, the spirit of democracy declines. 

The millions of unemployed in the cities, and the millions more who are apprehensive of unemployment, are a danger to democratic government. The conditions of living and the philosophy of life in the cities are not conducive to the integrity of the family or the preservation of democracy. It is becoming clear that the land is the foundation of the family, and that the family is the foundation of the democratic State.

###

"What are the values that rural people esteem? In my childhood they were willingness to work hard and for rather long hours, industry, thrift, frugality, charity, loyalty, particularly to the family. There may have been some changes, some amelioration, since my childhood, because of the infiltration of urban ideas and the trend toward indulgence in luxury; but among the real rural people I should expect to find these characteristics highly esteemed today. Undoubtedly centruies of human existence wringing a livelihood from the soil had shown that these traits were essential to a production adequate to support schools and churches and provide the amenities of civilization. Even today state universities  honor master farmers and homemakers. I think I am not mistaken in saying that the highest praise you can give to a man in rural areas is to say that he is a good farmer, a good father, and a good citizen; and the highest compliment to a farm woman is to say she is a good mother and homemaker."

###

"In the new urban culture a different set of virtues is developing. The talk is about material standards of living, about purchasing power, higher wages, fewer hours of labor, over-production, unemployment, relief. The women in the cities, particularly in the middle and upper classes, often talk about clothes and bridge parties and other entertainments. Many men think they must have a new automobile every few years. Both men and women try to "keep up with the Joneses." People apparently judge each other by what they spend, more than what they produce. 

###

To go to Part 5 of this 7-part series