Gone Fishing.... for the 10th Amendment

Something funny happened this week in the tiny state of Rhode Island.

Remember the 10th amendment of the US Constitution from civics class?

"The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people."

The state assembly passed a $7 saltwater fishing license requirement in order to block a federal mandate requiring the same. The federal Magnuson Act requires everyone who fishes in saltwater to register for 'survey purposes', to track fish stock and fishing habits. Well, it's a tax. A tax on fishing.

But, our state reps didn’t challenge the federal law even though it violates the RI state constitution that guarantees "Fishery rights -- Shore privileges" .... "The people shall continue to enjoy and freely exercise all the rights of fishery, and the privileges of the shore, to which they have been heretofore entitled under the charter and usages of this state, including but not limited to fishing from the shore....

Instead our state reps decided to block the requirement of the federal program by passing our own registration fee (tax) so that we wouldn't need to fall under the federal program. Read all about it here.

Now, I'm no big fan of our Governor, but at least he (along with many other states) have begun to push back on federal regulations that violate state sovereignty. Citing the 10th amendment, the Governor correctly vetoed this new law as it violates our state constitution!

Of course, all day long I heard "it's 'just' $7!", but, the point is it's yet another fee to do something that is a guaranteed right! The governor was right in vetoing this intrusion by the Feds (even though he will probably have it over-ridden). But at least one tiny slice of personal liberty was briefly preserved by the smallest state in the US!

Land Clammin'

It's harvest time around the Beermuda Triangle. Get it before it freezes. Most stuff above ground is done (except for Kale and Chard). The underground stuff is doing well but it's time to dig the root crops before the ground freezes solid in late November/early December.

All my carrots, beets, some onions, most potatoes, are still in the ground. Parsnips are going to stay at least till Thanksgiving, and some will overwinter under mulch, plastic, and maybe a cold frame.

This saturday the Forties and the Crayons families took the young'ns out trick or treating(well the adults went trick or treating, the kids slept mostly) to a local farm/winery. Check them out... pretty cool huh?



Afterwards we stopped at the Casa de Crayons to let the kiddies rest inside and the manly men went outside to dig up potatoes. And drink beer and partake in congratulatory baby cigars.

This year was our first experiment with these above ground potato bins. In theory you can get 100lbs of potatoes from each bin. Before we started digging, it was time to work on the last of the Octoberfest from RAJAHADAB weekend. There's only a little left. About mid-way we took a break for more Octoberfest, and to check yields. Not even close to 100lbs. Granted it was a very bad year for potatoes around here. Too wet, too cold, too much blight.
Overall, a sinkful for the Crayons. Worth the effort... it's very satisfying to grow your own.
Last year I didn't do much better in traditional underground rows. I haven't dug my bins up completely, so I'll see how I did there. I did try Tire Taters and those did alright. (sorry no good pic) The real benefit of those was there's no digging. Just flip up the tire onto a tarp, and out rolls taters! I only got a couple tires tall, but that seemed to be okay because most of them were in the first tire. Next year I'm going to go back to a traditional trench/row, and the rest in tires. I didn't really like the towers because it was hard to fill the towers, and I didn't find any taters in the top couple tiers, only the bottom tiers.
I do still have one more experiment going in the garden, potato-wise. I filled the sides inbetween two rocks with some scrap landscaping timbers. Then, I planted the potato seed inbetween the rocks and filled with dirt inbetween the rocks. This is the bed where I planted the old potatoes from last year that had sprouted in the root cellar. I figured it was worth a shot.

Oh, this post is called Land Clamming because that is what it is like digging potatoes. Alot of fun with beer, ever shovel full of dirt could discover a hidden cache of taters. Just like clammin'.