22 May 2010
Organic beef from a feedlot?

"USDA Certified Organic" is bureau-speak - which means exactly what the issuing bureau says it means, and that's generally not whatever you (or any rational individual) thinks it means...

So if you buy pricey organic beef, it comes from cattle that spent their lives on pasture, rather than crowding into a feedlot, right? Not necessarily.

(link) [Chicago Tribune]

13:09 /Agriculture | 0 comments | permanent link

The Crisis and It's Resolution

Blogging has been light of late, in case you haven't noticed. Two weeks light, plus one day - longer than I've ever gone since starting this thing without a new post. There's a reason for this.

You may recall some of the financial troubles that have beset us over the past few years. Due to these, last September we started the process of attempting to get a mortgage modification with a local agency in Lafayette. A complete and utter waste of time - they did nothing other than fill out forms and tell us to "be patient". We later went direct to the "Hope for Homeowners" line - getting in response a "debt management plan" that would've have saved us approximately $25 per month from a very rude "councilor, and a warning to "be patient". Further investigations along the governmental line proved equally futile.

We tried adding to income - we rented some pasture space last summer to some folks training herding dogs. That turned out to be a complete disaster - we made a little bit, but it sure wasn't worth the hassles we had with unexpected parties, gates left open and constant confusion and interruption. Egg and fleece income did remain steady though - that and the petting zoo really deserve most of the credit for keeping us going last year.

Things were falling further and further behind - we never got to the "30 days late" marker on the mortgage, but we were down by 14 days on it, and eating a lot of canned tuna. We had canceled our cell phone in October when the contract ran out - we were running out of things to cut. By January of this year, things were grim indeed.

About the only silver lining in the dark cloud of a 10% mortgage is the tax refund - all that interest is deductible, and consequently we get a rather hefty refund check. This year we used it to pay off Lorraine's car - eliminating a car payment. Then we took a spiritual tack - on Disting (February 2nd, aka Groundhog Day, Candlemas, and lots of other names) we did a landnama - both of us, walking the entire circumference of the property carrying fire and the Hammer, claimed the land in our names and asked Thor to ward our stead.

Three days later, we got our first surprise. And they haven't stopped.

When March rolled around, we got a notice from the bank holding our mortgage that they'd over calculated the amount needed for escrow - this reduced our mortgage payment by nearly $40. The snow melted and warm weather rolled in, reducing our gas usage (and our bill) considerably. Not having a car payment was surely helping as well - for the first time we began to see some light at the end of the proverbial tunnel, and were pretty sure it wasn't an oncoming freight train. Additionally, we discovered that too much state income tax was being withheld - that added another $20 per paycheck to the take home.

Then an ominous notice from my employer on April 5th - a company wide meeting, mandatory attendance, had been scheduled for April 12th. We all knew sales were nominally down, and we all feared the worst. Never mind that the 12th was a Monday, and that almost all companies lay off or present bad news on Fridays. Never mind that no other signs of impending doom were present - everybody assumed that bad news was coming.

Surprise! The company had done well enough over the preceding year to feel confident in restoring 5% of our pay cut. Not only that, but they were issuing all employees a check for the 10% they withheld over the course of the past year as a "bonus"! A tax benefit somewhere, I'm sure, but unbelievable nonetheless!

The only thing that had prevented us attempting to refinance the house at a lower rate had been a lack of cash to pay for the refi and necessary fix ups. We were scared to death that the appraisal would show a loss of equity - given the margins we were working on, this would kill the deal. So the challenge was to use the windfall to start the process and improve the property enough to get a better value on the appraisal - it had to come in at least $200k (which was it's apprised value in 2005, and $20k more than it's supposed appraised value in 2007 - thanks to the bank screwing me on th refi to get my ex off the note). Could we do it?

Lorraine scrubbed - I scrubbed. We had the trim painted, the garage painted and the sofets and fascias repaired. We fixed dings in walls and ceilings - all the little things that dwellings accrue over the years by simple use but which we had not maintained due to lack of funds. The yard was trimmed and damage from last years repeated snow plowings were fixed on the driveway. We even cleaned out the basement and attics - we did everything we could think of to make the house look as presentable as possible.

It worked. The appraisal came in over what we needed, essentially showing no loss of value despite the horrid housing market. Friday last, I got a new mortgage at 5.675% - not the best rate available, but given the circumstances more than acceptable. It dropped our monthly mortgage payment from it's all time high by nearly $700. We already have money in savings for the first time in almost three years. Living here is affordable again.

So that explains the lack of posts - too busy to write, think or do anything. We've almost recovered - the garden has been tilled and will be planted tomorrow, and we only have seven sheep left to shear. We'd hoped to have both those tasks done by now, but, ya know, the wait was worth it, all things considered.

We're gonna be here for a long time.

12:28 /Home | 2 comments | permanent link