Category: Bob Small

Composting Blows Blowing Away Regarding Leaves

By Bob Small

So The New York Crimes, I mean Times, had a long-winded opinion piece entitled “The First Thing We Do Let’s Kill All the Leaf Blowers” by a Margaret Renkl. One of my Swarthmore neighbors, John B, hand-delivered it to me –that’s how they do things in Swarthmore — and insisted I write about it. John is anti Leaf Blowers (hereafter LB).

Now, living in Swarthmore, and Delco, the melodic tones of the gas-powered LB reigns supreme at many hours, which leads to outrage in some quarters, though, unless it’s before 7 a.m., it’s kinda legal.

Now there are not any Pennsylvania State Regulations about Gas LB’s (and here you thought there were Pennsylvania State Regulations about everything), but 15 States, including neighboring states, New Jersey and New York, have municipal regulations on this. These municipalities include Princeton and Southampton.

Now we have never used a LB because we refuse to surrender our leaves to the Borough. Instead, our leaves become mulch for our winter vegetables and other plants, and end up in our chicken coop. The leaves make the ground much richer for nature and, by growing and eating our own fruit, as long as we are still allowed to do this, we feel we may be, in our own small way, disrupting this whole notion of the Global supply chain.

At least we hope so.

A rake has advantages over any LB. First, raking does not affect the environment. It is also this thing they call exercise which many married men try to avoid, and it puts you right out there with nature, rather than beyond it.

Which gets us to lawnmowers. We have neighbors using lawnmowers daily, or paying someone. My question has always been Why! Of all the activities I could find (and did as an adolescent), I find daily mowing much less useful than composting (in my house I’m “King of the Compost Pile”), digging for plants, trees, providing for our chickens, etc. However, if this daily mowing keeps our neighbors off the Swarthmore streets, it’s probably useful.

Let’s end with a quote from a former Eagles Player Ricky Waters “For who, for what”. Though I guess if it’s a choice between watching the Fall 2021 Eagles or mowing, then mowing sounds good.

Composting Blows Blowing Away Regarding Leaves

Right To Bear Fruit Established In Maine

By Bob Small

I had almost forgotten my previous days with a community garden in Philly (she was a blonde, too) when my wife (#3 but who’s counting) decided that now that we’re retired we can start a vegetable garden, along with some fruit trees. Borough Swarthmore fought us on the fruit trees but went down to defeat.

This brings us to Nov. 2 in the state of Maine, a secessionist state –from Massachusetts in 1820– which recently passed Question 3 by 60 percent of the vote. Briefly, this gives individuals “the right to produce, harvest, and consume their own food.”

State Rep William Faulkingham (R-136) give a rather long-winded support of this. Jumping ahead 25 to 30 years into the future, could we see our government creating roadblocks and restrictions to the peoples right to food?

Will Monsanto own all the seeds?

Opoosition ranged from valid concerns to well….

While Katie Hansberry (Maine State Director of the Humane Society) brought up the possibility of lifestock cruelty unlimited by animal cruelty laws, Janelle D. Tirrell (Maine Veterinary Medical Association) queried “Does this mean I can keep a cow in my Portland Apartment? Can I slaughter pigs in my front yard?”

While Maine chose to constitutionalize these rights, only a handful of other states have these rights, Pennsylvania not being one. Thus cities and municipalities can try and determine what you can and cannot grow, Of course you can always appeal this but who has the time and money to take the long way around just to grow apples and tomatoes, etc.

Further, Pennsylvania does not grant a Constitutional right to hunt or fish, as half our states do, but the state does sell fishing ($22,90) and hunting ($20.97) licenses.

I seem to remember that the Pennsylvania Legislature unofficially closed on the first day of hunting season.

You can also continue to purchase raw milk in Pennsylvania — until big Farma prevents that.

So, in Pennsylvania, you may grow and consume your own fruit and vegetables
but you do this at your own risk of legal ramifications.

And Monsanto may be watching.

Right To Bear Fruit Established In Maine

I Vote In Person, Just Sayin’

By Bob Small

Preventing voter denial.

So this was the Presidential Election of 2004 and my Pennsylvania Social Service Union (PSSU) arranged for some recent retirees to work the election season with America Coming Together (ACT).

ACT was a political action 527, whose most famous Funder was George Soros.

Technically non-partisan — we could not be pro John Forbes Kerry — but we could be non-favorable to George Walker Bush i.e. telling the citizenry that it may be time for a change.

Due to these niceties, many of the people we came in contact with believed we were Socialists, once we convinced them we were not Jehovah’s Witnesses as we were going from urban door to urban door and suburban door to suburban door. Our stated task and what we were funded for, was the noble task of voter registration.

Once I decided I no longer wanted to go with my crew on the mean streets of Boothwyn or Philly, I invented a program which would have a crew to go to senior homes and help the residents complete absentee ballots.

We did this for the rest of the election season, until the absentee ballot deadline.

The facilities loved us because our program would begin in the late morning and continue until lunch then begin again, answering all manners of questions and leaving before rush hour.

Sadly, these efforts to provide absentee ballots to the old and disabled doesn’t seem to have been continued in the 17 years since.

While this does not qualify as voter suppression could it be called voter denial?

Most of the staff in these facilities probably have no reason to work to register the persons living there

This was one of the original reason for absentee ballots but, well, that reason seems to have mutated to people wanting to avoid large Covidy crowds.

I can understand that reasoning but, personally, avoid embracing it.

Due to Covid, we try to avoid large crowds, but on Nov. 2, we will walk the block to our Polling Place and cast our in person votes, because, as Americans and as Greens, that is what we do. Then, as husband and wife, we will go home and argue about it. Because that’s also what we do.

Lastly, because, well, I have worked for the Post Office and other government bureaucracies, I vote in person.

Just saying.

I Vote In Person, Just Sayin’

Vote Early Vote Often, Memories South Philly’s 2nd Ward

By Bob Small

This was probably around 1989, when I was visiting my old South Philly apartment-mate, having recently moved up and out to Swarthmore. On the way to the local dinery, we ran into a D Committee Person who asked if I was voting today, Election Day.

“Joe, I don’t live here anymore”

“Bob, I didn’t ask you that”

This was back in the wild and wooly days of South Philly D Politics, where the 2nd Ward Meetings would end with the admonition to “vote early and often”.

Said as a joke. I think. The big names were Vince Fumo, Joe Tayoun, and Joe Vignola. Maybe you heard of them. Quite sure the same jiggery-pokery never happens with R’s in Delco.

If elected, the Greens would never engage in this. Not sure about the Libertarians.

In Swarthmore, at the 2005 Primary, I went in to vote on a Ballot Question, as befits a Green Party member. However, the Judge of Elections tried to refuse to let me vote as I was neither D nor R. As this Ballot Question would involve higher taxes, I asked whether I would be exempt from these taxes as I was denied my vote.

When that didn’t work, I stated I would sit on his election table, as I had sat in at various protests, until I was physically removed or allowed to vote. Wanting to avoid a scene, he allowed me to cast a ballot. What he should have done, if he was unsure of the law — imagine a judge not knowing the law — was to let me have a Provisional ballot.

Later that year, in my only foray into electoral politics, I ran against him, as a Green, and lost, but felt vindicated.

My story ended up being shared state wide among the third parties of the time,
so this particular slight, denial of the right to vote, could never happen again.

I had a running mate in that election, who ran as both a Green and a Republican,
for the Wallingford Swarthmore School Board. She lost, of course, but won the next year as a Democrat. Her name is Mary Gay Scanlon. I often wonder what happened to her.

Memories South Philly’s 2nd Ward