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QR codes (Quick Response) is the strange black box with squiggly marks in it on some labels. This is a technology that allows users of ‘smart phones’ to scan the code which will bring them to a website…. this code is often used by food producers like us, because we want people to find our unusual and perhaps unfamiliar food in a market, and be able to find our website quickly so they can see preparation and recipe information.
 Edible Cactus QR Code Our labels are part of a marketing campaign designed and implemented by ‘Top 10 Produce LLC’
The QR code will take people to our website where they can pick from cactus recipes and preparation/nutritional information.
Even though we have this QR code, I personally do not have a smart phone as we have no cellular reception at our home, and I am only out of the canyon for a few hours each week…. so even though I love technology, I can’t use the technology of cell-phones well enough to pay for a smart-phone and the added costs of data service 
Food-First is a web page on food safety issues (They are officially the Institute for Food and Development Policy), here they discuss the marketing group we are a member of… and way cool is the fact that they used our label to show the scan codes the group is using!
They also discuss the new laws that are set to help find and track foods from ‘point of origin’ to help with food safety.
The marketing group is called Top10 Produce. And they are a fine group that has great ideas to help the small grower and the consumer both.
In the olden days one knew all the people around oneself…. people generally lived on farms and in small villages… even in cities people’s scope of contact was fairly minimal by our standards. People would walk to the local grocery, butcher, milk and meat shop… any of those that gave people a hard time, or that behaved in an ‘untoward’ fashion to their customers would feel the wrath of ‘the people’ who would reduce patronage at the shops they felt were abusing them. This is a common type of ‘social policing’ that people have done from olden times.
But now the world has grown larger…. many people travel far for work and the goods they buy are often produced halfway across the world, in lands and by peoples that much of the world was unaware of just a few hundred years ago. These goods are often sold in massive shops and through international corporations of which most people cannot look the business leader in the eye, hear his/her voice and gauge their intentions.
If someone does me wrong in business, it is logical that I’d not want to do business with them again…. but forgiveness should ALWAYS be first and foremost in human interactions. One does not know why a business acts in a certain way, perhaps it is a local aberration, and if the corporate board knew of the issues they might rectify the situation and smooth relations. But how does the small consumer ‘make’ a large business know they are doing wrong? In the old days you’d tell the owner of the business.. who doubtless would be spending most of each day at the business, and having just a few unsatisfied customers would make a difference to their bottom line…. nowadays the leader of the corporation might be anywhere in the world…. and an unsatisfied customer will effect no register in the overall scope of sales.
This is where the gauging of human interactions needs to be ramped up to international and societal standards…. if a business is acting improperly by ‘abusing’ consumers, then we need to act as a market force, a block of consumers who will not only with-hold monies from the unscrupulous or ‘accidentally-improper’ business….. but even more, we can ‘reward’ well-intentioned businesses by funneling our monies to those who change their business practices to help their consumers. For instance, if a business is doing something we would like changed, we can inform them that we’ll spread the word of their changes or potential changes to the masses, so that they realize that acting properly has positive changes…. it’s a ‘carrot and stick’ approach.
There is a group starting to do this now.. it is called ‘Carrotmob‘….. I think this is a good concept, and a way that the widespread strength of the consumer can be made apparent even in this age of global commerce…..
The founder of Carrotmob has written an open letter to the OWS, to let them know of this concept, which I think is sound and may well have a VERY positive impact on business both large, small, local and international.
SEARS and ’sneaky charges’
AKA: The Public’s Gonna Get Ya if You’re Unscrupulous!
Going back to ‘In the Old Days’ thoughts… you knew who you could do business with, and you and the rest of the local public would ‘punish’ any unscrupulous businessmen by not doing business with them. But when big corporations like Penney’s and Sears came about, you only had the manager to complain to….. you as a single or even small group of people not doing business with them will not affect a giant corporation with hundreds of stores across large geographical areas…. but now we have ’The Internets’ and can ’point-and-click’ to give a thumbs-up or thumbs-down to any mega corp we don’t like. And now we see that a single article reproduced across the web can have an awesome affect! In this case Sears was automagically tacking-on long-term warranties for electrical appliances when bought on the net. Read the article, it’s awesome for its efficacy in modifying corporate behavior!
An uncle of mine often liked to mention that the work we did was like ‘the Big-boys Downtown’… meaning ‘The Pros’. A professional has to have the right stuff to do work…. with inadequate equipment you start the game at a disadvantage.. but in the marketplace of work, there is no handicap given to those with inadequate machinery or smarts.
We do a HUGE amount of weed whacking…. I used to wear-out one weedwacker every year… mainly because the underpowered homeowner models I was buying yearly could not live through the rough use in the wilderness to which I subjected them…. and I was often frustrated by the inability of my machines to cut through the brush and heavy weeds we have…..
A contractor friend from whom we bought our tractor told me that I should see what the professional weed-trimming crews use for weedwackers. The pros would buy the best machine for the price… but always a machine that would stand up to the wear-and-tear of several different users and a variety of tasks… at the time the local fellows were mainly using Shindaiwa…. so I went to see what the local Shindaiwa dealer could offer….
I almost fell over when they showed me a weedwacker priced at nearly $500! OMG, that’s five years worth of weed wackers for me! “But”, they said, “You will only need one, not five”. With a sinking heart, I paid for the machine…. and went home to have the best and easiest weedwacking I’d ever done. And now, ten years later, I am still using the same weed wacker…. and when I work, I can get through the brush much better than any other hand-held machine I have ever used.
Now, wear-and-tear and time will make even a Shindaiwa old(er). I have to buy a new fuel-pickup every year… I change the spark-plug every few years, and I have to change the fuel tank every five years or so. This year, on occasion of the ten year anniversary of the trimmer, I bought for it not only a new fuel tank, but a complete new muffler with spark arrestor, and several new rubber parts that have deteriorated a bit over the years. True, the sum total of these replacement parts is what a small underpowered and cheap weedwacker costs…. but this trimmer is worth it!
 - Shindaiwa C-35 Weedwacker
This is the engine-end of our Shindaiwa C-35 string trimmer. It has a new muffler and shroud, a new fuel tank and a few new rubber parts.
We are super-lucky having the great customers and associates we do have. We provide a (usually) very high quality product that we’re really proud of.
Many of our customers send us comments letting us know what they think of our cactus. With only a few exceptions (everyone has those I suppose) we have VERY high remarks from customers as to our quality.
We have a customer in Texas (a place where they KNOW cactus) who has been getting our monthly subscription service (that gives a monthly five pound box of cactus) for some time. Recently he decided that he needed to get his cactus more often than once a month… so he’s signed up for a second monthly subscription set to a half month afterwards…. that way he will get a five pound box of cactus every two weeks. He had some comments about our cactus that I thought was so positive I needed to use it for a testimonial. I wrote and asked if I may use his words and name… he wrote me back with affirmation. You can read both here….
“I use the cactus for my two leopard tortoises.
I give them 2-3 leaves every day.
I hate when I run out and have to buy some at the grocery store.
The difference in quality is quite drastic.
Keep up the good work!!!!!”
And the affirmation…
“You can use my comments / endorsement however you want.
It’s SOOOO true.
Whenever your package arrives the first thing I do is throw away
whatever cactus I bought at the grocery store to make room for yours.
I almost feel guilty feeding my tortoises some of the substandard local stuff
I’m forced to resort to – since I’m sure they’re “hooked” on yours.”
Mark M.
Texas
Thanks for being a great customer Mark!
  
Big tires being loaded up for a local mine’s earth-moving machinery.
At Wayne’s Tires in Santa Maria
We’ve used Wayne’s for years now. I used to do a LOT of driving, and was often getting tires.
Wayne’s has always been a place I liked and felt I got a decent deal.
Cactus by the Pallet
 half a ton of cactus
This is a thousand pound load of freshly harvested edible nopal cactus
all set on the dock waiting for the shrink-wrap.
We ship by Fed Ex, UPS and USPS depending on location,
quantity, and the customer’s wishes.
An old article I wrote a couple of years ago…
the yellow house is still sitting vacant
as far as I can tell
April 14, 2007
The Big Yellow House
An Empty House Remembers
~Russell Collier~
The empty house around me ticks and creaks,
A moody end to evening’s gentle rains,
A brooding quiet as the daylight wanes,
The secret language empty houses speak.
What stories might this house preserve entire
In rhythmic code composed of click and groan?
Does House recall a sadness with each moan?
Is laughter stored in every plank and wire?
And how might I, a fleeting visitor,
Acquire an ear for stories trapped in time,
And wrap a tale or two in words and rhyme?
How can I tap the House’s secret lore?
In silence soft the house slips off to sleep.
Alone I sit, in darkness vast and deep.
 Old Yeller House in Santa Barbara
‘The Big Yellow House‘ is an easily noticed big yeller house on the side of the highway 101 just south of Santa Barbara. It was a fine dining establishment. I’ve never eaten there, but always seemed to notice it when I passed, I suppose it’d be hard not to notice a big yeller house on the side of the road.
The Big Yellow House has now closed it’s doors, this huge bastion of family style dining is no more, and many people are saddened to see this old friend locked up. But the foundation and structure are still there, the old beams support the floors without complaint, and the interior plaster and paint sit quietly, waiting for the pitter-patter of tiny feet, the delighted shrieks of laughter and the clatter of silverware and the clanking of celebratory glasses being raised. Yes, this old house knows that someone will come along and fill it with warmth and family, and it will again host monumental parties and celebrations.
The house is ever patient, it sits, gazing with it’s hollow eyes out over the azure pacific, the Riviera of California as it patiently awaits new people to shelter, and a new business with caring considerate owners to build up.
It is this kind of issue the Regional Water Quality control board wishes to address with the newly-required ‘Regenerative Agriculture’ classes for all commercial produce growers in California. But they go about it the wrong way. The classes should be given for free to licensed growers… not enforced onto us at our own travel and expense. The water testing is another thing that should be shared across the board. If this is for the good of the planet, whey are we the ones to bear the cost? And there is little (seems to me nothing) to help the very small scale grower, nor any consideration given to those who are already doing some or many of the actions they desire…. Instead, like nearly any governmental program, all are lumped together, and all herded through the same door into the same classes. So we who have run on a deficit for the last few years are paying nearly the same as the super huge corporations.
If I’m upset about this, imagine the commercial growers who would see this all as ‘Tree-Hugger BS’. At least I believe in and support the basic premise of the classes.
Here’s an excerpt from the article….
Hamerschlag’s report finds that careful studies have shown that several underused farm management practices, such as cover cropping, conservation tillage and organic fertilization, have the potential to deliver significant carbon sequestration benefits while helping farmers conserve water, maintain yields and resist weeds and pests in the face of climate change.
The report makes ten specific recommendations for addressing the inertia that has prevented California from taking effective action on agriculture and climate change and calls on policy makers to develop programs of targeted research, outreach, technical assistance and financial incentives for farmers.
“As a first step towards swifter action,” Hamerschlag said, key state agencies “should establish an inter-agency working group on agriculture and climate change. Federal agencies, NGOs and farm groups all have critical roles to play and should also be actively involved.”
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The last is the reason I am reluctant to make a decision to close shop and stop producing. I believe that in time, the officials will realize they have destroyed the most productive farms on a ‘per-acre’ basis.. the small family and organic farms with their growers more interested in producing good foods and taking care of the land than just making a buck this quarter.
We’ve been operating at a loss the last couple of years…. most of that is due to advertising costs that have not borne fruit. I’ve decided we’ll stop with advertising in the conventional sense… it seems to gain us very little for the cost. This will allow us to at least operate without having to post a loss. Perhaps in a couple of years the government will come up with a plan to let farmers be able to take the classes through the internet and not have to travel 200 miles for them. Perhaps the government will decide that if it requires a thousand dollars worth of water testing yearly, they will reimburse the growers for some of that cost, since the reason is to help the entire country out. Instead as it stands now, they will push out all the large gardens (small farms) that make some of the best produce. Actually, they won’t, those folks will mostly just operate ‘under the table’, selling their produce to stores that are willing to take food from unlicensed growers without paperwork and receipts. But that will defeat the entire purpose of the testing. Governmental actions generally have unintended consequences that often are more horrendous than initial inaction by the government.
I took a lot of ’AgriBusiness’ classes in school. They tried to impress on us the importance of ‘economy of scale’. “Become a giant farm, have specialists for everything, and ‘mine’ the soil for all the nutrients you can, bring in all the inputs that allow you to grow the foods you need, use the pesticides so the produce will be blemish-free and appealing to the consumer.” Then I went overseas and spent some time in Third-World countries, eating the fresh local produce…. I remember being at a market in Morocco and seeing scabbed oranges for sale…. I thought to myself how these would never sell in the USA and we were so lucky to have such great produce in the States. But when I peeled the rind away, the orange was as nice as any I’d seen, and the taste was better than oranges I recalled in the USA. That was the beginning of a desire in me to produce organically. It is the taste of the food, the nutrition, and the food safety in it that really counts.
But organic methods don’t work so well on the large scale of a huge agribusiness with its economy of scale. An organic operation must have patches of unworked land with bugs in them, and a variety of foods grown, not the large scale ‘monoculture’ that makes for such economy in the case of a large farm. Yet the small scale of the standard small family organic farm means those people lose the economy of scale that a large operation has. For instance, marketing and compliance with food safety regulations can both be done more efficiently with a large farm.
We are going through hoops right now with the local regional Water Quality Control Board who want to do monthly testing of our well water. They say the costs will be ‘insignificant’. But over one thousand dollars yearly is not insignificant to us. It means we must reduce some other costs that we can control, something like marketing.. which might reduce our sales.
While I understand the issues related to food safety, I also would like to see this country become less one of huge corporate mega-farms, and more of a hodge-podge of small family farmers, each selling locally or shipping on a limited basis some unique vegetable that cannot be grown efficiently in other places.
North Carolina is a place I have some family, so when I see NC articles, they jump out at me. One such recently was about the Feds starting to examine small farms in NC. The small-scale growers there are concerned that the proposed new regulations will drive them out of business. I understand their concerns. But I have a prediction…. our government and people tend to move in cycles…. fear becomes hysteria, and then rules and changes out of all proportion to the threat are soon enacted … then years later cooler heads prevail, and things ratchet down some. Still, once you give the government the reins, they tend to keep tight fingers on them and never relinquish power.
There’s a movement afoot to build small farms in the inner cities. Some propose bulldozing entire near-empty blocks and replacing them with farms to provide healthy nutritious foods for the local people. There will also need to be farm managers for these places, and many workers. I expect the federal government will give a large amount of assistance to these enterprises, and non-profits will be rushing to fill the spots, for which the government will pay them (we’re working with non-profits regarding our water testing, but still they charge, and everyone in the line there is making money, non-profit does NOT mean free). These groups will be getting funds and assistance to meet their payroll and goals… but it seems that rural dwellers will still remain paying on their own…. but we’re used to being ignored by the government, except when they want to get their fees and revenue and now code-enforcement money.
Believe me, the only thing the Federal Government can do is protect the country from invasion and fight wars, it is the only thing that is large enough to do that. But pretty-much, that is the only thing the Feds should be doing… it is too large and unwieldy an organism to be able to see the small. And so I expect it will in general wipe out small farms…. except for the ones that are willing to go ‘hat in hand’ and let the government take over their operation, and run it as a non-profit. In this way, the government will control the food supply. Control their food, you control their hearts and minds.
Chapter 17
When the Master governs, the people
are hardly aware that he exists.
Second best is a leader who is loved.
Next, is one who is feared.
The worst is one who is despised.
Such as these have no faith in their people,
and the people in turn become unfaithful to them.
The Master doesn’t talk; he acts.
How sparing he is with his words!
When his work is complete and the purpose is achieved,
the people regard the triumph as their own.
Chapter 22
Yield, and maintain integrity.
If you want to become whole; let yourself become partial.
If you want to become straight; let yourself become crooked.
If you want to become full; let yourself become empty.
If you want to be reborn; you must let yourself die.
If you want to be given everything; you must give everything up.
The sage accepts the world as the world accepts the Way.
He is free from self-display; and therefore he shines.
Freed from self-assertion; he is distinguished.
Removed from self-boasting; his merit is acknowledged.
removed from self-complacency; he acquires superiority.
It is because he is free from striving that
no one in the world is able to strive with him.
When the ancient Masters said,
“If you want to be given everything, give everything up,”
they weren’t mouthing empty phrases.
Only in being lived by the Tao can you be truly complete.
Chapter 44
Fame or integrity, which do you hold most dear?
Your wealth or your life, to which will you cling?
Gain or loss, which one increases your anxiety?
In fame and wealth and gain can be found the seeds of failure,
And in integrity and life and loss can be found the root of treasures.
Thus it is that a contented person is never ashamed of what they have,
Having self-restraint he can avoid trouble,
In this way he can endure long, and live contentedly.
Chapter 53
If I possess even the smallest bits of wisdom,
I would walk the great way, and my only fear would be in straying from this great road.
The great way is wide and the going is easy, but how people seem to prefer the side paths.
When the offices of government, the palaces and temples are richly adorned, and lavishly outfitted…
when the ministers are concerned chiefly with pomp and display;
the fields will be dusty and overgrown with rank weeds, and the granaries of the land will be bare.
The gentry wear elaborate richly embroidered clothes,
eat and drink in excess with their sharp swords at their sides,
these are surely the robber barons. This is not in keeping with the Way.
Chapter 57
Rule the kingdom with justice. Use surprise tactics to fight a war.
But it takes letting go to win and hold the world.
How do I know it is so? Through this: -
The more restrictive the laws in the kingdom, the poorer the people will be.
The more sharp weapons the people have, the more troubled and chaotic the state will be
and the less secure the people will be.
The more clever and advanced the people, the stranger the contrivances they will invent.
Law after law promulgates robbers and thieves.
Therefore the Master says: “I will let go of the law,
and the people will act rightly of their own accord,
I will love tranquility and the people will act with righteousness.”
“I will make no effort, and the people will prosper.
I will let go of all of my desires, and the people will return to native simplicity.”
Chapter 58
When a government is unobtrusive and tolerant the people will be happy and prosperous;
when a government is suspicious and strict the people are dissatisfied and crafty.
Good fortune is linked to calamity; misery is tied to happiness.
So who can tell when the end of this will come?
Is there no measuring-stick for the norm?
What is seen now as right and true will certainly someday be seen as wrong and false.
The people have labored under this sea of vexations for a long time.
Therefore the Master is square without sharp cutting corners.
His straightness is not strained; he is pointed without being piercing.
And he is bright but not blinding.
Chapter 72
When the people have no more fear of oppression; that is when oppressive forces will overtake them.
Do not restrict the people in their dwellings.
Do not oppress the people with heavy taxes and burdens.
If you do not wear the people out, they will not weary of you.
Therefore it is that sages know themselves well, but this self-knowledge is not displayed for all to see.
The sage respects himself, but does not try to become admired.
He will choose self-knowledge and love, and set conceit and opinion aside.
Chapter 75
When the nation is in want of food,
it can be seen that the government officials are eating too much of the grain in excessive taxes.
And why are the people restive and hard to govern?
They are in a state of near rebellion due to the intrusive machinations of the government.
The people learn to make light of death when they strive to obtain goods and extravagant items.
They are relentlessly working to acquire more, and look to death as a release from pursuit of material gain.
In this wise it is easy to not place too high a price on life.
Chapter 76
At birth a person is soft and supple; at their deaths they are firm and strong.
All creatures, plants and trees are born tender and flexible,
when they are dead they become brittle and dried.
Thus it is that people who are stiff and hard are companions of death.
The soft and yielding are the followers of life.
It can be seen that a great inflexible army will fall under it’s own weight,
just as a stiff unyielding tree will break in the wind.
Dwelling in an inflexible unyielding manner will bring downfall.
The pliant and supple will survive.
Chapter 77
The way of nature is much like the drawing of a bow.
That which is high is lowered, and that which is low is brought up.
The excess is removed, and where there is deficiency more is added.
The way of nature is to reduce the excesses and spread them to where there is deficiency.
The way of the world is otherwise, Mans way is to take from those who have little,
and give to those who have much.
Who is it that can offer more to the world, and have still more to offer? Only the person of the Tao.
Therefore the sage acts without laying claim to the act.
He can accomplish without boasting.
He has no wish to appear superior.
Chapter 81
Truth is not spoken with rhetoric;
rhetoric does not embrace truth.
The good do not quarrel; those who quarrel are not good.
Those who know are not widely learned, those who are widely learned do not know.
The sage does not hoard for himself. The more he does to help others, the more he can do.
The more he gives to others the more his own treasures increase.
The way of Heaven is to cause benefit, not harm.
Therefore the sage observes this and imitates it.
He acts, serves, and does without relentless striving.
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