The King of California Book Review

I had been wanting to read this book for years and only got my hands on it when a friend started purging his bookshelves. It is the story of the Boswell family, the Boswell Company and specifically J.G. Boswell the man that grew the company into the world's largest cotton grower. As I read and now after finishing, I have an uneasy quesiness about the events of the book. It is a history of a man, a family and a region over time. In some ways it reminds me of the unquiet settling of the West, maybe because the book is about one of the last vestiges of the unsettled parts of our country. Here is man trying to conquer his world. Usually there is much mess when one tries to overcome something, like the wrappers on the ground after a rock concert.

I have to also admit to being part of this story in a small way. My father worked in the water business talked about in the book. He interviewed for a job at Boswell, but decided not to take the job. One reason he gave was that he didn't want to raise his family on Corcoran. But because of him I have a working knowledge of the water systems of this region. I have discussed the politics mentioned and the dams involved. I have measured the excess water from the district I worked for that flowed onto Boswell and Salyer land. I have met some of the names mentioned in the book. I still have an uneasiness about the book, the story and what happened.

My first job out of college was as a part of a land leveling crew working to flatten the alkali soils next to Allensworth, just south of Corcoran, so they could be sold to Japanese investors. The soil was miserable and fit only for rattlesnakes and horned toads, which we had to make sure not to step on as we walked across the land. For someone that grew up on the east side of the Central Valley and its orchards and good soil, this land didn't seem worth the effort to tame. So as I read of the production that the Boswell Company got from this area I had to be impressed. But then the uneasiness lingered as I read about the costs involved.

The book reminded me of a similar boo I read years ago about the wine industry of Napa. The book tells the story of how men and women became successful by the world's standards. In both books, the things done to achieve those were chronicled also. We judge them by our own rules and say yea or nay to what happened. Hopefully we dislodge the log from out eye before complaining about the log in theirs.

Yesterday our family tried to do a family outing then have lunch together. Seven adults were involved and it was a fiasco of sorts. The first part of the plan was to go to the shooting range for some practice. The range parking lot was full, as in we would have had to park in the driveway to find a spot. None of us had even seen that before. That translates to a full range and none of us wanted to brave that scenario. Maybe we should have gone to church and we would have a less crowded range after the heathen were done.

So, on to plan B. We have to wait a bit for two of the people to meet us after they went to church, so we have time to spend doing something. The remate or flea market was suggested. Most thought that a good idea, but not on this day. Plan C was looking at some footwear that two needed to do, along with checking the price of welded wire fencing. That led to a visit to the semi-box store hardware business. That task completed, it was on to lunch, or the coordination of getting three vehicles to the restaurant. It was closed when we arrived.

All hail technology, not. The next 20 minutes were spent on the various cell phones talking to each other trying to locate another restaurant, then discovering that the original restaurant has moved, and then negotiating the streets of the city trying to find said restaurant. After all three cars arrived at the restaurant we found that the place was packed. Is there a theme developing here? No matter, we're eating here. Now to find a table or tables to fits all and then order food.

Then the sort of calm. Calm because we are waiting for our food and having pleasant conversation with family. No calm because the restaurant is crowded, busy and loud.  I sat looking out the window pondering what had just happened, what was happening and where we were all headed. I was a bit overwhelmed for a closet introvert.

California is in the beginning of the fourth year of a drought. Newspaper stories tell that there is only one more year of water at the rate were are pumping now. The water being pumped is supposedly 12 to 20 thousand years old. As I sat wondering I thought maybe 6.5 million people is too many for the Central Valley to support. Or at least we need to keep our water here instead of shipping it to elsewhere in the form of fruits and nuts. I also pondered where all these people will go.

What I really wanted though was a quieter place to talk with my family.

Water in Central CA

Technically we live in a desert. We receive 10" of rainfall annually. For the last three years, it's been less. Recent news about rationing, rate increases groundwater overdraft and such have been everywhere.

The City of Fresno is proposing to double its monthly charge from $25 to $50. People are up in arms and screaming. 50 miles to the west the people of Huron, CA currently pay $55 a month for water that is unfit for drinking. This in a town with greater than 50% unemployment because a federal court decreed water should be released to reestablish a salmon habitat instead of watering crops.

I know I have simplified the situations, but the "taxes" on the poor sure make it rough on them.

Moral Question/Gender Question

A few days ago I stumbled across what I thought was a moral question, one which Dear Abby had weighed in upon. You're in a women's restroom, there are 3 regular stalls and one disabled stall with a diaper changing table. All stalls are full and you are the first person in line. Second in line is a young mother with an infant in her arms and a second child tugging at her legs, both of which are making some noise. The disabled/childcare stall becomes open and you step aside and wave the mother into the stall. As you do a person in the rear of the line in a wheelchair raises a protest that they should be brought to the head of the line and into the stall. Moral question, what do you think?

After discussing this with my wife and adult daughter, a gender question came to mind. Not having been in a women's restroom with women, I assumed the women would line up as men do. I was informed I was wrong by my wife and daughter. Women line up single file and first in line goes to the first available stall. My experience in men's restrooms is lines form at each individual stall or urinal, much like a grocery store with multiple check-out stands. If you choose a slow line, tough luck.

Am I off here or do men and women line up differently?

Rain and a Farm Visit

We've been receiving a bit of rain. At 5.75" for the year, we are still 2" below normal for our desert climate. So, Let it Rain!



Yesterday we traveled a few miles south to a farm tour at One Farm. This is two brothers and a girlfriend that started farming after college. We got to know them while we worked at the Farmer's Market last summer. Our tables were next to each other and we grew fascinated with their story and them.

They rent a few acres and have loaded it with features. Their hoop house has a hydroponics area as well as a place for propagating. They have just started a no-till garden, though it is a different type of no-till than what we are starting. The tour was nice, but we didn't get to ask as many questions as we wanted because the tour was quite crowded. We may try to talk to them again at the next Farmers Market. It did give me pause to think about how we are no-tilling.

One thing struck me is the area they have to spread out their beds. With a few different areas they are able to try diverse plantings in separate areas. I sure wish we had bigger areas for such growing plots. The size of their plots also made or allowed them to utilize a tractor and some machinery. I'm still not sure I want to go that route. As I get older I'm sure it will help, but for now our volume will only allow physical manpower to do the bulk of our work. Hopefully, after we get the no-till dialed in, we will need less human power. The bigger area would allow us to have more animals. Our current location limits this.

This ended up being time well spent. I'm still processing ideas and discussions will follow about how to implement things at our urban farm.