Victory Gardens

 Bill 5 (again)
   At the beginning of this month you will find this post in MM which is linked here: "Line 5 (again) and Bill 5."  Line 5 has to do with the potential for the loss of a great deal of fresh water from the Great Lakes and Bill 5, many believe, will lead to the loss of farmland here in Ontario. That post has some useful links and I will add more below.

  After the recent U.S. presidential election and the tariff announcement(sss) there was a brief moment of Canadian camaraderie, as well as come concern that perhaps we got too much stuff, including food, from sources that might no longer be available. Some began thinking that we should be more careful with the land down here since it is better than land above here where it is also colder.
  At least a few people continue to worry about the loss of farms and you may have received an email from some of them containing this sentence: "Every day we lose 319 acres of farmland in Ontario – that’s the equivalent of nine family farms." If you did not receive such a message that may mean that you are not concerned and, as well, believe it might be just more "fake news." Some additional sources related to these issues are provided, but you only have to circumnavigate London (not an easy thing to do) to see the good land receding like water at low tide.

What About the Victory Gardens?

  Such gardens were typically planted during the war and you don't have to be a "prepper" worried about an apocalypse to think about growing your own food or to at least start thinking about where it comes from and how to get some. 

Sources:
  Read Bill 5 and decide for yourself. It supposedly will "Protect Ontario By Unleashing Our Economy."
  For agricultural land loss in Ontario:
319 Acres: What Does It Mean?
A Waterloo example: "70% of Wilmot Farmland Secured for Future Industrial Site, Region Says," CBC News, May 14, 2025
  For a grow-your-own Victory Garden:
  The Wikipedia entry is a good place to start and then see, "Victory Gardens" in The Canadian Encyclopedia. 
There are many more including: "How Can Your Start Your Own 'Victory Garden," CBC News, April 11, 2023 and from the good Old Farmer's Almanac, "Planning a Victory Garden", Robin Sweetser, May 15, 2025.

Bill Gates: The Farmer

   I have not posted anything in about fifteen days and no one has noticed or complained. I am back at work, however, because doing this beats doing some of the other things I should be doing. It is also the case, I am sure, that hundreds have been waiting at the door of my blog for something new, if only to avoid having to read anything more about the Royal Couple.

   You probably noticed that Mr. Gates has published another book: How To Avoid A Climate Disaster: The Solutions We Have and the Breakthroughs We Need.  It is a good thing that a person of his wealth and prominence has called attention to the fact that we may have a problem. We should have listened to him back in 2015 when he made this statement: "If anything kills over 10 million people over the next few decades, it is likely to be a highly infectious virus rather than war." 

Land Nerd

   You probably did not notice what I am about to present; that is why this blog is so valuable to you. When Bill Gates wasn't writing he was out shopping: 

"Bill Gates, the fourth richest person in the world and a self-described nerd who is known for his early programming skills rather than his love of the outdoors, has been quietly snatching up 242,000 acres of farmland across the U.S. — enough to make him the top private farmland owner in America....

While it may be surprising that a tech billionaire would also be the biggest farmland owner in the country, this is not Gates’ only foray into agriculture. In 2008, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation announced $306 million in grants to promote high-yield, sustainable agriculture among smallholder farmers in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia. The foundation has further invested in the development and proliferation of “super crops” resistant to climate change and higher-yield dairy cows. Last year, the organization announced Gates Ag One, a nonprofit to advance those efforts."

   That seems like a rather generous gesture and in his new book he points out that the world's poorest people are likely to be harmed most by the changing climate. Once again, you may not know that some people think that Bill Gates is more evil than George Soros. They argue that he is really trying to kill-off the African people and "One outlandish belief is that he is using the pandemic to push a vaccine with a microchip that would control people's minds or track their location." Given my general glibness you may assume that I am joking and making this up.  I am not. Nor do I think that Gates and Soros are evil. 

Sources:

 The quotation about the property purchases is from; "America's Biggest Owner of Farmland is Now Bill Gates," Ariel Shapiro, Forbes, Jan. 14, 2021.

About the conspiracy theories involving Gates, there is plenty: 
"Bill Gates' Daughter Jennifer Jokes About Conspiracy Theory After Getting COVID-19 Vaccine," Eric Levenson, CNN, Feb. 15, 2021. (the source for the "outlandish belief.")

"How Bill Gates Became the Voodoo Doll of Covid Conspiracies," Jane Wakefield, BBC, June 6, 2020. 

Bill also has a blog and you can learn more about the book there. 

The Bonus:

Given that small bits of land and, little dilapidated houses around here are going for very big bucks, it is amazing that anyone has wealth enough to make such big, bulk purchases of property. Many can't afford to even rent a place.

"According to a report by the National Low Income Housing Coalition, there isn't a single American state in which a person working full time for minimum wage can afford a one-bedroom apartment at the fair market rent." From: "Trailer-Park Trades," by Sheelah Kolhatkar, The New Yorker, March 15, 2021.