Farmer: 7
Mouse: 5
There hasn't been much activity lately. I think the mice lost their appetite for peanut butter. Some people suggested I let a cat loose in the greenhouse, but my 3 cats aren't really mousers and the farm's cats are a bit skittish and getting one into the greenhouse would be like, well, herding cats. Besides, I can't shake the image of cats running all over my seedlings and pooping in my onion flats.
Jacob: I read with interest the comment from a friend who pointed out that supporting local banks are supporting local enterprises. But I submit that our banking system is set up so that most banks are not local banks. They are branches of bank corporations that mostly do business for the benefit of corporate headquarters and stockholders that are anything but local. Wells Fargo Bank in Conrad is a good example of this. Stockman Bank is better since it is a homegrown bank that is restricted to Montana so far. When Heritage Bank in Great Falls closed, Prairie Mountain Bank in Great Falls, where we live, was the only truly local bank we could find. Banks are part of the craze of getting bigger even at the expense of giving good service. I'm very suspicious of financial institutions because the quest for size is often paramount leaving those served to be of less concern. Let's support local when it's really local. I hope you find a good bank and develop a good relationship with an understanding officer who will treat you as a person needing support and encouragement and not just a step to building a bigger and more profitable business.
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I agree it's not perfect, but anymore, it's difficult to be loyal to truly local businesses. I give it my best effort to buy from businesses in Conrad, and they may be locally-owned or they may be part of a larger national corporation, but either way I'm supporting the local people who work at those businesses. If I buy from a locally-owned business, that business-owner decides where that money goes and it's more likely to recirculate in the community. If I buy from a national chain that has a store in Conrad, it's the chain's out-of-state headquarters that decides where that money goes, making it less likely to stay in the community. But, by buying from them, I'm helping that national chain maintain a store in town which provides jobs and paychecks for local folks, who then hopefully will spend a portion of their paychecks locally. My dream world would be made up of small towns of family-owned businesses fed by surrounding small, diversified farms.
ReplyDeleteI am interested in how to do the best investment, in my business or another kind of things. I looking for information I found a webside very useful and interesting called costa rica investment opportunities , I think it´s a very wonderful site. This remember me when I bought a mouse the first time. It was a lot of time. Now is a common device like others.
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