Final Harvest

Time for the final harvest of tomatoes and potatoes. Time for the final harvest of squash. Time for the final harvest of naive investors.

My potatoes are a bit small, but since the rains and frost are coming this week I'll harvest them anyway. It's the third crop this summer, so it's no big deal. I'm planning to grow some tubs of potatoes in the greenhouse this winter also. I still have a lot of green tomatoes, but as they'll split in the rain they have to come out and be stored. Hopefully they'll mature. I'm not harvesting the investors, simply observing that procedure. Pity they're mostly so young. Hopefully this will be a maturing experience. They really should learn to read a price/earnings ratio.

I went wild over the potato selection at Peaceful Valley Farm Supply; ah, the Over-Gardener strikes again. I'm still trying out potato varieties and growing seasons for this new climate and altitude. I have a new greenhouse and I'm not afraid to use it. I purchased 10 varieties of potato. Ahem, yes, overkill, I agree. I get carried away with enthusiasm. Much like those naive investors. At least I'm aware that the winter climate is not conducive to growth without some protection. Those investors really might want to use a thermometer and check the numbers.

One crop that we are letting mature, which we think will do well over the winter, is a modest amount of gold mining stock we still hold. In fact, we think that the worse the winter is the better it will perform. Gold mining stock is a funny thing; people think of it as a "safe" storage of money, when it really isn't. Think of it as a business which prospects for gold, digs it a lot, then sells off its' assets. The gold is only held for a very brief period of time, all else is potential and speculation. Most of the time you'd be better off speculating on which potatoes will grow well in your climate. The thing about the mining stock is that when the weather is very, very bad the stock can take off in a very steep ascent. I think that we're in for a rough winter.