Message to VI Govt...why not try something that may benefit youth?

Onthespot,
Don't Know were your economic forecast is from. The could, would, and should have syndrome is alive and well. It seems like you went from chickens to turn the island economy around, but now you have the chicken little mindset. Do you think that if the plug is pulled the islands will sink?:S

It's a case of killing two birds with one stone. If things don't go south, then people just enjoy fresh, homegrown produce, poultry eggs and fish, at whatever hobby level they enjoy. If things do go south, they plant a few more rows, keep a few more hens, and enjoy fresh, homegrown produce, poultry, eggs and fish. If they want to plant a few MORE rows than that, they are now local producers and small business people. If they band together, they are a co-op. If a kid just wants one hen and eats the eggs she lays, that is good enough. If someone wants no chickens, or no produce growing at their place, that is good enough too. They can buy/swap with those that do, or just wait till night and rip them blind if that is the best they can do. Regardless, it is nuts to import B grade produce and pay triple for it when there is great growing conditions year round (except if a hurricane wreaks havoc. That doesn't happen to every harvest. Rarely happens at all, and with advance warnng no less, to pick stuff early and let it ripen indoors, dehydrate, freeze, or feed to livestock before it gets wasted. St Croix has a very envyable position potential from an agriculture standpoint. And I am not getting a financial forecast. Have you been following the deficit reduction talks, and what WILL happen to the economy if they don't get their heads unstuck before 8/2? Have you seen any of them pulling out the WD-40 yet? I haven't. Better safe than sorry. And this is just round one. There WILL be brutal budget cuts across the board in the future. It is an inescapable mathematical reality. With a third of the island employed by the government, that could have catastrophic effects on the local economy, and on individual families if their jobs were cut and programs eliminated. I hope like crazy it doesn't happen. but if it happens, it will hit the VI especially hard, due to the heavy subsidy and gov't heavy job force, and touriism. Just cuz I'm Chicken Little, doesn't mean the sky can't fall. If it doesn't fall, perfect. If it does, we all got something to eat, and don't care much for heating and cooling bills to survive here (there).

(there) is your opinion! I'm sure there will be cuts and some families hurt, however the end is not here, the budget will be made by AUG 2, or extended. Don't confuse politics with real world.

Okay, if you ever find yourself with nothing to eat. look me up. I wll share with you.

Lizard. What is your plan to benefit the youth. I would think having been face down more than once with your wallet lifted in itself would be motivation enough for you to join the brainstorming and help with ideas. What do you think could be a meaningful early intervention program to help youth find/keep the right path in life (whatever that may mean)?

Arrest them, put them in Jail for starters. Put more police on the streets, no more plea bargains. Don't want to hear about the social economically disadvantaged youth, don't want to hear about babies having babies, plenty of programs that benefit the young out there. This is my plan, (LOCK THEM UP) do the crime do the time. You Claim you were almost gang raped some 50years ago, what is your plan.

my plan is to give young people something to care about, work for, earn from, take pride in. and to integrate them more with society.

On another post of yours, about financial outlooks, have you checked out kitco.com 24 hr gold spot today? Check it out. That spike in gold is just a symptom of how nervous the world is about the dollar.if the world is nervous. I'm nervous.

You ain't going to do it with chickens. You asked me for specifics which I gave you and you come out with nothing more than liberal BS with no plan, give it a break. We had another poster that use to say we just don't understand them. Give a Thug a Hug. When you move back if ever you do, talk to me in 6 months.

You prefer to be nervous about the markets, your choice! Buy Gold!!!!!!!!!!!!

Did I say That I was face down more than once having my wallet lifted? Maybe you can quote the post.

Chickens can't help thugs. I would like to aim for kids, the younger the better. Thugs are a lost cause as far as I am concerned, and I agree with you if they are already at that stage, lock them up. Thump them good, whatever works. My neighbor Mrs. Rassmussen said back in the day there was a whipping post in C'sted. and justice was immediate and brutal and crime was about unheard of. I'm not saying go back to that, I'm just saying, Immediate and brutal punishment is suitable for brutal people who live in the immediate here and now and give no thought to others and the future. Chickens are no help to someone that far gone. And six months will be a drop in the bucket. maybe in ten years I would have something to tell you good. Sorry if I mistook you for someone else that posted about being face down in the "is STX safe for women" thread. My apologies.

I would like to offer all the feral chickens running amok here on the east end of St Thomas to the youth of the VI. 😉

Feral chickens are their own problem. Good quality domestic chickens are very calm, docile disposition, lay large, full eggs almost daily during layng season, and produce a meaty carcass that can feed a family well, in just a few months. Those feral things, are wirey, almost no meat on them, hardly lay any eggs, very difficult to manage. Domesticated chickens from good stock are extremely easy to manage, even for small children. There are many breeds that are flightless as adults, and can be kept behind a low, inexpensive fence. Now keeping loose/feral dogs out is another matter, to be addressed at the time of building the run or cage. There are many ways to keep dogs from poultry.

I would like to offer all the feral chickens running amok here on the east end of St Thomas to the youth of the VI. 😉

This forum needs a like button! 😀

Tyler Florence Retweeted this today. It is timely for this thread...

RT JoelSalatin: A community that can feed itself is free. A community that cannot feed itself is not. It's that simple.

Thank you for posting that. I know of no other place on earth under the US flag where a community can feed itself with as little effort as on St. Croix, an island that is a microcosm of the challenges facing the burgeoning populations of the communities all over the world that are facing similar challenges, limited water, limited income, limited geographically, growing populations, various degrees of social unrest, dealing with drugs ruining generations of families and culture, centuries down the drain.

Chickens alone can't fix that, but nothing gives one a feeling of autonomy like growing your own food, and plenty of it. That and owning land, which there is plenty of in St. Croix, as well as a government that is pro agriculture.

And whoever said "Buy Gold" if I think the market is so insecure about the dollar, that is the opposite of what would make me feel secure. Buying a pile of gold and sitting on top of it in the place with the highest murder rate in the world and watching everything else go up in smoke around me... not for me.

The wealth of St. Crois is in their children and in their land. We have no gold mines. We have no great manufacturing and are not positioned, geographically to ever be great in manufacturing on a large scale. We are positioned very well agriculturally, and if, as a society we become more self sufficient, we can then turn to the task of educating and forming the children as each family chooses, not how they end up having to because of adverse circumstances.

I will buy the gold and buy my food. Don't need some cook to advise communities on survival. However if you continue to support farming as a cure all for the USVI maybe you should go to( www.vifresh.com) You can also read about "Virgin fresh" Fruit Plantings Projects. Maybe you should try to find out how many restaurants support a taste of st croix and how the money is distributed and for what purpose. If you lived on the island you would know about these endeavors. So please get off your soap box.

www.visf.org
www. locally grown.net.

Long term, the problem with "youth" and crime on the island could be seriously dented by the promotion of birth control.

I've posted it before and I'll post it again... it would be a helluva lot cheaper to pay young women NOT to have babies, than to pay for their babies' births, education, healthcare, and jail time. This would also have the effect of creating fewer young people looking for jobs, which would result in higher wages due to increased competition for labor, which would also result in higher tax revenues for the govt. Higher paid employees then buy more houses, cars and goods.

Perhaps we need birth control for the chickens as well.

I'm not talking about programs, grants, government. I am talking about individuals, growing a few tomato plants, an egg plant or two, a pigeon pea bush somewhere in their landscaping.

What gov't does or doesnt do is irrelevant to growing and eating more of your own food. It takes almost no effort, and you can save hundreds of dollars on produce, get it fresher, bigger, better than in any store. The mentaliity that all youth and crime problems can be fixed by "locking them up" has been proven financially staggering to the California, ever since the "three strikes" law passed. Crime has increased, and we are now having to pay other states to house our three strikers. Did you catch that key word. PAY. How much of your gold you bought do you want to give back to the gov't to house the yearly crop of thugs that is the main produce of St Croix right now?

Neil. I agree heartily with your post. Big carrot, short stick. If those girls got $5k for every year they did NOT produce a child, not in cash, but in scholarships, might turn something around. Okay. They need a piece of carrot in hand. $1k in hand, $4k scholarship money.

Edit to add, make it so they lose ALL their scholarship money if they have a kid.

Here is a suggestion, why not stay in CA and try your approach there, farm your way out of crime, a lot of land there. When that works come on down.

If you had a clue to the laws and ordinances in CA, you would know why I want to move.

I will buy the gold and buy my food. Don't need some cook to advise communities on survival. However if you continue to support farming as a cure all for the USVI maybe you should go to( www.vifresh.com) You can also read about "Virgin fresh" Fruit Plantings Projects. Maybe you should try to find out how many restaurants support a taste of st croix and how the money is distributed and for what purpose. If you lived on the island you would know about these endeavors. So please get off your soap box.

www.visf.org
www. locally grown.net.

Are you talking to me?

The Key word is Clue, which you really have no clue about any of the islands. You have stated that you need a proactive Govt for fresh fruit and veggies, I give you the web sites and then you say you don't care about Govt programs only little victory gardens. The American Indians use to say (You speak with fork tongue). Oh we have pretty much the same Laws and Ordinances as Ca, however they are applied when it is convenient.

Lets see, VI Gov and Fed Gov gives money to farm and plant (you don't care, your interest is only in a victory gardens):S:S:S:S:S:S and chickens( there is a chicken in every garage whether you like or not).:-o

Southersweetie,
Why do you ask?

Perhaps we need birth control for the chickens as well.

AMEN!!

Would a pellet gun be out of line, for the feral chickens?

Why do you want to injure perfectly harmless chickens?

I wouldn't injure them. I'm a pretty good shot. They'd drop like a stone and go in the fridge

Linda: Send me your address, if I could ever round them up, I'd send 'em over to annoy you instead of me! 😉