A friend in need -

Looking for Land
My wife, Timi, and I, Chris Pieretti, are looking for a little underutilized land. We are researching the development of a food service. You grow it; you cook it. It’s called Kitchen Harvest. Think you can’t afford organic food? If you have a little space, yes, you sure can! You can grow it yourself. The idea is to help communities naturally grow their own food and prepare it simply, deliciously and elegantly. One of the most basic key components to this venture is the ability to efficiently amend our soil types to successfully grow a variety of crops. Our soil amendment would be the richest and most naturally nutritious compost around! The compost would be a mix of natural waste products from the community like leaves, coffee grounds and vegetable waste. It requires some science, some labor and a little land to rapidly produce such fertile compost. I’ve got the science and the labor, but I need the land. Our ¼ acre home lot is plenty for us and our garden needs, but to service a larger community I need a bit more space. A 30’ x 30’ square would be a great start.

I would be completely responsible for all permitting and other legal requirements for the use and operation of a small composting facility in accordance with the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) and all other relevant governing organizations.
The ideal area of perhaps 900 sq. ft. would satisfy the following:
· Truck access for loading and unloading
· A well-drained area with a workable surface and a slope of 2-4%
· The working surface is firm, uniformly graded and dry
· Area is not located (DEP permit WMG017 for On-Farm Source Separated Composting):
o In the 100-year floodplain of waters of its Commonwealth
o In or within 300 feet of an exceptional wetland
o In or within 100 feet of a wetland other than an exceptional value wetland
o Within 100 feet of a sinkhole or area draining to a sinkhole
o Within 300 feet measured horizontally from an occupied dwelling unless the owner would provide a written waiver consenting to the facility being closer than 300 feet
o Within 50 feet of a property line unless the owner would provide a written waiver consenting to the facility being closer than 50 feet
o Within 100 feet of a perennial stream
o Within 300 feet of a water source unless the owner would provide a written waiver consenting to the facility being closer than 300 feet
o Within 3.3 feet of a perched, seasonal or regional ground water table

The compost pile would be free of offensive odors (unless you don’t like the smell of a forest floor), attractively enclosed on three sides and, if all goes well, perhaps twenty feet high. This land might be found in the corner of a school or church parking lot, the side of an underutilized city lot, the unused bay at a nursery or the small divide of a pasture. It is our intention to work along with nature to provide healthy food for our families, to responsibly nurture our environment and to reconnect to our Earth.

The bitter taste.

Son, as I write this, our nation's top lawyer is deciding whether to press charges against 5 people who helped plan the 9/11 attacks. Hopefully as you read this, the history books are written and this is a distant memory for your generation, much as World War II was for me. But for me, and millions of American's like me, this is not the case. This was our generations defining moment, much like Hitler of the 40's, or Kennedy's assassination in the 60's.

I remember that morning at work. Beautiful fall day in Philadelphia. I had ridden my bike to work. Blue skies. Perfect. After I got settled at my desk, your mother called me. She told me to get to a TV - and we had one in the lobby. I turned it on, and watched in disbelief as the 2nd plane hit the second tower. And I stood there as Katie Couric of the Today show tried to make sense of it. Ten minutes later, I was surrounded by co-workers all of whom were confused by the scene as we all were. The downside of an HD media - We were all getting it at once. And being 3 hours away, we all had friends living in New York City. And living in and around a city we all were wondering who was next.

By ten am that morning the air was void of planes, and our nation had suffered the worst attack of our generation. Within hours we were galvanized against the enemy, but within years, many had forgotten or the weekend patriots had gone home. By today, we have a new problem, which should have been handled long ago.

I believe in our Constitution, and especially in the 8th Amendments. I believe that all criminals deserve a right to trial. However, I also believe that those who organize into an equivalent nation state are not criminals but rather warriors, and these warriors of this new, threat nation state are not subject to our laws, our Constitution, or rights afforded to those who live within those constructs. In short, if you fly some planes into 5,000 innocent people, and if effects our country, you don't get to play the fair trial. And don't ask for anything other than cruel and unusual punishment. We are forever scarred by your actions, and you deserve nothing more than the most deviant, violent, and painful stuff I can imagine. And my imagination is vivid.

You see on that day, those men attacked my family. This country is a conglomeration of all types, but the nation is above all. We must protect it like our family and for those who attack the family, the response must be swift and metered to leave an impact which deters others from delivering similar blows. In turn, these 5 men, these warriors, deserve nothing but the same brutality, and callous disregard for the peaceful remainder like that which they plotted and delivered on 9/11.

But because these men plotted as a conspiracy against the United States and because they acted as represetatives of this nation, I am willing to turn away from the Constitution which applies to us and apply a more coarse, and more just law of land warfare, where enemy combatants are subject to trials for war crimes - where the punishments are more severe and the justice more swift. I hope that rage prevails this time, and that we get what this nation needs to put this behind us - and give us something to blame, and something to destroy. Let it be put to rest, and let's move on with the healing.