When we last visited Plant A Row for the Hungry, everyone was encouraged to plant extra vegetables for donation to the food pantries in Pocahontas County. Donating fresh produce is a good way to supplement the diet of those among us who rely on food stamps and pantries for food.
Many people with gardens, my wife, Sue, and me included, planted more than we can eat fresh or plan to freeze or can. We happily anticipate the time, in the near future, when we’ll be racing to keep up with the daily onslaught of green beans and cucumbers, and discovering the zucchini that got away and grew to the size of a blimp.
If you find yourself burdened by abundance, please donate your surplus to Angel Food in Huntersville, or at the North Central Food Pantry, Cooperative Parish Food Pantry or Senior Center in Marlinton, or, i at the United Methodist Church Food Pantry n Durbin. For more information on how to donate, call Sue Groves at 304-653-4195 or email her at siouxgroves@gmail.com.
Now that kids are out of school, perhaps they could help by organizing to pick up extra produce from your neighbors so you can share duty for dropping off donations. Please let Sue know if you have apples or other fruit or vegetables that you’d like to donate but can’t pick. She will try arranging some volunteer “picking parties” later this summer. Also, some of the area’s commercial producers may have left-over, usable produce after harvesting . We would love to hear from them, as well.
Eugene Simmons, attorney at law and gentleman farmer, who, when he first heard about Plant A Row, offered to donate a row (180 feet long) of sweet corn.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
The Pocahontas County Commission is sponsoring a Local Foods pot luck dinner at the Opera House in Marlinton Monday, June 28, at 5:30 p.m. A community forum on comprehensive planning will follow at 6:30 p.m. which, no doubt, will offer spirited discussion of whether - or how - the county should move forward on this thorny topic.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Speaking of planning, for those who are not fixated by fear that government-sponsored planning leads only to zoning - and lost liberty - there is an alternative world-view that considers planning to be providential by making preparations for the future through prudence, frugality and conservation of resources. The latter view is consistent with the notion that Providence is a sign of divine interest in sustaining and guiding human destiny. Or, God helps those who help themselves.
Absent divine intervention, however, one’s failure to plan can mean one is planning to fail. Ignoring a problem doesn’t make it go away. Instead, problems left unaddressed often lead to more serious, unintended consequences.
Take planning for retirement and death, for example. Retirement can be either planned or forced by the inability to work any longer. Those who plan to retire by earning pensions and/or  saving through programs such as 401(k) and Individual Retirement Accounts, or old-fashioned savings and investments, are more likely to have the choice of retiring before they can no longer work. Social Security and Medicare are woven into their retirement plans rather than being the sole means of support. Unfortunately, those who, for whatever reason, reach retirement without supplemental income from savings must rely on government programs or charity. Retirees’ standard of living and quality of life nearly always suffer if they must rely solely on programs such as Social Security, Medicare and charity. Retirement planning, with government as a partner, usually provides better results than leaving things to chance and circumstance.
As for death, everyone knows it is inevitable, but some act as if they will be exceptions. While death is always untimely, and often unforseen, it is predictable and can be planned for. Many assets pass to heirs outside of wills though joint ownership of houses and cars, or by beneficiary provisions in life insurance, annuities and retirement savings accounts. But, although these mechanisms are called “will substitutes,” they are not substitutes for a will which addresses other property and matters such as guardianship of minor children.
The absence of a will typically creates relatively minor issues for the estate of the first to die in a life-long marriage, but things can get complicated, and expensive for attorneys and probate court to sort out, with the death of the second spouse, or in the case of multiple marriages, or never-married adults with or without children. Fortunately, Chapter 42 of West
Virginia Code provides a default will for everyone who dies without one. Unfortunately, the one-size-fits-all provisions may distribute solely-owned assets in a manner the deceased would not have preferred. Just because you don’t have a plan for dying doesn’t mean there is no plan to distribute your assets. And, if no heirs can be found, the state will sell your assets and contribute the proceeds to the education fund.
Planning is neither inherently good nor bad. It is a process for imagining the future with or without you. In a democratic setting, community planning reflects the collective sense of the present and future states of things, and notions of how to move toward the future to achieve objectives determined by consensus. Government can sponsor the planning process, but citizens must participate in good faith for it to be meaningful. Rejecting possible benefits of planning due to abject fear is as improvident as not making a will because of the fear of death.
Jay Miller may be contacted at 304-799-4950, or by email at pocahontascoordinator@gmail.com.