| We are in a serious economic situation....probably the worst most of us have ever experienced. Maybe (hopefully) not you and your family personally, but the country...the world...is in for it. I got to thinking about an experience with Grandpa Wuehler. We were riding in the car, as I remember, going some place....who knows where. Grandpa was 'giving me the word' as he often did. We passed a young peach orchard that was being pulled out. I wondered out loud why the young orchard was being pulled. Grandpa reminded me that the price on peaches was way down because the farmers had over-planted peaches. With all the orchards in peaches, the price was driven down. BUT, the price of plums was up (not so many plum orchards around). Grandpa said the farmer was probably pulling the peaches in order to plant plums. I commented it made sense to me. Grandpa then enlightened me about business! He may have only had a high school education, but he was as "street smart" as anyone I have ever known. He launched into a statement about when he was a young man at home farming with his father in Visalia, CA before he went into the Air Corp (as it was called in those days). He said that during the Great Depression many farmers in the Visalia area were going under or barely making it. He said he and his father were doing work for various farmers and taking land or other 'in kind' as payment. They were doing well, building business, during the depression while others were going under. On he went with his story. |
| Finally he said, using peaches and plums as an example and referring to when he was farming with his father: When everyone was pulling out peaches, we were planting peaches! See the wisdom here? In three years when the peaches began to produce, the plums would be flooding the market driving down their price, but peaches would be in short supply. You decide how Grandpa's take on business applies to you and your personal or economic situation. But however you decide, know: Now is the time to move forward; not give in. |  |