The city of Maywood, California, fired everyone last month. The police. The crossing guards. Everybody at city hall. The street guys. The city planners. Everybody. Gone. Wiped out the payroll. On July 1, just a few hours after Maywood's paid employees hit the bricks, the husband of Mayor Ana Rosa Rizo got a parking ticket. Ms Rizo was delighted. It meant that law enforcement in the neighboring city of Bell was doing the work it had been contracted to do by the city before the layoffs went into effect. By outsourcing municipal services to neighboring jurisdictions and private contractors - many of whom had been on the Maywood payroll - the mayor and other elected officials figure they'll save millions every year. Consternation among the citizenry seems to have given way to mostly positive reactions, according to a story in yesterday's New York Times. The move was a tough sell in Maywood, but Maywood seems to be rolling in tough. Four years ago, a deputy city clerk tried to hire a hit man to kill a city councilman. The clerk was sentenced to a year in jail and six months of anger management counseling. Could your local government amputate its payroll, save tons of cash and still keep everybody happy? Probably not. But it's something to think about. The story from the Times is here: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/20/business/20maywood.html?ref=business

     What makes a small farm successful? Nobody knows for sure, but a survey of small farmers in New York hopes to come up with some answers. Erica Frenay who, with Craig Modisher, is a small farmer herself, is the coordinator of New York's Beginning Farmer's Project. There's a definite lack of training and mentoring, according to Frenay. She and Modisher discovered that when, with little practical experience, they decided to start a pastured poultry business in Caroline, New York. The six-page survey she's overseeing has gone out to farmers in 11 Northeastern states. So far, just 110 of the surveys have been filled out and returned, but she hopes to have 400 by the fall. Lancaster Farming reporter Chris Torres did a story about the survey for our current issue. You can read it here: http://www.lancasterfarming.com/node/3067


     Love watermelon! Been there! Haven't exactly done that!  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3ZPcJ15Z6pY&NR=1