The last couple of weeks I’ve been trying to get the butternut squash healthy again. The strawberries, on the other hand, are taking off with all the new daughter plants. The tomatoes…oh boy…they’re being decimated this year. The beet leafhoppers apparently brought in Beet Curly Top Virus, and it has been brutal.

One of the bright spots has been the rain. We’ve had more good rain this year than we’ve seen in the last couple of years, with more in the forecast. Around here, that’s something worth celebrating.

The orchard trees are looking really good. The sad part? Not a single piece of fruit anywhere to be found.

While all of that has been going on, I’ve spent the last couple of weeks digging through government statistics on inflation, food insecurity, wages, debt, and affordability. Oddly enough, the more I study the numbers, the less certain I become that I’m even asking the right questions.

Maybe inflation isn’t the story.

Maybe wages aren’t the story.

Maybe politics isn’t even the story.

Maybe I’m looking at symptoms while missing something much larger.

Maybe the real question is this:

What has changed in the life of the ordinary American family over the last sixty years?