Omg. @WhiteHouse is inviting press to "bring your kids to work" at the White House on Thursday – mock briefing too! pic.twitter.com/aVR5iUtgK0
— Elizabeth Landers (@ElizLanders) April 25, 2017
Isn't this everyday? pic.twitter.com/bF2A1xFpN1
— Olivia Nuzzi (@Olivianuzzi) April 25, 2017
I much prefer this idea from Richard V. Reeves, at Quartz:
… When the event was founded back in 1993 as Take Your Daughter to Work Day, the idea was to promote gender equality. It expanded to include sons 10 years later, and has since lost much of its animating purpose. It also remains a largely white-collar exercise: Sponsors of the foundation that advocates for the holiday include MetLife, HP, AOL, and Goldman Sachs…
But in practice, Take Our Daughters and Sons to Work Day hasnât changed much. We need to turn it on its head. At Brookings we are trying to practice what we preach, and so this Friday we will be hosting over 100 high schoolers from DC Public Schools, as a result of a new partnership with two non-profit organizationsâBuild DC and the Latin American Youth Centerâand DC Public Schools.
One of the biggest challenges the US is a lack of intergenerational social mobility. Too many children end up in similar positions to their parents on the social and economic ladder. Given this, the case for exposing disadvantaged kids to white-collar jobs is pretty clear. But there is something to be said for the other side of coin, too. Teenagers from affluent backgrounds often live in a bubble, surrounded by friends, neighbors and fellow students who share similar backgrounds. âOur kids are increasingly growing up with kids like them who have parents like us,â writes the Harvard social scientist Robert Putnam in his book Our Kids. He warns this represents âan incipient class apartheid.â It couldnât hurt for upper-middle-class kids to step outside their bubble and spend a day in a working-class job…
Apart from tween-wrangling, what’s on the agenda for the day?
rikyrah
Good Morning, Everyone ? ??
Baud
@rikyrah: Good morning.
Baud
I live in a bubble of one. I prefer it that way.
NobodySpecial
Methinks this poor sheltered person never heard of gated communities. Or much of American history.
HeleninEire
Good morning, morning crew. A beautiful day here in Dublin – two in a row!!!!! 55 degrees and the sun is shining bright. Woke up at 5:45 and the sun was on her way up; it will stay light until 8:45 tonight. In a few weeks those times will be 5am and close to 11pm.
Nothing better than summer in Dublin. Headed out for a long run/walk in a few. Everyone have a wonderful day.
MomSense
I’d love to see crying babies at a Spicey briefing.
Eye rolling tween/teens could be fun, probably less traumatic for the poor babies.
NobodySpecial
@MomSense: The only positive would be Spicey would have playmates.
satby
@rikyrah: @Baud: Good morning!
@NobodySpecial: John Edwards was a spectacular disappointment in the end, but his Two Americas theme was right. Such different worlds at this point you practically need a passport to travel between them.
bystander
Good morning from Rome. Tickets for the Villa Borghese this afternoon so resting up for arduous art walk.
You can’t escape Trump. The dentist I went to here explained that she liked him because he is tough on crime and will cut taxes, which is sorely needed in Italy. I managed to restrain myself, seeing how she had all the instruments of torture right at hand.
Yesterday we hit a church that has centuries old frescoes, each depicting a different mode of martyrdom, boiled in oil, flaying, cutting off limbs, crushing with boulders, etc. I managed to imagine Trump as the soon-to-be Saint in each one and could not stop laughing. Especially the guy down whose throat they are pouring molten metal. It is said that the frescoes sickened the Marquis de Sade, but that is obviously either because he was upset at not getting to participate or because he could not have known about Donald Trump.
NobodySpecial
@satby: Yep, a tremendous own goal for our side, and I think it poisoned the well for any future standard-bearers.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Baud: You’re in the BJ bubble, Baud.
satby
@HeleninEire: Enjoy! Dublin and Ireland are very beautiful in the summer, I agree. I hope I get back one more time before I get to old to travel much.
Baud
@?BillinGlendaleCA: There are worse places.
p.a.
Good Morning!
Take your daughter to your hardhat, steeltoed boot, hearing protection required work so she will hit those fucking schoolbooks!
Zattarra
We’ve got two kids with us this year. Both Foster kids that we are in the midst of adopting. Our older daughter was with us last year and I took to work on take your child to work day. I thought she was a little bored but maybe OK with it. Wasn’t so sure she was a fan. But planned on taking both girls this year again. But then my older one has been missing a bit of school due to being sick and then a school trip and the wife and I decided to do the responsible thing and not let her come today. And we told her. And she said she understood.
And then 30 minutes later she sends me a text telling me how much it meant to her to go last year. And how she couldn’t do that with her birth mom. And how she was looking forward to it and how important it was to her last year. I had no idea. Of course we changed our decision. If this means something to the kids let them come. If this is one of those bonding moments with a child then do it. She can make up the work. I just never knew. She’s in High School, I just assumed she wanted to skip a day of school. And now I know that maybe the younger one (who I know is thinking this is a chance to skip school), maybe this will turn out to be a positive, important memory for her too,
So seeing people overthinking this or saying it’s a privilege thing. Yeah, maybe it is. But middle class folks deserve a chance to bond with their kids too.
amk
Children ages 5-13 from?
English not having a good day today.
MomSense
@NobodySpecial:
Can you imagine the split screen visuals. Spicey says something bogus and a bunch of teens roll their eyes in unison on the other side.
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Baud: Heh, not many.
ETA: I guess there’s the Trump White House and…
satby
@Zattarra: I only had sons, both foster and biological, so that’s who I took. Way before the official day started, my dad always took me and my sisters each on a special dad and daughter day every year, bringing us to see the precinct where he worked, out to lunch, and usually finishing up with a couple of hours at the old Kiddyland amusement park. It’s so important to kids to have that alone time and attention from their parents! I remember my dad treating me like a grown-up, introducing me to the other cops and talking about current events (not school!) at lunch. Those memories last forever.
OzarkHillbilly
@NobodySpecial: Methinks this poor sheltered person is not real bright. Anyone who can say,
has never driven past a jobsite. I can just see me trying to take my sons up on some high steel job. Yes this is a thoroughly white collar holiday.
satby
@OzarkHillbilly: true, lots of jobsites aren’t safe for children, not just construction jobs either. But kids should see where and how their parents work to support them. It’s a shame it’s mostly a white collar thing.
Baud
@satby:
“Dad, what does a gigalo do?”
zhena gogolia
@bystander:
So funny that I had the exact same experience in my little CT town — dentist with instruments of torture performing a root canal while telling me how terrible the Hamilton cast was for not bowing down to “dignitary” Mike Pence.
OzarkHillbilly
@satby: It’s just not possible for it be anything else. Not that we have them anymore (sarcasm), but can you see someone taking their child out onto a factory floor with all the machinery? Those child labor laws didn’t come about because it was good for them.
@Zattarra: It’s OK that it’s a white collar holiday, with me anyway.
ThresherK
Whose kid in the press pool is going embarrass the pro, grown-up journos b acting like a real journalist?
amk
Breaking: trump announces manned flight to colonize Saturn within one year
Baud
@amk: I hope he volunteers.
OzarkHillbilly
@Baud: I hope he gets there…. and runs out of gas.
debbie
What, are they afraid 14-year-olds will ask difficult questions?
debbie
@zhena gogolia:
I also had a very conservative dentist. I still hated the drill more, but listening to his bilge was no fun.
Feathers
The original Take Your Daughter to Work day was begun because research showed that the strongest correllary for girls not getting pregnant was if they had career goals. I’d always point that out to people who would go on with “But what about the boys?” They clearly thought it was some keep down the menz thing, hadn’t even considered that there might have been real thought behind the original event. And media coverage ignored that side of it as well.
bystander
@zhena gogolia: At least I had been upside down in the dental,chair for six hours when she delivered her wisdom. I heard it all through a haze.
The dentist was also fascinated that my husband was a man and he didn’t want to go cool his heels at the Mussolini museum and garden while she tortured me. It was quite clear to me that she had decided same sex marriage is a sham because she compared my husband’s reaction (go home, sightsee, wait) to her previous patient’s husband who did not leave the office while his wife was being prodded and drilled. When I finally got home, he was “is she effing crazy? Fascist gardens and museum?”
bystander
The tv talker on Al Jazeera just pronounced the adjectival form of Bolivia as “Boliavarian”. I hope my laughter is justified.
rikyrah
@Zattarra:
You have a great day with the kids.?
Elizabelle
@Feathers:
Great point. I’d forgotten that. Would it kill a journalist or two to remind readers of that impetus?
Adria McDowell (formerly Lurker Extraordinaire
My husband starts at a new job on Saturday (much better pay, okay benefits that we don’t really need since he is retired military), so Friday we are taking our daughter with us to pick up his tool box, and so she can see the planes daddy works on. This same employer (the one he’s leaving) hosted a Trump rally before the election. The owners are big Trump fans, and treat their mechanics like shit. “See, baby girl, this is what an employer who pays shit and wouldn’t know how to treat its workers kindly if it bit them in the ass looks like” will be what we tell her on our way out. We’re labor supporters in this household, and I’ll be damned if she doesn’t grow up feeling the same way!
satby
@Elizabelle: the kids of single moms get to go to work with them more than one day a year as a rule. Almost every time childcare falls through if you have no paid time off.
Quinerly
OK, let’s see if I can include a link from this phone. NYC now has an anti Trump bar with all proceeds going for great causes. A NYC meet up to drink liberally? If my link doesn’t appear, you can find the piece at “Crooks and Liars.” Love the decor! https://www.thrillist.com/drink/new-york/east-village/coup-bar-nyc-protests-trump-donates-profits
OzarkHillbilly
@Elizabelle: No, but they’d have to find a counter point to show that there are 2 sides to every story.
Baud
@OzarkHillbilly:
“But some critics say that the event ignores the problem of male pregnancies.”
raven
I am really beat up from the 8 hr yesterday. We caught a nice bunch of fish and I got my first spanish mackerel. Going by yourself on what they call a “make-up charter”, where they put groups and individuals together, can be a challenge because you never know what to expect. You can get one jerk and it will ruin the trip. This one was great, 6 people who were happy to be there and it didn’t bother to catch a bunch of fish we had to throw back. It was rough and windy and slammed you all over the boat while you fished but it was great!
OzarkHillbilly
@Baud: See? Not so hard to do.
OzarkHillbilly
@raven: I’d be leery too. Nice that it worked out well.
raven
@OzarkHillbilly: I always do it and it works out most of the time. I have really come to feel that I don’t want anyone to come with me after my dad, the real salt, went and hated it. Here’s a shot heading out in the morning,
Baud
@raven: What didn’t he like about it?
amk
@Baud: you mcp.
efgoldman
@MomSense:
I’d love to see them with Apricot Asswipe. It’s pretty clear he is viscerally afraid of very small children, as well as dogs and cats.
raven
@Baud: Well he never liked feating fish, then he didn’t like catching them, and he especially didn’t like the big ugly moray eel that got pulled up. Probably the worst thing was that he didn’t realize that it did not matter what he liked or didn’t, we were out there for the duration. The last time that had happened to him it was 4 years in the pacific on a can.
OzarkHillbilly
@raven: I like going with people I don’t know, I’m just leery. Once got stuck on a cave trip with somebody who had no business being there. 3 days of hell and worry wondering how in dog’s name we were going to get them out of the cave.
Very nice pic, well framed.
efgoldman
@p.a.:
Yeah, I’m visualizing an eight or nine year old, in a hardhat, etc, standing next to mom or dad while s/he tightens lug nuts for ten hours on the line.
Baud
@raven: Live and learn.
Patricia Kayden
@MomSense: You’ll get that when Spicey starts crying because a kid asks him a tough question.
oldster
So yesterday, some of us up here in NY-23 made some phone calls to tell Tom Reed what we thought of Zombie TrumpCare 2.0.
And yesterday afternoon, Sahil Kapur, reporter at Bloomsberg, tweeted this out:
“Rep. Tom Reed (R-NY) goes from yes to undecided on AHCA. He tells me he’s studying the consequences of the MacArthur amendment.”
That’s what pressure does. It takes a staunch, zombie-eyed Trump-loving right-winger like Reed, and it makes him hear footsteps and feel a bit nervous.
Keep up the good work!
Today, the WaPo is saying that Democrats intend to force a floor vote on requiring Trump to release his taxes and other financial records. Of course they cannot get a majority to vote ‘yes’ on it, but they can force Republicans to own the cover-up.
raven
@OzarkHillbilly: got it
efgoldman
@oldster:
GOOD for you and your neighbors.
Also good. More of this direct confrontation, please.
Jeffro
Yes, I know it’s Slate, and yes, it’s yet another take on Republicans (but not necessarily Trump voters). But this piece by Seth Stevenson – how frustrated Republicans view Trump’s first 100 days – is interesting for three reasons:
1) Whether they voted for Trump or not (it’s about a 50/50 split), they almost uniformly see the Gorsuch nomination as a great thing, with no qualms whatsoever about how the seat was stolen. Let’s be sure to pay them back once we have the WH and Senate back.
2) Fully half of these clowns Stevenson quotes make reference to HRC’s “criminal” behavior or “criminality”. They are still rationalizing their support for Trump or, if they voted 3rd party, their lack of support for HRC even in the face of Trump’s obvious unfitness for office.
3) Almost every single person in this sample would like to see a Rubio or a Paul or a Sasse as a primary challenger (or running in 2020 if/when Trump declines to run*). Ugh. We’re going to have to watch future GOP candidates being painted as moderate after Trump has gone.
*which brings me to a
4) if the GOP gets clobbered in 2018 and it looks like the writing might be on the wall for Trump to lose, bigly, in 2020…one wonders if he’ll decline to run. As one of the GOP panel in Stevenson’s piece noted, he might just claim he’s done “everything he set out to do” – it’s not like the guy has a problem with lying. I think it’s more likely that GOP infighting by that point might be so intense that he says “both parties and the whole system are irretrievably broken”, but that would mean he used a big word like “irretrievably”, so let’s just go with “broken”.
Baud
@Jeffro: None of that is the least bit surprising.
Another Scott
@Zattarra: My dad worked for a defense contractor and couldn’t talk about what he did for a living. It was a mystery. Lots of kids have no idea what most jobs are like – what does an engineer actually do during the day? Why should I study science and math? I like music and art, why should I care about studying English? What do you mean that at almost any job I will have to go to meetings and speak up and maybe give presentations and have to clearly and persuasively get to the point in a limited amount of time? Etc.
It’s important for kids to see what real jobs are like when they’re young. I would have loved being able to see where my dad worked and what the environment was like and how he applied his education and life experiences. I’m not at all surprised that it made a big impression on your daughter. :-)
Enjoy, everyone!
Cheers,
Scott.
lafcolleen
DT brings his daughter to work at the White House every day. So why shouldn’t we?
OzarkHillbilly
@lafcolleen: Heh.
Quinerly
Yes…Politico….which I rarely read but they do have two long pieces up today that are worth a look. In this piece, two mentions of how Drudge hangs out and huddles with Trump in the Oval Office. I guess I’m not surprised but when I see this kind of stuff in print, I still find it jarring. http://www.politico.com/story/2017/04/27/the-education-of-donald-trump-237669
Brachiator
@Jeffro: I want to take a look at the Slate article. I wonder if the people who voted for him are starting to question his fitness, or if they or happy or rationalize his failures.
I can see him running for re election just for the ego boost.
rikyrah
uh uh uh
uh uh uh
Sandi Jackson to Jesse Jr.: List all sex partnersânames and dates
CHICAGO 04/26/2017, 07:52pm
Tina Sfondeles
Sandi Jackson has requested the names, phone numbers and addresses of any sexual partners Jesse Jackson Jr. may have had during their 26-year marriage.
As one chapter in the contentious divorce case ends, another begins.
That request was made on March 31, according to a filing in Washington, D.C. â which is where the former political power coupleâs divorce case will be settled.
Jesse Jackson Jr. on Wednesday filed court papers saying heâs choosing to dismiss divorce proceedings in Chicago â allowing the case to continue solely in the nationâs capital.
Documents filed last month in Washington, D.C., show Sandi Jacksonâs attorneys requested that the former congressman âstate the name, telephone number, and address of each and every person other than the Plaintiff with whom you had sexual relations since the date of your marriage to the Plaintiff and the date and location of each and every such incidence of sexual relations.â
The requests made March 31 had to pertain to the question of jurisdiction in Washington and temporary alimony â not the entire divorce case.
ruemara
Lack of intergenerational social mobility? We have tons of it in America. I wish I was at where my parents were at my age. With less education and technical skill, they have a paid off house in NYC, 3 cars and a safe retirement. I’m in a dodgy apartment in CA, one cheap car I can barely afford, a string of the most bizarre roommates and no real hope for much more. We have tons of downward mobility that takes lots of work and education to maintain.
Sheesh.
I get to work with interns and I have to say it’s very valuable for them. Getting real world experience in working helps kids know if they want to pursue the careers they’re studying and it preps them for what to do in those fields. I love my kids and am a notorious spoiler of interns despite being firm.
NickM
I am from a middle-class background — both my parents had office jobs. But when I was in college during the summers I worked for the company my mom worked for and was assigned to the bottling line one year, the warehouse a couple years, and a pick-and-pack department as well. I learned a ton about how the world actually works and was extremely formative to my still-unhardened brain. Upper and middle class twits should be forced to spend at least some time doing blue-collar work.
Kay
My son’s company in Chicago does this. They invite Chicago Public Schools teenagers who are interested in tech careers in and they are assigned to employees, one of which is my son. So he’s anti-social, he doesn’t like anyone really, but he liked these kids. He was kind of an oddball growing up here so Chicago and that industry have been a real revelation for him- he fits in at work in a way he never did as a kid and he realized they are the same. They are just like he was. He described them as “shy” but I think it’s more than that. I don’t think he’s ever been in the role of making nervous, shy people comfortable because he was always that outsider person.
Anyway, I think he benefits from this much more than the kids do.
rikyrah
It appears President Trump’s tax proposal was designed by billionaires for billionaires.
â Bill de Blasio (@NYCMayor) April 26, 2017
rikyrah
THE LAST WORD WITH LAWRENCE O’DONNELL 4/26/17
Lawrence on Trump’s disastrous one-page tax proposal rollout
The White House unveiled a one-page outline of their tax proposal, providing almost no detail about what the final plan will look like. But one thing we do know: the wealthy would get a massive tax cut. Lawrence O’Donnell speaks with David Cay Johnston and Adam Jentleson.
schrodingers_cat
I have a gardening question
As a newbie gardener what equipment do I need. What is okay to buy used and what has to be new?
Any help is much appreciated.
rikyrah
THE LAST WORD WITH LAWRENCE O’DONNELL 4/26/17
Trumpcare wins Freedom Caucus, loses moderates (& maybe GA-6?)
Republicans are rapidly shifting positions on the Obamacare repeal bill. The Freedom Caucus now supports the bill, but moderates are backing away. Former GOP Rep. David Jolly and Vox health care reporter Sarah Kliff join Lawrence O’Donnell.
rikyrah
Trump agrees to let his health care hostage go (for now)
04/27/17 08:40 AM
By Steve Benen
Exactly two weeks ago, Donald Trump publicly acknowledged a not-so-subtle hostage strategy he thought, at the time, would be a good idea. The Republican president said he was prepared to destroy American health care markets by withholding cost-sharing subsidies â unless congressional Democrats took steps to make him happy.
Trump said on Twitter that he didnât âwant people to get hurt,â before suggesting heâd start hurting people.
Yesterday, the White House decided to let the hostage go â at least for now.
rikyrah
Trump does himself no favors with attacks on the federal judiciary
04/27/17 09:20 AM
By Steve Benen
In his 2010 State of the Union address, then-President Barack Obama expressed his dissatisfaction with the Supreme Courtâs Citizens United ruling.
âWith all due deference to separation of powers,â Obama said, âlast week the Supreme Court reversed a century of law that, I believe, will open the floodgates for special interests, including foreign corporations, to spend without limit in our elections. And I urge Democrats and Republicans to pass a bill that helps correct some of these problems.â
Conservatives, the media, and many prominent figures in the legal community responded with a spirited freak-out â not to defend the Citizens United rulings, but to balk at the presidentâs public concerns. Americans were told that the remarks, delivered in front of several justices who were on hand for the address, represented an assault on the federal judiciary. A debate ensued about whether Obama had gone too far.
Seven years later, with Donald Trump continuing to rant and rave about federal courts that refuse to do what he wants them to do, the complaints from 2010 seem almost quaint.
rikyrah
Republican health plan at the end of a trail of broken promises
04/27/17 08:00 AMâUPDATED 04/27/17 08:04 AM
By Steve Benen
Donald Trump was never specific about the substantive details of his health care plan, but he wasnât shy about telling Americans exactly what his policy would do and what the system would look like once it was in place.
âWeâre going to have insurance for everybody,â he vowed. The Republican added that once the Affordable Care Act is replaced with his plan, weâd see lower premiums, âmuch lowerâ deductibles, and a system in which all Americans are âbeautifully covered.â
This wasnât just campaign palaver, ad-libbed during a rally, from a candidate pleading for support from unsuspecting voters. Rather, these were commitments Trump made after heâd won the presidential election.
The president then proceeded to break his word without explanation, throwing his support behind congressional Republicansâ American Health Care Act, which would take coverage from tens of millions of people, raise premiums, and raise deductibles. How does Trump explain his failure to follow through on his commitments? So far, he hasnât even tried to justify the shift.
But on the other end of Pennsylvania Avenue, the congressional Republicans find themselves in the exact same position. When House GOP leaders unveiled their health plan last month, they also created a website to answer the publicâs questions. As of this morning, it still says the Republican proposal âprohibits health insurers from denying coverage or charging more money to patients based on pre-existing conditions,â which is the opposite of what the latest iteration of their legislation does. The Q&A portion adds:
This is the exact opposite of the truth. Under the latest version of the Republican plan, protections for Americans with pre-existing conditions would be gutted, and tens of millions of people would lose their health coverage.
rikyrah
THE RACHEL MADDOW SHOW 4/26/17
Jared Kushner courts scandal with sketchy business backers
Rachel Maddow shares new reporting from the New York Times that Trump son-in-law Jared Kushner’s secret financial backers are a family with businesses under investigation for corruption.
rikyrah
THE RACHEL MADDOW SHOW 4/26/17
White House hypes ‘OK’ North Korea briefing for senators
Rachel Maddow looks at escalating tensions between the United States and North Korea and the peculiar, special all-senators briefing by the White House that left attendees underwhelmed.
rikyrah
THE RACHEL MADDOW SHOW 4/26/17
Booker: Public pushback stopped Trumpcare, may be needed again
Senator Cory Booker talks with Rachel Maddow about attempts to resurrect a Republican plan to dismantle Obamacare and the resistance such a move is likely to encounter in the Senate and with the American public.
rikyrah
Breaking News: The Inspector General has opened Flynn investigation
germy
@rikyrah:
Kay
@schrodingers_cat:
You need a good spade and a trowel and a hand pruner with a blade. If you’re small or short get a spade with a rest for your foot and a longer handle, for leverage. You can buy the spade and trowel used but buy the pruners new and spend something on it- it will drive you crazy if it doesn’t work. I use a fork a lot to turn soil so maybe get that too. It’s easier than spading if you have heavy soil.
I don’t know if you go to auctions- the kind where they auction the property and contents of a house, but that’s where I buy hand tools. They last forever – there are millions of them sitting in cellars and garages. It seems a shame to even make new ones since the world’s supply already exists :)
My general rule is buy anything with moving parts new- hence the pruners- because materials are better than they were. They stay sharp longer now and they’re lighter.
Quinerly
@schrodingers_cat:
What size area are you taking on? Flower beds and/or veggies? Container gardening? Urban or suburban? I’ve honed my skills on small space, urban, NOLA style courtyard stuff. Need a bit more info. Plus, what zone are you in? Shade or sun??
Mom Says I'm Handsome
I’ve brought three of my kids to TYC2W today, including, for the first time, my 8-year-old daughter. I’m a supply chain manager for a Fortune 100 company, but we still do actual manufacturing here in Colorado, so I’ll be using the hourlong commute back home to talk about the nature of work, what Dad actually does compared to the line workers*, and I’ll probably throw in a little lecture on class mobility. Thanks to everyone for great discussion topics.
* I once met a strange and wonderful older woman. As we shook hands she took my hand in hers, stroked my palm, and said, “Ahh, office worker…”
rikyrah
@schrodingers_cat:
Will be reading the answers…I’m thinking about trying it myself.
J R in WV
@schrodingers_cat:
Flowers or vegtables? For a small flower garden, gloves, trowel, shovel, rake, sprayer. The shovel and rake can be bought used if they are clean and rust free, the shovel should be sharp on the digging edge.
For a small veggie garden, you will also need a turning fork, which is built like a short shovel but has tines like a pitchfork, only strong, to turn over the earth to start working the soil. Also a hoe, to weed between the vegetables. These can be used if in good shape, no rust or splits in the wood. If you’re buying them, fiberglass handles are ok if they feel strong. These tools need to be kept dry or they will deteriorate quickly.
A watering can that holds a couple of gallons, a garden hose with an adjustable nozzle, I know I’m forgetting things, help out folks. But this is a start. And some books about the kind of gardening you plan to do.
If you want to do tomatoes, you will need stakes and twine to hold the vines up off the ground. If there are deer you may need a fence to keep them out.
J R in WV
@J R in WV:
Kay is right about pruners, we have light weight ones for soft plants and heavy-duty ones for more woody plants. A plastic watering can can be used to fertilize with water-soluble Miracle-gro type fertilizers, and to spread some pesticides and deer-repellent solutions.
Deer-repellent is repellent, but not hazardous, being soap and rotten eggs in solution, nasty smelling when you apply it, not so much after it dries, but teh deer won’t eat it. It washes off in the rain, so you do have to go back, if deer are a problem. I don’t know how it works for rabbits etc, our dogs keep those far away from the flower gardens.
On tomatoes, many of our neighbors now use wire cages to put around the plant after it has a good start, it gives the vine something to climb, keeps the ‘maters off the ground, and helps against deer a little bit too. The cages will last years if you put them away for the winter, really they’ll last a long time if you don’t if you get galvanized wire cages.
Kay
@J R in WV:
I give pruners a ridiculous amount of thought. Bypass blades. Don’t even talk to me about that guillotine set-up.
This is the best thing I bought in the last ten years:
I have heavy soil and I use this soil-knife thing for everything now.
Mike G
He needn’t worry, a lot of them will get the chance after they graduate college. Unless they are thoroughly overprivileged snots of the GW Bush Bush type who can work at daddy’s company or ride daddy’s connections.
When I was younger it was normal to work crap jobs in high school and college. Nowadays it seems college admissions are so overcompetitive that kids in the affluent bracket are doing extracurriculars and internships instead.