Once a year MaryAnn lets me have some interaction with our friends and clients. I am told that I am not politically correct. So I will pen a few words in the grey area, here goes.
First off, I thank all of you for your continued support, both on the business level and the personal level. Many of you know that my mother passed away in August, I heard many stories and had good conversations about your dysfunctional families. I wrote in a previous newsletter about the church, really cult, that my mother and other family members were and are involved in. I’ll spare you the proper adjectives to describe this organization, if you are interested in knowing more about it just google 2×2 church abuse scandal. The leading investigative organization in the United States has members involved in this cult so it’s little wonder nothing gets done. I will tell you this, it’s really, really important to stand against this type of evil. I don’t mind confrontation so it comes easier to me but the question does cross your mind, why can’t people behave?
The landscape industry is changing rapidly, the big, wonderful landscape jobs are going away. No wonder, people don’t have the disposable income that they once did and the money is allocated to different areas now. In the eighties when I got going folks wanted magazine type landscapes, showy, better than the neighbor kind of places. We built complete gardens, we removed the trees, did the grading, built the structures, replanted the trees, irrigation, electrical work, concrete and paver work, everything. It was really fun. Today, some of the landscape companies are just extensions of the general public’s stupidity. The people stand there with their phone comparing prices about things they have no understanding of. Everything has a chemical solution, kill the mosquitoes, the flies, every bug, the snakes, the weeds. In other words sterilize everything. Don’t humans understand that the same chemical killing the bug or weed is killing them? I do, If I do everyone else should, I didn’t go to college and I went to work instead of the last year of high school, this stuff is just common sense. Don’t misunderstand me we still work some wonderful jobs, but I’ll tell you this, MaryAnn walks away from more that she designs and quotes. Most of our work in 2025 was maintenance and repair work. I really enjoy repair work and the maintenance work allows the repair work to be caught early, before it becomes a repair.
I tend to think the political situation is part of the problem, people are really tired of the whipsaw action of the government. I don’t need to tell you but as we are all aware, the government is run by genuine geniuses. These fellows think the government employees are just sitting at their desks doing nothing. I got it, we do have some people that glide along but every company of any size has this. The truth is we have much to learn from these gliders, many of these people have really good ideas. Our country does not function without government employees and it does not function well with a super efficient operation. Some overlap and slop slows down snap decisions. The nazis were a well oiled machine, and yes that type of government can exist today if we the people allow it. You see, we live in a democratic republic, people forget this. Today people want a king, no responsibility, no applied efforts, nothing on their part. The country we live in today was built on struggles, battles and challenges. Our constitution is not to be trampled, the rights of citizens, not civilians by the way, are to be respected, demand that type behavior from those that WE send to Washington. The politicians forget that if they were elected by say 53 percent of the voters, I’m just pulling a close number to make a point, that there are 47 percent of eligible voters that aren’t digging them. So it seems like these elected officials need to be talking to the 47 percent. In school 53 percent is a loser.
The tariffs worked out really well, we kicked our trading partners and made things more expensive. The first commandment in how to get along in a world economy, the second is to bully small nations but let’s go back to the first, here’s an example. Today a Bobcat MT100 skid loader costs about 38,000 dollars, great machine. Today the comparable Chinese made skid loader can be had for 13,000 dollars. Not the same machine quality wise? I was surprised too, a Kubota diesel engine, name brand hydraulics, quality tracks, grease fittings at pivot points, LCD dash screen, bolt on cutting edge, powdered coat paint, quality wiring harness, and so on. How can this be? “For every action there is an equal and opposite reaction”, turns out the Chinese can play the tariffs game a little better than we can. I emailed the one company around six in the morning, by noon the same day I had a response, this included pricing, model information and an explanation on how they get around the tariffs and by the way, they had some state side they could land at my door in two weeks. We are in a trade war we cannot win. The used machinery market is down, why buy a used machine when you can buy an import for less? One more example, a Typhon 1 ton wheel loader made in China, under 17,000 dollars, telescopic boom, Kubota engine, nice machine. The industry standard is the Avant, an Avant in the same operating range is north of 50,000 dollars. I’ve reduced our machine inventory but I have not bought anything. I’m partial to the Bobcat brand because of Metro Bobcat, the dealer in this area. You don’t buy a Bobcat because of the machine as much as you buy one because of Metro, good guys. JCB, Case, Caterpillar, John Deere are all good companies but how can they and their dealers compete with China? The answer is two fold, have the Chinese make the machines for them, which some companies do now and second bring manufacturing back to America. President Trump is trying to do that with the tariffs. The trouble I see is do Americans want to work in these jobs? We live in a society where people can’t put their phones down long enough to have a conversation let alone assemble a machine. If you want to slowdown progress in any decision just text the other party back and forth for half of a day instead of calling them and solving the problem in 3 minutes.
Now let’s tackle healthcare, I had an ongoing discussion with Carefirst, they won’t cover the Lyme disease and STARI disease infections I had. I’m not picking on or singling out Carefirst, they must abide by government regulations, blah blah blah. According to researchers with an electron microscope, the Lyme spirochetes are different than the standard periodontal gum disease spirochetes. Carefirst bases their information off of AI, AI isn’t smart enough to discern the difference in spirochetes. The bottom line is they don’t cover anything that they don’t understand. That’s fine, very, very few doctors understand Lyme and even less understand STARI disease infections. I was able to deal with the STARI with the use of ozone and Japanese knotweed. The medical profession says knotweed doesn’t work for STARI. Turns out Japanese knotweed grows where Lyme and STARI are prevalent. Nature does provide. STARI is carried in the Lonestar tick. If you have these tick problems do not use this stuff without a doctor helping you or someone trained in these diseases. Some of the northern states have better healthcare for this. Speaking of good doctors, Integrative Denistry in Pikesville is where I’ve gotten a lot of help with my teeth and overall wellbeing. Dr Micheal Baylin is one of a kind, he has much education in the human health department, not just teeth. The thing that stands out about Dr Baylin is he gets energy movement throughout the body. Dr Baylin’s daughter is a dentist there also, a very good one with great communication skills, The staff is great also. One of those places that is irreplaceable. Much of the sickness today comes from synthetic fragrances, synthetic clothing and electrical frequencies that disrupt how our natural energy flows though and around our bodies. Food grown with synthetic fertilizer and pesticides has less energy that food grown with microbes. America today is awash with low quality food and people are always hungry. The synthetic system upsets nature’s balance, nature does know what it’s doing. The same goes for lawns and landscapes, the grass is green but has no ability to survive without the chemical. The way we do it in our company relies on nature and is not time sensitive because the microbes work when the moisture and temperature are correct for them.
I should take this space and tell you of all the services we offer but I won’t. These companies provide the same services and products as we do for the most part but it’s the owners and employees that I want to highlight. Randy at Arbormasters Tree Service. Randy puts his own time and money into trying to reduce the trash problem in Liberty watershed. Randy designed and had signs printed up in English and Spanish. These signs were respectful and reminded folks of the benefits of using the watershed. Turns out civility works well, I’ve noticed less trash on the shores. Baltimore City would do well to learn from Randy on how to handle this issue. Randy’s brother Rick, along with his wife Carol run First Fruits Farm in Freeland, this farm donates all their produce to the hungry. I’m talking millions of pounds over the years. Randy and Rick put a lot of effort into making Maryland a better place. Dale Tober who many of you have seen working with us, spends a morning a week helping prison inmates read the Bible and get a handle on changing their path into something positive, hats off to Dale. Greg of Provision crane service, also you’ve seen him on our jobs, spends time working with the homeless by introducing the Gospel to them. These fellows are part of a group of people I’ve run across that spend their own money and time to better society. Dicks landscaping has a garden center and landscape company just up the road from us, it’s a multiple generation business. Tony’s father got it going and his son Anthony is now involved. Instead of going to a big box store, stop by Dick’s on Liberty road and check out their flowers, shrubs and Christmas trees. Rental Solutions is right across from Dick’s and has a good selection of things to rent, check them out when you need a tool or something you can’t justify buying. Dick’s and Rental Solutions provide jobs and services to our area. I mention these businesses and should note like many businesses we have in our community, these places need customers since these businesses help make the community. Speaking of community, anyone who owns property in Eldersburg is aware of the high real estate values, I’ve got news for you, these prices don’t stay elevated without police intervention. The various agencies put a lot of effort into rounding up the swill. Hats off to them and thank them when you see them.
Finally, in 2026 hopefully we can work on solutions instead of arguing the Democrat/Republican thing. You’re a liberal, you’re a conservative……who cares. Let’s fix problems, one of the best diagnostic tools I use for fixing problems is to take the money out of the equation. Money distorts the outcome, changes decisions. Simple solutions are the distillation of big ideas. Most of the readers of this letter get it. The doers in society don’t ask for a thank you or even recognition, when you run across one in your travels this year thank them. Remember our Creator.
Take care,
Eric
Eric’s blog 