Some of the hardest things

Please see Womennotdabbling for more continuous homesteading information. I write on Mondays but each day is filled with useful information from a variety of writers.

As I have mentioned previously changes are occurring here in our family and though I can't yet say if more is to come, I can say with certainty that we will be selling our home to move. That is partly why I have not been posting very much---we still have a bit of work on the house that needed finishing.
No, don't worry about us -- it's not the economy. We have however come to the realization that as our children have become older (and less often here) that this home is too big for us. It is a home that would be better suited to someone with a family still young enough to be home to fill it regularly.

We have worked hard on our home and will regret selling it for that reason but the chance to downsize (ie smaller square footage) and start with a clean slate (ie new garden) is not unappealing either. Yes, we will yet again have much work to improve our soil to make it grow and produce well for us but one thing I have gleaned more of than anything else from this property is: Experience

And because this property was large enough to own more than just a few of anyone animal and to raise livestock on a larger scale than ever before, we learned much. We learned volumes about nutrition, minerals, health of livestock as it relates to the quality of the soil, butchering, "the circle of life", and diversity in both plants and livestock for optimum use of resources.

So...to expand on my new found experience here are some of the hardest things I learned:

1) Digging fresh new ground for the first time ---1000's more square feet more than ever before. Whether by hand or tiller it's hard hard work. Especially when the smallest section is still 4 times larger than my previous largest section.
2) How to effectively (the key word here) use cover crops. I am still working on that one.
3) growing year round---that one doesn't take as long to figure out and my climate also helps a lot.
4)How to build a fence that is livestock proof from everything from a cow to a dog to a sheep and on down to a chicken. By this I mean how to build it once---not 4 times coming back to the same fence. Been there done that.
5) How to pack a fence post so it lasts and how to repair a fence and move livestock in the driving rain of a bad thunder and lightening storm.
6) How not to cry each time we kill, skin and butcher an animal.
7) How to eat the sheep we butchered the next day instead of weeks or months afterward. That was a really hard one.
8)To not be so squeamish that I can't finish the "circle of life" by allowing the other animals to eat the leftovers of the carcass. (Most specifically the head---that's just still kind of icky to watch the other animals chew and gnaw on)
9)To have more respect and appreciation for what it takes to make your entire living off of farming. It's not easy---ever.

Homesteading is in my soul. I can't imagine not, in some form or fashion, being somewhat self sufficient-- so my next home will include plans for feeding my family just with a smaller house. It is however full of hard physical and mental work and I realize now that we should never take for granted what it takes out of a farmer and his family. I do also realize though that to get the best food value for our money and not just the cheapest, that paying farmers living wages is something we need to address in this country. We need food that nourishes us---made on a farm where a farmer has pride in what he does. We don't need cheap food that comes from countries or places in the U.S where the only pride is in making a larger profit range.
Just my thoughts. Good week everyone.

Health Care and Tax Cuts

Here's a link to an article comparing McCain's and Obama's health care plans. The article speaks mostly about McCain's plan but at the end tells the cost of both plans and who/how many will be affected and/or reap benefits.

Also, want to know how each candidates overall tax plan will affect your yearly bill? Here's a link to a site where you can plus in your basic tax information and get an overall view of what your tax bill will be using both candidates plans. Use your last years tax information and you can comparative look based on a Bush, McCain and Obama plan.
www.electiontaxes.com

what I would like to know (not that it matters to the economy at all)

Though I only wanted a campaign filled with ideas and solutions that is not to be the case. And though I tried to keep an open mind about each candidate I was leaning (I'll admit) a bit democratically. However Sara Palin was an interesting choice...until she opened her mouth. Now she may be able to debate by not answering the questions but when it comes to answering questions she makes me embarrassed to know that the first women VP or Pres that would stand for America could be that un smart sounding. Sorry....but during nuclear talks with Russia I REALLY doubt Putin will give a ding dang about being winked at.

So....on to the newest politcal cut the repubs are throwing at Obama. What I want to know is why:

conservatives may not want to draw attention to the issue of ties to violent radicals -- since John McCain is longtime pals with convicted Watergate burglar Gordon Liddy, who once plotted a journalist's murder (which was never carried out) and has advocated the shooting of federal law enforcement agents.

If Obama needs to answer questions about Ayers, McCain has the same obligation regarding Liddy. How about they both get started?

Understanding our Energy Options

for a homesteading only blog please see womennotdabbling.worpress.com

So, as the candidates, Presidential that is, fight over what the heck to do about our energy problem----we need to understand our options so we can make informed voter decisions. No matter what your top issue may be to help you decide who to vote for, energy is going to stay on our plate for a long time whether or not we want to face it right now. Even if you believe this affects the environment, and therefor that makes it important to talk about, is also in my opinion irregardless. (I do believe it has an impact so don't pound me for that statement)
Energy, no matter why we are concerned, definitely has an impact on our economy and since about the 70s.....our national security. The economy is our number one issue so I hear, though I am sure there are some that still have other issues that outrank that one. Probably not many but...
But back to energy, if we don't deal with this now, at some point we will pay the price of waiting. By dealing with it I do not mean mouthing platitudes or throwing us to the wolves of the establishment who do not seem able to help us move beyond were they will make another dollar.

Now I know some of you will be for options I am not for. That's o.k. However lets make our choices for helping our country energy wise based on fact.....not opinions. I do not know the perfect solution for our country. I do know that, I , me, myself, person numero uno would prefer something other than having to bury nuclear waste in someone else's back yard. And for clarification I can say with extreme certainty that the nuclear waste the U.S makes won't be buried in my back yard. That I believe is one reason why many people don't have a problem with nuclear. If I had to bury every bit I consumed on my property not only would I rip my kids for leaving on the lights (o.k I already do that but you get the point) but I would be much more likely to turn off the ac and use less electronic "gadgets". Technically, if I never thought about were the waste would go, I could waste all the energy I want to because it won't be "my problem".

Responding to safety concerns that have long stalled the nuclear industry's growth, McCain boasts that the Navy, in which he served as a fighter pilot, has safely operated nuclear power plants in aircraft carriers and submarines without an accident in 60 years.

here is the article about the sub

Beyond nuclear, I know windmills have really come under fire recently. As a matter of fact some really interesting false facts are coming out and also just some general misinformation (see my link in this sentence).
The biggest is the bird kill issue. Well for one...windmills are much different than they were even 4 years ago. However, and this is not because I read it somewhere, why don't we whine about cars killing all the birds? My husband accidentally hit a bluebird. He didn't know he hadn't missed it until he got to work and found it still stuck to his grill. I have also barely missed many owls and hawks during my driving. As far as I understand the bird kill problem is much much less likely with these newer turbine designs and here is one link to check out about this possible myth. I say possible because I do not know for sure. You can also find others but please find some that are up to date...not years and years old and do pay attention to the actual turbine design in the pictures.

Another myth I personally heard with my own ears is a gentlemen that called into my local talk radio station one afternoon. He said "environmentalist" were trying to pull the wool over everyone's eyes (wool is sustainable now that I think about it) because he had heard and READ on line that the windmill actually needed regular power from a power plant to turn it. 90% of the power a windmill made actually came from the power plant itself. The show's host tried to get the exact web site but the guy couldn't tell him the name. The host did say he had heard others speak of that on a few occasions. He, like me, doesn't believe that....I mean....we've had windmills making power, pumping water and running businesses long before power plants have been here to "help them".
I looked on line but couldn't find this wonderful font of misinformation myself but maybe one of you can.
Another thing my husband and I recently were asked by a well meaning friend is "Why would T. Boone Pickens bother to back windmills? How would windmills help us save gas?"
Well, most people don't know that most of the power plants in Texas, and I am sure some other states, are actually powered by natural gas. The one we lived about 4 miles from was. If we could substitute wind power to power homes and businesses we can free up that natural gas to power cars. Natural gas is much much cleaner than petroleum AND the engine it powers will last longer because the gas doesn't "gunk up" the engine as readily. A win win situation. That's not even taking into account putting up solar panels on many homes in sunnier areas like Texas.

Speaking of that let me also point out that Obama has said he would invest 150 million for sustainable energy. That my dear friends is government money building clean energy, independent of foreign oil and the sometimes wildly fluctuating oil market (more on that below), and job creation all with one bang. There will be businesses to churn out those windmills or solar panels. People will be needed to install and maintain them. Taxes will be paid and local economies will have job growth. Oh yes tax payers will pay for it, at least initially don't you doubt for a minute, but McCain will only give you a tax credit for sustainable. For the average homeowner that will be the sum total of about a $300 dollar tax credit. Now don't confuse a credit with a refund. This is not a refund. They are not the same. And a tax credit does NOT help us. At least not very much. I itemize....I can assure you an average $300 tax credit doesn't do much for me. That was what we would have received this past year if we put up a solar water panel based on the current tax credits offered (they expire at the end of this year). Most people will not be able to afford sustainable (wind or solar) right in their own yard until the government gets behind it to help the cost come down. That my friends means spending tax payer dollars. Bummer...but there you have it. And any person that bitches about it should remember all the "bail outs" we have had for big businesses and some of those being considered even now. I'd rather spend my tax payer money creating jobs, energy independence and gross national production than bailing out some non progressive thinking car manufacturer.

And lest we forget, speaking of tax payer money, every time a nuclear power plant goes up tax payers paid for it. Build one in Florida....we all pay. Plus New Mexico gets to eventually bury the waste in various spots including some new ones recently slated to open. If it melts down the nuclear company isn't even libal AT ALL to repay for any damages. So sayeth the government. If they were not subsidized, were required to carry insurance and possibly pay for any damages they wouldn't be financial viable. Solar, wind, even clean coal would all beat nuclear out for price. However even with clean coal...same thing....we all pay. Except in this case someone's mountain gets blown apart and someone down wind might get asthma.
That old saying "not in my back yard" is a cop out. We are all responsible for using energy and we SHOULD NOT force others to pay for our consumption.

One thing I did not realize about off shore drilling I would like to mention is something I watched recently (last night???) on CNN. Commentator John Roberts asked some Republican spokesperson for McCain something about drilling. As we all know John McCain had been against it but now was for it. That's o.k---people do need to be somewhat flexible and open to other ideas than their own. I'm not for it but I can respect that polls show 70% of Americans are. (Actually when you look more people are for reigning in speculators than for drilling supposedly)
However the question Roberts presented was this "Even if we open up off shore drilling how will that help America? The companies that drill are international and will be required to put the oil they pump out on the open market for bidding....what happens if India or China out bid us?" Now....she (the strategist) never did answer this question however it's an excellent question and something I did not know we had to do. We would have to BID for oil drilled off our shores. So how the heck does that help us???? The U.S does get money in the beginning when bidding for who will be the extractor occurs. That though does not create jobs for us nor does it make us energy independent.

As I said in the beginning I do not know the best way or have any super great idea. However, I would put solar and wind on my property and try and make all my own energy if possible. Unfortunately I don't make enough money...though I don't mind saving for it and spending it in the long run.
Some articles suggest that spending that money and only seeing your payback in 10 to 20 years is laughable and ridiculous. What I think is laughable and ridiculous is not doing it and paying an electric company for the rest of my life. No noticeable improvement there that I can see. In the end, especially if energy prices continue to go up which historically they do, I still end up spending the money I would have on solar/wind AND worse.....maybe more. If I were 24 it would definitely be more. If I were 70 obviously I might not see a pay back on sustainable. However as the bible quote say "to those given much, much is expected". The bible, and morality in general, doesn't say to first consider what you will get back before you doing something that's good for everyone.

Can you legally help yourself?

(Please see womennotdabbling for exclusively homesteading/farming posts)

Here is an issue that needs to be addressed in the future by us. The article printed below is taken from another site as is the cartoon. Follow the cartoon link to read another more in depth "take" on the issue of who owns you.

The conquerors cartoon taken from naturalnews.com

Who owns your DNA?

Genetic research that can save lives is often stymied by biotech companies' greedy patent claims.

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By Arthur Allen

For years, the parents of children suffering from an implacable genetic disorder called Canavan disease dutifully packed off their blood and tissue samples to Dr. Reuben Matalon, a researcher at Miami Children's Hospital. These shipments were an altruistic, volunteer effort by a devastated group of people -- their own children were dead or dying, but they hoped to prevent the births of more children with the disastrous, inevitably fatal brain disease.

In 1993, their donations paid off when Matalon, parsing the families' DNA, was able to identify a series of gene mutations on chromosome 17 that appeared to indirectly cause the disease, which has mainly affected Ashkenazi Jews. His work raised hopes that Canavan would go the way of Tay-Sachs, a related illness that has nearly disappeared in the Jewish population since couples began routine screening for Tay-Sachs in the early 1970s.

But the Tay-Sachs screening program, apparently, belonged to a kinder, gentler era in medicine. In November 1998, Miami Children's Hospital announced plans to strictly license its patent on the Canavan gene. Not only did Miami Children's demand that clinicians pay a $25 royalty (eventually lowered to $12.50) each time they performed the test; it also put a cap on the number of tests any academic lab could do.

The hospital's stringent licensing agreement is part of an alarming trend in biomedical research. Some biotech companies, universities and even hospitals are seeking to recoup their costs quickly by patenting discoveries that many believe shouldn't be patented at all. The patent license disputes threaten to close off research and clinical applications of some of the biomedical discoveries that Americans have paid billions to enable.

Some of the leading genetics labs in the country would not accept Miami Children's licensing terms and as a result had to stop testing for Canavan disease. "It's a wretched contract and we refused to sign it," says Debra Leonard, director of the molecular pathology laboratory at the University of Pennsylvania hospitals in Philadelphia. Shocked patient groups and scientists could only watch in dismay as bickering lawyers put a squeeze on information they'd worked long and hard to generate.

"We gave our DNA and that of our children to help develop testing and prenatal diagnosis. We sent our blood and skin samples to a doctor at Miami Children's Hospital," says Dr. Judith Tsipis, a Brandeis University biologist whose son, Andreas, died of Canavan disease in 1998 at age 22. "Is it right that they use our genes -- given to help others -- in a way that restricts access and increases cost to testing?

"It's shocking," she says.

"My understanding from the hospital was we needed to file the patent just so I could work with the gene myself," says Matalon, who has since moved to the University of Texas hospital system, where he continues to work on Canavan disease. "I had nothing to do with their licensing decision and I got no penny from any patent."

Canavan disease is one of a growing number of conditions in which patent fights have intruded into genetic medicine. Ninety percent of the 150 U.S. clinical genetics labs in a recent survey reported having withheld tests because of onerous patent claims. Genes for early-onset Alzheimer's and breast cancer are among the most common DNA sequences saddled with restrictive licenses.

Doctors whose clinical practice involves devising means to detect disease-causing genetic mutations are being told they can only perform such tests under licensing agreements that are often so strict the doctors' institutions refuse to sign them.

"This is my medical practice. I can't do what I was trained to do, and I spent a long time training to do it," says Leonard, who is also president of the Association for Molecular Pathology.

The problem will only grow with the approval of thousands of additional gene applications currently pending before the U.S Patent and Trade Office. "This is just the tip of the iceberg," says Leonard. The conflicts over genetic testing -- the first clinical application of the Human Genome Project -- are probably just an opening skirmish in a multisided war for control of the information, drugs and therapies that may arise from the genome discoveries.

Thanks to robots, supercomputers and brainy scientists, the government-led genome project is expected this year or next to finish its sequencing of the estimated 100,000 genes in human DNA. But the mapping of the human chromosomes is really just the start of a new kind of biological understanding. Although scientists now know the DNA sequences of many human genes, they don't understand how most of them work.

While the rest of us await the integration of these molecules into an intelligible language of life, scientists, businessmen and the government squabble over what value to assign the millions of information snippets.

James Watson, who won the Nobel Prize in 1953 for discovering DNA's double-helix structure, resigned as the first director of the NIH genome institute in 1992 in a dispute over whether to patent DNA sequences that a scientist named Craig Venter had discovered. Venter also quit the NIH and formed a gene sequencing partnership with William Haseltine, a Harvard AIDS scientist. Haseltine and Venter now lead competing biotech firms that are racing a government-led consortium to decode vast quantities of human DNA.

Haseltine, Venter and other scientific entrepreneurs have submitted patent applications on millions of bits of DNA, many of whose function isn't clearly understood. The patent office recently raised the bar of knowledge it requires before issuing patents on genes, but Francis Collins, Watson's successor, worries that premature claim-staking on the genome could end up snarling research in legal battles for years.

Using the sophisticated databanks, most of them designed and run by the government, genome-analyzing companies have described possible functions for about half the gene sequences discovered so far. John Doll, who heads the U.S. Patent and Trade Office's biotechnology division, says his office will grant patents for genes when applicants can describe a plausible function for them based on computer searches.

A prime example was the patent awarded last month to Human Genome Sciences for a gene that codes for a protein involved in introducing the HIV virus into cells. When Haseltine filed for the patent in 1995, he didn't know the function of the gene, but was savvy enough to guess it might be a cell membrane receptor. In the meantime, AIDS researchers doing painstaking science uncovered the actual role of the gene. The awarding of the patent -- worth millions if the gene is used to create AIDS drugs or vaccines -- infuriated these scientists as well as patient groups that supported their research.

"Doesn't it bother you," Collins asked Doll during a conference in Washington on Thursday, "that your standard would allow patent protection for roughly 40 percent of human genes, and yet if you ask any working scientist what percent of human genes they know the function of, you'd get, maybe 2 percent?"

"Everybody's filing for these patents," said Doll. "Not just the Incytes of the world; zillions of universities are taking the same approach."

"I don't doubt it for a second but it doesn't make me feel any different," an exasperated Collins responded. "When there's a gold rush, a lot of people go to California."

Other scientists are less restrained in their attacks on the biotech industry. "The idea of patenting DNA sequences is abhorrent to me, but in particular, the way it's being done now is intellectually dishonest," says Robert Nussbaum, a molecular biologist at NIH.

Nussbaum, who works on Parkinson's disease, said the kind of gene patent applications that Doll's office has decided to approve are likely to be shaky in their claims. Even if correct, he said, such claims are based on searches of public databases and "are being done on the backs and shoulders of research funded by the public and charitable foundations. It doesn't seem right that these sequences should be taken and locked up for the purpose of profit making."

Doll points out that hard work has never been a requirement to win a patent from the U.S. Patent Office, which generally tries to be as friendly to patent applicants as possible. "We don't care how you find out something new, only that you're the first to find it," he says. And some biotech officials say that scientists are simply bitter at the fact that technology is transforming the manner in which biological information is gathered.

Officials at Incyte, a Palo Alto, Calif., company that sells its genome information to more than two dozen pharmaceutical and biotech companies, like to point to a discovery made last year by CV Therapeutics, a small California biotech company. Using Incyte's databases and a few simple experiments, scientists from CV Therapeutics were able to identify a set of genes involved in Tangier disease, a heart ailment discovered among people living on Tangier Island in the Chesapeake Bay. CV's discovery took two months, but it was listed by the American Heart Association as one of the top 10 discoveries of 1999.

"Medical research is increasingly a matter of using technologies to gather a bunch of pieces of information," says Lee Bendekgey, general counsel for Incyte. "It's really accelerating things and that's what matters. And when people make discoveries like that, they deserve both public accolades and rewards."

In the 1980s, in a more primitive era of genetics discoveries, it took Francis Collins several years to isolate and clone the cystic fibrosis gene. At the time it was one of the more remarkable chapters in genetics research. The University of Michigan, where Collins made the discovery, holds the patent on the gene. As it happens, Michigan doesn't charge researchers a dime to use it.

Of course, patent holders want people to use their inventions -- if no one uses them, they don't get paid. And intellectual property lawyers say that when the patents on the human genome get sorted out, relevant ones will be bundled into packages that can be licensed to researchers and doctors in useable form -- for a price.

When the Human Genome Project began, ethicists were primarily worried about whether knowledge from the genome would be used for genetic discrimination, or to create genetically enhanced children or eliminate the genetically unfit. But such concerns may be beside the point if the technology is too expensive for anyone but the rich.

Those who care for the genetically vulnerable appear most aware of this paradox. Judith Tsipis' son Andreas never learned to walk, talk or feed himself. But he could think -- and he had a good sense of humor, she says. Asked the difficult question of whether Andreas' birth should never have taken place, Tsipis shrugs off facile answers.

"Andreas was my child and I loved him dearly. He was loved and cared for superbly well but he still had a difficult life, especially toward the end. Would I have wanted him to be born? I can't answer that. But I'm working very hard for screening so that families have all the options, and one option is an abortion. The key thing you need is information, education, and the availability of testing."

"If patents hinder research," she adds, "it will make it harder for people to develop cures for these diseases."
salon.com | March 7, 2000

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About the writer
Arthur Allen writes on health, science and other issues for Salon. He lives in Washington.

Can we change?

As many of you know I have not been keeping up with my blog. We as a family have turned down another path that life has offered us and with that change....things just got crazy. We expect some small...and some big....changes within the next year or two and all of the effort we put into our goals takes away time from this blog.
As the blog seemed to fall to the way side these last few months with all we are doing and expecting to do ---I had to come to the decision of whether or not to keep my blog here. As some of you are aware, I have recently been doing a Monday slot on a group blog: womennotdabbling.wordpress.com so it is not like I had to give up something I enjoyed completely.
I have to admit---I immensely enjoy the shared blog for the simple reason that it is much more convenient for readers. You, the reader, know everyday there WILL be a new post. Not like on an individual blog where chores and life interject and then posting gets put off, yet the readers show up each day hoping for a new post.

So..here is what I decided. I will keep this blog and post about once a week however at the end of each blog I will put a link for womennotdabbling so that you can always troll over there for a quick fix of homesteading information.

Also, unfortunately we are selling all our sheep. That is part of the change in our life reflective of the different path I spoke of. So...I will not have anymore sheep posting here as my sheep will be gone in the next few weeks. If some of you would like to read more sheep posts though please see Keepingthefarm.blogspot.com. Nancy is a very good writer and her posts on sheep farming will keep you well informed and give you a good laugh along with an occasional cry.

Lastly...don't forget to pay attention to the presidential candidates. We have some serious problems in this country right now and it requires not only our attention, but our vote. Don't believe those stupid 30 second commercials that try and make you turn on one candidate or the other. There are all kinds of internet sites that compare policy platforms on the internet that are easy to read and understand. Please read those instead.
Studies show that Americans want candidates to run a "nice" race and talk issues not just complain about each other. However, studies also show (and they prove) that when a candidate is losing that if he/she runs a "dirty" campaign---he/she will pull ahead in the polls and more often than not win. Awful isn't it? We say one thing...but do another. Too bad.

Have a great day all.

kombucha pics

Awesome blog---if I don't say so myself!

As many of you know I have not been fulfilling my role as a good blogger and posting very frequently of late. And though I don't intend to give up this wonderful forum here, oddly enough I have been invited to post on a group blog. I was deeply flattered to be asked and I am looking forward to it because of the fact that it is a down to earth knitty gritty blog entitled "Woman Not Dabbling in Normal". Another reason I believe I will enjoy joining this group is because during the hectic season of the summer and early fall I have others filling in part of the week so that every day is not up to me to come up with something to write about. Because of course I, like all people in the world, get busy, get bored, and sometimes have average plain jane days that really don't make great blogging :-D Sometimes (GASP!) I go a whole week were my life looks nothing like a homesteader and everything like the "average American home" life. I know...it is hard to believe!!
So from now on at least on Mondays (my appointed day) I will be blogging regularly again. In the mean time I will get more post on here as I can----however do check us out at:

Women Not Dabbling In Normal


(womennotdabbling.wordpress.com)

See you there!

Hello!

Wow! Has it been that long since my last post? Well, I can say it has been for good reason as we have been busy busy busy finishing a number of long drawn out, procrastinated on projects. The two most important: Replacement of the siding on the back of our house where it was taken down to replace old aluminum sliding doors and add new windows and doors and then also the job of finishing our kitchen cabinets. Now the back of our house does not look as if we live in a tar paper shack any longer and the kitchen lacks only a few pieces of floor molding and some toe kicks under the cabinets. Yeah!
These weren't the only things done during this time but the others are all small projects in comparison. I have to say that our home is almost finished. Almost.

The garden is giving up it's produce for canning----but oops, I burned some of the paste the other day and our house still smells a bit of it. There will be more to come and I have a very good reason why I shouldn't walk outside to talk to my neighbor while reducing tomatoes now. It was really very smelly.
I hate the green beans I chose to try this year so I will allow them to dry and then sprout them for stir fry. Big bummer since I really only eat home grown/canned green beans. It wasn't the taste so much as the fact that even picked small they are somewhat tough and stringy----even cooked.

My son has a rabbit in the fridge he shot and skinned himself----the rascally rabbit ate EVERY last one of my soybean plants and then a sampled a 1/3 of the peanut plants before meeting it's end. Sad to shoot an animal doing it's natural thing but.....it was eating my garden down to nothing. Literally.
We have tons of slicing tomatoes and loads of basil to go with it. We have been enjoying the basil in sandwiches, stir fry and Italian dishes.
We also harvested some oats and wheat and we will save the seed to plant again this next season. The packages I purchased were small but I now have more than my original purchase...especially of the oat which is a hulless form known as avena nuda . A perfect form for home growers who don't have access to a hulling machine/mill.
Soon we will have many sweet potatoes and we have also had a bumper crop of jalapeños and pablano peppers. Very welcome additions to our household.

I will be back more frequently to write again and I have immensely enjoyed all of the comments and emails that have come while I have been "sitting on my be hind" :-D Glad to know I was not forgotten. Please forgive me for not answering some of them but I went long periods of time without getting on.


Also...thanks to Stuart and Gabrielle for a fabulous quote that I have added to my side bar by Martin Luther King Jr. to replace my previous quote. My previous to live by was this:

"Totalitarian governments have recognized that the one enemy to their system is the prosperous, independent, yeoman farmer spread out over the whole country thinking independently who doesn't need anything from his government. That's a big challenge to totalitarian governments - how to get rid of all these people. In Russia they starved them, in Ethiopia and Cambodia they shot them and in the U.S. and Europe they just pass health laws." -Sally Fallon, Weston A. Price Foundation President in a speech delivered to the OEFFA Conference, March 3, 2007

However with the way the world economy, food system (food for fuel instead of people, GMO's, Animal identification, squandering of farm land for McMansions, the absolute lack of concern about REAL food safety from our government, and the lack of concern for small farmers by our government) the coming elections, and the "wars" I have to switch now to this new quote since it fits just so DARN well. Good day everyone---talk to you soon ;-)


P.S---that is a picture of one of our tomatoes at the top. They are a heirloom variety known as Pink Accordian. They did well for us last year during the drought and they are doing well this year with completely different weather. Very tasty and super neat looking!

Feeding the World

For those of you that grow your own produce, buy local or just realize that small is beautiful even in the agricultural sector, this link sent to me by SimplyTim is for you.
Reading this article from Monbiot.com makes you realize that we (American small farmers) are not the only ones slowly being put to death by big business---small farmers around the world suffer with us.

Keeping on this theme: we continually have local people ask us to do a CSA (community supported agriculture) or raise a cow or two for cow share programs. We would love to do this....however some problems (especially with the cow share which would be more to our liking than the CSA) are VERY problematic and scare us off.

So I wonder.....why is it that more people don't write their local representatives and tell them to make laws (or repeal some of them) that would help small farmers? Why don't they write their not so local reps? Like Senators and Congress people? If as many people that approach us would do it regularly, all across the country, there would be reform. Of this I am sure.

And a few quotes:

"So long as we have enough people in this country willing to fight for their rights, we'll be called a democracy." Roger Nash Baldwin

We can have democracy in this country, or we can have great wealth concentrated in the hands of a few, but we can't have both." Louis Dembitz Brandeis

Excuse me...

Well,
some of my posts seem to have disappeared. No...I don't think anything ominous about it :-D Just a bit of bad luck and blogger. I will try and re post later.
Sorry
Have a great weekend!

What will you refuse to give up?

So, I have been tagged for a "meme" (that word again!) by Robbyn at The Back Forty. Ahhh..those paybacks! :-D

I admit, I had wondered if it would make it around to me after reading it on a few other sites and..... irregardless of whether it did or not ....I had been pondering the question a bit on my own.
Because...especially as oil becomes higher and food more expensive and raises just don't seem to get you farther ahead (just keep you from falling back) it seemed like a really good subject to mull over in my head or in my blog.

Now of course everyone's blog is a bit different. Some people take the question more from a "peak oil perspective" and others seem to be coming from an "green" perspective. The two are really intertwined and I think that was pretty much the whole point. So what couldn't I do without? I mean REALLY without. I have thought about that a lot....and maybe more than some people my husband and I have lived many years "dabbling" in .....what to call it? Peak oil practices? Heritage living? Organic/sustainable living? So..because of that I know I could live without many things, however some things are more difficult to "substitute" for.

I don't think there is anything that I couldn't absolutely live without (if I had to I mean...because I do enjoy some of these things after all). I mean really anyone can if they need or want to survive however what if we want to live well....well..that's a different thought all together now. But what if we want to do it in such a way as to not have to "step" on others or be unsustainable . What then?
I have found over time that most of the things we feel we need and can't live without at one time, or even now, have a sustainable option. Sometimes they cost more though, or are more dependent on our society as a whole joining in to accomplish. Like running water. Many ancient (back before the middle ages by far) did actually HAVE running water. However...it took great societies working together to keep it working and running. All without being an environmental disaster. We however like to either think the way we do it is so so so much better or we ignore the fact that it is unsustainable. Think sewage treatment here...there are working viable alternative options to chemical sewage treatment but they require a bit more work and are "unknown" and people are not as comfortable with them as they are chemical treatment. They actually can work better and are better for us and the environment. Why not use them more often?
Sometimes as in the case of something as simple as "eat local" it's a matter of slightly more work. You have to find local growers and/or BE a local grower. Not always an easy job.
Are we willing to give up 4 hours a day of t.v ( or computer....and that's on average supposedly) to live a more sustainable life? I thought to myself one time...Heck I don't watch 4 hours of t.v a day! No way! I don't watch any t.v series or weekly/daily shows at all hardly. However, when I started paying attention to the bit of news I watched and a bit of t.v during the afternoon with my lunch and a bit before bed....I watch about 2 1/2 hours a day. Add some computer time and tah dah! Go figure! Could I be doing something better with my time though?

What about as a society? Why don't we have gray water recycling in all new building codes? It is a viable solution. Why don't we have better insulation codes...mandatory ones. Why don't we have more green roofs and solar panels on big large manufacturing plants?
I know..we're a democracy and shouldn't force this on people. It's a sticky wicky isn't it? But...could we be doing it anyway because we know we NEED to? Without having the government tell us too?

So....below I have listed a few things that I would find harder to do without or to change my ways and adjust too. This could be because they require more work/thought or more money or even just more innovation. However...they are doable and something, someday, I hope to address in my own life so I am "walking the talk" a bit more than now.


Electricity....which would mean no t.v , no computer, no lights, no ....wait. First off..you can use a solar panel so some of these things would still be available. However, we DID live without t.v for 2 years as a family. None. nothing. nada. We lived without it and had small kids too----and they SURVIVED!!.
The first month is a booger...but the withdrawal symptoms eventually fade. This was "pre" internet so...I know I could live without that too if I had to. I have to admit though...the internet is like having your very own personal updated daily set of encyclopedias. Hard to do without that...especially on this type of subject.

However...in the south what do you do if there is no electricity and no cheap propane/gas/diesel etc to run refrigeration? Now THAT I would have trouble with. I would have to learn how to use a root cellar and some things would have to be bought fresh everyday...like milk. Because even a root cellar in the south will not keep milk cold and fresh for long. Hence...cheeses and butter would be made a lot more. I like cold milk (sometimes on ice), and drinks and veggies and ..and I don't always like cured ham and cured meats so....well you get the picture.

Car/Truck/vehicles.....O.k. here's a sticky one. I have land and animals...but not enough land to feed all the animals all the time. So....I need a vehicle to get hay for winter or sometimes grains/minerals etc. How do you haul that without a vehicle? I'm not carrying it! Of course there is horse and wagon but I do not have room to feed a horse to pull a wagon....so would I share with a neighbor? Trade say milk or eggs or pork for occasional use of the horse and wagon?
Obviously I am assuming I will grow most of my own food and because I do live in the country more than the city there would be people to trade my excess eggs for some of their squash or vice versa. Or their wagon.
But what about my husband that drives to work about 20 miles one way? Our neighbor, since we have known him RIDES his bike everyday to a place very close to my husbands work. So...obviously it is feasible. Also, because he has done it for so long....it only takes him about a half hour longer to get home than my husband in a car. Traffic for the car you know--- but not the bike.
Not saying I would completely like this but...
Another thought is that there are electric cars able to be charged by solar panels. They only go about 30 miles and only get up to 45 but...hey. It's an idea. Can they haul a round bale though? Would my husband be run over if he drove one? 70 in the 55 section of the highway is NOT unusual in this state....and you generally do not get a ticket for it unlike in some states. So....45 is awfully slow compared to that.

Oil/gas to heat/cook with.
Cooking...well we could use a solar cooker about half the time. Something I should purchase and learn how to use. But what about canning food...or would I have to dry all of it and/or eat more "in season" than I do now (which really is still not "in season" like people would have eaten 100s of years ago). I would also have to learn how to like more foods. Fermented cabbage is o.k...but not my fave.
O.k here's another one. Now my house is ideally situated to the south. The original owner ...well...he did do that correct. But on a really cold winter day and/or a cloudy/rainy day, we still need supplemental heat. Yes, we use gas. (Bummer---especially this year.) We could however (maybe) be able to produce enough methane here, on our property, like the Chinese do, to supplemental heat our house and definitely cook with. Lots of work though. Another idea is wood heat---though are house is wide and spread out...not easy to heat with just one stove.
And if all of us are doing it...we could quickly deplete wood sources. Coppicing though...well that's a great thing that can be done even on the smallest of home lots to help supply a heating source for a home. Something I have been meaning to practice...but have been too "lazy" to do. Or maybe the alternative has just been so easy I haven't bothered. Tulip poplars, which grow amazingly well here in my area, seem to be from my observations, ideally suited to coppicing....and maybe that is where I will start my experiment. It's easy to find European trees suited to this in literature...since they have been doing it for a long time...but not many American trees. Americans have had an abundance of oil, gas and trees...no need to learn anything else. Maybe now though...we do need to learn "new" (or maybe that's old) technologies.


Air conditioning. Again..being in the south this is a tough one. But yes, again I have, in the south (Texas and Georgia), lived without air conditioning. Not that it's always pleasant and of course...we are supposedly a bit hotter and without as much forested areas as there was a 100 years ago. Could I do it? Of course..if I had to....and it does require adjustment and change. No 3 piece suits for men while hanging around in the house in August. But again...there are alternatives.
What about the solar "machines" that produce ice while sitting out on the beaches of hot climate areas? If a machine can use ammonia running through tubes, powered by the sun to make ice...well then it can darn well cool my house. Maybe with modifications and maybe just during parts of the day.. but hey any bit helps right? Now tell me? Why hasn't someone come up with this idea on a better scale? Maybe it is expensive and I wouldn't be able to afford it...but you think no one can? Humph!
Also, has anyone heard of wind or earth tubes? They even help remove humidity from the incoming air. Here are some links:
here
here
and some more ideas here.
If your interested in this technology try other search word combos. You'll find quite a bit about it.

A lot of other things have alternatives so I guess the subject is back to the title of "what will you refuse to give up?" However, maybe that should be changed to "what will you exchange" to keep living the way you do. What are you willing to exchange....time, money, effort, habits..... so you can accomplish or acquire the things you are unwilling to give up?

Raw Milk---friend or foe?

So, as some of you know we unfortunately joined the VOLUNTARY scrapie eradication program years ago. However, as we sell off our sheep and quietly try to remove ourselves from this program (and correspondingly NAIS---which I am completely against) we find our selves in the direct line of the state vet.

Now...the state vet here is a good enough guy if not a bit misguided in my opinion. When he came this past April for our annual check ----so my sheep could go to their new owner without compromising the new owners scrapie status----he tried to encourage me to join NAIS.
Now...the problem I have with this, as he spent an extra 1/2 hour of his time to try and encourage me "just to fill out the paperwork---it's no big deal" is some comments he made. When we spoke of a few of the problems with NAIS....he agreed with me that NAIS wouldn't help. So, if he doesn't feel NAIS lives up to what it promises...why push it???

Now, today I receive this letter from him. And let me tell you...I never asked to get emails from them. (Quickly, off topic...the state vet called me the other day with a question about my sheep and told me that he had corresponded with Ohio about some sheep I purchased last year. The lady's scrapie status was in question and so they were going back through her EMAILS sent over the past YEAR by her to the Ohio scrapie program/state vet office to find out about the animals in her flock and whether she had purchased new ones. So let me tell you...Pappa Bear is watching you and keeping your emails if you correspond with him in any form or fashion.)

Here's part of the letter with part of it's attachment:

FYI For those of you that make cheese, I thought you might find this interesting. M. bovis is rare in cows in the US and even less likely to be found in a goat. However, we can not be too safe when it comes to consuming unpasteurized milk from any animal.

Stan Crane, DVM
Designated Scrapie Epidemiologist
Georgia Department of Agriculture
19 MLK Jr. Dr., S.W.
Room 105
Atlanta, GA 30034

404-656-3667



Date: 6 Jun 2008
Source: News Inferno [edited]



A rare form of [human] tuberculosis [TB] due to _Mycobacterium bovis_
has emerged and has been traced to illegal, unpasteurized dairy
products, including tainted 'queso fresco' cheese. The outbreak is
rising among Hispanic immigrants in Southern California and is also
raising fears about a revival of this strain that was nearly
completely destroyed in the USA in the 1900s.

The increase in this TB is being seen chiefly in San Diego,
particularly among children who drink or eat dairy foods made from
the milk of infected cattle, but _Mycobacterium bovis_ TB can infect
anyone who eats contaminated fresh cheeses sold by street vendors,
smuggled across the Mexican border, or produced as so-called "bathtub
cheese" made in home tubs and backyard troughs. The problem
originates from cattle in Mexico, where _M. bovis_ infects about 17
percent of herds; occasional outbreaks among isolated herds affect
the USA.

This rare TB accounts for about 10 percent of all new TB cases in the
California border region. "_M. bovis_ TB is a disease of antiquity,"
said Timothy Rodwell, a researcher who led a study published by the
federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). "It is
important that it not be allowed to re-emerge as a cause of TB in
this country."

Unfortunately, this species is uniformly resistant to one of the
front line anti-TB drugs [pyrazinamide]. Adults who contract _M.
bovis_ TB are more than twice as likely as those with traditional TB
to die before completing treatment.

Researchers analyzed nearly 3300 culture-confirmed cases of TB in San
Diego between 1994-2005. Approximately 265 were identified as due to
_M. bovis_; this increased by nearly 65 percent, rising from 17 to 28
cases annually. By 2005, over half the _M. bovis_ cases were diagnosed
in children under 15. The majority were in Hispanics, 60 percent from
Mexico. Between 2001-2005, 19 adults with _M. bovis_ died before or
during treatment. Dr. Kathleen Moser, director of TB control programs
for San Diego County, said: "It's clearly being seen in places where
people drink unpasteurized milk and eat unpasteurized dairy products."

In California, 108 million pounds of legal, properly pasteurized
'queso fresco' and other cheeses were produced last year [2007],
according to the California Department of Food and Agriculture. Last
year, Moser launched a public health campaign, and agricultural
officials seized over 375 pounds of "bathtub cheese" from an open-air
market in San Bernardino, according to Steve Lyle, the agency's
director of public affairs. Such illegal cheeses have been infected
with _Salmonella_, _Listeria_, _Escherichia coli_, and _M. bovis_.

Rodwell cautioned that people worried about _M. bovis_ TB should pay
close attention to dairy products, not people. "It is not a disease
you are very likely to get from a foreign-born person," he said. "The
increase in _M. bovis_ cases is more about what you eat, not where
you were born."


Now here is the problem with this. In my search mostly what I seemed to find was that this disease was shown over and over not to come specifically from drinking the raw milk but from the fact that:

Some cattle had the disease and WORKERS caring for them came in contact with the lesions and then became infected and passed it along to friends and family through coughing and sneezing. Supposedly they can sneeze or cough (yuk, but it does happen) onto the raw milk and THEN you will get it while drinking it---possibly.

O.k....so I am not defending this disease by any means. It is serious and irregardless we don't want cattle to have it...transmit it to the people caring for them and then those people transmit it to us. But why, and of course I can guess, pass along this seemingly misleading information that seems to say if you drink raw milk....that is how you will get it and no other way? TB is passed through coughing and sneezing...why say don't worry about people that may have it (which it does in the above article)...just the raw milk you might drink?

In my search for information this blog linked up some good information. Though it is older than this new "article" now circulating.
Also, notice the article says its difficult to treat and resistant to one "frontline" drug used to treat it in some cases? Oh, do I wonder why that is so..(can you hear the sarcasm?)

How about this Canadian site.

Update 6/12/08 here is an older government site. It makes a comment about getting the disease through raw milk but then farther on it does talk about how this form is transmittable through captive/farmed deer also. Now....how many of you drink raw deer milk?...please raise your hand.


This, in my opinion is a load of hockey puck. This misinformation is passed along in this case by the Georgia STATE VETS office. More people have problems with our "supposedly" safe industrial meat products than they do raw milk. Maybe if we all drank raw milk it would be higher....but maybe not. Who's to say since the government won't let us, in this fine democracy we live in, drink raw milk without practically going to jail for it. And absolutely getting in trouble with the law if we sell it.

Frost Dates

I know...your wondering why, now that it is hot outside, I am already speaking of frost. Seems silly doesn't it? And before we get into this too far I would like to offer up the most accurate ,for my area, sites that I found for frost dates. The first...which I could not see (computer problem?) is from NOAH and probably is the most accurate. I say that though without actually seeing it so if you find it to be grossly incorrect please pardon me. Set up by state it is graded in scales of 32 degrees, 30 degrees, 28 degrees etc. So, it seems like it could be very helpful. Another is at USA gardener.....and seems to be correct. It does not have my first fall frost in the middle of November as some sites do (when that used to occur I don't know!) but at the first of October as it usually is.

So, back to the reason for frost dates at the beginning of summer. We decided with the advent of the poor economy and higher fuel prices that we needed to be more pro-active about growing MOST of our own food---besides I am staunchly organic so we'll eat better anyway.
We have decided to be even more serious than we have in the past. Yeah, yeah, we have grown fall lettuce and had a few kale plants make it into winter etc etc. We also have started tomatoes 8 weeks early and were the first in our neighborhood to bite a home grown tomato, however that was always just "fun" food.
Serious food growing and stocking requires, I realize, a completely different thought process than I have been taught or know how to do. I figure it will take me a few years to really "get it right", but every bit helps and all things are learning tools. And really its not only just about how to grow it either---it's also learning what to grow and how to store it AND keeping it all organized so you eat it before its bad and in a timely manner. I mean..no one wants to eat everything and find out all they have left are 25 cabbages and a few rotten potatoes. :-)

So not only will we put a few more tomato plants and maybe some other summer harvest items in the ground soon----to keep the harvest going you know----but we are also going to get organized to plant our fall and winter garden when the appropriate time comes along. Some of this "organization" is actually useful items that will take time to acquire ..like more grow frames. Some of the organization, though, is just a matter of learning and assimilating ideas I may never have known or practiced previously and then becoming comfortable with them and their use.
One of the things I find the hardest and "oddest" about trying to supply in season year round food is that you have to "think" summer in winter and winter in summer. Which means that now, or within the not to distant future of the next 3 weeks, I NEED to order my fall seeds so that they will be ready to start. Seeds of things like: cabbages, broccoli, kales, chards, celery, some onions, garlic (of course---thats an easy one though!), lettuce, spinach, beets (never have grown or eaten), turnips (same as beets), parsnips, and winter grains. Many will need to be transplants to make it in time for winter and there for need to be started in my house at the first of August at the latest. Of course some will be straight sown right into the garden but they will need to be planted in August or by the middle or end of it to have time to make it, with enough size, into winter.
I guess that is part of the reason why I have never been serious. Planting in August is...well....weird. It's HOT. And it's often DRY. So, to help with this I am for the first time going to grow my own starts in my house for things like cabbage and broccoli. For those things started outside, like carrots which can not be transplanted, I will experiment with shade frames to help cool the soil while they sprout. Maybe some of the seeds will also be "pre sprouted" the day or two before planting. These are all things I have heard that work well for late summer plantings and so I will try and stay organized enough to use them.

For shading the plants my favorite tool so far is one I have used for years to help tender plants in the spring not quite ready for full sun but must, for whatever reason, be planted into the garden. The planting of 200 lavender slips comes to mind here ---though they definitely weren't food. (Almost all died by the way with the above average, almost flooding rains, we had the winter after planting them. Very freak.) However, right after planting those small rooted guys it immediately went to the 90s and they needed help ---they were doomed from the start I personally believe. So out came some rolls of galvanized wire. Grids of .....2x 4 maybe? Not floppy, but not the stiffest most expensive wire either. If you choose a 3 or 4 foot tall roll you can just cut off how wide you want each section to be and all will be the same length---easy to work with in a row for whatever length bed you have. Bend them slightly into an arch and viola----instant, easy, movable and long lasting, light weight frame to lay shade cloth over. Because of the grids you can tie to it or pin the cloth down easily. Also, because they are bendable you can use them in other areas for other things and then re bend them to put back over your garden beds again. They also stack fairly well since they are the same length and all about the same width. I drive a piece of rebar into the ground, out of the way, and just stack them up it when I am finished with them. Another use for them is to set them over beds with new seedling in them....so the "maintenance" workers in your family don't weed eat the new seedlings down before they actually look like some worth keeping. Or so that you remember you planted something there and don't pull it yourself or forget to water it.
By the way.... I buy "shade cloth" at home depot or Lowes. They sell burlap in rolls and it work FABULOUS and is cheaper and easier than poly cloth. I usually cut most of it up the center, to halve it, since I find for shade cloth I don't need it to be 3 foot wide. At least not for my beds anyway. It's not a problem if low sun sneaks in at the bottom...your mostly trying to keep the high, hot sun off them. And if the plants are very tender or its very hot...I put two layers of burlap over the frame and then over time as it cools or the plants establish I work one layer off then the other when appropriate. Another great thing about burlap is that it is natural....not made from petroleum as the poly fiber is. Not that poly doesn't have its place but....
I have had my burlap for 4 years now. I don't use it much so it may not always last that long. However I am good about laying it out on the drive to fully dry and then folding it up and storing it in a rubbermaid bucket. So I always know where it is and it is safe and dry until the next need. Mine is still in very good shape too....so I do believe even with more use than mine gets it would last a fair bit of time.

So, I have decided that for the next few weeks I will occasionally post on this forum about fall/winter veggie gardening. I also have some articles from some of those old Organic Gardening magazine I spoke of that are about this topic too.
Another topic I will also address are the plants that we will grow (or hope to grow!). I noticed as I read the only book I could borrow from the library on cooking with grains (not a very good book) that most of the recipes called for the same three ingredients over and over. How boring. I realized, as I had already to a small extent previously, that most of us have a very limited "pallet" of food to choose from which also hinders our ability to grow out of season. Maybe a better way of saying it would be: In season. However it is grains and many veggies are "uncomfortable" to me. Not that I think they taste bad but I did not grow up eating them and so coming up with an off the cuff dish that will taste good is difficult at best for me. I cook a bit out of my head...just knowing what I like and what I think will taste good together ....so experience with flavors of things helps a lot when deciding what to eat for dinner each night. I do not like monotony in my food. No meatloaf Tuesday for me thank you.
And beyond taste, if the majority of the food you eat and serve is tomatoes and peppers....then it's darn hard to grow them year round even with a greenhouse. Stocking up becomes your only option---and really fresh picked food is the healthiest over all and the least energy intensive.

One last thing if you haven't read the Elliot Coleman books I highly recommend them. Even though his climate is miles different than my own the ideas on movable greenhouses and cold frames are well worth the cost of the books.
Another to learn quite a bit from is Solar Gardening by the Poissons. Another "pick their brain" book to gain ideas from.
And lastly if you like me have not grown up eating lots of different foods but are open to trying new and unique varieties that may do very well in your area, then get a really good vegetarian cookbook. They are amazing to help you work out different ways of eating unfamiliar items. One I recommend is How to Cook Everything Vegetarian by Mark Bittman. Not only does it have recipes but it also has "extra" suggestions for changing and altering recipes and going "off the cuff". Yes, there are other good ones too...but if you don't know where to start there is a suggestion.
Lastly...does anyone know of a really good Grain cookbook? That seems to be my nemesis.....how to use grains without everything being similar in taste.

Book recommendation

If your looking for something "light" to read but that address things you are concerned about (food, organics, sustainable agricultural, humanity in general, farms etc) check out this book I borrowed from my local library.
I didn't think much of it...but hey it's free to borrow it. However after starting it I found it easy to read and enjoyable.
It's not to long and broke up in such a way that it's easy to put down and come back to if needed.
Borrow it if you can..or buy it. Either way I think you will find it enjoyable to "experience" some of the ups and downs of a man who makes his living selling organic produce in New York City.

The book is: It's a LONG ROAD to a TOMATO ...tales of an organic farmer who quit the big city for the (not so) simple life. by Keith Stewart

Organic Gardening Magazine April 1978

Millet Gardening...by Jim Bolick

People living in areas where conditions make it difficult to grow conventional crops might be more successful in growing millet, one fo the most versatile of all grain crops.
Since prehistoric times, farmers have cultivated millet for human consumption. The main attribute of millet that's made it an attractive food crop is that it's so rugged. It'll grow well where it's too hot, too dry, or where the growing season is too short for other crops, but it also produces well under favorable conditions.
Besides being rugged, perhaps the greatest advantage of millet is that it uses water so efficiently. Proso millet is superior to any domestic crop in converting water into grain. Agricultural researchers in eastern Colorado have shown that millet can yield about 45 bushels per acre with 13 inches of water. In contrast, wheat produces only about 15 bushels with the same amount of water.
Other traits of millet include quick maturing (60 days after it's planted) few insect or disease problems if grown under semiarid conditions, a need for little , if any, fertilizer, and, depending on the type grown, a practical use for everything from puffed cereal to winter floral decorations.
There are three types of millet, and each has it specific uses. In this country, proso millet is grown for the birdseed market. Foxtail millet is grown for livestock feed and for birdseed. Pearl, or cattail, millet is used as a forage crop in the southeastern U.S. The plants themselves all can be fed to livestock as forage. Also, millet grain can be fed to chickens, pigs, or cows. Unprocessed grain can be given to chickens, but has to be dehulled or flaked before being fed to pigs or cows.
Greg Hinze, a Colorado State University agronomist and one of this country's millet experts, says dehulled proso grain can be used for human consumption as a hot breakfast cereal when cooked or as a puffed cereal. Dehulled, ground prose millet can be used for flour. As compared to wheat, proso millet four has about one percent less protein, a little more fat, but about three times the amount of fiber. Hinze recommends the variety abarr as the best proso millet for gardeners who might be interested in growing some specifically for grain.
However, for gardeners who aren't able to dehull and grind their own grain, or who don't have livestock to feed it to, millet offers another attractive alternative. It's possible to sell heads from foxtail and pearl millets to florist who use the heads in floral decorations.
Under dryland conditions (12 to 13 inches of moisture, including existing soil moisture) pearl millet grows to about 5 or 6 feet tall. Under irrigation it can reach 12 feet. Irrigations will increase the yields of both proso and foxtail types.
Millet should be planted shortly after the last frost. But since it matures quickly, it can be planted as late as July or August, depending upon growing conditions. For prompt germination, sow seed into a moist soil. Cover seed with moist soil, but hold it to less than one inch even on sandy or light soil. Covering depth should be less under heavy soils.
You can plant millet solid like you would plant a lawn plot, broadcasting the seed over well-worked soil and raking it lightly in. Or you can plant it, in rows, very shallow, with about a plant every inch or so. If planting in midsummer, plant deeper, one to two inches, to make use of available moisture when the weather is dryer.
Growers interested in millet might encounter difficulty in finding seed, especially if they don't live near areas where farmers cultivate the crop. Hinze offers two possible solutions to this problem. The first is to go to the supermarket and buy a bag of wild birdseed. The major ingredient in this package normally is yellow, white or red millet grains. Other ingredients are sorghum (milo), sunflower seeds and wheat. The small, oval grain is the millet, which can be taken directly from he bag and planted. The only drawback to this method is that gardeners will know only that they're getting either a proso or foxtail millet: they won't know exactly which until the crop emerges. The next suggestion is to contact Hinze and have him send you some---so I am leaving that information out since it is outdated.

Too bad

This off Yahoo news---and I have to say ....What a bummer!

HONOLULU - Federal officials have confirmed what biologists have long thought: The Caribbean monk seal has gone the way of the dodo.

Humans hunting the docile creatures for research, food and blubber left the population unsustainable, say biologists who warn that Hawaiian and Mediterranean monk seals could be the next to go.

The last confirmed sighting of a Caribbean monk seal was in 1952 between Jamaica and Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula. The National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration's Fisheries Service confirmed Friday that the species is extinct.

Kyle Baker, a biologist for NOAA's Fisheries Service southeast region, said the species is the only seal to become extinct from human causes.

The seals were first classified as endangered in 1967, and wildlife experts investigated several reported sightings over the past few decades. But officials determined they were other seal types.

The federal agency says there are fewer than 1,200 Hawaiian and 500 Mediterranean monk seals remaining, and their populations are declining.

"We hope we've learned from the extinction of Caribbean monk seals, and can provide stronger protection for their Hawaiian and Mediterranean relatives," Baker said.

The Hawaiian monk seal population, protected by NOAA, is declining at a rate of about 4 percent annually, according to NOAA. The agency predicts the population could fall below 1,000 in the next three to four years, placing the mammal among the world's most endangered marine species.

"When populations get very small, they become very unstable," Baker said. "They become more vulnerable to threats like disease and predation by sharks."

Vicki Cornish, a wildlife expert at the Ocean Conservancy, said the fate of the Caribbean monk seal is a "wake-up call" to protect the remaining seal populations.

"We must act now to reduce threats to existing monk seal populations before it's too late," she said. "These animals are important to the balance and health of the ocean. We can't afford to wait."

Monk seals are particularly sensitive to human disturbance. And the sea creatures have been losing their food supply and beaches, officials say.

"Once Hawaii, the Caribbean and the Mediterranean were teeming with fish, but these are areas under severe fishing pressure," Cornish said. "They'll eat almost anything — shellfish or finned fish — but their food supply is waning and they're in competition with man."

The Caribbean monk seal, first discovered during Christopher Columbus' second voyage in 1494, once had a population of more than 250,000. But they became easy game for hunters because they often rested, gave birth or nursed their pups on beaches.

From the 1700s to 1900s, the seals were killed mainly for their blubber, which was processed into oils, used for lubrication and coating the bottom of boats. Their skins were used for trunk linings, clothing, straps and bags.

The endangered Hawaiian monk seals face different types of challenges, including entanglement in marine debris, climate change and coastal development.

About 80 to 100 live in the main Hawaiian Islands and 1,100 in the largely uninhabited Northwestern Hawaiian Islands, a marine national monument.

Biologist Bud Antonelis said NOAA's Fisheries Service has developed a monk seal recovery plan for the Hawaiian monk seals.

"But we need continued support from organizations and the public if we are to have a chance at saving it from extinction," he said. "Time is running out."

As for the Caribbean monk seal, NOAA said it is working to have them removed from the endangered species list. Species are removed from the list when their populations are no longer threatened or endangered, or when they are declared extinct.

Help save genetic diversity

Ever wondered where to get some of those old varieties of "this or that" grown when you where a kid? How about old, or even kind of newer, varieties you hear good things about but never can find?

Well, if your willing to try your hand at propagation then look here:
Germplasm Resources Information Network or GRIN

You can search their data bank and request from the multitude of varieties they have ---and have some sent to you---if they are available at the time. Only problem? Most will come un rooted and need a bit of care on your part. But hey...what do you have to lose? You may help save a variety after all----or better yet get some really good plants for your property while improving your propagation skills.

I am going to request some fruits from them to trial and help propagate.

P.S....their free and some are seeds not cuttings. Oops! My mistake...not free to ship. SORRY!
June 6 update.....O.k...let me change that again: Maybe free shipping. I couldn't find a thing on any page that said one way or the other. Some of the items I have "ordered" are coming from one place....and they didn't ask about shipping. Some are coming from another....and they said they ask about whether or not I have a shipping account with UPS or FEDEX etc so..... We'll see. However, the plants do seem, as I originally thought, to be free.

Garden style

As you can see I have a squash problem. Or more accurately a squash vine borer problem.


Alas...they are my nemesis. Every year they take a toll on my summer squash, winter squash, pumpkins and cucumbers. Some years we have better luck than others....some none at all.
This year may be a low luck year even though I am treating the plants (now) with Bacillus thuringiensis by injecting it into the main stem of the plants. Obviously,as you can see from my picture I have for sure lost one of the vines already---and even before I got one squash off of it!
Supposedly C. moschata varieties of this family are less susceptible to attack---and we have noticed that when we grow those varieties. Though...if under stress (as in drought) they will still be attacked too. However for us summer squash seems to be the MOST likely to be attacked. I think those bugs watch for me to come out and plant these babies.
During part of it's life span the borer retreats to the soil to finish pupating so rotation of your plants and cultivation of the soil to expose them is advised. However...in the South the plants are just, in my opinion, up for grabs.
So...what's a gardener to do? Well, obviously I won't be growing these guys on a commercial scale but I will attempt something new next year that I have thought about but never done: A growing cage---similar to the picture I added. I think I will just put regular screen on mine though and hand pollinate.....Lots of work? Maybe...but for the 3 or 4 plants we use throughout the year no big deal really. Maybe then I could get a really steady harvest of squashes. Maybe even some baseball bat size individuals :-D













































Now these pictures show a bit of luck I had the other day. Driving down the road I realized Ooops! I had forgotten gas---bummer! Luckily there was a gas station just down the road---the next closest was at least 5 miles away (quite the walk). So I pulled in a filled up and spent a small fortune while doing it. As I looked over I noticed that they were replacing display cases in the store and had all these neatly fold boxes ---heavy heavy boxes---that the cases had come in. I almost didn't ask (laziness had settled in and it was busy with people there) but kicked myself and did it. Yes, they said. Absolutely take them. So I did and I am now working to cover them up with sawdust we get at the local mill for $5 a truck load (we load--but it's light and easy work).
GREAT path mulch don't you think? And amazing grass/weed cover to help try and lessen our work. Over time things like this will help us to keep down the ongoing weed problems----at least a bit.
Notice to the left side there is a large stand of plants. That's my cover crop of buckwheat. It came in nicely this year...we have had good rain. I will cut the tops soon since it is about to flower. Also, right below it is a row of shallots with clover in between them. I weeded and waited for the shallots to grow up...then seeded in the clover.
My soil is still lacking in nitrogen so I am always looking for ways to add it...and to cover up soil, add tilth and/or block weeds. Anything that does all three, as in the case of clover, is great.
Too bad the buckwheat didn't add nitrogen...but it will add a small bit of tilth and it absolutely blocks weeds. Only the edges have weed issues---right were the sun can get into the stand.
By the way...my Jack Russell loves that stand of Buckwheat and the large artichokes behind it. I think she believes herself to be jungle stalking whatever she might be able to find in the denseness of the whole thing.

From Organic Gardening August 1975

Anything in this style lettering is added by me.

Miller Battles "Enrichment" Red Tape

For more than 150 years, a mill at New Hope, N.Y. (now located in Auburn,N.Y it seems) has been grinding grain and building a reputation for quality in the flours it markets. Now the State Depart. of Agriculture has abruptly ordered that it "stop the practice of selling un-enriched flour at retail level". Owner Leland Weed refuses to follow the law demanding that he "enrich" the wheat, buckwheat, cornmeal, pancake, and other flours he grinds in the old water-powered mill along the Bear Creek. Weed says the recent state regulation requiring him to take part in a "statutory enrichment program" is a threat to independence and to the customers who come for whole-grain products, including crops from local farmers and Deaf Smith County in Texas.
Weed, who has operated the mill with his sons since 1947, has appealed the order. As a result, he's been granted verbal permission to continue producing flour as it has since 1823 until the department decides what to do. A state spokesman said that the mill could be shut down, if Weed refuses to add the chemicals. So far, the state has held off--after getting a heavy taste of public opinion in the mail. Experts from Cornell are to test the flours for nutritional levels, and a decision is to be made by the state attorney general on a possible exception.
Meanwhile, Weed says one state legislator at Albany plans to introduce a bill to allow the sale of "un-enriched" flours from mills such as New Hope. The angry miller also indicated that there has been a definite upswing in trade from people who've heard about his bureaucratic troubles. "Everyone should have the right to buy what they want--with or without vitamins," he stated. Besides letters many of the old mill's friends and other people outraged by the state's action have circulated petitions contending that it is their "privilege to be able to purchase New Hope Mills natural flour without being subjected to the state required addition of preservatives and other chemicals additives. Weed says he will go out of business rather than add chemicals.
The Sunday Citizen (Auburn, N.Y.) in an editorial headed "State Makes Blunder in New Hope Mills Case," commented: "Hopefully those of us who respect New Hope flour will keep up the pressure to keep down Albany's imposition.....The foolishness of the state flexing it muscles on the small mill in remote New Hope is obvious. As obvious as the certainty that people who go out of their way to purchase the New Hope flour know what they're getting. If the state doesn't have a special permit program for mills like this, it ought to get one. That should keep the bureaucrats busy enough so they won't go around the countryside making bumpkins of themselves.

See a newspaper write up here
And the mill as it is now with a "scrapbook" history and photos and other news articles here.
Here is a place to by some of the mill's un-enriched products.