Garden Goodies

Weird Insect

Aromatheraphy

One Row Of My Garden

Gardening My Sanity

I haven't posted anything to my blog in a month. Too busy getting the vegetable garden ready and starting my seedlings inside the house. This year I'm planting a couple of new items: turnips and kolhrabi besides all the usual vegetables. While getting the garden ready to plant a couple of other things took priority. My ex-boss at the airport, where I used to work as a certified weather observer, killed himself. Blew his brains out a couple of weeks ago. It reminded me of the poem by Edwin Arlington Robinson entitled, Richard Cory. If you aren't familiar with the poem check it out at your nearest library. In life, or the vegetable garden, one never knows what the heck in going to happen next. Anyway...my wife and I are now taking care of two new members of the family, a parrot named Midnight and a cat that goes by the handle - Durango. The parrot has about a two hundred word vocabulary. She says entire phrases like: "Where are you going? and Woe is me." Very intelligent creature but not the neatest bird on the block. And my wife accuses me of making messes!!!
Although I've been out in the garden much of April (no, I don't sleep out there) I've kept track of what's happening in our little world. Bottom line...the stock market is going up as the financial situation of the middle class plummets. Houses are being repossed at a record pace. The rich continue to get richer and the poor poorer. The so called stimulus package is a joke. Why not be honest and hand out Monoply money?
Well, enough ranting for now. Back to the garden and sanity.

Chickens And Foxes

Isn't it a comfort to know that the Federal Reserve is going to be the head watchdog of the financial markets? That's like sending in an Air Force pilot to find out who dropped a bomb on Nagasaki. It's the feds who are mostly to blame for the financial market tanking in the first place. First they lowered interest rates to the level where any greedy person in the real estate game made out like a bandit and then they balked at raising the rate when cracks began appearing. Who the hell do they think they are kidding? I guess now they want to oversee the destruction to make sure that their rich buddies get out before the collapse. Can't anyone be honest enough to say that America is dead broke? The American bank is empty so now the thieves have created a global economy to make it easier to raid the coffers of other countries around the globe. What a racket!!! One question left in this whole mess is: Where the hell is all that gold we once had stored in Fort Knox, huh? Maybe someone should start asking.

Lights Out

Attention,
On March 29th, the citizens of this planet are getting together and showing their governments that we want something meaningful done about global warming and the destruction of our environment. So on this date every person is encouraged to turn off their lights, television sets, computers, etc from 8 to 9 PM. Show the governments what our future might look like if we continue on our path of destruction and perhaps they will understand that the future belongs to all people, not just greedy corporations.
Think about it and then act. Now is your chance to get involved. No excuses!

What A Guy

The Bush Administration is allowing domestic corporations to destroy our environment at an alarming pace. Here is a very small sampling that he and his corrupt administration has done to further destroy the environment and thus the future of our children and grandchildren:

Suspended the right-to-know regulation requiring utilities to inform consumers about arsenic in their water.
Cut 200 positions from the EPA’s enforcement division.
Killed funds to support environmental education in public schools.
Altered rules so the Energy Dept. no longer has to prove that Yucca Mountain is geologically safe for storing nuclear waste.
Announced mining rules stating that the Dept. of the Interior can’t deny a corporation’s permit, even if its mining could result in substantial irreparable harm.
Relaxed nationwide permit rules for coal companies, developers, and others who now can fill in thousands of streams, swamps, and other wetlands, without public notice or comment. (We all know about the destruction of the wetlands surrounding New Orleans and the cataclysmic consequences of that action when Katrina roared through.)
Sent a lobbyist of the country’s largest utility polluter to testify before Congress and defend cuts in the EPA’s enforcement budget.
Tried to end the federal requirement that states test poor children on Medicaid for lead poisoning.
Eliminated scientific committees that disagreed with his policies, stacking new committees with scientists who have ties to regulated industries, including one PG&E hireling who fought Eric Brockovich.
Sided with America’s largest cat litter manufacturer, Oil-Dri, against local officials in Reno, Nevada, who had ruled that a proposed cat litter mine would pollute the air and water.
Instructed the EPA to discount by 63% the value of lives of senior citizens when assessing whether to impose new restrictions on industries that pollute the air.
Sent memo to all EPA employees urging them to “express support for the president and his programs,” when off duty.
Put industry-backed amendment into Homeland Security Bill that effectively exempts chemical plants, utilities, and other polluters from the public’s right-to-know laws, which require corporations to tell their neighbors what poisons are being spewed on them.
Bush called the Constitution, and I quote, “Just a goddamn piece of paper."

Going Postal

Free Recycling Through the Mail
U.S. Postal Service Starts Service in 1,500 Post Offices

WASHINGTON, DC —Free and green. Those are the goals of a pilot program launched today by the U.S. Postal Service that allows customers to recycle small electronics and inkjet cartridges by mailing them free of charge.
The “Mail Back” program helps consumers make more environmentally friendly choices, making it easier for customers to discard used or obsolete small electronics in an environmentally responsible way. Customers use free envelopes found in 1,500 Post Offices to mail back inkjet cartridges, PDAs, Blackberries, digital cameras, iPods and MP3 players – without having to pay for postage.
Postage is paid for by Clover Technologies Group, a nationally recognized company that recycles, remanufactures and remarkets inkjet cartridges, laser cartridges and small electronics. If the electronic item or cartridges cannot be refurbished and resold, its component parts are reused to refurbish other items, or the parts are broken down further and the materials are recycled. Clover Technologies Group has a “zero waste to landfill” policy: it does everything it can to avoid contributing any materials to the nation’s landfills.
It was this philosophy that won Clover the contract with the Postal Service, besting 19 other companies, said Anita Bizzotto, chief marketing officer and executive vice president for the Postal Service.
“As one of the nation’s leading corporate citizens, the Postal Service is committed to environmental stewardship,” Bizzotto said. “This program is one more way the Postal Service is empowering consumers to go green.”
The free, postage-paid Mail Back envelopes can be found on displays in Post Office lobbies. There is no limit to the number of envelopes customers may take.
The pilot is set for 10 areas across the country, including Washington, D.C., Chicago, Los Angeles and San Diego, but could become a national program this fall if the pilot program proves successful.
The Postal Service recycles 1 million tons of paper, plastic and other materials annually. Last year, USPS generated more than $7.5 million in savings through recycling and waste prevention programs. The nation’s environmental watchdog, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has awarded the Postal Service eight WasteWise Partner of the Year awards, the agency’s top honor.

Cutting Our Own Throat

The Atchafalaya Basin in the southernmost part of Louisiana is about ten times larger than the city of Chicago. It is a fantastic area of wetlands that is home to more than 300 migrating species of birds. In fact, half of all migrating birds in North America use the basin to nest, mate, and rest up on their journey. Besides that important ecological function, the wetlands act as a buffer from ferocious storms such as hurricanes. Throughout this basin stand thousands of one-hundred foot tall cypress trees, some over 500 years old. A stand of cypress just the size of a football field can lessen a twenty-foot high storm surge by ninety percent. In other words, it acts as an excellent defense against hurricanes. Hurricane Katrina’s full force was directed at this basin, not at New Orleans as some people believe. Despite the intense winds, these wetlands lost no cypress trees. None. That’s because the trees are very strong and lessen the impact of storms surges, thus protecting the inhabitants of the area from devastating hurricanes that come ashore. Animals including bobcats, foxes, alligators, minks, armadillos, coyotes and other species make the Atchafalaya their permanent home. So why are human beings cutting down these life-saving cypress trees at the rate of 20,000 trees annually?
Most of the clear cutting is legal, some not. Of course the companies responsible for such devastation are required to replant the cypress trees when they are done reaping the hardwood. The only problem with that is the new saplings never live. They die soon after they are planted because of an incursion of salt water from the Gulf of Mexico that seeps into the wetlands after each tree is harvested. Bottom line: cut down a cypress tree and it’s gone forever.
If the onslaught continues, Louisiana’s strongest barrier between it and a hurricane will disappear within twenty years, leaving that area naked of any protection from the unforgiving sea.
One final irony…While the state of Louisiana is begging the federal government for funds to shore up its buffer zones along its coastline, the state is allowing the best defense against another hurricane to slowly disappear.
So what is the cypress used for? Mulch. That’s right. The stuff that homeowners spread around their flowerbeds and gardens, that’s the main use. Hey, only in present day America, eh?

Strange As This Weather Has Been

John Steinbeck’s novel, The Grapes of Wrath, made America aware of the struggles that a small group of poor Oklahoma farmers were experiencing. Called Okies, they were driven off their land by greedy developers and they had no choice except to relocate. Trouble was, they had very little money and no place to go. As they spread out and tried their luck in places like California, an entire culture was uprooted and died a slow death. Steinbeck continued to write and gain popularity rivaled only by Samuel Clements.
This week I came across another novel that is similar in nature, where an entire culture is being destroyed, this time by greedy, government-backed, coal mine owners. The book is called, Strange As This Weather Has Been. The writer’s name is Ann Pancake. And no, her name is not a pseudonym. She got her PhD from the University of Washington and hails from West Virginia. She tells in fictional form what is happening to the American landscape in that part of the country.
Instead of drilling a mine shaft inside a mountain and extracting the coal, these good ol’ boys, the captains of industry, blow the tops off of mountains. The owners tell you that it’s a more cost-effective method of doing business and that‘s why they do it. What they choose not tell you is that the toxic material from the operation, including such things as mercury, lead, arsenic, cadmium, copper, selenium, chromium, and nickel flows into haphazardly-constructed containment ponds. The slurry leeches out during good weather and gushes out on rainy days. The sluice then flows down the side of the mountain and into local streams, polluting the water supply. Local dead zones are created; smaller than the zone off the Louisiana coast, but just as toxic. That’s not all. These wonderful American entrepreneurs blow up the tops of mountains using the same ingredients that Timothy McVey used in Oklahoma. The reverberating shockwaves from the frequent blasts are felt by citizens living below the mountain, down in the hollows. Cracks appear in the foundation of their houses, ceiling plaster repeatedly cascades down onto floors that buckle and shift. Sheds and other small structures are washed away by the frequent floods from up top. Those poor individuals are left owning a less-than-worthless home that’s often been in their family for perhaps 150 years and longer. The land and houses are now all but uninhabitable.
The southern part of West Virginia and the eastern part of Kentucky is where the devastation is taking place and Ms. Pancake walks you through the local history of why the land means so much to those folks. By putting in a garden and harvesting the food that nature supplies on those mountains those people of Appalachia had all they needed to survive, that is until the coal companies decided their stockholders had to enjoy more wealth. But, in the end, there's an old saying: whatever goes around, comes around.
Note: For more information check out these websites: www.ohvec.org; www.kftc.org; www.ilovemountains.org; and www.crmw.net.

The Courage To Change

If you think you can’t change, then change the way you think. I heard that remark while listening to a eloquent speech on the UCTV station’s satellite feed given my Terrance Roberts at the University of California at San Diego. Who is Terrance Roberts? He was one of the nine black students who began attending classes at Little Rock’s Central High School back during the time of Arkansas’s school desegregation, mandated by Congress and acted upon by President Eisenhower. Back then, the nation‘s leaders had to call out the National Guard to maintain law and order.
This courageous man recounted what he went through to further his education in a section of the country that, at that time, was as racist as any in the world. Many times young Roberts was beaten by gangs of white students during those chaotic times and on several incidents he narrowly escaped with his life. There was plenty of hard times to go around. But he survived. And not only did he survive he managed to wring out a whole hosts of positive examples in the process that would serve him well throughout his life. Instead of being bitter, Roberts turned the incident around and looked at how, because of his small group’s gutsy act, racism gradually subsided in that part of the South.
Taking time off from his teaching duties at Antioch College, he went back to Little Rock recently and gave a series of presentations on his experiences during those troubling times. He told his audience how well-meaning white folks would approach him and try to prod him into admitting that those times were really not all that terrible. His response was, “Oh, yes they were. They were much more than terrible, but I didn’t let that destroy me. I wanted to attend a more affluent high school in order to get a better education that I literally was willing to give up my life. And yes, for me, those times were definitely terrifying. Don‘t kid yourself into thinking otherwise”
Terrance Roberts is only one of an untold mass of courageous individuals who spread truth wherever they go. They work in relative silence, helping their communities, raising their families, and doing what they can to make this a better world. They go so far as to be willing to die for something that benefits their ideals.
Hats off to Mr.Terrance Roberts and all the other honest citizens of this country. The truth will always set you free.

Cap Capitalism

The problem I have with capitalism stems from the fact that there is no balance factored into the system. Growth is encouraged, even insisted upon. Capitalism has no limits on growth.
One of the laws of thermodynamics states that at a certain point any system will eventually reach a condition where the input of energy exceeds the output and thus attains a state called, the law of diminishing returns. In short, it reaches a point where nothing is gained from any further input of energy.
My organic vegetable garden is a great example of what happens when growth has limits. One example I’ll use is my green pepper plants, but I could use any example in my garden. The seed I insert into the soil emerges and soon grows into a plant about two feet high. It doesn’t keep growing at that point, but rather it stops its growth and puts all its energy into producing blossoms. The blossoms then eventually bear fruit. Not so with capitalism. It has no systemic method necessary when the brakes of growth need to be applied. In other words, the typical capitalistic company is formed, it grows larger and larger, but instead of attaining a point where it concentrates on improving its core product, it keeps on growing at an unsustainable pace until it reflects the average American's midsection. Instead of stopping growth at some logical point, a company fixates upon growth at all costs, forgetting about quality and concentrating solely on quantity. The reason given for such insanity is that a company will say that they exist in a market place that encourages competition and they must survive and do whatever it takes at all costs. But the pepper plants in my garden refute that claim. They compete with other vegetables in the garden for space, water, and nutrients, yet they survive quite nicely. They don’t die because of competition. In fact, they thrive in spite of it.
Corporations in this country are spiraling out of control and the reason is the lack of equilibrium within the capitalistic system in a culture filled with greed. Corporations are allowed to grow way beyond a rational point, to where they become rusting monoliths, unable to respond to its customers, focused only on the needs of the stockholders, which by the way isn’t owned by the typical poor widow and her offspring.
It seems to me that a much better method would be at some point to limit growth by penalizing corporations until, like the pepper plant, they begin to bear fruit for the benefit of its customers. At the very least, putting a cap on capitalism might prevent corporations like Morgan Stanley (who lost more money last year than any year in its history) from rewarding its CEO by giving him 41 million dollars in compensation. Will the greed ever end?

Exxon Valdez

The Supreme Court will hear arguments that Exxon Mobil is not responsible for the oil spill that occurred off the coast of Alaska nineteen years ago. It is estimated that over 33,000 people in Alaska lost their livelihood when the oil spill happened. The only skill those folks had back then was how to catch fish. When those fish died, their only hope for any kind of future died with them. Some of the people committed suicide. After almost twenty years of delays, only 27,000 of those people are still alive. A sad commentary on corporate responsibility.
With their income lost the families had no recourse except to sue the huge oil monopoly. Exxon's battery of lawyers managed to slow down the entire judicial process for nineteen years. Now the time has arrived for recompense. Let's see if the Court is on the side of families or on the side of greedy corporations like Exxon. If they deny the fishermen their due, the Court has as much validity as a FEMA press conference.

Thin Air

The chairman of the Federal Reserve appeared on Capitol Hill today to answer vexing questions about the American economy. Ron Paul, the Republican presidential candidate from Texas asked Bernanke about inflation. It is Ron Paul’s contention that inflation is directly tied to the M3, which is our money supply, hence the more money America has in circulation, the cheaper the money becomes. Paul noted that our money supply was increasing yearly to a rate that is unsustainable. He cautioned that you can't create wealth out of thin air. Although Congressmen aren’t my favorite breed, I agree with Mr. Paul. Wouldn’t it be great if Americans could do what our government is doing and go down their basement (providing they have one) and start cranking out dollar bills on a printing press. That’s exactly what America’s elected leaders have been doing for years, ever since those same leaders allowed America to abandon the gold standard.
In the politician’s eyes there is no crisis. Rising national debt? Hey, no problem. Just crank out more money to pay the bill. Crashing housing market? No problem. Crank out more money so that the greedy crooks in the housing market don’t get blamed for what’s happened and they can continue to steal from the taxpayers. Don’t worry about Mr. and Mrs. Middle Class. They can take care of themselves. It’s long been Washington’s paradigm to take care of the filthy rich because that‘s who takes care of them. Never mind all the honest, hard-working Americans, that is not their concern. Only the next election matters and those weasels will do anything, anything, to win that race.
But now things are slowly starting to catch up with them. The entire American economy is beginning to crumble. Our insatiable spending habits are coming back to haunt us. There are signs everywhere of a financial catastrophe. It’s not only the housing market, but every other segment of the marketplace is beginning to whither. Three dollar gas will look like charity in the near future. Most of the world’s people spend about six bucks per gallon of gas. Now it’s our turn. Better not put off turning over the soil for that organic garden you‘ve been contemplating. And you might want to think about purchasing a reverse osmosis device for under the kitchen sink. Clean water will be increasing in value each year. Wars will be fought over it. Human Beings can live for weeks without food but only a few days without water. Hang onto your hats because I predict that in the next three years America will undergo a significant change in their style of living. And it won’t be in an upward spiral. It’s all our fault too.

Seeds Of Change

Two recent items in the media caught my attention. One of them dealt with Norway’s completion of a vault to store seeds. The vault is located in a frozen mountain just off the coast of this beautiful Nordic country. The crypt has been labeled The Doomsday Vault. The reasoning behind the plan is that when mankind reaches it’s final conclusion at least whoever is left will have something to plant and thus eat. (note: please read my poem, Something Special in my archives) It’s a shame that things have come to this. But we don’t really need for this scenario to play out, to wait for the end to come. By knitting together we can form a defense against the looming global environmental catastrophe. Many people around the globe are taking action by shrinking their lifestyle to a more local level. They realize that they can’t control the global governments but they can have some say on what occurs locally. Vegetable gardening, solar heating, recycling are becoming the norm in lots of cities. The environmental community has been preaching all along this dictum: Think globally, act locally. It’s finally starting to sink in. Here in our little community of Kalamazoo, lying almost exactly between the metropolises of Chicago to the west and Detroit to the east, things are gradually changing. Most of our buses in town now run of waste oil. All Kalamazoo students are assured of a free in-state college education when they graduate. Maybe they will develop a way to harness the power of lightning or some other valuable invention. Our local farmer’s market is thriving. Green articles in our local newspaper are now common. Much more needs to be done, but at least it is a start. Other communities around the world are beginning to become more aware of their responsibility for being caretakers of the earth, and not dominators. We have no right to declare that we have dominion over this earth because eventually we will leave this earth the way we entered, with nothing. We don’t own a damn thing.
The second item affirmed something I knew all along. My contention has always been that we are all connected. Human beings and everything else in the cosmos are inter-connected. From my many years working in the weather field, I came to realize this basic fact: If you tweak one portion of the web of life, all other portions move with it. You can never act wholly independent of anything else. Weather scientists have postulated the theory that a butterfly flapping its wings in, say, Butte, Montana can effectively cause a tornado in Topeka, Kansas. Interdependancy is absolute. With that knowledge in mind I wasn’t surprised when I read an article dealing with the movement of global dust. Here in America we receive pollutants, such as mercury, from China’s industrial expansion. The dust from China and other Asian countries rise into the atmosphere and troposphere and float around the globe, eventually landing on terrain that is far removed from its source. The dust usually contain bacteria, viruses, pollens, fungi spores, dried animal feces, chemicals, and pesticide residues. We here in America have been dumping our pollutants on the rest of the world’s population and now it is coming full circle. Officials in Los Angeles state that as much as one-third of their smog comes from Asia. In the first part of the twentieth century, on the average, China suffered a dust storm once every ten years. Each year the storms have increased in number. Now the citizens of China suffer ten dust storms each year. Most last for many days. It's gotten so bad that Beijing, the capitol, is expected to be covered in dust within ten years
Bottom line: There is always a repercussion for any action, no matter the source.

Irony Or Hypocracy?

I try my best not to be censorious when posting to my blog, but sometimes I just can't help it. Take this item for example. Maryland State's Attorney Davis R. Ruark, who once prosecuted Olympic swimming star Michael Phelps for driving drunk, was arrested this weekend for the same offense. I guess whatever goes around comes around.

Stagflation And Happiness

For the first time in more than twenty years I heard the word - stagflation - mentioned on various financial channels. Stagflation means a stagnant economy coupled with inflation. A two-headed monster for sure. If this is true, how did we get into this situation again? Shouldn’t we learn from our mistakes? We should, but we never do, and we have nobody to blame but ourselves.
Let me clue you in on something I deem important. I’ve been thinking about this concept for quite some time. It’s my humble opinion that the concept of gain doesn’t exist because for every supposed gain there is always an offsetting loss. The medical profession is learning this the hard way. The pills that are supposed to cure a patient of an ailment end up causing the patient to fall victim to another malady, often far worse than the original ailment. And so it goes, as Vonnegut used to say.
As for our economy, it is, in reality, zero based. By that I mean the entire system is merely an exchange. Nothing else. The tree we cut down today is the tree we won’t have tomorrow. The mountaintop we blow up today is the one we will want tomorrow.
To give you an example of what I‘m talking about, I’ll use something that is dear to my heart. Gardening. I have been gardening for forty years. Over that span my garden has taught me many things. While performing the physical part of gardening, such as weeding and watering, I’ve had plenty of time to dwell on what is taking place before my eyes. For one thing, my garden doesn’t produce crops unless I place a seed in the ground and care for it until harvest. That fact is: I can only take out what I’m willing to put in. Makes sense, doesn’t it. A dynamic balance is the key to my gardening efforts and it is the key to contentment. But it seems the big honchos on Wall Street don’t believe this. They want to get something for nothing. Without sowing seeds, those clowns expect to harvest a bounty. That isn’t the way it works, folks. And believe me, those people are smart enough to know better. But they are so used to taking shortcuts and thinking they have something to gain by cheating that they miss the obvious, that there is no gain without an offsetting loss. First it was the savings and loan fiasco and the Keating Five. Then Michael Millken made junk bonds appear to seep gold. Another fairy tale appeared when an obscure energy company called Enron, made other corporations drool with envy at how much money they were raking in. Of course Lay, Skilling, Fastow, and the other crooks eventually had to admit their scam. Notice a pattern here? Every time the stock market has risen in the last twenty years a scam of epic proportions has been behind the escalation. What we’ve been calling an increase of wealth is an allusion. All we’ve done is squander the last of our country’s resources. American seem to be enraptured with a culture that esteems graft and corruption, whose heroes are less than noble. Is it because of our nation’s violent history? And if you doubt we have a violent filled past you need to read a few more recent history books. The People’s History of America by Howard Zinn is a good place to start your enlightenment.
America is far down the list when it comes to happiness. We have been programmed to always calculate our happiness based on money. The more money we have, the more happiness. But I keep reading magazine article after magazine article that begs the question, “Why are Americans so angry? Why aren’t we happy?” Maybe it’s because we’ve based our thinking on the wrong paradigm. Money doesn’t equal happiness.
What country is the happiest? It’s Denmark, followed by Malta, Switzerland, Iceland, and Ireland. What makes the citizens of those countries happy? Their citizens neither have extreme wealth nor extreme poverty. Ahh…A Dynamic Balance! Get it? That’s how to by happy. Create a dynamic balance in your life and let fools strive to be materially wealthy. If you are fortunate to enjoy the love that comes from being part of a family, you have all the wealth you will ever need. Trust me on that.

Congratulations, Mike

Our eldest son, Michael, finished his first marathon last weekend. Not bad for a forty-year-old. He had trained for months and crossed the finish line in good shape. I meant it when I told him he should be proud of himself for setting a goal and then attaining it. Too many of us Americans talk a good game, but when it comes to performing we‘d rather sit in front of an X-Box and fantasize. A good friend of mine once noted that plenty of people are fakers and not bakers. Talk is cheap, as I always say. Talk AFTER you accomplish something worthwhile, not before. Whether you plan to run a marathon, put in a vegetable garden, volunteer to help the needy, or learn a new language. Do it! And don’t give up. JUST DO IT!

Losing Our Balance

Arthur Godfrey had a popular radio talk show back in the late fifties. Occasionally he would chat with environmentalists who warned listeners of over-fishing and a buildup of toxins in the world’s oceans. The scientists were quickly labeled as lunatics and summarily dismissed. After all, how could something so vast as an ocean become polluted? In those days everyone knew that the solution to pollution was dilution. Help yourself, poor all the crap you want into the sea. It can take it.
News that the Amazonian rain forest was being destroyed ruffled our collective consciousness but, hey, that was a continent away. We continued to deny all the scientific data, even from the most astute and lauded scientists.
But then slowly warning signs emerged and a conception crept in that perhaps America should have listened and learned something valuable from those lunatics. Species began disappearing. A protected species act was eventually passed in Congress. But all that was forgotten as political assassinations, race riots, and an unpopular war dominated the nightly news. Energy prices spiked in the early 1970s setting off a futile search for alternative energy supplies. Inflation, along with the national debt, rose dramatically. America was a nation that had severe monetary troubles. To allay people‘s fears that the sky was falling, President Nixon took the country off the gold standard and allowed the dollar to float. America, in effect, had no backing for its currency - only the government’s promise to repay any debts incurred.
In order to make it look like American’s were still wealthy, that we had nothing to worry about, President Reagan tripled spending, increasing the national debt. Corporations, along with technology, emerged to the forefront of the American political landscape. The Supreme Court went so far as to proclaim corporations had all the rights as everyone else in the land because they have attained the position of “personhood.” The technology sector promised us a wonderful, carefree future, declaring that a new world order was emerging, one that would replace the old way of doing business. Basic accounting principles were rewritten as a frenetic search for new wealth emerged. The dictum that all wealth comes from the earth was replaced by a vision that wealth can be created out of something so simple as thin air, all we had to do was "believe." The dot com implosion ended that whimsical philosophy.
Throughout all the cultural changes and challenges, one thing remained. Reality. It insisted that for all America had gained there was a price to pay. The pollution of the fifties continued to increase until dire warnings emerged that greenhouse gases were becoming so capacious in the atmosphere that they could eventually kill us. If things didn't change, mankind might choke on its own consumption of worldly goods.
Americans initially became upset at that realization, until they woke up to the fact that they were the ones most responsible for this increase in the buildup of atmospheric carbon. Americans comprise only five percent of the world’s population but consume twenty-five percent of the earth’s resources. A gluttonous share of the world’s affluence.
What was the government’s reaction? War! That would solve all America’s problems by forgetting our old troubles and simply create a new perspective. But it didn’t work this time. It only made things worse. We tried to compromise the political and environmental situations by recently promising to join the world community in making the world less polluted. But now it’s beyond compromise. We have passed the point of mitigation where cutting back on carbon emissions will heal the planet’s atmosphere. The world’s temperature will rise about 3 ½ degrees no matter what we do. The earth will undergo a vast change that will see oceans rise, drought increase, resources, including our precious water supply, become scarcer. Adaptation is our only recourse. Other nations are heeding the call. In America, our infrastructure needs to be shored up or replaced. Current farming practices that now rape the land of its vitality by squeezing every ounce of nutrition out of the soil will need to be discontinued. The air we breathe, that contributes to lung cancer and other diseases, must be scrubbed clean. Water can't continue to be used as merely a Wall Street commodity. Waste must be discontinued.
Unfortunately, the assets needed for the job no longer exist in our coffers. As I stated before, all wealth comes from the earth and America has used all up it’s natural resources. The cupboard is bare, folks. We have foolishly spent our wealth and saved almost nothing. The world won’t look to America for answers in the future. We have squandered our vision for that future on crooked politicians, criminal-minded corporations, an apathetic public that rewards ballplayers above teachers, and a hypocritical mindset that punishes rather than encourages people that are different than the perceived norm, forgetting that nature thrives on diversity.
So what’s the bottom line? Do we have any options left? Sure we do! But they don’t include the current system of government. We need to create an environment where the local people rule their locality. Where farmer’s markets thrive, eco-villages are constructed, and solar becomes the model form of energy. Where a transparent government is common. Where human beings and their needs are far more important than the corporation. Where our families mean more than the stuff we own. Where education is paramount and kindness is an epidemic. It’s not too late to save the planet or our culture. Do whatever you are able to do and please don’t wait. Recycle goods and refuse to feed the current system. Things will change. The earth and it’s inhabitants are just too valuable a resource to waste.

Genetically Modified Organisms

I knew that I would eventually get around to writing about GMO's. In my opinion they are the enemy of nature. These man-made seeds are patented and sterility is engineered into the DNA molecule so that the plants can't reproduce. Pollen from these Frankenstein seeds drift all over the globe and threaten to wipe out generations of seed saving efforts. The seed that germinates from these horrible things do not reproduce true to their kind. Not only that but this type of genetic engineering causes a weakness in the celular structure of plants, thus inviting pathogenic invasions.
America seems to increasingly breed these kinds of enterprises, where the only thing that matters is the bottom line. What about nutrition? What about taste? Shouldn't that be a prime consideration?
I plant a garden each year so that I have a choice about what I eat and where my food comes from. I want to taste a tomato and not a cardboard facsimile. If you are thinking about planting a garden yourself, Google GMO's. I swear that the information will make you take some sort of action.
There is one bright note. France has just announced that it is banning the use of GMO's on it's soil. That's a start. That's where change happens. In little bits and pieces. Hats off to the French. Way to go!
How do we stop something so dispicable as GMO's from occurring again and again? One way is to examine how you are investing your disposible income. If these global agricultural corporations lack a steady stream of investment income they will eventually dry up and blow away like their genetically modified seed. That's one way to stop them. Another is to vote for courageous men and women who will stand up to these corporations. Money is their god. Money keeps them in business. Where is your money being invested? Check it out...today.

Groundhog Day

I came across a rather interesting article in our city’s newspaper. What caught my eye was the title of the piece. It read: Celebrate Groundhog’s Day by changing your wiper blades. In the first place, what kind of nut celebrates groundhog day? Do they rush out and purchase some party hats to go with the booze? Do you think America really needs another reason to get blitzed? Isn’t the Super Bowl enough? And what does Groundhog Day have to do with wiper blades? Should something click in the average person’s mind that would connect the two items? If that were the case, they’d also remember to clean the attic on Memorial Day? Or write a short story on Thanksgiving? The fact is, when I think of wiper blades I never think of groundhogs. But then I don’t need another reason to celebrate. Every day on this earth should be cause for celebration, groundhogs or not.

An Ocean of Air

On the average, I read two books each week. I’ve been doing that for over forty years. Fiction, non-fiction, it doesn’t matter. I just love to read and, like most human beings, I’m innately curious. I especially love a good mystery.
Every now and then I come across a book that insist I turn the page. It forces me to read ‘till my eyes close in the wee hours. An Ocean of Air is just such a book. I couldn’t put it down. Although it’s non-fiction, each chapter contains a mystery. For example: Who first discovered that the air we breath contained oxygen? How much does the air in Carnegie Hall weigh? Who unveiled the mystery of our trade winds? These are a few of the secrets revealed in Gabrielle Walker’s captivating book. Ironically, each person that is ultimately responsible for uncovering life’s mysteries is more unique than the subject matter. Ever hear of William Ferrel? Ms. Walker thinks he’s America’s greatest scientist and, after reading her work, I’d have to agree.
I guess the real reason I loved the book was the fact that it proved once again that life is dynamically balanced. Oxygen, which keeps us alive, is also the cause of our demise. Oxygen releases free radicals that eventually wear our bodies down and age us. Ms. Walker states this much better than I. …the lesson of oxygen shows that many things that are exhilarating have their own attendant dangers: making discoveries, making enemies, challenging the authorities, falling in love. Indeed, everything about our minds, our strong bodies, our different sexes, for the power of movement itself, we have to accept the inevitability of old age and death. The oxygen in each breath you take brings you everything that’s worth living for, but it will ultimately make you pay with your life,. Within its chemistry lies the very heart of the human condition.
And this passage: Carbon dioxide is the crucial source of all our food and without it we would freeze because it traps sunlight from returning to outer space. But it has a downside. Like oxygen, carbon dioxide has the potential to deliver too much of what otherwise would be a very good thing. The hero that protects us is also a villain that threatens us with a potentially deadly menace: global warming.
That’s what this blog is all about: the dynamic balance of life. Thanks Gabrielle for sharing your fantastic mind.

A Few Strawberries

The photo below was taken in June 2007. It was just a small portion of the strawberries we harvested last year. We ate about a third of the crop, made jam with another third, and gave the rest away to our neighbors to enjoy. I can hardly wait for this year's crop.

Think About It

Some things are constuctive. Others are destructive. All are instructive.

Liberation is being free from things we don't like in order to be enslaved by the things we do like.

Ever notice that anyone driving slower than you is an idiot and anyone driving faster than you is a maniac?

Give a man a fish and he will eat for a day. Teach a man to fish and he will sit in a boat and drink beer all day.

Some days you're the bug. Other days you're the windshield.

One More

A man is at the bar is really drunk. Some nice guys decide to be good Samaritans and get him home. So they pick him up off the floor and drag him out the door. On the way to the car he falls down three times. When they finally get to his house they help him out of the car and he falls down a couple more times. They go up and ring the bell and say to the man's wife, "Here's your husband." She says, "Where the hell is his wheelchair?"

Creating Reality

Peter Russell, writing in Ode Magazine, composed an article entitled, The Real Secret. In it, Russell cites the Nobel Prize winner, Werner Heisenberg's stance on reality. "Nothing in the real world actually changes, the only thing that changes is one's uncertainty of knowledge."
There is a sense in which you do create your own reality. You create your own experience of reality. Take for example your ability to see. Light enters the eyes, triggering nerve impulses that travel to the brain. There, these impulses are analyzed and put together into an image. You think you see the world but what you are seeing is a reconstruction of the world. The same applies to all your senses. In this way, you're creating your own perception of reality.
(Check out a copy of Ode Magazine. It's one of the great, new, positive-slanting mags.)

Disproportionate Wealth

Although African Americans comprise 13% of the nation's population, their total net worth is a mere 1.2% of the total net worth of the country. Two white guys, Bill Gates and Larry Ellison have more wealth than the combined net worth of all 36 million black citizens.

Funny

Time for a joke.

Question - Why did the Amish couple get divorced?
Answer - He was driving her buggy.

2008 Garden Layout

Below is a sketch of my garden layout for 2008. It's pretty difficult to read because of my blog's space limitations.
In the top portion of my main garden I have the main compost area where everything gets recycled including vegetable scraps from the kitchen, lawn clippings, misc. prunings. Next to the compost pile I have three herbs: thyme, oregano, and parsley. Completing the top portion is where I plan to sow my taters. I going to attempt to try something different and throw the seed potatoes into straw that I'll strew about. I heard that spuds do really good growing in straw.
In the bottom portion, reading from left to right, I'll have a planting of zucchini. Below that, in the first row, I have a nice section for my leeks that I always use in my homemade chicken barley soup. Next to the leeks I'll put in four plants of Brussels sprouts. The last section is reserved for kohlrabi. I've never grown it but I'm going to put in several new crops this year.
In the second row is Swiss chard, cukes, parsnips, and garlic. Third row: winter cabbage, beets, summer squash, and Carmen green peppers. Fourth Row: green beans, jalapeno peppers, celery, and snow peas. Fifth row: some more garlic, cherry tomatoes, Aconcagua green peppers, green onions, and French muskmelons. Six row: Acorn Squash, turnips, Roma tomatoes, summer and winter carrots. That completes the main garden, which is directly behind our little house.
In the second sketch is what I call my annex. For the past three years I've had very successful strawberry crops. This year I've decided to shrink the size of the strawberry bed and I put in a 3X12 ft. "salad" garden, consisting of two cherry tomato plants, leaf lettuce, green onions, romaine lettuce, spinach, and kale. Next to the salad garden is the old (much smaller) strawberry bed that is also 3X12. Next to the berry bed I'm making another bed for more herbs. These herbs are: dill, basil, sage, tarragon, summer savory, and coriander (cilantro). All three are raised beds. The other section of my garden is a mixture of flowers, fruit, and veggies. Along the back fence I have two grape vines. Running along the fence, perpendicular to the grapes are a bunch of red raspberry bushes. Also in this section I have spots for the rhubarb, marsh mallow, rose, cone flower, and a dwarf lime tree. I harvested four limes off the tree last year. I had the tree in a pot but last year the thing got so huge that I couldn't possibly drag it in and out all year. So I planted the thing in the ground and crossed my fingers, hoping that it will survive our Michigan winters.

Main Garden

Garden Annex

Our travels

My wife and I just got back from traveling to visit family members. We spent Thanksgiving with our son and his wife in Denver and then went on to Austin to visit our two sons, their wives, and our six grandchildren. We all got along well and the visitation was memorable. We loved bonding with the grand kids. Nice!
Next year we plan on going out west. Our daughter, son-in-law, and granddaughter live in San Diego. If one plans a wintertime visit some place, then San Diego is hard to beat. They call it paradise. It's a beautiful city. We've lived there for about six years of our lives so we know how lovely a place it is.
Anyway...We took off from Kalamazoo, Michigan on Nov. 15th and went via Amtrak to Denver. The ride was smooth and relatively uneventful. After a ten day stay in Colorado, my wife and I traveled via Greyhound to Austin. That was not unusual! Just before we got to Amarillo our bus driver pulled off to the side of the road. It was three o'clock in the morning and there was nothing around, except a police car. Two burly cops boarded our bus and walked past us. They stopped about three seats behind us and began to question a young man. We figured he had some sort of warrant out for him. It turned out that the guy had been walking up and down the aisle of the bus, naked from the waist down. The cops found a couple of prescription drugs on the fellow that didn't belong to him. While they were talking to him a woman across the aisle accused him of stealing her I-pod. Bottom line...they cuffed him and took him away. The rest of the trip into Austin was peaceful compared to that incident. After two months, we boarded a Southwest plane back to Chicago and then hopped aboard the Amtrak back to Kalamazoo. Planes, trains, buses, but no automobiles. Would we do it again? Sure! Why not? Gotta live a little.

A Short Story

THE GAME
Detective Mike O’Mara left his partner at the scene of a drive-by to mop up. Headquarters needed him at a certain location in the ritzy neighborhood of Marble Hill Estates. The gloomy, dilapidated dwellings along the Penn Central tracks gave way to the more upscale environs. Shots had been fired in a house along Winthrop Street, an exclusive tract of brick, Tudor-style mansions. He was instructed to check things out immediately.
Having been on the force for over twenty-five years O’Mara knew that homicide had no boundaries. Rich, poor, and everyone in between took turns being victims.
O’Mara parked his unmarked behind a sleek, white Cadillac and a patrol car and began walking up the winding, flower-lined pathway to the front door. He was greeted by a rookie cop named Dubinski. The two had met on several occasions at various crime scenes. Detective O’Mara considered Dubinski a competent officer.
“Good to see you again, sir,” said Dubinski.
O’Mara nodded a greeting and said, “What do we got here?”
“The mansion is owned by one Jenny Barbosa, a recent widow. The lady claims that she interrupted a burglary. Plugged the intruder in the dining room. Two shots. One to the abdomen, the other to the chest. The lab people haven’t arrived yet.”
“Doesn’t surprise me, Dubinski. Our town is in a murderous rage tonight.”
The cop pointed over his head. “Full moon. People go nuts when the moon is like that.”
O’Mara glanced at the white orb before entering the foyer. A couple of more steps took him into the front room where a shapely, blonde, middle-aged lady sat on an expensive-looking leather couch dabbing her eyes. She placed her handkerchief in her lap when she heard O’Mara approach.
“Ms. Barbosa?”
“That’s correct.”
“I’m Detective O’Mara. I understand you shot someone breaking into your house this evening.”
“Yes, quite unfortunate. I didn’t mean it.”
When the lady began tearing up again, O’Mara told her that he would be back in a few minutes. Besides allowing her time to compose herself, he wanted to check out the crime scene. He ducked under the yellow tape while putting on a pair of thin latex gloves. Dubinski’s partner stood off to the right, at the end of a rectangular oak table staring down at the victim. When he spotted O’Mara he straightened and nodded slightly. “Evening, sir.”
O’Mara knew his name as well. “Haven’t touched anything, have you Johnson?”
“I know better than that, sir. The man hasn’t moved an inch.”
Without reacting to officer Johnson’s attempt at humor, O’Mara went over and stood at the foot of the intruder, glancing first at the broken window directly behind the fallen man and then at the doorway he had just entered. Glass was scattered all around the dead man. Appearing satisfied, the detective knelt down beside the man laying on his back. He first noted the bullet hole in the man’s stomach and then flicked away a couple of small shards of glass partially covering the hole in the man’s chest and got a better look.
“Johnson cleared his throat before stating, “Gun is in this evidence bag, sir. The lady had placed it on the coffee table in front of the couch when we got here. It’s a .38 caliber. Shell casings are in here also.” He raised the bag slightly.
“Good job, Johnson. Stay right where you are until the crime scene investigators show up. Okay?”
Johnson nodded and O’Mara left him standing there while he returned to the front room. Ms. Barbosa was sitting quietly on the sofa. Tears no longer ran down her checks. O’Mara took a seat opposite her and started his interview. “Were you alone tonight?”
“Yes. I’m a widow. My husband passed away five years ago. Thank goodness he taught me how to protect myself. The gun was his.”
“I see. Why don’t you run through the events that led up to the shooting?”
“Not much to tell. I was in the kitchen making supper when I heard glass break. I immediately ran to the hall closet and grabbed the gun. I keep it loaded, just in case. The dining room light was off. It was dark when I peeked around the corner and there was the outline of this guy, just standing there. My husband taught me to shoot first and ask questions later and that’s exactly what I did. I think I should tell you that there is one area of concern.”
“Concern?”
“Yes. You see I know the intruder. Like me, he’s in the real estate business. He works for a firm on the other side of town. We’ve had a couple of disagreements over the years. Might as well tell you now. It‘ll all come out in the end.”
O’Mara studied her for a brief moment. Something about her demeanor made him think that she was testing his intelligence, almost like a little game she was playing. “After he broke the window and climbed in, you shot him twice, once in the abdomen and another in the chest.”
“That’s correct. The chest shot came first.”
“And how did he fall?”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean did he twist as he went down? Did he fall over backwards? Or did he merely slump to the ground?”
“He first grabbed his belly and after the second shot he fell backwards and never moved. I came into the front room and called the authorities.”
O’Mara pulled out a set of handcuffs and asked Ms. Barbosa to turn around. She had no option except to comply. While looking shocked, she began stuttering an objection. O’Mara ignored her and began reading her her rights.
“What am I being charged with?” she asked after acknowledging she understood.
“Murder.”
Her head recoiled with surprise. “Murder? But…but…”
“You might have gotten away with murder except for one tiny detail.”
“What are you talking about?”
“The shards of glass. If the man broke the glass like you claimed and entered the dining room where he was shot and fell on his back, then how do you explain the shards of glass I flicked off his chest. The window had to have been shattered after the man was shot and not before.”
Ms. Barbosa’s head hung in disappointment as O’Mara led her away. She had lost her little game.

Something Special

Been in a bit of a funk lately. Maybe it's the realization that our government is so desperately screwed up that no matter how much Monopoly-type money they give away, nothing will help America's economic malaisse one little bit. Those dolts in Washington forget that all real wealth comes from Mother Earth. Once we use up all our natural resources we are broke. Dead broke! And what we take, our Mother will surely take back. So...here is what poured forth from somewhere deep in me. I can't keep it bottled up.



SOMETHING SPECIAL


When the last field has been plowed forever
And the last train has crossed the trestle
Whatever is left on this earth will wonder
Why man thought he was something special.

"You thought that life had owed you
A privileged type of existence
So you robbed, raped, and plundered the earth
With arrogant human insistence."

But then one day the piper came
A stupendous bill propounded
"You've rarely paid for what you've used
And now the debt's compounded."

"But I've nothing left," cried Everyman
No oil, crops, or trees
You'll have to come another day
When I've regained all these."

"There's nothing to regain, you fool
You're poor through arrant greed
The things you craved, that gnawed your soul
You really didn't need.

You forgot life's basic premise
That your gain is someone's loss
But, unlike the Ancient Mariner,
You forgot your albatross."

Now...the wind still blows melodic odes
The sun shines unimpeded
And the morning came that the piper exclaimed
Man...was just not needed.

Wondering

I've Been Wondering

Life is strange and I'm awed with wonder
How a flash of lightning can cause thunder
Dwelling on things often makes me dizzy
Such as why are wrong numbers never busy

Oh the strangeness of life never ceases to be
An ironic reflection that befuddles me
How can people with eyesight fail to see
That all great truths are simply oddities.

The Best New Year's Resolution

The population of human beings on the surface of the earth has reached 6.6 billion. Those 6.6 billion include you and I and we are destroying the earth's natural resources at an unsustainable rate. Forget about global warming because if Homo Sapiens continue to destroy the only nest we have, we will need two more earths to sustain the next generation. Alarming? Certainly.
I know I can't stop the rate of destruction by myself but together we can help stem the tide. For a New Year's resolution I promise to plant a tree in 2008.
Trees are disappearing around the globe at an alarming rate. Forests are a part of our planet's ecosystem. We must change our perspective about trees. They are not merely commodities. Instead we must look at them as breathing devices, assets that keep human beings alive. Without trees we all die. They take in carbon dioxide and emit oxygen. That oxygen is what we inhale to stay alive. How much sense would it be to destroy that critical resource? But that's exactly what we are doing. Beside the destruction of the Amazonian rain forest, half of Canada's forests have been cut down. In Asia, only ten percent of Russia's virgin timber remain, and the Chinese economy is using so much lumber that they now have to import wood from other countries, countries that have precious little for their own population.
Planting a tree makes sense. And why not make it a fruit tree when you do? Planting a fruit tree will not only provide a household with extra oxygen, but it will provide an excellent source of healthy vitamins and other nutrients for one's body. How can you lose? You can't.

Culinary Herbs

I haven't talked about herbs too much but besides the fruit and veggies I grow a variety of herbs in my backyard organic garden. They add flavor to every meal when used properly. The following herbs are almost everybody's favorites and once you harvest them from your garden you'll know why. All of them are easy to grow and almost impossible to kill.
Sage perks up chicken dishes. When I marinate chicken this herb goes into the mix.
Thyme draws bees. I toss some of this herb into my pasta dishes.
Oregano adds zip to all Italian meals.
Tarragon has a pleasant licorice aroma.
Chives propagate easily and when snipped into baked potatoes they wake up the spuds.
Basil is added to any dish using tomatoes. It's an annual so plant every spring.
Rosemary can't overwinter in Michigan so plants must be purchased every year.
Parsley gives my chicken barley soup an unbeatable aroma.
Coriander's leaves (cilantro) are famous in Mexican fare.
Summer savory has a light tangy flavor. I add a dash to my salads.
There you have my top ten herbs. Besides adding zing to food, most herbs help to keep your immune system functioning properly. Just a tad can make a huge difference.

Top Ten Crops (see prior post)

Garlic should be planted in the soil in the autumn of the year. By late summer of the following year they can be harvested and dried. Many gardeners braid them and hang the crop in a cool, dark place such as a basement. Garlic will keep for years and will ward off all the vampires in your life. Ask any garlic eater and they will swear they have never seen a vampire, which proves my point.
Blueberries can be easily added to the border of a garden. Some varieties can be grown in a large container. It almost a "must" fruit to grow because of its healthful benefits. One main problem with the crop is that birds also love the fruit so make sure that your place netting over the shrub.
In my Michigan garden I start my cabbage, broccoli, and Brussels sprouts in small pots and then transfer them out to my garden when the weather warms up. They are relatively easy to grow but watch for the little green worms called cabbage loopers that seems to appear magically on the crops. You can easily pick them off, which is better than spraying them with toxic chemicals. Don't forget to provide plenty of water for the plants. Harvest in the fall. The flavor of each improves with a frost.
Spinach is awesome in a salad. I place the seeds directly in my garden in early spring. The one drawback to spinach is that it bolts easily and goes to seed. One way to beat that is to harvest when the vegetable is young. During the growing season provide it with some shade and you will have more luck with it. I plant two succeeding crops each year.
Swiss chard is one of my favorite vegetables. Easy to grow, it's very hardy. I cut the tops and it keeps on coming until late autumn. The flavor is mild and chard it great in salads.
Beets are versatile. Not only can you eat the part beneath the ground, but the top of the plant is extremely healthy. Add the tops to a salad. For the bottom part, my wife peels the dark red crop, drops them into a pressure cooker, then pulls them out and adds balsamic vinaigrette, sugar, and onions for a real taste treat. Let the mixture set for an hour and then enjoy.
Romaine lettuce is much more nutritious then the iceberg variety. Easy to grow and rewarding to eat. Try planting some in next year's garden.
Raspberries, like all fruit, is necessary for healthy living. The benefits of eating fruit have been published endlessly so no need to elaborate. I have several mull berry trees in my backyard, which are juicy beyond belief. I planted grapes a couple of years ago and share the crop with all the birds in the neighborhood. So between the raspberries, grapes, mull berries, and strawberries we are all set. Veggies and fruit...there is no better way to eat. Try it and see what I mean. You won't be disappointed.

Action Blog Day

Today marks the initial Action Blog Day in which our environment becomes the prominent topic of discussion among bloggers. In my humble opinion the best way to help clean up our planet and help our environment is to plant an organic garden. Not only will a garden be a source of recycling, it will nourish your body and your mind by providing fresh, delicious, healthy food. I've had my hands in the soil for about forty years, raised a lot of the food our family of seven ate, and received the benefit of health in the process. I call my organic garden my personal health food store.
My backyard garden provides my wife and I (the kids have long ago flown the nest) with a tremendous variety of good eating. If you are contemplating putting in a garden to help both yourself and the earth, you might as well grow the most beneficial crops you possibly can. These are my picks for the top food items you can put into your body. They are not necessarily listed in any order.
GARLIC
BLUEBERRIES
CABBAGE
SWISS CHARD
BROCCOLI
SPINACH
BRUSSELS SPROUTS
BEETS
ROMAINE LETTUCE
RASPBERRIES
Garlic is on almost everybody's list for a healthy diet. No need to elaborate.
Blueberries are high in anti-oxidants. They do a good job of lowering cholesterol. High in vitamin C and potassium, they are tasty treats especially added to a bowl of oatmeal.
Cabbage is a known cancer fighting food.
Swiss Chard is one of my favorite veggies. It comes up early in spring and in my Kalamazoo garden I harvest it until late autumn. Chard promotes proper digestion and is loaded with anti-oxidants.
Brocccoli is a veggie that George Bush swears he never ate. Ah...so that's his problem.
Spinach is high in beta-catotene and benefits your heart. Popeye knew a good thing.
Brussels Sprouts likes a hard freeze so no need to coddle this gem. As good for your body as anything you can eat.
Beets provide a rich source of iron and strengthens the blood.
Romaine Lettuce is a must in a salad. Delicious and healthful. The darker the lettuce the more beneficial it is for your body. Try planting this beauty other dark greens as well.
Raspberries are not only delicious but are high in vitamin C. They also prevent strokes.
There you have it.
I've limited the list to ten items but there are many more veggies that provide much needed nutrients to the body such as beans, aspargus, onions, tomatoes, and kale. These are just my personal favorites. I guess the bottom line is this: Anything that you can grow in a garden is a million times better than processed food. The junk people buy in a supermarket comes from over 1,500 miles away. Now how can that be healthy for you? The fresher the food, the better. That makes sense, doesn't it?
If you are new to gardening, start with a small plot. Grow a few salad items like onions, leaf lettuce, and cherry tomatoes. They take up little space and are easy to grow. Each year expand the plot and experiment with some of my suggested crops. You'll live longer and enjoy life more. Try it.
Good luck and stay healthy.

A Couple of Positive Items

Two articles that I came across in the media this week caught my attention. Yesterday I read where California's largest utility, PG&E, is striving to save all its customers energy. On the surface that sounds rather oxymoronic. Utilities saving energy? Well, what happens is the Golden State will reward the utility with a large bonus if PG&E can cut the amount of energy their customers use. If they fail in their attempt they have to pay the state a huge penalty. What PG&E is doing is giving out free energy-saving lightbulbs in hopes that Californians will switch from their old incandescent ones to the fluorescent type. I hope they succeed. I'll be pulling for them.
The second item that caught my eye was that India's Tata Motors, the fifth largest automaker in the world, has unveiled a car that gets 50 miles to the gallon and costs only $2,500. It exceeds current and future European emission standards so it's enviromentally friendly. Right now the auto isn't available in the states. I wish it were because I would buy one. The vehicle doesn't have air conditioning or push button windows but who cares? As long as it goes from point A to point B safely. Other foreign automakers are following suite. Now if we can get Detroit to build something like this perhaps we can all inhale cleaner air. Hey, every little bit helps.

Looks Are Deceiving

Last August I took this photo of my backyard with my three Elberta peach trees off to the side of my main garden. There were so many blossoms in the spring that I had to prop up a few of the branches with clothes poles. I expected a bumper crop of delicious peaches. Didn't happen. There was one teeny tiny problem. In my neighborhood there are more squirrels than humans. I mean it. Every day in the summer at least four of these shaggy-tailed creatures hang around my backyard, waiting for me to fill up my bird feeders. Over the last few years they have destroyed countless feeders and to make matters worse, when my peaches are just about ready to be harvested, they pick and devour almost the entire crop. Last year one of them had the audacity to sit beneath one of my three fruit trees eating the last of a juicy peach, waving his tail at me as if letting me know that I was too late to enjoy most of my crop. The little critter left me only the two peaches you see in the photo. I've tried covering the tree with netting but they only laugh at my efforts. That's not the only trouble they get into. I spotted one of them walking along the top of the wooden fence that runs along the side of our house, holding a giant sunflower between his teeth. The little son-of-a-gun chewed it right off the stem. And wouldn't you know it, the sunflower was a volunteer and the only one I had in my garden. At this point I've all but given up. They are a lot smarter than I, that's for sure.

The Electrical Accusation

This is a true story. My wife and I are on vacation in Texas visiting family. After a long career in the weather business, we decided to take a two month vacation and reconnect with all six of our Austin-based grandchildren. Needless to say we've enjoyed the trip immensely. Before leaving Michigan we had all of our mail forwarded and yesterday we received a letter from Consumers Power Company of Michigan wanting to know why our electrical usage has decreased dramatically. I phoned the 800 number and after explaining the fact that we are on vacation I asked the representative do they also send out letters to customers who use TOO much power or do they only pick on the ones who are trying to conserve. The rep replied with a lame excuse about their concern that the meter might not be running properly. I politely accepted her explanation. After hanging up I realized that they might have been concerned that we were lying on the floor in our front room deader than door nails, so I was kind of glad I wasn't too hard on them.
Conservation has always been our motto. Waste not, want not. My wife and I knew that retirement was on the horizon so five years ago we bought a small (800 square foot house) with a large backyard and settled down. Each year we have replaced major appliances with Energy Star rated ones, installed a solar fan on the roof to lower our attic heat in summer, replaced all our light bulbs with energy savers, etc. It's a wise way to go. Our utility bills have dropped by about 30 % each year. We are looking forward to the next letter from Consumers Energy as to why we have completely dropped off the grid. Wouldn't that be nice if we can be rid of those people? Maybe one day.

Something to Think About

My favorite writer, Mark Twain, once stated: "When we finally realize that we are all crazy, things will begin to make a lot more sense."

Bamboo Bamboozled

Mizoram is a tiny state in the northeastern corner of India. The citizens of that state depend on bamboo for their livelihood. About every 48 years or so, the bamboo blossoms and produces fruit that attract rats. I don't mean a few rats, I mean jungle rats that devour everything in site, including all the surrounding crops that annually grow and nourish the people of Mizoram. The result is famine and death for many of those citizens. This year the bamboo is beginning to flower once again and the million or so inhabitants are in dire straits. This is an example of balance but at its extreme. Would you accept forty-eight years of relative abundance for one year of devistation? Not an equal trade and one that leave the people of that region helpless. They've tried traps and poisons but in the past nothing had helped. About their only recourse is to accept the inevitable...or move from their homeland. If you would life to read more, check out the December issue of Vanity Fair. The excellent article is written by Alex Shoumatoff.

The Last Empire

An article in the Jan/Feb issue of Mother Jones entitled The Last Empire was one of the most enlightening articles I've read recently. The writer is Jacques Leslie and his research centered upon the desertification of China. I knew that pollution was a huge problem in that part of the globe but I never dreamed the extent was so catastrophic. The overgrazing of animals, the cutting of forests and the sheer number of Chinese are turning the country into a large desert. Scientist predict that in as little as three to five years, Beijing could be buried in sand. I mean nothing in that city would be able to move. Can you imagine? Half the country's waterways contain human and animal waste. Four-hundred thousand of its citizens die prematurely from lung disease caused by air pollution. The ten percent increase in yearly GDP is offset by the ten percent rise in environmental damage. Their spectacular economic revitalization has, in effect, a zero sum. They are destroying themselves by copying the American economic system. But enough of China's citizens are waking up to the realities of Western-style capitalism that daily protests are a common site. Even the state run media is critical of its governmental officials. If the problems were contained to only China, the rest of the world could shrug and say, "So what?" But the polluting dust created by their attempt at industrializing their nation flows upward and is carried by the jet stream to all corners of the earth, adding a stifling dose of greenhouse gases. What to do? Is China past the tipping point? I think so, but I hope I'm wrong. As China goes, so goes the world. Let's hope that vast Asian nation turns around and realizes the folly of imitating America. Now if only America can wake up...

Truth

The philosopher Hegel said, "Truth is found neither in the thesis nor the antithesis, but in an emergent synthesis, which reconciles the two." A wise person will try to maintain a dynamic balance in life, neither pursuing too much nor too little pleasure. Of course too much or too little pain is also not advised. But sometimes you just can't help becoming squished between the proverbial rocks and hard places in life. John Denver sang it best: Some days are diamonds, some days are stones. When you're down, look up at the stars and your troubles will seem distant. When you are up, beware, and be wise enough to know that change is on the horizon. Change is inevitable. The only thing that doesn't change is change itself. So...take head. Plant a garden, love your spouse, smell the aroma of a beautiful flower, do whatever it takes to enjoy life and all its wonders. Life isn't full of miracles. Life IS the miracle!!