I'm a frugal gardener, by that I mean whatever I can do on the cheap, by innovation, as close to free as possible. We reduced last year by choice to one income living and of necessity now, I look for the most inexpensive ways to enhance my yard and garden.
Got late start this year. But that didn't stop me, no I bought some starter vegetables and reclaimed 1/3rd of my garden space from the grandkidlets who had homesteaded the space for a sandbox.
My husband, not much for the outdoor work, but very willing when I ask him had hand dug out the sod and lined out the space with railroad ties that he hauled from the neighbors yard across the street (it's okay, they gifted them to us). I was sooo pleased and proud of him so couldn't possibly let this garden space go to waste after his hard work.
I let my grandson have ownership of the tomato plants. I staked them using the aluminum prongs on an old antennae that came with the house when we bought it. My husband took that down last fall, and we figured if we saved it, the prongs might be useful as stakes in the garden. I used my mother's tip for tying the tomato plants using old discarded pantyhose. Well it's not very pretty, but hey, I'm practicing to be a "real" gardener so following wise gardening tips that I learn along the way.
To get the garden space ready, I put down newspapers, let the little ones hose them down (we have that breeze here ya know) so they wouldn't blow away until I could take the next step. I went and collected all my old container pots that didn't offer up any return plants after last year, dumped the used soil on the newspapers and that was the beginning.
I asked my husband, who I call Sweetie, to purchase some potting soil, (10 bags worth), then dumped that all into the space, bordered it off with concrete blocks and topped it with some top soil (only 3 bags, so thin layering). The concrete blocks are recycled from Sweetie's brick and board bookcases. We got him a new bookcase for Fathers Day and I had said at 57 he was a little too old for bricks and boards concept of bookcases, that was better left to college students and aging hippies (lol).
So the little garden space has begun. I hope to claim another 1/3rd of it from the grandkidlets and convert them to caring for the garden plants, but I'm not real sure they are ready for that, as the corn plant already got stepped on.
The garden, begun in June when the plantings were just buds is growing and growing and growing. Lots of leafy plants, but few vegetables...yet! There will be vegetables, and I'm watching now daily for the plants that grew, produced flowering buds to now transform the buds to vegetables. Ah, the chance to examine how faith works, when not being scientific about the process of gardening, it boils down to trusting, following obediently the seasons' and natures' cues, and acting, in faith, that if you act (plant, nurture, water, protect, fertilize) the garden will grow.
Well here goes my new journal for my gardening efforts. Like Pinocchio, I want to be a "real" gardener some day. I've had a hand at growing some vegetables in container pots. Last year I tried the split open top soil bags and planting the vegetables directly in the bags. Hey that worked! I had nice amount of summer squash, zucchini, pickling cucumbers, and even a hint of cherry tomatoes.
This year my husband cleared a garden space for me, I don't know the dimensions, will ask him and post it here later. The grandkidlets are staying temporarily with us and took over the newly turned garden space into their own personal sandbox.
We had a family medical situation so I got a late start on the gardening this year. I claimed back 1/3rd of the garden space, laid down newspaper then dumped all the old last year's potting soil from containers on top of the newspaper. Well, of course that was not near enough.
I asked my sweetie to buy some more potting soil, and he obliged me by purchasing 10 bags plus the 3 bags of topsoil I already had. Was enough to partially fill the newly claimed back garden space. With such a late start, I didn't think seeds would work out, so bought some starter vegetables and planted those. Okay, so now I have a tiny little wee garden woo hoo... and I thought I'd keep a journal of things that go wrong, and things that go right and things I learn along the way.
What I learned from last year, planting seeds is that it's not wise to use cheap seeds, cause they are exactly that..cheap and don't grow too well. So I'll upgrade to better quality seeds. I did save the seeds from my mammoth russian sunflowers last year and planted them again this year. They seem to be sprouting again for 2nd year ..woo hoo for me.
(Sidebar note from summer 2004 - my sis (sil), Cinda, came out to spend a summer week with us and brought me a sweet birthday gift - a retro, 1950s, pink mixmaster to go with some of the other retro, 1950s pink items in my kitchen. When we were renting, I had a great kitchen with flowered wallpaper with pink flowers, and I was capitalizing on the Craftsman house era of the house, so I started a kind of retro era kitchen. Bought a chrome and copper formica table with pink chairs; a pink breadkeeper; a pink square cake taker and a pink Bauer chafing bowl.
We bought this house and the layout and decor just doesn't fit well with my retro pink effort, but I haven't the heart yet to give it up. So sis brought me an addition for the 'pink'.
Our first summer in the house we are buying. It comes with some already mature landscaping. Noteably the front yard has the 90 + year old Monkey Puzzle Tree. But it is showing it's age now, and appears more brown than green.
The first year here I asked our neighbor to cut off the lower branches. Since the tree was planted on a corner where 2 streets intersect, it made for poor visibility and our neighbor was happy to open up that space to help prevent accidents for cars trying to make the turn. I learned something though; dear hubby was heartbroken at the trim job on that tree. Seems he had already developed a fondness and ownership of that historical tree.
Next is the raised bricked garden areas at the front of the cupola. While a bit overgrown, the mixtures of small trees, evergreens, and a well developed and aged rhodedendrom give a calming, relaxed feel to that area. Sweetie just had to do some serious pruning to the overgrowth of the ivy and straggling blackberry shoots. For the most part, I have no plans for this area except maintenance, as it works well in it's present design.
I do need to learn the names of the spreading evergreen. It's an expensive variety, low growing with primary branche that grow outwards horizontally on one side. I believe the orange flowering small tree is a type of rhodendrom. It looks also like a rare and exotic species. And there is a yellow flowering tree that is prickly. Maybe a type of holly but the yellow blooms are gorgeous.
Future plans for this area include taking out the small area of grass as it is impossible to get in there and mow it. And there is a small patio area in need of some refining, maintenance, attendance and planting to sparkle it up.
There is no 'back yard' to speak of, rather a strip of what is a pathway to get to the side yard. While there is a nice, sunny spot in a square shape at the juncture of the original house and the added on section, someday it will make a nice wildflower garden. For now, it needs nutrients, attention and a plan.
The side yard, which really serves as our back yard has the Harry Lauder Walking Stick tree. That is also an expensive variety with twisty limbs and curled leaves. Initially, it looks like the leaves are withering, but it is the nature of the leaves and limbs. I had to look it up to learn what kind of tree it is and have developed an immediate fondness for it already. My mother thought it was a sadly neglected tree and I had to explain to her it was a rare type of tree and is supposed to look that way.
There is a mature lilac which is old enough to be more of a tree than a bush; another very mature bush grows next to it and that one is a wild fushia bush. There is an overgown cluster of camellia close by so it looks like a concentration of plantings that have matured now are a bit too close together and growing into each other.
Someone put in a raised bed next to part of the brick wall that lines the yard. It has left over yarrow, I believe, still growing in it. Probably I will start with this raised bed and work my way outward as I decide what to do with this yard.
The yard has a small hill so that it appears to be an upper and a lower section. The lower section is the septic tank and drain field and I've heard it is not a good idea to plant in the drain field area. There is a brick wall at the back of this drain field area. Along that wall are several trees. Tall natural growing evergreen, and then 2-3 other natural evergreens. Not sure if they were already there and part of the original land or if they were planted deliberately years and years ago.
A couple of rhodedendroms are also along the brick wall. Sparse and hanging in there but not flourishing. There is a maturing maple tree at the corner where the brick wall forms the right angle. And it looks like big rocks were brought in to hold the bank of the hill or for decor or....and I can envision a rock garden there easily.
And it looks like someone planted what might have been a christmas tree or perhaps a forestry tree at the corner of the rock garden right under the very mature evergreen. The branches of the mature evergreen are growing into this planting and affecting it's shape and growth. So a serious cutting of the lower branches of that old evergreen will become a project.
At the back porch area of the house are 3 too mature rhodedendroms which will need some serious cutting back. They look to be the variety that grows naturally in Washington, so they will get too large for the spots where they have been planted and will be some annual pruning work to keep them in control.
Well that is it; the lay of the place when we bought it in November 2002. This is our first summer here and we are without yard and garden tools, so some must buy items.
Projects accomplished in the first summer here;
-- pruning back the front yard raised beds and shaping the mature rhodendrom. I will call this area the front oasis for lack of knowing what else to call it, due to it's serene setting.
-- pruning back the over mature rhodendroms at back porch area.
-- serious limb removal of the Monkey Puzzle tree
-- generally just removing weeds and overgrowth all around the house
-- hoeing and planting the raised bed in back yard along the brick wall. Biggest accomplishment with that was the massive Russian Sunflowers that I planted.
-- with no garden, tried the split the top soil bag and grow vegetables directly from the bags. This worked out fairly well. I got squash, and cucumbers, and a sprinkling of tomatoes. The rest was container gardening and container flowers. Not a too bad first effort, but I will want a true garden space in the back yard. And over time, I will want wildflower garden and a herb garden.
I'm not altogether sure that I agree with the slant or bent of why this was posted - as it has a somewhat anti-illegal immigrant cast to it , which I don't share. But the information pointed out about contaminated and compromised food, food recalls is pertinent.
The latest in the craze of America 's food supplies being contaminated. Mini Chip Ahoy Cookies from Nabisco, a Kraft Foods project. A toddler in Texas opened a bag of these cookies for a snack and was surprised by a rat leg, covered in a thin layer of cookie dough and cooked, sealed inside the bag of treats.
But this is just the latest in a rash of food source contamination harming, and even killing Americans this year alone. Since January, 2006 the following food recalls have been issued on a variety of food products. The numbers are startling, the variety of foods involved shocking, the fact that the majority are of the same type of contamination eye-opening.
February 2007:
* Peter Pan Peanut Butter (ConAgra Foods) - Salmonella * Earth's Best Organic Baby Food - Botulism bacteria. * Wellesley Farms Fresh Sliced Mushrooms - E-coli * Cantaloupes - Salmonella * Oscar Mayer/Louis Rich Chicken Breast Strips - Listeria (Meningitis) Contamination. * Wild Kitty Cat Food - Salmonella Contamination JANUARY 2007
* Chili Powder - Sudan 1 poisoning ( Sudan 1 is a red dye used in coloring solvents, oils, petrols, polishes and waxes) * Worcestershire Sauce - Due to Chili Powder contamination. * Garden Leaf Foods "Trader Joe's - Spicy Thai Style Pasta Salad" - Listeria Monocytogenes contamination (meningitis) . - CA * Natural State Meat Co - Ground Beef Product Recall - E-Coli * Gold Star Sausage/Franks - Listeria * Pap's Louisiana Cuisine Head Cheese - Listeria
2006 Recalls:
* Cantaloupes - Salmonella - AZ * Taco Bell Restaurants - E-Coli outbreak * Frozen strawberry recall (used in Jamba juice, used in fruit smoothies). - Listeria Monocytogenes contamination - Cleugh's Frozen Foods Inc (SunOpta Inc.) - CA * Cooked Ham and Turkey - Listeria monocyogenes - HoneyBaked Foods, Inc - OH * Birds Eye Frozen Cooked Winter Squash - Ammonia contamination - MI * Little Debbie Nutty Bars - May contain small particles of metal. McKee Foods - TN * Everyday Value Kalamata Olive Tapenade - May contain glass fragments. - TX * Spinach - E Coli - Natural Selection Foods - CA * Almonds - Salmonella - Paramount Farms CA * Green Leaf Lettuce - E-Coli - CA * Davis Mountain Beef - E-Coli - Iowa * Tuscan Sun Turkey Sandwiches - Listeria Monocytogenes - WA * Bolthouse Farms Carrot Juice - botulism - CA * Salads of the Sea, Hen House, Southern Home, Fisherman's Market - Krab Dip Supreme, Supreme Krab Dip, Cajun Smoked Salmon Spread, Krab Artichoke Spinach Dip, Krab Dip, Cajun Krab Dip, Jalapeno Krab Dip, Cajun Crawfish Salad, Smoked Salmon Flavored Spread. - Listeria Monocytogenes contamination - TX
* Classic Salads - Baby Spinach/Spring Mix Recall - Salmonella - CA * Stouffer's Meatloaf - pieces of plastic - Nestle Prepared Foods - SC * Spring Hill Cheeses - Listeria * Cahill's Farm Porter Cheese - Listeria MO * Thumann's Inc Boneless Prosciutto - straphylococcus aureus enterotoxin. * Caribbean Dreams Cerasee Tea - Salmonella * Moveable Feast Smoked Scottish/Smoked Norwegian Salmon - Salmonella - NJ * H.E.B. Baby Food/Mom's Organic Choice - pieces of glass. * Gentlease powdered infant formula - metal particles * Lean Cuisine Asian Style Pot Stickers - plastic particles. - Nestle Prepared Foods - SC * Herman Falter Smoked Pork Neck Bones/Jowls/ Frankfurters/ Italian Sausage - Liseria - OH * Krisp-Pak Fresh Fruit - Listeria * Reese's Shell Topping - Salmonella * Omaha Beef Company - Beef Products - E-Coli * Ballard's Farm Sausage - Macaroni Salad, Cole Slaw, Egg Salad - Listeria * Portillo's Food Service - Roast beef - Listeria * Jim's Market and Locker Ground Beef - E-Coli. * Monterey Mushrooms - Listeria * Dinner Bell Beef - E-Coli * Fullei Fresh Alfalfa Sprouts - Salmonella * Southeastern Meats Ground Beef - E-Coli * Plains Meat Ground Beef - E-Coli * Orientex Manila Style Hot Dogs - Listeria * George G. Ruppersberger and Son's Inc Ground Beef - E-Coli. * House of Thaller, Kroger Brand, Mrs. Gerry Dairy Fresh, The Fresh Market, Southern Gourmet, Southern Style, Ham salad, chicken salad, turkey salad, tuna salad, seafood salad, pea salad - Poisoning/bacteria. * Ground beef recall to restaurants and institutions in Arkansas , Kansas , Oklahoma , Missouri - E-Coli * Jimmy Dean and State Fair Cheeseburgers - Listeria * Town and Country Foods, Ham salad - Listeria * Griffin's Pork Barbeque - Listeria * Whole Catch Lemon Pepper Garlic Hot Smoked Trout - Listeria * JHC Brand Cooked Seasoning Anchovy - Salmonella * Quaker Maid Meats Frozen Beef Patties - E-Coli * Fortuna Sea Products Frozen Cooked Clam Meat - Salmonella * Dole Lettuce Salad - E-Coli
This is more then coincidence. With American's dependency on pre-processed and pre-packaged food sources nearly complete, and along with it just as dependent upon the government to insure the consumption of this food is safe for them and their family. This makes for a toxic cocktail to the safety of Americans. It is not surprising in some fashions to the finding of a rat leg in a bag of Chip Ahoys when one considers the all sources involved before this food is able to come to our stores, homes and consumption.
According to a report on _www.wehirealiens. com_ (http://www.wehirealiens.com/) , Kraft Foods is a known illegal alien employer in their South Carolina processing plant. They also are listed as having several processing plants in Mexico which package pre-packaged food products for human consumption. Mexico is not known for its strict food processing laws like found in the United States , another reason many food companies chose to outsource their processing, packaging and production plants there. Kraft itself has various plants in the following locations:
Kraft Food Plants - Ecatepec , Mexico Nabisco Food Plants - Guatemala City , San Jose , Costa Rica
Other food processing companies who take advantage of Mexico 's cheap labor and lenient food processing laws are: * Ralston Purina * Pilgrim's Pride * CPC International * Philip Morris (Kraft General Foods) * Campbell Soup * Pepsi Co * Quaker Oats * Universal Foods * Coca Cola * Bordon * Kellogg * Hershey Foods * McCormick & Co * Gerber Products * Tyson Foods * Sara Lee * RJR Nobisco * Cargiel/Excell * J.R. Simplot * Frito Lay (part of Pepsi)
"Most of the tribes in the eastern area of what is now the United States practiced agriculture. It is well known that maize, potatoes, pumpkins, squashes, beans, sweet potatoes, cotton, tobacco, and other familiar plants were cultivated by Indians centuries before Columbus. Early white settlers learned the value of the new food plants, but have left us meager accounts of the native methods of tillage; and the Indians, driven from the fields of their fathers, became roving hunters; or adopting iron tools, forgot their primitive implements and methods."
The University of Minnesota Buffalo Bird Woman's Garden As Recounted by Maxi'diwiac (Buffalo Bird Woman) (ca.1839-1932) of the Hidatsa Indian Tribe
Originally published as Agriculture of the Hidatsa Indians: An Indian Interpretation by Gilbert Livingstone Wilson, Ph.D. (1868-1930)
There's a hearty band of hunters ransacking the South, says Lee Calhoun, hunting for old Southern apples. They are tracking down apple trees in the front yards of old country homes that may disappear tomorrow. Time is running out for these hunters. Of the 1,400 apple varieties known to have originated in the South, only about 200 are still known to exist. "The others are totally extinct," says Calhoun, "and when that happens, you lose a whole apple. Most of these trees were planted in the early 1900s. I'd say we only have about five years left to find them."
Creighton Lee Calhoun is a pomologist. Etymologically, that means he loves apples. On his land in the Saralyn community in the heart of old Chatham County, he is growing 450 kinds of heirloom apples. Calhoun's Nursery on Blacktwig Road has become legendary among those who are trying to rescue a history that is slipping away. There he collects cuttings of old varieties, grafts them onto root stock and plants and sells the results, all in the name of preservation and propagation. Our own Johnny Appleseed.
One hundred years ago, apples were a staple of the Southern diet. Time was, says Calhoun, when every farmhouse in the largely rural South had apple trees in its yard. Apples provided fresh fruit from June to November, and were kept in the root cellar all winter. The varieties were myriad, providing fruit through the whole summer -- early, midseason and late. Southerners dried the tart varieties, made applesauce and apple butter from the soft ones, and fashioned pies from the firmer fruit that held its shape during cooking.
I'm not altogether sure that I agree with the slant or bent of why this was posted - as it has a somewhat anti-illegal immigrant cast to it , which I don't share. But the information pointed out about contaminated and compromised food, food recalls is pertinent.
The latest in the craze of America 's food supplies being contaminated. Mini Chip Ahoy Cookies from Nabisco, a Kraft Foods project. A toddler in Texas opened a bag of these cookies for a snack and was surprised by a rat leg, covered in a thin layer of cookie dough and cooked, sealed inside the bag of treats.
But this is just the latest in a rash of food source contamination harming, and even killing Americans this year alone. Since January, 2006 the following food recalls have been issued on a variety of food products. The numbers are startling, the variety of foods involved shocking, the fact that the majority are of the same type of contamination eye-opening.
February 2007:
* Peter Pan Peanut Butter (ConAgra Foods) - Salmonella * Earth's Best Organic Baby Food - Botulism bacteria. * Wellesley Farms Fresh Sliced Mushrooms - E-coli * Cantaloupes - Salmonella * Oscar Mayer/Louis Rich Chicken Breast Strips - Listeria (Meningitis) Contamination. * Wild Kitty Cat Food - Salmonella Contamination JANUARY 2007
* Chili Powder - Sudan 1 poisoning ( Sudan 1 is a red dye used in coloring solvents, oils, petrols, polishes and waxes) * Worcestershire Sauce - Due to Chili Powder contamination. * Garden Leaf Foods "Trader Joe's - Spicy Thai Style Pasta Salad" - Listeria Monocytogenes contamination (meningitis) . - CA * Natural State Meat Co - Ground Beef Product Recall - E-Coli * Gold Star Sausage/Franks - Listeria * Pap's Louisiana Cuisine Head Cheese - Listeria
2006 Recalls:
* Cantaloupes - Salmonella - AZ * Taco Bell Restaurants - E-Coli outbreak * Frozen strawberry recall (used in Jamba juice, used in fruit smoothies). - Listeria Monocytogenes contamination - Cleugh's Frozen Foods Inc (SunOpta Inc.) - CA * Cooked Ham and Turkey - Listeria monocyogenes - HoneyBaked Foods, Inc - OH * Birds Eye Frozen Cooked Winter Squash - Ammonia contamination - MI * Little Debbie Nutty Bars - May contain small particles of metal. McKee Foods - TN * Everyday Value Kalamata Olive Tapenade - May contain glass fragments. - TX * Spinach - E Coli - Natural Selection Foods - CA * Almonds - Salmonella - Paramount Farms CA * Green Leaf Lettuce - E-Coli - CA * Davis Mountain Beef - E-Coli - Iowa * Tuscan Sun Turkey Sandwiches - Listeria Monocytogenes - WA * Bolthouse Farms Carrot Juice - botulism - CA * Salads of the Sea, Hen House, Southern Home, Fisherman's Market - Krab Dip Supreme, Supreme Krab Dip, Cajun Smoked Salmon Spread, Krab Artichoke Spinach Dip, Krab Dip, Cajun Krab Dip, Jalapeno Krab Dip, Cajun Crawfish Salad, Smoked Salmon Flavored Spread. - Listeria Monocytogenes contamination - TX
* Classic Salads - Baby Spinach/Spring Mix Recall - Salmonella - CA * Stouffer's Meatloaf - pieces of plastic - Nestle Prepared Foods - SC * Spring Hill Cheeses - Listeria * Cahill's Farm Porter Cheese - Listeria MO * Thumann's Inc Boneless Prosciutto - straphylococcus aureus enterotoxin. * Caribbean Dreams Cerasee Tea - Salmonella * Moveable Feast Smoked Scottish/Smoked Norwegian Salmon - Salmonella - NJ * H.E.B. Baby Food/Mom's Organic Choice - pieces of glass. * Gentlease powdered infant formula - metal particles * Lean Cuisine Asian Style Pot Stickers - plastic particles. - Nestle Prepared Foods - SC * Herman Falter Smoked Pork Neck Bones/Jowls/ Frankfurters/ Italian Sausage - Liseria - OH * Krisp-Pak Fresh Fruit - Listeria * Reese's Shell Topping - Salmonella * Omaha Beef Company - Beef Products - E-Coli * Ballard's Farm Sausage - Macaroni Salad, Cole Slaw, Egg Salad - Listeria * Portillo's Food Service - Roast beef - Listeria * Jim's Market and Locker Ground Beef - E-Coli. * Monterey Mushrooms - Listeria * Dinner Bell Beef - E-Coli * Fullei Fresh Alfalfa Sprouts - Salmonella * Southeastern Meats Ground Beef - E-Coli * Plains Meat Ground Beef - E-Coli * Orientex Manila Style Hot Dogs - Listeria * George G. Ruppersberger and Son's Inc Ground Beef - E-Coli. * House of Thaller, Kroger Brand, Mrs. Gerry Dairy Fresh, The Fresh Market, Southern Gourmet, Southern Style, Ham salad, chicken salad, turkey salad, tuna salad, seafood salad, pea salad - Poisoning/bacteria. * Ground beef recall to restaurants and institutions in Arkansas , Kansas , Oklahoma , Missouri - E-Coli * Jimmy Dean and State Fair Cheeseburgers - Listeria * Town and Country Foods, Ham salad - Listeria * Griffin's Pork Barbeque - Listeria * Whole Catch Lemon Pepper Garlic Hot Smoked Trout - Listeria * JHC Brand Cooked Seasoning Anchovy - Salmonella * Quaker Maid Meats Frozen Beef Patties - E-Coli * Fortuna Sea Products Frozen Cooked Clam Meat - Salmonella * Dole Lettuce Salad - E-Coli
This is more then coincidence. With American's dependency on pre-processed and pre-packaged food sources nearly complete, and along with it just as dependent upon the government to insure the consumption of this food is safe for them and their family. This makes for a toxic cocktail to the safety of Americans. It is not surprising in some fashions to the finding of a rat leg in a bag of Chip Ahoys when one considers the all sources involved before this food is able to come to our stores, homes and consumption.
According to a report on _www.wehirealiens. com_ (http://www.wehirealiens.com/) , Kraft Foods is a known illegal alien employer in their South Carolina processing plant. They also are listed as having several processing plants in Mexico which package pre-packaged food products for human consumption. Mexico is not known for its strict food processing laws like found in the United States , another reason many food companies chose to outsource their processing, packaging and production plants there. Kraft itself has various plants in the following locations:
Kraft Food Plants - Ecatepec , Mexico Nabisco Food Plants - Guatemala City , San Jose , Costa Rica
Other food processing companies who take advantage of Mexico 's cheap labor and lenient food processing laws are: * Ralston Purina * Pilgrim's Pride * CPC International * Philip Morris (Kraft General Foods) * Campbell Soup * Pepsi Co * Quaker Oats * Universal Foods * Coca Cola * Bordon * Kellogg * Hershey Foods * McCormick & Co * Gerber Products * Tyson Foods * Sara Lee * RJR Nobisco * Cargiel/Excell * J.R. Simplot * Frito Lay (part of Pepsi)
Galloping Gertie - the Tacoma Narrows Bridge sways, swings, gyrates, and collapses 3 months after it is built in 1940. Two different videos share the news. A) studious, factual depcition and B) 1940ish sensationalized newsreel footage.
A video that explores a canoe trip of the estuaries of Willapa Bay (Long Island). Looks like what we look at every day living on Willapa Bay. Pleased to have found this google video - sharing it here.
"Most of the tribes in the eastern area of what is now the United States practiced agriculture. It is well known that maize, potatoes, pumpkins, squashes, beans, sweet potatoes, cotton, tobacco, and other familiar plants were cultivated by Indians centuries before Columbus. Early white settlers learned the value of the new food plants, but have left us meager accounts of the native methods of tillage; and the Indians, driven from the fields of their fathers, became roving hunters; or adopting iron tools, forgot their primitive implements and methods."
The University of Minnesota Buffalo Bird Woman's Garden As Recounted by Maxi'diwiac (Buffalo Bird Woman) (ca.1839-1932) of the Hidatsa Indian Tribe
Originally published as Agriculture of the Hidatsa Indians: An Indian Interpretation by Gilbert Livingstone Wilson, Ph.D. (1868-1930)
GRANTS PASS, Ore. (AP) - The Bush administration proposes cutting 1.5 million acres from Northwest forests considered critical to the survival of the northern spotted owl.
The move could reopen the 1990s debate over timber production on public lands, in which logging companies argued that efforts to save the owl contributed to the Northwest timber industry's decline.
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service proposed Tuesday to reduce the critical habitat for the owl from 6.9 million acres of federal lands by 22 percent, to 5.4 million acres.
"One of the most upsetting things about this proposal is that the spotted owl wars of the '90s had simmered down quite a bit, and a kind of balance had been reached regarding logging and old growth forests," said Kieran Suckling, policy director for the Center for Biological Diversity, a conservation group in Tucson, Ariz.
The new proposal "sets the stage for reopening those wounds," he said.
The owl was declared a threatened species in 1990 due primarily to heavy logging in the old growth forests where it nests and feeds. While old growth forests suitable for owl habitat have increased, owl numbers have continued to decline, recent research shows. The spotted owl faces a new threat from a cousin, the barred owl, that has been invading its territory.
The proposal was a result of a settlement in a lawsuit brought by the timber industry. A final decision is due by June 1, 2008.
Among places removed are the Fort Lewis military base in Washington state and national forest areas designated as wilderness since 1992. The service did not evaluate whether the proposal includes more or fewer areas known as late successional reserves, where most logging is prohibited to protect owl and salmon habitat.
Critical habitat does not by itself bar logging, but it does require federal agencies to consult with the Fish and Wildlife Service to see whether a specific project, such as a timber sale, would jeopardize the recovery of an endangered species.
The Bush administration's efforts to boost Northwest timber production have been stymied by court rulings, including several that tossed out plans to log in critical owl habitat.
The proposal is based on a new draft recovery plan that designates areas critical to the owl's recovery and calls for killing some barred owls that have taken over spotted owl habitat, the Fish and Wildlife Service said. It depends on better technology to map forests favored by owls and better understanding of what land the owls favor.
"This is not an effort to get out the (timber) cut," said Fish and Wildlife spokeswoman Joan Jewett. "This is an effort to identify where forest areas are most important to the conservation and recovery of the spotted owl."
But Dominick DellaSala, director of the National Center for Conservation and Policy and a member of the spotted owl recovery team, said the changes are designed to increase timber production.
He noted that some of the biggest pieces of critical habitat removed from the new proposal are on U.S. Bureau of Land Management land in Western Oregon, where the agency is working on a major new plan to boost production.
Chris West, vice president of the American Forest Resource Council, the timber group that sued the administration, said the groups' initial analysis was that the critical habitat areas should be even smaller.
"The critical habitat should have a link to where the owls are and what the greatest threat is," West said. "The greatest threat is the barred owl, not the loss of mature forest habitat."
He said environmentalists are using the owl as a surrogate to protect old growth forests, "instead of focusing on what the owl needs to survive."
The 1994 Northwest Forest Plan cut timber production on national forests in Washington, Oregon and Northern California by more than 80 percent to protect owl and salmon habitat, contributing to mill closures and job losses that were particularly painful in rural areas with no other industry. The plan served as a de facto recovery plan until a new one was drafted this year.
Since then, the Northwest economy has turned to other industries, particularly high-tech, retirement and tourism, but some rural areas continue to struggle.
EUGENE, Ore., June 5 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Today U.S. District Court Judge Ann Aiken sentenced the final defendant in the conspiracy case involving twenty acts of arson committed by members of the Animal Liberation Front (ALF) and the Earth Liberation Front (ELF), the Justice Department announced.
The ten defendants acted in an underground cell of what they called "The Family." In their previously entered guilty pleas, the defendants acknowledged that they, and their group, sought to influence and affect the conduct of government, private business, and the civilian population through force, violence, sabotage, mass destruction, intimidation and coercion, and to retaliate against government and private businesses by similar means. The investigation of the environmental extremists involved multiple federal, state and local law enforcement and spanned over nine years.
"Today's sentence is a fitting culmination to the largest prosecution of environmental extremists in U.S. history. These defendants were responsible for a broad campaign of domestic terrorism that spanned five states, included roughly 20 arsons or attempted arsons, and caused more than $40 million in property damage. The lengthy sentences should serve notice to others who use violence to further their causes," said Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales.
"We are pleased with the sentences imposed by Judge Aiken in this matter," stated U.S. Attorney Karin J. Immergut. "They are significant sentences that reflect the seriousness of the crimes committed by the defendants in this case. This is the largest case of environmental extremists ever prosecuted in the United States. This successful investigation and prosecution would not have been possible had it not been for the intense and dogged persistence of all of the law enforcement agencies involved who worked collaboratively and cooperatively on the local, state and federal levels."
The defendants were sentenced to the following prison terms for the charges listed:
1. Stanislas Gregory Meyerhoff (age 29) - 156 months -- October 11, 1998 -- attempted arson at the Wild Horse Holding Facility near Rock Springs,Wyoming. -- October 19, 1998 -- arson at the Vail Ski Facility in Eagle County, Colorado -- May 9, 1999 -- arson at Childers Meat Company, Eugene, Oregon -- December 25, 1999 -- arson at the office of the Boise Cascade Company in Monmouth, Oregon -- December 30, l999 -- destruction of a Bonneville Power Administration energy facility high-voltage tower near Bend, Oregon -- September 6, 2000 -- arson at the Eugene, Oregon, Police Department West University Public Safety Station -- January 2, 2001 -- arson at Superior Lumber Company, Glendale, Oregon -- March 30, 2001 -- arson and destruction of 35 SUVs at Joe Romania Chevrolet Truck Center, Eugene, Oregon -- May 21, 2001 -- arson and attempted arson at the Jefferson Poplar Farm, Clatskanie, Oregon -- October 15, 2001 -- arson at the Bureau of Land Management Wild Horse Facility, Litchfield, California
2. Kevin Tubbs (age 38) - 151 months -- October 30, 1996 -- arson at the U.S. Forest Service Oakridge Ranger Station near Oakridge, Oregon -- July 2l, 1997 -- arson at Cavel West, Inc. in Redmond, Oregon -- November 30, 1997 -- arson at the Bureau of Land Management Wild Horse and Burro Facility near Burns, Oregon -- October 11, 1998 -- attempted arson at the Bureau of Land Management Wild Horse Holding Facility near Rock Springs, Wyoming -- December 22 and 27, 1998 -- arson and attempted arson at U.S. Forest Industries, Medford, Oregon -- May 9, 1999 -- arson at Childers Meat Company, Eugene, Oregon -- September 6, 2000 -- arson at the Eugene, Oregon, Police Department West University Public Safety Station -- January 2, 2001 -- arson at Superior Lumber Company, Glendale, Oregon -- March 30, 2001 -- arson and destruction of 35 SUVs at Joe Romania Chevrolet Truck Center, Eugene, Oregon -- October 15, 2001 -- arson at the Bureau of Land Management Wild Horse Facility, Litchfield, California
3. Chelsea Dawn Gerlach (age 30) - 108 months -- October 11, 1998 -- attempted arson at the Bureau of Land Management Wild Horse Holding Facility near Rock Springs, Wyoming -- October 19, 1998 -- arson at the Vail Ski Facility in Eagle County, Colorado -- May 9, 1999 -- arson at Childers Meat Company, Eugene, Oregon -- December 25, 1999 -- arson at the office of the Boise Cascade Company in Monmouth, Oregon -- December 30, l999 -- destruction of a Bonneville Power Administration energy facility high-voltage tower near Bend, Oregon -- September 6, 2000 -- arson at the Eugene, Oregon, Police Department West University Public Safety Station -- May 21, 2001 -- arson and attempted arson at the Jefferson Poplar Farm, Clatskanie, Oregon
4. Nathan Fraser Block (age 26) - 92 months -- March 30, 2001 -- arson and destruction of 35 SUVs at Joe Romania Chevrolet Truck Center, Eugene, Oregon -- May 21, 2001 -- arson and attempted arson at the Jefferson Poplar Farm, Clatskanie, Oregon
5. Joyanna L. Zacher (age 29) - 92 months -- March 30, 2001 -- arson and destruction of 35 SUVs at Joe Romania Chevrolet Truck Center, Eugene, Oregon -- May 21, 2001 -- arson and attempted arson at the Jefferson Poplar Farm, Clatskanie, Oregon
6. Suzanne Nichole Savoie (age 29) - 51 months -- January 2, 2001 -- arson at Superior Lumber Company, Glendale, Oregon -- May 21, 2001 - arson and attempted arson at the Jefferson Poplar Farm, Clatskanie, Oregon
7. Kendall Tankersley (age 30) - 46 months -- December 22 and 27, 1998 -- arson and attempted arson at U.S. Forest Industries, Medford, Oregon
8. Darren Todd Thurston (age 37) - 37 months -- October 15, 2001 -- arson at the Bureau of Land Management Wild Horse Facility, Litchfield, California
9. Jonathan Mark Christopher Paul (age 41) - 51 months -- July 2l, 1997 -- arson at Cavel West, Inc. in Redmond, Oregon
10. Daniel Gerard McGowan (age 33) - 84 months -- January 2, 2001 -- arson at Superior Lumber Company, Glendale, Oregon -- May 21, 2001 -- arson and attempted arson at the Jefferson Poplar Farm, Clatskanie, Oregon
"If this case proves anything, it is that the FBI and its partners on the Joint Terrorism Task Force (JTTF) and in other law enforcement agencies are absolutely committed to defeating terrorism in this country," said Special Agent in Charge Robert J. Jordan. "We will not let those who inspire fear and commit criminal acts with the intent of changing the policies of our government or her people succeed. Whether a case takes one day or ten years, we will pursue it until we can ensure justice for our shared community."
"ATF is pleased to have provided its expertise in arson investigations to this case, demonstrating once again that no one is entitled to take the law into their own hands," said Special Agent in Charge Kelvin N. Crenshaw, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF).
Other members of the conspiracy took part in the following arsons:
(1) October 28, l996 -- arson and attempted arson at the U.S. Forest Service's Detroit Ranger Station in Detroit, Oregon;
(2) June 21, 1998 -- arson at the National Wildlife Research Facility in Olympia, Washington; and
(3) May 2l, 200l -- arson at the University of Washington Horticulture Center, Seattle, Washington.
Three other charged defendants are international fugitives: Joseph Dibee, Rebecca Rubin and Josephine Sunshine Overaker.
These cases were prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Kirk Engdall, Stephen Peifer and John Ray. The ALF/ELF arson conspiracy was jointly investigated over a nine year period by the FBI, ATF, Oregon Department of Justice, Eugene Police Department, U.S. Bureau of Land Management, U.S. Forest Service, Oregon State Police and Lane County Sheriff's Office.
