Friday's pickup of the tractor happened without a hitch (a little tractor humor there). =) Actually this tractor has a 3 point hitch in the back for a plow, disc, blade, whatever we want to throw onto the back. Even after being on the road 12 hours Friday, we got up Saturday morning ready to play.
Saturday morning, thought, was a trip to town to pick up seed potatoes, onions, some herb seeds, a tractor battery and a few groceries. Noon time and after was tractor time. We cleared out some forsythia to plant a few hazelnut trees that our neighbor was given (she is sharing the love) and then Ronnie used the tiller to break sleeping garden ground for the potatoes. We bought wwwaaayyy more potatoes than needed so I gave both neighbors some and we are going to plant some additional rows, as soon as Ronnie fixes the tiller (the cable broke and a belt is twisted and slipped off) - potatoes and onions do not last long in this house. Family and friends stopped by to admire the tractor and put in requests for help. 
There is more to this statement and I encourage you to read the rest of the page (I am not being paid to talk about this).Social scientist and preachers offer a number of reasons for the decline of civil society: broken homes, poverty, disease, television, and increasing secularism, to name a few. I believe all that is wrong with our world can be attributed to the shortage of front porches and the talks we had on them.
Over time I’ve collected a list of common plant combinations that work well together. Here are a few of them:Yes, there are books and a slew of internet articles on companion planting - I like to learn from people who are actively using this skill. What I am going to do is first, 'lay' out the vegetables; a bit of who goes where and then sprinkle in the companions. I had hoped to be able to border the whole space with raised beds - that is not going to be a possibility at this point (lacking the resources).
- Beans (Bush): Beets, cabbage, carrots, celery, corn, cucumbers, eggplant, lettuce, pea, radish, strawberry, savory, tansy, marigold. They do not like kohlrabi, basil or onion.
- Beans (Pole): do not like beets, onion, kohlrabi, radish, nor basil.
- Beets: like bush beans, cabbage, onions, sage. Avoid mustard and pole beans.
- Borage: repels tomato worms.
- Brassica: Candytuft will reduce flea beetles. They get along well with sage, mint, dill, chamomile, bush beans, beets, celery, onions, tomato, strong herbs, marigold and nasturtium. Avoid strawberries and pole beans.
- Calendula (pot marigold) repels tomato worms and asparagus beetles.
- Carrots: don’t like dill. they do get along well with bush and pole beans, lettuce, onion, peas, radish, sage, and flax. I’ve heard two sides to the story of carrots and tomatoes – they adore each other, but tomatoes can rob carrots thus inhibiting their growth.
- Catnip: Attracts beneficials, is said to repel deer.
- Dill: attracts beneficials.
- Eggplant: like pole and bush beans, spinach and catnip.
- Garlic: repells japanese beetles, aphids and blight.
- Lavender repels moths.
- Lemon Balm: attracts beneficials.
- Nasturtium repels aphids, squash bugs, and striped pumpkin beetles.
- Parsley: Attracts beneficials.
- Peas: don’t like onions or late potatoes. They do like bush and pole beans, carrots, corn, cucumbers, spinach, sweet peppers, strawberries, and radish.
- Peppers: love basil and cilantro. These herbs help keep humidity close to the plant.
- Potato: plant flax to repel potato bug.
- Rosemary: Attracts beneficials.
- Squash: plant with corn for shade and radish to repel pests.
- Tansy repels japanese beetles, striped cucumber beetles, squash bugs, ants and flies.
- Thyme: Attracts beneficials and repels cabbage worms.
- Tomatoes: plant borage, mint and basil but avoid pole beans, dill, and potatoes.
- Yarrow: Attracts beneficials.
Some years ago, I wrote a report about research done at Texas A&M that found trap crops of early plantings of squash could attract "up to 90 percent of squash bugs in the area." The key is to plant a few pots of squash indoors, earlier than your usual timing (the bugs are reportedly most attracted to winter squash varieties), then move the plants into the garden as soon as you can. Overwintering squash bugs will make a beeline for them (who knows how they find these plants—bugs are so amazing). The researchers suggested laying a few boards on the ground around the trap crop, and then turning the boards over and squishing the bugs, which like to hide on the undersides. Delay sowing your main squash crops as long as you can, continuing to squish any bugs that show up at the trap crop.Sounds like a plan, yes? Here is a link to the entire article. The lazy part of me wants to just be able to sprinkle something on the plants/ground and be done with it; the rest of me knows better. *sighs* Looks like I may begin some sacrificial plants tonite unless someone has an easier idea. =)
The most misunderstood thing about ear candling is what's in the candle after candling. Rarely, if ever, is there actual ear wax in a candle. Large amounts of wax present in a candle after burning usually represent the amount of moisture and congestion present in the ear during the candling process. Thus, larger amounts of wax present in a burnt candle usually indicate a greater amount of moisture and congestion present in the ear.So this is a therapeutic 'treatment', not a replacement for medical advise/care. I am just a bit disappointed though do not regret my ear cone purchase. I wonder what the results would be to cone after swimming.
I applied to a third group, Roanoke, since it is the closest large town and I grew up and lived in Roanoke until my late 30's. I was denied entry as the group has a requirement that their members live in the area. Well, poo. Perhaps someone in Charlottesville will have some kefir grains to share.There are several sources for ordering milk kefir grains; just Google unless someone has a recommendation. I am going to give Freecycle Covington/Charlottesville just a little longer before I order online.Wood-ash lye water is prepared by mixing fluffy gray wood-ash mixed with water. The ash must be prepared by burning natural and untreated wood. This is to say, wood which has not been painted, stained, or chemically treated in any way what so ever. The fluffy gray ash is first sieved to remove any pieces of charcoal. The sieved ash is added to about 4 to 5 parts hot or cold water. The mixture is stirred for a few minutes then left for 12 to 24 hours. After this the ash settles to the bottom of the container to form a sediment. A clear solution will form on top of the ash sediment. Pour off the clear solution, which is your wood ash lye water. Lye water has a slippery feel similar to soapy water. This solution is used as a liquid detergent. Ash lye needs to be diluted with hot water for use, similar to any liquid detergent. A stronger lye may be prepared by bringing 1 : 3 [ash to water by volume] to a boil and then letting it sit for 12 to 24 hours before pouring off the clear solution of lye water. Store the lye water in a separate container.The partially spent ash that remains, still contains high amounts of potash alkali, which can be reused to make more lye water. Simply add more hot or cold water to the ash sediment, and let stand. The ash may be used again, over 3 to 5 cycles, or until the solution ceases to produce a slippery feel. Well spent ash may be composted, or sparsely scattered over the garden. Do no water plants directly with the ash lye water solution for it will burn plants! This is because ash-lye is very alkaline and caustic to plant roots if used concentrated. I mostly add a little kefir to the spent ash, to neutralize each other, so that the ash is neutralized from an alkaline state to a base, and the acidic kefir is neutralized from an acid to a base. This can then be safely poured around trees that are well mulched. To protect sensitive skin, one should wear gloves when handling ash or undiluted ash-lye water.
The web is full of pros and cons on why it does/does not work. My classmate used it when she was pregnant in an attempt to help with reoccuring ear infections; she was getting ready to start her 2nd round of antibiotics. For her it worked. I actually ordered some candles tonite - I'll let you know how it goes.
One end of a cylinder or cone of waxed cloth is lit, and the other placed into the subject's ear. Usually the subject is lying on one side with the treated ear uppermost and the candle vertical. The candle can be stuck through a paper plate or aluminum pie tin to protect against any hot wax or ash falling onto the subject. The flame is cut back occasionally with scissors and extinguished between two and four inches from the subject. Proponents claim that the flame creates negative pressure, drawing wax and debris out of the ear canal, which appears as a dark residue.
An ear candling session can last from 15 minutes to 45 minutes, during which time a series of one or two ear candles may be burned for each ear.
The problems within our food system are so big and so egregious that as an individual it seems pointless to try to fight to fix it. Why should I care about something that seems likely beyond my control to influence?
I pondered this question over the next few days and have finally came to some sort of conclusion…
Why care? Why try?
I had to look not farther than the two small faces that sit across from me at the dinner table. The food system that we are putting in place now will be the food system that my children and grandchildren will be nourished by for the foreseeable future…unless we do something about it now.
I can eat as responsibly as I know how for my family’s sake. But for real change to take place it will take many people to come to the same conclusion. A large contingent of those willing to forgo the convenience of prepackaged foods, factory grown meats, and industrialized dairy…to insist on real food that is neither genetically modified or chemically laden.
It will take the extra step of going to the local farmers markets to buy our produce or the farmer down the road who is raising his chickens in the open air and sunshine. It will be asking our local grocery store if they sell local organic produce…and if not, why not? Making our food choices known and then voting with our dollars.
This is a choice that is not quick or convenient when we are used to buying things already prepared and packaged for us. How can we find the time to prepare and eat real food?
My question today is how can we not? There is nothing more basic to life than food, how can we ignore what is happening to our food system? The very system that is supposed to sustain us is slowing killing us.
I cannot…
So starting March 1st and for the whole month I am challenging myself to eat nothing commercially processed that I cannot make myself. No more canned beans, or spaghetti sauce, no more pre-made pasta or tortillas. Gone will be the crackers, chips, and store-bought cereals. No meat or dairy that is not local and organic for my husband or pre-made veggie burgers for me. Just real food made from ingredients in their simplest forms…no added corn syrup, fillers, or preservatives.
I cannot change the system by myself, but if enough like-minded people come together I must believe that we can and will make a difference.
All you need to do is go out of your way to do something unexpectedly kind for someone else. Other qualifying acts are Paying It Forward, Glamourbombing, Altruism, Senseless Acts of Beauty or Good Deeds. No gesture is too big or too small; we never know the ripple effect of joy and awareness a single act creates, just know that it spreads and grows.Some examples
• Pay for someone’s meal behind you at a fast-food drive-thru.Come play.
• Leave $5 in a random library book to be discovered by the next loaner.
• Volunteer or donate to any worthy organization.
• Print up some inspiring signs and post them around town.
• Leave your change in the vending machine for the next person as a nice surprise.
• Send flowers.
• Shovel your neighbor’s snow.
• Baby-sit for free.
• Bring cupcakes to work.
• Create chalk art on a public sidewalk.
• Forgive.
• Send an unexpected care package.
• Mail a $5, $10 or $20 bill anonymously to someone you know who is financially troubled.