Farmers

Message

#41 Post by **Flash** » Tue 25 Dec 2007, 22:07

The Salt River runs through Phoenix, or used to. It's no longer a river but a barren drainage channel for storm runoff. At one point the authorities have made a creek down its middle to carry off a small but persistent water flow they thought might cause mosquito problems if it was allowed to remain stagnant. A few years ago I transplanted two Cottonwood trees (a tree native to the area) along this creek. The little transplants had just begun to grow when some local government busybody sprayed along the creek and killed everything that was growing there. You can't stop progress, as defined by the Chamber of Commerce.

Dougal · #42 Post by **Dougal** » Wed 26 Dec 2007, 14:15

Caneri wrote:they also taste great mixed into potatoes or in a salad and bees love 'em...

Canaries also like them (really).

Caneri · #43 Post by **Caneri** » Sun 30 Dec 2007, 02:21

speaking of birds...and farming

I'm kind of a backyard birder...google it...I'll show up in "birders with email" from many years back...this was an interesting place when the internet was...shall I say a bit more civil.

My local birds are disappearing at an alarming rate.

What I have seen, even from a few years back, is less and less of the normal species that are usually here, now thinned or stunted or I only see them as a chance encounter..not good me thinks.

I will surely miss the birds..and when everyone complains about their job loss due to Kyoto or some other government mess that a government can think up, I wonder what good the job was anyway when there is no good food or birds or the finer things in life...what the heck...it seems so clear to me..but not to those who find shopping as a pinnacle of their existence.."be more shop more" kind of thing.

muggins · #44 Post by **muggins** » Sun 30 Dec 2007, 07:35

It seems the majority truly do prefer to live in an economy, rather than an environment. Where I live, south of wollongong, I've yet to meet anyone that can remember sea snakes nesting in gravel beaches, during summer...long gone.

A sydney restauranteur, Peter Doyle, has remarked how, when he was a kid in the 1950's, there were reed beds, fish aplenty, & frolicking dolphins in sydney harbour...no more.

pinching that famous poem:

In Germany, they came first for the Communists, And I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a Communist;

And then they came for the trade unionists, And I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a trade unionist

First the bees disappeared...but what do I care, I don't eat honey...etc

macadavy · #45 Post by **macadavy** » Sun 30 Dec 2007, 09:39

Caneri: Sure sorry to hear about the bird life disappearing. Isn't one of the greatest birding paradises in our country, Point Pelee National Park, roughly in your neck of the woods?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Point_Pelee

Caneri · #46 Post by **Caneri** » Sun 30 Dec 2007, 14:59

yes..Point Pelee is but 15 minutes from here..also 'Jack Miners" ...(google it)...is 5 minutes from me.

These are both birder hot spots in Canada with 2 major flyways converging in such a small area (Atlantic and Mississippi)

With this in mind, it seems a bit scary to me that birds are becoming less evident around here. I have heard that birders are not coming to Point Pelee as much now...and the bird counts are down in numbers. This decline is reported all along Lake Erie.. (Long Point is one research area with over 50 years of records).

This area also funnels Monarch butterflies south to Mexico. In some years there are so many the trees can turn orange...I'll try to get a picture of this and post it.

I raised Kestrels (small falcons) every year for the last 10 or so years..alas, last year they didn't come back and a few years ago ALL the young fledglings died for some reason...it may be West Nile virus but nobody knows.

EDIT: I should say Kestrels raised themselves..I just provided a bird box designed for Kestrels and located it in a protected area then they moved in..

All in all...this is making me a bit nervous and I wonder if this is a harbinger of things to come. and not far into the future either... but now in our lifetime...oh my.

Fossil · #47 Post by **Fossil** » Sun 30 Dec 2007, 20:21

Caneri,

"....It seems a bit scary to me that birds are becoming less evident around here."

The decline in major bird populations isn't just restricted to Canada. In my lifetime many, many once 'common' birds have shown a rapid decrease in numbers.

Others, due to legislation in both the use of pesticides - remember Rachel Carson's 'Silent Spring'? - and the now more open view on birds of prey, have permitted once scarce species such as the peregrine falcon to return from a very uncertain future.

The other factor which may or may not be indicative of change, is temperature. Here in my south-west habitat there has been an increase in what used to be scarce summer migrant species, who now overwinter and breed very successfully within this locality.

Is it a good thing that other species begin to take a foothold? We can only wait and see.

One thing is very pertinent. When I was a youth - some time ago now - I always looked forward to observing the first swallows of spring. It's an amazing flight all the way from Africa. I still enjoy their presence, except that now, around here, they arrive up to three weeks earlier than previously.

http://www.wildlifewatch.in/news/899

http://birdwatchmagazine.blogspot.com/2 ... ne-by.html

Caneri · #48 Post by **Caneri** » Wed 23 Jan 2008, 20:43

I have an somewhat ominous off topic post but this may be a developing situation world wide.

As a farmer and a stock trader (just personal trading) I have been hearing about a situation that is developing with regards to the world economy.

The US sub-prime credit problem may not be the biggest problem we will soon see...the sub-prime credit scam, as it surely is, is a problem world wide, as banks have used greed to fund the most massive profit increase in modern history (banks world wide)....but the spin off of this is commodities, as in corn,beans,wheat etc, and they are now in play. Other countries are getting squeezed by the triple whammy of inflation,commodity price and credit crunch (UK amongst others).

I have now heard the "D" word used in the last 2 days on a reputable source I follow..."D" as in depression..and this is referred to as a world wide situation.

If you put this with the "green" naysayers...I wonder...If there is no jobs and no land,air,water etc...what the hell are people thinking...and what was the benefit of the corporate world being protected by governments...OMG

Has anyone heard of the "D" word being mentioned from your part of the world?

Eric

macadavy · #49 Post by **macadavy** » Wed 23 Jan 2008, 20:59

Of course not, dear boy... its merely a recession and needn't bother you in the least... if you're rich enough!

The 'War on Terror' is bankrupting the US, just as WWII did for Great Britain...

Caneri · #50 Post by **Caneri** » Wed 23 Jan 2008, 21:23

macadavey,

If I were rich..I wouldn't post such observations because I wouldn't care...just another puppy here.

Eric

macadavy · #51 Post by **macadavy** » Thu 24 Jan 2008, 16:24

Sorry, Caneri, please edit my message above to include
<sarcasm></sarcasm> tags!

I'm not on easy street myself, by no means...

Caneri · #52 Post by **Caneri** » Thu 24 Jan 2008, 16:50

no worries..I got the drift.

I as pleading poor for sympathy... javascript:emoticon(':lol:')

Eric

Sit Heel Speak · #53 Post by **Sit Heel Speak** » Sat 26 Jan 2008, 01:42

Caneri wrote:Has anyone heard of the "D" word being mentioned from your part of the world?

Across the street from me are two houses, both finished in late 2006, which have been for sale for more than one year.

The following news article may be of interest: large-scale thefts of copper wiring, to be sold by the thieves as scrap, are occurring in Washington State, last bastion of American ingenuity, enclave of prosperity et cetera. This is the kind of thing formerly thought of as happening only in places like Zaire or the Ukraine. The thefts described in this story took place in suburban, built-up areas within fifteen miles of major cities and within forty miles as the crow flies from downtown Seattle:

http://www.komotv.com/news/local/14344042.html

jonyo · #54 Post by **jonyo** » Sat 26 Jan 2008, 01:52

ditto.. http://tinyurl.com/38v93t

muggins · #55 Post by **muggins** » Sun 27 Jan 2008, 05:35

Are any Northern Hemisphereans familiar with the Western Red Cedar? (Thuja plicata). I'm just reading a book on trees, and it mentions that the crushed leaves have a pineapple scent.

Sit Heel Speak · #56 Post by **Sit Heel Speak** » Sun 27 Jan 2008, 05:50

muggins wrote:Are any Northern Hemisphereans familiar with the Western Red Cedar? (Thuja plicata). I'm just reading a book on trees, and it mentions that the crushed leaves have a pineapple scent.

6 hours' drive west of me, on the Pacific coast edge of Olympic National Park, grows the world's largest WRC. It's been a few decades since I've seen it, it's something like 20 feet diameter at the base.

But they take a long time to grow that big. WRC is actually employed by landscapers all over the US and Britain as a hedge. Along the west side of my 100-foot-by-100-foot lot, I planted 24 of them, on 4-foot spacing, in 2005. Bought for 75 cents apiece as 6-inch seedlings at the annual Weyerhaeuser public tree sale near here. They're now between 2 and 4 feet tall. I'm planning to let them grow into a pyramidal hedge about 14 feet high.

The crushed leaves do indeed have a pineapple scent; they are a favorite deer browse. Said to be high in vitamin C.

muggins · #57 Post by **muggins** » Sun 27 Jan 2008, 06:42

Hi SHS,

So can the leaves be used as an antiscorbutic tea for human consumption?

It always strikes me as peculiar when completely different plants can have the same smell as a familiar fruit. Have you ever tried the pineapple guava?

One thing I'd like to try, when, if, I'm next in Queensland, is I read a report of some pineapple varieties that don't have the conventional pineapple taste, but taste of coconut instead!

Sit Heel Speak · #58 Post by **Sit Heel Speak** » Sun 27 Jan 2008, 06:57

muggins wrote:So can the leaves be used as an antiscorbutic tea for human consumption?

Maybe. Spruce twig tips are still to this day made into an antiscorbutic tea by the natives on Vancouver Island, so I don't see why WRC leaftips couldn't work the same way.

muggins wrote:It always strikes me as peculiar when completely different plants can have the same smell as a familiar fruit. Have you ever tried the pineapple guava?

No, but in my backyard garden I grow lime basil and chocolate thyme. Also another thyme that has a licorice taste. Also melissa, a.k.a. "lemon balm", the leaves have a lemony taste.

Give me a half-hour, I'll try making tea of WRC tips and report back.

John Doe · #59 Post by **John Doe** » Sun 27 Jan 2008, 07:26

Sit Heel Speak wrote:I'm planning to let them grow into a pyramidal hedge about 14 feet high.

my uncle has his driveway lined, on both sides, in a similar manner. couldn't comment on the tree type he used but understand the concept. neat idea. we've had some 'green zone' issues with zoning around here and i need to help my neighbor plant something as you mention. thanks for the info on speed of growth.

Sit Heel Speak wrote:The crushed leaves do indeed have a pineapple scent; they are a favorite deer browse. Said to be high in vitamin C.

would be fun to make tea out of the leaves; the thieves make good stock for the freezer.

according to FM 21-76 Appendix B (and all else I can remember [including some SAS stuff]), i seem to recall that all pine needles contain vitamin C.

so i tried to prove myself wrong and looked some of it up:

Thuja Plicata
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thuja_plicata

Spruce
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spruce

Pine
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pine

Pine and Spruce share the same family, Thuja Plicata is only in the same order with them.

Would be interesting to know if they all had vitamin C and to what height in the chain. I would suspect that most anything that looked like any of them would be edible and contain C. It would be neat to know for sure.

Sit Heel Speak · #60 Post by **Sit Heel Speak** » Sun 27 Jan 2008, 07:35

Hmm, not bad.

I put about an ounce of fresh tips and a coffeecupful of water in the blender, whizzed it for a minute, poured it into a glass saucepot, brought it to a boil, took it off and let it steep for ten minutes, poured it through a coffee filter into the cup. Fresh out of the blender it had a strong conifer smell but that attenuated quickly as it came to a boil. In the cup it has a Lipton-like clear reddish-brown color, mild Christmas-tree-like taste. It's rather pleasant, actually. I do not taste any acidity, so can't tell if there is in fact any vitamin C in it or not. I wonder if there is some kind of reagent test.

It's 11:30 PM here now, so I 'll sneak over to my neighbor's yard and, if his dog doesn't challenge me, snip a few buds off his Alberta spruce hedge and try that for comparison.

(old)Puppy Linux Discussion Forum

(old)Puppy Linux Discussion Forum

Farmers