The Mystery of the Missing Sunflower

This is what the most of the sunflowers in the garden look like right now. Beautiful bright yellow being explored be a swarm of big black  happy bees.  They are coming along nicely although not as huge as the ones that grew last year.  If all goes well I should be able to get a couple a bags of seeds out of these, but there is a problem.  The problem, besides me being able to take a properly focused photograph, is that something is eating or in some way destroying the freaking flowers.  Where are they going?  There is not a pile of flowers on the ground around these stems.  At least seven sunflower plants look the same way.  Right at where the flower would meet the stem it simply ends in a frayed mess.  Are they all going to disappear?  The only positive is that I think I could use these for make shift paint brushes for the kids to play with, but there gonna say "Hey Dad, where did the flowers go" and the best answer I got is maybe big foot at them.  Nature would be great if it wasn't for all the bugs and animals and stuff.

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making a new chicken feeder

Not much going on around the farm these days except the unbearable heat.  In a few weeks I may try to get some goats, but for now it's just us and the chickens.  They should be getting ready to start laying, but lately they have been knocking over their food or standing on the feeder.  Luci had a great idea for some new feeders and despite the heat I managed to hang around outside long enough to get these made. 

I took some 4" PVC that Luci had picked up at the hardware store and cut out one quarter down the length of the pipe.  A couple screws hold the caps on each end and now the chickens have a new feeder that should keep out the rain. 

The chickens are much happier now that the feeder is long enough for them to all get to it at the same time.  We just noticed a few days ago that we had a rooster in one bunch of hens.  Still deciding what to do about this guy.   We don't want fertilized eggs, but it is tempting to just let things go and see if they make some chicks on their own.

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Is my life insurance a good deal?

This is a pretty subjective question, but I have a few thoughts to share that I think can make you more comfortable about your life insurance purchase.

Does it match your needs?

When you purchase life insurance that you don't need or doesn't accomplish what you intend, then that is a bad deal no matter how cheap it is. Think about why you purchased or are purchasing the life insurance. Debts, funeral expenses, income replacement, estate taxes, tax free investing, etc. all have different life insurance product needs. If you want to make sure your wife and small children have income to live on until the kids are grown, then find yourself a level term product that lasts until your kids are adults or the age you plan to retire. If you want to make sure your funeral expenses are paid for, then a guaranteed whole life insurance product that will pay if you die tomorrow or 50 years into the future probably makes the most sense.

Price

I always recommend that you research and shop around to find a plan with a good rate at a company with high ratings and a high level of customer service. I apply this philosophy to most of my shopping. When I get ready to purchase a new electronic gadget that I need, (or want, whatever) I will usually look up the product on both Amazon and Google Shopping just to see what the going rate is. I love shopping with Amazon. Their service is great and I really trust them as an online retailer. If their price is pretty close to the lower prices on Google Shopping, then I will usually buy from Amazon rather than risk saving a few percentage points to go with an unknown company or someone on Ebay.

When I buy running shoes, I usually go to a store that specializes in running shoes. The people there usually are runners and they know their shoes. They usually pull about ten pairs of shoes they recommend and we work for about thirty minutes to find the perfect shoe. Sure I could probably find a better rate if I purchased online or from an athletic super store but with a running shoe, finding the really good shoe is more important to me than finding the cheapest shoe.

When I purchased my life insurance, I took the same approach. I went to an online life insurance website that I trusted and got a list of companies and rates. I went with the second cheapest company for the type of product I wanted because the company had higher ratings and was only a few dollars more expensive per year. I didn't even check other websites or shop with other agents because I had found the shopping experience I trusted the most to find the life insurance product that fit me the best.

Michael, Garden State Life Insurance

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In Case You Didn't Believe Me

Last week I wrote an article stating that life insurance rates are on the way up and that the time to buy life insurance is now. Life insurance rates have been decreasing to historic lows over the past couple of decades, mainly fueled by the need for companies to stay competitive with internet quote sites and independent agents.

In case you thought I was just using scare tactics to get you to buy or that I was just spouting off some kind of crazy theory, here is a link to a press release by Accuquote reiterating that many carriers have raised their rates or have rate increases scheduled within the next few months.

Michael, Garden State Life Insurance

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About Us

I've never shared this with the readers of this blog and so whether you are a regular or first time reader I thought I would share the main reason why we created this blog.

This blog was created as a way for the authors to educate consumers about life insurance from an insurance company's perspective and engage in a dialogue with consumers about both the basics and complexities of life insurance. I have long held that one of the areas that we in the life insurance industry have fallen short is having a sell first explain later attitude. Education has typically been in the form of insurance company produced sales materials and life insurance agents, and I believe we can all see the conflict of interest that can arise there from time to time. I think that only through education about and understanding of life insurance will the millions of uninsured or under-insured Americans finally seek out the life insurance they need and obtain the proper coverage.

We will try to write helpful articles based on our industry experience, comment on relevant life insurance industry news and changes, and avoid directly plugging Garden State Life and its products and services. If you are interested in Garden State Life Insurance or it's products you can visit our main company site by clicking the company logo or the link in the navigation bar above or visiting our Wikipedia page.

And finally our disclaimer: While this blog is sponsored by Garden State Life Insurance Company, the articles written in this blog do not represent the opinions of Garden State Life Insurance Company, its subsidiaries, or its parent companies. These articles are meant to be informal and for entertainment purposes only. Everyone's situation is different and we suggest that you seek the advice of professional financial adviser for your particular situation.

Michael, Garden State Life Insurance

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Has it shifted on your list of priorities?

I was listening to "All Things Considered" on the radio this afternoon while driving home. There was a segment about how the American public's perspective on luxuries versus necessities is changing.

Paul Taylor, executive vice president of Pew Research Center, talked about some interesting shifts.

Microwaves are now seen as luxuries, while some newer technologies — including flat-screen TVs — are considered necessities.

You can listen to the segment here.

I was hoping that Mr. Taylor might touch upon - yes, you guessed it....

If the current economic constraints are causing people to consider the microwave as a luxury item, where does life insurance fit along this continuum?

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More on that Pew Research Center study

In case you're not into listening to audio or podcasts, here is a link to the study I talked about previously.

The information they share is extensive but interesting - it's a good way to gobble up a lunch hour spent at your desk.

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realLIFE Stories

If you have never taken the time to check out some of the videos that LIFE puts out, then I encourage you to do so. These can be especially helpful if you have a spouse who is reluctant to move forward with a life insurance purchase. Seeing the positive impact that life insurance can have on those we leave behind can do wonders for helping us to take care of these types of things we don't like to think about.

realLIFE stories

This month LIFE is working hard to bring awareness to disability insurance. As much as people put off purchasing life insurance, I would say that even more neglect disability insurance.

Michael, Garden State Life Insurance

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Intro to Buying Your Life Insurance Online

As technology continues to improve, the concept of buying life insurance on the Internet is constantly evolving. Five years ago your buying choices on the Internet were pretty much limited to applying with quote sites that essentially acted as your online independent agent and gave you a list of premium rates. There was always the argument that if you knew what product you needed and you didn't want to mess with an agent buy online, but if you weren't sure what you needed, then go to a local agent and let them provide that extra level of service.

The lines have now blurred. Now many of the insurance companies themselves are selling their products directly online to consumers and many agents have gone online themselves. Both have added some of the convenience factors that were normally reserved to the online quote sites. Now many of the quote sites have added extensive educational resources to their websites and have added new dimensions of customer service to offer a little more than just a few emails and an envelope in your mailbox.

The one thing I will say is that if you have a special health condition (e.g. bipolar, high risk profession), then you are still better off finding a local independent agent that is familiar with the underwriting guidelines of the different companies and can find you the best policy. Agents that are connected within the industry can make contact with insurance companies and find out what kind of rate they will offer you given your special health condition and avoid the hassle of you going through the full application process with a number of companies to find out where you can find the best rate. That said if you don't have a quality independent agent in your area, then more and more of the best agents are setting up shop online and offering their services to more than just one area.

Michael, Garden State Life Insurance

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Spending habits during a recession

There is a study recently published by M&C Saatchi, a global advertising agency with headquarters in London. It puts consumers into categories based on their behavior and reaction to the recession.

I'll get to those categories in a minute, but I think it's important to first note that the premise of this study is that while we are all effected by the recession differently depending on where we live and the local economy there, we generally are reacting to the macro economy - as it's reported by mass media.

We are bombarded daily by dismal reports of national or even global economic downturns. We cannot help but let this color our thinking. Yet, things might actually not be so bad in the immediate area around us.

So, the study and the categories are generated by how we are reacting to macroeconomics.

‘Reacting to Recession' is the name of the study. It identifies and categorizes attitudes and behavior adopted by different groups of consumers. The study finds eight consumer types with distinct approaches to spending in this recession.

Each identified group has adopted an overall specific behavior to cope financially with the downturn.

Crash Dieters

Scrimpers

Abstainers

Balancers

Treaters

Justifiers

Ostriches

Vultures


A caveat before the descriptions: they're not based on socioeconomic status, meaning that you can be in the Crash Dieter...and a millionaire.

Crash Dieters are the largest segment, grabbing 26% of adults participating in the study. The group was so named because it aims to "shed pounds" from their weekly budget by identifying and cutting out all non-essential spending until things improve. Crash Dieters are a heavily cash orientated group. Debt clearly frightens them (or is unavailable to them). They live from week to week and when the money runs out they're forced to take quite drastic action.

Scrimpers made up 13% of the study population. Cutting spending is still a main reaction, but they want to maintain their lifestyle and are reluctant to make sacrifices. "Trade down" is more their philosophy than "cut out." Cheaper stores and private labels have become more important to them.

Abstainers, like their Scrimper brethren, don't plan to make any huge cuts in spending habits. About 15% of the population are Abstainers. "The big purchases can wait until the economy improves," is what they'll tell you.

Balancers is one of the smallest groups. Nearly one in 10 people in the study fit into this category, which doesn't want to compromise or make any changes to their pre-recession lifestyle. However, a monetary crisis for them, say a job loss, triggers abrupt behavior. There's no "trading down" - It's gone.

Just over 12% of the study population are Treaters. You could describe them as Crash Dieters who occasionally binge. Every once in a while, the frugality they have adopted to deal with the recession gets rewarded by the purchase of something they promised themselves they wouldn't get.

Another 12% are Justifiers. They'll spend, but they need to have a reason - and it's not price-sensitive. If it's a newer version of something they already have, they want it and convince themselves it's a wise expenditure.

Everybody knows what an Ostrich does when it confronts danger - supposedly - and this is the way 9% of the study population is reacting to the recession. They're simply ignoring it - either because they have sufficient means to do so or because they have been brought up to believe that large balances on credit cards is the accepted norm.

At 4%, the smallest category was given the name Vultures. They're thriving on the carnage caused by the recession. Prices on many things have plummeted. They're swooping in and purchasing all they can.

The study is ostensibly for the purpose of how to market to these groups during the recession; and these distinctive categories of behavior strongly show that there may be only one recession globally...but we certainly are not all reacting to it in the same way.

Obviously, the propensity to purchase life insurance products at this time by these categories presents the same types of obstacles and challenges as any other industry.

Do you recognize yourself in any of them?

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Life Insurance Claim Denials

This is one of the most misunderstood aspects of life insurance and a constant source of animosity and suspicion between consumers and life insurance companies. Consumers think that insurance companies are out to get them, steal their hard earned money for years and then deny their claims over a technicality when the time comes. This is one of those areas where the life insurance industry has failed to educate consumers on the denial process and the misunderstandings that have resulted have come back to hurt their image. In honor of open communication, let me try to take a step towards setting the record straight.

First of all, let's establish what claims a life insurance company can and can't deny. Most state laws prevent insurance companies from denying a claim two years after the policy has been inforce. The only exception to this is if the beneficiary is convicted for intentionally killing the insured and even then the benefits are usually still paid but just to someone else. Within that two year period the life insurance company can deny your claim if you misrepresented anything in the application or underwriting process or if you commit suicide. If you die from a pre-existing condition that they didn't ask about, that you didn't know about or that had never been diagnosed, then the insurance company will still pay.

Another check and balance in the claims process is that each state in the United States has a department of insurance that is there to enforce the laws of that state. These departments of insurance work for the residents of the state and they are there to protect your rights. If there was an evil company out there unfairly denying your benefits, then all you have to do is file a complaint with your department of insurance and they can arbitrate between you and the insurance company to make sure they are upholding the laws of the state and treating you fairly.

So the key to take away from all of this, is to just be honest. If you are honest and forthcoming during the life insurance application process, then you have nothing to worry about. If there is any doubt on an application, then I would recommend erring on the side of more information is better. For example, if they asked if you have used a nicotine product in the past 12 months and you smoked one cigar when you were at a poker party, then I would recommend saying "yes" and then explaining that you don't generally smoke, but you had one cigar at a poker party. Most companies will still treat you as a nonsmoker and you also don't worry about your claim getting denied because you lied about smoking.

Michael, Garden State Life Insurance

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New Look to the Garden State Website

Garden State Life Insurance recently updated its website. Let me know what you think, how it looks, what it is missing, etc.

www.gardenstatelife.com




Michael, Garden State Life Insurance

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My Ten Commandments (Minus the Burning Bush)

This is my 50th blog post at Edhat. Overlooking my schizophrenic swings between writer's block and the fear of numbing repetition, blogging for Ed has made for a jolly good time.

Writing has been therapeutic. Putting my thoughts into words forces me to examine my beliefs about beauty, purpose and sustainability. Along the way, I have either confirmed what I already thought to be true, or reexamined long-held beliefs and come away with a fresh perspective.

Stupid = Ugly

Most gardens I see are either blah or they outright suck. If they were just ugly, I wouldn't be so pissing furious driving through suburban neighborhoods. After all, ugly is in the eye of the beholder. What one person sees as stunningly beautiful can trigger their neighbor's gag reflex.


Read the rest at Garden of Ed

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Nibbling Through the Nosh-O-Sphere

You're probably a few months from that frightful moment when you machete your way to the back of your veggie bed, lift an umbrella-sized leaf and behold a zucchini big enough to have its own zip code. I don't know if this is an urban legend or something I heard on A Prairie Home Companion, but there's supposedly this town in Wisconsin (or San Diego or something) where at the end of summer, when the garden is pumping on all 12 cylinders, people sneak under stealth of night, dumping their unwanted green bioblimps on their neighbor's porch. The neighbor, in turn, fattens the collection with a few of their own and then tiptoes away on their own ninja escapade.

The Burden of Bounty

It's easy to go overboard planting fruit trees and other edibles, only to find that you'd have to be a reality-TV family like Kate & Nate and Their Horde of 38, to eat everything you've grown. Simpler to find a willing recipient for your overstock and find something else to feel guilty about.

You can find a welcoming home for your extra edibles by checking out what Santa Barbara Food Not Lawns is doing to make our area a healthier, better connected, sustainable community.

See how you can do this in your own neck of the woods - In The Garden of Ed

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Severe Cutbacks

A few weeks ago I was taken to task about my word choice. It seems, in the opinion of more than one reader, that using "sucks" when describing many of the gardens I see might prevent me from reaching a wider audience.

I also mused about what a wonderful world it would be if we could eliminate gas-fueled tools. A reader offered, "Pretty good stuff. But I'd tone down the attack on folks who use power tools…I don't use chemicals in the garden, but do use gas in the mowers. I'm a sinner, not a saint."

Mae West allusion aside, I guess should set the record straight. I know that power tools are here to stay - they're just so damn convenient.

[Darn it! I said "damn". That pretty much locks up spending eternity in H-E Double Hockey Sticks.]

I've gotta admit, power tools are fast, convenient and allows a gardener to keep his monthly charges down. I only wish the guys wielding these tools had a microgram of understanding about plant physiology. As long as I'm dreaming, what if they had imagination and a sense of play?

Shear Madness - Plant Physiology 101

Whether it's you or a hired gardener shearing a hedge, keep in mind that leaves are the solar collectors that drive the plant's engine. Sunlight provides energy to convert carbon dioxide to carbohydrates, the food the plant needs to survive. If you're continually shearing off the productive leaves, it's like throwing a blanket over your solar collectors.

Read the rest and check out the delightful pruning fantasies at Edhat.com

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Urbanite - A New Mineral?

Even if you were paying really good attention in your Geology 101 class, you probably haven’t heard of urbanite. It comes in almost any color you can imagine, sits conveniently on the earth’s surface waiting to be loaded on a truck, and is as hard as concrete.

That’s cuz it IS concrete—recycled slabs of pavement seeking a second career. It makes sense to put such a durable and multi-use material back to work, instead of dumping it into landfills, then mining and manufacturing more.

Urbanite has lots of uses in the garden, as I was reminded on my Open Days garden tour in Pasadena last month. If you can build something with flagstone, you can generally substitute urbanite at a much reduced cost. It’s free, since scrap concrete is usually seen as a waste product that has to be disposed of. Most of the expense is in short-distance transportation and labor for installation. Better yet, if the concrete is from your former cracked driveway or patio, you can even scratch the cost of loading and transport.

See what else you can do with broken concrete at Cool Green Gardens

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Growing A Greener World - Sustainable Comes to PBS

I’m going to let Joe Lamp’l, aka Joe Gardener, introduce himself: “I am a full-time gardening & sustainability communicator in the media. Former host of two national shows on DIY and PBS, I am currently producing and hosting a new show on this subject to begin airing nationally in spring, 2010.”

That’s from the little box on the left side of Joe’s Facebook screen. I wish he’d checked with me before posting it, because there’s some stuff he left out. Like the stuff about what a funny, friendly, nice, enlightened, sincere guy he is. I discovered that for myself last year when we got to hang out at the annual Garden Writers Association symposium in Raleigh. Here’s Laura Schaub's candid photo of Joe getting his cool on in my now notorious stingy-brim. Work it, Joe!
Joe’s newest, greenest, most ambitious TV adventure is Growing A Greener World, now showing on multiple public television (PBS) stations around the country. Joe’s impeccably produced, lusciously filmed HD video, 30-minute weekly show is a top-notch visual treat, but it’s the content that has me so excited.

I’m all about spreading the word on sustainability and praise Joe for this show. In his capacity as executive producer and on-camera host, Joe turns the camera on people, organization and events that are making a difference in our world, focusing on gardens and horticulture. The goal of the show is to raise awareness about the environment, and to motivate viewers to be good stewards of the planet.

See what makes Joe's show so cool at my Cool Green Gardens blog at Fine Gardening.

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Famous Footwear - Me and Michelle Obama

I'm flattered to be in the same blog post as the First Lady. My new friend, Charlotte (Daffodil Planter) Germane, asked a few garden "rock stars" (I guess I'm a celeb now) to send her a pic and some words about their shoe-du-jour when it comes to the garden. Hands down (or is that feet), it's Crocs for me.

If you've got a minute, pop over for a fun read - also in the line-up are Angela Davis (blogging Gardening In My Rubber Boots), Shawna Coronado, Dianne Benson in her too, too sexy leopard skin footware, and, of course, the First Gardener.

Read it - Daffodil Planter

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Yo! Germinatrix – Here Ya Go…

Here’s something I’ve never done before—use my blog to respond to comments at Facebook. I need space and a few of the tools that Blogger gives me.

I’m here because I need to ‘splain wazzup. I’ve been good-naturedly called on the carpet for being what amounts to a wuss, a flip-flopper, a blade of grass (I’m kinda partial to Muhlenbergia pubscens, but had trouble with it rotting out at the crown, but I digress) that bends with the wind.

“Nuh, uh!” I reply!

[Author’s note: You might want to click away from this page now. This is going to get messy (it’s Saturday night and I’m not going to fine-tooth edit) and it’s probably of no interest to more than a handful of people. I’ll be pimping it around at Facebook and Twitter, so you can always pop off and find it later. No, I’m not trying to get rid of you; I like you—I really do like you. I’m just showing a little respect for your time and sensibilities.]

And we’re offfffffffff…..

Quick history: I do a shtick I call Crimes Against Horticulture (CAH). Anyone who follows my blogs or knows me from social media is in on it—pictures of bizarre, f'ugly-in-the-eyes-of-this-beholder-things that people do when they butcher their trees and shrubs, accompanied by my snarky comments.

Long story short(ish): Joe Lamp’l, creator and host of the new PBS sustainable gardening TV show, Growing A Greener World, wanted to have some fun with a pruning episode, so he invited me to meet him in L.A. this week to do a segment based on Crimes Against Horticulture. Am I stoked?

Joe figured we could have some fun, while at the same time passing along a useful message about selecting the right plant for the right place. The 5-minute tidbit ended with Joe and me standing at the base of a massive green cube of a tree I've dubbed Sponge Bob Square Tree. Bob was discovered by a fan of CAH who sent me a picture from his phone camera months ago. I was in awe! You’ll see why.

I forwarded the photo to Joe as an idea for the segment, got a thumbs up and headed to L.A. to scout locations.

One month later: We filmed our stuff last Thursday morning and had a blast. By that night, Joe had posted a picture at the show’s Facebook page with him and me standing in front of Sponge Bob. Comments flooded in.

Ivette Soler left some words, too. Ivette (aka The Germinatrix) is a delightful, passionate, funny (in a slightly Pythonesque sick and twisted way that I totally love), talented landscape designer. After a few years of reading each others tweets and blogs, we met this spring at the SF Flower & Garden Show. I love this lady and enjoy her wit and design eye.

What follows is a thread that starts with my first post and caption of Sponge Bob at Facebook, then an FB post with a pic from my recon trip, and finally Joe’s Facebook post.

[End of history lesson]

Andrew Cheeseman (you might know his wife, of Christy Wilhelmi, alias Gardenerd) sent me this photo of Sponge Bob. It’s not exactly hi-res, but I had a good idea what I was looking at.



My caption: “My quest for the perfect Crime Against Horticulture is now complete, thanks to Andrew Cheeseman, hubby of Christy Wilhelmi, alias Gardenerd. I don't yet know where this resides, but somewhere in Los Angeles, George Jetson's gardener his hovering above this tree, assuring that the top, sides and bottom are laser straight. Actually, I do appreciate the effort and finesse of the work. But it's still SOOOO FREAKING WEIRD!!!!”

[Link to FB post]

Ivette: One point to you—I start by calling it the “perfect crime,” most definitely categorizing it along with all the UFO-inspired junipers I bitch and moan about. That said, as you can see, I almost immediately soften (not in an erectile dysfunction way) and admit to appreciating the effort and finesse.

See, here’s the deal. Snark aside, I’m a very fair-minded guy. It probably comes from being of Vulcan parentage and being born under the sign of Libra. Even when I see a mind-numbing example of bone-headed horticultural acts, I understand that there are a whole lot of complex reasons for the act of butchery.

My Facebook friends’ comments for this photo ranged from humorous to shock to unabashed appreciation. I weighed in with this reply:

“I didn't sleep well last night. Visions of geometric shrubbery danced in my head. I'm soooo conflicted about this one: On the one hand, appreciation for the technical skill; on the other, confounded why someone would go to all this trouble, waste of resources, generation of greenwaste, consumption of fossil fuels and the noise and pollution.”

My bad. I made an unsubstantiated assumption that they were using environmentally harmful methods to maintain Sponge Bob. (Not very Spockian of me.) Turns out, after speaking with Mrs. Vasquez in my mangled Spanglish, I was wrong. Her hubz does the whole thing from a ladder with loppers and pole pruner--no gas, no fumes, no racket. I’m not sure if he composts the litter.

After my pilgrimage to L.A. to seek out Sponge Bob and see him in person, I posted a better photo...



...and included this comment…

“I'm actually here! If ever the letters O, M, F (especially F) and G belonged together, this is that time. You can keep Cheops' pyramid. Behold Sponge Bob Square Tree, soon to appear on Growing a Greener World.”

Though the caption can be taken as something other, the OMFG was an expression of awe, of ending my quest. It’s not a dig, since I go on to compare it to one of the Wonders of the World.

Link to second FB post]

So then Joe posted his thing on Thursday.



His caption:
“So here's how our morning started; Billy Goodnick taping a segment on crimes against horticulture and then, we get to meet Sponge Bob Squaretree in person. You never know who you're going to meet out here in L.A.!”

There’s a lot of chatter in the comments section and then it happens: The saloon doors swing open, the piano player stops just before the 8-bar turn-around going into the bridge of Monk’s Straight No Chaser, customers dive under tables, and Ivette ambles in, spurs jingle, jangle, jingling.

[Ivette's comment] I always thought "Crimes Against Horticulture" meant just that - that Billy was pointing out crimes against horticulture. He states that he doesn't like plants that are altered by shearing and pruning and that proper choice of plants is crucial so that excessive shearing doesn't need to happen. I always LIKED this tree…but was under the impression that Billy didn't and considered it a "Crime" ... what's with the switch-a-roo?...C'mon, Billy - what happened?

In a later exchange…

[Me] Ivette: read my original FB post about Sponge Bob. Never was heard a discouraging word.

[Ivette] OMFG! The "Cheops" comment! Come on!!! You are always so on point Billy!!! You KNOW what you meant ... the subtext was clear!!! I say snark away - but don't back off! We need our snarkers to HOLD THE LINE!!! …So what IS your position on excessive pruning? Maybe I have misread your mission statement, Wise Guy!!!

No switcheroo, my lovely. Per my previous testimony, I might have been conflicted about it, but I was far from ripping it a new orifice. As for stating that I don’t like altered plants, that’s still the case in my own design work and the gardens I’m attracted to, but I’m not opposed to pruning plants, with a few provisos:

ONE: Do it in an environmentally aware way, preferably without gas-powered tools, assure that the greenwaste doesn’t go to landfill, and eschew toxic products.

TWO: Use some artistry rather than the Random Form Generator app on your smartphone.

THREE: Use pruning methods that are appropriate to the specific growth habits of each plant. My Horticratic Oath says “do no harm.”

Here’s how Ivette and I left it at Joe’s post. I didn’t want to bog down his FB page any more, so here we are.

[Me]: gimme a day (too much going on right now and I'm writing from my phone while driving and deep-frying chicken) and I will reply at my blog or FB. I don't wanna weigh Joe down with this. I think you'll be good with my reply.

[Ivette] Wise Guy, I'm good with you ANY way - you know that! Now go handle your chicken!

[Me] NOW look what you did! Made me laugh so hard I dumped the boiling oil. I'm looking forward to putting this into written word.

Ivette’s possible double entendre aside, it was all good-natured fun, but I figure I needed to address her points. And I enjoy having the opportunity to clarify my thoughts for myself.

I think I’m done. Did anyone other than Ivette make it to the end?

Growing A Greener World website
Germinatrix blog
Gardenerd blog

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Garden Like A Vulcan : : Let Logic Guide You

After I've been declared Supreme Ruler of the Universe, I'm making Star Trek's Mr. Spock my Magistrate of Sustainable Gardening. He'll be in charge of a new mega-bureaucracy with far-reaching powers to bring clear, logical thinking to landscape maintenance, because so much of the work people do in gardens makes no sense.

Take raking, for example.

CRS (Compulsive Raking Syndrome)

I don't understand what's so bad about seeing fallen foliage under plants. With all the zero tolerance raking going on you'd think someone had dumped radioactive, Ebola-infested asbestos everywhere. As my buddy Owen Dell says, "Why do you think they call them leaves? You're supposed to leave them there."

Week after week you or your gardener are out there scraping away with one of those harmless looking flex rakes, rounding up every leaf that had the temerity to fall in your garden, and then having the pile hauled away.

That's quite silly, really. Not only are leaves a multifaceted resource for the garden, but excessive raking will eventually compact the soil's surface into an impenetrable, crispy, lifeless crust.

Lots more to read here...

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Art City Studio : : Hidden Art Trove in Ventura

Art City Studio (197 Dubbers St. Ventura, CA) is a fantasyland of stone-shafts of raw, rough, black-scarred basalt; twenty-foot towers of stacked travertine, internally lit, coming to life after dark.

For years, I've been hearing tales of Art City from landscape designers raving about the custom fountains their sculptors conjure up. Since I'm not only having my Edhat turf expanded 250%, but also writing for Conejo Valley-based 805 Living magazine, I decided to sniff around for a story.

This art lover's wonderland occupies a sizeable lot surrounded by unapologetic industrial buildings, stacks of shipping containers, and car mechanics. But you instantly know you're somewhere special. Along the sidewalk, rough-hewn columns of Kansas limestone, or "post rock", signal something unexpected in this invisible neighborhood.

Now it get interesting, so click...

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Who's Afraid Of A Little Orange?

It happens a lot. When I get to the place in the interview where I ask new design clients about their favorite colors, I help out by first explaining the difference between cool and warm colors, just to get a read on their preferences. Donning my professor's ascot and corduroy sport coat (with leather elbow patches), it unfolds something like this…

"Green, blue and violet are cool colors: They soothe and bring calm to the garden. In color theory terms, cool hues "recede", blending into the background and making no demands on our attention."

I pause, receiving a nod of comprehension from the client, then reload and start the second volley…

"On the other side of the color wheel are the warm colors: red, yellow and orange. They tend to be more vivid and add excitement to…"

I realize that she didn't hear a word after I mentioned The Color That Shall Not Be Spoken.

"No orange," she snaps, visibly shaken, but mustering a semblance of outward calm.

You'd think I'd said, "And over in that corner we'll put the zombie coop and feed them children and puppies from the neighborhood."

"No orange…please!"

I've got plenty more to say...

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Eating the Profits

We are eating something from the garden every day.  Cucumbers are probably the fastest-growing, most productive thing we grow and it is hard to pick them at the size we want because they grow so fast.  Most of these will end up as pickles which the kids will eat all year.  I don't get it personally.  A little pickle on a hamburger maybe, but I can't just eat a pickle by itself.  I am not sure if it is a southern thing or what, but people love pickles here.  You can buy pickles in the movie theater and in the elementary school they have a Pickle Day every week as a fund raiser. When we took the girls to the movies in California they were both upset that they couldn't get a pickle.  This year Luci has also put up a couple jars of pickled peppers.  Using both cherry peppers and banana peppers, these have also become a big hit with the kids.

This is the first and possibly the only crop of potatoes.  Something messed up the plants and we're not sure they are going to live.  A lot of homesteader/ farm blogs write about trying to produce 80% of their own food which means they grow a lot more and eat lot less than I do.  Not eating things in season or trying to store things like potatoes for months a time would be a huge shock for us.  We are, like most people, in the habit of buying tomatoes in December.  We are harvesting cucumbers, tomatoes, squash (which seems to grow second behind cucumbers), potatoes,  and peppers.  I am still waiting on the eggplant.

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Not even enough to make pancakes

This is the result of four years of growth for our blueberry bushes.  This is the second handful of berries the girls have eaten this year.  Last year the birds got most of the berries, but for some reason they have left them alone so far.   To be fair, this is only the second year that we really watered them, we have never used fertilizer on them and only once a year do I pull the weeds out that surround them.   Now each bush has around two hundred berries.  Luckily there is great pick-your-own blueberry orchard about fifteen minutes away where it costs $1.50 a pound if you pick, so we will going there for a few more years. If I could wind it back and have a do over we would have planted differently.

First, I would have at least  planted another ten to twenty bushes, possibly as many as forty.

Second,  I would plant them close together instead of spread out around the yard like decorations.  There location makes them take more time to water and harvest.

Third, I would plant all them on the slope instead of on level ground.  The bushes at the bottom of a slope are so much easier to water using a rain barrel and gravity to move the water.

I am thinking about ordering some pecan trees from Willis Orchard Company, but I am trying to figure out what regrets I will have in four years.

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The Purple Wall

Although I have spent  a good deal of time sweating to death in the nasty hot weather trying to grow tomatoes, cucumbers and peppers, our real crop grows silently and unattended on the rest of the property that we own with my wife's sister.  The property is actually a tree farm or timber plantation.  This gives us the tax status of Agricultural land without having to do much.  The trees really grow without much help and what help they did get came from the timber management company that planted them for us.  Recently I have been wondering if there is anything else we should do to encourage this long term investment to pay off so I have been looking through forestry and timber websites.

Since our property was logged three years ago I have learned a bit about the subject and was aware that timber is marked with paint to indicate which trees are to be harvested and which are off limits to the logging crew.  Accidentally harvesting a tree on the wrong property can cost a logger quite a bit so they often avoid taking the trees on property lines to prevent problems.  When trees are marked they should put a mark around eye level and then one on the base so after the tree has been cut you can be sure it was a tree that was supposed to be harvested.  What I didn't know is that purple marks mean stay out.  The old fences on our property have been down in some areas for so long that you can barely find them in the underbrush even when you know that they are there somewhere, but often large tracts of forested land are impossible or unnecessary to fence so they created the purple paint law.  You can mark your property against trespassers with signs, fences, or purple paint.

30.05. CRIMINAL TRESPASS

(2)  "Notice" means:

(D)  the placement of identifying purple paint 
marks on trees or posts on the property, provided that the marks 
are:
    (i)  vertical lines of not less than eight 
inches in length and not less than one inch in width;
    (ii)  placed so that the bottom of the mark 
is not less than three feet from the ground or more than five feet 
from the ground;  and
    (iii)  placed at locations that are readily 
visible to any person approaching the property and no more than:
     (a)  100 feet apart on forest land;  or                                    
     (b)  1,000 feet apart on land other 
than forest land; 30.05.           

In some areas this is how  land owners mark the line between national forests and bordering private land.  I am curious to know how much paint I would have to buy in order to mark our property, but if I was going to do it I would use a can of Design Master Loganberry.

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A New Hunt

When we moved here, I had no idea that one of my neighbors would be Bigfoot. Like most people, I foolishly believed that Bigfoot only existed in the Pacific Northwest or in Yeti form somewhere in the Himalayas.

 Apparently the nearest and most recent Bigfoot sighting in our area was in 2008, about ten miles away.  Ten miles is nothing for Bigfoot.  If he can survive for a few hundred years in North America without someone dining on his flesh and not taking a picture of it first, then a ten mile hike over to my neck of the woods should be a piece of whatever Bigfoot eats. 

I just finished checking out the Texas Bigfoot Research Conservancy's map to see where he has been sighted. My first thought is to call them up right now and get some of these guys out to my house in the middle of the night to listen to my tale of an angry Bigfoot shaking his fist at me as wanders out of the yard while ripping his sharp teeth into one of our chickens, but that would be rude. Hilarious, but rude. My other thought is how could I get one of my neighbors convinced that they had just seen Bigfoot.  I'd make a big Ape suit, but I think I would end up taking a bullet to the head.

This comes just a few days after the game wardens told the kids at the library that the black bear population is rising in East Texas.  Now, they were very clear that one is not allowed to shoot a bear unless it is about to eat your face and you better have some claw marks to prove it was about to eat your face.  They never mentioned Bigfoot, but I figure that if he's out there it's open season on any tall hairy things that come within range.  Much like Bigfoot, if you see a bear or bear tracks or bear poop you're supposed to give them a call so they can track them to estimate population and their movements.  I have never seen a bear that wasn't going through a dumpster looking for Cheetos and discarded Bar-B-Que chicken, so it would be kinda cool to see one roaming wild (except I suspect they are just looking for a reliable source of Cheetos). The Black Bear Conservation Committee is trying to help provide education for the public who might encounter these bears in order to keep them alive.  I would love to see both the bear and the Bigfoot population skyrocket so that we can once again dine on these magnificent creatures.

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What's in your yard?

Since moving here I found all kinds of crap in the yard as I am clearing brush, digging or mowing.  The most common is broken glass and spent shotgun shells, but I have also found bottles from the forties, a tractor spedometer, tools, baseballs, coffee tins and bones. We have a really old metal detector that I Luci and I used around the front once just to see what we would find, but instead of coins we pulled up a good size pile of bottle caps, shell caseing, and sockets before we called it quits.

Today as I began to clear an area near the garden I came across this little skull.  Not sure what it is, but I am sure it made a fine meal for something.  Before I moved here I would definitely been grossed out by this type of thing,  especially the wavy part where the two halves of the skull meet in the back,  but now I just regard it with a mild curiosity. When I started cleaning out the old garage it had two or three deer skulls with antlers sort of hanging in the rafters that had not been completely stripped of flesh and had bits of leathery hide clinging to the cheeks and scalp. That was way nasty and all I could imagine was what it would be like to touch the skin of a mummy which I have seen people do on TV a thousand times. I never gave it much thought, but that is seriously disgusting.

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Buckets and cans

Now that the garden is cranking out the veggies we have more than we can possibly eat.  Not enough to set up a stand on the corner of the highway, but definitely more than a family of four can use in a couple days.   Luci has been busy in the kitchen putting everything in jars.  So far the stock of pickles is filling up with bread and butter pickles, green tomato dills, whole garlic dills, dill hamburger slices and pickled peppers there is salsa, tomato sauce and blackberry jelly and strawberry jam. We also picked plums and squeezed out a gallon or so of bright hot pink plum juice that's in  freezer until were ready.  These pickles got put up tonight and in the morning we sauce the tomatoes and use half for salsa half for pasta sauce. 

We use a lot of pasta sauce and salsa so if nothing else this will mean a whole bunch of jars will no longer end up in land fills. I tried to keep all the jars we buy when we are done so I could recycle them, but there is no where to take them with in an hour of us so I ended up pitching them out. I have wonder if it uses less resources to can at home or to have them centrally mass produced. For instance if everyone made pickles at home the vinegar has to travel to each house in small containers rather to one location in a huge container.  The cost of making it ourselves is definetly effective on the second round.  If you add in the cost of the jars, you are probably just barely under what it would cost to buy things like pickles at the store, but the second time around when you already have the jars you begin to save some money.

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The first eggplant in the neglected garden

Working for the census bureau has been taking up my mornings which is the best time to work on the garden because by afternoon it is so unbelievably hot that it is hard to be in the sun for to long. People that came before me must have been a lot tougher because if I had to live here without air conditioning I would loose my mind.  After a just a second in the humidity it feels like shower time. It was hot in Las Vegas, but now I know what people meant when they said at least it is a dry heat.  That is my best advice for moving to the country and gardening, do it somewhere with nice weather.

 The garden is full of weeds and tomatoes.  One of the gardeners I know told me that as soon as I am done with the tomatoes I should use some roundup to cut down on the amount of grass growing in the garden, but I just bring myself to go with the roundup.  I would imagine that the tomatoes might grow better if they were not competing with the grass for water and nutrients, since there are growing anyway I don't plan on changing my weeding habits.  Normally I go around with sharpened hoe and hack down the grass in the rows and then attempt to hand pull what is growing directly at the base on the plants, but with the heat I haven't done as much weed control as possible.  We also have been having a hard time keeping up with processing the tomatoes into sauce  in time.  Next year I think we need to go down to 40 plants.

Among the weeds I found the first eggplant.  About time, I have had my fill of squash so it will be nice to give something else a try.  Last year we didn't grow eggplant so I am not sure what to expect as far as how fast it grows. According to Wikipedia 20 pounds of eggplant has the same amount of nicotine as a cigarette so I need to build a huge drying rack if I am ever gonna a get a smoke out of these things.

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Pesto season starts today

Every year since we moved here we have grown basil to make pesto,  A food that once upon a time I wouldn't even eat.  I remember the first time I saw  it was at my friend Joe's house and at the time it did not sound good, but since then I have become a big fan.  Seriously big, I'm fat as a house for those who don't know me.  Anyway even when we didn't have the garden there has been containers growing on the front porch.  Being that we are up for saving a buck or two we buy our seeds at the Wal-mart for a a buck.  This year my friend Chris sent me some Basil seeds from Burpee.  They took a little longer to take off, but the pot in the middle is one planted with those seeds and the one's on each side are planted with Wal-mart seeds.  The Burpee seeds were planted a couple weeks after the others in the same soil.  They have have had exactly the same amount of water and sunlight as the others.  The Burpee plant is almost twice the size with larger leaves and a much darker green color.  Of course we haven't had the all important taste test, but I think I can guess how that will turn out.  This has sparked my interest in seed catalogs and I have been looking on-line all week.  I would never have guessed that there purple carrots and all sorts of freakish looking things to grow.  This year we have also grown the garlic for the pesto and bought nuts from a local grower. 

Luci's Pesto Recipe:
Basil, Garlic, Walnuts (we skip the pine nuts), Parmesan Cheese and Olive oil.  

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Horsing Around

Both girls have spent the week riding horses in the morning.  They have decided this is better than soccer, gymnastics, dance or any other activity we could throw at them. They have had a taste of life in the saddle and they want more.  I have always thought that if we live in the middle of nowhere and have the room then maybe some day the girls could have a horse, but that day is a long way away.  This was a week long horse camp where they ride every and learn about horses from eight to twelve each day.  They learn to groom, feed, ride and I believe even scoop up the horse stuff.  The stable is about ten miles outside of town and does a good job of teaching kids how to ride as well as the responsibility that it takes to care for a horse.  Somerset Stables will start lessons in September and I have a feeling these two will end up going.

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Rambler's Way, The Sustainable Way

This is a Sponsored Post written by me on behalf of Ramblers Way Farm. All opinions are 100% mine.

The dude that founded the Tom's of Maine Toothpaste has a commitment to quality that I appreciate for a few minutes every morning and evening, but I didn't know that he lived in the country surrounded by sheep.

Rambler's Way Farm produces high-quality sustainable wool apparel . They are having their business reviewed by CleanAir-CoolPlanet - which works with small and corporate businesses to help them develop and implement emissions reductions - to find more ways to cut down on their carbon footprint. In a tough ecomony for businesses, this is a decision that puts the long-term vision of global health square up against the balance sheet.  The idea that whatever resources being consumed now need to be available for a limitless future is concept that is really in its infancy, as most industries are based on the consuming resources at the lowest possible cost while reaping the greatest possible profit.

In fact, most of us live this way, without an eye on the future.  That's why Wal-Mart is so popular.

CleanAir-CoolPlanet is undertaking a review of all the components of Ramblers Way Farm, from sheep grazing in the fields, through the entire process of getting their end product to you (shearing, transportation, scouring, combing, spinning, knitting, sewing, ordering and distribution).
Choosing to support sustainable, energy-efficient, carbon-neutral businesses will allow them to grow and pass on the sustainability model to other businesses.  Rambler's Way Farm is making tough choices, and the more time I spend with the chickens or in the garden learning about agriculture production on my own little farm, the more I see the need to understand how these sustainable businesses can survive. We all know that a petroleum-based economy can't last forever. And really, we need programs and groups like CleanAir-CoolPlanet working in affiliation with households, small businesses, and corporations to figure out how we will survive when the days of cheap oil are over. 

One thing I have learned living in the country is that this type of work is undervalued in America.  Being a shepherd or farmer was left behind as large agribusiness made the family farm obsolete.  This is changing as more and more sustainable businesses are created, but those sustainable businesses are dependent on individuals making the same types of choices. We all have to do what we can now to ensure that our future, and that of our children, is secure.

Here on our little patch of earth, we teach our children to recycle, we drive fuel-efficient cars, and we try to work our farm with very little waste and few chemicals.  We utilize rainfall for watering our garden and orchard.  We use the animals to fertilize, and we feed them from our own garden. We are really big on using found, non-recyclable waste such as old tires to grow things in.  But there's always the question of, can we do more?

Rambler's Way Farm is in the process of answering that question for their business.

sustainable wool apparel
http://www.ramblersway.com/

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