Mesonet Weather for next week

The outlook doesn't look good for us. We are right on the border of below normal rain and above normal temperatures. La Nina lingers on.

Great Article at Kitchen Gardens

How much is your Home Garden Worth. It seems most can save you over 2000 bucks.

When it rains it pours

I guess there is something to that saying. I hope the drought is over.

Agriculture Weather for next week.

Soil and Health Library.

I ran across this free resource The Online Soil and Health Library. . A good reference to have listed in your bookmarks. Happy Earth Day...Save our soil.

Happy Earth Day.

In celebration of Earth Day 2011, Bill and I hived two packages of Honey Bees. We were actually expecting the packages yesterday, but it was kinda nice to get them for Earth day. I chose the video below because he does it the gentle way. We are not big about slamming the package against the hive frames and knocking the bees out. We prefer to put and empty hive box on the hive bottom board. Place the package of bees in the empty box. Open the package and remove the syrup can and queen cage. Then we place a box of frames over the open package and place the queen cage in the middle of the frames, and let the bees leave the package on their own. A week later we will go back in and remove the empty box and package and make sure the queen is out of her cage.

A Place in the Sun.

I have been thinking a lot about the challenging times we live in, and Mahatma Gandhi's concept of Swadeshi, or “localized economics,” keeps coming into my thoughts.

I had heard that in Russia, over 90 percent of vegetables are grown locally on allotments or Dachas . It seems that in certain parts of Russia, a family is awarded a small parcel of land outside of the city in which to grow food. The family will leave the City on weekends and go out to the county side and work in their gardens. They often will build some sort of shelter or camp on it. Families who were unable to gain access to a parcel will often join families who do have a parcel and work together in a communal effort.

I am saddened when I see just how far the United States has demonized community efforts and security in the name of Objectivism or Selfishness. It seems the more you oppress people the great a person you are. It use to be and should be the other way around.

When the United States was first occupied by the English, land was set aside for the common use. We still hear this custom in the use of village commons or greens in place names. The Native Americans had a custom of holding all land in common for the use of the Tribe. It was not until the 1950s suburbia automobile society did we disconnect with the custom of providing a place for people to grow food. aka: Community Gardens or Victory Gardens.

As with Gandhi we are starting to reach a point where we have to start re-localizing our world. It is going to be the only way we can guarantee our survival as the global economy leaves more of us behind.