Bad news on SB 510

I really detest how Washington does "business" these days. From the 2100 page ObamaCare bill-with Speaker Nancy Pilosi's "We have to pass it know what's in it" sentiment, to tucking all sorts of stuff into other, necessary bills-such as funding requests.

So, SB 510 has been tucked into another bill-read the details here:

http://www.ftcldf.org/petitions/pnum1061.php


On the right side of the page is a form to fill out-simply fill it out and press submit, and the organization will send an email on your behalf, opposing the measure.

Please, please, take a minute to trounce this bill!!

The American Codex, part two

To recap where I've been the last few posts-

SB 510 (even with the much ballyhooed Tester Amendment) will firmly place American agriculture under the jackboots of the Department of Homeland Security, the Food and Drug Administration, not to mention the monumental juggernaut of the US Dept of Agriculture.

No where does it address the failings of the safeguards currently on the books, by the way. It does not fund more inspectors, training for those inspectors, or even increase the frequency of them. The food processing industry as a whole, is pretty much free to police themselves, within the vast sea of regulations and permitting processes which manages to make about one visit every five years. Note that I stated "food processing", not food production.

Per the directives of the Codex Alimentarius (originating from the UN, and which the United States has adopted), all foods grown in the US will eventually be held to the same standard as the "global community". In theory, this is supposed to help with trade-but, many US products are not allowed into Europe or even China as it is now. The reasons are complex but include the current modern methods of intense agricultural production. Herbicides, pesticides, GMO plants, RoundUp Ready seed, etc, are part of what makes the US one of the "bread baskets" of the entire world.

But SB 510 is not just about trade. It is actually about control of the nation's food supply, disguised as "protecting" it.

The mandates it contains are frightening to anyone who thinking about getting into agriculture, even in a small way. Even my tiny business, which I had hoped to expand, would not be exempt. Never mind the $500,000 in gross sales and 275 mile geographical limits contained within the Tester Amendment. Nope, I get to jump through an incredible variety of regulations. Not only that, the USDA and FDA are handed unlimited powers to create any regulations they chose. They have a year to craft these, then impose them on America's family farms, from tiny niche organic producers to mega farms growing mono cultures. One language change within the bill, gives the Department of Homeland Security (Yes, DHS) the power to confiscate your LAND if they have "reason to believe" an outbreak of some sort has occurred, or that a threat to a food supply exists.

Not proof, mind you, but just a suspicion. Anyone who grows anything that ends up in the commercial food chain is subject to this. That includes U picks, and road stands if you didn't know. So, Pyrah's in the Butte falls under their control. So does Palmer Produce, and many other local farms, both large and small. And, even if they don't realize it yet, nearly every single forage producer is included also. Why? Because their forages do generally end up in our food supply. Hay and grain is grown which is fed to beef cattle which are then butchered which is then sold to the public, that's how.

The devil is in the details in that bill, and you cannot find this information easily. As soon as I relocated the correct link with all annotated pages, I will add it to this entry.

The promised link:


http://www.govtrack.us/congress/billtext.xpd?bill=s111-510

The American Codex, part one.....

As I said yesterday, here are some items which pertain to "The American Codex" and what it means for you-and me.

First, it helps to understand the meaning of the word "Codex". When you look up the definitions, you will see that most dictionaries will read something like this:

1. A manuscript volume of classic work or of the scriptures
2. Archaic. A code, a book of statutes.

Codex Alimentarius (Latin-meaning Food Law or Code) has come to mean something altogether different than one might suppose. I urge you to read this article from 2000:

http://www.organicconsumers.org/irrad/codexfaq.cfm This is short overview of the Codex and what it meant back in 2000.


Fast forward to 2010, and these links describe the Codex Alimentarius much more accurately:

http://www.healthfreedomusa.org/?page_id=155
http://www.natural-health-information-centre.com/codex-alimentarius.html

Here is what the USDA has on their website about Codex Alimentarius:

http://www.fsis.usda.gov/codex_alimentarius/index.asp

President Obama was rumored to have signed an executive order which basically agrees to global governance of our nation's food supply-from seeds, to the finished product in the store or on your table. While this is not exactly the case, we are handing off our food chain to multinational corporations and Agribiz, which will be enforced not just by the USDA, but the FDA and DHS. Yes, you read correctly-the Division of Homeland Security.

The American Codex, part two coming.......

The American Codex is nearly here

(Hat tip to a good online friend who coined the phrase-thanks, OG!)

For this entry, something that is likely completely off your radar-although it should be dead center. But of course it is not, and unless and until the information is made public by the main stream media, you won't hear a peep about this.

Codex Alimentarius. My what a big, weird word to use, isn't it? Here is the Wiki entry on the phrase:

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

Back the American version later on, here is my road to discovery if you care to read:

The US adoption of UN Agenda 21, and Codex, didn't seem like such a big deal at the time. In fact, I had not heard anything about either of those two things, until a good friend (and you know who you are) told me about them in relation to NAIS. Truthfully, I thought my friend was off her rocker, a crackpot, a paranoid extremist who was overly fearful of things that didn't matter to the average US citizen. She urged me to Google and read up on UN Agenda 21, NAIS, and CODEX on my own-and I am thankful that I did. When I realized the scope of NAIS (National Animal Identification System, as proposed by the USDA) I too, become upset and angry over what was an obvious move to inventory and track every single animal in the US. By chipping the animals, registering your property, and complying with the regulations, you ran a very real risk of subjecting your animals to the draconian actions of bureaucrats. Among many other things, the fines for noncompliance were astronomical and could have meant seizure of your records (including computors) and animals in your care. Luckily, this was eventually gutted due to strong opposition from the American cattle industry and a great many small farmers who would have been put out of business by the costs associated with the boondoggle.

When NAIS died, I thought-whew, close one! But my friend assured me that more trouble was coming...and boy was she right.

Presenting: SB 510. It has passed the Senate and now goes to the House to merge with their version, which is HB 2947. Once the differences are worked out it will then be presented to President Obama to sign into law. It is also known as the Food Safety Modernization Act.

Here is a link to the bill itself: http://thomas.gov/cgi-bin/query/z?c111:S.510:
And here is the text of the bill as it passed out of the Senate, it is a .pdf:

http://frwebgate.access.gpo.gov/cgi-bin/getdoc.cgi?dbname=111_cong_bills&docid=f:s510es.txt.pdf It does not, however, contain all the language of that particular bill, I am pretty sure you have to get that direct from committee. Or maybe it is available through your Senator or Representative-it's worth finding a complete copy.


While it is true that we in the US have had some serious illnesses that have made the news recently-it is also true that food borne illnesses have been on the decline for decades. Yes, we should have more inspections of processing facilities (that is a no brainer, right?) and on foods entering into the US from other countries. I think we can all agree that those are good goals.

So, thinking about the above, you should be quite surprised to find this little bit of text tucked within this bill:

".....AND IF ANY VIOLATION OF ANY PART OF THE S-510 IS FOUND OR IF THE EXEMPTED PRODUCER FAILS TO PRODUCE REQUIRED HACCP REORDS, THEY FACE FORFEITURE AND SEIZURE OF ANY AND ALL PRODUCTS AND EQUIPMENT, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO LAND USED IN THE PRODUCTION OF SAID GOODS......"

Re-read carefully......any violation of ANY part of this bill, subjects you to seizure of your products and equipment as well as the land.

And just what does the FDA think about food supply? Well here is another shocker for you-a quote:

S510 would give FDA significantly more power to regulate food, particularly food in intrastate commerce. For those who think it’s a good idea to give FDA more power, here are the agency’s views on your freedom to obtain the foods of your choice; these are direct quotations from the agency’s response to a lawsuit the Farm-to-Consumer Legal Defense Fund filed earlier this year challenging the interstate ban on raw milk for human consumption:

* "There is no absolute right to consume or feed children any particular food." [A--p. 25]
* "There is no 'deeply rooted' historical tradition of unfettered access to foods of all kinds." [A--p. 26]
* "Plaintiffs' assertion of a 'fundamental right to their own bodily and physical health, which includes what foods they do and do not choose to consume for themselves and their families' is similarly unavailing because plaintiffs do not have a fundamental right to obtain any food they wish." [A--p. 26]
* "There is no fundamental right to freedom of contract." [A--p. 27]

Read that one again too, the FDA is saying you have no right to food. Honest, it is. Give it another read and then you will agree, yep, that is what they are on the record as stating. In a court of law, mind you!

There's more trouble with this bill too. And you thought surely this was bad enough, right? Wrong! It's worse than you supposed when you started reading this.

Here's a few points to consider:

The FDA will have great power over the food production of the US. That includes partnering with DHS over any illness outbreak.

This bill gives the FDA to create any regulation it choses and to implement those regulations without oversight, review, or due process. These bureaucrats (not elected officials who can, in theory, be held accountable) can devise any set of regulations for anything, anything at all. Think that one through-what if the DMV was given the power to arbitrarily say: We will not accept red vehicles any longer and anyone who drives a Honda Civic over X miles a month will have their land confiscated. Sounds pretty crazy, doesn't it? But the power that is given to this agency is immense in this bill....and no one seems to think it's risky? At least, not the 70 some Senators who voted in favor of this monstrosity thought it was a fine and dandy idea. That includes our two Senators from Alaska, btw.

Want to know what it cost to get their approval? (Gosh I just love the internet sometimes, haha)

First, the list of Senators who accepted money from those lobbying in favor of the bill (and the amount is about $50 million, btw)

http://www.naturalnews.com/030577_Senate_Bill_510_voting_record.html

And here are the break downs by vote:

http://maplight.org/us-congress/bill/111-s-510/880093/contributions-by-vote

Our two Senators were pretty cheap, weren't they? Begich: $22,300.00 Murkowski: $139,463 It says Murkowski did not vote, but I have read other lists that show that she did, in fact, vote for this. I am not sure what the real story is here, it may have to do with her re-election still not being settled as yet.

Now, defenders will point to the Tester Amendment as the solution to small producers. That amendment says that those folks who make less than $500,000 in sales, and who restrict thier sales to within 275 geographic miles are exempt from this bill. That is not quite true-you just have to read the language to understand that no one is exempt for the time being...here is another snippet:


ii) LIMITATION.— The exemptions or modifications under clause (i) shall not include an exemption from the requirement to register under section 415 of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (21 U.S.C. 350d), as amended by this Act, if applicable, and shall apply only to small businesses and very small businesses, as defined in the regulation promulgated under section 418(n) of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (as added under 14 subsection (a)).

So, effectively, FDA registration is required for all, regardless of size. Perhaps deemed a minor point, but language is language, and is easy enough to copy and paste, properly.

Now, in my impression, here is the DOUBLE WHAMMY ... in the Amendment, the new "exemptions' DO NOT APPEAR TO TAKE PLACE IMMEDIATELY!:

EFFECTIVE DATES.—

(1) GENERAL RULE.—
The amendments made by this section shall take effect 18 months after the date of enactment of this Act.

2) FLEXIBILITY FOR SMALL BUSINESSES.—
Notwithstanding paragraph (1)—

(A) the amendments made by this section shall apply to a small business (as defined in the regulations promulgated under section 418(n) of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (as added by this section)) beginning on the date that is 6 months after the effective date of such regulations;

and

(B) the amendments made by this section shall apply to a very small business (as defined in such regulations) beginning on the date that is 18 months after the effective date of such regulations.

Now, if I interpret that language correctly, ALL food suppliers / growers / marketers are subject to the "law" for at least 6 - 18 months ... and thus, well, screwed!!


More to come-and while you wait for that, have a read here:

http://www.naturalnews.com/030587_Senate_Bill_510_Food_Safety.html

Alaska politics-as low down and dirty

as you might expect to find in Illinois, Louisiana, and Washington, DC itself.

I swear, it's enough to give anyone heartburn.....especially every one who is planning on voting!


First, Lisa Murkowski. Lisa refused all but one very short debate during her whole campaign in the primary. She spent a lot of time seemingly raising money, but not much responding to questions about her voting record. I know, I emailed about that record and did not get a response. In fact, whenever I have contact Senator Lisa Murkowski about anything, nothing meaningful ever resulted. The best I got was a "cut and paste" by some aide, which quoted the administration selling points. Period. I was feeling pretty much ignored as a constituent going into the race to begin with, and her behavior during the primary didn't help me get all "warm and fuzzy" either.

Then, Joe Miller. I had never heard of Joe Miller before, but I did manage to catch him on a local radio show one afternoon-and I thought-wow, this guy gets it! Smaller government, states' rights and responsibilities, rein in out of control spending, and so forth. The message resonated deeply with me, because I had come to the realization that the standard of living I have managed to provide my son, will never be enjoyed by his children or grandchildren. No matter what the pundits say, we are in a depression-it is just the printing of fiat that is slowing the slide. Once inflation takes hold, you'll all see what I mean.

Joe Miller beat out Lisa Murkowski, becoming the Republican nominee for the general election tomorrow. Lisa promptly went back on her promise to support the nominee (so disconnected from her constituency that she evidently decided she didn't need to work hard for the nomination) and announced a write in campaign.

Right about that time, the gloves came off. And boy has it been a bare knuckle slug fest since!

Neither of these candidates is without warts. Joe Miller has lied about fiddling with computers at work, and then got caught at it. People beat him up over farm subsidies he got on farmland in Kansas-foolish, since much farm property gets the same. I also heard >insert appropriate breathless outrage here< that his wife actually got unemployment! Oh noes! She worked, she got laid off, she collected unemployment bennies! Stop the presses! Oh my gawd, I was laughing, but feeling a little riled up over it. The whole mess came to light after the Murkowski campaign filed suit to open the Fairbanks North Star Borough personnel records belonging to Joe Miller. Interesting side note: The *retired* judge who said it was okay, was appointed by Lisa's father-former Governor Frank "The Bank" Murkowski. So this lingering question has not been addressed by anyone: Does a judge retain judicial powers after retiring? And if so, can anyone bring a matter to any retired judge on a weekend?

So things really heated up here the last week or so. Lisa is not answering questions at all....the standard MO she exhibited throughout the primary. She is now trying to snag the Democratic vote, and peel off as many Miller supporters as she can, however she can. Security hired by Joe Miller handcuffed someone who turned out to be a "member of the press" and that caused a huge uproar too. Both sides have been trading barbs back and forth and things are complicated with various groups buying air time. I am personally annoyed with the tone of a group calling itself "Alaskans Standing Together". Composed of primarily native corporations, this group has aired some very inflammatory ads against Joe Miller. These are now being met head on by ads from the TEA Party Express and the Republican committee.

Last Thursday, Alaska's number one talk radio host evidently ran afoul of "The powers that be" when he urged listeners to register as write in candidates in the senate race. A passionate conservative, Dan Fagan is wholeheartedly behind Joe Miller and makes no apologies for it. It was a moment of civil disobedience to some degree, with many people signing up in protest over an action taken by the Department of Elections and the Alaska Supreme Court's ruling on that matter. That they acted in direct conflict with the law, seems to have escaped them-but not, of course, the political powerhouse that is the Murkowski campaign.

Mr Fagan was punished (and his audience and advertisers, of course) when he was not allowed to host a Friday show. Speculation ran crazy, but it came to light the decision was reached when John Tracey, with Bradly Reed Communications, complained to the Morris Communications station managed that Dan Fagan was "electioneering". In short, Mr Tracey threatened the station. Mr Tracey represents a whole lot of advertising revenue for 750KFQD.....and Bradly Reed's highest profile client?

Why, it's Lisa Murkowski, of course.

Then the brown sticky stuff hit the oscillating object yet again, when an accidental call was made to a Joe Miller staffer. The recording seemed to prove that a CBS affiliate's reporters were looking for dirt on Joe Miller. It made the national press of course....and so it goes.

Now here we are, one day away from the election, and at least a few polls are showing that Miller has a substantial lead over Murkowski.

And what can a person take away from all this? That no candidate is squeaky clean. They all have their warts (including Democratic candidate Scott McAdams who has been basically ignored in his run for a senate seat by the press) and that none of them has a lock on the election.

But mostly I learned that the media here in Alaska, is no better than media any other place in the US these days-biased and with an agenda. I mean, I knew that the Anchorage Daily News is about as left leaning as they can get-they even scrub comments on their website-that's how little they have to do these days. The Alaska Dispatch isn't much better-most of their coverage consists of negative pieces about Joe Miller.

In the end, what has surprised me the most, was learning just how much juice Mr Tracey has to influence our state. He has stifled the most popular radio talk show host in the state with one phone call.......

What else has he done, or could he do, should he chose?

Today, no politics!

(Even if our local races are reaching critical mass, lol)

Instead, a summary of the home front:

First, the firewood chore is basically done. All that is left is burning off the raked up branches, leaves, and bark bits left from all the splitting. Yay! Everything is neatly stacked under the woodshed, and it's a weight off the mind knowing it's there and ready. I fired up the wood stove in the house a couple weeks ago when we had morning temps into the lower 20s. Naturally, it has since warmed up into second "Indian Summer", ha! We've had at least a week of temperatures into the 40s during the day, and above freezing at night. I'm loving it :)

Second, my silly chickens. The replacement layers have really kicked into gear the past two weeks, it's great. The past three days have provided us with 5 eggs a day-not bad for just 8 laying hens! (Having typed that, I do have to comment that I am not positive I actually own a total of eight replacement layers-it's possible I could have a roo in there, I don't know! Buff Orpingtons are supposed to be very quiet birds and indeed they are-but does that include the roos too? Who knows!) My older hens have stopped laying and one is molting. Luckily I have someone waiting to take them....their culture highly prizes free ranging type chickens. So here in a few weeks they'll be caught up and *poof*, off they'll go. My Yokohama pair I am keeping. They are pretty small birds and don't eat much and if the rooster drives me crazy due to his crowing, I can forgive him since he's blind on one side. Poor thing. The Yokohama hen is a delight, easily picked up and cuddled and a big hit with all the children that visit us.

We've pulled a bunch of panels out of the arena, to make a small round pen for winter use. This allows us to plow all the way around the perimeter over the winter, and aids greatly at breakup in the spring. I've pulled the chicken wire fence from around the garden and next year, I will use some of the extra panels I have stashed out back-that should keep errant moose from snacking on my vegetables.

A few weeks back, a good friend lost their home to a house fire. So, we ended up with some extra vehicles parked down below that could not be accommodated anywhere else. By chance, they have since moved in to the area, and it will be nice to do some visiting back and forth over the winter. It prompted me to check my own insurance coverage and thank heavens, we're okay on that.

So right now, we are in a holding pattern, waiting for the first real snow fall of the season. If we can squeak out another week, I'll be pleased-I still don't have my studded tires on yet, lol

Summer was not quite over

The weather goddess smiled upon us here in Alaska.....we were gifted with nearly two full weeks of sunny skies-once the fog burned off, that is.

Some hay was put up, but most was wrapped for cattle, meaning another year of tight supply for horse owners. I have had to switch to round bales-something I have not done in many years, but we have mostly figured out how to cope with those. Luckily, there are several farms that managed to put up very nice rounds....nearly everyone that had the equipment, used proprionic acid (not sure this is the correct spelling) this year due to the weather.

On the home front, the greenhouse is mucked out and those items stacked and stowed. The seemingly never ending chore of firewood is continuing...one of these days it will all be done too, I hope! Moved the stock tank under the barn roof and plugged in the stock tank heater-yes, we've had some upper 20s mornings already, brrr! Today I need to pick up some OTC asthma/allergy meds for the old fart, because he has developed a nasty cough.

The chicken coop got its light onto a timer, and the insulated water bowl is in and working. They are still free to roam but when it's windy and cold, they tend to stay in the coop itself. Consequently, I am figuring out how to manage that many birds in a small space, even though two are ready for someone's stew pot. I think I need another three or four laying boxes and things should settle out okay in there.

We had a big wind storm a week or so ago, lots of people lost power. Ours was only off for a few hours over one night, but we lost at least 15 trees. Some, which were healthy, middle aged birch, literally snapped off about 15 feet up :( When the winds died down, my hub went around with the chain saw and took down the leaners and the broken ones. So that is yet more "wood chores" to deal with, hopefully before the first serious snowfall. Naturally, it's laying all over in pick up stick piles, complete with branches, ugh.

Over this past weekend, I spent my time processing. First, my in-laws had this season's salmon to smoke and can. They did the brining at their place, and then it came to us for drying and smoking. Once that was done it was a simple matter of stuffing jars and processing for the required time. 53 pints for them, and they are very pleased with the results. The last batch in the canners I just supervised and let my SIL do the work-she has been helping for years, and is now about ready to go it alone, I think.

After that, I canned up a bunch of moose stew. The moose came from a family members' big bull, that we helped cut and wrap last week. They were going to toss out the neck bones, etc, and we snagged onto them and put them in the freezer instead ;) My hub took a bunch of bones out and tended to roasting them for hours. This rends out a lot of the fat, and imparts a nice, rich flavor. After that, the bones went into our two largest stock pots and they simmered for at least six hours. Then a quick chill and the next day I was able to skim off the remaining fats easily. We added the stew basics-spuds, carrots and onions and very little else. It tasted very very good before it even went into the quart jars :)

Following that, I processed some of the local spuds I had picked up to use with the stew-and still have more to get done. I think I am down to about two canner loads of spuds, plus the box of local apples I got given yesterday. Oh and let's not forget all the high bush cranberries that I need to make up into cranberry ketchup this coming weekend.....

Eventually, I will be done.


Right?

September summer

After nearly seven weeks straight of cool, cloudy and very wet weather, Mother Nature has blessed us with a true Indian summer. Beautifully clear sunny skies during the day, down to near freezing at night. We've had plenty of fog to go along with this welcome change, and I've been fortunate that it burns off quickly at home every day. In fact, they are forecasting record breaking temperatures tomorrow, wow!

The greenhouse is mucked out so this weekend all that is left to do is to hose down the benches and floors-and then stack everything back inside. This time, I will make sure that the items I will need for next spring, are near at hand and easy to access.

An very large cow moose helped herself to my cabbages, so I only managed to get four smaller ones put away for the winter. I made one last pass through the garden and scrounged up another half dozen zucchini's, and then we let the chickens loose. Talk about some happy birds! Oh my goodness, they are everywhere, scratching, sun bathing, making holes in the dirt and so forth. They even come when I call, the older birds knowing my call means "goodies" and the younger pullets following along. It can be quite the sight to see nearly a dozen chickens come stampeding your direction, lol! On a related note, next year we'll set up horse panels around the garden to stave off any forays by the local moose.

We've gotten the majority of the firewood cut, split, and stacked already. Still a pile to split and stack and I hope to get after that this weekend in the afternoons. In the mornings, I have been out hunting. Yep, that fat old broad on the four wheeler with a rifle in one hand, that would be me ;) My hub went hunting too, upriver at a cabin for five days....no luck at that time. He'll be back in town for the closing days and one can always hope. In the meantime, there is me. I made a huge newby mistake last weekend, though. I totally forgot I had binoculars in my pocket, and passed by an opportunity to shoot because I couldn't see details. You can be sure I won't be making that mistake again, lol I have a hunting partner and I'll be out as many times as I can manage this weekend, no matter what. Sleep can come later, right?

The biggest fall chore (aside from firewood, of course) is done as well....we have processed all the salmon, yippee! This year we made a very mild smoke, it is positively yummy. It's a three day project from beginning to end, and I think my hub gets better and better every year. All I know is folks seem to really look forward to our salmon, including the relatives down south. It's nice to see the jars in the pantry, that's for sure.....but gosh it is a lot of work.

Back to the weather.....well, with this long sunny stretch, a person would think that getting up decent hay would be easy, right? Sorry to disappoint, but that is not the case. Instead, it takes longer than the normal time, due to heavy dew and low lying fog every morning. It's been very still so there have not been any winds to help dry the hay. But I am optimistic that we'll have horse hay, instead of being in a near crisis situation. Now I am not so stressed about where I am going to find hay, whew!

Last night I managed to get some berry picking in, and have enough high bush cranberries for at least one batch. High bush cranberries are pretty much a family effort, and all the berries end up with me so that I can make cranberry ketchup for us all. Another one of those "all day long" projects but the results are marvelously tangy and flavorful.

Get out and enjoy the sunshine, everyone!

Summer's end

Well I sure haven't been putting much up here, since the advent of Facebook in my life. Shame on me, many people shun these social networking sites-and with pretty good reason. I have been very careful with interactions there for the most part, but I am finding it rather boring lately. I persist with Farmville (nope, no reason why, other than I want to finish what I started, haha) and to see what is going on with friends and family. I don't accept every friend request, or feel any desire to go out and get them, either. I'm pretty content with my own company anyway, and real life is much more rewarding.

As I watch the birch trees turn color (sans frost) every day, I am reminded that cycles of life are their own reward. The leaves changing means bare branches, which will lead to winters' wind, snow and cold. Which will give way to pussy willows and chickadees in the spring, along with breakup's challenges. And then the green arrives and we start all over again. There is something to be said for living where there are distinct seasons.

The vegetable gardening has been, frankly, crappy. Here we are at the end of August and I am just now getting green beans. End of August! I've quit watering in the greenhouse and have begun stripping what remains. So there are some mature ears of corn, ripening tomatoes, and a few cucumbers hanging on and that's it. I have three immature pumpkins still growing, which is amazing when I think about it. And of course I have plenty of large cabbages, dill, and the green beans to go. Once the garden is stripped, I will let the chickens loose-they'll get a few weeks to clean up whatever remains and I'll lock them back up for the winter when we get the first snows.

No local hay yet this year....the rain has caused either delayed harvest, or crops lost entirely. I am pretty sure this is going to be a very tight hay year, for all of us. I am still hopeful my favorite farmer will get up some dry hay-even if its not that great, my horse loves the stuff. So, no panic on my part as yet. Just hoping for a longish streak of dry weather sometime in the next couple of weeks.

On the horse front, there are big changes for us. Reba is now with a very talented teenager, for however long they chose. It seems to have turned into a really good match, although Reba-Roo has presented some serious challenges. During this, I discovered that I have been mislead about her "training". Ouch. Oh well, stuff happens and there will always be lessons to learn.

Now that fishing is wrapping up, hunting has commenced. Thus, I have barely seen my husband as he is off chasing the elusive legal bull moose. Personally, I'd be happy with a spike fork, but whichever-I am hopeful we'll have some tasty moose in the freezer this winter. So I'll forgive him if the salmon has not been smoked and processed yet, and the big pile of firewood still needs splitting.....getting a moose is priority one for the household this year :)

But that doesn't mean I have not been busy putting up a few things myself. In addition to all the berries I processed earlier this month, I have been picking our raspberry patch every couple of days. So far, I have four or five gallons in the freezer, with easily another gallon yet to ripen. Hopefully this coming weekend I will steal a few hours and go harvest a whole bunch of high bush cranberries. Have to have six pounds for each batch of cranberry ketchup and you'd think it's made of manna the way people want it, lol

I've also made four batches of zucchini relish-two of those will be on the spicy side with the addition of jalapeno and ancho peppers-yummy! I've got cauliflower and some broccoli also safely put up, but a moose got every brussel sprout plant-bless their little hearts. We'll miss having those gems to enjoy over the winter.

So this leads us on into September. Wow, where did summer GO?

For the science geeks!

Once you visit this link, you will want to bookmark it!

SolarIMG


http://solarimg.org/files/realtime/


This is a collection of real time images of our world: Sun, Earth, magnetosphere, particles, GOES satellite images of clouds and IR, and so on. The page refreshes every fifteen minutes. It even includes sea surface temperatures and jet stream forecasts too!

Wowza, my hats are off to the guys who put this together-you guys rock!

It's summer?

I find it slightly ironic that today is the first day in about a month, that it is not actually raining. Or misting. Or just quit raining, or is sprinkling, coming down in buckets, or has low scud, fog and/or thick clouds.

This past month has just flat......sucked. The past week, the highs have been maybe 54 degrees at my place. A few days ago, I had a whopping 40 degrees overnight. Yes, just 40 degrees! What in heck has happened to summer here?

I mean, I know we do get the occasional summer season where it does tend to stay wet, but this is ridiculous! Last Sunday it rained so hard it stripped flowers off my hanging baskets, left huge puddles in low spots, and sent creeklets running down the driveway. Last night I had puddles in the sand at the arena, and not even the big dog would run and play in that slop. I have not had to refill the stock tanks for a couple weeks now-due to run off from the roof of the barn.

The greenhouse is suffering. The garden is suffering. And heaven knows my mood is suffering too. Bah humbug.

Dozens of green tomatoes, nothing ripe. The corn has stalled for about three weeks now, it needs heat to finish. I have had blossoms on the green beans in their too, for at least two weeks-again, no fruits. I've had aphid attacks on a couple peppers (first time!) despite keeping a fan going for good air circulation. I do have a pretty good crop of cucumbers, despite the lack of sun. None of the specialty melons are going to fruit, darn it. Way too late now, just not enough sun and heat.

In the veggie garden, things aren't much better. The cabbages and cauliflower are going great guns-and I do have some zucchini. In the other side I have green beans which have hardly any buds on them. The broccoli has sat at one size of head for about three weeks now and the brussel sprouts have stalled out also. Sigh. Big disappointment, for all my high hopes. A few days back I managed to get a hoop rigged up for the beans, but its been raining too hard to even try to get visqueen up and over it.

In the barn, the chickens are not flooded out-yet. They too, would appreciate some sun. I do give them a big armful of greens every day. The horses' feet are soft, and the pens are a mess with manure that's been very difficult to get picked up. It's pretty hard to talk yourself into mucking manure when the wheelbarrow sinks deeply into soft slay and mud.

Because of this awful weather pattern, very little hay has been put up locally. Its actually been a very good hay year due to the rain-we just haven't had four or five days in a row of dry weather for the process. I've been waiting on one hay farmer whose hay my horses do very well on....he called the other day, to let me know he hasn't been able to get anything up. I knew that, his weather has been no better than mine. A couple weeks ago I basically ran out of hay, and purchased a local round bale for the horses. It turned out to be very very bad in the center and was moldy enough it set the ponies to coughing something awful. This past week, I found a clean round bale, and they are very happy horses now-whinnying for meals.

On the up side of that, I can use the round bale for composting, now that I have a place picked out for that. Yes, it will mean some work, but in the end, having good compost will be a marvelous benefit for my continually growing gardens. But until then, may I say:

BRING ON THE SUN!!!

The big news

Continues to be the tragedy in the Gulf of Mexico. I have done so much reading, so much digging into various websites and technical data...I am overwhelmed with the knowledge I have gained.

First, the bestest website for real data, interpreted by oil industry professionals:

www.theoildrum.com

Just about anything you want to know about the Macondo 252 and Deepwater Horizon is there, plus detailed information about Q4000 and the many vessels and support operations in the GOM. Through the many discussions there, numerous wild claims have been patiently debunked, or proven true as the case may be. If you chose, you could pick up quite the layman's education in the technical aspects of fluid dynamics, mudding, casings, cements, and so on. It's a great site, their main focus is, of course, the slow slide down after Peak Oil.

In the first week, I caught a news report that cited that the well had a gas content of around 40%. I thought that was very high...and sure enough, it is. Usually content is in the 5% range for oil wells.

Since then, I have watched (along with just about everyone in America and millions more around the world) as events have unfolded. I have tried to reassure online friends who live along the Gulf that eventually Mother Nature will recover. I point out what happened up here in 89 with the Exxon Valdez as an example. It does not help one bit of course, to people whose entire lives are being wiped out a little more each day.

Weeks ago, I saw video showing oil seeping/leaking from the sea floor-not at the actual well head or BOP. Now of course, that has been admitted publicly. Here is where I think a couple of the real dangers lie, given what I have been able to ferret out from various sources:

First and foremost, the methane. Right now, the majority of that gas is held against the sea floor by the cold temperatures and pressures. How much is warmed enough to percolate through the ocean to the surface? No one knows for sure, but reports are alarming to say the least. There's been talk of a "methane explosion" for many weeks now, and I suppose it could happen. The oil and gas mixture, and the Corexit dispersant have surely created a toxic soup of nasties....many many people are sick. And of course, press is being shut out of this part of the story. Rather like their carefully planned photo ops with the press when a politician arrives with fanfare: The beaches are immaculately cleaned just prior to their arrival.

Secondly, the BOP is not maintaining the pressure that they had hoped for. This could mean several things, but the most likely reason is that the bore itself, or the drill stem, has been compromised. When they capped it, it will eventually find another outlet.....it could be the newly reported seeps, or another place. Some geologists have speculated that there could actually be a sea floor collapse, given the composition of the strata. The void created by the escaping gas/oil could create a "cavity" down hole for that scenario. Or the hydrocarbons could migrate to another area altogether, and work its way to the sea floor miles away. No one really knows.

I have heard some pretty wild numbers when it comes to the pressures down hole there, most of them bunk. Around 11,900 psi is the real number. Since I am curious sort, I asked my hub about well pressures up at Prudhoe Bay. I was surprised to discover that a number of the wells up there run in the 10 to 14,000 range. Very very dangerous pressures....even five pounds of pressure can kill someone, if you are in the wrong place at the wrong moment. I am suitably amazed at the technical expertise shown in coping with these pressures, and particularly the skill of the ROV operators.

Along with all of this, we have the Alaska situation, growing more grim by the day. You've been living under a rock if you don't think our economy is tanking here. Our Gov. Parnell shot himself in the foot last week when he refused to divulge the results of the open season for AGIA until after the elections. For, ahem, "logistical" reasons. Yeah sure, Sean, yew betcha. *choke gag*. What a load of hooey, it is our money at risk here, he should darn well release the information as soon as the season closes-about another two weeks.

Former Gov Palin's ACES plan continues to crimp development of our natural resources, and the Salazar moratorium on off shore drilling isn't helping matters. Did you know, a couple years ago that over a dozen exploratory wells were drilled up there? Last year, one. This year: None. Zero, zip, zilch, nada. Since our idiot comissioner Tom Irwin choses not to allow permits, Shell's plans to go forward with exploration has been halted as well. It's not a good situation when you take into consideration that the amount of oil being shipped down the TAPS is dropping by four to six percent a year, every single year.

Also, BP is about to be pillaged. Most people think they have it coming, and they should pay and pay and pay. I don't necessarily disagree with those sentiments. They are planning on selling off some of their North Slope assets to Apache, another oil field company. BP has already laid off many many people up north (which is not making the local press of course) and their contracts are expiring without being renewed. This means, 100s of idle Slope workers just in time for the winter, which is seriously not good. If they sell off everything, the hats will change but I am still optomistic that operations will continue up there, regardless.

And with that, I will close for now.

A few images from the garden....first, nasturtiums. Nasties are a bit of work in that you need to continue to dead head the older leaves constantly. I have found that the baskets tend to go through two different growth phases. The first growth which takes place inside a greenhouse, produces large leaves and the first shoots and flowers. After around six weeks or so, the older leaves die off, and then comes a rush of newer vines with smaller leaves-but just covered with flowers. Did you know that the blossoms are edible? Yes, they are a colorful addition to the summer plate and are slightly peppery. They also have a nice aroma and are usually covered with bees too. It's a good plant to have near a vegetable garden as it draws insects that will help with pollination.

Second is one of my all time favorites....a rather scarce pansy variety known as "Antique Shades" They may be old fashioned, but their muted colors still draw the eyes as easily as their more flashy cousins. With a relatively large bloom and bushy gowth habit, they are wonderful for garden containers-especially bowls. Like the nasturtiums, these are grown from seeds (they do not winter over here in Alaska) and are fairly difficult to germinate. I am happy if I get a 60% germination rate, and some years it is half that. The colors range from the pale peach pictured above, to a deep rose.

The last photo is of my raspberry patch. The location was one we picked in a hurry when I was gifted with these wonderful canes, and it seems to have been the "happy place" for them. They get plenty of sun in that spot, yet have a little shelter from the strong northeast winter winds. Last year I was sure I had a bumper crop, due to the amount of berries picked. Boy was I wrong! This year, the branches were loaded with blossoms and the bees were having a feast there. You could hear the bees buzzing from six or eight feet away-dozens working them for weeks on end. Now we have reached the point of unripe fruits which have weighed down the branches nearly to the ground in a couple spots. I have a hunch we'll be picking these every other day for a good long while, once they begin to ripen :)

Our summer that isn't

After our scorching temperatures in May, the weather patterns have conspired to give us week after week of cloudy and cool days. Even in mid June, I had morning temps around 40, very cold even for Southcentral. About every ten days or so, we get a day, day and a half of mostly sunny skies and that's all we get.

Because of this, many hay farmers-especially to the west at Pt MacKenzie, have been unable to successfully put up horse quality hay. Farmers around Palmer have been more fortunate due to those reliable Valley winds and a bit of good luck due to geography and a little something called "weather shadow". That's a weather phenomenon where moisture from arriving lows get held on one side of a mountain range or another. In any case, those very few Palmer farms that got their hay up, have probably already sold out. I prefer to purchase hay from a particular farm up north, and while the cooler cloudy days have produced an incredible crop, the weather just has not cooperated to get it harvested. I got a round bale to tide me over and my two are happily enjoying nonstop nibbling for the time being.

All the clouds and rain have had mixed effects on the garden too, of course. I have lots of lettuce and other greens for example, but the green beans (loaded with buds too)and zucchini are very slow-not enough heat and sun for them. In fact, most veggies are running a couple weeks behind normal. In the greenhouse, I have plenty of green tomatoes, but nothing ripe as yet. We've been eating cucumbers for a while now, but even they need more heat and sun to really produce. The corn is showing silks on some stalks but there too, not as many as in other years-the shoots are there, just not up and full yet.

Last night I noticed that I have one baby pumpkin forming (yay!!) but the other winter squashes are just basically sitting there, not growing. From here on out, I will be planting all winter type squash under row cover, no exceptions. It's all a learning curve and I must remember that. Like the old saying goes: There are lean years, and there are bean years ;) Hopefully this will turn out to be a bean year!

Chicken wrangling

Nothing like chicken wrangling! This morning I found my smallest chick has somehow or other gotten out. She was happily rooting through the manure piles in the adjacent horse pen and chasing insects.

Yes, yes, I know it's good for them. And yes I don't really like having my chickens penned in the first place. The alternative would be to completely fence in my garden area (and several other beds too, plus block off the doors to my greenhouse) and somehow get netting over all of it. Which would have to be tall enough that a person could work in there too. There is just no feasible way to do this.

So I dropped the dog lead, asking him to stay, and attempted to herd the errant bird towards the gate. She was having nothing doing, of course, and allow me to state that chicks can be quick, very quick! I gave up after a few minutes, and returned to the house. She was caught by my son using our largest fishing net, and put back inside. Then we spent a few minutes attempting to figure out where she'd gotten out. Near as I can figure, she must have launched herself from the roof of the nest boxes mounted inside the chicken coop and right up and over the netting. We hastily made repairs and then we were off and running for the day. Bet you all know what I'll be doing over the weekend, right? Ayep, battening down the netting! Chickens are not that dumb, I don't think, lol

Yesterday evening we had some sun (yay!) and then today we have partly cloudy skies (yay yay!!) so this should help kick the garden and green house into gear. I may even have a cucumber to eat this weekend-over a foot long, I have been waiting for it to plump up. The lettuces have really taken off with this type of weather, so there is plenty to eat. My raspberries are just astounding this year. I have never seen so many buds and fruits (most still green of course) and you can readily hear the buzz of bees from six or eight feet away. Last night I saw easily three or four dozen, busily working the blossoms there.

Thanks to my talented SIL, I no longer have bees nests inside my greenhouse! Yippee! My SIL was a beekeeper in years past, so she knows behavior and habits pretty well. Anyhow, while I winced and ducked, she squashed the small nests for me. Two were empty and one had one single bee in it. We disposed of the papery remains, and so far, no new construction going on. She informed me that bees are typically absent during the daylight hours and its much safer to take the nests down when they are very small. The method won't work on a large nest, or when its cold and/or raining hard.

This upcoming three day weekend will mean extra time to get outside chores done. For example, weeding the vegetables. I have a bumper crop erupting from the holes in the black plastic mulch, so that is first on the list. The chickens will be thrilled to have the greens, I am sure-I've been giving them chick weed from around the lettuce, and they sure squabble over it :) The hardest part will be trying to figure out what is a beet, and what isn't....the carrots are pretty easy but the beets? I had to wait until they were a bit bigger first!

I have some baby zucchini coming along, the cabbage leaves have started to lay down, the cauliflower is about ready to head up, and the broccoli is getting taller every day. So despite this long string of cloudy and rainy skies, the garden is growing!

To dear mehh

To the individual with the signature "mehh", who responded to a two year old post of mine yesterday (and who identified herself, no less) I have this to say:

You, my dear, are a potty mouth. As evidenced by your trash talk, it proves that the fruit did not fall far from your family tree. Thank heavens, there is quite enough of you to go around.

Allow me to acquaint you with the facts concerning the incident. I'll wait while you look up the big words, okay?

Ready?

Ok, here we go. The horse was boarded with me originally after the purchase. The horse was not "rescued" from AC by the owner. It was purchased from a private party locally. Horse arrived about a CS 3.5 (Please dear, do look up Henneke Condition Scoring and learn about it, it is a valuable tool for all horse owners) and proceeded to gain weight easily. Horse remained in my care for over a year, and left slightly overweight, sound, and blooming with good health. What reasons the owner had to leaving are not mine to question-an owner may do as they chose with their horses.



From my place she arrived at your family's "facility". Six months later, this is what I saw with my own eyes at AC:






Now, for educational purposes, here is the same horse just a couple of days ago:




Now, do tell everyone just how it is, that a robust, healthy horse can go from plump to skin and bones in your care? What defense can you possibly imagine would be effective? You claim you "fed grain three times a day".....I'd venture an opinion there, but the photos speak for themselves.


Explain for us, your mother dinning the owner for board, after the horse was impounded by AC. Instead of fessing up and letting the owner know she was in trouble, your mother lied, and lied, and then tried yet more lies with the AC officers. Do you think she has paid any of the many fines assessed by the court over the years?

And too, you did know that court matters are public record? And that anyone can look up anything about anyone?

But you know this quite well, don't you? After all, your mother has around 70 records in the local court. How is that eviction going for you, anyway?

Now, look again at the pictures.....notice a difference there?

And so it goes

We're in full summer mode here, even if the weather is not very summer like. We've had quite the stretch of cool and cloudy days, punctuated with plenty of sprinkles. Sure cuts down on the watering the lawn and vegetable garden, but tends to bring me down with day after day of gloomy skies. I am sure we'll have a return to warmer temps and sun, eventually.

This year, we are tackling the firewood chore earlier than usual. The idea is to get it all cut, split and stacked before the silvers start running, lol To that end, my hard working husband has a large pile of logs already cut-and we've gotten the woodshed partly filled already. Tonight the plan is to split and stack as much as we can. After that, there is a pretty big pile of very gnarly looking stuff that has a fairly large diameter...I am pretty sure that once it's cut, I won't be able to even pick them up to get them on the splitter!

The garden is perking along, the only disappointments being the carrots and beets. I just have to plant those some other place because they just don't germinate or grow well there. I have plenty of bean plants up, and most everything is starting to get some size on it, thank heavens. A couple weeks ago, my son and I created a small bed out of some leftover material, and stuffed some greens in it-it's really taking off there and I am pleasantly surprised. Over the weekend, I realized I had about two flats' worth of miscellaneous veggies to do something with. Pretty danged small of course, from being in the flats so long. On a whim, I ran off to Home Depot and picked up some bagged mix. We put down a few inches of old horse manure and then topped it with the mix and stuffed way too many plants in there. If they live, great-if not, oh well. I couldn't bear to throw it all out, so anything that grows can be fed to the chickens. The new spot is where I intend to move some raspberries to next year anyway.

In the greenhouse, I have baby fruits-peppers, tomatoes, and cucumbers. We just need some sun and warmth to really get it going. My one specialty basket of nasturtiums in there is doing very well-I can't wait until it gets a little bigger with more blooms so I can take a photo to share-very unique plant. Last weekend I finally got the greenhouse arranged and tidied up, which was a bit of a project in itself. Things tend to get pretty jumbled when you are potting up and planting like crazy :) Also over the weekend, I noted three honey bees actually inside the greenhouse, I was thrilled. And not so thrilled to find a wasps' nest there too. Not sure what to do about that, I think I'll leave that for my wonderful hub to deal with!

In between the gardening, we managed to get some red salmon in the freezer (yay!) and hub made some delicious smoked salmon to enjoy. He is very very good at making smoked fish, everyone loves it and it's gobbled up like candy. We tried making dog treats using the trimming from the fish (thin belly strips and etc) and it was a total failure. We'll try again I'm sure, but that was a big disappointment.

My replacement layers are getting some real size to them, my gosh they are getting big. Last night when I arrived home I found all the chickens out and about had a heart attack-you can't imagine how much damage chickens can do to a vegetable garden until you see it for yourself. I was fortunate they had not ranged far from the pen, yes indeed. It was a real Kaystone Kops episode, getting them penned back up-it took my son and I nearly a full hour. We did figure out where they'd made their escape and got that repaired easily enough. Silly birds, always something. The Yokohama hen has gone broody and we've given up trying to stop her-if she choses to sit on a few eggs and hatch a couple of chicks, so be it.

This week I hope to contact a few hay farmers, see how the crop is shaping up. Since we've had no rain at all in May here locally, I figure it's going to be a pretty late first cutting. Now the real question is, will my hay last until then? I am sure lots of local horse people are in the boat as I am, lol

It's slid into June already!

The last two weeks have been a blur of busy, and then some!

Let's see, the new greenhouse was dismantled and is at home-in piles on pallets. We finally got a quote about moving the wood frame green house and that was way over our budget. So, on to plan B or C or whatever. My primary purpose immediately became: Get gardening anyway!

First, I had to get moved into the greenhouse. Which meant moving a whole bunch of stuff out that we stored in there over the winter. Once that was done it was transferring all the plants down there, and continuing with hardening off the outside things. I cut way back on the number of plants compared to last year, as it was pretty overwhelming, lol From 28 tomatoes to just a dozen. From 18 peppers to a dozen. And so forth. Everything is looking very healthy and I have buds or flowers on many plants already-yay! Heck even the green beans in the planters are trying to come up, imagine that :)

I managed to get my pumpkins into the ground last week-fully three weeks ahead of last year. The garden got rototilled, thanks to a very generous neighbor and he did a stellar job of it too. It was some kind of work, but the garden is planted, yay! More beans, less cabbage this time, haha. My neice came over and helped too, could not have done it without her help over the past weekend.

Last night, with yet more help from a neighbor and two extra boys, I finally got my chickens corraled up for the summer. The adults are not very happy with their jail, oh my. The baby chicks are no longer small-they are darn near the size of my Yokohama hen. And boy can they eat! They have food and water 24/7, even if that means I loose some to waste. The added bonus is that I will now be able to find the blasted eggs! We have found several stashes of eggs around the property and have had to toss them all out of course. Silly hens, I have that laying box for a reason, lol

So the lawn is looking pretty decent, and I am full on into summer mode. Water baskets and bowls at the house in the morning, water everything else after work, and using the tractor sprinkler every other evening.

Yep, summer is here! Complete with sunburns, skeeter bites, and assorted bees, wasps, and hornets ;)

Long time coming

I keep thinking I should post another entry here on the blog...and instead, I get diverted onto something more pressing :)


It's been one heck of a spring so far!

When I left off, I was just gearing up to start the spring planting. Since then, over a hundred flats have been seeded, germinated, and subsequently delivered. I still have a few flats coming along, and then I will be able to dismantle the growing apparatus in the garage-maybe this weekend.

Inbetween the planting, I went on vacation. Yes, a real vacation! Took my son, and we went to California-we did Sea World, Disneyland, California Adventure Park and Universal Studios. We had an absolutely wonderful time, the weather was wonderful. Joey spent four days with his grandparents-getting to know his cousin Maykayla-and my sister and I scooted over to Vegas for some fun. Boy do I have some stories about Vegas, haha! I think the best part was seeing Terry Fator. If you ever have the opportunity to see his show-do it, you won't regret it. I laughed so much I about lost my voice, heehee

As usual, my sis came home about even or a little ahead, and I came home broke ;) That's okay, I had a ball walking through all those casino's I had only seen on television and movies. I bet I walked 35 or 40 miles on that vacation, easy. Never would have been able to do that, without my MIL's help in locating a shoe store in Riverside called San Antonio Shoes. Expensive but worth every penny when you can walk all day without your feet hurting! My sis took me to several stores she knew about-including Ross Dress for Less. I was a really overwhelmed after shopping our pitiful selections here in the Valley for umpteen years, lol

The food in Vegas is hit or miss. Gone are the super cheap buffets, and we discovered the food is much better in downtown Vegas (where the Fremont Experience and several casino's are located-well off the Strip) and slot machines much nicer. Next time, I think I would rather stay downtown. The Strip was packed with young adults that week, due to spring break and March Madness, it was just crazy full of basketball fans and rowdy folks partying hard and harder-just an amazing place.

Once home I returned the usual spring stuff. Breakup and all, lol Today should be the last day I have eight chicks in the garage-they are six weeks old now and well feathered-my replacement layers are Buff Orpington's which I got as day old chicks from the local hatchery.

The biggest news concerns the greenhouse. We'd been talking about this project for quite a while and heaven knows I have put a lot of effort into the research-but an opportunity presented itself locally....and we now own a new (to us) larger greenhouse! Yes, it had to be taken down and moved but that's done and it lays in piles down below. Adding this structure means we have to move just about everything, no kidding. First, we need to build new raised beds (asap!) and get my garden soils moved. This opens up the area for the wood frame greenhouse-which needs to be emptied and then moved (somehow!) up the hill and onto that flat spot. Once that is done, we can think about the dirt work necessary for the newer greenhouse. The only major thing that will need to be done (besides putting it back up of course) is running the gas line down there. I have plenty of power at the barn to run both houses so that is a plus.

Between the vacation and the new greenhouse and what needs doing, I am going to be pretty broke for a while-but it will all be worth it. I can't wait to get started :)

There has been so much stuff going on over the past few months, I can barely keep up with the (dismal) news. There are a few bright spots, that can give even my normally pessimistic self a glimmer of hope:

The Kennedy spell was broken when a Republican won the seat. He was quickly confirmed by the Senate-and the results of that election are starting to ping through the Democratic party. Good, I say. I am not foolish enough to think that either party has "our best interests" at heart, but at least the voters back east were heard :)

Another bright note was the USDA scrapping plans for implementing NAIS. Yay! Double yay! Naturally, Sec. Vilsack (Agriculture Secretary) has all sorts of other plans in the works and those require careful vigilance from all of us who own livestock in a small way. Naturally, they still have not addressed the true food safety risks: the processing end by large agribiz. Watch for more regulations coming down the well greased (lobbyist) pike.

The Tea Party is gaining national recognition. Of course, the state media outlets would have you believe that the folks who are vocal about this, are a tiny fraction of the American voters. Um, not. There are millions whose voices are never heard over the clamor to praise the sitting President. I am hoping this is one instance where the tail is not going to wag to dog ;)

On Capital Hill, careful observers are seeing signs that the juggernaut of "my way (spend, spend, spend, spend us into collapse) or the highway" might be coming to an end. I can tell you that at least the Democratic Senator from Alaska, does not listen to his constituents whatsoever. He votes the Pelosi way in all things. I hope that when re-election time comes for him, people will remember what Sen Begich has *not* done for us. Thankfully, we have a loud and raucous talk radio presence here, and these guys are not going to let his misdeeds be swept under the rug. You know, stuff like the budget shortfall for Anchorage and so forth.

Just yesterday I was listening to a popular radio show on the way home. It seems that the Anchorage School District has asked 4th graders to go out and shovel snow to earn money for "school supplies". Another caller (a teacher) said that the budget for supplies was just a couple dollars a student. The Superintendent should be ashamed at this situation. 700 million dollar budget and they need to ask children to earn money for supplies??? Say what??? As a parent, I can tell you that you are given a listed or required supplies to purchase every fall. Filling those lists generally costs at least $75 per student, even with the big back to school sales. They bring to school paper, pens, pencils, scissors, glue, folders and notebooks and a variety of other items....WHY does the school need more supplies? And WHY are teachers digging into their own pockets too? Shame on you, Carol Comeau and the Anchorage School Board for not cutting administrative expenses! How about trimming some supervisory staff and getting paper and pencils into the classroom, eh? Or even better yet, stop hiring those taxis to shuffle kids from school to school every day-that would save several hundred thousand right there.

Things aren't much better in the MatSu School District either, unfortunately. If you aren't actively demanding performance from the staff, your student will be schlepped along without attention. As Anchorage does, the MatSu soon follows, so expect to see even more bloated school budgets in the coming years here :(

On the home front, I smell DIRT! Yippee, hooray!!! I have over two dozen flats started, with more to come shortly. We got a new plant starting rack and like it so well we are getting another one, haha Each rack holds at least 16 flats, so hopefully I won't end up too blasted crowded here in six weeks or so. I still have my work one of course, and plan to use that for a few specific items that take up a lot of rack space-like the sweet corn and squashes I think. In a few weeks, we will be setting up the table for the big light too, which should help. May even end up with a couple racks in the garage itself, time will tell.

The big P begins :)

Tomorrow officially marks the beginning of the "Big Plant", or, as I think of it: It's time to smell dirt!

My seed orders arrived in good time, and I have spent a couple hours figuring out what to start when, and how much. I only made two small goofs-I accidentally ordered a quarter pound of one seed (yikes!!) and not enough of another. A friend was kind enough to offer me the opportunity to add items to their own plastics order, and I need to pick up that this weekend also. This will be a very nice savings over the local retail prices on cell packs and small pots-I'm thrilled!

In the morning, I will root around in the greenhouse and locate a number of trays. I need to start about two dozen flats, but only have room in the one grow rack for 16. The rest will come to work-these will be grown on for someone who specifically requested them.

In February, more things get started but the truly big plant is in March, and every ten days thereafter. My last plant date is going to be about the first week of May or so......by which time I should be organizing my own greenhouse for moving in.

I've also been gathering information about building another, larger greenhouse to expand my "veggie starts" enterprise. It's going slow, as I am still gathering quotes on various aspects and as soon as I have some of this together I will be working on a formal business plan.

In other news, our family grew by one yesterday. Brennan Josiah joined the extended family at about 4pm yesterday. Baby is very healthy, 6lbs, 12ozs and mom is going great also. My youngest niece could also give birth at any time....her due date is about three weeks away but the baby is fully mature :) Another boy to welcome into the world-I am delighted!

The big dog is doing great, and little Jethro still goes everywhere with me. Although, my car now reeks of "dog" and until it warms up enough to seriously clean it out, I am resorting to air fresheners, lol The cats are fat and bored and yowling to be let outside, and my chickies? My wonderful chickies gave me a whopping 23 eggs in ten days! They are obviously very happy in their winter digs. I credit the super duper custom feed that I get from a good neighbor for their amazing productivity. Still planning on ordering in some baby chicks this spring, to augment the flock. Eventually I will convert over to the other breed, since they are much more cold hardy than my layers now.

In the midst of all these normal events and plans, I am watching with dismay and concern what is happening in Washington DC. So far, Alaska has escaped the brunt of the depression to come-but it will surely arrive if the cronies in Juneau don't do something to correct the anti-business environment we have here. Please don't forget that they are our "employees" and take five minutes to email them with your concerns-whatever those may be. I have written off Senator Begich, since he is joined at the hip with the Democratic party and votes only the party line-even when it is in direct opposition to Alaskan interests :( Very sad. I will certainly remember when the time comes to chose a senator and I am betting a great many others will too.

The outlook is wonderful

I'm not one to make bold resolutions, outrageous statements, or shout news to the rooftops-but this new year, things are looking pretty wonderful.

The household survived the minefeild of holiday stress relatively intact, and we moved into 2010 without fanfare on our part.

There are a number of things on the 2010 agenda.

My first order of business (after renewing business licensing of course, lol) will be to place my seed order for the coming season. I am having a ball going through the catalogs and websites, and sincerely wish I had tons more space to try all the things I would like to-I mean, come on, who wouldn't like to eat fresh melons right from the vine?

I am also gathering information and nailing down costs for another greenhouse. Yep, I am nuts, possibly certifiable too ;) But, it turns out I am pretty good at this growing thing, and I really really like doing it.

At some point this year, I will be gelding my stallion. He has spent too many years apart from companionship. No one wants to breed to him anyway. So we'll be discussing whether or not to breed the buff and pretty mare I have first, or just go ahead and do the deed. I have had a number of people contact me with the "someday" idea of breeding but the mares have never materialized and I don't expect they will. It's just cruel to keep him seperated from the mare, and is definitely not good for him mentally.

There is always work to do at home too, and that includes a whole bunch of gardening stuff. Like building real flower beds, and expanding the veggie garden and so on and so forth and truthfully-I am done with talking and will make it happen-husband approval and contribution or not ;) The cold frame will go up, the chicken coop located to permanent quarters and gosh darn it, we are going to pretty up the place. So there! (well, you know what I mean, lolol)

The outlook is indeed wonderful, simply because I have the resolve to make the changes I feel needed. Pretty simple, isn't it?

Now, if I can just drop 25 pounds.....;)