Monday, July 26, 2010


Bill S 510

Shared by the Tree of Life Rejuvenation Center
www.treeoflife.nu

A most dire bill is up before the U.S. Senate currently.

We are calling you to respond to this with the force of your
intentions and actions. S 510, the Food Safety Modernization Act of
2010, may be the most dangerous bill in the history of the US.

According to Dr. Shiv Chopra, "If accepted [S 510] would preclude
the public's right to grow, own, trade, transport, share, feed and
eat each and every food that nature makes. It will become the most
offensive authority against the cultivation, trade and consumption
of food and agricultural products of one's choice. It will be
unconstitutional and contrary to natural law or, if you like, the
will of God.

It is similar to what India faced with imposition of the salt tax
during British rule, only S 510 extends control over all food in the
US, violating the fundamental human right to food."

Please write your State Senators today by going to
http://clicks.aweber.com/y/ct/?l=MVwn_&m=1deMBPZkOvIgPf&b=E1gEvajKF7RLLPSSfydMNg

For more information on the bill, go to
http://clicks.aweber.com/y/ct/?l=MVwn_&m=1deMBPZkOvIgPf&b=Z3pDRsH_B.eZUuAScZvGVg

656 Channing Drive NW, Atlanta, GA 30318, USA

Wednesday, July 21, 2010


Plant guilds - plant communities with a purpose


The horticultural techniques used by permaculturists rely heavily on plant combinations. A guild is a harmonious assembly of plants (but it could be plants and animals) the essential characteristic being a diverse mixture (polyculture) whose elements all have a purpose. The plants are chosen to be beneficial to each other, and so it is similar to companion planting.

As with the forest garden, the design of guilds makes use of the advantages that the natural world provides such as below ground the nitrogen fixation and mycorrhizal fungi, and the dynamic accumulators such as comfrey. Above ground are flowers and berries that attract insects and birds - our natural allies in pest control. The physical structure of the guild may also allow it to provide shelter from winds and frost. It may also throw shade that could serve a purpose.

Guilds can be constructed by use of annual plants, but self-seeding tends to allow creep. Thus it is best to have a permanent plant community using perennial plants. When planting guilds, experiments and experience (observation) will tell us if it works. Plant choices can be made on their range of function (see above) but they should also be made on the particular characteristic of growth of the plant i.e. does it crowd out its neighbours by spreading aggressively? Does it expand by forming clumps, or does it spread by underground shoots or by producing a carpet? Is it stable and long lasting?

We can think of a community of plants as being a matrix having successive layers of vegetation above ground and a similar complex pattern of roots below ground (i.e. some plants have spreading roots, some have deep tap roots and others have a mat of roots in a clump). Creating plant matrices requires the ability to match plants with the habitat (i.e. soil, climate, shade etc.) and to create plant alliances that make use of the ability of plants to form mutually dependant groups. These groups occupy the ground and the space above it so successfully that intruders cannot find a way in. The closeness of planting and the eventual growing together of the different plants means that there is rarely any bare soil and so weeds are kept out. This reduces much of the work, as there is no hoeing, little ground preparation, and little need for external inputs. Because the plants form a cover, they will reduce water loss from the soil and thus the need for watering. The plants and the communities they form become the controlling factor feeding back what if any work should be done.

Establishment of a guild takes time and the character and composition of any planting changes as it develops and matures. Annuals and short-lived perennials can sometimes be used as fillers in the early stages, dying out within a few years. Woodland could be thought of as being the most completely developed guild. A micro-forest can be made mixing shrubs with perennials in mixed guilds. The shrubs can emerge like islands from the perennials, which themselves give interest before the shrub has burst into life. In fact, while we may think of a matrix as being three-dimensional, there is another dimension to consider. Different plants contribute to the matrix at different times of the year.

Two types of guilds are planted at Springfield, a community garden near Bradford. They attempt to show the integration of different plant types: Why should herbs be grown just in an herb garden, or top fruit and soft fruit all on its own? Is there a way of making pest control part of the permanent infrastructure of a vegetable garden or even amongst fruit?

PERENNIALS IN A LINEAR GUILD

Golden pea


Themopsis montana

Chicory


Chicorium intybus

Chives


Allium schoenprasum

Comfries


Symphytum spp

Common toadflax


Linaria vulgaris

Feverfew


Tanacetum parthenium

Figwort


Scrophularia nodosa

Garlic chives


Allium tuberosum

Goats rue


Galega officinalis

Greater celandine


Chelidonium majus

Green alkanet


Pentaglottis sempervirens

Ladys mantle


Alchemilla mollis

Lemon balm


Melissa officinalis

Lovage


Levisticum officinale

Lucerne


Medicago sativa

Lungwort


Pulmonaria spp

Mallow


Malva sylvestris

Marjoram


Origanum vulgare

Mints


Mentha

Musk mallow


Malva moschata

Ox-eye daisy


Leucanthemum vulgare

Red clover


Trifolium pratense

Soapwort


Saponaria officinalis

Sorrel


Rumex acetosa

Tansy


Tanacetum vulgare

Tree onions


Allium cepa var. proliferum

Welsh onion


Allium fistulosum

Yellow loosestrife


Lysimachia punctata

LINEAR GUILDS: Raised rectangular beds (1.2m wide by 9m long), separated by paths (0.6m wide) are used for vegetable growing at Springfield. A narrower bed (0.6m wide, same length) compliments pairs of vegetable beds. These narrow beds are planted up with perennials, thus forming a linear guild which is spaced throughout the whole growing area (there are two perennial beds for every six vegetable beds). The planting of the narrow, perennial beds is carried out with a number of aims in mind. First, they should attract pest predator insects, so that the beds become bug banks. Next, it makes sense to grow green mulch material right next to the vegetable beds where it is to be used (i.e. perennial nitrogen-fixers such as clover and lucerne, and the comfries). Lastly, these narrow beds are a chance to grow herbs (both culinary and medicinal) and the few perennial vegetables available to us, giving us additional produce. In all cases, whatever the purpose of the plant, it is likely that most of them contribute to pest control through the predator attraction of their flowers.

-top

ISLAND GUILDS: The second type of guild incorporates woody plants and either stands alone - as an island - or is part of a larger area of woody planting such as an orchard or forest garden. The characteristic of these guilds is a triangular planting, with one point of the triangle being a top-fruiting tree (apple, pear, plum, cherry, crab apple) and the other two points being fruit bushes (blackcurrant, gooseberry, worcesterberry etc.). The space around and within the triangle is then planted with many of the same perennials that are used in the linear guild. There may also be other woody plantings incorporated (such as flowering currant and willow) but these will be placed to the northern side of the guild so that they do not block out sunlight. Their purpose would be as early flowering shrubs that attract insects. They are likely to be managed by coppicing or pollarding.

The woody guilds are oases of mixed plantings that have similarities to a forest edge. The top fruit give height and they form the canopy. The fruit bushes, coppiced willow and flowering currant are a middle storey, and the understorey or groundcover is made up from both culinary and medicinal herbs, perennial flowers for pest predator attraction, some perennial food - and fertility for free from nitrogen fixers, micorrhizal associations and dynamic accumulators!

Mark Fisher - Permaculture Design course handout notes

www.self-willed-land.org.uk mark.fisher@self-willed-land.org.uk

Wednesday, July 14, 2010



IN MEMORY OF AUDIE MURPHY AND Audie Murphy's Wife


The following, is about Audie and Pam Murphy.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
List of Decorations for Audie Murphy.

Medal of Honor

Distinguished Service Cross

Silver Star (with oak leaf cluster)

Legion of Merit

Bronze Star (with oak leaf cluster and Valor device)

Purple Heart (with two oak leaf clusters)
UArmy Outstanding Civilian Service Medal Ribbon.jpg

U.S. Army Outstanding Civilian Service Medal

U.S. Army Good Conduct Medal

Presidential Unit Citation (with First Oak Leaf Cluster)

American Campaign Medal

European-African-Middle Eastern Campaign Medal (with One Silver Star,
Four Bronze Service Stars (representing nine campaigns) and one Bronze
Arrowhead (representing assault landing at Sicily and Southern France)),

World War II Victory Medal

Army of Occupation Medal (with Germany Clasp)

Armed Forces Reserve Medal

French Fourragère in Colors of the Croix de guerre

French Legion of Honor - Grade of Chevalier

French Croix de guerre (with Silver Star),

French Croix de guerre (with Palm)

Medal of Liberated France

Belgian Croix de guerre (with 1940 Palm)

Additionally, Murphy was awarded:

* Combat Infantry Badge.svg the Combat Infantry Badge,
* Marksman Badge with Rifle Bar,
* Expert Badge with Bayonet Bar

Isn't it sad the media can tell us all about the crap that goes on, but ignores the GOOD people. If a movie star or politician stubs their toe we have to hear about it for days!!!

Subject: A Great Lady Has Passed

Pamela Murphy, widow of WWII hero and actor, Audie Murphy, died peacefully at her home on April 8, 2010. She was the widow of the most decorated WWII hero and actor, Audie Murphy, and established her own distinctive 35 year career working as a patient liaison at the Sepulveda Veterans Administration hospital, treating every veteran who visited the facility as if they were a VIP.

Any soldier or Marine who came into the hospital got the same special treatment from her. She would walk the hallways with her clipboard in hand making sure her boys got to see the specialist they needed.

If they didn't, watch out. Her boys weren't Medal of Honor recipients or movie stars like Audie, but that didn't matter to Pam. They had served their country. That was good enough for her.

She never called a veteran by his first name. It was always "Mister." Respect came with the job.

"Nobody could cut through VA red tape faster than Mrs. Murphy," said veteran Stephen Sherman, speaking for thousands of veterans she befriended over the years.

"Many times I watched her march a veteran who had been waiting more than an hour right into the doctor's office. She was even reprimanded a few times, but it didn't matter to Mrs. Murphy.

"Only her boys mattered. She was our angel."

Audie Murphy died broke in a plane crash in 1971, squandering millions of dollars on gambling, bad investments, and yes, other women.

"Even with the adultery and desertion at the end, he always remained my hero," Pam told me.

She went from a comfortable ranch-style home in Van Nuys where she raised two sons to a small apartment - taking a clerk's job at the nearby VA to support herself and start paying off her faded movie star husband's debts.

At first, no one knew who she was. Soon, though, word spread through the VA that the nice woman with the clipboard was Audie Murphy's widow.

It was like saying General Patton had just walked in the front door. Men with tears in their eyes walked up to her and gave her a hug. "Thank you," they said, over and over.

The first couple of years, I think the hugs were more for Audie's memory as a war hero. The last 30 years, they were for Pam.

She hated the spotlight. One year I asked her to be the focus of a Veteran's Day column for all the work she had done.
Pam just shook her head no.

"Honor them, not me," she said, pointing to a group of veterans down the hallway. "They're the ones who deserve it."

The vets disagreed. Mrs. Murphy deserved the accolades, they said.

Incredibly, in 2002, Pam's job was going to be eliminated in budget cuts. She was considered "excess staff."

"I don't think helping cut down on veterans' complaints and showing them the respect they deserve, should be considered excess staff," she told me.

Neither did the veterans. They went ballistic, holding a rally for her outside the VA gates.

Pretty soon, word came down from the top of the VA. Pam Murphy was no longer considered "excess staff." She remained working full time at the VA until 2007 when she was 87.

"The last time she was here was a couple of years ago for the conference we had for homeless veterans," said Becky James, coordinator of the VA's Veterans History Project.

Pam wanted to see if there was anything she could do to help some more of her boys.

Pam Murphy was 90 when she died last week [in early April]. What a lady.
Dennis McCarthy, Los Angeles Times on April 15, 2010 ~


Where are we going....

Wednesday, July 7, 2010

This happens next week! Please pass this information on to any new or beginning farmers (those farming less than 10 years) who you think would be interested. Thanks! Mary

Farm Tractors 101 Class
July 14 and 15, 2010, in Columbia, MO

This 90 minute class for beginning farmers will cover basic farm tractor operations,
including use of transmissions, hydraulics, and PTO. We will discuss selecting a tractor and matching tractors to farm implements. Tractor safety will be covered. Participants will be able to gain supervised driving experience on at least one of the models of three different tractors we will use for the class. A brief tour of other farm equipment will be part of the class and instructors will stay after the class to answer additional questions.

The main class will be offered the evening of July 14, but if we have more than 20
registrants we will offer a second class on the morning of July 15. Please indicate below your availability for each class time. If you indicate you can attend either date or only the morning of July 15, we will let you know by July 7th if the session on the 15th is being offered. The number of participants per session will be limited to 20 people to allow everyone to have time driving one of the three tractors we will have on site, including models loaned by Sydenstricker Implement (Rocheport dealership).

Registration Form: http://extension.missouri.edu/beginningfarmers/tractorregistration.pdf

Mary Hendrickson, Ph.D
Extension Associate Professor
Director, Food Circles Networking Project
University of Missouri Extension
200 B Gentry Hall
Columbia, MO 65211
Tele: 573-882-7463
Web: www.foodcircles.missouri.edu
extension.missouri.edu/beginningfarmers

Tuesday, July 6, 2010



Top 5 Time Drains for Market Managers

June 30, 2010 by Kathleen

1. Weather. Always a concern — is it too hot? Too windy? Is the rain going to keep customers away?

2. Maintaining Interest and Attendance. Does your market have the right vendor mix to keep people coming back, week after week? Do you have a bread vendor? A cofffee roaster? Enough hot food vendors? Varied produce? Meat? Eggs? Finding the delicate balance that ensures steady customer flow is equal parts art and science.

3. Keeping Vendors Happy. Is this easy for anyone? Managers have to make sure that their market doesn’t have too many vendors selling the same thing, all vendors want to be in the “best” spaces, and it’s a real challenge to fit all the pieces together.

4. Recruiting and Retaining Volunteers. This includes the market manager, in many cases. Market budgets are tight, and volunteers are a precious resource. Keeping them coming back requires non-menial tasks and an appreciative attitude.

5. Keeping Track of All Vendor Info. What products are your vendors selling? Who should you expect on any given market day? Are they up-to-date on all their licenses? What do they owe you?

We can help with that last piece, and we’re offering a significant discount for mid-season. Contact us to learn more!