Just came upon a great resource from the UK Plants For a Future Well, now, finally, winter has come to a Southern California pass at 3400 ft. and oh, how pretty the seed catalogs all look, and look at the prices!!!
Happy New Years folks, and may you have the best garden ever!
March 2006For twenty years I have been marking calendars with the weather of the day ... almost every day ... your guess as to the weather when ever you look up into the sky is probably the best guess! Don't get me wrong ... our local guys are GREAT ... great to look at, but even with 'super dopplar' at their beck and call ... they just never seem to get it very right, most of the time. I do appreciate the radar shots though!
Took a chance on some citrus trees this year ... oh, how I long for them, even though my elevation at 3400 is a bit tricky. They are now huddled in their pots, under the southern eves. My fingers are crossed.
My favorite of all citrus, so far, are the little brilliant marvelously sweet Clementines! A neighbor a little down the hill has one and the season seemed to last through most of Jan. and all of Feb. and still giving out a few brave souls this month ... deliciouso!
Gilbert gave me a beautiful little tree, and received a Washington Seedless Navel for this Valentines ... all together now ... awe! A dear friend also gave me a Kumquat! My gift to my daughter was a grapefruit tree ... well, we all had quite a day at the old local nursery on hearts day!
Here is a wish that anyone who reads this, a garden this year with all the things you love, or at least one of the things ... even if it is just one big bright perfect tasting cherry tomato in your best pot under the window, or maybe your own homegrown jalapenos!
Best wishes to you and yours, and whatever you choose to grow ... please grow something.
Hugs all around,
Victoria
Inland Pass, Southern CA
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The end of November 2004
Came across some exceptional links and wanted to share.
Animals = manure = methane = energy ... awesome things being done. Check it out!!!
Straus Family Creamery
More info. on technology: U. S. Department of Energy
Do I got news ... 6-8 inches of snow last night and this morning. Good thing I picked all the green tomatoes for fermenting. Gophers got all my dill though ... pooh!
In twenty years there has only been one other 'heavy snow' and it was wetter and in March ... not so light. These flakes were like 50 cent pieces and floated down like butterflies.
Unfortunately for the local trees which were completely unprepared, as was the local weatherfolks ... we had a lot of limb damage ... a lot ... rarely a tree that has not been affected.
Overall though the scenery today anywhere you looked was just like out of a postcard, and when the sun finally peaked through ... totally awesome!
Tomorrow I will check out what froze tonight ... it is going to be cold.
Soon it will be catalogue time, and like last season ... my dreams more than likely will be bigger than my resouces, but oh what fun the planning will be.
The very best to you and yours, now and later.
Victoria
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February 2004
The winter catalogues have me in their grip ... planning great things for this years garden. Gosh don't they make the pictures beautiful? They get better every year! (My attempts never turn out quite as gorgeous. LOL)
The spaghetti squash would have won an award this last fall for sure. They are still holding well and provide regular meals. They grew huge! I found a fast way to cook them also when I don't have time for the oven. Also it is easier to control their doneness.
Cut in half lengthwise and place in microsafe dish cut side down in a small amount of water. Start with about 5 minutes and add minutes until done.
Peppers did great as did the eggplants. Using eggplants that have been so soaked in salt water, drained, and sauteed can be used in many dishes. My favorite now is cooked and seasoned with garlic and onions, chopped tomatoes and used with a topping of cheese for a great lunch burrito.
Hope you are enjoying the seed catalogues and also looking forward to a terrific spring season.
Victoria
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~November 2003
The nightmare of wilfires are now in many memories ... etched in sheer horror at a wall of flames hundreds of feet high coming your way.
If you are able ... contact the Red Cross or another favorite organization and do what you can to help the survivors ... they need it.
Something I wrote last Sept. comes round again ... this time hitting big time:
...The End of September, 2002
Well, we are at the end of another record breaking heat wave. The local mountains have caught on fire, again.
To be a firefighter, in a 150 lbs. of gear, with the weather starting at a 105 degree heat is unbelievable.
You guys and gals are true heros! Please don't forget to take care of yourselves ... bottom line. Your families are looking to you to make it home.
I remember quite well the stories told; my father, as a forest ranger in the Sierras after WWII, facing flames 300 feet high ... our breath held with a hard knot in the chest, until he finally came back.
Thank you for what you do, you are very brave people.
Victoria and her family
October 2003
The full 'Hunter Moon' lights up the garden at night. The days are quite warm, even still hot, but the nights have finally settled down and the coolness is most welcome.
July 2003
As many of you know who have read this newsletter before ... my oldest daughter is very ill, and waiting for a kidney/pancreas transplant ... we take each day ... one at a time. When I can ... I keep as involved with the garden, and update websites, as much as the many hospital/doctor visits, and daily care will allow.
Having said that, so you new folks won't wonder why I am so late in getting this letter out and around ... hello!
It is dark outside again ... the skies pregnant with power ... about to unload any minute. All week it has been like this ... the humidity off the charts.
I put the drying fruit outside in the sun and then it clouds over threatening to rain. Then the sun comes out and out goes the fruit again! The dried plums are awesome. The old tree really out did itself this year.
We are waiting on the peaches now ... the branches so very heavy. All in all it has been a good season so far for the fruit trees, and the apple trees are loaded for early fall harvest.
Due to the late spring our tomotoes are just getting their act together ... grew all kinds but as ususual 'celebrity', and 'early girl' were the winners.
With so many vegetables ripening at one time, it is always a challenge to process them in a timely manner. Here is a simple recipe that includes what ever is most at hand. It makes a marvelous addition sprinkled over a salad, cooked beans, and/or rice, or on top of plain yogurt. It remains one of my favorites and keeps well.
Slow Baked SalsaChopped into similar sized chunks:
tomatoes
eggplant
onions
bell peppers/and or hot peppers, as desired
Bake in a slow oven until well roasted and fragrant.
I usually add some herbs like rosemary and when done sprinkly with garlic salt. Even zuchini, or other squash works with this recipe.
I also roast fruit in over or on the grill ... makes a wonderful topping for fish!
Well, my time is short today ... I will be back!
Have a good one!
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April 16th 2003
It is a beautiful blue sky day here ... crisp, and invigorating, after a late winter storm. There is fresh new snow on the peaks, the creeks are running with vigor, and the view is like a fairy tale. Speaking of fairy tales coming true, my beautiful granddaughter Abigail is 3 months old ... today!
The garden calls out strongly, but I have laundry to do, so I type you this update, between loads.
Late on doing all the chores, as usual, LOL, but the fruit trees, artichokes, and roses are trimmed, fertilized and forgiving.
Bright eyed violets have take over ... under sunlight daffodils ... all nestled under the feverfew which is under the lilacs ... I never tire of lilacs... I never get tired of looking at feverfew! The little perfect 'daisies' capture my heart and the smell of the lilac ... my mind.
Oh, and all the California Poppies in California are in bloom ... what a site!
Hope you too are able to enjoy this spring ... balancing the strife and terror in the world. Appreciating the beauty, that what ever Great Spirit you believe in, created, in a sense personally for you ... can't possibly hurt the worlds situation. It may even rest your mind to enable you to continue to be a positive and loving individual contributing your own special resources to peace and sanity on this little blue planet.
April 4th, 2003
With great effort I focus on the garden, with a yellow ribbon tied around my heart, and I wonder how we came this far. My wish for true, and lasting, peace for the world is so desperate, and the wondering 'why' is such a knot in my throat.
The trees are being pruned, the weeds pulled or mowed, and the roses fed. Ground has been cleared for planting. Spring has arrived and waits impatiently.
Best wishes to all, and may your own gardens, continue to lift your spirits and provide for your families in these troubled times.
Victoria
~***~***~***~***~***~February 14 th. 2003
Happy Valentines Day to all!
Finally Southern Calif. received some decent rain ... hope it is not the last as our community wells have been way down.
We were lucky here as we had no bad flooding ... just the usual puddles that try to swallow your car, if you don't know where they are!
We are preparing beds for the spring and pruning, while we listen to war talk.
The following is for your information and I thought it might help to reduce some of the panic I have been hearing from people.
The bottom line is DO NOT PANIC!
by SFC Red Thomas (Ret) Armor Master Gunner
Since the media has decided to scare everyone with
predictions of chemical,biological, or nuclear
warfare on our turf I decided to write a paper and
keep things in their proper perspective. I am a
retired military weapons, munitions, and training
expert.
Lesson number one: In the mid 1990's there were a
series of nerve gas attacks on crowded Japanese
subway stations. Given perfect conditions for an
attack less than 10% of the people there were injured
(the injured were better in a few hours) and only one
percent of the injured died. 60 Minutes once had a
fellow telling us that one drop of nerve gas could
kill a thousand people, well he didn't tell you the
thousand dead people per drop was theoretical. Drill
Sergeants exaggerate how terrible this stuff was to
keep the recruits awake in class (I know this because
I was a Drill Sergeant too). Forget everything
you've
ever seen on &g t; TV, in the movies, or read in a
novel about this stuff, it was all a lie (read this
sentence again out loud!)! These weapons are about
terror, if you remain calm, you will probably not
die. This is far less scary than the media and their
"Experts," make it sound.
Chemical weapons are categorized as Nerve, Blood,
Blister, and Incapacitating agents. Contrary to the
hype of reporters and politicians they are not weapons
of mass destruction they are "Area denial," and terror
weapons that don't destroy anything. When you leave
the area you almost always leave the risk. That's the
difference; you can leave the area and the risk;
soldiers may have to stay put and sit through it and
that's why they need all that spiffy gear.
These are not gasses, they are vapors and/or air borne
particles. The agent must be delivered in sufficient
quantity to kill/injure, and that defines when/how
it's
used. Every day we have a morning and evening
inversion where "stuff," suspended in the air gets
pushed down. This inversion is why allergies (pol
len) and air pollution are worst at these times of the
day.
So, a chemical attack will have it's best effect an
hour of so either side of sunrise/sunset. Also, being
vapors and airborne particles they are heavier than
air so they will seek low places like ditches,
basements and underground garages. This stuff won't
work when it's freezing, it doesn't last when it's
hot, and wind spreads it too thin too fast. They've
got to get this stuff on you, or, get you to inhale it
for it to work. They also have to get the
concentration of chemicals high enough to kill or
wound you. Too little and it's nothing, too much and
it's wasted.
What I hope you've gathered by this point is that a
chemical weapons attack that kills a lot of people is
incredibly hard to do with military grade agents and
equipment so you can imagine how hard it will be for
terrorists.
The more you know about this stuff the more you
realize how hard it is to use. We'll start by talking
about nerve agents. You have these in your house,
plain old bug killer (like Raid) is a nerve agent. All
nerve agents work the same way; they are
cholinesterase inhibitors that mess up the signals
your nervous system uses to make your body function.
It can harm you if you get it on your skin, but it
works best if they can get you to inhale it. If you
don't die in the first minute and you can leave the
area you're probably gonna live. The military's
antidote for all nerve agents is atropine and
pralidoxime chloride. Neither one of these does
anything to cure the nerve agent, they send your body
into overdrive to keep you alive for five minutes,
after that the agent is used up. Your best protection
is fresh air and staying calm. Listed below are the
symptoms for nerve agent poisoning.
Sudden headache, Dimness of vision (someone you're
looking at will have pinpointed pupils), Runny nose,
Excessive saliva or drooling, Difficulty breathing,
Tightness in chest, Nausea, Stomach cramps, Twitching
of exposed skin where a liquid just got on you.
If you a re in public and you start experiencing these
symptoms, first ask yourself, did anything out of
the ordinary just happen, a loud pop, did someone
spray something on the crowd? Are other people getting
sick too?
Is there an odor of new mown hay, green corn,
something fruity, or camphor where it shouldn't be?
If the answer is yes, then calmly (if you panic you
breathe faster and inhale more air/poison) leave the
area and head up wind, or, outside. Fresh air is the
best "right now antidote". If you have a blob of
liquid that looks like molasses or Kayro syrup on you;
blot it or scrape it off and away from yourself with
anything disposable. This stuff works based on your
body weight, what a crop duster uses to kill bugs
won't hurt you unless you stand there and breathe it
in
real deep, then lick the residue off the ground for
while. Remember they have to do all the work, they
have to get the concentration up and keep it up for
several minutes while all you have to do is quit
getting it on you/quit breathing it by putting space
between you and the attack.
Blood agents are cyanide or arsine which effect your
blood's ability to provide oxygen to your tissue. The
scenario for attack would be the same as nerve agent.
Look for a pop or someone splashing/spraying something
and folks around there getting woozy/falling down. The
telltale smells are bitter almonds or garlic where
it shouldn't be. The symptoms are blue lips, blue
under the fingernails, rapid breathing. The
military's antidote is amyl nitride and just like
nerve agent antidote it just keeps your body working
for five minutes till the toxins are used up.
Fresh air is the your best individual chance. Blister
agents (distilled mustard) are so nasty that nobody
wants to even handle it let alone use it. It's almost
impossible to handle safely and may have delayed
effect of up to 12 hours. The attack scenario is also
limited to the things you'd see from other chemicals.
If you do get large, painful blisters for no apparent
reason, don't pop them, if you must, don't let the
liquid from the blister get on any other area, the
stuff just keeps on spreading. It's ju st as likely
to harm the user as the target. Soap, water, sunshine,
and fresh air are this stuff's enemy.
Bottom line on chemical weapons (it's the same if they
use industrial chemical spills); they are intended to
make you panic, to terrorize you, to herd you like
sheep to the wolves. If there is an attack, leave the
area and go upwind, or to the sides of the wind
stream. They have to get the stuff to you, and on you.
You're more likely to be hurt by a drunk driver on any
given day than be hurt by one of these
attacks. Your odds get better if you leave the area.
Soap, water, time, and fresh air really deal this
stuff a knock_out_punch. Don't let fear of an isolated
attack rule your life. The odds are really on your
side.
Nuclear bombs. These are the only weapons of mass
destruction on earth. The effects of a nuclear bomb
are heat, blast, EMP, and radiation. If you see a
bright flash of light like the sun, where the sun
isn't, fall to the ground!
The heat will be over a second. Then there wil l be
two blast waves, one outgoing, and one on it's way
back. Don't stand up to see what happened after the
first wave; anything that's going to happen will have
happened in two full minutes.
These will be low yield devices and will not level
whole cities. If you live through the heat, blast,
and initial burst of radiation, you'll probably live
for a very, very long time. Radiation will not create
fifty foot tall women, or giant ants and grass hoppers
the size of tanks. These will be at the most 1 kiloton
bombs; that's the equivalent of 1,000 tons of TNT.
Here's the real deal, flying debris and radiation will
kill a lot of exposed (not all!) people within a half
mile of the blast. Under perfect conditions this is
about a half mile circle of death and destruction,
but, when it's done it's done. EMP stands for Electro
Magnetic Pulse and it will fry every electronic device
for a good distance, it's impossible to say what and
how far but probably not over a couple of miles from
ground zero is a good guess. Cars, cell phones,
computers, ATMs, you name it, all will be out of
order.
There are lots of kinds of radiation, you only need to
worry about three, the others you have lived with for
years. You need to worry about "Ionizing radiation,"
these are little sub atomic particles that go hizzing
along at the speed of light. They hit individual
cells in your body, kill the nucleus and keep on
going. That's how you get radiation poisoning, you
have so many dead cells in your body that the decaying
cells poison you. It's the same as people getting
radiation treatments for cancer, only a bigger area
gets radiated. The good news is you don't have to
just sit there and take it, and there's lots you can
do
rather than panic. First; your skin will stop alpha
particles, a page of a news paper or your clothing
will stop beta particles, you just gotta try and avoid
inhaling dust that's contaminated with atoms that are
emitting these things and you'll be generally safe
from them.
Gamma rays are particles that travel like rays
(quantum physics makes my brain hurt) and the y
create the same damage as alpha and beta particles
only they keep going and kill lots of cells as they go
all the way through your body. It takes a lot to stop
these things, lots of dense material, on the other
hand it takes a lot of this to kill you.
Your defense is as always to not panic. Basic hygiene
and normal preparation are your friends. All canned
or frozen food is safe to eat. The radiation poisoning
will not effect plants so fruits and vegetables are OK
if there's no dust on 'em (rinse 'em off if there is).
If you don't have running water and you need to
collect rain water or use water from wherever, just
let it sit for thirty minutes and skim off the water
gently from the top. The dust with the bad stuff in it
will settle and the remaining water can be used for
the toilet which will still work if you have a bucket
of water to pour in the tank.
Finally there's biological warfare. There's not much
to cover here. Basic personal hygiene and sanitation
will take you further than a million doctors.Wash your
hands often, don't sh are drinks, food, sloppy kisses,
etc., ... with strangers. Keep your garbage can with
a tight lid on it, don't have standing water (like old
buckets, ditches, or kiddie pools) laying around to
allow mosquitoes breeding room. This stuff is carried
by vectors, that is bugs, rodents, and contaminated
material. If biological warfare is so easy as the TV
makes it sound, why has Saddam Hussein spent twenty
years, millions, and millions of dollars trying to get
it right? If you're clean of person and home you eat
well and are active you're gonna live.
Overall preparation for any terrorist attack is the
same as you'd take for a big storm. If you want a gas
mask, fine, go get one. I know this stuff and I'm not
getting one and I told my Mom not to bother with one
either (how's that for confidence). We have a week's
worth of cash, several days worth of canned goods and
plenty of soap and water. We don't leave stuff out to
attract bugs or rodents so we don't have them.
These people can't conceive a nation this big with
this much resources. These weapons are made to cause
panic, terror, and to demoralize. If we don't run
around like sheep they won't use this stuff after they
find out it's no fun. The government is going nuts
over this stuff because they have to protect every
inch
of America. You've only gotta protect yourself, and
by doing that, you help the country.
Finally, there are millions of caveats to everything I
wrote here and you can think up specific scenarios
where my advice isn't the best. This letter is
supposed to help the greatest number of people under
the greatest number of situations. If you don't like
my work, don't nit pick, just sit down and explain
chemical, nuclear, and biological warfare in a
document around three pages long yourself. This is how
we the people of the United States can rob these
people of their most desired goal, your terror.
~***~***~***~
Unbelievable, ... this weather!
End of January 2003
I keep waiting for the winter storms to come, so as to update this site for the winter season ... it is a seasonal newsletter! ... guess what?
In an Inland Pass, at about 3400 ft. in Southern Calif. ... there is no winter!
I still have geraniums blooming outside! We have been having intensely beautiful bright, deep blue skies, or high, loose, interesting clouds ... casting shadows on the mountains ... which has made for awesome sunrises and sunsets ... every day for over a month, with temperatures between 75 and 85!
Trees; plum and acacia, and roses are starting to bloom ... it will be so sad when they get their butts kicked in March.
I planted a grape vine: Thompson Seedless, because that's what my spoiled kids think is the best ... can't believe they don't like Muscat's, wild reds, and Concords ... nuts!
Roses are being lined up, to be transplanted for the new driveway ... pruned and getting ready for their new homes. Deciding how to combine all the colors along with the new bushes bought this season is becoming quite a task. I think I will be calling the new beds: kalidiscope!
Want to put in more berries, and am preparing the grounds and soaking the roots of some Black Rasberries ... as the gophers wiped out the first ones which really produced pretty good for a while ... wow, can those little guys wipe out a planting!
This year 'everything' is going in pots buried in the ground, or in chicken wire lined raised beds. I just can not deal with poison or traps.
Once in a while the dogs get them little workers, and so far they are kept in limits. The dogs getting them doesn't bother me ... too much. I figure nature just doing its thing.
Not exactly guilt free, but close!
You all have fun out there and don't hurt yourself this spring.
Best wishes for a productive new seasons. Don't let wars and rumors of wars stop you planting ... remember The Victory Gardens! It is more important than ever to teach your children and grandchildren the ways of such sufficiency.
Victoria
thewolfhouse@go.com
