Horseradish

This plant has been growing for 2 years. I dug up the root today. Made some sauce - it was actually fairly mild for horse radish. I used about equal parts payonaisse and grated horseradish. Replanted a root for next year.

Campaign 2008. Primary Caucus Vancouver WA

This was an interesting exercise. People really did sit around and talk about the pros and cons of the various candidates, got the opportunity to express their opinions going in, change their minds, and a decision was made for each precinct. For our precinct, about 40 people went for Obama, about 15 went for Clinton, a few remained undecided. Several who started out undecided went for Clinton. This is out of a precinct that has HUNDREDS of people. Interesting.

Ning will be an alternate delegate for Clinton. I went in + pro Obama, left lukewarm for Obama.

Concerns:

I cant decide on the pros and cons of each on health care plans.

I still haven't forgiven Clinton for her pro-war vote. I think she's brilliant, and the only reason that I can think of for her voting to support the war was political. The war has killed thousands of young Americans, and hundreds of thousands of Iraqis, destabilized the region, and had no benefit yet either in or out of Iraq, except for giving voice and power to religious militants. Obama was openly against the war from the beginning, and seems to have more integrity on that issue.

Obama seems like he needs to hold his nose when talking about gay issues. Actually, both he and Clinton are about the same as far as Human Rights Campaign Fund is concerned, but I've watched the videos, and except for stating that "marriage is between a man and a woman", he stumbles over words and pauses throughout the discussions. He also reached out to a known homophobe in his South Carolina campaign. On the other hand, he did speak out against homophobia in African American Churches and even in the Illinois senatorial debate, as well. In his Youtube debate, as well as other forums, he states that as a white woman and a black man, his parents would not have been allowed to be married in several states, until the mid 60s; he expresses that this gives him some credibility on that issue. However, he then goes on to say that civil unions are OK, but not marriage, for same sex couples. Would that have been OK for his parents, too? Since his major push is to bring all of us together, the (perhaps unfair?) feeling that he does not embrace a major segment of the population, is suspect.

Actually, environment didnt come up at all (which is a big focus of my blog, anyway). I know that they have campaign statements. What I dont see is something to distinguish them from each other.

So far, I would take either over what the other side is going to offer, and do so wholeheartedly.

Blog visits, sustainable gardening

It's fun to track the number and geographical distribution of blog visits. In a way I feel 'naked' here, since I don't know who is looking in on the blog. However, I like that people are interested.

Total visits since 7/30/07, pictured here: 3,333
Total visits since start of the blog 7/29/06: 9,980

During this time of year, there isnt much going on in the garden. It's cold and dreary outdoors, and there isn't much time to work on indoor projects. I like having the blog , so that I can look back at things that occurred over the past 2 years, and help with planning for this year.

I like to think that we have moved further along the progression to a sustainable 'semi-permaculture' type of yard. Maybe not as "Mother Earth News" as it would be in a rural area, but more "earth friendly" than the stereotypical suburban yard. In other words, no pesticides, no chemical fertilizers, no hauling off yard and kitchen trimmings and 'waste'. Kitchen waste goes into compost or to the chickens, yard and garden waste also to compost and chickens, and the chicken poop goes back into the compost which ultimately goes to the garden and yard again. Eggshell is a 'special category' which is ground and added as a source of calcium for the figs and tomatoes (this might not seem like much but is probably 10 pounds annually). Prunings are composted or chopped to use as mulch.

Outside 'input', other than sunshine and rain, of course, includes leaf compost, bark mulch, and coffee grounds when I can get them (probably about 50 pounds annually), and water which I usually focus on specific areas. The chicken feed and bedding can also be considered 'input' since it comes from elsewhere as well.

"Output" includes the dog poop (I just can't bring myself to use it in kitched garden areas, and we ran out of places to bury it), and of course whatever we eat.

We're not doing much to improve carbon sequestration, except for the small ginkgo trees that will eventually soak up CO2 as a precursor for tree structures in the form of trunk, roots, and branches. The fruit trees will take up a smaller amount of CO2, but nothing near what shade trees do. On the other hand, trees and vines are probably kinder to the soil than annual food crops, since the soil does not need to be dug annually, and they pull water from deeper in the ground so need less watering.

Overall, it's very satisfying, enjoyable, and good for us and the environment.

Weather Summary Dec 2007

One of my plans with this blog was to keep track of weather conditions. I became over-ambitious with collecting data and graphs, leading to giving up. It would still be nice to have a record so here is a more modest start. Source is weatherchannel.com

Dec 2007

High for the month: 62
Low for the month: 26
Days with low below 32 degrees: 6
Days with precipitation: 24
Total accumulated precipitation: 14 inches

Pruning

This is actually from New year's Weekend. I pruned the back yard roses down to about 18 inches, and thinned out old dead-looking and scraggly canes. I pruned the North Pole Apple, removing the top, which was too difficult to reach to remove apples. It's now about 8 feet tall. Side branches were pruned back to spurs, to maintain the columnar shape. I stuck some prunings into the ground to see if they will grow by the 'lazy man's cuttings' technique, along witih some ginkgo prunings, Korean lilac, and forsythia. It's not a high yield method but has worked for forsythia, fig, grape, and honeysuckle in the past.