Apple Hill 50 Years--El Dorado County, CA

Apple Hill is up the mountain from where I live now.  It is so beautiful there, like a fairy tale.

Miniature Garden

Turkeys and Bird Flu

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Apple Guide

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Beautiful Native Indian Photographs

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Build a Mud Home How-to

http://www.themudhome.com/

How To Eat Organic On a Budget

http://foodbabe.com/2013/05/20/how-to-eat-organic-on-a-budget/

Trichosanthes cucumerina anguina, the flower of the snake gourd plant unfurling

Fungi Yarn Bomb

Shakira (UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador) performing Imagine (by John Lennon)

Happy Johnny Appleseed Day

ScienceCasts: Total Eclipse of the Harvest Moon

Tree Goats (Original)

Happy Autumn Equinox

Calendula - the Power to Heal | Harmonic Arts

Truth

Beautiful Seasons Series: AUTUMN LEAVES Sung by Laura Fygi - Video Monta...

The 12 Year Old Girl Who Silenced the World for 6 Minutes

Happy International Day of Peace

How to Recycle Jeans into a Garden Apron - CHOW Tip

Leaves are Beginning to Turn

Rock Garden

Little by Little

Teton Alpenglow

Red Sunflower

Have a great week!

Wendell Berry on His Hopes for Humanity

Unknown Artist - Nature Goddess

Images by Mescamesh

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Sunset over Qiandao Lake - China

Diversity

The War Free Zone

Planting in Flea Market Baskets by Sue Langley

Repurposed to plant!

Learn the tips and tricks for finding and planting in recycled baskets. Tuck in annuals, bulbs and perennials for quick garden color.  Hang from tree, set on a side table or bench and learn to make them last.

Catherine Lepage’s heavy woven basket,..perfect for bright flowers

First choose the right type of basket

Search for the large twig baskets popular in the 80s. These are the baskets that held imitation plants and flowers that are now quite out of style! Once you know the type to look for, you’ll begin to see them more and more.  Also look for picnic baskets, wicker waste baskets, wire baskets and basket-style purses,…any heavy woven one will do.

Birdhouses and baskets, also from Catherine…see the cat?

Catherine Lepage says, “Anything can become a flowerpot!  I collect baskets to use to display my annuals.”

Planting your garden basket

Cut a piece of black landscape fabric, heavyweight black trash bag or a double layer of burlap Line the basket and fold down the extra material to hide it below the soil line. Add soil as usual and if you hang your basket, make sure it’s supported from the bottom.

Materials for a basket planter

Stephie McCarthy’s elegant hanging basket‎

Stephie McCarthy says, “Try wrapping an inexpensive coir basket in a fabric remnant. It’s so much more unique and you can still keep the look rustic with the right fabric. We used big kindergarten stitches around the edges, but if your remnant is large enough, just tuck it in toward the bottom before adding your soil.”

Make your basket last

To make the basket last as long as possible fit a piece of heavy black plastic, with some drainage holes cut, inside before adding soil. If you use plastic, poke several slits in the bottom only.

Line with burlap, plastic or fabric

Tuck in the extra fabric

Finished herb garden in a handy basket to set by the kitchen door

Always be looking

Baskets don’t last forever and though you can safeguard them with the techniques we’ve learned, we’re always looking for replacements.  Even a basket that is sturdy but has lost it’s bottom can still be pushed down into the soil and used to corral a ground cover or creeping succulent.  At the end, they will break down completely and sink into the mulch. Completely recyclable!

Almost worn out basket

Bottomless basket still accents a flowering Geum plant

Bevy of Baskets

Billie Hayman‎ lined a wire basket with burlap

Billie Hayman‎ found this antique wire basket and planted my shamrocks in it that came up on their own!

Darlene Danielson’s Moss-lined wire basket

Pamela Stewart-Surette’s purse planter

Billie Hayman has the exact right style basket to last

Your tips:

Linda Koskinen Coffee filters work great in smaller baskets.

Carole Patilla Old woolly sweaters make good liners too – especially if they are in lovely colors!

Georgene Dignan You can pick them up cheap at yard sales last year I did a herb garden around the deck rails in baskets and it worked great.

Dianna Ryder if its a large basket or planter, i put empty water or pop bottles on bottom. saves on soil and not as heavy.

Gloria Slater I planted potatoes in a laundry basket that had fairly big gaps in the weaving and didn’t line it with anything. Didn’t have any problem with the soil escaping. As I “hilled up” the soil when the plants grew taller, I did put some pieces of cardboard up the sides to increase the height of the basket so I could put in more soil. I also used an old burlap feed sack as another potato planter. Both worked like a charm.

Gloria Slater’s potato basket

Judy Wyatt I use a coat of wood sealant to keep the baskets looking good for a few years. I also use antique cloth, old lace doilies, gingham etc. in them!

Cathy Wigington can always put a sponge in the bottom it will retain water

Cynthia Spurlock I’ve always planted grass for Easter baskets but never thought of herbs- Duh! Great ideas!

Susie Lott Thrift store is such a great place to find interesting and inexpensive planters. I bought several last year to use for plants…and I think I will get at least one more year out of them.

Natalie McPherson I found a very large old Easter basket in my stash this week. It’s going to get a coat of purple spray paint and I’m going to put it to work!

Last of the Granny Witches by Anna Wess

Last of the Granny Witches by Anna Wess

We are a peculiar breed. Our roots grow deeper than the cedars, and yet we don’t know precisely where or who it is that we grew from. We are a mystery as old as these hills themselves, and it doesn’t take much figuring to know that we are enigmas of intentional design and destiny.

God knows our names.

We are not Northerners — damn Yankees, the men folks’ Confederate influence called them — and this we know without a doubt. I myself was always preened into believing I was a Southern child, born out of notions of gallantry and romance, but the fact is, I ain’t a low country belle and I’ve never picked a shred of cotton or been to a debutante ball.

We are not peaches.

And these mountain women before us were not delicate flowers or distressed coquettes. In these old heirloom hills, the women are as tough as the men, and then some. There was only one person Papaw was leery of, and that was Mamaw. No, you are not a peach, never mind how long you’ve thought you were or the times your daddy said so. No, you’re not. You are not easily bruised fruit. The blood in our veins is laced with old magic and the secrets of the noble savants before us.

We are the last of the granny witches.

The old ones, the original Appalachian queens, were daughters of the Celts and the offspring of Druids and medieval mavens and the natives of the old world craft, and we are their children. And although we are indeed as mysterious as these old hills, we still have that Celt and Cherokee elder magic in our bones.

I have beheld divination in my grandmother’s kitchen as she would foretell future events spelled out in the remnants of black tea or coffee grounds on the bottom of a common porcelain cup. With my own eyes I have witnessed warts and scars blown clean off the skin with nothing more than a believing breath and a skyward nod towards The Maker. Those magic women, those healers of wounds and tellers of fortunes and hex casters never considered themselves anything but noble and proud and God-fearing, and it didn’t bother them to be called a granny witch or a bee charmer or a medicine woman. These were gifts to them from the Divine.

And I recall bed sheets over mirrors in rooms where some tired soul had just given up the ghost. Nobody wants to be haunted forever, not even by somebody they once loved, and so they cover up the mirror so the spirit won’t see themselves and linger around. Ain’t a’ one of us needs a specter in the house. That’s why Sister Brown paints her ceiling haint blue. You just never know and can never be too sure. Some folks don’t know when to leave, even after they’re dead. And the horseshoe hanging upright above the front door won’t do a thing for the spirits, but at least your luck won’t ever run out.

And you do such things yourself, too, and likely have never spent a juncture of a thought as to why, or from where or who, or for what consequence. I would wager you’d never pick up a coin that’s face down or cross the path of a black cat without blessing yourself (or at least thinking that you’re not superstitious anyway and you convince yourself there’s no need give that cat a second thought), and your very blood will chill when a broken clock starts a tick-tick-ticking again, for you already know what that means, and it’s not to tell the time.

There once was many more of us, back in the old days when it seemed like God was sleeping somewhere over on the mountain and the old ones ruled the land and fended for themselves. But that time has long gone. We must work harder to preserve our magic, for it is fading into the background noise of technology and naysayers and law men that tell us we are common simple folk and feed us pills and poverty to quiet us. I fear that we are truly the last of the granny witches, the last tellers of tales, and that will be the end of our magic.

Some of us have already lost it.

But that old blood still courses through my veins, and perhaps you can feel it, too, when the sparrow smashes against a window or the cow moos after dark. What we send out into the yonder surely comes back home to us, eventually. It always has.

Send out your magic. Don’t be the last of your kind. We are the daughters of the Celts and the offspring of Druids and medieval mavens and the natives of the old world craft. And yes, God knows your name. Tell your tales and bewitch history, just like the mother mountains with her ages of charm and mystery, where peaches have never grown.

Snoqualmie Falls, WA. Filmed by Frank Scavo, Music by Angelo Badalamenti...

Roundup is Dangerous

Unique Gene Expression Study Shows Roundup Causes Massive Kidney and Liver Damage at Low Doses

Posted on Aug 26 2015 - 11:59pm by Sustainable Pulse

A new ground-breaking peer-reviewed study has been published in Environmental Health Journal that shows the levels of glyphosate-based herbicides which the general public are commonly exposed to in drinking water, altered the gene function of over 4000 genes in the livers and kidneys of rats.

The study results suggest that long-term exposure to an ultra-low, environmental dose of Roundup at an glyphosate-equivalent concentration of only 50 ppt (parts per trillion), in an established laboratory animal toxicity model system, can result in liver and kidney damage, with potential significant health implications for humans as well as domesticated animal and wildlife populations.

The study performed by Dr. Michael Antoniou’s team at King’s College London was a followup investigation of the long-term (2-year) toxicity study in rats of Roundup conducted by Dr. Gilles-Eric Seralini and colleagues (Seralini et al., 2014).

The Seralini investigation administered a commercial Roundup formulation at 0.1 ppb (parts per billion)/50 ppt (parts per trillion) glyphosate via drinking water for 2 years. Analysis at an anatomical (organ) and blood/urine biochemical level suggested a higher incidence of liver and kidney damage in the Roundup treatment group compared to the control. Liver and kidney pathologies were also present in the control group due to the advanced age of the animals, but at a lower rate of incidence.

Different patterns of gene function; i.e., which genes are turned off or on and at what level, are known to underlie health and disease status of an organ system.

The new study by Dr. Antoniou’s team investigated whether heightened liver and kidney pathology observed at an anatomical and biochemical level was reflected in the gene expression pattern. Therefore the pattern of gene function (“transcriptome”) was analysed, by comparing liver and kidney tissues from the Roundup treatment group with those of the control animals.

Dr. Antoniou stated; “The findings of our study are very worrying as they confirm that a very low level of consumption of Roundup weedkiller over the long term can result in liver and kidney damage. Our results also suggest that regulators should re-consider the safety evaluation of glyphosate-based herbicides.”

Findings

1. A distinct and consistant alteration in the pattern of gene function was found in both the liver and kidneys of the Roundup treatment group.
2. A large number (over 4000) of genes were found to be either increased or decreased in function, with many (over 1300) being affected in both organs.
3. These changes in gene function were consistent between animals and were highly statistically significant.
4. A computational (‘bioinformatics’) analysis of the alterations in gene function linked these changes to numerous biochemical systems invloved in regulating gene expression, respiration, and disturbances in fat metabolism.
5. The alterations in gene function were consistent with fibrosis (scarring), necrosis (areas of dead tissue), phospholipidosis (disturbed fat metabolism) and damage to mitochondria (the centres of respiration in cells).
6. These changes correlate with and thus confirm observations of pathology made at an anatomical, histological (microscopic cellular) and blood/urine biochemical level.

Conclusions

1. The glyphosate equivalent dose of Roundup administered in this study was half that permitted in drinking water in the European Union and Australia, and 14,000 times lower than that permitted in drinking water in the USA.
2. The amount of glyphosate-equivalent Roundup consumed by the animals on a daily basis was many thousands of times below the regulatory set safety limits of glyphosate alone in all regions around the world.
3. The observed liver and kidney pathologies may have arisen from glyphosate, the adjuvants present in the Roundup formulation, or a combination of the two.
4. The mechanism by which the Roundup induced this heightened pathology is unknown, but given the extremely low dose at which these effects are observed, this could be through endocrine (hormone system) disruption.

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Happy is He (or She)

Birdhouse - Artist Unknown

Dragonfily

Image by Jan Piecha

16 days until Autumn

Photo from Gaia's Grace

How To Help the Refugees

Five practical ways you can help refugees trying to find safety in Europe

As the crisis affecting thousands of people worsens, here's what you can do

VICTORIA RICHARDS 

 

 

Wednesday 02 September 2015

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ReA new report from the United Nations refugee agency says that more than 2,500 migrants and refugees have died or gone missing this year while crossing the Mediterranean Sea.

As European leaders increasingly try to prevent refugees and migrants from settling in the continent, more and more people are dying in their desperation to flee persecution and reach safety.

Here are some of the ways you can help at home.

Refugee children sleep in the surrounding green area of the Keleti railway station in Budapest

Make a donation

Make a financial donation to a non-governmental organisation (NGO) that is doing related humanitarian work overseas. These could include:

● Save the Children: distributing essential items such as nappies, hygiene kits and food

● Red Cross Europe: providing emergency health services at central train stations

● Migrant Offshore Aid Station: dedicated to preventing migrant deaths at sea

● International Rescue Committee:  improving living conditions by setting up camps

● The UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR): providing water, mosquito nets, tents, healthcare

● Refugee Action: advice about claiming asylum, the asylum process, asylum support

● World Vision: providing food, water, shelter, education and psychosocial care

A displaced Syrian child is viewed in a makeshift camp for Syrian refugees only miles from the border with Syria in the Bekaa Valley

Get involved with grassroots groups

JustGiving has received more than 2,500 donations from 32 countries for Calais migrant fundraising efforts. Here are just a few of them:

● The Worldwide Tribe in Calais: Travel blog documenting the story of the people in the Calais 'jungle' is also connected to acrowdfunding site

● Glasgow Solidarity with Calais Migrants: Diane and Bob are driving to Calais with supplies

● North East Solidarity with Calais Refugees: Buying food, bedding and warm clothing

● Side by Side: A family in Thurrock helping with basic humanitarian aid

● Association Salam: 19-year-old Tom McElholm is driving to Calais with supplies

● Hummingbird Project: Driving regularly to Calais with nurses, legal aid, food kitchens

● Coach and Horses Soho: raising £5,000 to give the Calais migrants a decent meal

4 million Syrians have fled their country since the war began

Volunteer, donate, collect

● Calais Migrant Solidarity: organising aid from the UK to those stranded in Calais. Includes details to find local groups for clothes collections and donations here and a UK-based Facebookgroup

● Doctors of the World: providing care to vulnerable people, advocating for rights to health

● Music Against Borders: appealing for people to donate musical instruments to Calais

● The Jungle Library: makeshift library set up at the camp at Calais. They need more books

● 'Childhood bags': fundraising to take books, toys and warm clothes to children

● Folkestone United: organising protests, taking donated goods to Calais in September

● Avaaz.org: lobbying local councils, providing language support, housing refugees

● Migrant Offshore Aid Station: dedicated to preventing loss of life at sea

● Sawa for development and aid: working with Syrian refugees in Lebanon

A girl holds a balloon and a teddy bear in a holding area at Munich Hauptbahnhof main railway station on 1 September 

Buy specific items for those who need help

● An Amazon wish list has been set up for people to buy specific items such as shoes and sleeping bags to be delivered to Calais as part of the appeal #KentforCalais and #HelpCalais. The truck leaves on 17 September

Germany has been more welcoming to refugees

Put your name to a petition

● The Independent's petition for Britain to accept its fair share of refugees

● Accept more asylum seekers and increase support for refugee migrants in the UK

● 80 Syrian war refugees are waiting in Calais for their rightful and legal asylum in the UK

● Create a compassionate Euro-wide policy to deal with refugee migrants

● End the Calais crisis

● We are willing to house Syrian refugees

The refugee crisis - in pictures

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