BLUE

Blue dies about the very end of December 2009.

I bus to Salt Lake City, Utah to my sister's house to sleep in warmth and luxury.

I feel very grateful inside.

BLUE

December 8th, 17degrees last night. About midnight a man knocked on the side of Blue and later the doors.

I am alright, I say. Hunkered down in my sleeping bag. Plumbers candle on with the coffee pot full of hot water.

I have something for you, to make things easier...

I am fine, go a way! My nice self.

In the morning I open my door to the sunshine and...a brand new 20 degree sleeping bag-northface and a nice pad a nice new pad to sleep on.

Canby

The nights are getting colder and I leave my emergency candle burning through the night to keep the cab of my truck a bit warm.

Today was nice. I got out of Blue about 10a, drove down to Mollala State Park and took a long walk. It has a huge amount of land to run dogs-I am not sure how many acres, that is pasture and then turns to wood and then river. The place is quite active with doggy owners so I am not afraid or feel isolated.

I straightened my truck, worked on the tarp that keeps out the leak and cooked up a nice meal in my truck for the first time-nice fried onions, potatoes, carrot and winter squash from my garden with spices and salts and perked up a nice pot of coffee which I drank half of and left the other half for tomorrows breakfast.

I think about Olivia, Sherman and Charlie/Jessica and Kimmie-constantly.....

The morning was cold and rainy with a break in the afternoon and a relief from the wind. I am wearing down. Signed this computer and studied my Watchtower for tomorrow. Last Wednesday I went to Portland and missed the Spanish congregation and sitting next to Rose. They are having their Circuit Overseer. Well, I had to get Dr. Beard's money to him and it takes some time to get around Portland.

Someone stole my identity and I couldn't get on my yahoo account until I just figured out to change my email. I am thinking that I should file a police report.

Canby

The days and nights in Canby are lovely skies part of the day, rain and bad weather the rest. I spend most of my days between the Mollala State Park and the Canby Library.

Meetings are only Thursdays and Sundays. And I look for work. Three a week. Nursing Homes and retail, last week. Fast food this.

I visited their little music store and found that I could have my mountain dulcimer strung for five dollars with a complete set of strings for an additional $3.00. I will have to get it from Olivia's next week. Then I stopped into the little fabric store down the street. I am starting a fabric picture. I need to iron the material before I begin. So far I have the muslin backing, a brown print with little tiny white flowers and a piece of blue that sparkles with white snowflakes. I think that I will cut the blue a river and cut through the brown fabric with it.

So much for my life.

Blue

I am enjoying being a urban camper. This morning I spent a few hours organizing the cab to find more space. I have one backpack on a metal frame bungied to the right side of the cab, facing the back doors of the cab. It makes a great shelf that I can zip my clothes in. Gone, the basket on the floor with all kinds of floor space added!

My towels are bungeed to the right side of the cab and on the left side, kitchen things are bungeed to a board across the window and I have a bungee cord for my clean socks, pairs and pairs of them, ready to be slipped on in the morning. My jeans and shorts are stacked neatly on top of my backback. Under the plank where I sleep (on camping foam) I keep dishpan with dirty dishes, soap and water, a plastic square container with misc. items such as digital bloodpressure machine, recharger for rechargable batteries, ect. actually about 100 items that are important. My blouses are stacked on my paper rack on top of important papers and a photo album of the most important pictures that I have of people that I love and want to look at often.

I am working on a project to protect my propane stove from the wind. I am missing my three cups of vegetables every day and have to buy morning coffee at Plaid, which gets expensive.

So far I only have my radio with the headphones, but I will get a disk player and have to bring all my disks out from under Olivia's stairwell.

Last night I added a new parking place on 52nd. My goal is 30.

The Young's

I went by the Youngs to bring Charlie a sunflower he wanted the other day when visiting in my garden. The birds had done a job on it. One had sat on the edge of the flower and leaning over it looked like it had plucked the seeds from the flower and cracked them open, leaving the shells on the ridge of the flower. Half of the sunflower seeds had been eaten.

I read tcreason's blog, too. Heidi's entry absolutely scared me. Coldness, height and navigation. And yet, it started me wandering again. In my imagination. Not on the CDT! Ever.

I started living in Blue the beginning of August. Getting the kinks out. Tying everything down, finding space. Order and personal hygene are under control. I am working on a project. A shield to the wind around my little cook stove so as I can have my vegetables every day. I am still washing my clothes at Olivia's. I pull in at a park every day to organize things. I am collecting areas to park at night where I won't frighten the neighborhood. I have my cab light tight, so I can shine a light in the cab and no one can tell from the outside aside from the rocking of the truck.

I am working hard on worksource grant money. And just about have only one more requirement before I meet with an advisor on the 28th. Get it or not I will be glad when its over.

BLUE

Charlie bought a new pregnant fish who had at least sixteen babies early this morning, while everyone was asleep. And one is dying now. They are in the plastic nursery. And the snails: Gary and Gary are a feeding problem, so they will go in the bigger plastic nursery so that they can feed without the adult fish bothering them.

This want to be through hiker has now become an urban camper because of an unemployment claim coming through, which keeps me in 'the' area at least four days a week.

Yesterday morning I headed out to the east side of Portland to work for Labor Ready at the auction, moving cars around and/or to dealerships. They didn't need me so I landed at Lincoln Park, off of 148 and Division. I have been to about six parks in Portland.(there are too many to count)

This little park, not among the littlest, is a wonderful little neighborhood park! The park itself it rolling and not flat. It is a forest, with wonderful huge pine trees and wondering walkways joining and parting throughout the entire park. It has no restroom but a plastic outhouse encased in a plastic shelter, of the kind I have never seen before. There are water fountains and many solid park benches and picnic tables and a play area close to the sidewalk and obvious for safety.

The folks that visited the park while I spent the entire day, were clean, middle class and of many nationalities. They spoke their own language to one another and didn't attempt English. I heard Russian, Spanish, some types of Asian and Chek. And black families visited the park. I really enjoyed spending the day. Portland was 90 degrees but it was cool at the park, with a nice breeze until the afternoon, when I walked about with my spray bottle and continually let myself have it until dusk, when I got in my truck and parked behind a nearby shopping center for the night.

I am noticing other folks living in their campers. I plan to take pictures soon. I saw a vintage dodge truck with ancient camper on the back, in the Home Depot parking lot the other morning. I wished I had a camera-it was truly neat!

BLUE

Blue and I landed at Olivia's and Sherman's for the past three days and two nights to cat sit Chester and the fish and the lizard and crickets. So, I watched T.V. for two days, fed and watered Chester and fed the fish.

Charlie always buys pregnant fish, if he can. This last mama was really big and uncomfortable and died in child birth the day after they came home from camping. She had spent the week trying to balance herself with her comparative, little fins. But she died this morning, having given birth to only one dead fish-all the rest left inside of her.

Charlie and his mom are always dealing with dead fish which is just another excuse to get another fish. The pH of the water is always a battle that is enjoyed, and the fish tank scenario is always different on a regular basis. Charlie is ten and knows a lot about fish. The lady at the fish store says that he should offer to volunteer at a mom and pop pet store and then he might get a discount on 'items'.

Grandma likes that idea. She is always trying to take him to Pokemon tournaments and swimming. Anything where there are boys to play with. He is an only child-his mom and dad play with him a lot. Grandma plays Pokemon but was never very good at games.
"Come on grandma, play!" "No, grandma does not like to play!" 'Lets find some boys' I say.

So, Blue and I are off again. Carrying the book 'Travels with Charley' which makes the third or fourth reading for me. Steinbeck was just my age and considered himself 'old' at the time of this writing. He died six years later, so I guess he was right about himself.

Our trucks are similar. His a Ford, mine a Chevy. His camper more 'deluxe'. Mine a canopy. Still I love my 'canopy' and I am getting use to pulling over and just sleeping. Usually after a long day in my garden.

The Rodale Book of COMPOSTING/Rodale Press

I found this book checked out by my daughter last week and grabbed it right up. It presents information simply but with exact and necessary explanations of what happens during composting, the history of composting (first evidence of manure being used in composting 1000 years before Moses, written on clay tablets), little drawings of many different types of compost bins. Even the type I do which is really basic. I like to layer carbon, manure and debris, wet and lay plastic over, no air and then in the summer turn it over every few days. My compost travels around my garden and doesn't find a home. In winter I'll leave it open and it stays in one place.

But on page 181 there is an illustration of the Lehigh bin that uses alternating 2 by 4s held together with 3/8-inch rods. You could pull the rods out of one end, reverse the bin and transfer the composting humus to the opposite side-slide in the rods again. I might like to try air composting that way.

It has ideas about where to obtain materials for composting and also a list of Percentage Compostion of Various Materials, which is interesting. And...whether a material's effect on compost would be carbonaceous(C), nitrogenous(N), or other(O).pg.114-120. I am wondering if I could create a nice little hot compost bin in my camper to keep me warm this winter? Anybody have any ideas along that line?

BLUE

I have two, new, responsibilities in my life. One of which is Blue, my 1985 Chevy Silverado that I bought from an old man on 72nd street, last August.

During the past year that I have owned Blue, he has been left dirty, has had and not had insurance. He was believed to need a new carburetor but actually it was just a spring in the engine that needed replacement. Last week he was thought to need a new alternator but actually just needed an alternator belt. The old man had left me a brand new one under the canopy of the bed of the truck. What a relief!

So, Blue and I are off again. Week before last we were off to the mountains, to park at trail heads all around Mt. Hood. And I would suggest ZigZag Creek. We dropped down from the trail head on 42. The PCT trail head where I camped last August. The weather is too cool this year so I am hanging around town, the urban camper, and will wait for the weather to break.

The other responsibility is my new unemployment claim that lasts until November and then maybe an extension. (Or a job?)

Yesterday I drove vehicles at the auction and made myself an added bit of money (gas). This morning I parked Blue and took off exploring garage sales. I was just going to spend one dollar but ended up spending four.

Next week I cat sit for Olivia and Sherman while they go to Elk Creek with friends. That is over the coast way, between here and the coast and not east the MT. Hood way.

Brentwood Garden

Yesterday I spent most of the day in my garden, weeding and cutting back blackberry branches that did not have berries or flowers on them.

Yesterday was suppose to be the annual tour of the Portland Community Gardens, but, unless everyone just visited the north end of the community garden-I was not aware of any visitors.

I finished half the garden and today I will finish the center to the north end.
I passed by a garage sale early in the morning. My hand pruners had fallen apart a week ago and I couldn't reconcile the price of hand pruners these days as it has been 20+ years sense I bought a pair, these, at the yard sale were 25 cents. They looked like rust itself, but when I tried them on a branch in their yard they worked quite well and I was happy. So my blackberries did get a cutting back. I have been watering them faithfully and actually fed them 20-20-20 fertilizer, which was the only fertilizer I could find on my daughters shelves in the deep, dark basement, where I presently reside. My fellow gardeners look on with awe, because, who, in Oregon, waters and fertilizes blackberries? I also have bird net draped over the entire bush. I don't want to share any of my berries with the birds and they get the message. They are mine and I want all of them. I think that I may be growing the same amount as I did on Gresham, but my memory and imagination play tricks on me.
I can't remember, anymore, how large the blackberry bush was on Gresham.

My home made organic fertilizer is spent. The trout has disintegrated, only a worm like spinal cord remains and the potato is fragment, I added chopped wheat grass for a last fling, but I have had chopped green onions for nitrogen. I am ready to make more.

It looks like I will be moving out of Sherman's and Olivia's come next Wednesday. My unemployment claim has come in and car insurance is around the corner. To the mountains with me,I say, and fair you well!

Brentwood Garden

Over the last month I have found two books on gardening that I would like to share.

I think that both would be good books for experienced gardeners and beginners, as they are written simply and are well organized. And-give a lot of information, a lot of practical information with good and new ideas for the gardener.

The first, -the gardener's weather bible by Sally Roth. Such great information about how weather happens and how it affects growing and a gardener's activity in his or her garden.

Newspaper Pennies Cardboard and Eggs by Roger Yepsen. It sounds like a book to use with children, but it isn't. Just practical and clever ideas concerning the garden.

Brentwood Garden

Well, it is Saturday. At 10a Portland Information Garden, located next to the Brentwood Garden had a winter planting demonstration-given by a Carl Grimm. It was fun. I don't think many of the people had actually planted a garden or hadn't been gardeners for a very long time. Note taking. There is an idea. I wonder if I took notes when I first began to garden.

Well, he thinks you should carry a level to make sure you plant your plants level. I tend to sink the plot below ground level. Only because I've lived in Arizona where they irrigate and I enjoy irrigating. He talked about spacing, organic fertilizer and handed out excess plants not used in the planting. I got free cauliflower, broccoli, brussel sprouts and something untagged and mysterious, which I will discover later. All of these are suppose to live slowly in the ground over the winter. That would be great! I am soooooo excited.

He showed us about laying irrigation pipe. We never got to planting the herbs. At 1p everyone was leaving, she(another employee) asked me if I would like to volunteer and I signed the book. I wasn't expecting to do that. I know the Renee that will be calling me, we visit all the time as I walk by. I actually took her through the garden day before yesterday and introduced her to one of the gardeners who gardens all year through. She talked about planting a purple leek that is a winter leek. I want one.

Carl Grimm will be on T.V. Thursday mornings, channel 2, between 9a and 10a for a brief clip. Like a five minute flash about separating seedlings or turning manure. Something like that. I doubt if I will get to watch him because I have to compete with cartoons and Charlie. Now that it is summer vacation. I moved my t.v. out of my area and am only listening to the radio now. Olivia and Sherman have my t.v. in their room.

Brentwood Garden

Well, I am truely winding down as far as interest in my garden goes. I am genuinely bored of gardening and I am ready for hiking the Pacific Crest Trail in August. I wish I could leave sooner but I have things to do first.

It will be end of month before I can harvest the blackberries, tomatoes and onions. The squash and pumpkin will need watering through August and also the snap peas and spinach, if I plant more.

When I return in September or the end of September, perhaps I will be in a better mood. It is this year I make the final cut to my grape and secure the main vine.
I will need to add manure, seed meal, bone meal and lime-maybe some kelp meal and plant beets, parsnip and turnip to produce over the winter. Well...back to dreaming about mountains, birds lakes and storms.....

Brentwood Garden

Tomatoes, Watermelon, Carrots


Lycopene is a bright red carotenoid pigment and phytochemical found in tomatoes and other red fruits & vegetables, such as red carrots, watermelons and papayas (but not strawberries or cherries).

In plants, algae, and other photosynthetic organisms, lycopene is an important intermediate in the biosynthesis of many carotenoids, including beta carotene, responsible for yellow, orange or red pigmentation, photosynthesis, and photo-protection. Structurally, it is a tetraterpene assembled from eight isoprene units, composed entirely of carbon and hydrogen, and is insoluble in water. Lycopene's eleven conjugated double bonds give it its deep red color and are responsible for its antioxidant activity. Due to its strong color and non-toxicity, lycopene is a useful food coloring.

Lycopene is not an essential nutrient for humans, but is commonly found in the diet, mainly from dishes prepared with tomato sauce. When absorbed from the stomach, lycopene is transported in the blood by various lipoproteins and accumulates in the liver, adrenal glands, and testes.

Because preliminary research has shown an inverse correlation between consumption of tomatoes and cancer risk, lycopene has been considered a potential agent for prevention of some types of cancers, particularly prostate cancer. However, this area of research and the relationship with prostate cancer have been deemed insufficient of evidence for health claim approval by the US Food and Drug Administration (see below under Antioxidant properties and potential health benefits).

watercress

Watercress Salad

Ingredients:

1 pint watercress
1 red onion
French dressing

Pick over the leaves of the cress, removing all bruised or wilted ones, wash and drain. Break the stems into small two inch pieces with your fingers. Place cress in a salad bowl, top with thinly sliced onion and your favorite French dressing.

Variations: Add 1/2 cup chopped walnuts. You may mix the cress half and half with dandelion greens as well and use the same recipe.

Watercress Sandwiches

Ingredients:

1 1/4 cups cress
paprika
1/4 cup mayonnaise
Brown bread

Wash, dry and tear the watercress into bite size pieces. Sprinkle the watercress with salt and paprika, then mix with mayonnaise. Lay between sliced of brown bread and cut into small triangles.

Variation: Mix 3 hard cooked eggs into the cress and chop both finely. Spread on thin slices of buttered wheat bread.

Watercress Soup

Ingredients:

1 quart chopped watercress
1 quart stock of your choice
1 cup whole milk, half and half or cream, heated
small onion, shredded, or processed fine
2 tablespoons flour
3 tablespoons butter
1/2 tsp. salt
pepper and nutmeg to taste

Wash the cress well, and chop fine (keeping the stems on). Mix the chopped cress and your stock; cook about 30 minutes and puree in blender, processor or you can press through a strainer with a wooden spoon. Mix the flour with the butter, then add along with the your heated milk, onion and seasonings to the broth. Bring to a light boil and cook two minutes. Makes 5 servings.

About the Author
Brenda Hyde is a freelance writer, editor, herb gardener and mother to three children. For more garden recipes and tips visit her at OldFashionedLiving.com.



Watercress
(raw)
Broccoli
(raw) Broccoli
(boiled) Tomato
(raw) Apple
(raw)
Nutrient
Calories (kcal) 18 26 19 14 38
Protein (g) 2.4 3.5 2.5 0.6 0.3
Fat (g) 0.8 0.7 0.6 0.2 0.1
Fibre (g) 1.2 2.1 1.8 0.8 1.4
Beta-carotene (mcg) 2016 460 380 451 14
Vitamin A equivalent (mcg) 336 (42%) 77 (10%) 63 (8%) 75 (9%) 2 (0.3%)
Vitamin B1 (mg) 0.13 (9%) 0.08 (6%) 0.04 (3%) 0.07 (5%) 0.02 (2%)
Vitamin B6 (mg) 0.18 (9%) 0.11 (6%) 0.09 (5%) 0.11 (6%) 0.05 (3%)
Vitamin C (mg) 50 (83%) 70 (117%) 35 (58%) 14 (23%) 5 (8%)
Vitamin E (mg) 1.17 (12%) 1.04 (10%) 0.88 (9%) 0.98 (10%) 0.47 (5%)
Folate (mcg) 36 (18%) 72 (36%) 51 (26%) 18 (9%) 1 (0.5%)
Vitamin K (mcg)* 200 81 113 6 2
Calcium (mg) 136 (17%) 45 (6%) 32 (4%) 6 (0.8%) 3 (0.4%)
Iodine (mcg) 12 (8%)** 1.6 (1%) 1.6 (1%) 1.6 (1%) Not known
Iron (mg) 1.8 (13%) 1.4 (10%) 0.8 (6%) 0.4 (3%) 0.1 (0.7%)
Magnesium (mg) 12 (4%) 18 (6%) 10 (3%) 6 (2%) 4 (1%)
Manganese (mg) 0.5 0.2 0.2 0.1 0.1
Phosphorus (mg) 42 (5%) 70 (9%) 46 (6%) 19 (2%) 9 (1%)
Potassium (mg) 184 296 136 200 96
Zinc (mg) 0.6 (4%) 0.5 (3%) 0.3 (2%) 0.1 (0.7%) 0.1 (0.7%)
Lutein and Zeaxanthin (mcg)* 4614 1353 1214 98 23
Selenium (mcg) 1.6** Trace Trace Trace Trace
Quercetin (mcg)*** 6000 2000 168 472 3416

Data Sources:

Food Standards Agency (2002) McCance & Widdowson’s The Composition of Foods, 6th Summary Edition. Cambridge: Royal Society of Chemistry.

* U.S. Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service. USDA National Nutrient Database for Standard Reference, Release 19, 2006.

** Direct Laboratories analysis of watercress, 2006.

*** USDA Database for the Flavonoid Content of Selected Foods, Release 2, 2006.


SUMMARY - per average portion (80g edible weight)

Compared to raw and boiled broccoli, raw tomato and a raw apple:

Watercress is the better source of vitamins B1 and B6, vitamin E, beta-carotene and vitamin A equivalents, iron, calcium and zinc (very small differences for zinc)
For vitamin C, magnesium, watercress is a better source than all of the others listed, except for raw broccoli (but this isn't the way that it's typically consumed in the UK)
All are low in calories and fat.

Brentwood Garden

The Brentwood Garden is still not as dreamy as the Reed Garden was, but it is coming along. About three gardens have flowers, tall, bushy flowers, growing among the vegetables. The loam is rich and developed, padding each garden like a thick quilt.

For two years THE COMMUNITY has been working on a community compost. The gardeners added their trash, which made the manager angry and he nixed the project. But..I found the rich soil that has been forming the past two years and dug some out and added it to my garden.

This morning I bought a trout at Winco, head and all and some flaxseed meal. I went to my garden and added the fish(phospherous) to the onions(nitrogen) and potato(potassium), sealed the jar and set it in the sun. This afternoon, when I return to my garden I'll water the pumpkin, watermelon and squash with it and fill it up with water again. I sprinkled the flaxseed meal around my garden evenly and will scratch it in the soil as part of my work this afternoon.

Olivia found a nice big pumpkin plant of a hunters green(dark green) shade growing out of her compost. It is about 13" high and 15" across.

GREEK OREGANO

Greek oregano

Origanum vulgare subsp. hirtum

Perennial
H to 24’’ S 12’’ Sun, Partial Sun

Origanum vulgare subsp hirtum is native to Greece and Turkey and grows throughout the Mediterranean to central Asia. The Greeks and Romans used oregano but exactly which one is unclear. It was brought to North America by the colonists and is now naturalized throughout the eastern United States. Most herb lovers agree that Greek oregano is the most flavorful, but until recently, it was used mainly as a medicinal.

Harvest and Use: Medicinally, oregano tea is still used for indigestion, coughs, and to bring on menstruation. The oil is still used for toothache. It is also found in cosmetics. But its main use today is in cooking. After all, what is a pizza or tomato sauce without the hot, peppery taste of oregano? It enhances cheese and egg dishes such as omelets, frittata, quiches, and flans. It can be added to yeast breads, marinated veggies, roast peppers, mushrooms, roast and stewed beef, pork, poultry, game, onions, black beans, zucchini, potatoes, eggplant, and shellfish. Cut sprigs as soon as the plant is 6" tall. This also promotes bushiness. Harvest to the first set of leaves as it begins to flower and again in the fall. To dry, hang in small bunches in a shady area with good air circulation. Store in a tight-lidded jar in a dark, cool place. If space permits in the jars, try not to crush leaves.

Cultivation and Propagation: This aromatic, herbaceous perennial is compact and grows to about 20" tall. Its leaves are hairy, and its flowers small and white. It likes a pH of 6.8, well-drained, average soil, and full sun. It is hardy to zone 4. In companion planting, oregano is said to enhance the growth of beans.

It is easy to grow from seed, but make sure to check the Latin name because a lot of seed that is labeled as oregano is really wild marjoram (a plant worth growing for crafts as it dries beautifully and looks wonderful in floral arrangements and dry culinary wreaths). If you are growing from seed, do not cover the seed. It needs light to germinate. Sow thinly and grow on the dry side. Optimum germination takes place at 70°F. Oregano can also be propagated by division in spring or cuttings in summer.

Pests: Oregano is not prone to disease, but is mildly susceptible to root rot. If you are growing it indoors, watch for aphids, spider mites, and leafminers.

LEMON BALM

lemon balm
Overview:
Lemon balm (Melissa officinalis), a member of the mint family, is considered a "calming" herb. It was used in the Middle Ages to reduce stress and anxiety, promote sleep, improve appetite, and ease pain and discomfort associated with digestion (including flatulence and bloating as well as colic). Even before the Middle Ages, lemon balm was steeped in wine to lift the spirits, help heal wounds, and treat venomous insect bites and stings. Today, lemon balm is often combined with other calming, soothing herbs, such as valerian, chamomile, and hops, to enhance the overall relaxing effect.

Plant Description:
Lemon balm, although native to Europe, is grown all over the world. It is grown not only in herb gardens but also in crops for medicine, cosmetics, and furniture polish manufacturing. The plant grows up to 2 feet in height, sometimes higher if not maintained. In the spring and summer, clusters of small, light yellow flowers grow where the leaves meet the stem. The leaves are very deeply wrinkled and range from dark green to yellowish green in color, depending on the soil and climate. If you rub your fingers on these leaves, your fingers will smell tart and sweet, like lemons. The leaves are similar in shape to mint leaves, and come from the same plant family.

Medicinal Uses and Indications:
Insomnia and anxiety

Several studies have found that lemon balm combined with other calming herbs (such as valerian, hops, chamomile) helps reduce anxiety and promote sleep. Few studies have investigated the safety and effectiveness of lemon balm alone, except for topical use. For example, in one recent study of people with minor sleep disorders, those who ingested an herbal combination of valerian and lemon balm reported sleeping much better than those who ingested placebo pills. It is not clear from these studies, however, whether lemon balm itself (or the combined action of lemon balm and valerian) is responsible for these sleep-inducing effects.

In a recent double-blind, placebo-controlled study, 18 healthy volunteers received two separate single doses of a standardized lemon balm extract (300 mg and 600 mg) or placebo for 7 days. The 600 mg dose of lemon balm increased mood and significantly increased calmness and alertness.

Herpes

Some studies suggest that topical ointments containing lemon balm may help heal lip sores associated with herpes simplex virus (HSV). In one study of 116 people with HSV, those who applied lemon balm cream to their lip sores experienced significant improvement in redness and swelling after only 2 days. Other symptoms, such as pain and scabbing, did not improve. Both the patients and their doctors reported that the lemon balm ointment was highly effective. Several animal studies also support the value of topical lemon balm for herpes lesions.

Other uses

Although few rigorous scientific studies have been conducted on lemon balm, many health care professionals suggest that this herb is beneficial for a variety of health problems, including Alzheimer's disease, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, indigestion, gas, insomnia, and hyperthyroidism. Experimental laboratory studies also suggest that lemon balm has antioxidant and anti-HIV properties, but further studies are needed to confirm these findings.

What's It Made Of?:
Lemon balm supplements are made from the leaves of the plant. Essential oils made from lemon balm leaves contain plant chemicals called terpenes, which play at least some role in the herb's relaxing and antiviral effects. Lemon balm also contains substances called tannins, which are thought to cause many of the herb's antiviral effects. Lemon balm also contains eugenol, which calms muscle spasms, numbs tissues, and kills bacteria.

Available Forms:
Lemon balm is available as a dried leaf that can be bought in bulk. It is also sold as tea, and in capsules, extracts, tinctures, and oil. The creams used in Europe, which contain high levels of lemon balm, are not available in the United States. On the other hand, teas can be applied to the skin with cotton balls. Lemon balm is also available in homeopathic remedies and as aromatherapy (essential oil).

How to Take It:
Pediatric

Lemon balm may be used topically in children to treat cold sores. The dosage would be the same as the recommendations for use in adults.

For internal use, adjust the recommended adult dose to account for the child's weight. Most herbal dosages for adults are calculated on the basis of a 150 lb (70 kg) adult. Therefore, if the child weighs 50 lb (20 - 25 kg), the appropriate dose of lemon balm for this child would be 1/3 of the adult dosage.

Adult

For difficulty sleeping, or to reduce stomach complaints, flatulence, or bloating, choose from the following:

Tea: 1.5 - 4.5 grams (1/4 - 1 teaspoonful) of dried lemon balm herb in hot water. Steep and drink up to 4 times daily.
Tincture: 2 - 3 mL (40 - 90 drops), 3 times daily
Capsules: Take 300 - 500 mg dried lemon balm, 3 times daily or as needed.
Topical: Apply topical cream to affected area, 3 times daily or as directed.
For cold sores or herpes sores, steep 2 - 4 teaspoonfuls of crushed leaf in 1 cup boiling water for 10 - 15 minutes. Cool. Apply tea with cotton balls to the sores throughout the day.

Precautions:
The use of herbs is a time-honored approach to strengthening the body and treating disease. Herbs, however, contain components that can trigger side effects and interact with other herbs, supplements, or medications. For these reasons, herbs should be taken with care, under the supervision of a health care provider qualified in the field of botanical medicine.

No side effects or symptoms of toxicity have been reported with lemon balm use, but this herb should not be used by pregnant or breast-feeding women.

Possible Interactions:
Sedatives, Thyroid medications -- Although not yet demonstrated in clinical studies, lemon balm may interfere with sedatives and thyroid medications. If you are taking sedatives (for sleep disorders or anxiety) or medications to regulate your thyroid, you should consult a health care provider before taking lemon balm.
Alternative Names:
Balm mint; Bee balm; Blue balm; Garden balm; Honey plant; Melissa officinalis; Sweet balm

Reviewed last on: 1/17/2007
Ernest B. Hawkins, MS, BSPharm, RPh, Health Education Resources; and Steven D. Ehrlich, NMD, private practice specializing in complementary and alternative medicine, Phoenix, AZ. Review provided by VeriMed Healthcare Network.
Supporting Research
Auf'mkolk M, Ingbar JC, Kubota K, et al. Extracts and auto-oxidized constituents of certain plants inhibit the receptor-binding and the biological activity of Graves' immunoglobulins. Endocrinology. 1985;116:1687–1693.

Ballard CG, O'Brien JT, Reichelt K, Perry EK. Aromatherapy as a safe and effective treatment for the management of agitation in severe dementia: the results of a double-blind, placebo-controlled trial with Melissa. J Clin Psychiatry. 2002;63(7):553-8.

Baumgaertel A. Alternative and controversial treatments for attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder. Pediatr Clin of North Am. 1999;46(5):977-992.

Berdonces JL. Attention deficit and infantile hyperactivity. [Spanish]. Rev Enferm. 2001;24(1):11-14.

Blumenthal M, Goldberg A, Brinckmann J. Herbal Medicine: Expanded Commission E Monographs. Newton, MA: Integrative Medicine Communications; 2000:230-232.

Brinker F. Herb Contraindications and Drug Interactions. 2nd ed. Sandy, Ore: Eclectic Medical; 1998:32-33.

Cerny A, Schmid K. Tolerability and efficacy of valerian/lemon balm in healthy volunteers (a double-blind, placebo-controlled, multicentre study). Fitoterapia. 1999;70:221-228.

de Sousa AC, Alviano DS, Blank AF, Alves PB, Alviano CS, Gattass CR. Melissa officinalis L. essential oil: antitumoral and antioxidant activities. J Pharm Pharmacol. 2004;56(5):677-81.

Ernst E. The Desktop Guide to Complementary and Alternative Medicine: An Evidence-Based Approach. Mosby, Edinburgh; 2001:169.

Gaby AR. Natural remedies for Herpes simplex. Altern Med Rev. 2006;11(2):93-101.

Kennedy DO, Little W, Haskell CF, Scholey AB. Anxiolytic effects of a combination of Melissa officinalis and Valeriana officinalis during laboratory induced stress. Phytother Res. 2006;20(2):96-102.

Kennedy DO, Scholey AB, Tildesley NT, Perry EK, Wesnes KA. Attenuation of laboratory-induced stress in humans after acute administration of Melissa officinalis (Lemon Balm). Psychosom Med. 2004 Jul-Aug;66(4):607-13.

Kennedy DO, Wake G, Savelev S, et al., Modulation of mood and cognitive performance following acute administration of single doses of Melissa officinalis (Lemon balm) with human CNS nicotinic and muscarinic receptor-binding properties. Neuropsychopharmacology. 2003;28(10):1871-81.

Koytchev R, Alken RG, Dundarov S. Balm mint extract (Lo-701) for topical treatment of recurring herpes labialis. Phytomedicine. 1999;6(4):225-230.

Kucera LS, Cohen RA, Herrmann EC Jr. Antiviral activities of extracts of the lemon balm plant. Ann N Y Acad Sci. 1965;130(1):474-82.

LaValle JB, Krinsky DL, Hawkins EB, et al. Natural Therapeutics Pocket Guide. Hudson, OH:LexiComp; 2000: 469.

Madisch A, Melderis H, Mayr G, Sassin I, Hotz J. A plant extract and its modified preparation in functional dyspepsia. Results of a double-blind placebo controlled comparative study. [German]. Z Gastroenterol. 2001;39(7):511-517.

Mantle D, Pickering AT, Perry AK. Medicinal plant extracts for the treatment of dementia: a review of their pharmacology, efficacy and tolerability. CNS Drugs. 2000;13:201-213.

McCaleb R. Melissa relief for herpes sufferers. HerbalGram. 1995;34.

Muller SF, Klement S. A combination of valerian and lemon balm is effective in the treatment of restlessness and dyssomnia in children. Phytomedicine. 2006;13(6):383-7.

Nolkemper S, Reichling J, Stintzing FC, Carle R, Schnitzler P. Antiviral Effect of Aqueous Extracts from Species of the Lamiaceae Family against Herpes simplex Virus Type 1 and Type 2 in vitro. Planta Med. 200672(15):1378-82.

Patora J, Klimek B. Flavonoids from lemon balm (Melissa officinalis L., Lamiaceae). Acta Pol Pharm. 2002;59(2):139-43.

Perry EK, Pickering AT, Wang WW, Houghton PJ, Perry NS. Medicinal plants and Alzheimer's disease: Integrating ethnobotanical and contemporary scientific evidence. J Altern Complement Med. 1998;4:419–428.

Rotblatt M, Ziment I. Evidence-Based Herbal Medicine. Philadelphia, PA: Hanley & Belfus, Inc; 2002:249-251.

Schultz V, Hansel R, Tyler V. Rational Phytotherapy: A Physician's Guide to Herbal Medicine. New York, NY: Springer-Verlag; 1998:26, 37,83,181,260.

Triantaphyllou K, Blekas G, Boskou D. Antioxidative properties of water extracts obtained from herbs of the species Lamiaceae. Int J Food Sci Nutr. 2001;52(4):313-317.

White L, Mavor S. Kids, Herbs, Health. Loveland, Colo: Interweave Press; 1998:22, 34.

Wong AH, Smith M, Boon HS. Herbal remedies in psychiatric practice. Arch Gen Psychiatry. 1998; 55(11):1033-1044.

Yamasaki K, Nakano M, Kawahata T, et al. Anti-HIV-1 activity of herbs in Labiatae. Biol Pharm Bull. 1998;21(8):829-833.

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BRENTWOOD GARDEN

I spent this morning pruning my blackberries and laying net over the flowers. I don't want any bird to eat my blackberries! I have half as many as I had at Gresham and I hear that Craig has set a dog pen over the place where they used to be! Huh!

I found my hand pruners in the nick of time, because my system for controlling blackberries means cutting them into four inch pieces into a plastic bag. They are under control in no time and when dried make great kindling for camp fires.

I will go back this afternoon to water and to just enjoy my garden.

CHAMOMILE

Medicinal and alternative therapy uses
The MedlinePlus database maintained by the U.S. National Library of Medicine lists over 100 separate ailments and conditions which chamomile has been traditionally used to treat or which are backed by untested scientific theory.[2] Of these, cardiovascular conditions, common cold, diarrhea in children, eczema, gastrointestinal conditions, hemorrhagic cystitis (bladder irritation with bleeding), hemorrhoids, infantile colic, mucositis from cancer treatment (mouth ulcers/irritation), quality of life in cancer patients, skin inflammation, sleep aid, vaginitis (inflammation of the vagina), and wound healing are called out as areas in which there may be some promising research. However, no medicinal or therapeutic use of chamomile in extract, ointment or infusion have been sufficiently studied to recommend.

MedlinePlus and The National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine further caution of rare allergic reactions, atopic dermatitis (skin rash), drowsiness or sedation, the potential to stimulate the uterus, leading to abortion and the unevaluated safety of breastfeeding while taking chamomile.[2][3] Interactions with other herbs and medicines has not been well studied for chamomile.

HERBS

[edit] Phytochemicals as therapeutics
Phytochemicals have been used as drugs for millennia. For example, Hippocrates may have prescribed willow tree leaves to abate fever. Salicin, having anti-inflammatory and pain-relieving properties, was originally extracted from the white willow tree and later synthetically produced to become the staple over-the-counter drug called Aspirin. There is evidence from laboratory studies that phytochemicals in fruits and vegetables may reduce the risk of cancer, possibly due to dietary fibers, polyphenol antioxidants and anti-inflammatory effects. Specific phytochemicals, such as fermentable dietary fibers, are allowed limited health claims by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA).[3]

An important cancer drug, Taxol (paclitaxel), is a phytochemical initially extracted and purified from the Pacific yew tree.

Among edible plants with health promoting phytochemicals, diindolylmethane, from Brassica vegetables (broccoli, cauliflower, cabbage, kale, Brussels sprouts) may be useful for recurring respiratory papillomatosis tumors (caused by the human papilloma virus)[citation needed], is in Phase III clinical trials for cervical dysplasia (a precancerous condition caused by the human papilloma virus)[citation needed] and is in clinical trials sponsored by the National Cancer Institute of the United States for a variety of cancers (breast, prostate, lung, colon, and cervical).[citation needed] The compound is being studied for anti-viral, anti-bacterial and anti-cancer properties through a variety of pathways[citation needed] and has been shown to synergize with Taxol in its anti-cancer properties, making it a possible anti-cancer phytochemical as taxol resistance is a major problem for cancer patients.[citation needed]

Some phytochemicals with physiological properties may be elements rather than complex organic molecules. Abundant in many fruits and vegetables, selenium, for example, is involved with major metabolic pathways, including thyroid hormone metabolism and immune function.[4] Particularly, it is an essential nutrient and cofactor for the enzymatic synthesis of glutathione, an endogenous antioxidant.[5]

BLACKBERRY

Nutrients in raw blackberries[11] Nutrient Value per 100 grams % Daily Value
Energy 43 kcal
Fiber, total dietary 5.3 g 21%
Sugars, total 4.9 g
Calcium, Ca 29 mg 3%
Magnesium, Mg 20 mg 5%
Manganese, Mn 0.6 mg 32%
Copper, Cu 0.2 mg 8%
Potassium, K 162 mg 5%
Sodium, Na 1 mg 0%
Vitamin C, total ascorbic acid 21 mg 35%
Vitamin A, IU 214 IU 4%
Vitamin K, µg 20 µg 25%
Folic acid, µg 36 µg 9%
Carotene, beta 128 µg ne
Lutein + zeaxanthin 118 µg ne

TOMATO

Red tomatoes, raw
Nutritional value per 100 g (3.5 oz)
Energy 20 kcal 80 kJ
Carbohydrates 4 g
- Sugars 2.6 g
- Dietary fiber 1 g
Fat 0.2 g
Protein 1 g
Water 95 g
Vitamin C 13 mg 22%

WATERMELON

Watermelon, raw (edible parts)
Nutritional value per 100 g (3.5 oz)
Energy 30 kcal 130 kJ
Carbohydrates 7.55 g
- Sugars 6.2 g
- Dietary fiber 0.4 g
Fat 0.15 g
Protein 0.61 g
Water 91.45 g
Vitamin A equiv. 28 μg 3%
Thiamine (Vit. B1) 0.033 mg 3%
Riboflavin (Vit. B2) 0.021 mg 1%
Niacin (Vit. B3) 0.178 mg 1%
Pantothenic acid (B5) 0.221 mg 4%
Vitamin B6 0.045 mg 3%
Folate (Vit. B9) 3 μg 1%
Vitamin C 8.1 mg 14%
Calcium 7 mg 1%
Iron 0.24 mg 2%
Magnesium 10 mg 3%
Phosphorus 11 mg 2%
Potassium 112 mg 2%
Zinc 0.10 mg 1%

EGGPLANT

Eggplant, raw
Nutritional value per 100 g (3.5 oz)
Energy 20 kcal 100 kJ
Carbohydrates 5.7 g
- Sugars 2.35 g
- Dietary fiber 3.4 g
Fat 0.19 g
Protein 1.01 g
Thiamine (Vit. B1) 0.039 mg 3%
Riboflavin (Vit. B2) 0.037 mg 2%
Niacin (Vit. B3) 0.649 mg 4%
Pantothenic acid (B5) 0.281 mg 6%
Vitamin B6 0.084 mg 6%
Folate (Vit. B9) 22 μg 6%
Vitamin C 2.2 mg 4%
Calcium 9 mg 1%
Iron 0.24 mg 2%
Magnesium 14 mg 4%
Phosphorus 25 mg 4%
Potassium 230 mg 5%
Zinc 0.16 mg 2%
Manganese 0.25 mg

HUBBARD SQUASH

A Variety of Health-Promoting Nutrients

Winter squash, unlike its summer equivalent, can be harvested very late into the fall, has a longer storage potential, and still provides an outstanding variety of conventional nutrients. Winter squash emerged from our food ranking system as an excellent source of vitamin A (in the form of beta-carotene), a very good source of vitamin C, potassium, dietary fiber and manganese. In addition, winter squash emerged as a good source of folate, omega-3 fatty acids, vitamin B1, copper, vitamin B6, niacin-vitamin B3 and pantothenic acid. How does this amazing array of nutrients support our health?

GREEN BEANS

Green beans (snap beans)
Nutritional value per 100 g (3.5 oz)
Energy 30 kcal 130 kJ
Carbohydrates 7 g
- Sugars 1.4 g
- Dietary fiber 3.4 g
Fat 0.1 g
Protein 1.8 g
Vitamin A equiv. 35 μg 4%
Vitamin C 16 mg 27%
Calcium 37 mg 4%

BUTTERNUT SQUASH

Nutritional Value of Corn
Given below is the amount of nutrients in 100 gm of corn:
Carbohydrates - 9 gm
Calcium - 9 mg
Dietary fiber - 2.7 gm
Fat - 1.2 gm
Folate - 46 μg
Iron - 0.5 mg
Magnesium - 37 mg
Niacin - 1.7 mg
Phosphorus - 120 mg
Potassium - 270 mg
Protein - 3.2 gm
Sugars - 3.2 gm
Vitamin A - 10 μg
Vitamin B - 15 mg
Vitamin C - 7 mg
Energy - 90 kcal (360kJ)

CORN

Nutritional Value of Corn
Given below is the amount of nutrients in 100 gm of corn:
Carbohydrates - 9 gm
Calcium - 9 mg
Dietary fiber - 2.7 gm
Fat - 1.2 gm
Folate - 46 μg
Iron - 0.5 mg
Magnesium - 37 mg
Niacin - 1.7 mg
Phosphorus - 120 mg
Potassium - 270 mg
Protein - 3.2 gm
Sugars - 3.2 gm
Vitamin A - 10 μg
Vitamin B - 15 mg
Vitamin C - 7 mg
Energy - 90 kcal (360kJ)

YELLOW ONION

Yellow Onion Nutritional Information

Serving Size: 1 cup, chopped (160g)


Amount Per Serving

Calories 64
Calories from Fat


% Daily Value*

Total Fat 1g
1%

Cholesterol 0mg
0%

Sodium 6mg
0%

Total Carbohydrate 15g
5%

Dietary Fiber 3g
11%

Sugars 7g


Protein 2g


Vitamin A 0%
Vitamin C 20%

Calcium 4%
Iron 2%

*Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet. Your daily values may be higher or lower depending on your calorie needs.

Source: PMA's Labeling Facts

PUMPKIN

Pumpkin, raw
Nutritional value per 100 g (3.5 oz)
Energy 10 kcal 60 kJ
Carbohydrates 6.5 g
- Sugars 1.36 g
- Dietary fiber 0.5 g
Fat 0.1 g
- saturated 0.05 g
- monounsaturated 0.01 g
- polyunsaturated 0.01 g
Protein 1.0 g
Vitamin A equiv. 369 μg 41%
- β-carotene 3100 μg 29%
Thiamine (Vit. B1) 0.05 mg 4%
Riboflavin (Vit. B2) 0.110 mg 7%
Niacin (Vit. B3) 0.6 mg 4%
Pantothenic acid (B5) 0.298 mg 6%
Vitamin B6 0.061 mg 5%
Folate (Vit. B9) 16 μg 4%
Vitamin C 9 mg 15%
Vitamin E 1.06 mg 7%
Calcium 21 mg 2%
Iron 0.8 mg 6%
Magnesium 12 mg 3%
Phosphorus 44 mg 6%
Potassium 340 mg 7%
Sodium 1 mg 0%
Zinc 0.32 mg 3%

PUMPKIN

Oriental Poppy

Oriental poppy


Scientific classification
Kingdom: Plantae

Division: Magnoliophyta

Class: Magnoliopsida

Order: Ranunculales

Family: Papaveraceae

Genus: Papaver

Species: P. orientale


Binomial name
Papaver orientale
(L.)
The Oriental poppy (Papaver orientale) is a perennial poppy of the genus Papaver.

Aside from its natural brilliant orange-scarlet, since the later 19th century selective breeding for


THE PERNICIOUS OPIUM POPPY
Opium poppy (Papaver somniferum)

PAPAVERACEAE, Poppy Family

The opium poppy (Papaver somniferum), an annual herb 3-5 feet tall with gorgeous white to pink or purple flowers, has had a powerful impact on human affairs as a medical blessing and a societal curse. This plant produces copious amounts of a viscous latex, which is loaded with strong alkaloids. The latex is collected by incising the immature capsule with a single or multibladed knife and subsequently scraping off the coagulated latex into a bowl. The dry, darkened, slightly sticky latex mass is called opium, from the Greek opos, which means juice. Mature seeds lack alkaloids and are used on rolls and other pastry goods.

Opium poppy has been broadly associated with cultures of the Near East, e.g., Turkey. Nonetheless, recent studies of archaeological and written records suggest that the plant originated elsewhere. In fact, it now appears that the species is native to southern France, Spain, and northwestern Africa. There is a cave site in southern Spain, dated at 5500 B.C., in which intact capsules of opium poppy were found in a religious artifact. Much later, in the Early Bronze Age (3000 B.C.) in the Swiss Lake dwellings caches of poppy seeds and presscake have been found along with parts of flax (Linum), barley (Hordeum), and einkorn, emmer, and bread wheat (Triticum spp.). The evidence is unclear whether this poppy was a semicultivated weed or a true cultivar. The Swiss Lake dwellings were located in the Swiss Foreland between the Alps and the Jura Mountains; this is where rivers from the mountains drained into lowlands, forming lakes and the heads of major European rivers, the Rhine, the Rhone and Po, and the Danube. Nobody knows by what route the peoples or poppies came from Iberia to Switzerland, but a northward course along the Rhone seems likely, and farming peoples probably also came from the Balkans via the Danube. It seems likely that over time this plant was cultivated in Switzerland so that large numbers of seeds could be harvested to press for oil and to be ground for flour (dough). There is no indication that in early western Europe these poppies were smoked or used for medicine.

From 1600 to 1200 B.C., P. somniferum was apparently involved in northern Europe amber and tin trade routes, and thereby spread eastward from Switzerland, and perhaps intentionally or as a weed also into the eastern Mediterranean. Then in the Late Bronze Age poppies are finally seen in the records of the Greek realm, including Homer's Iliad, where they were revered as potent medicinal plants (Theophrastus and Dioscorides). Here poppies and pomegranates (Punica) were used extensively in artwork and jewelry; the two fruits, which have a similar outline, have often been misinterpreted. From the Greek city states, poppies spread successively into the cultures of Crete, Egypt, the Middle East, and finally the Near East, where the plant became used heavily as a narcotic, opium. In ancient Crete, there appears to have been a poppy goddess that wore a crown with three capsules.

Narcotic comes from the Greek "benumbing or deadening." Ancient peoples considered this a sacred plant of medicine and a sleep potion (Hypnos = Greek God of Sleep; Morpheus = Greek God of Dreams; Somnus = Roman God of Sleep). Pliny the Elder warned of the dangers of opium; however, its use as a medicine created addicts, such as the Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius, and the great Arabic physician Avicenna died of an unintentional overdose of opium in wine. Later addicts included Elizabeth Barrett Browning, Dumas, Edgar Allen Poe, and Samuel Taylor Coleridge. So feared was addiction that France prohibited the sale of opium in 1718 and 1735. Opium smoking in China was forbidden in the 1690s, but the British East India Company smuggled opium into China and promoted its importation. Eventually this precipitated the Opium Wars between China and Britain and France (1839-1842, 1856) , which reshaped the history of that region. In the 1840s, England was given as one concession the island of Hong Kong, which on 1 July, 1997, was returned to Chinese rule. Chinese laborers of the 19th Century promoted use of opium in the western United States when they were imported to build the railroads.

The opium poppy contains up to 50 alkaloids, and the most famous is morphine. Crystalline morphine was first isolated from opium in 1803 by Jean-François Derosne, a fashionable Parisian pharmacist. In 1804-05 Friedrich Wilhelm Sertürner isolated an organic acid from opium; this acid had no effect on dogs, but when ammonia was added to mother's milk of these dogs, the crystals that formed were narcotic to the dogs. Sertürner published his findings and named this substance "principium somniferum." These results were overlooked until they were translated into French and republished; then the findings were appreciated and praised by Gay-Lussac as the discovery of a new group of salt-forming organic alkali. Gay-Lussac proposed that N-containing alkalis should have the "ine" suffix (morphium became morphine), and thus began the standardization of names in organic chemistry. In 1818, Wilhelm Meissner proposed the name alkaloid for this class of salts. Morphine, therefore, was the first nitrogenous base to be crystallized from a living source, but its correct chemical structure was not made until 1925 (Sir Robert Robertson and Gulland).

Morphine [7,8-didehydro-4,5-epoxy-17-methyl(5alpha,6alpha)-morphinan-3,6-diol] is made by the plant from tyrosine or phenylalanine, two of the common 20 amino acids. The resultant alkaloid is an analgesic, a compound that alleviates or abolishes pain without inducing the loss of consciousness. Morphine, which effects especially the central nervous system but also induces drowsiness and can depress respiration, is a medicine that has high physical dependency and low oral activity--taken orally, it is relatively weak. Another alkaloid in the latex of poppy and related species (P. bracteatum) is codeine. Codeine has one-seventh the biological activity of morphine, has less physical dependency, and has oral activity, hence its use in prescription cough medicine and drops. Other poppy alkaloids may also be physiologically active.

Opium, and especially morphine, was an important painkiller during the Civil War, but its use created many addicts. The invention of the hypodermic syringe by Dr. Alexander Wood (1853, based on a design by Sir Christopher Wren) to replace quills, was intended to reduce opium addiction but, of course, it actually made matters much worse because morphine injected into the blood is more powerful. Morphine taken orally is metabolized in the intestinal walls and made into a harmless water-soluble glucuronide in the liver, never reaching the central plasma.

In 1898, E. Merck of Darmstadt marketed the ethyl ether of morphine, called 'Dionin', which was the first semisynthetic morphine derivative, to serve as a cough sedative. That same year Heinrich Dreser of Friedrich Bayer and Company introduced diacetylmorphine (acetylated morphine) as the "heroic drug," having the ability of morphine to relieve but being "safer." Under the proprietary name 'Heroin' (diamorphine), this drug quickly became popular worldwide (Bayer had a very large painkilling business with Heroin and Aspirin!). The very strong heroin was widely prescribed and could be purchased by mail order through the Sears, Roebuck catalog. By 1900, there were an estimated 1,000,000 opiate addicts in the United States, often addicted by accident. So even though it was initially hailed as a nonaddictive morphine substitute, heroin actually was metabolized twice as fast, and 6-monoacetylmorphine, the first breakdown product of heroin, is four times more potent, yielding a combined effect of both chemicals and a drug with very high physical dependence capacity, in fact, actually one of the most addictive drugs ever used in medicine. Governments, under pressure, were compelled to introduce laws on dangerous drugs, and responsible companies stopped using and supplying opiates. In the U.S. opium was eventually placed under federal restrictions by the Harrison Act of 1914. Finally, in 1929 the Rockefeller Foundation and government agencies began a research program to find nonaddictive morphine-like chemicals and analgesics.

In 1973, research first reported that opiates work with specific receptor sites in the brain, replacing naturally produced opiate peptides in the brain, called enkephalins, endorphins, and dynophins. These chemicals inhibit pain messages from being read by the brain cortex, but endorphins are also euphorics, involved in "runner's high." Within weeks of daily use, the body becomes physically dependent on this external supply and stops making its own opiate messages in nerve cells. Opiate neurotransmitters act as blockers by changing the receptor sensitivity and membrane biochemistry and structure to depress spontaneous or glutamine-driven firing activity. Pregnant mother users ensnare the developing fetus, which is affected by smaller size, retarded motor functions, hyperactivity, reduced number of nerve cells in the brain, and a decrease in glia cells. Withdrawal symptoms are related to this fight to restore body functions, and the body cannot return to pristine condition, while receptors are permanently altered. Withdrawal includes a horrible syndrome of limbic and brain stem problems.

Codeine, isolated from the poppy in 1832, is a milder alkaloid, but still is physically addictive, as are all of the synthetic opiates such as Methadone, Demerol (meperidine), and Vicodin (hydrocodone). Meperidine was synthesized in 1939 by Eislab and Shaumann, and is now one of the most widely used analgesics, especially commonly used during labor for child birth, painful skeletal conditions, and severe migraine attacks. Vicodin and the same drug under other names is commonly prescribed for patients after painful dental surgery and those suffering recurrent migraine or cluster headaches. Methadone was invented by the Nazis during World War II as a painkiller for soldiers and in 1963 was used in clinical trial to replace heroin addiction; as an oral dosage, it assuages craving without producing a large euphoric effect, so if administered daily can yield a potentially more useful victim. Newer morphine-like alternative, such as LAAM, have been adopted, which can be administered fewer times per week, cost less, is less likely to reinforce the drug habit, and requires hours longer to produce psychoactive effect.

[Return to Economic Botany Menu]

today

Today I sat at Labor Ready and no work.

I went to both Fred Meyers, one on Hawthorn and the other on Foster and bought an eggplant and a blue hubbard squash, which I planted directly as soon as I could get to my garden. Also more scarlett runner beans. I have cantolope seeds to plant and more corn and I think I am done with the planting.

I think that I will hop the bus and run downtown and watch the ships go out as the Rose Festival is just about out or will be by the 15th of June.

Poems Kit Carson and Lewis and Clark's Expedition

Kit Carson

Kit Carson was a German Jew
Married a squaw, had children two
When she died he married again
Eight more children by a Mexican.
As a youth he had been a run away
At sixteen or seventeen, some would say.
He didn't want a stable life
He wanted excitement, full of strife.
Kit Carson rode across the land
Killed many an Indian by his hand.
Many an Indian tried to kill him
Those were the times, that was the whim.


Kid Carson lived by trapping fir
Many a man had felt that lure.
When the fir trade became so scarce
The trappers went looking for another place.
Many men knew the trails and ways
Of tribes of Indians and where they lay.
Many a man had squaw for wife
And children too, they had brought to life.
All must live and find a way
The Military was in it's day.
The men had knowledge that it could use
The Indian problem to defuse.


There was the need, a man must provide
Against the tribes they began to ride.
The plan being clear the Indians must die
The plan being clear the Indians would hide.
But men like Carson were cunning and new
They knew how to conquer though being few.
They not only knew where the Indian lived,
They knew exactly where the Indian hid.
They would kill the braves, collect the tribe
To the reservation, dead and alive.
Confined forever from that day on
In that which was known as the Indian Reservation.

©2009 Wendy Gwen Martin

Posted by wm at 1:23 PM 0 comments


LEWIS AND CLARK'S EXPEDITION
(introduction)


In the history of our country

Is a story of exploration

By a people newly emigrant

Ignorant of land and species.

Across the prairies and the Rockies

Along the waterways beside them

Watched by people of great multitude

Old, with ancient understanding

Watched the people newly emigrant.


Out of greed and want and wonder

Began this early expedition

To be known and be recorded

By a president known as Jefferson.

Sent explorers to the mountains

To the valleys and the rivers

To know plants-the vegetation

To know animals prolific.


Natives too were mighty curious

Never seeing white or black man

And desirous of ammunition

To take buffalo the easier

And make their homes more prosperous.


So this gentleman, this Jefferson

Third president of our nation

Roamed himself, child of the woodlands,

Roamed himself, child of plantations.

Child of the Virginia Piedmont.

Lover of nature and of all things natural

Wrote out the declaration

'That all men are created equal.'


So this Thomas sent his secretary

To the wilds of Indian territory.

First to train him in the sciences.

Lewis studied plants and animals

And celestial navigation.

Lewis himself had been a soldier

And chose his friend and army captain,

A staid and steady one, a loyal one.

All through lifetime Clark was for him

Named his first son after Lewis,

Meriwether Lewis Clark the chosen.

Took his friend on expedition

Took his friend on 'The Discovery.'


Listen to these ancient histories

Of the Indians and their nations

On this continent so sacred-

First to know the sacred mountains

First to know the sacred rivers

The first to hunt, the first to gather

To plant the bean, squash, corn and sunflower

To dig the roots and use the herbs here

For their health and for their pleasure

Imagine endless generation

Loving earth and sky and water

Loving animal and kinsman

Before the foreign ships had landed

With the earliest invaders.

Vikings first before the Spanish

Then the Spanish, French and English.

Who were these with rifle ready,

Who were these with canon loaded,

To the people of the ancient

No beginning and no ending?



© 2009 Wendy Gwen Martin


Posted by wm at 12:40 PM
Subscribe to: Posts (Atom) Lewis and Clark Epic
I have three objectives to my poem; 1-to show the relationship of the Indian to the land 2-to recount the lewis and clark expedition 3-to delight in the epic form, which I love to read

Brentwood Garden

This morning I planted two more herbs in my herb 'pot'.

Now I have cilantro/lavender/lemon balm/basil/Greek oregano in one big plastic container. I believe there is room for one more. But if not they will all push each other over. But I want more. I want more.....

Illahe by Kay Atwood

Lou Reuben Martin pg. 166

Lou Reuben Martin, a miner who was born January 15, 1894, at Sprucehead, Maine, lived for many years in the Whisky Creek cabin. Lou came to the Rogue River in the late 1920's, and mined first at Howard Creek where an abandoned cabin welcomed him the first winter. At various times he also lived on Rum Creek, Tyee Bar, and in a tent house at Rainey Falls. Lou Martin was married once; his wife and baby died in the 1918 flu epidemic. He told me that after their deaths he knew he didn't want to live near where they had all been together. He left the East for good, and stayed alone the rest of his life.

Illahe by Kay Atwood

Red Keller's thoughts on living in the hills. pg 167,168

If you like the hills and you like to live that way there is nothing to interfere with you. I've never had any trouble with people. I think it was just being in the hills where I didn't have to depend on anybody else except myself. I think that's the main part of it. You're free. If you want to go fishing, you go fishing. If you want to read, you can read. There's always something to look for, all different animals. Up in the morning and the time goes fast. You can spend a lot of time just watching the hills The time goes fast and never seems to drag. I like any place in the hills.I like to just wander around. I just get enough for winter's grubstake. It's a good life. I go winter after winter and never even have a cold. It just seems nothing happens to you. Another thing, you just eat straight plain food that's nourishing and you don't have a bunch of other stuff. I think that makes a difference. You aren't happy, that's a bad thing. If a person is happy in the hills, well, they're foolish to stay out of them.

Run along the river; go back up in the hills You don't have to worry or nothin'. Money isn't worth that much to me. If you can live through the winter and not be workin' and come out in the spring with enough to get started for the summer again, why that's all I care about.

Some people think they're going to like it, but in about two weeks they go crazy. No town, no nothin'. It's so quiet. Then they panic with the heavy snow. They think the can't get out.

When you're down that way you'll read an awful lot. I wouldn't live in town. Just nothin' for me to do. There I can be just as happy running along the river and foolin' around. Lookin' out the window when it's snowin' hard, read a little bit, wonder how long its going to last, and how deep it is. The first thing in the morning, I get up and take off and see the different fresh tracts I can find in the snow.

Brentwood Garden

I made a 3ft. by 3ft. plot with a watermelon plant in the center and corn at the corners and green beans planted indiscriminately. Looks good! I made another 3ft. by 3ft. plot with three pumpkin seeds planted in the center, corn at the corners and green beans with poles as a tp over the pumpkin. At Sunday I will turn my compost and prepare a plot and plant cantelope in the center with corn at the corners and beans planted indiscriminate.

Today I will buy flax seed meal and gypsum and mix an organic fertilizer and apply to the tomatoes and cabbage. I will buy eggplant on my way home, maybe three-they are buy two get one free!

I took apart my garden table and stacked the wood for another project on the northeast side of the chain length fence.

Early this morning I went to my garden and planted more herbs in my herb pot, and Olivia dug out one of her morning-glories for me and I transplanted it right next to one of my green beans at the entrance of my garden by a post.

It is wet today. Last night we had a good storm!

making organic fertilizer

A Better Way to Fertilize Your Garden - Homemade Organic Fertilizer
Your crops will thrive with this organic soil-building plan.

June/July 2006 By Steve Solomon
Image Gallery
Steve Solomon’s garden soil and crops show the effects of steady applications of his homemade organic fertilizer. Solomon has written nine books on gardening and maintains an online gardening resource at http://www.soilandhealth.org.
MURIEL BROWN (CHEN)

Article ToolsImage GalleryPrintE-mailCommentsRSS
Because my garden supplies about half of my family’s yearly food intake, I do all I can to maximize my vegetables’ nutritional quality. Based on considerable research and more than 30 years of vegetable growing, I have formulated a fertilizing mix that is beneficial for almost any food garden. It is a potent, correctly balanced fertilizing mix composed entirely of natural substances. It’s less expensive than commercial organic fertilizers, and it’s much better for your soil life than harsh synthetic chemical mixes (see “Chemical Cautions”).

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In my gardens, I use only this mix and regular additions of compost. Together they produce incredible results. I’ve recommended this system in the gardening books I’ve written over 20 years. Many readers have written me saying things like, “My garden has never grown so well; the plants have never been so large and healthy; the food never tasted so good.” The basic ingredients — seed meal, various kinds of lime, bone meal and kelp meal — are shown below. The complete recipe is on the tear-out poster located within this article.

Complete Organic Fertilizer
To concoct the mix, measure out all materials by volume: that is, by the scoop, bucketful, jarful, etc. Proportions that vary by 10 percent either way will be close enough to produce the desired results, but do not attempt to make this formula by weight. I blend mine in a 20-quart plastic bucket, using an old saucepan as a measuring scoop. I make 7 to 14 quarts at a time.

This mix is inexpensive judged by the results it produces; it’s also inexpensive in monetary terms if you buy the ingredients in bulk from the right vendors. Urban gardeners may have to do a bit of research to find suppliers that have the right ingredients. Farm and ranch stores as well as feed and grain dealers are the best sources for seed meals, which are typically used to feed livestock. If I were an urban gardener, I would visit the country every year or two to stock up. The other ingredients usually can be found at garden shops, although they probably will be sold in smaller quantities at relatively high prices per pound. You may find the best prices by mail order or on the Internet.

Seed meals and various kinds of lime are the most important ingredients (see “Basic Organic Fertilizer Ingredients”). These alone will grow a great garden. Gypsum is the least necessary kind of lime, but it’s included because it contains sulfur, a vital plant nutrient that is deficient in some soils. If gypsum should prove hard to find or seems too costly, don’t worry about it — double the quantity of inexpensive agricultural lime. If you can afford only one bag of lime, in most circumstances your best choice would be dolomitic limestone. You also could alternate agricultural lime and dolomite from year to year or bag to bag.

Bone meal is usually available at garden centers. Guano, rock phosphate and kelp meal may seem costly or difficult to obtain, but they add considerable fortitude to the plants and increase the nutritional content of your vegetables. Go as far down the recipe as you can afford, but if you can’t find the more exotic materials toward the bottom, don’t worry too much. However, if concerns about money stop you from obtaining kelp meal, rock dust or a phosphate supplement, I suggest taking a hard look at priorities. In my opinion, you can’t spend too much money creating maximum nutrition in your food — a dollar spent here will save several in health care costs over the long term.

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Applying the Fertilizer Mix
Before planting each crop, or at least once a year (preferably in the spring), uniformly broadcast 4 to 6 quarts of fertilizer mix atop each 100 square feet of raised bed, or down each 50 feet of planting row in a band 12 to 18 inches wide. Blend in the fertilizer with a hoe or spade. This amount provides sufficient fertility for what I’ve classified as “low-demand” vegetables to grow to their maximum potential and is usually enough to adequately feed “medium-demand” vegetables (see “Which Crops Need the Most”). If you’re planting in hills, mix an additional cup of fertilizer into each.

After the initial application, sprinkle small amounts of fertilizer around medium- and high-demand vegetables every three to four weeks, thinly covering the area that the root system will grow into. As the plants grow, repeat this “side-dressing,” placing each dusting farther from their centers. Each application will require more fertilizer than the previous. As a rough guide, side-dress about 4 to 6 additional quarts total per 100 square feet of bed during a crop cycle. If the growth rate fails to increase over the next few weeks, the most recent application wasn’t needed, so don’t add any more.

Chemical Cautions
Nonorganic synthetic fertilizers should come with labels warning against giving plants too much. One reason I don’t recommend the use of chemical fertilizers is that it’s too easy for inexperienced gardeners to cross the line between just enough and too much.

Chemical fertilizers are too pure. This is particularly true of inexpensive chemical blends — even so-called “complete” chemical fertilizers are entirely incomplete. They supply only nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium. Unless the manufacturer intentionally puts in other essential minerals, the chemical mix won’t supply them. Especially troublesome is that chemical fertilizers rarely contain calcium or magnesium, which plants need in large amounts along with tiny traces of several other minerals. Plants lacking any essential nutrients are more easily attacked by insects and diseases, contain less nourishment for you and often don’t grow as well as they could.

The Quick and Easy Guide to Fertilizer
Organic Fertilizer Recipe
Mix uniformly, in parts by volume:
4 parts seed meal*
1/4 part ordinary agricultural lime, best finely ground
1/4 part gypsum (or double the agricultural lime)
1/2 part dolomitic lime

Plus, for best results:
1 part bone meal, rock phosphate or high-phosphate guano
1/2 to 1 part kelp meal (or 1 part basalt dust)

*For a more sustainable and less expensive option, you can substitute chemical-free grass clippings for the seed meal, although clippings will not provoke the same strong growth response. Use about a half-inch-thick layer of fresh clippings (six to seven 5-gallon bucketfuls per 100 square feet), chopped into the top 2 inches of your soil with a hoe. Then spread an additional 1-inch-thick layer as a surface mulch.

How Much to Use


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ILLAHE Kay Atwood

The Story of Settlement in the Rogue River Canyon


We grew everything. That land down there will grow anything. It'll do a pretty good job of it, without water. We didn't have any irrigation. There is less water now. Less water in the stream. We'd usually start about the first of March. The season would vary sometimes two or three weeks at a time. After working the ground, we'd plant our early vegetables. Lots of time we'd raise winter crops too. Late in the Fall, about the first week in September, we would sow a large area of three or four acres. Just broadcast the seed, like you would grain. It would come right away. First rain we'd get, it would start growing. By spring those turnips would be big. We fed that to the stock and to ourselves and to the miners. As soon as the weather would permit to work the ground, we'd take up all those turnips. Carrots and beets would stay in the ground all winter. We'd take them up and put in our regular crop. We always fertilized the ground well. Used barnyard manure. No compost, no chemicals. Some years we'd put the garden in here, some years we'd change and go down to the other end. A lot of seed we couldn't get. We'd send for them from the seed houses.

Brentwood Garden

Sunday, Charlie and I started a sedom garden out of the round center plot where the vegetables never took off. I had laid plastic down and was thinking about a pond, but mosquitos would be a problem, so he dug some dirt and threw that over the rocks and we sat on boards, so as not to get dirty and gently separated the sedom roots and made finger holes and planted the little sedom.

There was nothing as sweet as spending this time with my little grandson who has added so much joy to our lives. Happy and involved in his activities and willing always to share, this boy came from nothing really, just as we all.

Brentwood Garden

Day before yesterday we had a work party at Brentwood Gardens.

It was a beautiful day. Two of us picked up litter. One cleaned out and organized the tool shed. More than several of us pulled weeds around the community area. Bill had the power tool, the weed eater and someone had a gas operated lawn mower. Amy had cold drinks. I ran out of steam for the BBQ.

Brentwood Garden

Well, I think that I will stop here for a bit and talk about my garden in Brentwood Community Gardens for a bit.

The last week has been such beautiful weather that everyone, including me, has been out in the heat, enjoying the digging and the back breaking work in our gardens that we no doubt spent hours and hours dreaming about last winter. We are finally warm and getting use to the bright, southern California-like sunshine. I have bubbles on my shoulder skin to prove this.

I spent at least 7 hours weeding and more cutting down the blackberry bushes that I did not want in various areas of my garlic and flower plots and along some fences. I do like them and have them along the southwest side of my garden and they keep the big dogs in the yard below my garden quiet and hidden.

I took out my turtle garden, as he left me. Cleaned out from under my garden table by weeding and stacking sticks which I will take to the woods this summer and burn in a camp fire.
Transplanted tomato plants to the garlic and peas. Transplanted the cabbage to the x-tomato plot.

I turned over my compost pile that has been generating soil sense February and lo and behold found lots of nice dirt (compost).

Joe, my west neighbor promises me green beans soon. Melinda, my northern neighbor and I spent the day Thursday or Friday working together. Which brings to mind one of Robert Frost poems: The Tuft of Flowers
by: Robert Frost

I went to turn the grass once after one
Who mowed it in the dew before the sun.

The dew was gone that made his blade so keen
Before I came to view the levelled scene.

I looked for him behind an isle of trees;
I listened for his whetstone on the breeze.

But he had gone his way, the grass all mown,
And I must be, as he had been -- alone,

'As all must be,' I said within my heart,
'Whether they work together or apart.'

But as I said it, swift there passed me by
On noiseless wing a bewildered butterfly,

Seeking with memories grown dim o'er night
Some resting flower of yesterday's delight.

And once I marked his flight go round and round,
As where some flower lay withering on the ground.

And then he flew as far as eye could see,
And then on tremulous wing came back to me.

I thought of questions that have no reply,
And would have turned to toss the grass to dry;

But he turned first, and led my eye to look
At a tall tuft of flowers beside a brook,

A leaping tongue of bloom the scythe had spared
Beside a reedy brook the scythe had bared.

The mower in the dew had loved them thus,
By leaving them to flourish, not for us,

Nor yet to draw one thought of ours to him.
But from sheer morning gladness at the brim.

The butterfly and I had lit upon,
Nevertheless, a message from the dawn,

That made me hear the wakening birds around,
And hear his long scythe whispering to the ground,

And feel a spirit kindred to my own;
So that henceforth I worked no more alone;

But glad with him, I worked as with his aid,
And weary, sought at noon with him the shade;

And dreaming, as it were, held brotherly speech
With one whose thought I had not hoped to reach.

'Men work together,' I told him from the heart,
'Whether they work together or apart.'



I have a garden room. Only one other gardener has a garden room in the garden community. Most have rows. Melinda divides her garden in five or six rectangular plots of rich, thick soil and big impressive vegetables!

I am afraid that my soil is wanting! I have little money to buy fertilizer and I believe a huge photo of my garden should be put up as an example of the results of a garden lacking fertilizer!

On June the first I will add corn, pumpkins and I hope the green beans will be in!

Lots of fun!

Heart Mother Earth Blues Lyrics:Well- you can have me all the time Or you can never come my way But Mother Earth is waiting for you There's a debt you've got to pay I don't care how rich you are I don't care what you earn You know that when it all comes down You've got to go back to Mother Earth You know you may have a million dollars Or you may drive a cadillac You may have enough money To buy anything, ANYTHING you lack Well- I don't care how rich you are I don't care what you're worth Cuz when it all comes down You've got to go back You've got to go back to Mother Earth

carl gillberg

Carl Gillberg Pottery
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World renowned potter, Carl Gillberg, demonstrates the making of his signature giant raku ceramic jars. Gillberg Design, Malibu, CA 310-457-1768
World renowned potter, Carl Gillberg, demonstrates the making of his signature giant raku ceramic jars. Gillberg Design, Malibu, CA 310-457-1768
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Saturday 70 degrees and happy!

Well, Olivia and Charlie and I went to the Leache's Garden for a children's exhibit and had the time of our lives. I spoke endlessly to a worm bin exhibit demonstrator about raising redworms. Little Charlie did the fun stuff, planted some succulents, made a name cookie, got a pinecone all decorated with a glue gun and dried flowers. There was dead bug shadow frames and butterfly shadow frames, a goat, Leo who was 2 months old.

I checked out the construction of the shelter where we were to sign in. There were cement studs where 2 by 4s slipped in and then lattice was nailed to a simple frame. By simple, I mean that I can figure it out. And I am thinking-perfect for my garden for some shade in the summer and a greenhouse in the early spring/late winter. Just add some plastic and I am set!

That was about 10a and I made Oly drop me off at an alley below her house. One that I discovered yesterday afternoon. This alley is totally neglected, grass three feet high down the center. Yesterday I pulled peppermint and anis. This afternoon I added some beautiful Ivy which I put in a glass jar at my garden. I cut up the anis and put it in water to rinse my hands with after working in the garden. I went to the garden after scouting the alley and ate my lunch of popcorn and a quart of milk. Dug around and watered seedlings and got too hot. Here I am at the library and I will return to my garden for more weeding and watering before I go home.

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Musical Inspiration From Unlikely Places
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Musical Inspiration From Unlikely Places
by April Fulton
David Greenberger

Brentwood Garden

Yesterday afternoon Joe gave me a raspberry plant that he had cleared out of his garden.

The trench where I dump my stones looked like a perfect place so I spent a long time removing the stones and the planting the raspberries.

It is raining today, but I think that I will go later to the garden, I really do have a bunch of weeds.

Brentwood Garden

Yesterday my new, three bucket rule got off the ground and I ended up weeding much longer than the one bucket rule! Had a nice conversation with 'Kevin' in a garden at the north end of the compost. A very pretty view of the street and the lower gardens, while he was carefully separating seedlings. It was about 4p in the afternoon, the cloud cumulus and the colours pastel.

Today I will go. I will work between rain showers, it looks like. My rocks are not a problem much anymore as the remaining ones are about a quarter in size-if they were a half dollar size I would gather them and put them in my rock pile. The weeds around the edge of my garden are the most disturbing weeds in my garden, so I will begin work on them and see how long it takes me to dig them out.

'Let the weeds grow with the seeds' this is the stage of most of my plants.

Brentwood Garden

This morning I decided that each day that I would visit my garden and work in it, that I would fill a bucket with rocks, a bucket with weeds and haul a bucket full of manure. I ran out of steam at the third bucket which was suppose to be filled with manure/compost and carried back to my garden. I had a lot of watering. Starting at the edges and moving forward through my plots. I have seven plots, plus some small areas, which are not quite plots where I am growing greek oregano/strawberrie/leeks and chamomile.

I am working on a visual and looked up herbs for teas on line. I found Lemon Balm, Rose hips you can plant any kind and make tea out of them-which I really did not know. Lavender is used for herb tea which for me was a shocker, then fennel and mint and chamomile.

I am thinking of expanding the circle that is my center garden. It would be neat to find an authentic wagon wheel at an antique store and lay it down and start there. Or I have been thinking of planting them in tin cans with the bottoms cut out and just sinking them, indiscriminately around the circular plot.

Brentwood Garden

I am designing an herb garden in my imagination, to be planted in the center of my garden.

Rosemary in the center and then the 'teas' all around. I have the circular plot dug and planted with a tomato plant, many garlic and beets with the corn around the edge, but at the end of the season I can place the herbs. I think that I will have them planted in tin containers with the bottoms out, or plastic-to contain the plants as herbs spread.

Brentwood Garden

On my way home from the library, I will stop by the garden and plant Greek Oregano seeds.

I read up on asparagus and eggplant. I want to wait until next month the plant the eggplants-of which I will plant two, I believe.

I believe I will plant martha washington, even though a nurseyman from Al's Garden Center suggested a variety by the name of Jonathan, which is a male plant and doesn't send out more plants. I don't like the sound of that, I want as many as I can get!

Brentwood Garden

The new family has their plot beautifully dug up and ready for planting!

Brentwood Garden

I believe that all the plots are rented. The rent went from 50. to 75. But well worth it when you think of produce, excercise and community. The work parties are fun. So far this year I went to the prunning party. They had a clean up party that I didn't go to. The dinner parties are fun and I enjoy the one I went to two years ago with my grandson Charlie. He was eight and took some great pictures of everyone because everyone thinks that eight year old little boys are so cute and the adults had such fun expressions on their faces because of him.

Brentwood Garden

A new family rented the garden plot south of Joe's garden. Joe's garden is west of mine.
They are a Spanish family, and worked only for an hour and had chopped most of the grass, that had grown very high-down. It was raining in a gentle way, at the time, and I had my stake and planted sprouted corn seed and had put plastic collars around five cabbage plants that Joe had given me the day before. I also planted some more butternut squash seeds and five tomato plants. I found that I can purchase vegetable plants with my Oregon Food Stamps! That is a plus. I want to grow asparagus and I have been digging a trench, now I know what for. I want an eggplant or two. I am going to need a whole lot more manure to feed every thing that I have planted.

Planted cabbage plants (5) and tomato plants that I purchased at Fred Meyer. Different varietys. Sun gold, beefstake, cherry and two other.

The last day of April and I have just that many weeds to pull in my garden. I was out yesterday.

I only pull weeds in April and July.

I need to replant two circular beds, as they didn't grow. I have one really nice bed of garlic and peas and another one doing almost as well.

I will plant dahlia this afternoon and transplant little tomatoe seedlings into a started basket.

68 today. around 5 I would imagine.

tomato plant experiment

The tomato seeds sprouted successfully, just as my alfalfa sprouts.

I am going further in the experiment. I put gravel in the bottom of a large jar and then soil, wet soil-washed the tomato seeds into the jar for a terrarium and the past two days my tomato seeds have taken hold. I keep them sitting on my t.v. for bottom heat.

tomato sprouts and alfalfa sprouts

This morning I decided that maybe, just maybe a gardener could start seeds by 'sprouting them' just as we do alfalfa sprouts. I am experimenting with this.

Oregon State Park Fees May 1 through Sept. 30

Full $22.

Walk-in-tent $18.

Hike-in-tent $9

Cabin $39.

Horse $22. single

$40. double

L.L."Stub" Stewart State Park

L.L. "Stub" Stewart
1911-2005

OPRD's number one supporter, Loran L. "Stub" Stewart, served nearly 40 years on the State Parks and Recreation Advisory Committee and the Oregon Parks and Recreation Commission. Oregon State Parks grew by leaps and bounds, thanks in part to his enthusiasm and commitment.

Stub's famous career began in 1946 when he and his brother bought a small timber and lumber company. He built it into a multimillion-dollar enterprise, employing more than 2,000 people in mills throughout Oregon and northern California. He also was a state legislator, and served three terms in the HOuse of Representatives from 1951-1955.

Stub Stewart State Park is the playgound in your backyard. Just 31 miles west of Portland, the park offers camping, picnicking and hiking. If you lilke trails, this is the park for you. Explore nearly 17 miles of trails. Bring your horse or bicycle and spend hours exploring the far reaches of the park. After a day of play, finding a quiet spot to relax is easy in the 1,673 acres of lush rolling hills, forest and deep canyons.

Have time for a day trip only? The hilltop Day-use Area with its views of the Coast Range is perfect for a family gathering. Two trailheads, one at the north end and the other to the south, are gateways to hours of exploring.

(copied from Oregon State Parks Pamphlet)