Bean me!

Growing gardens is getting to be all the rage again. In fact, for many it never went out of style. While I love to grow flowers, my enthusiasm for the edible stuff isn't as strong. I blame it on a bad bean experience as a child.

We had a garden. (40 years ago, who didn't?) And I did have to pick plenty of beans and peas and cucumbers.

I was never fond of the job, because I wasn't very good at it. Try as I might, a post-picking mom inspection frequently unearthed dozens, maybe even hundreds of errant beans that did not make it into my picking pail.

I didn't try to be a bad bean picker. Really. In fact, I remember more than once thinking THIS TIME I would pass inspection with flying colors, only to be reminded that this was not the time.

I never did get the hang of it, and I think the root of my vegetable-growing disdain sprung from my bean problem. I mean, if I was going to be leaving piles of beans on the vine -- hey, I didn't even LIKE the taste of beans -- what was the point of growing them at all?

But now that I'm all middle-aged and have a family and stuff, growing a vegetable garden is kind of what you have to do. Last year, the garden was so late, all we got out of it was some carrots. But there were pretty darn good, thank you very much.

I'm not sure what we're going to plant yet, but now both you and I know one vegetable that WILL not be there:

Beans.

And that's all I'm saying about that!

Dawn

Dandy lions, they are not

Have you ever wondered if the person who penned the word "Dandelion" has ever kicked him or herself in the backside for naming that pesky bane of lawn care such a cheery name? I mean, really. Dandy? Lion? Wouldn't a more appropriate name be something like @#()$*@#($*?

They sprout everywhere and go to seed before you get a chance to do much about them. And since they sprouted around our yard, the weather has not been conducive for spraying. Too much wind. Too much rain. Too cold. But those little buggers are flourishing.

So, last night, we encouraged our children to pick 'em for a penny a piece. We can now say there are at least 397 fewer dandelions in the lawn, and I am at least $2.97 poorer (my husband sprang for the other buck).

I'm not complaining, mind you. I was more than happy to encourage this bit of manual labor from the children for a few bucks.

What did we do with the fruits of their labor? They were unceremoniously dumped into the kitchen garbage.

But wait! It turns out that, perhaps, I should not have been so hasty about tossing them out.

I could start "farming" our dandelions and market them as a medicinal thing. I kid you not. Check out this link if you don't believe me.

And did you know that the official name is Taraxacum officinale?

Who would have guessed we had the potential for a "medicinal designer crop" right on our own little plot of land?

On third thought, I think I'll just let my kids keep picking those "dandy lions" and I'll just keep paying 'em to do it. Their smiles are worth it.

Dawn

Thankful

My kids had their final religion class for the school year last night, and as part of the service, they honored those families who had loved ones in military service.

They also had an individual from the military talk to the students and parents about what more we could do to help those away from their families while serving their country.

What he said surprised me. "You are doing plenty!" He said he got mail regularly and wonderful thank you cards from all kinds of people, even those he didn't know. He said a British soldier he knew didn't receive nearly the support that the Americans were receiving for their service overseas.

"We have so much to be thankful for in this country," he said. "Once you spend time in those other countries, when you come home you don't take anything for granted."

And that got me thinking. How many of us just take everything we have, every day, for granted? Probably more of us than we really care to admit.

How can we learn to be a little more grateful for everything we have? That's the million dollar question, isn't it? But I'm up for it. How 'bout you?

Let's start a list!

I am thankful that...

Even though I thought I'd be a rotten parent, I was blessed with two beautiful children who think I'm pretty cool. (Of course, they aren't teenagers yet!)

Your turn!

Dawn

When you're 48

I am 48 today. The day started quite foggy, and looking for substantial meaning in every nuance of the day, I could only wonder: Hmmm, is the fog an allegory for my future?

Scenario A: The dawning of increasing mental and physical fog
Scenario B: The blissful fogginess of never knowing what's going to happen next

Since I am not a "by-nature" optimist, but rather a learned one, my knee-jerk reaction was Scenario A. But did I also mention that I'm stubborn, and have a tendency to second-guess everything I do or say? So after some serious second-guessing about how Scenario A would impact my mental balance (what little of it there is) I decided that choosing Scenario B was going to make me happier in the long run, however long that run may be.

And isn't that really the challenge? Making the most of the run, no matter how long or short.

I told my son not too long ago that it's good to keep your eye on the prize, but if you aren't enjoying the journey to the prize, getting the prize is going to be a let-down. We kid ourselves into believing that the prize is going to make us happy, when really it's the journey that makes us happy. Psycho-babble? Maybe. The truth? For me it is.

Happy blissful fogginess!!

Dawn

Blast from the past

I was looking for something in one of my long-ignored credenza cabinets. I don't even remember what, anymore. But I came across a United States Department of Agriculture Yearbook from 1979. The title: "What's to Eat? And other questions kids ask about food."

I figured it would be fun to look at, and although I haven't had time to really read all 140 pages, one item that I found particularly interesting was the page that talked about how more food is being produced by fewer farmers for more people.

"Each agricultural revolution meant that the farm could produce more food to feed more people. For instance, in the 1700s, one farm worker could feed three people."

The year the book was published, the statistic was that one farmer was able to feed 60 people, and that by 2000, that number would climb to 80.

In actuality, the number of people fed by one farmer rose to 129 by 1990, and was up to 144 by 2002, according to a 2004 Farm Facts publication by American Farm Bureau Federation.

It just goes to show you how technology and efficiency in farming can feed more people with less.

I think that's a pretty good thing, don't you?

Dawn

Fern finds a home

And Lily takes a hike. Funny, but it sounds like a bad episode of a soap opera or something. But it was actually a wonderful surprise.

When I got home from work yesterday, there on the counter was a resplendent fern peony (F.P. for short). Thank you, dear hubby!!!!

Last summer I plotted and planned to replace the lilies that had overgrown their space with F.P.s, thinking that they would be a wonderful front-yard complement to my cosmos that I so dearly enjoy.

I thought F.P prices would go down at the end of the summer. They didn't. Rather, the F.P.s just looked straggly and not worth the price.

So I waited. And waited.

I was actually prepared to wait until at least the middle of May. But yesterday's surprise has thrown any patience I had for waiting out the window. I'm now in full gardening mode!!

"Get the wagon!!!!" I hollered to my daughter. She dutifully complied, knowing full well I was on a mission. I got out the spade, and dug up Lily 1 and Lily 2 in their entirety, plunked them in the wagon and hauled them to the play structure flower beds where they each got a place to stretch their roots and expand to their hearts' content.

Fern was then carefully planted in Lily 1's place. At some point, I will be getting Fern 2 and putting her in Lily 2's place, but maybe I'll wait for a little while (until this weekend?) before the next big purchase.


Isn't she a sun-dappled beaut?

Here we go!!!

Dawn

On the eve of Earth Day

I'm older than Earth Day....by a few years. Never mind how many. It's not important.

What IS important, however, is that, instead of focusing on the "doom and gloom" of a most assuredly disastrous future that some prefer to spout, Earth Day should be a celebration of all the progress we have made and all the good that has come from man's technological advances; common-sense solutions that benefit people and the environment at the same time.

Remember Frankenfoods? An editorial in the New York Times by John Tierney noted, "Frankenfood, like Frankenstein, is fiction. The imagined horrors of 'frankenfoods' have kept genetically engineered foods out of Europe and poor countries whose farmers want to export food to Europe. Americans, meanwhile, have been fearlessly growing and eating them for more than a decade — and the scare stories seem more unreal than ever."

Read the rest of the Tierney's article by clicking here.

And while I'm providing links, here are a few more Earth Day-related links....

Farmers Weekly Interactive

Nevada Farm Bureau blog

Nebraska Corn blog

CattleNetwork.com

America's Heartland Earth Day special.

So this Earth Day, instead of giving in to all the fearmongers, let's celebrate the progress we've made. And we have made a lot of it.

No, positive doesn't sell, but it's the truth. And that's all we need.

Dawn

The scintillating subject line

You know, it is VERY true what they say about how important the subject line is to getting someone to open your e-mail.

Case in point: I hardly EVER open e-mails -- even from trusted businesses -- if I think they're telling me about a sale on this or that. Until of course I see the words "Savings for Lawn & Garden, Mother's Day" in the subject line.

Yep. They got me. Big time. I even right-clicked so I could see all the photos.

It didn't end up being anything that interested me, but they got me to open the e-mail, and that is huge in the world of e-mail marketing.

In fact, did you know that, in the "unopened" category, the "industry" average is 74.2 percent. That's an awful lot of unopened e-mail, when you think about it.

So the next time you want some one's attention and want to improve your "open rate" by all means, go with a really scintillating subject line.

I'm waiting for the one that says, "The yard makeover dude wants to visit your house."

I'd open that, too.

Dawn

Flower power

My son "made" a flower for a science project. It could be made out of anything, but it had to have the representative "stuff" of either a monocot or a dicot.

He pretty much had the structure of his flower -- a monocot -- and how he was going to do it. It was quite an ingenious mix of bobby pins, glue, a straw and pipe cleaners. Even a little glitter for the pollen.

It is here that I probably should mention that I have forgotten virtually EVERYTHING I ever learned about the parts of a flower. So I looked up "dicot" in the dictionary. Unfortunately, the definition didn't really provide me with a better understanding of the difference between the two.

He wasn't sure how to make or attach the petals, so I got out my gardening book and showed him pictures of monocot flowers and where the petals attach.

Then I suggested that perhaps tissue paper would make nice petals. So I showed him how to cut out a petal. He cut out four. Never once did it occur to me that he should have petals in groups of three for a monocot. (Four for a dicot) So his flower is not anatomically correct. In fact, you could say he has made the world's first monodicot. An impossibility, methinks, but nevertheless, quite lovely.

And it just goes to show you that, even though you may love flowers and digging in the dirt and stuff, it doesn't make you an expert.

Dawn

He makes a good point...

Via Paul Schwennesen, an Arizona Farm Bureau Young Farmer & Rancher...

"Shrill predictions of impending doom always make me wary because they invariably come with demands for sacrifice. Mythology is nothing without victims, and the world is getting short on virgins. It may be one thing if the UN wants you to eat fewer Big Macs, and quite another when they tell you you’ve reached your child quota.

There is an underlying thread to the climate-change message, that “experts” ought to determine how best to allocate resources, that governments should regulate activities in the interest of the “greater good.” Be careful. Time and time again the world has had to prove to itself that centralized decision-making leads to poorer quality of life and environments. I feel certain that the National Socialists, the Politburo, and the People’s party were every bit as convinced of the virtue of their “recommendations” as the IPCC, the UN, and Worldwatch."

Read Paul's entire post here.

Dawn

Fungus among us

In my last post, I said, "I want to dig."

This was not the type of digging I had in mind.

You see, we have a fungus among us, or rather our lawn has a fungus, and we're pretty sure the culprit is something that has sweet little name called Fairy Ring.

Fairy Ring is anything but sweet. It's a bugger, according to everything I've read, and the only sure-fire way to get rid of the problem is to dig out the affected area and dispose of the soil. Oh, did I mention you have to dig down at least a foot? And I counted at least 15 of these rings in our yard?

I checked the NDSU Extension website and this is what Ron Smith said about it last year:

"One way to eliminate a fairy ring is to dig it out, although this is seldom practical. Mark out an area at least a foot beyond the ring and remove all the sod in that area. Then remove all the soil to a depth of 1 foot. Be careful not to spill any on the lawn. Refill the hole with new soil and reseed or resod. Seeding is preferable because there is less danger of reintroducing the fairy ring fungi. Doing this job without spilling any soil and reintroducing the fairy ring fungi is extremely difficult. For those who decide to live with the problem, there are several ways to minimize damage. The grass should be fertilized with nitrogen several times a year to help mask symptoms. Most of the fairy ring growth is in the ground underneath the fairy ring. This growth causes the soil to become nearly impervious (hydrophobic) to water. Using a root feeder attachment on a garden hose, punch holes at least every foot in the yellowing or dying area and pump large amounts of water into the ground to a depth of 10 to 24 inches. Repeat frequently. Increasing the soil moisture may change the ecological balance enough to retard the growth of the fairy ring fungi. An application of a wetting agent to the area may increase soil permeability and help lessen the symptoms. Aeration also reduces the severity of the problem."

Here is a link to a picture of it from the NDSU Extension site: Fairy Ring.

And here is a picture of some of the rings in our yard.

















Look pretty similar, don't they?

Isn't that just the way it goes? Next time I feel inclined to whine about digging, I think I'll keep my mouth shut.

Dawn

When it's 78....

When it's 78 degrees outside, even if it is overcast and the wind is howling like a banshee...

I want to dig.

I want to smell dirt.

I want to run to the plant store and buy stuff.

But, when it's 78 degrees outside, and it's still early April, I know I will have to just sit on my excitement for awhile.

So the digging will wait.

The dirt sniffing will wait.

And so will those fern peonies with my name on them at the local plant store.

Oh, how I hate 78 in April!

Dawn

The taxes are in the mail

What a LOAD off my mind. The taxes -- for better or worse -- are in the mail. Actually, one load has been replaced with another one; second-guessing.

Did I understand everything? Did I do my math right? Did I remember to attach the W-2s? Did I remember to include a copy of the federal return with my state return? Did I put the right postage on the envelope? Did I? Did I? Did I?

I read a Rasmussen poll today that stated that, among those surveyed, 66% say America is overtaxed.

Well I can sure tell you that I feel overtaxed, not so much the "dollars and cents" kind, but the "emotional stress of the whole sordid exercise" kind.

After the mailman picked up my very special documents, I started thinking about the person (or persons) who came up with income tax. "Who can I blame for all my taxing emotional stress?" I thought. So I did a little Internet searching.

"Who invented income tax?" I demanded typingly.

From what I can gather, a caveman started the whole mess!

And I quote, from TaxWorld.org: "Not surprisingly, taxation problems date back to earliest recorded history."

I jest, but it truly is an an interesting read....www.taxworld.org/History/TaxHistory.htm, if you are so inclined.

Suffice it to say, who ever said "There are only two sure things in life: death and taxes" was not kidding.

Many happy tax returns!

Dawn

The fashion "unstatement"

Spring is here. It's warm, but in my opinion, it is NOT shorts and flip-flops warm. It's light jacket and sensible shoes with socks warm. Of course, I must reiterate, that is MY opinion. It was not my seven-year-old's opinion this morning as she dressed for school.

I had a headache. I could see she had her heart set. I didn't want us both to be miserable (but for different reasons) so I sighed my big Mom sigh and said, "Fine, but bring a warm jacket and put socks and shoes in your backpack too, because that first recess will be chilly."

When did I become so "sensible?" When did comfort become more important than making a "fashion statement?"

Truth be told, it was ALWAYS that way. The only fashion statement I remember making when I was younger was a fashion "unstatement." I was happy dressing in worn out jeans, over-sized plaid shirts with another shirt under it.

When everyone else was wearing HASH jeans, I was perfectly happy sporting the jeans my mom made for me. In fact, I felt pretty darn proud that I DIDN'T have jeans like everyone else.

I never really was into trends or fashions. In fact, I breathed a sigh of relief when the trend FINALLY fit my tastes, so I could at least find something to wear.

So it should be interesting watching my daughter as she navigates "fashion." Or maybe she's as stubborn as me and likes what she likes and will find her own style.

I just hope it's a warm style. After all, I am a mother, too!

Dawn

Rabies

I got the e-mail from NDSU Extension with the subject line, "Take steps to prevent rabies," and I was immediately taken back to a time in my childhood when my neighbors had to have a series of painful shots in the belly because they had a rabid animal on their farm.

Up until that point, I never really worried about rabies. After that, it seemed like I worried about it all the time. I'd see our dog all frothy at the mouth because he had been running around and I'd freak. And then to get me even more freaked out, about that same time, I happened to see part of a movie where a doctor in a remote area (who happened to have my dad's first name) got bitten by a rabid dog and he had to race against time to get medical treatment. Can you say, "Super freaked-out?" Well, that was me.

At some point, I guess my worry about rabies waned (probably replaced with some NEW worry of pain or suffering) but when I saw the e-mail from Extension, I figured it was probably some good information to share, just in case you are a worrier, like I was. (I'm not one any more. I also have some swamp land....)

Anyway, here's the link, and it's full of good information....

Take steps to prevent rabies.

Dawn

The anti-meats are even infilterating typing

I hope you all had a wonderful Easter. I took a couple vacation days since my cherubs didn't have school and when I got back to the office this morning, my inbox was FILLED with messages.

I was particularly curious about an e-mail I received that said, "And a child will lead us," from Cattlenetwork.com.

Did you know that they even have anti-meat messages in typing?

Here's a link to the story: And A Child Will Lead Us

I think there is a lot more of this kind of thing going on than most of us care to admit. I don't know about you, but I don't like my kids being taught opinions paraded as fact. In fact, my son has gotten to the point that, any time he hears these "facts" in school, he comes home and asks me about it. I'm very happy to take the time to explain "the other side" of the story to him. In fact, I think I will share the following Trent Loos article with him, because it makes some very good points:

Much of what people know isn't so.

It's a good read, and I hope you take the time to read it, and share it with others as well.

Dawn

Music sense

When it comes to musical tastes, I guess my kids are chips off the ole' block. That's because they are constantly lamenting how other kids their respective ages are listening to music that they just can't relate to.

My seven-year-old daughter eschews Hannah Montana and High School Musical for The Police and Sweet.

My twelve-year-old son doesn't know Taylor Swift from Andy Taylor, but he can sing every word to several Pink Floyd songs.

Sure, I have that music on in the vehicle when we're driving to and from this and that, but you don't really expect your kids to pick up on your musical tastes. You kind of expect them to, well, abhor them. And complain.

I know when I was my daughter's age, I LOVED Donny Osmond. I think I even joined his fan club or something. But when I got to high school my tastes changed and I was hooked on Styx and....well, more Styx. I had every one of their albums and even bought the piano books so I could play and sing all the songs.

My Pink Floyd/The Police habit started in college and I never outgrew it.

I remember my dad saying how the music I liked sounded like "a couple of cats thrown on the electric fence." I'm not really sure what kind of music my dad liked back then, but I guess it WASN'T Pink Floyd or The Police.

So I'm actually quite amazed that my kids like them too.

I shouldn't be, though. I mean, they rock!

Happy rocking!

Dawn