From Kim Willis
http://www.examiner.com/gardening-in-detroit/kimberley-willis
Hi Gardeners
What an incredibly sad weekend this was. I had to turn off the TV after a while because
there are only so many hours that you can spend watching and crying. We know we shouldn’t but we seem drawn to immerse
ourselves in such tragedy as the Newtown
shootings. Grey days seem to intensify
the sadness. The sun is out today and
perhaps our nation will begin to heal. I find peace in beautiful music with green
things around me and chocolate. May you
feel peace too.
I had a beautiful peaceful early morning last Friday. At 2 am
I went outside to watch the meteor shower.
The night was cold and clear and the stars were so beautiful. (My
husband wasn’t interested in going out in the cold from a warm bed.) I did not
see 100 falling stars in the hour or so I was out there, maybe 30-40, but some
of them were quite big and bright. Even
my dogs stayed inside and it was as quiet as could be outside. The whole time I was outside only 2 cars
passed my house.
I was sitting there with a cat on my lap when from about 100
feet away the howl of a coyote started up.
He was somewhere over in the neighbors pasture. His yip, yip, yoweeeel was answered by what
sounded like a larger group somewhere to my east on a bigger farm. The cat dived under the car; they know to
hide from coyotes. He called a few times
then was silent again. Amazingly neither
my dogs or the neighbors barked or howled back. I have heard coyotes before but this was so
unexpected and close it was really startling but I also thought it was
beautiful.
Cat lover needed
Speaking of cats a beautiful, long haired black and white
female cat turned up in my barn. She is quite large for a female cat and has
been declawed, so there is a good chance she is spayed also. She was probably dumped here. I have to stop sitting outside with cats draped
on neck and across my lap. She would
like to be an indoor cat very badly, which she cannot be here. I have given her
the very original name of Fluffy. She is
very friendly. She looks like she was well taken care of before turning up
here. Would anyone like a cat for Christmas?
Well it doesn’t look like our chances for a white Christmas
are really good. That’s ok, I’m sure we will get some more snow this winter,
but I enjoy not having to wade through it, or shovel it, although the mud is
pretty messy too. It is nice to be able
to run the hose each day at the barn but I do think we need it to be just a bit
colder. I noticed that one of my
landscape roses up next to the house on the south has a set of new shiny leaves
and a cluster of tiny buds forming. They
are not hardening off as they should and when we do get that cold snap they
will be damaged.
My Christmas cactus is blooming beautifully right on
cue. I also have several colors of
geraniums in bloom and an African violet.
I hope there are flowers in your life, they make winter bearable.
Next week there will
be no weekly newsletter and the next one will be January 2, 2013-
a new start in a new year. I hope all of
you enjoy a wonderful Christmas with your family and that all of us have a
blessed and bountiful New Year.
Really Green
batteries
Lithium-ion batteries power many of the gadgets we all use
in daily life. The trouble with them and
with many other types of batteries is that they are environmentally and
financially costly to both make and re-cycle.
Lithium batteries require cobalt, which is a mined ore that is getting
scarce and the mining process negatively affects the environment. The process of producing or re-cycling the
lithium batteries requires high heat, requiring lots of fuel, and releases
toxins as waste products.
Scientists have been working to produce a greener battery
and they may have found it. Commercial
trials of batteries produced from a plant, Madder, (Rubia
species) will soon be
conducted and it looks very good that we will soon have a non-toxic,
environmentally sound battery.
Madder is a plant that grows on several continents and in a
range of climates. It is a sprawling
perennial plant that grows up to 8 feet long or high if supported. It has small yellow flowers that turn into
blue-black berries. The plant spreads by
rhizomes and also produces a larger, heavier central root that is generally
used for dye production.
Madder has been cultivated as a dye plant for at least 5,000
years. The dye is made from the boiled
roots or a powder made from them and produces a red-purple color. Traces of madder dye have been found on
textiles and leather from the tombs of pharaohs and in the graves of
Norsemen. Ancient Celtic lasses soaked
their fingernails in madder solutions to give them a rosy tint and madder root
was fed to white animals to tint their skin, hooves or nails.
It’s the plant molecules that produce the color, purpurin,
that’s the basis for the new batteries. Purpurin
easily binds to lithium and conducts and stores electricity quite
efficiently. Purpurin binds to lithium
salts without high heat, with other natural ingredients such as alcohol, and
the new batteries will require little energy to produce or re-cycle. Actually
the batteries will probably be disposable as they will decompose into a
natural, harmless product. Researchers
say the new batteries are just as efficient as the current ones and devices
will not require any modification to use them.
Madder is a renewable, perennial crop that requires little
fertilizer and is easy to harvest and as it grows it sequesters carbon as most
plants do, actually helping the environment.
Madder stems and leaves can be used as livestock food. This exciting
research was recently reported in the journal Nature's online and in Scientific
Reports, on December 11, 2012 . Anyone out there ready to start
a Madder farm?
Its official-
ultrasonic devices don’t work for pest control
The Journal of Economic
Entomology will soon publish the complete results of
scientific tests on several commercial ultrasonic pest control devices. A group of researchers was interested in
recent claims that the products would deter bedbugs and began research to test
the products. The products also claim to
deter (chase off) most other pest insects and even mammals like rats and mice.
You don’t have to be a scientist to be skeptical of these devices but
now the evidence is in- they are snake oil products, made to relieve people of
their money. The preliminary report
released from the study found that the ultrasonic devices were not effective in
repelling bedbugs or any other insects or mammals.
The world’s oldest
tree
This report fascinated me.
In the remote Dalarna province of Sweden Norway
Before this find
the oldest trees were thought to be some pines in North America that are about 5,000 years old. There are about 17 species of plants that can
live to be more than 1,000 years old.
Most of the long lived plants are conifers- evergreens. Recent genetic research has found that most
evergreen species are little changed genetically from pre-historic times. They evolved into their niche so well that
little change has been needed for them to survive for the hundreds of thousands
of years they have been on earth.
Scientists in Sweden
Lock up your spices
You’ve heard of the exotic chemical concoctions that idiots
are using to get high that were dubbed “spice”. But it seems that real
spices in your kitchen cabinet are also inspiring some risky behavior in silly kids. A new fad, spread by the
internet, is called the cinnamon challenge.
Kids try to swallow a tablespoon of dry cinnamon without anything to
wash it down. This causes explosive coughing and burning of the throat and has
resulted in several hospitalizations.
Worse is the practice of smoking, snorting or eating large
quantities of powdered nutmeg. Nutmeg
does contain a hallucinogenic called myristicin. No deaths
have been reported yet but there have been several people who required medical
treatment.
At least 2 recent deaths in
pre-teens were caused by an even more seemingly safe item, marshmallows. Another fad called Chubby Bunny gets kids to
stuff as many marshmallows in their mouths as they can and then say “Chubby
Bunny”. Choking requiring medical
treatment has occurred in many places and choking caused the two deaths
mentioned. Marshmallows lodged in the throat
are very hard to remove, even by experts. So keep an eye on those kitchen cabinets
while kids are home for the holidays and bored.
Celebrate the winter
solstice with an ancient tradition
On December 21 the longest, darkest night of the year
occurs. After this night the days slowly
start to lengthen. I myself always feel
happy when the longest night is over and we begin our journey to renewal. I understand completely why this day was so
important to early people and why they rejoiced that it had come.
In earliest times the lighting of the Yule log celebrated
the winter solstice. A large oak log was
brought into a city square or a person’s home.
On the eve of the winter solstice, as darkness approached the log was
lit. All other light is extinguished and
everyone concentrates on the fire. First
sprigs of holy are thrown into the fire and a person gives thanks for the good
things that happened during the past year.
Then acorns and pieces of oak twigs are thrown into the fire and people
wish for good things in the New Year.
The oak log is kept burning through the hours of darkness
and only allowed to go out as dawn breaks.
Through the night people sing, eat and dance to celebrate the ending of
the old year. As morning comes people
gather pieces of unburned oak for good luck in the New Year and these are often
used to start the Yule log fire the next year.
This year let us pray that when the longest night ends we
enter a year filled with peace, joy and good luck for everyone and that we
leave the violence, heartbreak and fear of the past year behind us. Luck and
love to all of you in the coming year and may God bless you and yours.
More Information
Cinnamon rolls
This cinnamon roll or bread recipe
takes a little time and you must pay attention to details but its well worth
the effort. This is the kind of kitchen gift you can be proud of and you’ll
want to make some for yourself too. This sweeter dough also makes good dinner
rolls and the variation for making them will be given. Read more,
Rex begonias
are a great plant to brighten up Michigan
Looking for a good
garden book? -
Check out the American Horticulture Society garden book
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