Who Should have The Right To Vote.

At this moment the national debt is $17,525,568,343,274.68. For those in Rio Linda, that is a little over 17.5 trillion dollars! The debt is growing at a rate of 2.56 billion dollars each and every day. At this point in time, each citizens share of the debt is an astounding $55,097.93. In my soon to be published book America In Decline I spend several chapters dealing with the reasons for our nation's financial woes but, in a nut shell, we are in this financial mess because over the past 60 years or so America has morphed from the republic that our founding fathers envisioned into a pure democracy wherein the majority rules and minority rights, including most importantly property rights, are trampled on daily by the elected officials in Washington DC and, with rare exception, our various state capitals. Pure democracies have always failed throughout history, and always will fail in the future, because most people, by nature, are inherently lazy and if given the chance will opt out of the work force and let someone else do it. More importantly, they will vote for politicians who will implement laws that redistribute the wealth of successful members of society and give it to those who sit on the couch all day swigging beer and watching endless sitcoms on the flat screen TVs that the government has provided for them. Note, I am not referring to the people who, through no fault their own, are disabled or for some other reason cannot work; rather, I am referring to the millions of able bodied men and women who can work but, for a variety of reasons, refuse to do so! In America In Decline I propose several possible solutions to our nation's problems including, as a last resort, revolution. However, we could right our floundering ship of state without firing a single shot, or spilling a drop of blood, if we just made a few simple changes in our voting laws. Rather, as now is the case, encouraging every single citizen to vote and making it possible for many of them to vote multiple times, we should limit voting rights to those who make a contribution to society. In short, if you don't work and pay taxes you should not be allowed to vote. Nothing could be more simple and nothing would be more effective in righting the moral and financial woes our country is facing. In short, if a citizen does not pay federal income taxes he or she should not be allowed to vote in any federal election. Similarly, those that do not pay state and local taxes will not be allowed to vote in state or local elections. In this respect, the payment of sales taxes would not qualify a person to vote. These simple changes in the way Americans elect their politicians would put an end to political corruption; greatly curtail the liberal dependency state; and return our country to the union of independent states envisioned by our founding fathers. By the way, we are a very charitable people, always have been and always will be, so no one who is truly incapable of providing for their own needs will be left to die in the streets for lack of food or shelter, that simply in not the American way!

Worm Tea- The Organic Gardener's Best Friend

By now everyone is familiar with the foliar fertilizer VF11. Foliar forms of liquid fertilizer containing nitrogen and other plant nutrients are sprayed on the plant and the soil around the plant. Worm tea provides many of the beneficial effects of VF11 at a fraction of its cost. In fact, except for the expense of the small amount of electricity used to operate an inexpensive aquarium air pump for a couple of days, there is no cost to homemade worm tea can be made for nothing. Controlled scientific experiments have shown that this miraculous organic foliar fertilizer increases plant growth and crop yields up to 50 percent. Of equal importance, if made correctly, worm tea contains billions, of beneficial microorganisms that cover the plant when the tea is applied as a foliar spray. These microbes prevent, or hinder the growth, of plant pathogens like powdery mildew, aphids, parasitic nematodes and spider mites because potential infection sights on the plant are occupied by the beneficial microorganisms in the tea. As a result, the pathogens cannot attach themselves to the plant. The harmful pathogens also have a difficult time establishing themselves on a plant sprayed with worm tea because the beneficial microbes consume the nutrients the pathogens require to grow and reproduce. Worm tea is easy to make. Basically, you need a three or four handfuls fresh worm castings, an once or two of a nutrient like sulfur free molasses or corn syrup and a way to aerate the brew. Some organic farmers add the juice of a lemon and an once or two of fish emulsion to the mixture. Aeration is a must when making worm tea to avoid the growth of anaerobic bacteria that may be harmful to plants. Aeration can be achieved with one of the inexpensive air aquarium pumps designed to oxygenate fish tanks. These devices, which cost less than $10 at a pet store, even have an air diffuser stone. You also will need a plastic bucket. I use a seven gallon food grade bucket sold at a local home brew supply store; however, the cheap 5 gallon buckets sold at Lowe's or Home Depot will work just as well. Finally, if you do not have a source of non chlorinated water, like rain or pond water, fill a bucket of chlorinated city water and let it sit for a couple of days to allow the chlorine in the water to evaporate. Alternately, add the chlorinated water from the tap to the brewing bucket and aerate it with the aquarium pump for a couple of hours to bubble out the chlorine before adding the worm castings and molasses to the bucket. Once most of the chlorine has been removed from the water, turn on the air pump and let the mixture ferment for 24 hours, 48 hours is better. I use a stick to stir the water in the bucket periodically but this is not necessary. After the brew is finished use a plastic funnel lined with a cloth towel to strain the tea before placing it into a garden pump sprayer. Worm tea will maintain its potency indefinitely if you continue to feed it and keep it aerated with the aquarium air pump. However, once removed from the brew bucket worm tea should be sprayed on the plants without delay since the beneficial organisms in the tea will not survive for more than a few hours if deprived of a continuous supply of oxygen. In this respect, the bottled worm tea sold commercially is of questionable value. Several commercial brands of worm tea have found their way to the market. The manufactures of these concoctions add preservatives such as phosphoric, lactic and citric acids to their worm teas. The acids supposedly put the tea's microbes into a dormant state. When the bottled teas are opened and exposed to oxygen, the microbes are said to recover. I do not know if the manufactures claims with respect to the effectiveness of their bottled worm teas are true or not. However, since worm tea is so easy to make, I question the wisdom of purchasing an expensive bottled tea that may be of questionable value. Why not just make the tea yourself and be done with it? There is no magic formula for applying worm tea to the plants in your garden. However, since the beneficial microorganisms in worm tea also are very sensitive to heat and sunlight, the spray should not be applied in the middle of a hot summer day. To be on the safe side, spray your plants early in the morning or in the evening after the sun has set. I spray every living thing in my organic garden, with the exception of my dog, with the tea at weekly intervals. Try it! I think you will be amazed at the effectiveness of this cheap effective organic fertilizer. For the sake of completeness, I should add that there are anaerobic as well as aerobic worm teas. Some authors even claim that worm teas produced under anaerobic conditions are superior to those created in an oxygen rich environment. Certainly, the microorganisms produced in an oxygen rich environment will differ significantly from those that thrive in an anaerobic environment. I believe that the preponderance of evidence suggests that anaerobic microorganisms may be toxic to plants; thus, I would avoid them.

Controlling Moles and Gophers in the Garden

Moles are insectivores who live on earthworms, slug eggs and other garden pests, rarely do they eat vegetation of any type. They can be identified by their raised tunnels that that disrupt the surface of the garden or lawn. Gophers live deep within the ground and may be identified by the characteristic mounds of dirt they make as they tunnel through the earth. Gophers are vegetarians and are particularly destructive to beds of carrots, turnips and beets. Their unsightly mounds also can ruin the appearance of a lawn. Possibly the best way to prevent an invasion of gophers or moles is to prevent them from entering your garden of lawn in the first place by burying a two foot deep strip if fine mess hardware cloth around the perimeter of the garden or lawn. This method mole and gopher control is labor intensive but fool-proof. With respect to the garden, I believe moles do more good than harm and make no effort to exclude them. If they invade the lawn I use a hose end sprayer filled with 1/4th castor oil, a few drops of dish detergent and water to spray the lawn every three weeks until they leave the area. Gophers are a different matter. These ingenious creatures can ruin a row of carrots overnight. My garden is situated in a large open hillside and the gophers invariably attempt to make their way from the surrounding wooded area to the garden each spring. My goal is to eradicate these destructive creatures before they enter the garden. Gopher control at Chateau Merrill is a two step process, somewhat labor intensive but absolutely fool-proof! The first step, the labor intensive one, is to identify the gopher hole. This is done by digging around a gopher mound or hill until you locate an open gopher tunnel. You are now home free! Simply place a handful of a poison grain, such as Gopher Getter, in the hole and cover the hole with a rock or small segment of waste lumber. This works every time, I guarantee it! Now to simplify your life next year, don't forget step two. New gophers will attempt to enter your garden next year and, if possible, they will use a tunnel made by a previous gopher to do it. To prevent this from happening, after about three weeks remove the rock or segment of lumber used to cover the tunnel in which you placed the poison grain. Purchase a highway flare; light the flare and position it as far down the hole as possible; finally, cover the hole with dirt. Purchase the shortest flares available because they are easier to introduce into the gopher tunnels. Gophers do not like the smell produced by a highway flare and will not enter a tunnel so treated. Over the years I have tried many different ways to rid my garden of gophers and, other than buried wire mesh, this is the only gopher eradication program that works. If, this gopher killing methodology does not appeal to you there are many other methods to rid you garden of gophers, in my experience, all of which are less effective. Bob Tanem, the host of KFSOs Sunday morning talk show, In The Garden, recommends that you pour liquid fish emulsion down the gopher's hole to drive the critters form the garden. I prefer to kill them before they get to the garden but, if one does find its way through my defenses, I will use poison grain to kill it and the fumes from a flare to keep its relatives at bay.

Assisting Polination Of Tomato Plants

Tomatoes are said to be self pollinating because each tomato flower contains both male stamens and female stigmas. The male stamens are tubes containing pollen on their insides. The bottoms of the stamen tubes enclose the female stigma which is the flower's ovary. In nature the wind and the buzzing wings of the honey bee shake the tomato flower and loosen the pollen in the male stamens causing it to fall and fertilize the female stigmas. This is a hit and miss proposition and to assure maximal yields from your tomato vines you will have to assist in the pollination of the tomato's flowers. I use a handheld battery operated toothbrush to facilitate pollination by touching each flowers stem with the vibrating bristles of the brush. Others recommend using the back of your hand to gently shake the blossoms. If your tomatoes are grown on a stake or in a wire cage you can accomplish the same goal by gently shaking the stake or wire cage. To be on the safe side I often use all three techniques on my tomato plants. The tomato blossoms is ready to be pollinated when the petals of the tomato's flowers turn upwards revealing the exposed stamen enclosed stigmas of plant. Assisted pollination is most effective if carried out during the middle of the day. For best results, and to achieve maximal yields from you tomato plants, perform this ritual on a daily basis.