Bluebird Meadows of Stevensville, Michigan

Owner's Web Log
Copyright 2005 Michael S. Brown
March 2005


Daily activities of the owner of a 20 acre Organic Farm plus
observations, notes, and comments on a wide variety of topics.

1 Did the monthly business file updates.
2 Wrote a Web site Newsletter and e-mailed notices to people on our Guestbook List
3 Electric Utilities Advertising Energy Conservation
I spent over 20 year working for a large electric utility.  I was always surprised when there was a radio or TV ad by the utility urging customers to conserve energy.   Don't get me wrong - I'm all for energy conservation - but something seems out of wack.  To begin with, the electric utility is basically advertising to encourage people to NOT use their product.  If there was a need for advertising at all, I would have expected a theme along the lines of "Improve the quality of your life by using electricity."  My second issue is centered on the money and monopoly aspect - I am being forced to pay my electric bill so the electric utility can have money to advertise to people to suggest they don't use electricity.  Why should I be forced to pay for that?  I would like to see the Rate Commissions rule that the costs of such ad campaigns cannot be passed along to the rate payers.  If there needs to be advertising to encourage energy conservation, let the radio and TV stations do it themselves as a public service announcement or have the environmental groups pay for a spot.
4 Martha Stuart, Bush, Time To Face The Truth
Early this morning Martha Stuart was released from prison for supposedly lying to federal investigators about her sale of Imclone stock.  I struggle to keep her situation in perspective.  If she had to go to prison for lying about a stock trade, why isn't anybody holding President Bush accountable for the lies he tells?  Please note that in my beliefs, if you say anything you know to not be true - that's a lie.  The President lied to America and the world about the presence of WMD in Iraq - he knew before we started military actions that Iraq had no WMD and that they posed no threat to the USA.   But that's not what he said.  That's not what Mr. Powell told the United Nations.  The President also told congress that Iraq had nuclear material from Africa.  Again reports show that the President had been told that the rumors about Iraq having nuclear material from Africa were not true - and yet he reported that to congress anyway.  Aside from my disappointment in having a Commander In Chief who lies, I'm also disappointed that our system of checks and balances is not working.  I look to congress and the media as two key components in holding the office of the President accountable for his actions - both are silent.  Why is that?  How many congressional investigations have been launched over trivial issues?  Isn't the fact that we went to war under false pretenses worth investigating?  Why isn't the media on the issue?  They should be reporting both on the fact that we went to war under false pretenses AND criticizing the congress for not looking into the facts.  I feel like we are a nation so deeply involved in a lie that nobody is willing (or permitted) to speak out and face up to the truth.  What would we do if we freely admitted that we went to war under false pretenses?  How would we make things right?  Refusing to face the truth about the situation is not a healthy foundation for our future.   Martha Stuart stood tall and faced her charges and did her time for what she did.   Shouldn't we hold our President to the same standards as Martha Stuart?
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7 Started 9 flats of peas under lights in my basement greenhouse using the method described in my February 21 notes
8 Started another 4 flats of peas in my basement greenhouse.

Terra-Ponics
Maybe you are familiar with Hyda-ponics.  That's where they grow plants in just water baths, adding the needed chemicals for growth and vigor.  In my view, agribusiness has evolved to be a largely chemical-based entity, using the land only long enough to hold the chemicals for the next crop.  I see that as Terra-Ponics (with "Terra" meaning land)

9 Mailed out a bunch of Notecard samples.
10 I set up last year's farm stand south of the greenhouse.  last year's stand was built around several scaffold frames.  It looks rather thrown-together.  I think I can do better.
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12 We did a Craft Show at the Stevensville, MI Lakeshore High School.  Not much of a crowd draw this year - we probably won't participate any more.
13 I started flats of the following herbs under lights in my basement greenhouse: spearmint, peppermint, catnip, Echinacea, thyme, cilantro, chives, sage, basil, oregano.
14 I started 5 seed packs of rainbow coleus in flats under lights.
15 Out in the greenhouse, I cut the remaining floor blocks to fit where the service lines come through the floor.
16 I took down a 4" duct in the greenhouse overhead (I gave up trying to export the greenhouse winter heat to our home).  I set up 2 oscillating fans to blow the warm air from under the roof down toward the cement block floor.
17 I added a water faucet tap on the north side of the greenhouse.  I plan to have a hardening off area on the north side and will need to water the plants.
18 Moved 16 flats of onions from the basement greenhouse to the outside greenhouse.

I started setting 4" thick solid concrete blocks for the north addition to the greenhouse.

19 I went to a Bird Show in Mishawaka, IN.  I had made a donation of a couple boxes of sunflower seed heads and wanted to see just what a bird show was like.

I started 2 flats of green peppers in the basement greenhouse.

20 I started the remaining 8 flats of green peppers in the basement greenhouse.
21 The ground warmed enough to allow me to set the concrete anchors for the greenhouse addition walls.

Cat - "Going Wolverine"
Sometimes when you grab a cat and they don't expect it, they react with a cat version of terror.  They wiggle and claw and bite and just about go berserk.  I decided when they do that, it's called "Going Wolverine" as I understand a wolverine is like that even on a good day.

22 I moved 13 flats of pea sprouts from the basement greenhouse to the outside greenhouse.

I set half of the floor blocks for the greenhouse addition.

23 Started 6 flats of flowers in the basement greenhouse.

Set more floor blocks for the greenhouse addition.

"Pleans"
I had a dream last night.  In the dream it was raining real hard and after a film of water was on the pavement, the raindrops hitting the surface seemed to "dance" at impact.  I remember telling somebody else that when raindrops seem to dance on a wet surface like that it is called "Pleans."  (Doesn't your mind come up with some goofy stuff when you sleep?)

24 I finished setting floor blocks in the greenhouse addition.

Some of the pea seedlings in the outside greenhouse look a bit frost-nipped.

25 Social Security Fix - Raise Taxes
I'm always amazed the way government manages money - and even thinks about managing money.   The Social Security Fund is in the news all the time and everybody is agonizing about the fund running out of money.  If you or I had expenses that HAD to be paid (new child in the family, medical expenses, food, child going off to college, etc.) and we didn't have enough money to cover it, wouldn't we seek an additional source of income?   We'd take on a second job or work some overtime - do something to increase our income.  Why doesn't the government think that way?  I don't like paying higher taxes but isn't that the government's primary source of income?  I would rather pay higher taxes than to have the SS Fund run out of money.  Sometimes I think the government sees money as coming from the Tooth Fairy.  Guess that makes you and I a fairy (at least you anyway).  See my March 28 notes for more on taxes. 
26 Started 7 flats of tomatoes in the basement greenhouse.

Bought lumber for the greenhouse addition and built the west wall.

DNA-Based Bio Classification
I think the whole study of DNA is great stuff and helps us better understand how living things work and are related.  I think it's only a matter of time before the current biological classification system devised by Linnaeus in 1750 is revised based on DNA sequencing.  The current system revolves around observable traits.  Although a DNA based system may still use the terms "Phylum, Class, Order, Family, Genus, Species" the change from one category to another will be defined by changes in the DNA sequence.  I wonder when the DNA-based system is finally worked out, how many of the existing classifications will be found to be wrong.

27 Started another 7 flats of tomatoes.
28 Started 3 flats of veggies in the basement greenhouse.  Moved 2 flats of ornamental sunflower sprouts to the outside greenhouse.

Dynamic Tax Rates
I would like to see the federal tax rate system revised to have dynamic tax rates rather than the fixed rates now in place.  The given tax rate should be based on the federal deficit or surplus.  A date should be set each year and based on the federal finances on that date, the tax rate for the next year should be clicked up, down, or left the same.   No more wasted congressional time agonizing over whether to raise or lower taxes - it would be automatic.

29 Built the east and south walls of the greenhouse addition.

Built a hardening off structure north of the greenhouse.

Big Bang - Heavy Elements & Fusion Nebula
Most textbooks describe the heavy elements like iron and lead as coming from previous extinct stars that went nova or super nova and ejected the stuff to be formed into the earth.  While that may be true, I tend to believe that some of the heavy element may have been formed shortly after the Big Bang.  Although I lack any sort of scientific data, I reason that if fusion is supposed to be due the elements like hydrogen under intense pressure and temperature becoming helium, those same conditions may have existed some time after the Big Bang but in a way different from what we see today.  Today, we see discrete stars - each doing its own fusion thing.  I think after the Big Bang, when all the mass-energy of the universe was in one place, that the density of the expansion would be great enough to support the fusion reaction.  Rather than discrete stars, the density would be too great and the expansion rate too great to allow individual stars to form, consequently, there should have been a time when there was something like a nebula with a density greater than a star and supporting fusion on an immense scale.   If there were these Fusion Nebula, I think heavy elements must have been forming too.  My guess is that there are much more heavy elements out in space than scientists currently think - perhaps in all-planet-like solar systems which don't have a sun (and therefore don't shine and don't get our attention - I'd call such a system a "Dark" System in lieu of a "Solar" System where a sun/star was the gravitational centerpiece).  It may even be enough to account for what currently seems to be missing mass from the universe - scientists have invented a "dark matter" term to describe some mysterious substance they need to balance out their equations. 

30 Disked several field

Tanker Direct - Regular Gas Only
With rising gas prices, I'm surprised we don't see the emergence of a super-cheap gas company.  The trend today is to have a mini-mart of some sort where you buy gas.   I would like to see things go the other way.  I'd like to see a no-frills gas station where the tanker truck was uncoupled from the tractor and piped directly to an array of "Regular Gas Only" dispensing pumps that were gravity fed from the tanker.  Of course the station would be allowed to change its price when the next tanker hooked up (and perhaps the cost of that tanker was different from the previous tanker) but not change it every 2 hours even though no new delivery of gas took place.   I think without a no-frills, "Regular Gas Only" chain of gas dispensing, the major oil companies will continue their coordinated rape of the consumers.

31 Assembled the greenhouse walls and added bracing.
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