April in the Sky

March 31, 2011... this is the last day of the month on the cusp of a new April. April, in our northern hemisphere, is the month of spring, the month of showers and the month of buds. April is derived from a latin word, aperio. Aperio means to open or bud. We are prepping the gardens for the season ahead. Cleaning up the autumn leaves left out to coat the winter gardens for warmth. Seeing the bits of green here and there , the fresh buds coming from the earth is refreshing to our soul. It gives us hope that our lives can renew.

In these waning days of spring now is a good time to do our garden chores, cleaning and prepping for the season ahead. We have short windows of opportunity to sow any early season crops. Our season in the midwest isa cool spring compared to last year, so our ground is not warmed up quite enough to plant. Last year on this date we had 80 degree weather , this year we are topping out in the 40's. It has been dry so let us all get out there and scratch the earth and let the seedlings get the April rains

Enjoy the season!

Winter's done,
and April's in the skies.
Earth, look up with laughter
in your eyes!
-Charles G. D. Roberts (1860-1943)
this poem re-printed from the old farmers almanac

spring?

again i have jumped the gun...with the short warm up in mid march i was tricked in to believing that spring has arrived...well...it isn't so ...necessarily... while it is spring according to some calendars it is not spring like today ... 20 some degrees, snow flurries in the night... though "they" promise me that it is going to warm up , even in one weeks time...up to 60 degrees...though according to some plants in the garden it is spring..i see perennials and spring flowers popping up through the mulches and even some perennials greening up in the sunny patches of the yards...this is comforting and promising... spring weather will arrive..

I have begun forcing some spring blooms...this only by way of doing some pruning.. a picture here of Canadian cherry blossoms

starts of seeds....

season is beginning ...i have started seeds in the sunny part of the house... tomatoes, peppers, cilantro, parsley, basil,amaranth, and more... check it out....

We like March, his shoes are purple
He is new and high;
Makes he mud for dog and peddler,
Makes he forest dry.

–Emily Dickinson (1830–86)

Food Safety???

Senate Bill 510, the Food Safety Modernization Act, has been called “the most dangerous bill in the history of the United States of America.” It would grant the U.S. government new authority over the public’s right to grow, trade and transport any foods. This would give Big brother the power to regulate the tomato plants in your backyard. It would grant them the power to arrest and imprison people selling cucumbers at farmer’s markets. It would criminalize the transporting of organic produce if you don’t comply with the authoritarian rules of the federal government.

“It will become the most offensive authority against the cultivation, trade and consumption of food and agricultural products of one’s choice. It will be unconstitutional and contrary to natural law or, if you like, the will of God.” – Dr. Shiv Chopra, Canada Health whistleblower (http://shivchopra.com/?page_id=2)

This tyrannical law puts all food production (yes, even food produced in your own garden) under the authority of the Department of Homeland Security. Yep — the very same people running the TSA and its naked body scanner / passenger groping programs.

This law would also give the U.S. government the power to arrest any backyard food producer as a felon (a “smuggler”) for merely growing lettuce and selling it at a local farmer’s market.

It also sells out U.S. sovereignty over our own food supply by ceding to the authority of both the World Trade Organization (WTO) and Codex Alimentarius.

It would criminalize seed saving (http://foodfreedom.wordpress.com/20…), turning backyard gardeners who save heirloom seeds into common criminals. This is obviously designed to give corporations like Monsanto a monopoly over seeds.

It would create an unreasonable paperwork burden that would put small food producers out of business, resulting in more power over the food supply shifting to large multinational corporations.

I encourage you to read more about this dangerous bill at the Food Freedom blog on WordPress: http://foodfreedom.wordpress.com/20…

Watch this excellent video on NaturalNews.TV which explains S.510 in more detail:
http://naturalnews.tv/v.asp?v=9209B…

spring or late winter ?

is it spring or is it late winter ...I guess that depends on where you are... during the first garden walks this season I spotted this lovely witch hazel(hamamelis virginiana) or winterbloom... with its rusty leaves still hanging on from the past autumn and the bright yellow flowers of the late winter , or early spring...check it out