Home Gardening Becomes Even More Imperative

[Omelet]

And I agree that overpopulation is a serious problem, but China's answer was not the one.

[Omelet]

I vote we try for geothermal. Why can't we harvest volcanos? :-)

Hydroelectric building dams is not a bad idea either, but there goes the environmental impact again...

Let's outlaw incandescent lightbulbs while we are at it!

[Omelet]

That stuff supposedly makes great batteries. :-) Long lasting too.

Or so I've heard...

What is powering the Voyager probes?

They've been transmitting how many years now?

[Omelet]

Anyone see Spiderman 2? Do we really want to be creating miniature suns in our atmosphere? :-)

Nevermind... that was fiction and a poor attempt at humor...

[Persephone]

[...]

[...]

Whoa, podner. Why drag the rain forest into this discussion. It has enough problems already!

Industrial hemp might be the answer.

My credentials: Your correspondent hasn't smoked a joint since the

60's-that-were-really-the-70's. I have no illusions that growing hemp would turn everybody on; in fact what you'd have to go through to get high on industrial hemp doesn't bear examining .

Doesn't it seem a teeny bit self-serving of candidates and the un-informed media to keep plugging corn-as-fuel with all the downsides repeatedly enumerated even in the pop media,*

I'm not just talking about relatively low mileage; what about jacking up the price for cultures whose basic food comes from corn.

• (not the most serious of which is that I can't find corn oil which I've used for cooking since forever...)

This non-examination of industrial hemp as a source for automotive fuel is 1000% based on the enthusiastic propaganda of Big Oil, pandering to Bush's religious-nut "base", as well as to the general ignorance of Joe/Jane Beercan, who don't differentiate between marijuana and its industrial big sister, which has been used since pre-Biblical times for everything from cloth to oil. It grows on any kind of ground; requires almost no attention; is self-renewing.; doesn't drive up the price of a basic food like corn by diverting part of the crop to the Quixotic search for alternative fuel.

Read up on this. There are many titles out there on the subject (full disclosure: one of which I edited) which paint a dismaying picture of how Big Oil/Auto and Puritanical racists many decades ago managed to push through legislation confabulating industrial hemp with marijuana.

Persephone

[Ann]

Persephone expounded:

Doesn't sound like there's much money it it - therein lies the rub.

We can't have that, now, ya hear? ;->

[Omelet]

Not many people know that Industrial Hemp is NOT the same thing as recreational pot. Nowhere near. Anyone that has bothered to do the research would know that.

It has a million and one uses. 1 acre of IH supposedly creates the same amount of usable cellulose as 10 acres of forest. It is good for fabric, paper, fuel and oil, as well as a food source from the seeds.

You can thank Dupont for being one of the major players in getting it outlawed.

[Omelet]

Another realist I see. ;-) Well put.

[William Wagner]

I remember seeing a TV program that discussed living treasures of Japan. One woman was revered for her Hemp cloth. Seems not only durable and comfortable but was beautiful without dyes.

Bill

[William Wagner]

Forgot to mention another neglected valuable plant. Bamboo.

A neat book!

[Billy Rose]

I hear that the sin of eating meat on Fridays is comparable to the sin of adultery. Having tried both, I can't see the comparison;-)

- Billy Coloribus gustibus non disputatum (mostly)

[Omelet]

Indeed...

From what I have read, Dupont wanted to sell Nylon rope.

[Omelet]

Nice. ;-)

Have you read any of Stamets books on Edible mushroom cultivation? Oyster mushrooms seem to be one of the easiest and most versatile:

[Omelet]

[Charlie]

Seems as if the Chinese understand this.

Charlie

---------------------------

Agencia Cubana de Noticias (AIN)

Biofuel Program Banned in China

Havana, June 12 (acn) China has ruled out the production of ethanol from food crops, since that program will not be the path to meet the country's energy needs, said Xu Dingming, deputy director of the National Energy Group, on Monday.

China will not longer approve any project to produce fuel with food, said another official at the State Development and Reform Commission, reports Granma newspaper.

The current four enterprises engaged in producing corn-based ethanol will be asked to gradually switch to non-food raw materials.

The Oil and Food Corporation, based in Heilongjiang, is already taking steps to produce ethanol from cellulose by way of enzymes from Denmark that achieve that aim economically for large-scale operations.

[Omelet]

Nobody ever said that the American ruling class was very bright... and they are also greedy.

As much as I love Capitalism, it can have it's drawbacks.

[William Wagner]

No I haven't but Thanks to you I'll check it out.

Currently our local brown caps are beginning to appear after a warm rain. I'm located in a wild mushroom oak forest with high ground water. Would be perfect for wandering about in but our local deer ticks are the worse I've ever seen. Most years a bit or two a season. I've had 8 in the last week with another 8 weeks to go. Nasty little guys. My dad two houses away started antibiotics for Lyme's a week ago.

Bill

[Omelet]

The man is a genius. :-) And that site also sells some nice indoor and outdoor cultivation kits (and wood plugs) for affordable prices. Best way in the world to get rid of stumps, and eat well while you are at it.

And no, I have no association with that site. I'm just a real fan of his writings and philosophies.

Bummer. :-(

Does insect repellant spray work to keep tics off of you?

[Charlie]

It would appear they are bright enough to lead most dumb americans around by the nose and shove anything they want up their arses.

Drawbacks? Gimme a break. We are no longer operating under a capitalist system. We've been drawn right into fascism.

There is no sugar-coating the bitter pill we are being forced to swallow.

Churlie Charlie

[Omelet]

Only 51%. (Last prexy election)

That's not entirely accurate...

Indeed.