Broken Bike

My friend, Scott Russ, who co-owns and manages our local bike shop in Matthews, was hit by a car while riding this past Monday. It was completely the driver's fault -- he was coming toward Scott in the opposite lane and cut across in front of him, making a left turn, and ran right into Scott. Broke his week-old carbon bike in two. Fortunately, Scott had no broken bones -- just serious contusions and swelling, etc. The police ticketed the driver and his insurance will hopefully replace Scott's brand new bike. Here's what's left of the run-over one:

Soil ≠ Dirt

Charles Waters is the iconic founder and Executive Editor of Acres USA, the premier magazine devoted to ecological (sustainable) farming practices. He is a word-wrangler par excellence, brilliant, and author of many books and countless articles and editorials.In the current issue of Acres (July 2008) Walters reviews a new book by his friend Gene Logsdon, a farmer-writer-philosopher cut from the same cloth as Wendell Berry, titled The Mother of All Arts: Agrarianism and the Creative Impulse (Culture of the Land). After a positive review of the book, Walters closes with this paragraph:

A critique should have criticism to offer. I have a small bone to pick with Gene. He uses a few words I still don't use, one of them being "dirt" when he means "soil." Dirt, the late Professor William Albrecht once reminded me—and one reminder was enough—is ring around the collar. A lone exception to the rule: an ungraveled road can be considered a dirt road.

If you're wondering about the point, I enjoyed several: the collegiality of war horses like Walters, Logsdon, and (genuflect, please) Albrecht; the way Walters referred to his friend Gene Logsdon as "Gene" instead of "the author;" the attention to detail in the use of language; the use of apt illustrations. There is such pleasure in reading well-written pieces by people who have forgotten more about the subject than others will ever know.

Why Tim Russert Died

The ever-creative Dr. John McDougall, one of the most famous proponents of good health through a plant-based lifestyle, does a posthumous interview with the late Tim Russert, the NBC News journalist who died recently at age 58 of a sudden heart attack. Russert wants to know why he died and Dr. McDougall explains the cause: Russert's life-long, meat-based diet. For instance, here is Russert's own description of the diet that his hometown of Buffalo, New York, was known for (taken from Russert's book, Big Russ and Me):

“pork neck bone, smoked pork neck bone, jellied tongue, Polish bacon, slab bacon, double smoked hunter bacon, German-style wieners, Italian sausage, pork roll sausage, hot or mild beef sausage, barley sausage, beer sausage, double smoked hunter bacon . . . chopped ham, smoked hocks, turkey gizzards, smoked turkey parts, chicken feet, chicken liver, chicken fat, fresh ox tails, and ribs of every type.”

McDougall includes this animated video that illustrates what probably killed Russert—a plaque eruption and resulting blood clot:

This "interview" is very informative and helps reveal why people who have no outward symptoms of heart problems can die of a sudden coronary event.

Farm Sanctuary

I'm currently reading this book, and although I'm only halfway through want to recommend it.

Gene Baur is the co-founder and president of Farm Sanctuary, one of the leading rescue organizations for farm animals. He has spent a couple of decades involved in the rescue, rehabilitation, and protection of farm animals that have been abused by the industrial animal agri-system. Farm Sanctuary runs a 200-acre farm in Watkins Glen, New York, and a 300-acre similar facility in Orland, California. Baur has also been heavily involved in successful legal and legislative attempts to bring about change in the animal agri-systems that lead to the abuse of farm animals.

Besides providing a history of Farm Sanctuary's involvement in farm-animal rescue, Baur provides a complete picture of the industrial farm-animal industry -- not a pretty sight. Countless examples of the industry's abuses are chronicled. Having read a lot of this kind of information before, I wasn't shocked. But most people will be. The average meat-consuming person has no idea about how the meat they eat was raised and the abuses suffered by the animals. And adding the word "organic" to the formula is not a panacea. Huge industrial dairies that have earned the "organic" label have done so by eliminating certain antibiotic and hormone supplements (which is good), but still employ many of the same industrial techniques as non-organic dairies. (I'll never forget a conversation I had once with a woman who considered herself well-informed about "food" who had no idea that female dairy cows live their entire lives pregnant in order to keep them lactating. As soon as they deliver one calf they are artificially inseminated again in order to keep the milk flowing. She is typical of many who are shocked to learn the truth -- but often not shocked enough to stop supporting the system.)

(Pictured is part of the Watkins Glen, New York, Farm Sanctuary facility)

Perhaps the best part of Baur's book is the profiles he provides of many of the animals at the Farm Sanctuary facilities. They all have names and are treated as individuals. And when given the freedom to do so, express personalities every bit as unique as humans. It's amazing to read the stories of their "creatureliness" -- how they express themselves with the same range of emotions as we do. Reading these accounts supports more and more the biblical teaching that it is the image of God in man that separates him from the animals (Genesis 1:26-27) -- and it makes a huge difference. We are obviously different from "beasts" and that difference should not be ignored. But the ways in which we are similar -- feelings, emotions, bonding, personality -- are to be celebrated and protected.

The book is new in 2008. I was unfamiliar with Gene Baur and Farm Sanctuary before reading the book. If others have more background with him and his work I'd love to hear from you. (Strangely, I could only find the Kindle edition of the book at Amazon. Not sure why the hard copy doesn't come up in a search.)

Battling the Basil Bugs

Everybody who gardens battles bugs at some point. Every time I have grown basil the plants have been severely stressed by the annual influx of Japanese beetles. The attack started in earnest this past week. Whenever I would walk by my basil plant I would "kick" it with my foot and 15-20 Japanese beetles would come flying out from within and on the top leaves. Fortunately, they are not hard to get off the plant but they come right back.

Japanese beetles eat the flesh of the basil leaves leaving a "skeleton" of the leaf behind. Using scissors this morning I cut off all the worst examples but you can see a few holes in some of the leaves in the pictures below.

The beetles are only active (it seems) from morning to late afternoon. So I decided yesterday that this morning I would cover the basil plant with netting to see if that would keep the little buggers at bay. Before they arrived this morning I covered the plant with tulle (wedding veil material) which I use for a variety of purposes (dust covers, water filters, etc.). It appears to be working -- before I even returned inside a JB showed up for breakfast and was relegated to sitting on top of the tulle and not gaining access to the basil leaves. I went back out a while later and he was gone. I simply draped the tulle over the top of the plant and tucked it in around the base of the trunk.

WhereTheH**lIsMatt?

Hate to take up digital space with this, but I found it fun and interesting -- one of those things that I'm sure couldn't have been anticipated. I think this video has become viral on the Internet, but I just saw it today on another blog. See what you think -- and see if you don't feel like dancing at the end. (My hands-down favorites are the tribal elders in Papau, New Guinea.)



You can read more about the title, about "Matt," and why the video was made here.

Get the Garlic and Lime II

I noticed a slender stem coming out of the ground in the front bed this morning about 5" tall with 3-4 green leaves on it that I didn't recognize. Because so many seeds fall into that bed and sprout I assumed it was something "wild." My normal action is to grab, pull, and toss.

When I grabbed the stem and pulled it didn't give -- so I pulled harder and it snapped in two. So I grabbed the remaining stem and pulled again and brought up a sprouted avocado pit. This was not one of the ones I pictured a couple of weeks ago on the blog. They haven't done much. This one sprouted by itself and was healthy and strong with leaves unfurled. I quickly buried the exhumed pit and watered it, but now that I've disrupted its roots I'll be surprised if it grows.

Looking around, I found another exactly like the one I pulled up -- maybe an inch shorter. An avocado tree -- California in Carolina. (Look closely and you can see the yellowish pit at the base of the stem -- split in two with the stem coming out of the center. Very nice.)



Here's my one basil "bush" that I've babying along -- and I'm really pleased with the result. I talked to one of our local organic farmers (from whom I bought this transplant) about how I've grown basil in the past. He advised me to keep pinching off the new two-leaf starts that appear at the end of every stem. That stops the "vertical" growth of the stem and forces more "horizontal" growth from new shoots off to the side. Continuing to do that produces a really full "bush" instead of a "plant." The leaves on this one are large (my chief complaint from past basil plants -- very small leaves) and luscious (except for the holes where the Japanese beetles have already been chewing -- arrrgghhhhh!). The growth is slower at first but is beginning to be exponential as stems produce stems produce stems ad infinitum:

Alkaline vs. Acid

This is such a good summary of the Alkaline vs. Acid discussion (maintenance of the proper pH in the body), and the information is so important to health, that I'm posting it here. It appeared today in the Hallelujah Acres Health Tip (email). If you want to read the whole article click on the title above. (I'm using this without prior permission -- copyright belongs to Hallelujah Acres; Health Tip #553, June 24, 2008.)

Exercise: In the charts below, see how many of the foods you consistently eat are alkaline or acidic.

THE IDEAL RATIO OF ALKALINE TO ACID IS 4 TO 1

The ideal ratio of ALKALINE to ACID is approximately 4 TO 1 – that is four parts (80%) ALKALINE to one part (20%) ACID. When this ratio is maintained, the body has strong resistance to disease as well as bone fractures, but when the diet is overly ACID, disease resistance diminishes, and bone density decreases.

To overcome disease and low bone density, the greater the amount of ALKALIZING foods in the diet, the faster the recovery! ALKALIZING foods neutralize the ACID, strengthen the immune system, while rebuilding and strengthening the bones.

The Hallelujah Acres Diet is primarily a raw ALKALINE diet, which produces and maintains an ALKALINE environment within the body! Some of the most ALKALIZING foods in The Hallelujah Acres Diet are BarleyMax, carrot juice, and the abundance of green vegetables the diet contains. These raw and ALKALIZING foods build up a healthy reserve of ALKALINE minerals, especially calcium, which are ready on demand to neutralize any excess ACIDITY, when too many ACID foods are consumed.

When the ratio of 4 to 1, ALKALINE to ACID drops to just 3 to 1, health can be seriously challenged! Unbelievably, the average person of today, on the typical SAD meat based, highly ACID diet, is consuming a diet that may have a ratio as low as a 1 to 4, ALKALINE to ACID, or even lower.

The human physical body can only function properly, and sustain health and a sound bone structure that is resistant to disease and fracture, when there are adequate ALKALINE reserves, and the ACID to ALKALINE ratio in the body’s blood are in proper balance.

Below are tables of common foods, grouped into both ALKALI-FORMING and ACID FORMING:

Alkali-Forming Foods

Alfalfa Grass	Apple
Barley Grass	Apricot
Wheat Grass	Banana
Spinach	Cantaloupe
Kale	Dates
Collard Greens	Figs
Lettuce	Peaches
Broccoli	Grapes
Cauliflower	Raisins
Cabbage	Watermelon
Carrot	Almonds
Beet	Brazil Nuts
Celery	Coconut
Cucumber	Millet
Buckwheat

Acid Forming Foods

Beef	Wheat & most grains
Chicken	Rice
Pork	Lentils
Veal	Most Nuts (except almonds)
Fish	*Most Acid Forming*
Eggs	Coffee: pH 4
Milk	Beer: pH 2.5
Cheese	Coca-Cola: pH 2

From the chart above, you can readily see that most grains are ACID forming, with the exception of millet and buckwheat, which are considered ALKALINE. You can also see that wheat is a highly ACIDIC grain, the grain that is consumed in greatest quantity in our society, and especially in its refined form. Sprouted seeds and whole grains become more ALKALINE in the process of sprouting. [WK note: the Ezekiel 4:9 and Genesis 1:29 breads are made from sprouted grains, not milled grains, meaning more alkaline. These are excellent breads to use to promote an alkaline pH.]

Almost all vegetable and grass juices are HIGHLY ALKALINE! The most ALKALINE juices are the juices from grasses (BarleyMax), green vegetables, and spinach, along with carrots, beets (especially beet tops), and celery. On The Hallelujah Acres Diet, the abundance of juices and the abundance of raw fruits and vegetables in the diet, helps the body maintain a predominantly ALKALINE environment, while the cooked whole grains, seeds and nuts, provide the 20% ACID foods needed to maintain the desired 4 to 1 ratio of ALKALINE to ACID.

Test Your Internet Connection Speed

In the left-hand margin of this blog, at the very bottom, there is a link to click on to test your Internet connection speed. (Or click here.) You'll be taken to the site of a tech company that provides the service. Their server network has locations in major U.S. cities.

Click on any city and you'll get a download test -- wait a few seconds and it will begin an upload test. (All uploads are a fraction of the speed of downloads on the Internet.)

Your speed numbers will appear as kbps (kilobytes per second). Divide by 1,000 to get megabytes per second.

For example, my download speeds from all the cities fall in the 9,700+ kbps range, which equals roughly 9.7 megabytes per second. (Actually, a bit less than that if you use a calculator.)

I'm on Road Runner's Turbo service which advertises download speeds of up to 10 mbps, so I'm close to that. I'm curious as to what some others of you are getting on your various Internet connections.

Beware Aluminum

Reading an article in the June 2008 issue of Acres USA ("Aluminum: Valued Servant, Dangerous Master"), was reminded of the dangers of excess aluminum to the human body. Just a few reminders:

•Alzheimer's Disease is the chief result of a lifetime of aluminum exposure.
•Flouride is a by-product of aluminum production. It and aluminum sulfate are used in public water supplies, so if you drink public water that hasn't been purified you are ingesting both. Aluminum sulfate is added to public water supplies to clear up turbidity (cloudiness) in the water. This adds even more aluminum to food and other body products that are made using public water supplies.
•Aluminum is widely used in all antiperspirants. Check the label of yours -- if you see "aluminum-anything" on the label, stop using it.
•Don't use aluminum cookware.
•Don't use baking powder that contains aluminum. (Aluminum-free powders are available.)
•Most processed foods contain aluminum. For example, American cheese best melts on hamburgers because of added aluminum.
•Food colorings contain aluminum. If the "-lake" suffix appears on a food label it is an aluminum-based additive.
•Aluminum is used in almost all commercial candy formulations (think Halloween).
•Aluminum from Detroit's drinking water fed to lab rats showed up in the rats' brain tissue in 4-7 minutes after ingestion.
•Dialysis for renal patients requires the use of distilled water because of the damage to kidneys caused by aluminum and fluorine in city water. "Dialysis dementia" was the name given to dialysis patients in the early days who exhibited Alzeimer's-like symptoms within days of starting dialysis.
•Patients taking large doses of aspirin (blood thinning, etc.) are often switched to coated aspirins to decrease stomach irritation, the coatings of which contain significant amounts of aluminum.

Is aluminum always bad? No. In trace amounts, like arsenic and other "bad" natural elements, it plays its role in maintaining health. Aluminum is one of the natural elements in trace amounts in nature's perfect blend of all the 100+ elements: seawater. And fish don't get Alzheimer's. In natural, trace amounts, aluminum has a role to play. We get those trace amounts from food grown in healthy, balanced soils. But when excess, non-natural amounts of aluminum are added to food and body products (in addition to being found in toxic air pollution from industrial and internal combustion uses), it becomes a poison in the body.

Garden Friend

After digging up the onions late yesterday afternoon, this morning I went out to bury some veggie scraps where the onions had been growing. I put the trowel in and turned up -- in the trowel of soil -- this huge snake:



Okay -- he wasn't huge. See his size compared to the trowel:



He was coiled neatly, underground, and remained in a coil when I set him on the concrete driveway. I could tell he was alive since his tongue was flicking. What would he have been doing at this time of year underground? He obviously looks to be a juvenile based on size -- but since I don't know what kind of snake it is I don't know what size he should be. Cold-blooded creature that he is, I'm sure he'll warm up with the morning sun and find his legs and wander off. But I'm puzzled about finding him coiled up underground this time of year. If you look closely in this picture you can see his tongue flicking:



I recorded a few seconds of a movie to see if he would move but he didn't cooperate. (He was flicking his tongue, but the movie resolution makes it hard to see.) At least the morning birds sound nice:



Any ideas?

Volunteer Onions

Pulled up some onions from the front beds today. They sprouted from some onion scraps I had buried in the gardens a few months ago. Have no idea what they'll taste like -- probably very strong after getting this big. Have laid them aside to dry for a couple days, then will clean them up. I put the trowel in the picture as a size reference:

More Power to Him

The Tennessee Center for Policy Research, the group that was all over Al Gore a year or so ago for his inefficient lifestyle regarding utility consumption at his personal residence, is back on the case. They reported today that Gore's electric consumption -- even after he installed solar panels, a geo-thermal system, upgraded windows and ductwork, and, of course, the requisite green lightbulbs -- was up by 10% from a year ago. I checked my own KWH's (kilowatt hours) used on my most recent electric bill and discovered that my electric consumption was up last month by 9% over the same month a year ago. (I have no idea why.) So I'm as guilty as he is.

Al Gore's average residential electric consumption per month at his home is 17,768 KWHs per month (by comparison, mine was 779 last month). Gore's bill for electricity comes to $16,533 PER MONTH (average)!

I don't begrudge the man his energy consumption -- more power to him, so to speak. I'm just curious as to what one does in a home that results in an electric bill of $16,533 per month. Maybe it's the three 30" Apple Cinema displays he has connected to his Mac. If I could afford them, or the power to run them, my bill would probably be higher as well:

Green Tea/Sun Tea

Ten-plus years ago, I honored my Southern sweet tea roots in the summertime by making gallons of sun tea: tea slow-brewed in gallon glass jars using the heat of the summer sun. (I have read you can make "sun tea" in the winter by putting it in a dark closet for five hours -- go figure.)

When I stopped consuming all things caffeinated I stopped brewing and drinking traditional ice tea as well (which also eliminated the cups of white sugar required). However, I made some organic, decaffeinated green tea yesterday afternoon that turned out very well. A couple of things coalesced to kick-start that effort. (Yes, I believe decaffeinated everything is better. Caffeine is addictive and has been linked to calcium loss in the body [Prescription for Nutritional Healing, p. 552].)

An email health tip from Dr. Robert Rowen (Second Opinion Newsletter) reminded me about the powerful antioxidant benefits of green tea, and Jennifer (who got the same email) and I were talking about it when I was in Columbia. Also, Daniel got on the sun tea thing a few weeks ago and has been making it, so that was a fresh reminder as well. I no longer have the gallon glass jars with the built-in spout (Jen found Daniel a nice one at Target -- my original ones had come from Wal-Mart), so I used a quart glass jar yesterday and it worked fine until I can get a new gallon size.

First, here's the copy from Dr. Rowen's June 13 newsletter on the benefits of green tea:

One in three Americans get cancer today. How would you like to reduce your chances of being the one? New research suggests you can do it simply by drinking my favorite beverage.

In a recent study, researchers followed 36,745 women using a questionnaire and blood samples. Among these women, there were 494 cases of gastric cancer. They compared these cases to a separate group of 494 women who didn't have the cancer. The scientists found one very telling factor in their cancer.

The researchers found that the blood levels of epicatechin-3-gallate (ECG) made a huge difference in risk. ECG is the most powerful polyphenol (phytochemical from plants) we've discovered. In this study, ECG blood levels of 9.3 ng/mL or greater conferred a 75% reduction in risk.

Your best source of ECG is green tea. My favorite beverage is just loaded with these polyphenols. Researchers continue to discover new uses for this drink. As you can see, it's a fantastic cancer fighter - and not just gastric cancer.

Researchers also found that it works wonders for prostate cancer. In another study, this one following 49,920 men (aged 40-69), green tea stopped the cancer from growing. Those who drank the most green tea (five cups or more) had a 47% lower risk of getting advanced prostate cancer than those who drank less than one cup.

So if you're looking for a great way to stop cancer before it starts, look no further than organic green tea. And you can drink as much of it as you want. The science supporting it just gets better and better.

Yours for better health and medical freedom,
Robert Jay Rowen, MD

Ref: Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev. 2008 Feb; American Journal of Epidemiology, 2007; 167(1): 71-77.

Second, here is the only organic, decaffeinated green tea I've been able to find (flavored with peach -- very nice). I have ordered it in the past from Cook's Wares, but I believe I've also seen it at Earthfare in Charlotte.

I put two of these tea bags in a quart of PURE cool water and arranged an aluminum foil reflector as a backdrop to (hopefully) increase the heat. It sat in the driveway for about six hours yesterday:





After I brought it in and removed the tea bags, it had a lovely color:



The theoretical advantage to making sun tea is that the tea has a "smoother" taste as a result of not being exposed to boiling water. Fewer tannins (I don't know), i.e. tannic acid, are released into the tea which makes it less bitter. After you go to the trouble to make sun tea you'll be convinced it's better. You won't know that it's better, but you will believe it's better. :-)

Day in Columbia

Strapped on my bike and drove down to Columbia for the day on Saturday to see Daniel, Jennifer, Ellen, and Arianna. The highlight of the day was a several-hour bike adventure on the wonderful bike/walking trail that runs between the Broad River and the 19th century canal that was built to bypass the rapids (the "fall line") in the river for the sake of commerce and transportation. One of the historical markers we read said that, in that era, towns developed at spots on rivers where rapids prevented commerce further upriver -- to wit, Columbia. But the canal was eventually built and commerce moved on. Once the railroads began shouldering the majority of commerce the canal ceased to be used for transportation and shipping. But it remains a beautiful and tranquil setting -- several miles of wildlife and peaceful water. Rapids in the river on one side of the bike trail, a tabletop-smooth canal on the other.

Jen took the afternoon to get things done at the house, so it was Daniel, the girls, and me on our four bikes (no training wheels in sight!). Ellen and Arianna are troopers. Two-plus hours in the blazing sun, a four-mile bike ride, a few scary descents from the trail into the cool, dark forest between the river and canal -- all with no complaining. They are thoroughly enjoyable companions who are as eager to learn as their parents are to teach.

In the parking area before biking up:





In the late 19th century, a hydro-electric facility was built and water from the canal was diverted through it to provide electricity for Columbia. This is very near downtown Columbia -- history on display:



A very nice observation facility has been constructed at the site of the hydro facility -- very impressive:



A couple of miles upstream on the bike path you reach this concrete dam built across the Broad River. I never quite understood the purpose or history of this dam -- but the water flowing through the gap in the dam creates significant swift water. The river bed below this dam is filled with granite boulders -- "the basement of the Appalachians," one of the markers said -- and rapids. Very impressive -- had no idea Columbia, SC, had this kind of aquatic dynamics:



Beautiful egrets (white) and herons (dark gray) stand like statues on rocks in the rapids waiting to grab lunch. Ellen and I named the egret "Ellen Egret" and the heron "Henry Heron:"





Daniel demonstrated that it is possible to float in six inches of swift water. (He was actually just cooling off -- can't say that I blamed him.)



All the following pix were taken at the site of the dam where we paused to rest and cool off -- and in the cool woods bordering the Broad River:















Here we're riding along the bike path on the way back to the parking area. You can see the beautiful canal on the left, while the river runs parallel to it on the other side of the trees on the right:



We stopped a couple of times along the way to look at wildlife: a huge turtle sunning on a log in the middle of the canal and another "Henry Herron" standing motionless in the grass waiting, again, for lunch:







At one point, Ellen and I were riding behind Daniel and Arianna. Somehow, she spied these two little purple flowers growing just off the edge of the bike path. Look closely -- they're right in the middle of the picture:



Of course, we had to stop and get a picture of these amazingly intricate flowers and their three-pronged leaves. Daniel wasn't familiar with them -- we assumed they were just some kind of wildflower. But when we got home and were looking through another garden book on fruit-bearing trees and plants we saw the very same purple flowers and three-pronged leaves in the book. Turns out the plant is called Maypop (passiflora incarnata). Here is a short excerpt from the Wikipedia article:

The fleshy fruit, also in itself called a Maypop, is an oval yellowish berry about the size of a hen egg; it is green at first, but then becomes orange as it matures. In this species, the yellow mucilage around the seeds of the fruit is sweet and edible, however it is quite seedy and mostly benefits wildlife. As with other passifloras, it is the larval food of a number of butterfly species.

Traditionally, the fresh or dried whole plant has been used as a herbal medicine to treat nervous anxiety and insomnia. The dried, ground herb is frequently used in Europe by drinking a teaspoon of it in tea. A sedative chewing gum has even been produced.

The Maypop occurs in thickets, disturbed areas, unmowed pastures, roadsides, and railroads. It thrives in areas with lots of available sunlight. It is not found in areas of growing forest, however, as the sun is blotted out by growing trees.

Other common names include Wild apricot and May apple.

Here's a closeup of the two flowers Ellen saw by the trail. Are these amazing or what?



Because Daniel and Jen are learning to "root" various plants, I have a feeling they'll be back out there soon to get a cutting off the Maypop vine to try to root and plant in their yard.

The bike ride was a delightful excursion -- hats off to Columbia, SC, for its provision of the trail as well as the amenities, historical markers, and such that make it an inviting setting to explore. And kudos to Daniel and the girls for the pleasure of their company.

Earlier in the day we were checking out Daniel and Jen's garden while Daniel lamented the scourge of the squash vine borer that has been wreaking havoc on their squash plants. The squash vine borer is the larva that hatches from a tiny reddish egg laid by a uniquely-colored and shaped moth that flies around looking for members of the cucurbit family (melon, pumpkin, squash, cucumbers, gourds) on which to lay one egg at a time. In the south, they rarely afflict cukes, but wreak havoc on squash. The tiny egg is usually laid at the base of the squash plant where it hatches a larvae that bores into the trunk of the squash plant and proceeds to kill the plant by eating the nutrient-carrying inner parts of the trunks and stems. After a couple of weeks of this the larva emerges, burrows into the ground beneath the plant, and remains in cocoon form until it pupates into the above-mentioned moth which starts the life cycle all over again. Some regions of the country have just one life-cycle per season, but two cycles per season are common in the South: one in June and another in later summer.

It so happens that while we were standing in the garden talking one of the moths flew by! I recognized it immediately from my prior experience with them as did Daniel. It got away but reappeared a few minutes later and he swung it at with his hand, knocking it to the ground. No gardener can eliminate all the vine borer moths -- but Daniel eliminated this one. They are "sort of" wasp-shaped -- not like a traditional moth -- with distinctive black and red coloring. This is the top side (the back and wings):



And this is the underside:



Here's the trunk of a squash plant. If you look closely on the white part of the trunk, about 2-3 inches from where the trunk enters the ground (just to the right of a small leaf-looking protrusion), you'll see a tiny reddish dot. That's an egg -- probably laid by the very vine borer moth dispatched by Daniel:



Here's a cropped close-up of the egg (middle of the photo):



Nobody said gardening was easy. One market gardener I know said the solution is to plant enough squash for you and the vine borers. But when you only have a few plants it becomes a challenge to save every one.

Here are a few more photos from the day:

The lovely Jen:





Daddy and daughter:



Two acoustic wannabe's:





Two of a million pictures Arianna took with my camera:





And some face-painting before going out to eat for veggie burritos and a free music concert in a local park. (Grandad passed on the concert to motor home before it got too late.)



Nice day in Columbia -- thanks to the Columbia Kruideniers for hosting a Charlotte Kruidenier for the day.