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Our contact list is not available. Top of Page Top of Page What You Can Do! Richard is sure that adding this feature to your home can halve your need for air-conditioning. “Tar roofs are replaced every five to 10 years. Converting to an Icehouse Roof at replacement time would cost little more.” You can adopt other strategies from this remarkable passive solar home to increase the energy efficiency of your home. • 10 inches of Styrofoam insulation in your roof would give you the equivalent of six foot of earth cover. • You can install ‘barn door hardware’ to super-insulate your doors and windows • Dedicate a closed foyer or laundry room as an entry vestibule or add a second door to create an airlock • Limit solar access in summer with awnings and by closing heavy drapes. • Increase solar access in winter: for example add a south facing window, open drapes during days, fit a storm door to southern doors and leave the solid door open on sunny days. • Add thermal mass inside where the sun will fall on it on winter days, or in well insulated rooms; for example an aquarium, a dark tiled floor, brick/stone feature or wall Lower tech solutions include sealing and weather stripping all air leaks, fitting pelmets and insulating drapes to all windows, insulating walls and ceilings, adding a window box greenhouse/heater to a south-facing window, adding radiator reflectors, insulating accessible hot water pipes, add a hot water tank jacket and insulate it with reflective foil, and providing cold air supply to woodfires.
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Support for the Great Flood Scientists now believe that there is much more water, actually hydroxides, 400 miles deep in the outer mantle of the Earth quenching theories that water was brought here by comets. But, thousands of years ago, the Bible records that Noah’s great flood was not only from rain but from water welling up from the deep. If the layer of Ringwoodite is consistant around the globe the amount of water could be three times what is in the oceans now for four times the depth. That would be a great flood, indeed. Science and the Bible by Floyd Harrison
Four Great Trees to Plant This Fall By Gregg Basse, Professional Grounds, Inc. Horticulturist Fall is the ideal time of year to plant new trees. The cooler weather decreases the possibility of heat stress while providing plantings with a greater amount of hydration than the warmer months. These conditions aid in developing the tree’s new root system, which is imperative for the tree’s overall health, and ability to thrive long-term. In this area, your outdoor space may be limited but luckily there are many smaller tree varieties that thrive in our area and are beautiful to look at year round! Here are our ‘Top Four’ picks for smaller tree options to plant this fall that will enhance your outdoor area year round without taking up too much precious outdoor space: 1. Crape Myrtles: This is a wonderful summer blooming tree which grows to a maximum height of 25 feet depending on which variety you choose. There are many different colors available like reds, pinks, white and purple. They all have the distinctive peeling bark feature on the trunk which reveals the beautiful mottled bark underneath. These beauties boast a long bloom time (60-90 days) and an orangey/red fall leaf color make this tree enjoyable to look at well past its summer bloom, not to mention Crape Myrtles also has very few pest problems. 2. Paper Bark Maple: Another great small tree in the garden that reaches a maximum height of 15-30 feet. This tree has very attractive reddish-cinnamon colored exfoliating bark which looks particularly attractive in the winter, and the tree also has a distinctive reddish- orange fall color leaves. The tree gives your garden four seasons of interests- small yellowish green cluster of flowers in the spring, winged samaras (maple seeds), and colorful exfoliating bark and fall coloring. This tree also has very few pest problems. 3. Kousa Dogwood: This tree is native of Japan, Korea and China but will do well in our area if planted in an area of full sun exposure and unlike the native local Dogwood variety is not as susceptible to anthracnosis. The Kousa has many distinctive features such as that it flowers at least two-three weeks after our native tree. The distinctive four inch wide white flowers are called bracts which are modified leaves that are showy. The actual flower is in the center of these bracts, and they develop into a really cool looking berry which develops in the summer. The Kousa is another tree with multiple season interest. You get beautiful flowers in the late spring, then the dramatic looking berry which is really a seed, and the great looking fall leaf color being a scarlet/purple color. Finally, the bark has this mottled/ exfoliating feature which is a brown/gray color on the trunk. The tree will grow to a maximum height and width of 15-20 feet. 4. Redbud: This tree is also called the Judas tree which is native to the eastern United States and Canada. This tree blooms very early on the wood before the tree leafs out. The blossoms are small and clustered almost covering the branches of the tree with a lavender/pink color. The heart shaped leaves emerge a reddish color which gradually turn darker green in the summer before turning yellow in the fall. The tree also produces small flat seed pods (3 inches) which are on the tree from late summer into the winter after the leaves have fallen. Redbuds typically grow to the height of 20-30 feet tall when they have some shade. All four of these trees establish well when planted in proper conditions in smaller areas. If you’re thinking of introducing new trees into your landscape, then fall is the perfect time of year to do it, and these trees will keep your attention year round with their beauty. Best of luck planting or if you’re not interested in doing the ‘heavy lifting’ give us a call at Professional Grounds @ 703-339-0600. Time to Start Seeds for Fall By Floyd Harrison, Publisher It’s time now to get your seeds started for the Fall garden. You can still grow the cool weather plants and harvest until a hard freeze. So prepare your seed cups now with a seed starting garden mixture, get it moist first and begin to plant your cool weather plants. Do it now. Our cold climate garden expert, Holly Perlick says: “Plant Brussel sprouts, Cabbage, Broccoli, Bak choi and Cauliflower seeds now. As it gets cooler you can plant lettuce and spinach directly into the garden. Also plant a fall crop of potatoes,” directly of course. Some things actually do better in cool weather. Those leafy greens, so subject to bugs, will have a better life when it’s too cool for bugs and you can have them organically, without the pesticide sprays. Spinach is very easy to grow. You can go online and find charts of times to plant different vegetables and when to harvest according to our area of the country if you are interested in expanding your selection. I’ve prepared my cups already and put them on the seed starter light stand. I’ll build raised beds in the sunniest area so that the seedlings will be planted in rich soil and they won’t be flooded and roots will get oxygen and not rot. If I have to give them a quick sprinkle on days without rain, that will make for better plants. But, don’t wait. Start immediately if you haven’t because this winter will become as raw as last winter. The prediction for escalating cold comes from John L. Casey using his Relational Cycle method of looking at Solar output. Even the Farmer’s Almanac, is predicting more bitter cold and snow for the Eastern United States. Holly is from New England so she’s used to cold. She keeps saying she has to learn to adjust to Virginia and I keep telling her that the climate she’s used to is coming to her so she’s the expert on what we’re to look forward to. Forget the hot weather plants but just before the first frost, go ahead and pick any tomatoes green and bring them into a warm window sill. They do eventually turn, that’s news to me, they just won’t be as sweet as vine ripened. On this summer’s harvest, Holly reports that: “I have a huge amount of winter squash particularly butternut squash. They did extremely well this year. Right now I am trying to keep the squash bugs away which is a never ending job. The corn is ten feet tall! I have to stand on a ladder to pick it. Tomatoes did well, but are starting to die back now. Potatoes did well and sweet potatoes were great! I am just starting to dig them now. Okra did well and cucumbers were exceptional! Lima beans are doing well. Onions were awful! Too much rain in the beginning of the season made them rot. My beans haven’t done too well. They require a lot of water and we haven’t had much rain lately. I’ll add that we did have exception rain in June, twelve inches but then July was sparse and my container plants parched. This is why raised beds and irrigation are important; the regularity of water is all the difference in the world. I didn’t try corn. You can’t plant just a few stalks of corn or you’ll have to hand pollinate them. Holly has much more space than the rest of us. This is why she is suddenly too busy to write but we’ll get all of this into a condensation so it will be available all in one place. Now is also the time to shop for your winter crops. Garlic and other root crops are ordered now. Plant Garlic in October. Mine was planted late and so the bulbs were small but still wonderful. It’s a plant it and forget it crop. Snow actually helps by insulating the soil from sub freezing temps. The ground surface under snow is always 32 degrees and it’s warmer below that. A New Day in Climate Lore By Floyd Harrison, Publisher John L. Casey announces that after years of dedication to the singular objective of alerting our fellow citizens of the need to prepare for the coming cold climate, I believe that goal has finally been achieved. He has closed the Space and Science Research Corporation (SSRC) because it has accomplished its mission. In place of the SSRC will be a new one man consulting company, free to say more and do more - outside of the boundaries of what a pure climate research organization like the SSRC should or could do. It is intended to provide opinions and analysis on matters pertaining to climate variation and other areas of science, the space program, and politics that will challenge both the right and the left, the media, the government and especially the scientific establishment. Casey says: “After concluding my initial climate research in early 2007, my message of a coming cold climate was a voice in the wilderness, given at a time when no national leader or media executive, conservative or liberal, or many ‘friends’ wanted to hear it. Since then, however, much has been achieved by the SSRC. At the top of the list is the establishment of the best public track record for major climate predictions in the USA … by using the Relational Cycle Theory of solar-driven climate change.” His ‘global cooling’ book, “Dark Winter” is an updated, reorganized version of the first book from 2011 titled, “Cold Sun.” It’s message is chilling and quite the opposite of what you’ve heard in major press which repeats the same wrong information ad nauseam. “Dark Winter” reached the status of ‘number 1’ best seller in the ‘climate change’ category at Amazon.com. Even before that week, it had already been in and out of the number 1 spot in the categories of Public Policy, Astronomy and Astrophysics, Earth Sciences, and Weather. Scientists from many nations around the world concur and lend creedance to Casey’s message and have supported his work. Some of their names are on the book fly covers. The SSRC has also led the way in conducting geophysical research related to solar hibernations. This has been aided by the International Earthquake and Volcano Research Center (IEVPC), the ongoing sister company of the SSRC. This geophysics company has been co-managed with Dr. Dong Choi, its honorable and uniquely talented Director of Research. Increased geological activity is related to solar minimums and warnings have been posted on this as well. Editor’s note: And if anyone still is convinced that we are having global warming, you’re just not paying attention. I knew something was up with the sun in 1999. John L. Casey concluded his initial research in 2007. I first wrote that global warming was not true in 2008 before I had heard of Casey. He was a lone voice at the time. It did occur to me the CO2 warming as described wasn’t even possible. I hadn’t put two and two together and had not figured out why yet. I eventually found the explanation with John L. Casey and Piers Corbyn in the UK. They agreed with me and their forecasts were months ahead of the TV news, and NOAA. Now, it’s confirmed, and independent scientists from many countries support global cooling. We support global cooling also. Start Your Warm Weather Seeds Indoors Now By Holly Perlick and L. Scott Perlick Growing plants from seeds gives you the opportunity to choose wonderful varieties of plants that you are unlikely to find at the garden center and get a jump start on the growing season. It gives you earlier harvests and greater yield. However, deciding when to start your seedlings can be a bit tricky. It will take some research and planning to calculate your optimal starting dates. First, check your seed packets and look for a “days to germinate” value. Figure that you will want your plants to be at least four-to-eight weeks old before transplanting them into your garden. Next, determine the average last frost date in your area. Lorton’s average last frost date is approximately April 10th. That is an average, so we could possibly have a frosty night after that date! Count backwards from the last frost date or when you want to put your plants into your garden, and that’s when you want to start your seedlings. We like for the weather to warm a bit before we plant tomatoes in the garden. Typically, we like to plant our tomatoes in the ground around the end of May. The following is an example for calculating when to plant tomato seeds: On the packet it says that tomatoes take three to seven days to germinate and we want them to be eight weeks old when we put them into the garden. So, if we are going to put them into the garden at the end of May, we want to start the seedlings nine weeks before May 30th. Thus, we should plant our seeds before March 20th. This isn’t an exact science but a general rule to figure out when to start your indoor seeds. Peppers can take 21 days to germinate, so you would want to start them in early March. To start your seeds you will need a container for growing – we like to use cheap dollar store plastic cups. We label the cups with the name of the seed using a permanent marker like a Sharpie. The smallest size cup works well, seven or nine ounce cups work very well. You can also use peat pots, or pellets that expand in plastic trays; egg cartons; or any shallow container. I’ve used rotisserie chicken trays, yogurt cups, pre-cooked plastic mashed potato trays, etc. To prepare your cups for planting, poke a hole in the bottom of your container for drainage. Fill the cup with pre-moistened seed starting mix (purchased at any hardware or garden center) and plant 4 -5 seeds in the soil according to depth listed on seed packet. Cover with a bit of soil and gently water. Some seeds require light to germinate. Read your seed packet for instructions. Often times those types of seeds should not be covered with soil. It’s best to have a tray of some kind to place your seed starter cups in so that water can drain into the bottom of the tray. The starter soil mix should be kept damp but not soggy. Once the seeds germinate they will need to be put under fluorescent or full-spectrum grow-lights for 12 to 16 hours a day to grow strong. The light should be two inches above the growing plant. As the plant grows, raise the light to maintain the two- inch space. If your light source is too far away from the growing seedling, the seedling with stretch to reach the light and thus become “leggy” and weak. When the seedlings develop two sets of true leaves (not the first little leaves that sprout), you can separate the plants into individual pots. If using cups, water the plants before separating the seedlings. To begin the separation process, gently hold the cup upside down with your first and second fingers shaped in a “V” around the seedlings. The whole ball of soil should come out. You can softly squeeze or shake the cup to break the soil loose. Very gently separate the seedlings, taking care to not disturb the roots too much. Re-pot each seedling into its own cup. Tap soil down around the plant, and water them gently to settle the roots. Label your new cups; place them under your grow lights, and following the same “two-inch” grow-light rules. As time goes on and you are getting closer to planting your seedlings into your garden you must “harden off” your seedlings. This is done by gradually acclimating the plants to the outdoors. Start by waiting for a warm shady day, and put your plants out for a couple of hours, bringing them in at night. Gradually increase the time the plants are outdoors. Remember to check and water regularly because small cups will dry out quickly. After four or five days of this hardening off procedure, they are ready to be planted into your garden! March is an ideal time to try starting tomato, pepper, eggplant, okra, and head lettuce seeds indoors. You might also try starting herbs, such as basil, parsley, oregano, mint and dill under your grow lights. Despite all the directions provided so far, certain types of seedlings don’t like to be transplanted. Those types of seed are best to direct sow into the ground when the ground is the proper temperature for the particular plant. Check the back of your seed packet for this information. Corn, beans and peas don’t like to be moved, so they should be sown directly into the garden. Heat loving plants like melons, cucumbers, and squash have seed that germinate and grow so quickly, we don’t bother starting those indoors. In summary, in addition to starting your hot weather plants indoors under grow lights, March is the time to direct sow your cool weather crops such as radishes, carrots, and turnips in your outdoor garden. If you started your cabbages, cauliflower and broccoli last month under grow lights, now is the time to harden them off, and plant those seedlings into your garden. You can also plant potatoes, strawberries, asparagus and onions directly into your garden! (Garden centers and home hardware stores have many varieties to choose from) Getting a head start on plants that need a long growing season is a great way to bring your vegetables to an early harvest. Start planting now, give it a try and good luck! D.I.Y. Seed Starter Light Stand By Floyd Harrison, Publisher Following last month’s article, I’m taking the advice and instruction of Holly and Scott Perlick to start cold climate vegetables and to start warm weather seed plants indoors on a seed starting light stand. I have read John L. Casey’s book Dark Winter describing how the Sun is causing a thirty year cold climate and I want to prepare to eat well during the coming mini-ice age. So, I needed a light stand. I didn’t want to buy one for over $250. but I had a four foot long florescent light fixture using four T8 bulbs and I spent $79. on lumber, nails, chain, seeds, soil, starter cups, tags, and trays and designed and crafted my own one tier stand. It’s not furniture but it’s already finished, functional, installed, and planted since reading last month’s article. If I hadn’t had the fixture laying around, that would have cost another $60. My stand can hold about 120 vegetable sets so it’s a dollar a cup to get started and it can be used year round. The lights should be good for a few years. A timer operates the light for 12 hours a day. I can increase the daylight on increments by half an hour a week as it gets closer to the last frost date. So, now all I have to do is keep it watered and wait. Oh, and I have to build the outdoor vegetable bed to plant sprouts in late April. As the light is four feet long and lumber comes in 8 foot long sections, I could get two sides from one piece. Also the height is four feet using full halves of lumber. So, I had to make the frame wider than the light so the light could hang between the legs going the full length. I was generous, I gave the 14 inch light a 16 inch space so the seedling shelf could be a little wider to use more of the light. The lumber left over from cutting the width ends of the frames, is used as framing for a lower shelf which also braces the legs. I just need some sort of shelf materal like thin plywood, masonite, marlite, whatever is laying around. That’s pretty much the requirement. Now, for my selection of material: For the seed cup shelf frame, which would have to carry some weight as 120 seed cups of soil can hold a couple of gallons of water which could be 25 pounds across a four foot span so I designed the dimensional strength of the stand into this shelf structure. I chose 1” x 3” #2 grade lumber to frame this level. The legs basically only need compressive strength and the top frame only supports the light fixture so they are made of 1” x 2” lumber. With the extra material bracing the legs at only six inches from the floor, this is plenty of strength. If you had 2x4s which are wall studs, you could use those but that would make a very unnecessarily heavy frame. It’s more important that you do something, anything to get a light fixture two inches above the sprouts so that it can be adjusted as they grow. The joints are nailed mainly to hold the pieces in place while the glue dries. Carpenter’s wood glue is going to keep the joints together and rigid. Nails alone in this light frame could not be depended upon. Screws would have worked but that would have taken more time and a good glue job is still better. Serious wood crafter’s methods would be over-kill. I just glued and clamped it in a couple of sessions and prepared the seed cup trays or put chain on the light to hang it while I was waiting for the glue to set. So, I’m done already. Weather didn’t allow me to work outdoors to sand and stain it so it’s been forced into service already. I would have liked to put some oil stain on it to seal the wood and keep it from looking so much like raw lumber but this will do for the basement. So, this month, Holly and Scott Perlick tell us which veggies to start early inside and which to plant directly. It’s time now to plant many varieties indoors. Still, I believe that there’s time to build and use this stand because judging by last year, the last chance of frost is about the 20th of April. I bought Beefsteak tomatoes and it’s actually early because they are supposed to germinate quickly, they are warm weather plants and that last frost date is still weeks away. I’ll point out that that date is my own prediction based on last year’s last cold snap and not the standard last frost date for Virginia, which is more like the 10th. I think that you’d lose delicate plants if you set them out that early. In addition, you’ll also use the stand to start late season veggies to harvest in Fall and in the winter, you can grow some herbs or even flowers to brighten up your bleak winter days. You can buy, build or otherwise improvise a seed starting area. The important thing is that you learn to prepare, have some fun, and eat well when food becomes expensive and scarce. You can enjoy growing your own favorite varieties which are not available as sets or produce. What’s more important? Be ready. I hope that the jet stream will correct and that winter won’t hold on so long as it did last year, but I won’t bet on it. In the long run of the next fifteen years, I’m betting that it will get colder on the average every year as it has for the last few. If you’d like to see my D.I.Y. video made as I built this seed starter light stand, a draft edit of it is now available on the LortonValleyStar.com Post-lite videos page. Why, I think this is necessary: Global warming has ended and we are looking forward to decades of global cooling because of reduced Solar activity. It has nothing whatsoever to do with anthropogenic carbon dioxide. You’ve been sold a religion of bad science just like when the church in Rome enforced that the Sun revolves around the Earth. CO2 can’t cause global warming. The atmosphere cools every night everywhere and the Sun determines our re-warming the next day. The atmosphere as insulation is not even an R=1 Value. Water can hold heat longer but even the oceans are cooling. The sea level will not rise several feet or a foot or even an inch. And just like a fire place, when the blaze dies down, the flickers become more noticeable. Solar flickers are causing the wild gyrations in the jet stream which reveals in dramatic weather. But, where are the hurricanes? Where is El Niño? It didn’t happen when it was supposed to so instead of predicting a lower probability, the Obama paid NOAA just extends the timeline for it from winter to Spring. The deviations are but “anomalies”. Bull! Your tax dollars are being wasted on babble. So, they predict a weak El Niño, sometime. The Real Cold Climate Expert John Casey has a new book out, an update to Cold Sun, titled Dark Winter with the latest experience on global climate science. The point is that climate change isn’t just a science argument, it’s an expensive political dogma, and a coming financial issue for families in their homes over the coming decade and decades. It’s not entertaining but it is vital. A train wreck waiting to happen. This is what you will need to be able to eat. Knowing what to expect to prepare to avoid weather and financial surprises is everything. With my own background in physics through a career in Electronics Engineering, I analyzed the global climate change publicity for myself and one day, it hit me as a speeding steam engine, the reason that my observations and the popular mantra didn’t jive: It’s simple. Like in the dark ages when the popular belief was that the Earth is flat when it’s visible to the casual observer who can think that it is not flat. Oh, my God, am I a dummy who believed the popular human wisdom when it was totally opposite of the clear truth? I had seen my own evidence yet the significance had not hit me. I went looking for experts who could explain the reason for the apparent discrepancy. I found agreement and an explanation that made sense and now, I am satisfied that I have an understanding that explains all observations and I can tell you, there is a lot of bad ‘science’ out there and a lot of unscientific bitter argumentation that is not getting people prepared for the coming disastrous train wreck change in climate. So, here it is: My initial stunning question: If the air can cool 10 to 30 degrees in one over-night period, how can the globe warm by any cause but that the Sun comes back the next day to re-warm us. The difference from one night to the next, weather fronts aside, is due to cloud cover. The CO2 has not changed, only the water vapor, meaning that water vapor is a vastly more powerful green house gas than carbon dioxide. The ground and oceans lag but represent an average over weeks, months and years. Piers Corbyn of Weather Action in the UK agrees with me and John Casey, of Space and Science Research Center here in the U.S. agrees with me so I feel vindicated. Global Warming was a fact, they say, until the late nineties but has ended. Carbon Dioxide, CO2 for short, was never the real cause but only a symptom; that’s a complicated discussion. The reason we should conserve is because of pollution not CO2. Man’s biggest threat to the global climate is the massive clearing of Rain Forest. Otherwise, there’s nothing that we can do. The real cause of global cooling is that the Sun’s activity has slowed as it does periodically. Don’t believe me, it’s historical fact. Google: Dalton Minimum. It happens every two hundred, six years and it’s due now again. You might know yourself, by listening to short wave as Ham Radio hobbyists do, that the ionospheric skip governed by Sunspots is at a low ebb; this is another evidence that the Sun is in hibernation. So, you don’t need a NASA satellite to know. The man-made global warming trumpeted by the UN IPCC, the EU, and Obama is not the truth you need to properly prepare. Scientists who don’t get their pay cheques from the Federal Government know. This coming mini-ice age will probably be known as the Landscheidt Minimum after the man who first predicted it from looking at past planetary cycles. So, buy John Casey’s book, Dark Winter now. God bless us all. For a current review of what’s going on with the climate, find the Global Climate Status Report Described below. Consider preparing to feed your family by getting on board with the Lorton Valley Star Cold Climate gardener and the publisher’s D.I.Y. preparations. Cold Weather Food Shortage Already Here By Floyd Harrison, Publisher Every month, I think I’ll give the climate change subject a rest then I see a new fact that supports what I’ve been trying to communicate, that preparations are needed for a dangerously cold climate. So, here it is: I’ve never before seen a sign in a grocery store saying that supplies of winter crop vegetables would be in short supply because of exceptionally cold weather but there it is in Shopper’s Food Warehouse. Of course, that’s just weather, right? Not climate. Just a freak like Snowmageddon. So, I’m forced to think some more. I’ve been saying that the dark side of the planet looses on average 20 degrees F over a night and the Sun re-warms the surface each day. So, that causes me to ask, what is the R value of the atmosphere, including the minuscule CO2 portion from all sources, around the Earth that allows this cooling? How good of an insulator is it? I Googled it, and a couple of sources calculate the R value at around .7 to .8 compared to the walls of your house which should be R-15. This uses some assumed numbers and atmospheric depth varies in depth from equator to poles. Basically though, the atmosphere is roughly only as good as the wall of a good styrofoam coffee cup. I’d think that it’s a little better than that because I just guessed that it was much better. I think they’re talking about the more dense less than ten miles of the atmosphere though a space re-entry feels effects way out at 75 miles. Still it’s pretty thin, (just a short drive) not good. And obviously short wavelength radiant energy goes right through it. Lag in global temperature is caused by water in rivers, bays and oceans. Water is more dense than air, holds more heat, and oceans have more horizontal convections. So warm equatorial ocean regions can spawn a hurricane in Fall. But, named tropical storms have decreased in the last few years. Perhaps an explanation of R value is in order. It’s Resistance to the flow of heat from a hot area to a cold area. Your home has a hot spot in the furnace and loses to the frigid out of doors. The Earth is a hot spot in space losing heat from all sources flowing out to sub-freezing space never to return. It’s not labeled ohms but it’s the same as electrical resistance. Once energy is lost from a system, it’s just gone. Best to generate as little and lose as little as possible. Anyway, discussion of the effect of .000 whatever percent manmade change in CO2 causing warming is asinine. It’s always been a bad theory. It is not the greenhouse blanket they imagine. The cause of climate warming and cooling is the Sun which has slowed down since the late 1990s and is said to be in hibernation. That is fact. So, how come the IPCC still says we need to prepare for warming? They have members from 195 countries and they now claim a thousand scientists contributing papers. So, go look at their web site for yourself. Those thousand aren’t named. You find some names in speeches. The site is all about the organization, policies, procedures, publications, schedules of a bureaucracy. I found not one scrap of scientific information, or theory. The most recent report summary says that “It is extremely likely that humans are the dominant cause of warming since the mid-20th century.” That conclusion does not have the rigor of science. It says “Each of the past three decades has been successively warmer than the preceding decades since 1850.” Actually, it has cooled over the last decade according to NASA. They could feed a lot of people with the effort that is being wasted to collect, edit and publish that unsubstantiated babble. They assume a lot and prove nothing. Humans are the distant third cause of warmth behind geothermal and the Sun. So, nothing they say jives with me. And everyone who has ever argued with me, quotes Gore or some political group and they can’t name a scientist either. I give you names of three qualified scientists and my own scientific observations. I could give you dozens more but what you need to do is observe and reason for yourself and not mindlessly accept the doctrine of the politicos. The truth is plain to see if you aren’t devoted to a religion of bad science. The Sun does not revolve around the Earth. I’d like to be wrong. I think I’d enjoy warming but I just don’t believe it. I can’t bend my own knowledge and observations to anyway come up with the hope of a warming trend. I just hope you’ll prepare. So, after nine weeks since planting, my garlic cloves are sprouting and peaking through the mulch already, not waiting for March but boldly facing the snow and sleet. It’s such a delight to harvest seed that you’ve invested into the ground returned in multiple. It’s so spiritual. It would be worthwhile even if there’s never a shortage of food. But, there is a little shortage, right now already. The expert prediction is that it will continue to get colder for fifteen more years until 2030 before it will rebound. Then the IPCC can start crying global warming again in 2180 ish. By volume dry air contains (rounded) 78.1% Nitrogen, 21.0% Oxygen, .93% Argon, .039% Carbon Dioxide from all sources, (mostly natural) and small amounts less than .0003 of other gasses. Methane is .000179 from all the leaking coal mines, oil wells, landfills, cattle farts, termite guts and decaying things. This is an unstable combination which has been virtually constant as long as there has been life on Earth yet this sign of life exists no where else in the observable universe.
Get Ready for Spring Start to configure your indoor seedling grow light tray table equipment! By Holly Perlick and L. Scott Perlick What does the word “value” mean to you? It has multiple definitions. One definition is has to do with the “importance, worth, or usefulness of something”. Now think of what has value to you in terms of your gardening activities. What do you consider important? What has worth or is something you consider useful? The answers would be as varied as the individual. However, if you’ve never considered the importance, worth or usefulness of a good, quality grow light table, then maybe now it’s time you should. A good grow light table proves its importance through its broad range of applications. It can be used for cultivating seeds for the plants and vegetables you want to plant during the early growing seasons. Once those starter plants are in the ground, it can immediately convert to cultivating the seeds for your late growing season. Additionally, its worth is demonstrated through its all year round utility, especially in the winter time, when it can be used to grow spices, herbs and lettuce, arugula and bak choi! Best of all, there are a wide range of growing table configurations and various sizes that can be useful in everything from a large greenhouse to a compact sunroom or basement without light! The most desirable qualities in a good grow light table are that is the right size for the space you have available; that is has is has shelving that holds growing trays; that it has mounting points for grow-lights that can be raised and lowered based on the progress of your plants; and that it is on wheels for ease of movement. The wheels can come in handy if you install your growing table in your home and may occasionally need to move it to vacuum underneath or behind it (you will be playing with a lot of dirt, after all). While grow light tables can be expensive to buy $230.00 - $600.00, ($75.00 for a table top adjustable grow light) it is an investment that will save you a lot of money if you are serious about starting your own seedlings. Starting your seedlings offers the ability to grow varieties of plants not offered in stores as starter plants. You can choose any packet of seeds that you want, you are not limited to common store varieties of starter plants. Also you get a jump start on developing strong hardy plants to put right into your garden. Most importantly, you can accelerate and extend your growing season! There are many websites devoted to building your own grow light tray tables, if you are handy give it a try, but if not, like us, just spend the money and buy one. You won’t be disappointed. When pricing all the materials needed, it just made sense to buy a setup! But, then again we are not handy craftsfolks! If you want to pursue building your own, try to Google; how to build an indoor seed starting rack or table for plans and ideas. Our seedling grow light tray table was purchased 6 years ago, and is very strong and once put together, has required very little maintenance. We have changed the fluorescent bulbs in the lights and tightened a few screws and that is it! We have grown hundreds of starter plants, grown lettuce year round, started vegetables and flowers for our garden. We have saved a lot of money starting our own perennials, and annuals and we know that they are healthy and not grown with chemicals or pesticides. It is possible to start plants without a grow light table, such as on a sunny windowsill, but seedlings require intense light to have strong stems. With a grow table the adjustable light needs to be one to two inches away from the growing plant so that the plant is not trying to grow a long thin stem to reach the light. As the seedling grows, the light is raised higher but always within that two inch distance to keep the stem strong. Plants grown on a window sill tend to be “leggy” have long thin weak stems. Grow light tables can be purchased on line or through seed catalog companies. Burpee.com offers several different freestanding sizes. Johnnyseeds.com catalog offers a smaller $48.00 table top adjustable grow light system. It is time now to start your cool weather plants so that they will be ready to set into the garden in early spring. Take your packet of cabbage seeds, broccoli seeds and cauliflower seeds and get ready to plant. Buy a bit of seed starting soil, fill a small plastic cup with soil, (make a hole in the bottom of the cup for drainage) and plant and water your seed. Put it under your grow light and wait for it to sprout! A good grow light table demonstrates it true value when it provides us with the ability to have a degree of control over what we feed our families. By researching plant varieties and growing them from seeds we have more certainty over the origins of the plants. It also provides us with the utility of year-round production, bridging the gap between prime outdoor growing seasons. Next month, we will talk about planting cool weather crops in the garden and starting warm weather seedlings indoors for spring planting. Get ready by ordering your tomato, peppers, eggplant, okra, cucumber, squash and melon seeds today! Reduce Winter Damages to Your Landscape By Derrin Hayes, Material and Garden Manager at Professional Grounds, Inc. The temperatures have fallen and it’s a little uncomfortable to be outside gardening right now. We humans have the luxury of staying indoors to shelter ourselves from the elements but those beautiful plants you installed, on the other hand, have no such refuge. Many plantings in our area turn dormant in the colder months as a way to hunker down and survive the cold season. Other trees and bushes such as Evergreens, particularly broad leafed varieties, keep their leaves/foliage throughout the year and stand a long, lonely vigil throughout the cold, harsh winter. Because of this, Coniferous plantings are highly susceptible to a type of damage known as Winterburn. Winterburn, also known as desiccation, works like this: A plant pulls moisture from the soil, drawing it through its system, using what it needs. It then releases the majority of that moisture as vapor through its leaves. This process (transpiration) works like a siphon, and is continuous. That is, until the ground freezes and any usable groundwater is rendered unobtainable. Coniferous plantings will continue to expel moisture through its leaves even though this water cannot be replenished and become dehydrated. The combination of frigid temperatures, ravaging winter sun and high winds will cause these dehydrated leaves to significantly dry out, or “burn”. Generally, Winterburn damage is aesthetic and the plant will regenerate over time but with newly planted or partially-established plants this damage could be a death sentence. More mature, established plantings are less likely to suffer from, but not completely immune to Winterburn. What can be done to decrease the severity of Winterburn damage? The application of anti-desiccants are a great way to help protect your coniferous plantings when the proper considerations have been made prior to application such as, choosing appropriate plantings for your area and ensuring you plant them in ideal growing locations on your property. You will also want to perform regular watering after the growing season has ended to ensure your plantings are well hydrated going into the cold season. What is an anti-desiccant? An anti-desiccant (also known as an anti-transpirant) is a compound applied to your plants that coats them and inhibits moisture loss through pores in the leaves. Some products are chemical compounds, others are derived from pine oils and all are biodegradable by design. When are anti-desiccants applied? In Northern Virginia (USDA Hardiness Zone 6) you can apply anti-desiccants on days when temperatures are in the 40 & 50 degree ranges and it is consistently approaching frost at night. Late November into December is usually a safe bet in Northern Virginia. Depending on the number of plants you’ll be treating, these products come in small, ready-to-use (RTU) Windex-type bottles as well as concentrates that can be mixed in pressurized sprayers. Before application you’ll want to ensure the foliage of the plants that you are treating are dry and that there is no precipitation in the immediate forecast as these products will need to cure or dry to be effective. Be sure to spray both the top and bottom of the leaves since moisture is shed through both surfaces. Apply your anti-desiccant evenly and in amounts in accordance with its label. In areas with extended or extremely cold winter conditions, a second application may be necessary. If you live in an area where a second treatment is helpful, it will generally be applied on a suitable day in late January into February. Additionally, anti-desiccants are useful for applications beyond your hardy winter trees. They can also be applied to prolong the beauty of Christmas greens, as a protective measure for sensitive bud wood on hydrangeas or recently pruned rose bushes. Anti-desiccants can be used on dormant bulbs, by dipping the bulbs before planting. What plants benefit from anti-desiccants? Treatment with anti-desiccant products are not ideal in every circumstance. Plantings that best benefit from anti-desiccant applications include most broad leafed evergreen plants such as Otto Luyken laurels, aucuba, skimmia, leucothoe, mahonia, boxwood, rhododendrons, even hollies and euonymus. I suggest proceeding cautiously when using anti-desiccants on fine-needled conifers such as yews and arborvitaes as these species seem to reap some benefits from the application but can be a finicky toward this treatment. I highly recommend avoiding the use of any anti-desiccant on spruce trees, blue spruce in particular, as these trees have an existing waxy coating that may be damaged by the treatment. Winter can be quite harsh on your landscape and is a particular challenge for your evergreens, broadleaf and other coniferous plantings and young or newly installed plantings are particularly susceptible to winter damages, but with a little extra attention a few times through the cold season you can greatly decrease the risk of damage. Timely and appropriate use of anti-desiccants can go a long way to giving your landscape investments a leg up in this most trying season, and a running start when the temperatures break and that glorious spring arrives. Gardening in January and the importance of Non-GMO seeds By Holly Alfano Perlick and L. Scott Perlick Gardening in January is great fun! It is mostly done from the comfort of your favorite armchair. Now is the time to pour over all the wonderful seed catalogs that you have received (Don’t have seed catalogs? Don’t worry, more on that later). It is time to plan and plot the garden you want to grow in 2015. Start by determining what you and your family like to eat. You’ll certainly want to include such staples as tomatoes, cucumbers, beans, carrots, squash, melons etc. We always enjoy buying a few experimental seeds, seeds of standard varieties of plants that are a bit unusual or uncommon. We like vegetables of unusual colors; something fun like purple carrots, yellow egg shaped cucumbers, striped green beans. We love eating and sharing blue potatoes! Yes, did you know that potatoes come in many different colors? There are potato varieties that are red, yellow, white and blue! Almost every variety of vegetable has alternatives to the typical versions available in the grocery store. In planning the lay-out of your garden, start by plotting out how much of your garden will be devoted to cool weather crops and how much room you will make for hot weather crops. It really helps to work with a diagram, because as you plan you may change your mind. It’s a lot easier to do it on paper first rather than once the seeds are in the dirt. Preserving these documents from year to year will create a history of your efforts, and with experience you will learn how best to utilize every inch of garden space all year long. Choose your cool weather crops that will be the first into your garden. Some choices are Bak choi, Pak choi, Broccoli, Brussel sprouts, Cabbage, Kale, Kohlrabi, Leeks, Lettuce, Peas, Radishes, Spinach and Turnips. In the Lorton area, these plants should go into the ground around the end of March early April. Many varieties of these vegetables can withstand a light frost. Later, as the temperatures warm a bit, usually around early April, you can add Beets, Carrots, Cauliflower, Celery, Endive, Potatoes, Rutabaga and Swiss Chard. When the soil temperature warms and the threat of frost has definitely past, hopefully around April 10 – 21st (last frost date), you can plant hot weather crops like Beans, Corn, Cucumbers, Eggplant, Melons, Okra, Peppers, Pumpkins, Squash, Sweet Potatoes and Tomatoes. Perusing your catalogs and ordering your seeds, is a time of great anticipation and a lot of fun. We recommend buying only organic, non-Genetically Modified (GMO) seeds from reputable companies that support the Safe Seed Pledge, www.highmowingseeds.com/the-safe-seed-pledge.html. Why this concern over GMO food (or genetically engineered food, or “Franken-Food”) and seeds? Genetic modification of food is a controversial subject. As stated at www.WebMD.com , GMO foods have been “modified in the laboratory to enhance desired traits, such as resistance to herbicides or enhanced nutrition content”. The problem is that the alleged negative impacts of GMO foods are many. Some of the most highly touted concerns are the introduction into the food chain of chemicals and toxins such as pesticides that are not a normal part of the human diet and result in the introduction of allergens and chemicals that have unpredictable effects on human health, an increase in antibiotic resistance, and contamination of non-GMO farming initiatives (more on this in later articles). You should do your own research on the pros and cons of GMO foods and make your own decisions. The FAQ page of the Farm & Ranch Freedom Alliance, http://farmandranchfreedom.org/gmo/faq/ , might be a good place to start. But where can you find these kinds of seeds? Go to www.councilforresponsiblegenetics.org to see a list of companies that feature non-GMO seeds. Another great website is www.Momsacrossameric.com. Moms interested in improving their children’s food sources are trying to change what children are fed in school lunch programs. They are trying to educate the public about GMO foods. Some great catalogs to look at are www.rareseeds.com , 417-924-8917, www.southernexposure.com, 540-894-9480, www.seedsofchange.com, 888-762-7333, www.anniesheirloomseeds.com, 877-785-1525, and www.highmowingseeds.com, 866-735-4454. We enjoy these catalogs not just for the broad range of offerings, but also for the wonderful artwork in them, depicting the delicious produce you can expect from their products. Regardless of your preference for where you obtain your seeds, January is a great time to maintain your focus on your garden, minimize your cold weather down-time so you can maximize next season’s planting time. Next month, we will talk about starting seedlings indoors for spring planting! Get ready and order your seeds today! Summary Climate Assessment In a press release By John L. Casey After a thorough review of the selected climate status parameters up through December 10, 2014, the current summary climate assessment and prediction for the Earth’s climate future are as follows: 1. Current Climate Status. a. Overall Climate Status. The Earth is presently in a sustained phase of GLOBAL COOLING though moderated by recently past peak of solar heating during solar cycle #24. Though there is new evidence of a reduction in this rate during the 2013-2014 period, the rate of temperature decline on a 100 year trend line is the steepest seen during that time frame going back to 1914. We conclude that the past period of global warming, as a natural phase of climate variation caused by the Sun, has ended, and a new cold climate epoch has begun. b. Two Hundred Year Solar Cycle Continues to Dominate Global Climate. The most recent multi-centennial climate epoch which began around 1830, has begun to reverse direction from a global temperature standpoint. The past period of generally increasing warmth for the Earth, which was caused by the Sun’s natural and regular cycles of activity, reached an average peak of warming between 2007 and 2008 as measured by global atmospheric temperatures in the lower troposphere. This change was observed in oceanic temperatures as early as 2003. Acting primarily under the influence of a repeating 206 year solar cycle, a new “solar hibernation” has begun, and is marked by a significant decline in the Sun’s energy output. Starting with solar cycle #24, this energy reduction has initiated an expected reversal from the past warm era to a new cold era. c. Near Term Trends. Major features of the Earth’s current climate status include the following sustained trends: (1) There has been no effective growth in global temperature for eighteen (18) years. Temperatures in the lower troposphere have temporarily stabilized from a previously declining short term trend because of 2013-2014 warming. This trend is expected to revert to COOLING in the next year or two. (2) Integrated Global Atmospheric and Oceanic Temperatures have stabilized in part because of the heating from the peak of solar cycle #24. (3) Substantial flux among climate parameters is evident in the ongoing destabilization in climate trends during the transition from the past period of global warming to the new cold climate. (4) Polar regions have now displayed a consistent trend of colder temperatures and growth in sea ice. 2. Climate Prediction Climate Prediction for the Next Thirty Years” Based on the SSRC’s Relational Cycle Theory (RC Theory) using natural cycles as a means for climate prediction and in view of the trends demonstrated by the twenty four global climate parameters, the following climate prediction is believed to be the most accurate available for the period of 2015 to 2044: a. Highly variable and extreme weather events are expected during the transition from the past warm period to one of rapid global cooling. b. This next climate change to a long and deep cold era is expected to last for at least the next thirty to forty years. c. The extent and depth of the cold weather produced in this new climate era is estimated to be the worst in over two hundred years producing a global temperature reduction of 1.0 to 1.5 degrees centigrade. 3. Likely Future Climate Scenarios Likely Future Climate Scenarios” The SSRC believes existing climate change indicators support the assessment that a new potentially dangerous cold climate age has begun. It should be emphasized that unless a significant unexpected and rapid change in the present declining solar activity trend occurs, there are only two climate scenarios that appear likely at this time over the next forty years. Each scenario results in a new cold climate era: a. Scenario 1. A solar hibernation similar to the Dalton Minimum (1793-1830). This would result in routine establishment of new 200 year cold weather records. b. Scenario 2. A solar hibernation similar to the one during the Maunder Minimum (1615-1745). A climate period like this would see 400 year temperature records and widespread climate and weather extremes. c. Human Impacts. A review of the history from these periods shows they were marked by significant increases in cold weather deaths, starvation through global crop losses, livestock losses, and loss of life through concurrent civil unrest, warfare and disease. Record cold effects of the current hibernation are already being felt and instances of crop damage may occur at any time. During that past Dalton era the crop damage was so severe that one US historian has called the period mankind’s “…greatest subsistence crisis.” Both scenarios for the Earth’s climate future are likely to result in substantial, global, social disruption and loss of life. The difference will be one of degree. d. Increased Geophysical Activity. Further, the SSRC and other researchers have determined that there exists a strong correlation between solar hibernations and the largest recorded earthquakes and volcanic eruptions. Large volcanic eruptions (Volcanic Explosive Index of 6+) may exacerbate the ongoing transition to a new cold climate epoch through augmented aerosol and dust shielding and reflection of incoming solar radiation. This correlation was examined in detail in a scientific paper in edition 2-3014 of the GCSR, dated June 10, 2014. 4. New Climate Predictions (from SSRC Press Release 4-2014). a. The Earth is about to begin a steep drop in global temperatures. The analysis of the level and variability of sunspots in the current solar cycle 24, including the warming of atmospheric temperatures between 2013 and 2014 indicates that the Earth is following a climate change path similar to solar cycle 5, during the last 206 year solar cycle driven solar hibernation. b. Average global atmospheric and oceanic temperatures will drop significantly beginning between 2015 and 2016. c. The predicted temperature decline will continue for the next fifteen years and likely will be the steepest ever recorded in human history discounting past short term volcanic events. d. Global average temperatures during the 2030’s will reach a level of 1-1.5°C lower than the peak year of 1998. The Space and Science Research Corporation grants unrestricted use of this Summary Climate Assessment for reproduction or transmission to others either in total or any portion thereof.
Preparations By Floyd Harrison, Publisher Beyond trying to do what they believe is “green”, People are tired of hearing about global climate change because either they don’t know what to believe or because they don’t think they can do anything about it. Please stay with me. I feel it is important that you understand this. I believe that there is definitely some preparation that we as individual families need to do to survive the economic stresses that the next decades of climate change will bring. I want you to understand what I believe is happening and what we need to prepare for. I am acting on my belief for the benefit of my own family and I am sharing that with you in hopes that you will prepare also or at least help break the back of the global hoax that is being sold. It’s like the times when the World was convinced that the Earth is flat or that the Sun revolves around the Earth. Those misconceptions came from a religion of bad science. Anyone can observe for themselves that these things are not true and obviously it’s wrong or space science would look different. Preparing to Grow My Own Vegetable Garden I am learning to build a vegetable garden. I have already built one raised bed and filled it with garden soil like black topsoil. I plant garlic now because it winters over and is harvested in late Spring. There are three motivations for this; having plenty of fresh vegetables of the kinds that we like; eating more healthy unprocessed “slow” food, and cutting cost over the expected higher prices of store bought produce when the growing seasons become shorter during the next two decades. I’ll have to build more beds in Spring. By the way, it will also cut waste ‘cause instead of buying a whole head or clump to wilt in the refrigerator, you just go out and cut exactly what you need on a given day and the plant can keep producing. That’s beside the point however; my real point is that food will become scarce and expensive because of shortened growing seasons. I can show you what I mean if you’ll just please read and try to understand. And yes, I know I’m preaching against the religion of bad science. However, I’m practicing what I preach and preparing to garden and sharing that with you so that the wise will have an easier time. I’d rather discuss electronics. Meanwhile… No Faith in Warming I can’t resist a little bit of science history. In the late seventeen hundreds and early eighteen hundreds there was a mini ice-age called the Dalton Minimum. And two hundred years before that was a mini ice-age called the Maunder Minimum. I can’t make this up; It’s historical fact; Google them. More recently, In 1989 a scientist named Theodor Landscheidt forecasted another period of sunspot minima to be accompanied by increased cold to dip in 2030 which we will call the Landscheidt Minimum. Importantly, Landscheidt laid the foundation using astronomical markers that repeat, that enable the accurate prediction of Solar Grand Minima. With his foundation we now have slightly better tools that accurately predict Solar Grand Minima as real scientists now call them. This has been the real cause of apparent global warming up until about 1996 and it is the cause that global warming is now over and we are now cooling. Half of the globe cools at night in spite of CO2 and re-warms the next day only because of the Sun. If the Sun cools, so do we. What Others Are Saying Pierce Corbyn in the UK has taken this science further and added Lunar modulation and found other cycles. He forecasts severe weather weeks ahead of time. His web site has a graph of his temperature prediction. Our own John L. Casey is backed up by the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) and describes the Sun as being in Hibernation and also predicts a cooling period which has already begun. He has written Cold Sun and Dark Winter. I don’t need a satellite to know that Ham Radio Hobbyists complain that they can’t contact long distances in the 29 MHz band the way they did during the last Sunspot cycle because Solar wind produces the Ionosphere which reflects short radio waves. This should be an El Niño year which is caused by Equatorial Pacific Ocean warming cycles. NOAA says, “Forecasters have lowered the probability of El Nino developing to 58%, from 65%, this winter. If El Niño emerges this year, it is likely to be weak.” Exactly, what I expected. The next update is scheduled for December 4. Did You Notice? For the last three years, the number of named storms has decreased not increased as predicted by those who believe that the Equatorial Atlantic was warming. The oceans water stores more heat than air and so takes longer to cool but it is cooling. Last Winter, the science tour ship got stuck in ice at the South Pole. They were going to observe Antarctic global warming, ha ha. The Chinese got stuck also trying to rescue them and the Russians who have the best ice-breakers in the world went but wouldn’t even attempt to go in. That was winter here which is Summer in the Southern hemisphere. How much evidence do you need to suspect a problem with the popular warming mantra? There is an area of geothermal warming in Antarctica but that is on the volcanic geothermal tectonic plate boundary that formed Deception Island Caldera. Google Earth that also. I don’t make up this crap. It’s probably due to blow again. Positive Action Garden So, I’m taking the advice of our Cold Climate gardeners Holly and Scott Perlick who’s stories are included herein and I’ll show you my version and success or failure at gardening. That’s all I can do. I can’t make anyone listen to me. The global warmists fail to observe the physics, the history, recent changes and the latest science. If they insist on global warming, I’ll just have to let ‘em starve ‘cause it will be 2040 before we recover according to the experts I’ve mentioned. And you thought Ebola is deadly. I recommend that you adapt any space you have to starting to grow a few vegetables. For all good reasons whatever the climate change. My first garden is planted. It is a 4 foot square box raised 10 inches above the surrounding ground so that I filled it with 12 cubic feet of black garden soil. It’s put together with deck nails and toe nailed to lock the joints in place. After it settled in the rain, it was about 9 inches deep of soil. Garlic bulbs are broken open to get individual cloves which are planted 6 inches apart with the root end down about two inches deep. I have five rows of five at about 9 inches spacing and four rows of four in between those which are still 6 inches away from their neighbors making a total of 41 sets in a grid pattern.
I ordered too late. You should order in Summer for best selection and September/October delivery. I planted 18 cloves of German Red, 14 cloves of Red Grain, and 9 cloves of Okrent. I immediately mulched the bed with fresh lawn clippings from the mower which is mostly dead dry chopped up leaves. There are no chemicals on my lawn; so far everything is organic. A guardian angel sits on the edge and plays with a bird while she watches over the expected harvest. There’s a solar landscape light but otherwise not much to look at now. I had ordered 3 quarters of a pound, planted the largest cloves of each variety and had cloves left over. My hands smell like garlic and I just worked up an appetite. I’m imagining harvesting 41 bulbs of fresh garlic in late Spring. So, that’s maybe seven pounds. Meanwhile, I’ll use the smaller cloves in sauces over the winter while I laugh at the global warmists. Here’s a picture. My cost to start this is about $80. $20 of that is treated lumber and $24 of that is the seed garlic. In Spring, I’ll buy top soil by the truck load instead of the bag so beds will cost less to build that way. If your local soil is better and your land drains better, then perhaps you don’t need such deep beds. Raising the bed is also a way of leveling the ground remembering that you don’t want it to erode away.
Extend your Harvest: Gardening in Late Fall is for Gleaning, Cleaning and Indoor / Outdoor Sowing By Holly Alfano Perlick and L. Scott Perlick A time for Gleaning: According to the Merriam Webster dictionary, “gleaning” is a time to gather grain or other by-products left over, after the main crop has been gathered. Look around your gardens this fall, there are a wide variety of useful items to glean. Walnut, Pecan, Chestnut and Hickory trees are naturally abundant in Fairfax County and the Lorton area, and can easily be found in parks or neighborhood common areas. Take a walk in the woods and see what you can gather. Ask neighbors for permission to collect nuts from under their trees. Trees on private property will often produce much more than one person or family can use. Really look around to see what is, or has been growing, and investigate what is still left over. Check areas nearby your garden to see if any stray plants have developed that you didn’t previously notice. Look for produce that you might have missed during your initial harvesting that is still on vines or stalks. A time for Cleaning: Late Fall is the perfect time to clean up this years’ garden and prepare for spring 2015 planting. November offers cool weather and the soil is moist from fall precipitation, but not freezing yet, so it is still easy to dig and turn over. Remove all the plant debris left over from your garden and move it to your compost heap. Use a sharp shovel blade or garden blade like a machete to break the largest pieces into smaller pieces that will decompose faster. Take the time now to mend trellises and fencing so that this requirement isn’t competing with your spring planting time. Do a final weeding of any last, remaining interlopers to have a clean slate in the spring. Build raised beds for Spring 2015: In many areas of Fairfax County, particularly in Lorton near the Potomac and Belmont Bay where the ground is made up of hard clay, it can be difficult to turn the soil for vegetables. If you are handy, try building your own raised beds, if not check out the myriad options in catalogs like Growers Supply (growerssupply.com) or Gardener Supply Company (gardeners.com). A raised bed, as the name implies, is an enclosed, above ground garden plot. The perimeter dimensions are up to the ambition of the gardener. The depth is typically determined by the types of desired produce. For instance, a raised bed garden intended for tomatoes, peppers and lettuce can be eight inches deep. By contrast, if you want to grow carrots, potatoes or okra, which has a deep taproot, the bed should be 12 inches deep. Gardener Supply Company offers cedar plank raised beds, composite, plastic and recycled materials for planked raised beds. They even offer metal raised bed corner brackets, in six different heights for a simple do it yourself, add your own lumber, raised bed garden construction. (Just remember, do not use treated lumber for raised beds. You don’t want chemicals leaching into your vegetable garden). Sow Outdoors: If you’ve never done it, try something new like fall planting of plants that need to “winter-over”. Plants that thrive over the winter in Northern Virginia include onion sets and garlic. Also, consider planting flower bulbs now. Planting flower bulbs in the fall will provide a wonderful spring burst of color and fragrance. Now is a great time to plant deer resistant bulbs of Allium Globemaster, Fritillaria Ivory Bells, many varieties of Narcissus and Daffodils. These plants all require a cold period in the ground to develop, and any growth and emergence they achieve in the spring should be successful due to their natural resistance as a meal for indigenous wildlife. Sow Indoors: Extend your growing season by planting herbs in pots on a sunny windowsill. You can also plant many varieties of lettuce and arugula in shallow trays, using winter sun or grow lamps, for fresh greens all winter long. Best of all, call or sign up on line for the new free 2015 Garden Catalogs that will be delivered to your door by mid-December; just in time to give you something to read and pour through on a cold wet snowy day, to dream of what you will plant in Spring and harvest next Summer. There are a wide variety of informative seed catalogs that provide information and access to a cornucopia of wonderful organic and non-GMO produce. One of my favorite catalogs is Baker Creek Heirloom Seed Company (www.rareseeds.com , 417-924-8917). This company dispatches seed collectors all over the world to collect seeds that they distribute. The varieties are wonderful and with our changing climate, it is vitally important that we utilize seeds that may grow in diverse and ever changing environments. As an added bonus, this is one of the most beautifully illustrated seed catalogs on the market today. Other wonderful options are: Southern Exposure Seed Exchange (www.southerexposure.com , 540-894-9480). Located in Central Virginia, this company offers 700 varieties of seed with emphasis on seeds that grow well in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeast. Seeds Now (www.seedsnow.com , 877-344-4669), Seeds of Change (www.seedsofchange.com , 888-762-7333), Annie’s Heirloom Seeds (www.anniesheirloomseeds.com , 877-785-1525), and High Mowing Organic Seeds (www.highmowingseeds.com , 866-735-4454) are other companies offering wonderful catalogs. Growing Great Garlic, Plant it Now! By Holly Alfano Perlick and L. Scott Perlick
"extends your growing season in Virginia because it needs to be planted in the fall", Garlic! Yum, who doesn’t love garlic? It is a major staple spice of many styles of cooking. But have you ever thought about where it came from? Did you know that you can grow it in Virginia? You can, and unlike many other garden vegetables and spices, garlic can be a hardy crop because under most circumstances it is unpalatable to the Virginia wildlife (Deer) that can take a toll on most other types of crops. And, there is a multitude of varieties you can choose from. Like many vegetables, and other produce bought from the grocery store, the garlic you can buy at the store is predominantly one kind, California Silverskin. But there are literally hundreds of varieties of garlic varying in size, flavor and intensity. The most important distinction for growing garlic is to decide whether you want to grow a type of hardneck (bolting) type or softneck (non bolting) type. Hardneck varieties do best during a cold winter and develop a flower stalk in the spring that is edible, called a scape Softneck types do best during a mild winter. In Virgina, we could have either a mild winter or a cold winter, so hedge your bets and plant both types! You can order garlic bulbs for planting on line. Commonly called “seed” garlic. (Not really seed at all!) Some sites which I have used successfully are www.filareefarm.com, www.thegarlicstore.com, www.hoodrivergarlic.com. There are many others which offer great products. Plant garlic in Virginia anytime between October – December. The idea is that you want to plant the cloves so that they can grow strong roots before the ground freezes. Garlic cloves stay in the ground from early winter until late Spring when it is harvested. My favorite hardneck varieties are German Stiffneck, Duganski, Polish Hardneck, Kettle River Giant, Spanish Roja, and Xian. Favorite softneck varieties are Nootka Rose, Inchelium Red, and Susanville. There are hundreds of varieties to choose from and it is fun to try different ones every year. Order your seed garlic. Open the box and get ready to plant as soon as you can. To plant, “crack” the bulbs right before planting. This just means that you separate the cloves within the bulb. Some paper will remain on the cloves. Plant the largest cloves. Save the smaller ones for cooking. Cloves should be planted six inches or so apart, about two inches deep Place one clove root side down, every six inches and cover with soil. Make your rows a minimum of 10 inches apart. Garlic grows best in rich well drained soil. In the Spring, when the plant is growing green leaves and growing tall, it should be watered regularly and fertilized with a nitrogen fertilizer. When the days lengthen and temperatures get hot, the leaves stop growing and the bulb begins to increase in size. With hardneck types, while the plant is maturing, a flower stalk called the scape develops. The scape can be cut without harming the plant, and can be used to flavor dishes in the same way as green onions. So, garlic starts producing even before the primary crop is ready to harvest. The way to tell that garlic has matured and is ready to pull is when fifty percent of the leaves above the ground start to turn brown and wilt. The entire plant is pulled out of the ground, bundle several together and hang out of direct sunlight until the plant and bulb are dry. This usually takes 3 -4 weeks for the bulb to cure this way. When cured, the bulb can be cut off the plant and enjoyed. Garlic is a crop that extends your growing season in Virginia because it needs to be planted in the fall, typically around November. It winters over, growing in the cold ground, setting roots and shooting green sprouts through the snow until it is mature and ready to be pulled in late Spring/early Summer. Once the garlic plant has been harvested, hung and matured, it can be stored. Depending on the variety, garlic will store from 3 months to one year. However, a great alternative for extending the life of your garlic harvest is to make your own garlic powder. This is done by slicing it as thin as possible and drying it in a dehydrator. It can take two days in the dehydrator to dry out. Then, using a small grinder, like a coffee bean grinder, it can be pulverized into a power that will be of a significantly higher potency than what you can buy in the grocery store. If you are adventurous, you can also combine your powdered garlic with other garden spices like oregano, hot peppers, parsley or basil. Garlic is a tremendously popular and useful spice. Cultivated throughout the world, it has been used for food and medicinal purposes. Many varieties prosper in northern Virginia. They are a relatively low maintenance crop because you plant it in the fall when most of your other harvests are done, and you can virtually ignore it all winter while it anchors its’ roots and sprouts its’ top. Once harvested, it has value as a fresh or dried commodity. A great resource for guidance in growing garlic in northern Virginia is “Growing Great Garlic” by Ron L. Engeland. Global Climate Change – By Floyd Harrison, Publisher Publisher climbs onboard with Casey. John Casey has a new book out, an update to Cold Sun, titled Dark Winter with the latest experience on global climate science. The point is that climate change isn’t just a science argument, it’s an expensive political dogma, and a coming financial issue for families in their homes over the coming decade and decades. It’s not entertaining but it is vital. A train wreck waiting to happen. As part of a huge promotion by a financial publisher, for a limited time, you can get John Casey’s new book, Dark Winter, on a publisher’s promotion for a small donation, practically nothing. And not just the book but the publishers offering preparing you for financial survival through climate change. This is what you will need to be able to eat. Knowing what to expect to prepare to avoid weather and financial surprises is everything. This is a limited time opportunity to get the most valuable information that you need even as much as any health or survival education. When you read the report online, you may see fit to make a contribution beyond the minimum to help make sure that this book and this information is in every home in America. With my own background in physics through a career in Electronics Engineering, I analyzed the global climate change publicity for myself and one day, it hit me as a speeding steam engine, the reason that my observations and the popular mantra didn’t jive: It’s simple. Like in the dark ages when the popular belief was that the Earth is flat when it’s visible to the casual observer who can think that it is not flat. Oh, my God, am I a dummy who believed the popular human wisdom when it was totally opposite of the clear truth? I had seen my own evidence yet the significance had not hit me. I went looking for experts who could explain the reason for the apparent discrepancy. I found agreement and an explanation that made sense and now, I am satisfied that I have an understanding that explains all observations and I can tell you, there is a lot of bad ‘science’ out there and a lot of unscientific bitter argumentation that is not getting people prepared for the coming disastrous train wreck change. So, here it is: My initial stunning question: If the air can cool 10 to 30 degrees in one over-night period, how can the globe warm by any cause but that the Sun comes back the next day to re-warm us. The difference from one night to the next, weather fronts aside, is due to cloud cover. The CO2 has not changed, only the water vapor, meaning that water vapor is a vastly more powerful green house gas than carbon dioxide. The ground and oceans lag but represent an average over weeks, months and years. Piers Corbyn of Weather Action in the UK agrees with me and John Casey, of Space and Science Research Center here in the U.S. agrees with me so I feel vindicated. Global Warming was a fact, they say, until the late nineties but has ended. Carbon Dioxide, CO2 for short, was never the real cause but only a symptom; that’s a complicated discussion. The reason we should conserve is because of pollution not CO2. Man’s biggest threat to the global climate is the massive clearing of Rain Forest. Otherwise, there’s nothing that we can do. The real cause of global cooling is that the Sun’s activity has slowed as it does periodically. Don’t believe me, it’s historical fact. Google: Dalton Minimum. It happens every two hundred, eight years and it’s due now again. You might know yourself, by listening to short wave as Ham Radio hobbyists do, that the ionospheric skip governed by Sunspots is at a low ebb; this is another evidence that the Sun is in hibernation. So, you don’t need a NASA satellite to know. The man made global warming trumpeted by the UN IPCC, the EU, and Obama is not the truth you need to properly prepare. Scientists who don’t get their pay cheques from the Federal Government know. So, buy John Casey’s book now. God bless us all.
Climate Reality Conveniently Lost in New York City By John L. Casey When former Vice President Al Gore helped lead a parade of the faithful down New York’s Sixth Avenue this past Sunday in the “People’s Climate March,” it was lamentable to see how deluded so many have become about the real causes and effects of climate change. The fearful souls who confidently joined Al in the march either are unaware or unconcerned with how utterly lost they are between what is real and what Al and the President are telling them about climate change. Climate reality it seems got conveniently lost in the Big Apple this week. Their President Barack Obama, in his address to the UN Climate Summit, continued to stress the need to eliminate an atmospheric trace gas for the sake of saving the planet. So committed are the flock that follow preacher Al and preacher Barack, that they simply have divorced themselves from the climate reality that surrounds them, a reality that is about to make life on planet Earth for much more difficult. What is this ‘new climate reality?” Here are some of the life changing facts not discussed by the President, Al or others leading the climate festivities this week: • There Is No Global Warming! The battle to end global warming has already been won – there has been no growth in the Earth’s average temperatures in the troposphere (where we live) for over eighteen years! Congratulations Mr. President you actually did fulfill one of your campaign promises. The cruel irony is of course, you had nothing to do with it. The faithful continued the march even though for most of the last two decades we have heard about global warming, there wasn’t any! • The planet’s oceans and atmospheres are not in the so-called “pause” ready to restart warming at some future date – they are in fact cooling! For eleven years now the oceans have been cooling and the atmosphere for most of that time. This is fundamental and not subject to negotiation. The cooling of the planet is a total violation of the UN’s failed CO2 driven climate models. On the other hand these climate trends are in complete accord with the significantly more reliable solar activity models that use natural cycles to predict climate. As a result of following this ‘best available science,’ my Space and Science Research Corporation (SSRC) has racked up what at least one PhD investigative journalist has said, is the best track record of climate prediction in the United States. • The most vital piece of information which the leaders of the global warming (a.k.a. climate change) religion failed to disclose to their followers was that A New Potentially Dangerous Cold Climate Has Begun. The public is intentionally being kept in the dark by the current administration in Washington on the matter of this new, hazardous, cold epoch. Unfortunately, if it repeats as similar past cold periods, it will be devastating for the planet’s agriculture. The one billion who already struggle daily to find enough food to eat are about to face their worst trial for survival in recorded history! If prominent Russian climate scientists are correct and the cold is at the level of the “little Ice Age” then the global suffering will be ‘biblical’ in scale. • For the ‘church of climate blindness,’ their high priests, and their happily self-deluded flock, this news of an impending dangerous cold climate will likely go un-communicated by the US government and their complicit media co-conspirators. History has also shown that those who make decisions based on what they want to believe instead of what the facts tell them, are the ones who pay the worst price. They are the ones who are least prepared for the adversity that the facts tell them is about to strike. So, in what may be the most public display of cognitive dissonance in US history, a large portion of the American people celebrated along with those marching in New York City this week, reinforcing their belief that mankind controls the climate. They remain oblivious to the all-powerful Sun that it is about to inconveniently lower the boom on that notion, with a vengeance! Solar Cycles, Earthquakes and Volcanoes By John L. Casey President Space and Science Research Corporation What is often lost in the fog of the manmade global warming change (AGW) debate are added side effects that occur when the Sun begins its once-every-206-year decline in energy, or “solar hibernation. Not only does this hibernation bring about decades of record cold weather on a global scale with the potential to destroy much of the grain crops we depend on, but other lesser known ill-effects also take place. Among these are the largest earthquakes and volcanic eruptions. This phenomenon has been documented by myself and others. See SSRC Press Release 1-2010 “Sun’s Activity Linked to Largest Earthquakes and Volcanoes,” with associated research paper at the SSRC web site: www.spaceandscience.net. Recently in a much more current and detailed analysis several researchers joined together (including myself) to publish a thorough treatment of the correlation between the Sun and these highly destructive geophysical events. See the paper, “Global increase in seismic and magmatic activities since 1990 and their relation to solar cycles,” published in the June 10, 2014 edition of the Global Climate Status Report (GCSR). This is also available at the SSRC web site. The last time a solar hibernation struck was between 1793 and 1830, often called the Dalton Minimum, for the father of the atomic model, Dr. John Dalton, a British physicist and meteorologist. As the decline in the Sun’s output reached its bottom in the early 1800’s, the USA was hit by the most powerful series of earthquakes ever recorded. During the period of a few months covering the winter of 1811 and 1812, the central US was shook by massive earthquakes. The New Madrid fault south of St. Louis erupted at least four times with quakes between M7.0 and M7.5. Some have said one was near M8.0. Numerous very large aftershocks were also felt in the M5.0 to M6.5 class. The power of this record quake series was such that the mighty Mississippi reversed flow for a time and the landscape was permanently changed in the central Mississippi river area. Fortunately, the area at that far distant time in our country’s past was relatively uninhabited. There were only five million citizens total in the new USA, not including Native Americans. Today we have 315 million! If a similar event occurred today the casualties would likely be in the many thousands dead with perhaps hundreds of billions of dollars in damage done. The major transportation crossings of the Mississippi River between the west and east US would be severed possibly creating a nationwide economic recession or worse. Further, it would be impossible for emergency personnel to get around with total power and transportation disruption everywhere for hundreds of miles in radius from the epicenter. One could not simply go back in to rebuild for fear that a follow-on major quake would destroy all that which had just been rebuilt. During this same coldest period of the Dalton Minimum, the largest volcanic eruption ever recorded happened. The island of Mt. Tambora exploded in April 1815 with a force ten times greater than Mt. Krakatoa in 1883 and 100 times greater than Mt. St. Helens on May 18, 1980. This devastating eruption killed tens of thousands in the immediate Indonesian chain and worldwide cast a screen of volcanic ash and dust that reduced the warming rays of the Sun even further. Some historians have indicated that collateral effects not only killed crops causing many to die from starvation and cold, but also led to widespread disease outbreaks that killed perhaps hundreds of thousands more. Here in the US, the global dust cloud caused the “year without a summer,” in 1816. The US had snow in the middle of August and what crops had survived the already brutal spring plantings, were wiped out mid-summer by the freezing temperatures. Yes, there are many side effects of the Sun’s cyclical, predictable changes between periods of great warmth and significant cold eras. While the current US President continues to deceive his citizens about what is happening with the climate, we who will have to get through this ongoing historic cutback in the Sun’s energy output must learn from the past. We must become informed and prepared for the new cold epoch and record earthquakes and volcanic eruptions brought on by the just started “solar hibernation.” Strange Weather or Strange Climate By Floyd W. Harrison, Publisher No one here is believing global warming looking at the weather this summer. July 4th has been the most scorching day of the year, until this summer. But, that’s all it is: is weather. What’s really happening? Data collected in Amazonia shows the result of deforestation that the region may give off more CO2 than it absorbs. The dense vegetation over this vast area has long helped to cool the planet and man is destroying the mechanism of Gaia to use James Lovelock’s term. This has little to do with CO2 and everything to do with water vapor and surface reflectance. Still, the rain forest is important to climate control for the globe. The tree huggers here are off target. Yet, at the same time, the ocean temps in the Pacific which herald La Niña and El Niño are at neutral and the Climate Prediction Center anticipates 80% that: “El Niño will peak at weak-to-moderate strength during the late fall and early winter…” and NWS long range weather forecasts for the U.S. seem to show the result if this anticipated pattern happens on time. Let me understand this: It’s neutral now and it’s going to peak the end of this year? Well, it had better get ramping up already. This system actually affects weather on almost the entire globe from New England to the Monsoons in the Middle East. The National Weather Service has forecasted a lower number of named storms for this season after predicting higher for the last two seasons. But, they were wrong then: We had fewer. But, an El Niño can hold down the number of severe tropical storms, if it forms, and steer them out of the Gulf. That would seem to mean that ones that did form would be more likely to affect the East Coast. Remember Sandy? Summer temps in Lorton are not a direct influence. But, if the El Niño doesn’t become strong, then more storms might make news. The only thing that could cause weakened total heat energy far and wide is reduced solar energy. If the self appointed experts knew a little quantum physics, they’d know that CO2 gas can’t affect broad spectrum radiation. Our last two Springs have been missing and last winter had four spells of single digit temps and four snows in March neither of which has ever happened in the last half a century. Is that just a local weather effect? Hail incidence is increaseing. It’s cooling over all. That’s what’s really happening. I have long since stopped mentioning Gore and I’m about to stop referring to President Obama and the UN IPCC. They don’t know what’s up either. See our column by John L. Casey. Parties Fail Voters on Climate Science By John L. Casey, Space and Science Research Corporation When Sen. Marco Rubio went on ABC’s “This Week” on May 11 and said, among other things, “I do not believe that human activity is causing these dramatic changes to our climate the way these scientists are portraying it,” he caused quite a stir. The uproar was over both the firmness of his stance against manmade global warming and for his otherwise glaring inability to provide any evidence to support his belief. Rubio’s ephemeral opinion on the climate, however, has been repeated by most Republican candidates for gubernatorial and congressional seats up for grabs in November. The GOP strategy is clear -- ignore the science debate and focus instead on the dollar costs to the economy and jobs from President Obama’s climate policies. Obama and the Democrats, on the other hand, continue unopposed in their pursuit of the “settled” science of climate change via new Environmental Protection Agency emission goals for 2030 and otherwise take the moral and environmental high ground of “saving the planet” from mankind’s industrial CO2 emissions. They do this even though their climate science is as unreliable as a freed Guantanamo terrorist. The end result is that the people are being misled and confused by the bad climate science coming from the Democrats and the lack of science they get from the GOP. This leaves many voters with a headache trying to decide which party is right and for whom to vote this November. The real story about the climate, described herein, will surely give them a migraine! I believe the GOP approach is doomed to failure and will end up supporting the Democrat contention that Republicans are in fact the “deniers” they have been made out to be. Even worse, in the minds of the all-important independent voters, it makes Republican candidates for November look purely partisan, disingenuous, uninformed and lacking in the tough leadership traits the voters are seeking. Once labeled as such, regardless of what the issue is, any candidate for office faces a formidable barrier in getting elected. The Democrats, especially those facing close elections in November, may to be on the verge of making climate change an issue and then winning on that subject. However, the big climate change player in this year’s elections looks to be billionaire Tom Steyer. He has said he is willing to put in the first $50 million into a $100 million climate change (i.e. Democrat) war chest in the form of nextgenclimate.org to swing critical elections this year. Is Steyer’s pot of gold enough to swing tight races toward the Democrats? Possibly, especially if the GOP continues to “play dumb” on climate science. Perhaps some truth on the subject may be the medicine the voters really need to clear their climate headache. The truth is that the GOP, the president and the Democrats are all wrong on the matter of climate change. The brashness of this statement is backed up by some shocking climate facts. For example, regardless of recent U.S. and United Nations climate reports and embarrassingly unsupportable statements by Obama to the contrary, there is no global warming. It ended 17 years ago by one measurement! Further, the planet’s oceans have been cooling since 2003 and the atmosphere for most of that time. The latest global surface and satellite temperature measurements can be found in the independent Global Climate Status Report produced at the Space and Science Research Corporation, in Orlando, Fla. The June 10 GCSR states that 16 of 24 climate parameters show global cooling is underway and that the Earth has entered a potentially dangerous new cold climate era! These “cold” facts are tragically ignored by the GOP, while they are intentionally covered up by Obama and Democrats. Neither major party is telling voters the truth about the climate! Sadly, in the current political environment, Obama and the Democrats push a myth, while the Republicans push the dollar. From a science perspective, neither push the truth! Aspirin, anyone? |
Mr. John L. Casey is the President of the climate research company, the Space and Science Research Corporation (SSRC) in Orlando, Florida. He is a former White House and NASA Headquarters advisor, space shuttle engineer, and author of the internationally acclaimed climate book, “Cold Sun.” He is also the Editor of the Global Climate Status Report (GCSR). In March 2013, he was named “America’s best climate prediction expert” by the online journal Watchdogwire.com. Click On Web Links
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