Bog Garden

I want to create an outdoor bog garden now! I don't think i'll use my sweetheart's current outdoor pond, though it's so full of debris, it's practically ready for walking on top of but this seems so simple. It's beautiful and NC is Bog Country! I had a sarracenia purpea (flower pictured) or two at my old house downtown but they were killed by my ex when i moved out. I'm having great success replacing a lot of my plants that went that way - I'm calling it Plant Karma and I hope to help more survive!

Penis Theft: World's Oldest Excuse

Penis Thieves run rampant in Congo

"Shrinkage!" is now the battle cry for men in The Congo who are claiming wizards are running away with their penises or shrinking them. It's a modern-day witch hunt where the accused are often beaten. There may be some truth to the story. Western Africa retains beliefs in ancient religions and witchcraft where rituals can require blood or removal of organs.

"Purported victims, 14 of whom were also detained by police, claimed that sorcerers simply touched them to make their genitals shrink or disappear, in what some residents said was an attempt to extort cash with the promise of a cure.

"You just have to be accused of that, and people come after you. We've had a number of attempted lynchings. ... You see them covered in marks after being beaten," Kinshasa's police chief, Jean-Dieudonne Oleko, told Reuters on Tuesday.

Police arrested the accused sorcerers and their victims in an effort to avoid the sort of bloodshed seen in Ghana a decade ago, when 12 suspected penis snatchers were beaten to death by angry mobs. The 27 men have since been released.

"I'm tempted to say it's one huge joke," Oleko said.

"But when you try to tell the victims that their penises are still there, they tell you that it's become tiny or that they've become impotent. To that I tell them, 'How do you know if you haven't gone home and tried it?'," he said.

"Some Kinshasa residents accuse a separatist sect from nearby Bas-Congo province of being behind the witchcraft in revenge for a recent government crackdown on its members. (sic)

"It's real. Just yesterday here, there was a man who was a victim. We saw. What was left was tiny," said 29-year-old Alain Kalala, who sells phone credits near a Kinshasa police station.

Invasive Plants

While researching lists of invasive species, I came across ideal photos of what I'd call a perfect example of Invasive

jointed prickly pear Magnoliopsida > Caryophyllales > Cactaceae

Today's Quote

A facility for quotation covers the absence of original thought.
- Dorothy L. Sayers

Today's Video

Evergreens in My Garden

Taxus x media 'Densiformis'

Spreading Yew

Character: evergreen shrub
Ultimate size: 6’ height x 12’ spread
Flower: insignificant
Fruit: red berry; fall
Fall color: evergreen

Spreading Yew is an evergreen shrub that is great

for landscaping as hedges and borders.

Thuja occidentalis 'Filiformis'
Threadleaf arborvitae

	Site Requirements: Sun; deep, well-drained soil
	Height: 3 feet
	Width: 3 feet
	Flower/Fruit: Grown for foliage
	Foliage: Dense branches; loose tufts of long, threadlike drooping branchlets; new growth is bright green; orange-brown bark
	Comments: Sprawling, rounded habit

Gold Coast Juniper is a very hardy, spreading shrub with graceful, compact, lacy golden yellow new growth. The outstanding gold color deepens in cold weather. It can be used as a foundation plant, for a hedge, as a specimen plant or for mass plantings. Gold Coast Juniper will grow in height to 3 feet with a spread of 4-5 feet.






Thujopsis dolobrata 'Variegata'

sun		sun/part sun
height		8.0 ft
width		6.0 ft
water		average
growth rate		average/slow
hardiness		zones 5-7
soil		well drained soils
flower		male and female cones
seed		cones
foliage		Evergreen
fall color		cream/green

Flattened sprays of foliage marked with creamy white blotches.
Prefers afternoon shade.

Chamaecyparis pisifera 'Filifera Aurea'

Gold Mop Cypress

This plant tolerates some drought and a little salt and will grow in dry soil.
Suitable soil is well-drained/loamy, sandy or clay.
The pH preference is an acidic to slightly alkaline (less than 6.8 to 7.7) soil. Gold Mop Cypress should be grown in full sun to partial shade on moist, well-drained soil. It tolerates alkaline soil poorly. Regions of the country with moderate to high humidity are best for this plant. Although moderately drought tolerant, it is not especially happy in very hot summers unless provided with some irrigation. This can be partially compensated for by providing a large mulched area preferably out to the edge of the canopy. Locate the plant properly away from walks and patios to eliminate the need for pruning

Height: 6-8 ft

Spread: 6-8 ft

Growth Rate: Moderate

Hardiness Zones: 4-8

Sun Exposure: Full sun for best color, to slight shade

Soil Preference: Average to fertile - well drained. Mulching recommended

Grain Exports Increase, Prices Rise With Growing Worldwide Demand

Rail cars full of wheat wait to depart the grain elevator in North Dakota.

About half of the wheat grown on American farms is exported. "Wheat prices have doubled in the last six months. Corn is on a tear. Barley, sunflower seeds, canola and soybeans are all up sharply.

"Many factors are contributing to the rise, but the biggest is runaway demand. In recent years, the world’s developing countries have been growing about 7 percent a year, an unusually rapid rate by historical standards.

The high growth rate means hundreds of millions of people are, for the first time, getting access to the basics of life, including a better diet. That jump in demand is helping to drive up the prices of agricultural commodities.

Farmers the world over are producing flat-out. American agricultural exports are expected to increase 23 percent this year to $101 billion, a record. In seven of the last eight years, world wheat consumption has outpaced production. Stockpiles are at their lowest point in decades.

“Everyone wants to eat like an American on this globe,” said Daniel W. Basse of the AgResource Company, a Chicago consultancy. “But if they do, we’re going to need another two or three globes to grow it all.”

As the newly urbanized and newly affluent seek more protein and more calories, a phenomenon called “diet globalization” is playing out around the world. Demand is growing for pork in Russia, beef in Indonesia and dairy products in Mexico. Rice is giving way to noodles, home-cooked food to fast food.

Though wracked with upheaval for years and with many millions still rooted in poverty, Nigeria has a growing middle class. Median income per person doubled in the first half of this decade, to $560 in 2005. Much of this increase is being spent on food.

Nigeria grows little wheat, but its people have developed a taste for bread, in part because of marketing by American exporters. Between 1995 and 2005, per capita wheat consumption in Nigeria more than tripled, to 44 pounds a year. Bread has been displacing traditional foods like eba, dumplings made from cassava root.

“The moment you develop a taste, you are hooked,” said the director of an American wheat-marketing office in Lagos.

“I must eat bread and tea in the morning. Otherwise, I can’t be happy,” said a tailor in Lagos, Mukala Sule, as he sat on a bench at a roadside cafe a few weeks ago. For a breakfast that includes a small loaf, he pays about $1 a day, twice what the traditional eba would have cost him.

To save a few pennies, he decided to skip butter. The bread was the important thing.

“Even if the price goes up,” Mr. Sule said, “if I have the money, I’ll still buy it.”

15April, I'm adding an addendum from accuracy.org:

Behind the Food Crisis

Author of the just-released book "Stuffed and Starved: The
Hidden Battle for the World Food System," Patel said today: "What's
happening in Haiti is an augury to the rest of the developing world.
Haiti is the poster child of an economy that liberalized its
agricultural economy and removed the social safety nets for the poor,
despite the protests of the majority of its people. Food riots
throughout history have happened when two conditions have been
fulfilled. First, there has always been a sudden and rapid discrepancy
between what people expect to be able to eat, and what they can actually
feed their families. The price shocks around the world have introduced
this discrepancy, and the politics that might have dampened them --
grain reserves, tariffs, support for sustainable farmers -- have been
eroded by modern development policies.
"But the second feature of food riots in history is that riots
happen when there are no other ways of making powerful people listen.
Like many other countries in the developing world, Haiti has been forced
to liberalize its economy despite popular opposition -- in other words,
modern development policy has been forced to be anti-democratic. And
since there has been no effective way for the people to hold their
leaders accountable, we're seeing riots not just in Haiti, but in places
as diverse as Mexico, India, Egypt, Senegal and even Italy. It's
something to expect to see with increasing frequency, until governments
realize that food isn't a mere commodity, it's a human right."

also,
KATARINA WAHLBERG,
http://www.globalpolicy.org/socecon/hunger/general/2008/0303foodcrisis.htm
Social and economic policy program coordinator for the Global Policy
Forum, Wahlberg in early March wrote a policy brief titled "Are We
Approaching a Global Food Crisis?" which stated: "The most important
factor behind the sudden spike in food prices ... is the rapidly growing
demand for biofuels, particularly in the EU and the U.S. ... Until
recently, few voices critical of biofuels were heard, but now an
increasing number of policy makers and analysts strongly oppose
converting food into fuel. In addition to directly threatening food
security, there are alarming examples of how biofuel production causes
environmental harm and speeds up global warming. U.S. ethanol production
uses large amounts of fuel, fertilizer, pesticides and water and most
analysts consider its environmental impact quite negative. And in
Indonesia, Malaysia and Brazil, companies have slashed thousands of
hectares of rain forests to cultivate palm oil or sugarcane for biofuel
production. ...
"[I]n past decades, international trade liberalization has
transformed most developing countries from net-exporters into
net-importers of food. Caving to pressure from the World Trade
Organization, the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank, poor
countries dismantled tariffs and other barriers to trade, enabling large
agribusiness and subsidized goods from rich countries to undermine local
agricultural production. To some degree, food aid -- in the form of
dumped subsidized goods produced in rich countries -- also played a role
in diminishing farming in poor countries."
Wahlberg added today: "Another major factor is the changing diet in
the fast-growing economies of China and India. As their middle class
eats more meat and dairy, which take more resources than grains, that
pushes food prices up."

Update 12August, 2008:
Index investors in our commodity markets could be causing continued inflation. "The growing presence of buy-and-hold investors in commodity markets has prompted heated debate among commodity traders, economists, and politicians over other possible causes of higher commodity prices apart from supply and demand shifts."

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Green Collar Jobs

... and creating green pathways out of poverty

White collar employment includes salaried professionals and clerical workers. Blue collar employment involves manual labor. Now a third sector is emerging and is growing in both popularity and support: the green collar workers

From GreenForAll.org:

The Vision of Green For All

We believe a shift to clean energy can improve the health and well-being of low-income people, who suffer disproportionately from cancer, asthma and other respiratory ailments in our dirty-energy economy.

Also, we believe it can create entrepreneurial, wealth-building opportunities for those who need new avenues of economic advance.

In other words: we believe that the national effort to curb global warming and oil dependence can simultaneously create good jobs, safer streets and healthier communities.

For us, our highest calling is to ensure that the clean-energy economy in the 21st century in fact does all of these things. Indeed, we would say that America’s chief moral obligation is to build a green economy that is strong enough to lift many people out of poverty.

What’s the best way to give Americans of all socioeconomic backgrounds a tangible stake in fighting for issues like global warming?

Easy: Make it their livelihood. Every day, about 135 million people go to work in the U.S. Imagine what would happen if millions of those jobs—plus new ones created for people who are currently unemployed—were in fields like renewable energy, sustainable agriculture, and green building. Our two crucial concerns about survival—the environment and making a living—would be combined. A person’s commitment to their job would also be their commitment to the planet.

Right now, there’s a great opportunity not only to make America’s economy stronger by making it greener, but to make Americans living in poverty part of a revitalized middle class. The first thing we have to do is provide the training that will turn 20th century blue-collar jobs into secure 21st-century green-collar jobs.

Did You Know...

• There’s already a huge green economy developing. In 2006 renewable energy and energy efficiency technologies generated 8.5 million new jobs, nearly $970 billion in revenue, and more than $100 billion in industry profits.
• According to the National Renewable Energy Lab, the major barriers to a more rapid adoption of renewable energy and energy efficiency in America are insufficient skills and training.Require
• In December 2007, President Bush signed the Green Jobs Act to train workers for green collar jobs. It authorizes $125 million for workforce training programs targeted to veterans, displaced workers, at-risk youth, and families in extreme poverty. It will train people for jobs like installing solar panels and weatherization.

Green-Collar Jobs…

• Rebuild a Strong Middle Class
• Provide Pathways Out of Poverty
• Require Some New Skills (and some new thinking about old skills)
• Tend to be Local Jobs
• Strengthen Urban and Rural Communities
• Protect Our Health and the Health of the Planet

Van Jones on Colbert Report