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Get dirty, have fun and grow more food with great gardening tips from real-life gardeners.
Nestled above an overgrown ridge-top meadow in the Appalachian Mountains, farmer Susana Lein proudly runs Salamander Springs Farm, a permaculture farm, homestead and "food forest," where living, healthy soil is considered the most important resource.
Working closely with her local farmers markets, town stores, and CSA members, Susana grows a variety of fruits, vegetables, herbs, flowers, mushrooms and numerous nut trees. All food is grown organically, in the traditional sense, using permaculture and biodynamic practices.
Her WWOOFers and apprentices, who often stay for an entire growing season, learn extensively about cycling local resources and energy, homesteading from the ground up, and practicing permaculture principles for sustainable housing, food production and local economic systems.
"From working with the soil, to building structures with straw or recycled wood, I know Susana wants to share every bit of knowledge she knows to make a better world," explained WWOOFer Kayla Lee Preston, who spent two full seasons at Salamander Springs. "Working with Susana was the most life changing experience I have ever received. She truly is one with the earth."
Salamander Springs Farm is completely off-grid: it is a rustic homestead where limited solar electricity exists and gravity-fed spring water, rain catchment systems, and ponds serve as the water resources. Susana has built a community where nightly meals are shared by candlelight under the stars and are centered on freshly picked food from the farm.
In 2001, Susana decided her land, which is surrounded by the hardwood Appalachian forest, needed rich topsoil. She began clearing a meadow, which now makes up her food forest, and built her kitchen from only recycled and salvaged materials. Over the next decade she built a solar house using locally harvested and milled wood. She dug clay from her farm and ponds to create a beautifully earthen floor and straw walls.
"This isn't just farming – it's a way of life," said WWOOFer Jacob Mudd, an aspiring farmer from western Kentucky with a homestead of his own. "It would seem foreign if it didn't come so natural. The experience is very holistic, very back to the land."
Her farm has inspired people from around the world.
"This farm shows what can happen when dedication, hard work, and wisdom combine to create a real farm that can actually be sustained," said WWOOFer Wade Archer, who traveled from Tennessee to stay at Salamander Springs. "I would put this farm on the Top Ten list of the most important farms to visit in the United Sates, and maybe the world."
Worldwide Opportunities on Organic Farms, USA (WWOOF-USA) helps visitors from around the world link up with over 1,800 organic farms across the United States, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands. WWOOF-USA is part of a worldwide effort to link visitors with organic farms, promote an educational exchange, and build a community conscious of ecological farming practices.
For more information, or to find organic host farms nearest you, please visit the WWOOF USA website.
Photos by Susana Lein
This year, I hope to obtain land to create my own patch of homesteading paradise. As I mentally gear up for the prospect of transforming a piece of raw land into a (hopefully) beautiful, abundant haven of food, animals, and handmade buildings, I am simultaneously seeking stories from folks who have been through (or more likely continuing to go through) that process. Though I am attracted to a rural locale, where development is less, the land is more open, and the restrictions fewer, it has been an enlightening and poignant reminder that not everyone is so fortunate to have access to such circumstances. In fact, it may not even be necessary to live in the country to eat well, grow delicious organic food in quantity, and live the good life.
This is a fortunate time for backyard gardeners and suburban homesteaders, as the literature dedicated to those folks in the suburbs who want to provide more for themselves has been on the rise. One notable book that turns the idea of needing lots of space to grow an incredible diversity and quantity of food on its head is Paradise Lot, by Eric Toensmeier and Jonathan Bates. Toensmeier and Bates detail the incredible story of the transformation of their 1/10th acre suburban lot into a slice of permaculture goodness, proving that you don't need huge amounts of space to do so, and that the suburbs can in fact be productive.
The book starts with the duo buying a duplex in Holyoke, Mass., where they soon establish a perennial garden full of multifunctional herbs, shrubs, vines, and trees. Incredibly, Toensmeier and Bates prove that permaculture principles are viable in a suburban setting, even when the forecast is grim, and that a small parcel of land can yield abundant food and nutrition, and even have a bit of space for a few animals, too.
Paradise Lot is no doubt a story of the journey and less of a how-to, but that doesn't mean the text isn't brimming full of valuable information and tips for the prospective suburban gardener and permaculturalist. Really, Toensmeier's plant knowledge is dripping from every page, and you'll likely find yourself reaching for a highlighter or folding every other page corner because of the abundance of excellent information. Perhaps most valuable is the massive inspiration the book imparts – that you don't need a whole lot of land to work some incredible gardening and food magic, and that anyone can turn even a scrap of abused land into something beautiful.
Another favorite book of mine geared towards home-scale permaculture and food production is Toby Hemenway's Gaia's Garden, which when combined with Paradise Lot, makes for an excellent two-punch guide to getting your land to be productive, regenerative, and beautiful. Hemenway's book is full of practical information that will set you on the path to a self-renewing garden. One of the main premises of permaculture – working with Nature, instead of against her, is always the goal, and Hemenway describes in detail how to make that theory a reality.
Gaia's Garden gets into the nitty-gritty of water management, guilds, forest garden design and layout, and recommended plant species suitable for a perennial food and medicine garden. Whereas Paradise Lot doesn't dwell on the instructions for replicating a regenerative garden, Gaia's Garden provides ample ideas and directives for creating healthy soil, making use of small spaces, and taking advantage of natural conditions. It's practical, based on a lot of experimenting, and overall it's an excellent addition to the library.
While I'm not about to move back to the suburbs to put these home-scale permaculture ideas to the test, I appreciate other people's work in experimenting with these ideas. There's a much better chance for getting our towns and cities across the country a little more productive and brimming with life with excellent books like Paradise Lot and Gaia's Garden around. (Both are available from MOTHER EARTH NEWS.) Maybe we can re-create Eden in the suburbs after all.
Photos by Chelsea Green Publishing
The collaborative efforts of Terroir Seeds, The Xerces Society and Painted Lady Vineyard have spent the past 2 years growing southwest native milkweed seed to reintroduce the Spider or Antelope Horns milkweed (Asclepias asperula) to home gardeners, garden centers and native plant nurseries across the southwest. This story is especially poignant right now with the massive declines in Monarch butterfly populations and the resounding recovery push by several conservation groups alongside private citizens, students and scientists.
The milkweed plant plays a critical role in the monarch life cycle. Each spring Monarchs migrate across the United States, laying eggs on native milkweeds - the only food plants suitable for newly hatched monarch caterpillars. The North American Monarch Conservation Plan recommends planting native milkweed species to restore habitat within the Monarch butterfly's breeding range.
For the past 3 years, the total area occupied by overwintering Monarchs in Mexico has dropped by almost 50% each year, continuing a decline that has lasted for the past decade. The severe drought seen across Texas and Northern Mexico has been a large factor, combined with wildfires across the entire southwest. The biggest contributor is simply the loss of land that supports the Monarch's food source and hatchery – the Milkweed plant. Much of the land has been converted to commercial herbicide tolerant corn and soybean production or developed into housing. Overuse of persistent chemical herbicides and roadside mowing for weed control has also created loss of milkweed habitat and thus reduced Monarch numbers.
The Xerces Society is working to increase the availability of native milkweed seed and encourage restoration using milkweed in California, the Great Basin, the Southwest, Texas, and Florida. These are important areas of the Monarch's spring and summer breeding range where few commercial sources of native milkweed seed currently exist. Brianna Borders, Plant Ecologist, contacted us about growing out a small sample of Spider or Antelope milkweed seeds that had been collected in central Arizona to make it commercially available.
Painted Lady Vineyard is a small wine grower in Skull Valley, AZ where Fiona Reid has been growing milkweed and saving the seed for a few years, so she was the perfect fit for our reintroduction project! One of her passions is native plants of the area, with an emphasis on butterfly attractants. The Painted Lady is a beautiful, ephemeral butterfly that happened to visit the vineyard in droves as the initial vines were being planted, thus the name for the vineyard came about.
A California native plant nursery propagated the seeds into plugs, which were shipped to Painted Lady Vineyard. The tiny milkweed plugs were planted over a long and hot weekend in the middle of June 2012 after much work over many weeks preparing the ground to receive the fragile plugs. There were no financial rewards for any of the volunteers for the hours spent bent over in 100°F heat planting over 2,000 fragile plugs. Many of the people helping were native plant enthusiasts, some were butterfly lovers, but a significant number had were helping see a project to fruition on nothing more than the basis of it is the right thing to do. There were over 320 hours of volunteer labor, not counting Fiona's time, from start to finish.
In an email to everyone, Fiona said, "It has been an amazing community effort and I have had the pleasure of working with a great group of people, children included. As we began to close in on the finish yesterday I was almost overcome by the understanding that people don't have to involve themselves in such hard work – sometimes backbreaking work, sometimes knee-breaking work, and always hot work. They could sit at home in the cool, or an office somewhere, and do good for someone else. But none of you did that. You came knowing it was going to be outside in the heat; knowing you would kneel and bend; knowing you would get dust in your nose and eyes; knowing that – as Rachel Carson said – "there is something beyond the bounds of our human existence" that matters. You also know that you won't get any thanks from the butterflies that find all the little milkweed gardens that will eventually grow from this project."
She finishes by saying, "We don't get paid dollars for doing this. What we get is priceless. One day, in many gardens around this area and scattered throughout the southwest, the most ephemeral of creatures – a butterfly – will lay her eggs on the milkweed that has been grown there especially for her, and the stunning caterpillar that emerges will have all the nourishment it needs right there. Soon thereafter, through the miracle of metamorphosis, a monarch butterfly will continue the northward journey. We may only get a fleeting glimpse of this whole cycle, but that's OK – we just need, it seems, to know that we are part of a bigger whole that is life on earth."
Just over a year later, in July of 2013, we visited once again to check in the seed production and record some of the process. On this visit, we learned several things. First, milkweed is an on-going production plant, it doesn't set all of its flowers at once. There aren't a crush of seed pods to be bagged, but there are little bunches of pods that always need bagging, so it is seemingly never done. Second, there is no real seed cleaning equipment available for the small scale grower to process and separate the seeds from the floss. There is large scale equipment that costs as much as a house, but nothing for the smaller grower. Third, there isn't an established market for a regionally adapted milkweed seed of a specific species, as there hasn't been any available up until now.
Since then, we have almost sold out of all of Painted Lady's seed production, mostly to home gardeners but many garden centers and native plant nurseries are growing the seedling plugs or plants around the southwestern US. There is still Milkweed seed available! A number of school gardens, community gardens and Master Gardener groups have stepped forward to help re-establish the milkweed populations in their areas. We are honored to be part of such a project and amazed at the positive impact a decentralized, non-governmental, independent group of individuals that have mostly never met one another can have on such a large scale challenge.
One of our dear friends, Gary Nabhan, gave a talk at Prescott College recently in collaboration with Make Way for Monarchs and we will be extending our collaboration with several growers of almost a dozen more southwest native species of milkweed that is being grown in southern Arizona this year.
Stephen Scott is an heirloom seedsman, educator, speaker, soil-building advocate, locavore, amateur chef, artist and co-owner of Terroir Seeds with his wife, Cindy. They believe in a world of healthy soil, seed, food and people. Everyone has a fundamental need for vibrant food and health, which are interrelated. They welcome dialogue and can be reached at email@example.com or 888-878-5247. Visit their website and sign up for their Newsletter for more education like this!
After a year without honeybees, we have two new hives. Our previous bees did not survive the 2012/2013 winter. There has been a tree or two that needed to be cut down near the beeyard and you'd think that we would have gotten that done in the past year. It was the upcoming arrival of our new bees that motivated us to cut that tree and remove the lower branches of other nearby trees. It was a nice thing to do on a warm dry Saturday when it was still too early and wet to work in the garden. We took care of any other chores in the area that we had neglected when we previously had to watch out for bees.
During our cleanup of the beeyard I pulled an old metal wagon out to near the hives. It will serve as a bench to place hive bodies on when I'm switching them around, rather than putting them on the ground. The hive bodies can be heavy at times—all the more reason to keep myself in shape. Some beekeepers have gone to using medium boxes instead of deeps, but I don't believe there is enough room in the shallower boxes to maintain a cluster.
However, I am getting older and those boxes do get heavy. When time allows, I would like to build a top bar hive. Managing a top bar hive will bring new learning experiences, with the advantage that you only lift one comb at a time. The combs the bees build hang from one wooden bar at the top, with no wooden frames surrounding them. Given the opportunity, honeybees will lengthen the comb in a medium frame to fill out a deep box. You can see an example of that at Homeplace Earth. We keep bees for our pleasure. They pollinate things in the garden and give us honey—usually. I won't know the efficiency of extracting honey from top bar combs until I actually do it. Since we don't sell honey, the efficiency of honey extraction is not as much of a concern.
Meanwhile, I have all the equipment for the Langstroth style hives, so that is what is housing my two new bee colonies. I started them each in a deep hive body. Soon it will be time to add the second hive body to each colony. After they fill out that box, I'll put a shallow super on each hive to capture the extra honey. Since I had all the equipment in the beeyard left from the hives that we used to have, during the cleanup I prepared the boxes I will soon need and left them there with a hive cover on top. It is good to anticipate your needs and have enough equipment for an extra hive. You never know when you have the opportunity to capture a swarm. I wish you well with your bees this year.
Learn more about Cindy Conner and what she's up to at www.HomeplaceEarth.Wordpress.com.
Reprinted with permission from the Organic Broadcaster newspaper, published by the Midwest Organic & Sustainable Education Service (MOSES)
Bramble berries—raspberries and blackberries—can be great additions to the diversified market farm or orchard. They are a favorite at farmers markets, in CSA boxes, and at pick-your-own operations. They are a perennial crop that will produce for many seasons if cared for properly. Successful bramble production depends on several factors, including soil and cultivar selection.
As organic growers, we know we must build and steward the soil to grow nutrient-dense, health-sustaining, disease- and insect-free crops. Healthy soil is especially important for growing bramble berries since half of each plant resides in the soil. What we see above ground is nearly a 100 percent reflection of what transpires below ground, in the soil environment. We can only do so much about the above-ground environment— temperatures, rain, winds, etc.—but we can do a lot about the environment in which half of our plants live.
Insects and diseases are not the primary cause of problems in berry production. Of greater importance is the environment in which the plants are grown, and no part of the environment is more important than the soil.
Brambles are adaptable and can be made to thrive in most soils. However, it will help us make the wisest site choices if we keep in mind the most basic biological needs of plants. The number one need by far is air. Neither you nor I nor bramble plants can function when this basic need is restricted.
The most expensive machine I have on my farm is a large Imants spader that aerates the soil 17 inches down. It is our primary soil-building tool. Long before I think about other nutrients, I think about air. No amount of NPK or other elements can make up for the lack of air—the most important plant nutrient of all. Faithfully using green manure crops, especially those with massive root systems such as Sudan grass and winter rye, goes a long way in rapidly raising organic matter and thus bringing air to the roots, even after massive rains. (Don't expect to read about air management because it can't be patented, bagged or easily sold!)
Practically all pathogenic soil organisms (animal and human) thrive in an anaerobic environment and are naturally suppressed in an aerobic one. That's true even of cancerous cells. By building aerobic soils, we not only favor our bramble plants, but also eliminate the environment that fosters root diseases—killing two birds with one stone. To top it all off, we also support the soil biology that in turn feeds out plants. Thinking ever more WHOLE-istically will lead us to craft our soils to enable them to produce healthy plants and a healthy return on our investment.
Minerals play a vital role in a plant's susceptibility or resistance to diseases. The American Phytopathological Society recently published an awesome 280-page book entitled, Mineral Nutrition and Plant Disease, authored by scientists from around the globe. Though academic by its very nature, this book provides great insights into plant nutrition, disease, and health. The bottom line from this book is that practically all diseases in plants, animals and mankind are caused or facilitated by mineral deficiencies or imbalances. This illustrates why the most important thing growers can do for the health and quality of their crops is to build, care for and steward their soil.
Cultivar Selection
When selecting plant cultivars (cultivated varieties) for your farm, there are several important aspects to evaluate. The Upper Midwest is one of the harshest environments in which to grow tender fruit like raspberries and blackberries successfully. We can have extremely cold winters—sometimes with a lot of snow, sometimes with hardly any. We can have ferocious winds. We have floods and droughts. We have extreme mid-continent heat in the summer. And, we have drastic fluctuations in all of these to the point where Minnesotans are heard telling their guests, "If you don't like the weather, just wait a minute!"
Let's make one thing clear at the outset: there are no perfect cultivars for anywhere, much less for the Upper Midwest. Each choice involves a series of compromises. Finding the most suited cultivar for each area is best done by a process of elimination. My suggestion is for growers to become familiar with various cultivars by trying 10-20 plants, then deciding which best suits their needs and performs best in their area and soil. The issue of winter hardiness trumps all the others. If plants don't consistently survive to produce a marketable crop, there is little sense in growing them.
With raspberries and blackberries, winter hardiness concerns only summer-bearing cultivars because their canes grow up one year, must overwinter well and produce their crop the subsequent season. With the fall-bearing type, we don't care about cane cold-hardiness. Nearby fellow-growers and extension service can be valuable resources to help choose proven cultivars. For central Minnesota and similar areas the list of cultivars is quite limited. I share my experience with these later in this post.
Factors to Consider
Choose cultivars that will provide berries that match your intended uses. Ask yourself: Why am I planting my berries? What use am I planning for them? Do I intend to process them into wine, jam, jelly, juice, syrup, toppings, chutney, ice cream? Do I plan to sell them retail, pick-your-own, wholesale or freeze them for local processors? Do I want a summer or fall crop? Finally, what colors of berries am I looking for and why?
Also consider when you want to harvest berries. You have two choices: a summer crop, lasting approximately 3 weeks—the first 3 weeks in July in the Upper Midwest—and a fall crop, typically lasting 5-6 weeks—mid-August until the end of September. There is a much greater maturity span with fall-bearing cultivars than there is with summer ones. During the summer, these tender berries need to be picked at least every second day. The cooler fall temperatures give growers a bit more picking flexibility. However, with the advent of the SWD (Spotted Wing Drosophila) every effort should be made to pick ALL berries as soon as they are ripe.
Disease Resistance
When you have a choice, select cultivars that have genetic strengths against the major raspberry diseases. With the limited choices for the Upper Midwest, this is less of an issue than if we grew brambles in California or the Pacific Northwest. We have reasonably good genetics in the varieties listed below—especially the newer ones. Summer-bearing varieties will show their weaknesses more readily, possibly because the canes are around for two seasons. For example, Killarney is beginning to manifest some serious foliar weaknesses under certain summer conditions. With fall-bearing cultivars, the canes and foliage are around only for one season, so they all tend to remain quite healthy.
Fungal diseases can be largely controlled by cultural practices: soil stewardship, plant density, air circulation, proper pruning and trellising, and even harvesting. Viral diseases are best dealt with by securing clean stock, genetic resistance and eradicating nearby native brambles. All growers should apply regular nutrient and compost tea sprays throughout the season. The healthier the plant, the more resistant it will be especially against fungal and bacterial diseases.
Best Hardy Raspberries and Other Brambles
For many of these varieties, use the MOTHER EARTH NEWS Seed and Plant Finder to locate mail-order suppliers.
Raspberries: Summer Bearing (Floricane)
The canes of these plants grow up one season, overwinter, produce a crop the second season, then die and need to be pruned out.
Red: 'Nova,' 'Encore,' 'Prelude,' 'Killarney,' 'Latham'
Black: 'MacBlack,' 'Jewel,' 'Bristol'
Purple: 'Royalty,' 'Brandywine'
Raspberries: Fall-Bearing (Primocane)
Commercially, these plants are chopped or cut down to the ground in late winter or very early spring (before they break dormancy) to "force" the plant to grow new canes that produce their crop during the first fall.
Red: 'Autumn Britten,' 'Caroline,' 'Joan J,' 'Jaclyn,' 'Heritage,' 'Autumn Bliss'
Gold: 'Anne'
Black: coming soon (from Peter Tallman, Colo.)
Blackberries: Summer-Bearing (Floricane)
The canes of these plants grow up one season, overwinter, produce a crop the second season, then die and need to be pruned out. Generally we don't think about growing blackberries in Minnesota or Wisconsin because the bearing canes of even the most cold-hardy ones don't survive above the snow line.
'Doyle' – There has been some success with this extremely vigorous, thornless cultivar in the southern half of zone 4.
'Illini Hardy' is an erect and thorny variety. This is likely the most cold-hardy cultivar, and can be grown in zones 5 and warmer.
'Chester', a widely grown thornless cultivar, is superior to 'Illini Hardy' in a variety of ways, but a little less cold hardy. Best for zone 5 and warmer.
Find your zone.
Blackberries: Fall-Bearing (Primocane)
'Prime Jim' & 'Prime Jan': Both cultivars are extremely spiny and too late to produce a crop in zone 4, but worthy of trial for zone 5, which has a longer growing season.
My Cultivar Choices for Growing Raspberries
Raspberry, Summer, Red
For us at Natura Farms, located in the northeast fringes of the Minneapolis-St. Paul metro area in zone 4b (negative 25 to negative 20 degrees Fahrenheit), our most consistent performer has been 'Nova.' It has a round, bright red, firm fruit, with coherent small drupelets that pick easily and hold up well after harvest. The canes are sturdy, vigorous, and nearly spineless, the fruit is tasty, and the plant is resistant to most cane and foliar diseases. It can be grown also in zone 3.
Next come varieties like 'Killarney' (but very spiny and some foliar disease susceptibility); 'Latham' (a 100-year old Minnesota heirloom, mildly spined, good tasting cultivar, and can be grown in zone 3); 'Prelude' (the earliest to ripen, with very good flavor, that also bears a small fall crop); 'Encore' (the latest to ripen, nearly spineless, good flavored, with coherent, large berries) and 'Lauren' (not quite winter hardy enough for us, but we like its long season and good flavored, large fruit).
Raspberry, Summer, Black (Very spiny)
'Mac Black' is the latest ripening and all around best performer for us. 'Jewel' is mid-season with very large berries. 'Bristol' is the earliest ripening, an heirloom, with very good flavor, but is only marginally hardy for us.
Raspberry, Summer, Purple (Quite spiny)
'Brandywine' is unsurpassed for jam, jelly, syrup, toppings and pies because of its intense flavor and tartness. 'Royalty' is for those who love the taste of purple raspberries (the result of crossing blacks with reds), but want a sweeter berry. It is very productive and can be picked in the red (almost ripe) or purple (ripe) stage.
Raspberry, Fall, Red
'Autumn Britten' has replaced Autumn Bliss for us and is still our number one choice for its earliness, quality and yield, but there are a growing number of contenders, each having its specific attractions. 'Joan J' and 'Jaclyn' are two other great early varies. 'Caroline' is a superb, productive, mid-season cultivar with very vigorous plants and berries of intense flavor. 'Heritage' is the good flavored, firm, medium-sized, mid-late season workhorse that brought fall-bearing raspberries to the world scene in 1969. Before then there were no commercial fall raspberries. When the early fall cultivars start winding down, 'Heritage' kicks in and carries us through until the short days and frost end the season.
Raspberry, Fall, Yellow
'Anne' is for us the only yellow raspberry to grow. It is mid-season, highly productive, has sturdy canes, and is large-fruited, with excellent sweet flavor.
My suggestion is for growers to become familiar with all of them, by trying 10-25 plants, then deciding which best suits their needs and performs best in their area and soil.
For a chart of Berry Varieties at a Glance, see page 15 of the 2014 Nourse berry catalog.
Photo by Fotolia/Elena Moiseeva
If you are someone that doesn't want to have to plant every year to have home grown fruits and vegetables, grow perennials! Believe it or not, perennial vegetables do exist. After you plant a perennial, it comes back year after year with no effort.
There is a long list of perennial vegetables, particularly greens. Many are hard to find the seed for or a starter plant. There are several that are easy to find, though! Spring or fall is a great time to plant any perennial. Perennials are the first up in the spring.
The perennial vegetables we currently grow in our Zone 6 Midwest garden:
French sorrel (good for soups, steamed or a salad green)
Blood-veined sorrel (striking salad green)
Chard (perennial if grown in a sheltered area)
Garden sorrel (soups, steamed or salad green)
Corn salad (salad green) **Radicchio (good steamed, roasted or a salad green)
Good King Henry (spinach relative, use as a salad green)
Salad burnet (taste somewhat like a Granny Smith apple, use fresh in salads)
Egyptian walking onion (use fresh for cooking or salads)
Potato onions (stores well)
Perennial kale (good steamed or as salad green)
Chives (salads or flavoring cream cheese, butter, sour cream, dips)
Arugula (peppery flavor, great for salads)
French, Italian and American dandelion (great for salads)
Daylily (flower buds can be eaten like green beans, flowers in salads)
Other popular perennial vegetables you may want to add are sea kale, rhubarb, lovage, groundnut, asparagus, artichokes, collards, or Jerusalem artichokes.
Most fruits are also perennials:
Apple, pear, cherry, peach, pawpaw and fig trees
Blueberry bushes
Grape, goji berry, passionflower, kiwi, raspberry and blackberry vines
Then there are the herbs. Most herbs are perennials. Here are ones we are growing.
ARP and Barbeque rosemary
Lemon balm
Winter savory
Eggplant, tomatoes, okra, and peppers are also perennials, but only in tropical areas. You can bring them indoors each winter and put them back out in the spring after all danger of a hard frost is past. You will get fruits a month earlier than starting with new plants. We brought in a potted cayenne pepper plant a couple of winters ago. It flowered and fruited up until January indoors and restarted flowering in May once outdoors.
When perusing the gourmet garlic at your local Farmers Market you may notice that the bulbs, although often bearing a cultivar name such as 'Music' or 'Inchelium Red,' tend to be of two distinct types: those that have a stiff stalk attached to the bulb, and those that do not.
In the early 1990s, Ron Engeland proposed that garlic be separated into two subspecies based on their ability to bolt. Bolting strains were classified as Allium sativum subsp. ophioscorodon and non-bolting as Allium sativum subsp. sativum. Later research proved that classifying garlic was much more complicated (for a comprehensive overview, please refer to The Complete Book of Garlic by Ted Jordan Meredith), however the rough separation originally proposed by Engeland is still popular, although less formally and more commonly referred to as 'hardnecks' and softnecks'.
The most obvious difference between hardneck (above) and softneck (below) garlic is their appearance. Hardnecks are so-called because of the long flowering stem growing through the center of the bulb. Called a scape, this stalk produces an umbel, a terminal pod within which bulbils are produced. Bulbils can be removed from the scape when mature and planted in the same way as cloves, although they usually need two or more season's growth before they produce a differentiated bulb. The bulb surrounding the scape of a hardneck variety consists of a single layer of regularly-shaped cloves. The number of cloves vary between hardneck cultivars, but tend to fall between four and twelve.
Softneck cultivars on the other hand, yield a greater number of cloves and a generally larger bulb. Usually softneck varieties produce between eight and twenty cloves per bulb, while some cultivars contain cloves numbering in the high thirties. Irregular in shape, the cloves are present in two or more concentric layers, each wrapped in their own skin. This much higher number of cloves is likely a reproductive compensation for the lack of a flowering stalk - rarely will a softneck cultivar produce bulbils. Under stressful conditions a softneck type may partially bolt and grow a short pseudostem which will subsequently produce a small number of bulbils. These bulbils can be seen bursting out just above the bulb, or even be found clustered within the bulb itself.
Generally speaking, hardneck varieties tend to grow and thrive better in regions with more severe winters. They require a greater period of vernalization than softneck cultivars, so a prolonged period of cooler weather is ideal. In turn, softnecks tend to perform in regions where the winters are significantly milder. We are extremely lucky in our location in British Columbia: our weather is cold enough to amply accommodate our hardneck cultivars, yet mild enough that we get good results with our softneck cultivars as well.
This information, though interesting to the grower, holds little intrigue for the consumer. What may pique their interest, however, are the culinary differences between the two groups. For starters, the scapes of hardneck varieties are edible, though often underutilized in Western cuisine. Also referred to as garlic spears, stems or shoots, they are cut for eating while they are still young and tender. Scapes are versatile as both a vegetable and a seasoning due to their fresh, delicate garlic flavor, and are slowly but surely gaining in popularity.
Hardneck cultivars tend to have a more complex flavor profile than softnecked ones, being richer, spicier, and generally more 'garlicky'. Hardneck cultivars also tend to have a larger average clove size, which, due to their plumpness, regular shape, and thicker skin, are easier to peel. Softneck varieties on the other hand, tend to be milder and more vegetative in their taste. Although delicious when eaten fresh, a great proportion of softneck garlics are used for processing into products, including garlic powder, and as the garlic seasoning in many processed foods. The cloves of softneck cultivars are also more difficult to peel, given their irregular shape and tight, thin skins. That being said, there are few more mouth-watering sights than a big beautiful softneck, drizzled with olive oil, roasting on the BBQ.
The tight layered skins of the softneck cultivars, while slightly more inconvenient when peeling an individual clove, also mean that these garlics tend to store longer than hardneck types. Some varieties of hardneck store for as little as four months, while many softnecks, in the right storage conditions, will stay in good shape for up to nine months, and even to a year in optimal conditions. This is good knowledge to have if you are having trouble deciding which of your bulbs to eat first!
Hardneck and softneck garlics each contain multiple subtypes, which in turn contain many distinct cultivars.
In my next blog post, I will begin discussing the various subtypes within these two groups. Though arguably subtle, there are differences in between these subtypes that may make choosing your cultivars, both for growing and eating, a little easier!
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Well so 24hrs with mynew unlocked iphone, so far very impressed big thanks to the dev team.
Now on to the problems...
i seem to be having problems with the installer app, when i try to install something or uninstall i always get a script error.
Then i wanted to take a screenshot of my screen ( just for shits and giggles) . problem is that i found the screenshot utility, i prepare to scp it to my iphone and Oh noes... it says fs is read only ( aka jailed...) now i m guessing that this might be also the problem with installer app.
I follower the guide on the iphone dev team website to unlock phone and after i was done i still had the invalid sim error, after a little google i found out that it was because i had to reactivate my iphone, so i did , using independence...
could this be the reason for all the problem if so, what should i do to fix ( guessing jailbreak phone again..)
thanks for the help

subset: commoncrawl


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"The Shot Doctor" makes a house call to IMG Academy
IMG Academy hosted Buzz Braman Tuesday morning as basketball players and coaches filled the gym. Braman, who is referred to as, "The Shot Doctor," works with youth and professional NBA players on improving their shooting method.
As a 13 year-old eighth grader shooting free-throws, Braman discovered that his shooting motion involved just five parts. Son of a federal judge, Braman's logical mindset began focusing on those five parts and noticed his accuracy improved dramatically. Braman continued practicing what is now known as "The Braman Method" and once shot 738 free throws in a row, 1,121 out of 1,144 in an hour, and 246 out of 250 three pointers, making the first 92 consecutively. Braman's method soon allowed him to become the first full time shooting coach in the NBA.
Kenny Natt, Director of Basketball at IMG Academy, has the ultimate goal of improving players and in order to do so he strives to provide the best instruction from every aspect of the game. Natt hopes to continue to bring in more specialists, helping to provide additional knowledge to both youth players and veteran coaches. With the mentality of always improving, the IMG Academy basketball players and coaches hope to take what they learned from The Shot Doctor to take their game and instruction to the next level.


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As a black child growing up in Cherokee and Calhoun counties in the 1930s and '40s, that wasn't the only thing Garrett, now 81, couldn't do. And while the limitations imposed on black Americans in the South were known to him as a child, he was taught early on that he could overcome them through education.
"If you get an education you will be able to go wherever you want to go and do whatever you want to do," his mom, Luella Garrett, used to tell him.
Still a Piedmont resident, Garrett has the speaking voice of a radio broadcaster, the height of a professional basketball player and a career in education that proves his mother was right.
Garrett graduated from Bethune High School in 1950, earned four academic degrees and last month completed his final term on the Piedmont Board of Education, wrapping up 27 years on the board and his career in public education.
Garrett earned his first collegiate degree from Tuskegee Institute, he earned his first graduate degree from Columbia University in New York and then two more from the University of Alabama. He has been on several boards, served as a representative to the Alabama Department of Education and has been recognized for his work with students, but it might not have happened if it weren't for Sally Caldwell, one of Garrett's primary school teachers from Piedmont.
"She said Tuskegee would be the best thing for me to do if I wanted to go to college," Garrett said.
Caldwell told Garrett's family about the university's five-year work study program, which allowed him to afford a college education. He left Piedmont for Tuskegee shortly after graduating high school and once there his desire to become an educator grew as he found more teachers to emulate.
One of them, Katie Dixon, under whom he was a student-teacher, taught him a lesson that he still remembers.
Nearing graduation and the end of a six-week student-teaching requirement, he had left a bulletin board project undone in the classroom. On his last day Garrett hadn't completed the project.
She told him if he didn't have it finished by the time he returned the next morning, she would give him an incomplete, which would have barred him from graduating on time. He spent the rest of the night working on the billboard with friends so it would be ready the next day.
"I liked the way she worked with students and I liked the way she worked with me," Garrett said. "She was not the kind of person that was going to push anybody, she was going to tell you what to do and that's that."
Even after he began pursuing his education he faced discrimination, which forced him to be circumspect in some situations while attending the teachers' college at Columbia University.
"I had to stop telling people I was from Alabama," Garrett said. "I had to do too much explaining."
Once while attending a summer education program at Emory University, he encountered discrimination from an Ivy League professor from Tennessee. Despite past academic successes she consistently gave him C's until he sat down to talk to her.
"We had to come to grips with the fact that I was a human being," Garrett said, adding, "It turned out to be fine."
Garrett was the youngest of five children and the son of Luella, who was a housekeeper, and Oscar Garrett, who was a farmer. Garrett's father died from kidney stones before he was born and the future educator was raised by his mother and family members.
"I had nothing," Garrett said, remembering his days in Cherokee County.
He credits the role models he grew up around — his family and his teachers — with motivating him to succeed. Garrett can cite almost half a dozen people who helped him achieve his goals, but he references his mother's guidance more than any other person.
"My mother was not an educator, but she had a lot of wisdom," Garrett said.
After graduating from Tuskegee Institute, now Tuskegee University, Garrett took his first job in Arkansas, where he worked for three years. He came back to Alabama to take care of his mom and work for Anniston for his fourth year in education.
He planned to stay for one year, but ended up staying until 1995 when he retired from Anniston public schools.
Garrett's career in Anniston began at Cobb High School, where he was an English teacher. He was hired as the assistant principal of Anniston High School in 1967 when 98 percent of its students were white, then moved back to Cobb to be principal after it was converted to a junior high school during integration.
His introduction into administration in education came at tumultuous time, but Garrett was able to earn respect from members of both races, said Archie Bone, who became a first-year educator in 1973 when Garrett hired him to work at Cobb Junior High.
"He had students from the most elite families in Anniston coming together with students from the poorest projects in Anniston. He dealt with all of it in the most professional way," Bone said. "I don't know of anyone else who could have done the job he did at Anniston schools at that time."
"It took a lot just to hold school, much less to advance the cause of education," Bone said. "Everywhere he turned he had to bring people together."
During the course of his career Garrett became a mentor to many young teachers, many of whom went on to advance their careers and become administrators. He still keeps in touch with several of them, such as Bone, who served as a superintendent for two school systems.
"He was my role model from the beginning," Bone said. "The lessons that I took from him were many going back to the people skills that he had. I tried to emulate that but I never could duplicate that."
Garrett also became a mentor to Sarah Stinson, who hired to work at Cobb Junior High in 1980. Stinson said Garrett was a motivator.
"He always encouraged us to go further with our education," Stinson said. "He didn't just want you to settle."
Garrett stayed at Cobb until 1985 when he was named the system's assistant superintendent, and served for a brief time as the interim superintendent of Anniston City Schools during construction of Anniston Middle School, which opened in August 1987.
At the same time, Garrett was elected to his first term as a Piedmont City School Board member. He retired from the Anniston school system in 1995, but remained on the Piedmont school board until last month.
"It was something I enjoyed, were it not, I could have done something else," Garrett said. "I felt like they need to have the opportunity that I had. I've no regrets."
Staff writer Laura Gaddy: 256-235-3544. On Twitter @LJohnson_Star.


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NuTone 682NT Duct-Free Ceiling/Wall Mounted Bath Fan with Activated Charcoal Filter
Technical Specs
|Installation Guide
|Specification Sheet
|Exhaust Fan
|Country Of Origin
|Ductless, Utility Fan
|Grille Finish
|Grille Length
|Grille Shape
|Grille Width
|Heater Included
|Housing Depth
|Housing Height
|Housing Length
|Housing Shape
|Housing Width
|Humidity Sensing
|Installation Type
|Ceiling, Wall
|Light Included
|Made in America
|Motion Sensor
|Night Light
|Product Weight
|UL Listed
|UL Rating
|Damp Location
This product has additional required/recommended options. To configure, add to your cart.
Filter Recommended
Duct-Free Ceiling/Wall Mounted Bath Fan with Activated Charcoal Filter
The NuTone 682NT duct-free bath fan is a fusion of practical design and modern aesthetics, resulting in a reliable, easy to install bath fan that blends well with most contemporary décor. The torsion, spring grille mounting can be adjusted quickly with no tools and includes a patented snap-in mounting that will save you both time and money. Each fan also comes with an easy to replace, long-lasting activated charcoal filter that will keep our air free of contaminating particles, and a removable motor assembly for easy cleaning and service. NuTone knows that life can be filled with little unwanted surprises, and strives to make products that improve your life rather than complicate it.
- Self-Adjusting Torsion Spring Grill Mounting (No Tools Required)
- Plug-In Removable Motor Assembly with Polymeric Impeller
- Time Saving Snap-In Mounting
- Includes Long-Lasting Activated Charcoal Filter
- Choose Between Ceiling or Wall Mounting
- Ducting: Ductless Venting
- Dimensions: 8-1/2" Width x 3-3/4" Depth x 8-1/2" Height
- Amps: 1.0
- Voltage: 120
Leading the industry with innovative products and superior customer service, Broan-Nut one is extremely proud of the fact that over 80% of homeowners in the United States rely on their products each day to improve the quality of both their air, and their day to day lives. Broan-Nut one is deeply committed to providing forward-thinking, revolutionary products that exceed customer expectations time and again. Simple, dependable products at a price you can afford, Broan-Nut one makes what is important to you their priority.
Additional NuTone Links
- View Manufacturer Warranty
- Shop All NuTone Products
- Shop All NuTone Duct Free Collection Products
Our SKU: 682NT
This product is listed under the following manufacturer number(s):
White Polymeric
*Denotes a finish or option that has been discontinued
31 Questions from the Community
I need a ventless fan for my shower. I just want a fan that will move the air around because mold builds up. Venting the fan is not an option. Would this work?
How often do you replace fliters and what is the cost per filter? Is the fan electric operated requiring me to run an outlet?
A. The NuTone 682NT recommends the filter to be replaced every 60 to 90 days when operated continuously or you can go longer if you turn it off in between use. The fan is electrically operated requiring you to have a constant power source; though you can put an on/off switch in between.
Is this suitable for a small basement bathroom with a shower?
Where do you get the charcoal replacement filter?
Will this help reduce the moisture in a small bathroom after a shower? Or does it only help with odors?
Can I mount the unit in a wall?
Does this fan vent air into the attic?
What is the CFM rating on this one.
What is the Sone rating?
Does this fan come with a filter?
Does this ductless model come with light?
What is the size of Nutone 682NT?
What are the dimensions of this fan?
Does it have a cord on it so it may be plugged into an outlet nearby?
can you get a light kit
Can the fan be used a replacement? Or is it for installment in new framed bathrooms only?
Would this help for very steamy showers?
What is noise level measurement in scones?
What is the model of motor of 682NT for replacement?
Do I need any else to hook up vent...does it come with everything I need.
Does the ventless fan really prevent mold build up in bathroom?
Can this fan be installed in the ceiling of a shower?
Does it come with a switch?
I am remodeling a bathroom and puling permits thru building and safety, does this fan meet the code requirements?
Can this unit be used to clear bad odors from the bathroom
I need a ventless fan WITH A LIGHT for my shower. I just want a fan that will move the air around because mold builds up. Venting the fan is not an option. Would this work?
how many sones does this fan have
How would this work to remove smoke, and smoke odors, from a small room?
A. The NuTone 682NT is made to help sanitize air. Because of the nature of cigarette smoke, you would probably be burning through a lot of filters, since they would leave a sticky residue. It would probably also be really, really nasty to change. For cigarette smoke you would probably want something that is ducted.
Where do I purchase the filters and do they have to be change from the attic?
Do you make a ductless fan with a heater
on the heated exhaust fans, can the duct pipe be made of PVC ?
A. As an internet based retailer, the technical information you're requesting isn't something we can help you with. We drop ship for all the manufacturers. Most have websites with contact information for customer service and technical support. This is the phone number for NuTone: 888-336-6151 for Technical Support
Product Reviews
Warranty Info
One Year Limited Warranty
Broan-NuTone warrants to the original consumer purchaser of its products that such products will be free from defects in materials or workmanship for a period of one year from the date of original purchase. THERE ARE NO OTHER WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.
During this one-year period, Broan-NuTone will, at its option, repair or replace, without charge, any product or part which is found to be defective under normal use and service.THIS WARRANTY DOES NOT EXTEND TO FLUORESCENT LAMP STARTERS AND TUBES. This warranty does not cover (a) normal maintenance and service or (b) any products or parts which have been subject to misuse, negligence, accident, improper maintenance or repair (other than by Broan-NuTone), faulty installation or installation contrary to recommended installation instructions.
The duration of an implied warranty is limited to the one-year period as specified for the express warranty. Some states do not allow limitation on how long an implied warranty lasts, so the above limitation may not apply to you.
BROAN-NUTONE'S OBLIGATION TO REPAIR OR REPLACE, AT BROAN-NUTONE'S OPTION, SHALL BE THE PURCHASER'S SOLE AND EXCLUSIVE REMEDY UNDER THIS WARRANTY. BROAN-NUTONE SHALL NOT BE LIABLE FOR INCIDENTAL, CONSEQUENTIAL OR SPECIAL DAMAGES ARISING OUT OF OR IN CONNECTION WITH PRODUCT USE OR PERFORMANCE. Some states do not allow the exclusion or limitation of incidental or consequential damages, so the above limitation may not apply to you.
This warranty gives you specific legal rights, and you may also have other rights, which vary from state to state. This warranty supersedes all prior warranties.
To qualify for warranty service, you must (a) notify Broan-NuTone at the address telephone number below, (b) give the model number and part identification and (c) describe the nature of any defect in the product or part. At the time of requesting warranty service, you must present evidence of the original purchase date.
Broan-NuTone LLC, 926 West State Street, Hartford, WI 53027 (1-800-637-1453)
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Part 2: Building Jeep's 4.0L Six
Last month, you got the skinny on stroking the 4.0L Jeep inline Six. Now you'll get to see it in action and learn about all the goodies we bolted onto the outside.
You'll see and hear varying numbers on what power and torque the various stroker conversions produce. Many we've seen on the Web were derived from "desktop dyno" computer programs, which we have usually found to be on the optimistic side. Some claims are derived from actual dyno tests, most via chassis dynos. Chassis dyno numbers can be subject to a lot of error and are most useful for before-and-after testing to see a percentage of improvement rather than determining raw, useful numbers. Our tests were performed on a highly calibrated, state-of-the-art engine dyno by Technical Services, whose major operation is fuel-injection R&D for the major vehicle manufacturers, race teams, and crate engine manufacturers.
Technical Services is one of those behind-the-scenes companies that will develop systems and products for other companies to use and tout. Especially when dealing with the OE manufacturers, they have to be accurate to the proverbial gnat's bootie. The numbers we got are accurate and a real representation of what our particular combination of parts will deliver, with no particular products to sell and no motive other than passing along results.
We were also aided by Quadratec, Craig Jaros in particular, who provided parts for testing. Quadratec is one-stop shopping for Jeepers, with all the major brands represented, and its willingness to provide parts for testing purposes helped get the University of Northwestern Ohio (UNO) engine running like a top.
By the time the UNO High Performance Machining Class had finished, we had an engine that was, for all intents and purposes, blueprinted. That's probably a higher standard of work than most people can afford, but select portions of it are within reach of all. Balancing is one. The ARP rod bolts are another. The rest is not beyond a machinist who takes his time-time you'll pay for. Our UNO students took the extra steps of align-honing the crankshaft saddles and boring the cylinders perfectly perpendicular to, and decking the block perfectly parallel with, the newly aligned crankshaft bores. None of that will add all that much to the power output, nor to engine life, but it was cool and good training. Let your paycheck be your guide.
We knew we were starting off with the worst H.O. head of the three types available, but the UNO class was determined to make it better. The work started with airflow tests of the stock head (see page 69) on the UNO's Superflow 600 flow bench, and they largely matched other tests we've seen published.
The ports were massaged according to the generic formulae that work for all heads. Nothing radical was attempted, but the exhaust ports were enlarged to match the earlier size; the valve guide bosses were made more flow-friendly; and the port walls were smoothened. After the ports were done, a five-angle valve job on the school's Sunnen seat grinder was performed. You've all heard about the three-angle valve job, and the extra angles are further enhancements to airflow.
The end result on the flow bench can be seen on page 69, but some of the gains showed up on the dyno in an unusual way. Technical Service's top-drawer dyno can measure airflow and volumetric efficiency (VE). This is the theoretical amount of air an engine of a given displacement would use versus what it actually can use. In the old days, 80 percent was really good. Nowadays, 85 to 90 percent is fairly common. Our engine was at 85 percent at under 2,000 rpm, over 90 percent at 3,000, and hit 100 percent at 3,500 and climbed to a high of 103.4 percent at 4,500 rpm. Part of that was due to the head, and part was due to the ram-tuning effect of our 2,000-and-up intake manifold.


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Mightyena scavenges the DPP battlefield as arguably the worst fully evolved Dark-type in the game. Aside from its Attack—which is just barely decent—Mightyena's stats are awful, and its movepool—which somehow lacks Pursuit, an even more perplexing issue considering that Mightyena is based on a hyena—is horrid. Its only saving grace is its access to two great abilities, Quick Feet and Intimidate, that allow it to at least function in the UU metagame. When it comes down to it, though, if you're looking for a Dark-type for your team, you're probably better off choosing one that does what Mightyena can and then some, such as Absol, Drapion, or Skuntank.
Mightyena has just enough Speed, a satisfactory movepool, and the Intimidate-enhanced bulk to function as a usable stallbreaker. Super Fang and Taunt form the crux of the set, and when combined completely shut down many of the common walls found on stall teams, such as Chansey and Registeel. The idea when using this Mightyena is to switch in on a wall as it uses a harmless move, such as Softboiled, and Taunt them. Mightyena is then free to use Super Fang to immediately strip the wall of half of their health, and because of Taunt, they are unable to recover HP. Crunch is recommended for a reliable STAB move, although Rest can be used in its place to ensure stall teams can't wear down Mightyena with status or repeated attacks. Sucker Punch is used in the last slot to pick off faster threats and Choice Scarf users like Rotom, a common sight on stall teams. Finally, Toxic can be used in place of Sucker Punch to bring down Milotic and Spiritomb when combined with Rest and Taunt.Team Options & Additional Comments >>>
After Toxic Orb activates Quick Feet, Mightyena reaches a blistering Speed stat of 393, enough to outspeed the entire unboosted UU metagame bar Electrode while keeping the ability to switch between moves. This would make Mightyena the quintessential revenge killer if it weren't for Mightyena's lack of offensive power. With a status condition inflicted, Facade becomes Mightyena's strongest attack, which is highly disappointing as it doesn't even get STAB. Fortunately, Mightyena is still powerful enough to KO many frail UU threats with Stealth Rock support being necessary for several of these KOs. The main idea when using Mightyena mid-game is to bring it in on a Pokemon it can revenge kill with Sucker Punch, such as Rotom, Mismagius, and Alakazam, and eliminate them. After this, Mightyena's Toxic Orb will activate, firing its Speed stat up to the heavens and beyond.
Crunch is used primarily so that Mightyena doesn't have to rely on the oftentimes unreliable Sucker Punch for STAB, although Mightyena's movepool is so poor there isn't really any other option anyway. The last slot comes down to personal preference. As Mightyena's Attack stat is quite lackluster, Howl can be used to raise it, which will allow Mightyena to 2HKO bulkier threats, such as Venusaur and Uxie. Taunt can be used in its place to shut down walls that will inevitably switch into Mightyena, like Registeel, and it can also prevent specific threats from setting up on Mightyena as it switches out, such as Rhyperior and Aggron.Team Options & Additional Comments >>>
Other Options
A Choice Band set is conceivable; however, Mightyena's lack of a secondary STAB and utterly horrible physical movepool puts that idea to rest. Fire Fang is Mightyena's most powerful attack against Tangrowth and Registeel, but even then Mightyena is unable to 3HKO them without Stealth Rock and Spikes support. Rock Smash is Mightyena's alternative answer to Steel- and Rock-types, especially Aggron, but has no use outside of that. Finally, Toxic can be used alongside Protect and Wish support to effectively stall out the enemy; unfortunately, Mightyena is almost directly outclassed by Arcanine in this regard thanks to the latter's access to reliable recovery in Morning Sun.
Checks and Counters
There is no shortage of counters to this poor mutt, as its mediocre Attack stat and low defenses make the hyenas from the Lion King seem more intimidating. Spiritomb is an excellent counter thanks to its immunity to Super Fang and Facade and ability to rip Mightyena to shreds with Hidden Power Fighting. Registeel, Aggron, and Steelix take almost no damage from any of Mightyena's attacks outside of Super Fang and can easily retaliate with Earthquake, and in Aggron's case, Head Smash. Weezing easily outstalls any Mightyena thanks to Pain Split and its immunity to Toxic. Rhyperior takes little damage from anything Mightyena can dish out and can proceed to use it as setup fodder. Bulky Fighting-types, such as Hariyama and Hitmontop, will easily pound Mightyena into dust with their STAB moves. Tangrowth, Leafeon, Milotic, Blastoise, and Miltank can soak up any attack Mightyena throws at them and eliminate it. Ultimately, when dealing with Mightyena, use a bulky Pokemon, avoid Super Fang, and you've countered it.


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- $50 toward any items at RedEnvelope.com
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- Surprise the cook in your life with a monogrammed recipe box, mixing bowls or a mortar and pestle. For the entertainer, you'll find personalized coasters, a stemless white wine glass set or an elegant glass dome serving tray.
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text:
The Convention Industry Council's Accepted Practices Exchange Panel on Green Meeting and Event Practices has released the final draft of its green meetings standards and is now encouraging review and comment by the meetings industry. City discussion groups to review the standards are planned in five cities before mid-September, with more soon to be scheduled.
The process of developing the green standards has been a partnership between the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the Green Meeting Industry Council, and APEX to create uniform measures for a meeting's or event's environmental performance. The standards cover nine topic areas: accommodations, audiovisual, communication, exhibits, food and beverage, on-site office, destinations, meeting venue, and transportation.
"These standards are an attempt to create a level playing field of what constitutes 'green' for the industry," says Karen Kotowski, CMP, CAE, COO of the Convention Industry Council, adding that the standards "will not remain static but will incorporate revisions as necessary to maintain relevancy."
The draft standards have also been submitted to the ASTM International for review in order to achieve accreditation.
The schedule at press time for APEX City Discussion Groups is:
- Atlanta, August 26
- Denver, September 1
- Baltimore, September 3
- San Antonio, September 9
- Washington, September 11.
For times and locations or to register for any of the city discussion groups, click here. Additional discussions are expected to be planned for Boston; Fort Meyers, Fla.; Winnipeg, Manitoba; and San Francisco. The Green Meeting and Events Standards are also available for review and comment on a new blog site. All comments are due by September 11, after which time the standards will be submitted to ASTM in a final format. Organizers expect the final standards to be approved by both ASTM and the APEX Commission by the end of the year.


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The flu has been going around for months, and now that a few cases of the bird flu have been reported in china, the U.S. Centers For Disease Control and Prevention have issued an advisory to help doctors identify any cases that may come to the United States. Also, Insomniac's listen up! There's a new investigational drug for those who fight the fogginess or hung-over feeling in the morning.
Dr. Sonu Ahluwalia was here to discuss.
Like Dr. Ahluwalia on Facebook
Follow Dr. Ahluwalia on Twitter: @DrSonuAhluwalia
Sharon Lawrence plays a therapist treating patients with eating disorders in the new Lifetime movie 'Starving In Suburbia.'
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Phone: (952) 944-9999Fax: (952) 942-0455


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Blackboard Platform Offers Integrated Security & Commerce Management
WASHINGTON, Jan. 12 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Blackboard Inc. (Nasdaq:
BBBB), a leading provider of educational technology, announced today that a
growing number of colleges, universities and K-12 institutions - including
private secondary boarding schools Cushing Academy and Phillips Academy,
Andover - have selected the Blackboard(R) campus commerce and security
management platform.
The institutions join hundreds of others that have improved campus safety
and the student experience with Blackboard's industry leading campus ID card
technology, on- and off-campus payment solutions, facility access control and
other security solutions. Some of the organizations that have recently
selected the Blackboard commerce and security platform include:
-- Cushing Academy
-- Endicott College
-- Fort Lewis College
-- Jones County Junior College
-- Maine College of Art
-- New York Law School
-- Northwest Nazarene University
-- Phillips Academy, Andover
-- Point Loma Nazarene University
-- Ringling School of Art and Design
-- Shenandoah University
-- Tecnologico de Monterrey
-- University of Arizona
-- Wallace State Community College
"We had a wide range of needs, including the ability to process financial
transactions at campus shops, minimize the need for cash at vending and
laundry machines, provide door access, manage campus printing in support of
our sustainability initiatives, and provide a tool to take and manage student
attendance," said Valerie Roman, Director of Technology at Phillips Academy.
"We were looking to address these needs with an integrated solution which
could be phased in over time. We partnered with Blackboard based on its long
track record, solid financial standing, strong customer base, and high
customer satisfaction."
With the integrated Blackboard Transact(TM) platform, institutions can
streamline business operations and increase revenue while meeting a wide range
of commerce and security needs. Specifically, the platform enables
organizations to:
-- Facilitate campus ID card issuance; on-campus, off-campus and online
commerce; cashless payment processing for dining, bookstore, vending,
laundry, copy and parking services; financial reporting; self-service
account management; and
-- Monitor all campus and student activity with integrated door access
control, video surveillance and mass notification capabilities.
"Colleges, universities and K-12 institutions are seeing an increased need
for our campus commerce and security management capabilities," said David
Marr, President and Chief Operating Officer of Blackboard Transact. "We are
excited to provide a platform that delivers a level of proven reliability that
is critical to technology leaders focused on meaningful student engagement and
improving the student experience."
For more information about Blackboard Transact, please visit
About Blackboard Inc.
Blackboard Inc. (Nasdaq: BBBB) is a global leader in enterprise technology
and innovative solutions that improve the experience of millions of students
and learners around the world every day. Blackboard's solutions allow
thousands of higher education, K-12, professional, corporate, and government
organizations to extend teaching and learning online, facilitate campus
commerce and security, and communicate more effectively with their
communities. Founded in 1997, Blackboard is headquartered in Washington, D.C.,
with offices in North America, Europe, Asia and Australia.
Educate. Innovate. Everywhere.(TM)
Any statements in this press release about future expectations, plans and
prospects for Blackboard and other statements containing the words "believes,"
"anticipates," "plans," "expects," "will," and similar expressions, constitute
forward-looking statements within the meaning of The Private Securities
Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Actual results may differ materially from those
indicated by such forward-looking statements as a result of various important
factors, including the factors discussed in the "Risk Factors" section of our
Form 10-Q filed on November 6, 2008 with the SEC. In addition, the
forward-looking statements included in this press release represent the
Company's views as of January 12, 2009. The Company anticipates that
subsequent events and developments will cause the Company's views to change.
However, while the Company may elect to update these forward-looking
statements at some point in the future, the Company specifically disclaims any
obligation to do so. These forward-looking statements should not be relied
upon as representing the Company's views as of any date subsequent to January
12, 2009.
SOURCE Blackboard Inc.
CONTACT: Matthew Maurer, Blackboard Inc., 1-202-463-4860 ext. 2637,
Web Site: http://www.blackboard.com/commerce
Copyright © 1997-2013. Blackboard Inc. All rights reserved. Blackboard, the Blackboard logo, BbWorld, Blackboard Learn, Blackboard Transact, Blackboard Connect, Blackboard Mobile, Blackboard Collaborate, Blackboard Analytics, Blackboard Engage, Edline, the Edline logo, the Blackboard Outcomes System, Behind the Blackboard, and Connect-ED are trademarks or registered trademarks of Blackboard Inc. or its subsidiaries in the United States and/or other countries. Blackboard products and services may be covered by one or more of the following U.S. Patents: 8,265,968, 7,493,396; 7,558,853; 6,816,878, Re.44,535.


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