herbiejuan

And yer only allowed two potty stops!

Another thing to consider is that Atlanta is home to the Atlanta Motor Speedway, also known as 285. If you haven't noticed yet speed limits are suggestions only, want to get somewhere fast? Just get behind a state trooper going 90 n yer home free. But over all this is not a major worry as it shuts down due to gridlock in the morning between 7 and 10 and in the evening between 3 an 7, often without notice and occasionally without reason (I suspect it's caused by a frightened and bewildered Alabamian circling Atlanta endlessly looking for his exit . Nuther driving tip, Georgia is home to alot of suicidal animals, if it can cross the road you will most likely see their mangled body somewhere, from dead factory chickens to possums, armadillo's to deer, dogs cats rats n birds, we got 'em all and you'll probably see a buzzard or two digging away at the carcass, DO NOT try and hit said buzzard at they make quite a dent on your hood. Deer and armadillo's (they followed the fire ants) are the ones to watch out for, both will ruin your day quicker n dang.

Just had to mention that the average home in my neck of Geogia run's around 85-95k. Depending on where you buy you can get a 2/1 on a 1/4 acre intown within walking distance of downtown and the revitalized square or furthur west a nice ranch on an acre and a half or even further west a doublewide on 30 acres. Not bad but when you consider I bought a 3000 sq ft home o(in need of repairs) on an acre n a half 15 yrs ago for 25k it puts it into perspective. What with the land preservation/zoning restrictions I expect to see land prices surge as this are becomes a haven for folks wanting to be close enuf to Atl to commute but far enough out to have some space between them and their neighbor.

Poor Psalmie ya gots alot to larn if'n yer gonna fit in round these parts, first thing to remember is NEVER EVER turn down grits at the Waffle House, the regulars will look atcha funny n the cook might put a little something extra in yer eggs and you will be an Atlantan as opposed to a Baltimoron, a step up I think. As for fireants, not to worry we have alot of ticks in our woods and they just love to munch on fireants right before they begin their blood feeding frenzy, but not to worry they ain't near as bad as the skeeters. Lemme know when ya get settled in

Congrats psalmie!! Welcome to the land of fire ants kudzu n assorted other critters you never saw before, drop by the market when ya get a chance Mike

I've never had any complaints :)-->

Happy Birthday Radar hope it was a grand one :)-->

Z I couldn't agree more. If I had been in I would NEVER have gotten involved with the sustainable ag movement, nor I suspect would it have moved forward as much as it has had I not (at least locally). In terms of what I probably would have done would be to complain about just how devilish big agriculture business was while stocking up on kraft mac n cheese at the local Kroger. Complaining but doing nothing to change what I found distasteful, sure glad we're both out and enjoying meeting life on lifes terms. :)-->

I hosted and coordinated the farm tours which was a blast. Ken a grower near Tallapoosa is going into this with a passion. He has several sled mounted greenhouses which he uses to get a jump on the growing season. This allows him to put tomatoes in the ground in early Feb and in a month and a half he'll move the house and be harvesting delicious tomatoes come May. He has an interesting solution for the deer problem, he sets standard metal fence posts at a 45 degree angle pointed out, uses 4 runs of barbed wire and 1 charged wire. He says that the deer can jump high and they can jump long but in their minds they cannot do both. Interesting theory and since he has his tomatoes and strawberry's behind the wire I reckon we'll find out if it works soon enough. One of the buses broke down at his farm and pretty much blocked off the road but they sent out another bus and we got everybody back 30 minutes later. Janet has a small farm near here where she raises goats chickens pigs and a market garden on two acres. She has a novel approach to two southern pesticlances, kudzu and privet, she simply allows it to grow and grazes her goats on it, smart girl that Janet eh? :)--> Anyways it was mucho fun, I gave some local history and a bit of a geography lesson while we were going from place to place and folks seemed to enjoy it alot. I told them of the oldtime moonshiners up around Buncombe that used to run fresh still squeezings into Tennessee and of the vinyards and wineries that back in the 1800's flourished in these parts (don't be surprised to see a few of them popping up in a few years). I told them of my meanderings around the Tally Mountain goldmine and the bits and pieces of volcanic matter I found there, of my friend Adam who restored the Corner Drug Store building and jump started Bowdon's downtown revival efforts. Several people commented on just how beautiful the Appalachian piedmont was. Merry Pranksters we are :D-->

Thank you :)--> I'm still trying to unwind Carroll County Farmland & Rural Preservation Partnership is open to all concerned citizens. Participants include part-time and full-time farmers, homeowners, county and city government personnel, businesspeople, land-use planners, and teachers. Sponsoring organizations: Carroll County Cooperative Extension Service, Rolling Hills Resource Conservation & Development Council, Carroll County Farm Bureau Supported by Resolution by the Carroll County Board of Commissioners These Commisioners postponed their annual retreat so the Commision Chair could attend. Next month Joel Salitan and John Ikard (sp?) will be coming to Bowdon for our 2nd Farmland Expo. This means that within a month's time we will have hosted the top three sustainable ag guru's in the world. These is a general consensus that we have the momentum, will and skills to take this alot further. I am almost overwhelemed with emotion, lots of grateful prayers and a few joyful tears :)-->

Our conference was a rousing success. We had close to 400 folks attending and approximately 100 went on the farm tour. To see the professionalism and dedication to making this major event a reality is very humbling and encougaging. From the sherrifs dept that took out the inmates in bad weather to pick up trash alongside the tour route to the farmers and artists that donated food and art, to the local politicians who have supported us for many years, it was amazing. There is talk of starting a sustainable ag curriculum at my college now and perhaps a teaching farm as well. I am blessed beyond measure

:D-->

This Article came out in the online version of The New Farm published by Rodale http://www.newfarm.org/features/2005/0105/...man/index.shtml Editor's note: Since 1997, non-profit Georgia Organics has been promoting healthy food, farms, and communities in Georgia and neighboring states. Their 8th annual conference, "New Harvest: Connecting Growers and Consumers Year-Round," will be held in partnership with the Alabama Sustainable Agricultural Network and will feature organic farming and season extension pioneer Eliot Coleman as a keynote speaker. New Farm freelancer Skip Connett caught up with Coleman a few weeks ago and contributed this interview to whet your appetite for the event. (A version of this interview also appears in the Winter 2004 issue of News from Georgia Organics.) Connett: You are best known for your hoop houses. How portable are your ideas and techniques to other parts of the country? Coleman: We have a layer of plastic a foot above the soil inside the greenhouse. So we have a double layered system. Each layer of covering moves me 500 miles south. So when I enter the greenhouse, I am in New Jersey. And when I reach my hand under the inner layer, my hand is in Georgia. You guys are already where I am spending an awful lot of money getting to. We also have noticed that growth slows way down for the period of winter when day length is less than 10 hours. For us, that is November 15 to February 7. For you guys it is December 21. Period. You have all the sun anyone could ever want. Georgia doesn't need to import one single bit of winter food. Connett: So why hasn't your system caught on down here? Coleman: It's a curious thing. When we came over here as settlers we didn't bring that tradition of greenhouses with us because it didn't exist in the way it does in Europe now until the early part of the 20th century. People came from lower socio-economic strata, so the tradition never got started here. Connett: So really technology has allowed hoop house farming to catch on. Coleman: The miracle is nothing more than that sheet of plastic. I have greenhouses with metal pipe ribs but there is a neat kid I know in northern Vermont who makes his own poles out of what he cuts in the woods. He is putting up huge greenhouses for about 30 cents a square foot. At that price you can almost not afford not to build it. And there are new ways of fastening the plastic now that would allow someone in the South to take the plastic off at the end of March. You just uncover this thing and re-cover with shade cloth if you want, and put plastic back in November and run through until March again. Connett: It sounds too good to be true. What is missing here? Coleman: From where you are, there is absolutely nothing missing. Up here in our minimally heated greenhouses, with the present price of propane, I probably won't get paid in January and February. I'll keep working and pay the workers and pay bills, but I won't get paid. We are fighting enough cold, given the systems that are easy to use, that it is difficult. We will eventually have to put in a wood (heating) system. But where you are, none of these wintergreens need more protection then just a hoop house. * * * "I tell people there is as much difference between my carrots and supermarket carrots as there is between a [Ford] Fairlane and a Mercedes." * * * Connett: Have you reached the limits at Four Season Farm? How much further can you push nature? Coleman: Last year, in 2003, on an acre and a half, we sold a $100,000 of produce. I think we can do $150,000 if we ironed out all the things we do wrong. Connett: What is your five-year plan for the farm? Coleman: We have put some heat into some of our greenhouses because crops like baby turnips and radishes won't play out in our totally unheated system here where it can go down to 20 below. So we are continuing to experiment with ways to run unheated greenhouses and there is an endless amount of messing around there. But we have been working with a local engineer in creating equipment for this type of farming because there isn't any. We have a little lightweight rototiller you can use in greenhouses. It goes very shallowly and is powered by a cordless drill. We are making a new seeder that will allow you to plant rows together in the greenhouse, so you can get maximum use out of it. Connett: So you are improving tools and refining practices? Coleman: Yes. Most people think that biology is the tough thing in farming, especially because it’s organic farming. Basically, the biology is pretty easy. It’s the economics that is difficult. What I keep working on is trying to figure out ways to make the production system more efficient. Human beings, unfortunately, given the choice between a Motorola and a Sony, will choose the Sony. Given a choice between a Ford Fairlane and a Mercedes, they buy the Mercedes. But those same people are convinced that a carrot is a carrot is a carrot. And I tell people there is as much difference between my carrots and supermarket carrots as there is between a Fairlane and a Mercedes. But that concept has just never been able to penetrate people's minds. Connett: How do you market in the winter -- is it different than the rest of the year? Coleman: We run a system where we sell from October through June. We often jokingly refer to ourselves as the backwards farm. There are tons of outdoor field growers in the summer, so why add to that competition. We just steal the rest of the year. We could easily be 10 times bigger. People are just dying to have something fresh. They instinctively realize that the week-old stuff from California is exactly that—a week old. Connett: Is there research to support those instincts? Coleman: There is a group in Europe—Organic Food Quality and Health —and it has some pretty respectable research from European universities there. So the research is beginning to come out. A new study from Denmark, for example, is showing there are far higher levels of vitamin E in organic milk, purely because of the way the cows are fed. We have our acre and a half of about 40 different vegetables, year round. And we use no pesticides, not so much because we are opposed to them but there is no reason to. We have nothing to use them against. Connett: But hasn’t that taken a long time coming about? Coleman: Not really. Sure there have been pests that were more gnarly then others, but solving the problem was based on figuring out what I was doing wrong. And I take that as my foundation for thinking. My God, if it is possible to do that with plants, it is equally possible to do that with people. And what I am doing with plants, I am making sure they don't get anything dumped on their soil that Mother Nature didn't create, because she has been running this system for millions of years. I'm convinced the same thing is true of our bodies. * * * "[Growing organic food] isn't a goal; it's a process. You have to figure out how to continue to get good." * * * Connett: You make the distinction between “shallow organic farming” and “deep organic farming.” Whole Foods, Horizon, and other large organic retailers would fall into the first category, yet haven’t they played a big role in educating the public about the benefits of organic and in increasing the market? Coleman: My objection is they set the bar too low or fail to set a bar at all. It isn't a goal; it's a process. You have to figure out how to continue to get good. It's kind of like Regis DeBray’s revolution in the revolution. You have to keep stirring the pot, otherwise you get complacent and fat. Connett: So what is your vision of agriculture in the 21st century? For More Information... About the Georgia Organics Conference visit www.georgiaorganics.org or contact Mary Anne Woodie on (404) 697-5279 or Maryanne@georgiaorganics.org. Register by January 28 to get the best rate! About Eliot Coleman and Four Season Farm, visit www.fourseasonfarm.com. Coleman: Visions rarely change things. I am amazed that organic has done as well as it has. What is going to change things – and there is a lot of agreement among geologists – is that we are at the peak of oil production. And demand is going up so fast that there will no longer be cheap oil. It is cheap oil that makes it possible to ship tomatoes all the way from Mexico to Maine. In 20 years, the small local farm is going to look better and better because the cost of transportation is going to be a lot bigger chunk of the price than it is now. Skip Connett is a freelance writer based in Atlanta, Georgia. His last feature for NewFarm.org was "Ups and downs of worm growing keep Georgia farmer on his toes" (September 2003).

Sometimes the shortest distance between two points is the brickwall they are fixin to run into. Life is tough, make bad choices get bad results, make better choices and maybe next time the fall won't hurt near as much.

Good Gawd you don't look a day over 21!! Happy Birthday Shell, is Sam gonna be the designated driver?

Don't that just make you sick? Hell I know what it is like to live with someone who constantly needs rescuing...it is a ******* pita and if it is firmly emeshed in the nuclear family structure, look out!

GO has recently conducted a membership survey to figure out who is doing what where and in what capacity. They are using this data to design educational programs for their membership appropriate to their place in the grand scheme of things. We are currently running a sustainable living series at Piedmont Park in Atlanta and providing farmer to farmer mentoring assistance at the local level. Hopefully in the next year we will find funding for an organic resource agent, begin an organic ag college curriculum and hook up with a local media outlet to produce educational (read PBS) type videos.

Galen it's a matter of just how much you trust yerself and the bee's ;)-->

Clothing Optional? ROFLMAO!!

I suspected one or two of our LC's were *dipping their wicks* during the 90's but never actually saw anything. There were rumors circulating about one fella, the girl moved out of the area shortly after the disclosure and the leader traded states with our new leader. And then of course martindales body language, his ideas that all the women of the kingdom belong to the king and it just sorta made ya want to go Hmmmmm.....

I am happy to announce that we will be holding this event in my neck of the woods this year :)--> Georgia Organics 8th Annual Conference (in partnership with the Alabama Sustainable Agricultural Network) New Harvest: Connecting Growers and Consumers Year Round The Georgia Organics community will come together on February 11 & 12 at the West Central Technical College in Waco, Georgia, located 50 miles west of Atlanta. We are pleased to welcome our friends from the Alabama Sustainable Agricultural Network as partners in this event. CONFERENCE HIGHLIGHTS • Keynote Speaker Eliot Coleman We are honored to have as our featured guest Eliot Coleman, world renowned author, television personality and farmer. Eliot has over thirty years experience in all aspects of organic farming, including field vegetables, greenhouse vegetables, rotational grazing of cattle and sheep, and range poultry. He is the author of The New Organic Grower, Four Season Harvest, and the Winter Harvest Manual, and has hosted the TV series, “Gardening Naturally,” on The Learning Channel. He served for two years as the executive director of the International Federation of Organic Agriculture Movements and was an advisor to the U.S. Department of Agriculture during their landmark 1979-80 study, “Report and Recommendations on Organic Farming.” He and his wife Barbara Damrosch operate a commercial winter harvest market garden, in addition to horticultural research projects, at Four Season Farm in Harborside, Maine. Other Features Include: • Organic Banquet • Farm Tours • Educational Opportunities: Choosing Direct Markets that Fit your Farm How Can We Make Money on the Farm? Introduction to Raising High Quality Seed • Trade Show and Educational Exhibits • Farmers’ Forum • Silent Auction and Raffle • Children’s Program • Farmer-to-Farmer Mentoring Forum Some of the sessions include: Soil Fertility 101 Nutrient Management for Organic Farmers The Family Herb “Pharm” Home Organic Fruit Tree Establishment Nuts and Bolts of Operating a CSA Introduction to Beekeeping Bugs: The Good, The Bad & The Ugly Marketing Your Heritage Products Four Season Grazing Internet Marketing for Small Farms For more info go to our website georgiaorganics.org

I think she was dropping a hint

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When I get hurt I cry for help And I've got secrets That god only knows And god knows I feel... I hope, one day to be able to ask for help

In all fairness to the corp folk that I've known through the years, MOST of you were good people. John G, thank you for the roofing lessons, it is one good thing I know I did :)--> My first brush with corp was an inexperienced corp gal in Knoxville, she tried but the odds were stacked against her from the beginning. My second corp person came from the 6th corp and I saw alot of heart, forgiveness and hope. Then there were a bunch of LC's who were (imo) raising as much hell as I was (for the most part). Then there was the dropped corp guy who really wanted to do right by god...and was tired of losing and took his wife and their kids through the program again. Then there were the *other* corp, the ones who had jobs and families. The ones who had to balance baseball practice with twig and managed to do both. The ones who still tried to connect in some rooted context with the world around them and tried in some form or fasion to connect with real life.