WARNING: Cats like to eat them and may destroy young vines!

The goji berry grows into a large shrub reaching heights of 7-10 feet with vines that can reach 10 feet. Pruning of the main stem and branches will keep the plant shorter, thicker and help with increased flowering and fruit production.

Lighting: sun
Plant Height: 5-7′
Ground Condition: Well drained
Spread: 3-5′

ZONE: I’ve seen 3a – 11 posted online. Most references are zone 5 and up. Winter protection in colder climates seems like it may be necessary.

Ripens in early August.

ZONE: I’m not entirely sure. The tag says 5 but other online sources say 3 & 4. Zone 4 seems to be the mostly commonly referenced number.

HARVEST: Early (End of August)

Moderate susceptibility to black knot. Aphids can be a common problem to all plum trees.

Functions/Characteristics

• roots distribute rapidly and extensively, providing a non-leguminous nitrogen fixation role in surrounding soils
• tolerant of salt in the air and soil
• demand full sunlight for good growth/do not tolerate shady conditions
• typically grow in dry, sandy areas
• male produces brownish flowers which produce wind-distributed pollen
• female plants produce orange berry-like fruit (6 – 9 millimeters) in diameter, soft, juicy and rich in oils

For a more exhaustive explanation see: Sea-Buckthorn – A Promising Multi-Purpose Crop For Saskatchewan

Functions/Qualities

• Blooms all summer
• Attractive to butterflies
• Drought tolerant

Let’s kick off Manitoulin’s first PET day starting at: 11 am this Sunday May 29th (or when you can make it). I hope this is a good day for folks as there is a bike rally on Saturday that I and others are going to. Please RSVP if you can so I know roughly how much food to prepare.

Lunch and snacks will be provided (any restrictions? I know a couple folks are herbivores)

On the List:

• pick most appropriate homes for plants:
  • 2 plum trees
  • 1 apple tree
  • gooseberries (lots!)
  • blueberries (need to lower the PH of the soil. Any suggestions? (Rotting pine needles? Peat moss?))
  • rosemary
  • lupins
  • olallieberries
  • elderberries
  • mulberry
  • perennial sunflowers
  • does anyone have any dewberries, loganberries, youngberries or marionberries that can be transplanted?
  • does anyone have any other surplus, multi-functional perennials that could add to the diversity here?
• build up some terraces
• eat together!
• shuttle manure around
• move sauna to new home (maybe)
• top up raised beds and plant Ruta’s lovingly raised heritage tomatoes
• plant, plant, plant (perennials and some annuals)
• prune fruit trees (can someone skilled in the art teach this?)
• talk about who wants a PET day next

Tools Required:

• We only have 1 good wheelbarrow. Can someone supply a second, or third?
• Whatever is required to move a small building (the sauna). I think we can pull it with the tractor, perhaps on logs or something else round (open to suggestions here)

I think that is it. If you have any thoughts, suggestions or relevant things to toss in the mix, please do. Feel free to invite anyone you think would enjoy participating.

see you Sunday
smiling
Justin

My survey also shows the changing trends in the stakeholders willing to foot the bill for expensive research. Pure science is the first cause of investigation, but quickly the military begins to invest because visible contrails give away location. When the contrails began to persist and spread, climate science became very interested. To understand climate, to correctly calculate and predict, one must understand clouds, some of which cause warming and some of which cause cooling. Jet Cirrus appears to be a warming type of cloud.

While the process of condensation trail creation is complicated and difficult to learn about because there are no examples in ‘Nature” and because doing experiments in the wake of a jet is very tricky and expensive, what we think we know is: Jet exhaust contains the products of high pressure burning of kerosene. In general, for every 13 molecules of co2 in the exhaust, there are 14 molecules of h2o. Jets are passing through a FLUID, the atmosphere, and spraying a torrent of co2, h2o and other elements and compounds including sulphur …and ….

Freon 11, Freon 12, Methyl Bromide, Dichloromethane, cis-l,2-Dichloroethylene, 1,1,1-Trichloroethane, Carbon Tetrachloride, Benzene, Trichloroethylene, Toluene, Tetrachloroethene, Ethylbenzene, m,p-Xylene, o-Xylene, Styrene, 1,3,5-Trimethylbenzene, 1,2,4-Trimethylbenzene, o-Dichlorobenzene, Formaldehyde, Acetaldehyde, Acrolein, Acetone, Propinaldehyde, Crotonaldehyde, Isobutylaldehyde, Methyl Ethyl Ketone, Benzaldehyde, Veraldehyde, Hexanaldehyde, Ethyl Alcohol, Acetone, Isopropyl Alcohol, Methyl Ethyl Ketone, Butane, Isopentane, Pentane, Hexane, Butyl Alcohol, Methyl Isobutyl Ketone, n,n-Dimethyl Acetamide, Dimethyl Disulfide, m-Cresol, 4-Ethyl Toulene, n-Heptaldehyde, Octanal, 1,4-Dioxane, Methyl Phenyl Ketone, Vinyl Acetate, Heptane, Phenol, Octane , Anthracene, Dimethylnapthalene(isomers), Flouranthene, 1-methylnaphthalene, 2-methylnaphthalene, Naphthalene, Phenanthrene, Pyrene , Benzo(a)pyrene, 1-nitropyrene, 1,8-dinitropyrene , 1,3-Butadiene , sulfites, nitrites, nitrogen oxide, nitrogen monoxide, nitrogen dioxide, nitrogen trioxide, nitric acid, sulfur oxides, sulfur dioxide, sulfuric acid, urea, ammonia, carbon monoxide, ozone, particulate matter (PM10, PM2.5)

A recent National Geographic article claims that jet pollution kills more people yearly than jet crashes. http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2010/10/101005-planes-pollution-deaths-science-environment/

However, because these molecules undergo a turbulent mixing at high altitudes, the pollution effects on human health often occur thousands of miles from the path of the jets.

But my research focuses on condensation effects, which involve water. Jets exhaust enormous volumes of water into the troposphere (and stratosphere for some jets). Typically the troposphere contains between 0.4 and 4.0 percent h2o vapor, depending on where you are. By adding water-that-was-fossil-fuel-a-moment-ago in steady streams of increasing frequency and volume, we are artificially injecting significant amounts of THE MOST POWERFUL ‘greenhouse’ gas into the ‘weather-creating’ layer of Earth’s atmosphere. (My book will contain LOTS of data, numbers, figures, and references for check-ability etc).

In trying to understand how this injection of water into the atmosphere(s) relates to the changing behaviour of condensation trails as they exist in the atmosphere, it is important to note that condensation trails perform a ‘scavenging’ action – condensed water pulls more molecules and condenses them too – which is a large part of why these trails now Persist and Spread.

My research revealed the presence of alarmed scientists who have been measuring “impossible’ amounts of water vapour in clear blue sky. Several projects stumbled over a concern for the efficacy of their measuring devices on the way to discovering that their devices were, indeed, correct: there is sometimes more water in blue sky than was known to be possible.

My research encountered a giant international project to nail down our scientific understanding of atmospheric H2O, at the turn of the millenium, which was provoked by an intense, world-wide scientific frustration with anomalous results in scientific studies of atmospheric water. That project concluded that all measurements PRE-satellite era are so riddled with error that they must be thrown out. This leaves ‘science’ with a body of measurements too short to accurately speak about TRENDS! Yikes! We really are, practically, Flying Blind!

In short, in looks like the volume of water in the troposphere, once thought to be a fixed amount that rains out every ten to fourteen days, is increasing and – consequently?- changing its behaviour. While it is reasonable to investigate the role of jet-sprayed water in this shift, it is still important to keep an open mind on causes – there may be several.

There is much more to say, of course, but I have to close now, so I will say that I will be concluding with predictions of events of unprecedented proportion with a comon theme of “too much” water in the atmosphere.

I welcome discussion, by group, or one on one.

Chi miigwech,
Boo Watson