You've Heard of First Responders...

I'm learning to be a First Detector for my county. What is a First Detector supposed to detect? Agro-terrorism. We are to monitor for exotic pests and unusual pest and pathogen outbreaks. But, first I have to become familiar with the common pests and diseases. So Dr. Dick Sprenkle (I didn't make that name up) gave us some training in this area at my last Master Gardener class. He told us that Hurrican Ivan is suspected of carrying an airborn fungus from Brazil into the southern U.S. last September. So, the new disease, soybean rust, has been introduced and is a threat all the way up to my home state of Kentucky.

Agriculture in the South accounts for 94% of the nation's peanuts, 94% of sugarcane, 93% of tobacco, 74% of cotton, 61% of citrus, 55% if pecans, and 36% of floriculture. Florida has a significant share of commercial vegetables. Eco-terrorism is a threat to our life and wellbeing, and it's a subject which I will pay increasing attention.

Last week's class was a clinic on how to take plant stem and leaf cuttings, air-layering, and grafting. I got to bring home various cuttings, a couple of which will survive, but my apple tree graft was evidently tackled by Ozzie, my faithful home-wrecker.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

We Have A Pope!

I am so relieved. Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger (see ratzingerfanclub.com/blog) is now Pope Benedict XVI. There has been a growing awareness by some of us for the need of a 'muscular Christianity.' In Pope Benedict we have our Arnold Schwarzenneger. Many have noted the speed or shortness of the conclave to elect the new pope, which was the result of the unanimity of the Cardinals to continue much of the legacy of John Paul the Great. Much of the mainstream media have lamented that Benedict XVI has gone on record condemning relativism in the modern world. It's going to take a strong man with indestructible belief in truth and faith to counter the tide of the secular world, particularly in western Europe and North America, and in Benedict XVI we have that man! I believe as the pope has said that the exclusivity of the Roman Catholic faith, the Church's teaching that there is an absolute truth and that the Church was instituted by Jesus Christ, will mean a leaner, more v...
Read more

Brightest in Dungeons, Liberty!

Lord Byron (1788-1824), though he was a very young man, expressed in his Sonnet on Chillon an intimate and empathetic grasp of the pain of tyranny and terror... Eternal spirit of the chainless mind! Brightest in dungeons, Liberty! thou art. In a few hours the polls in Iraq will open. As Iraqi citizens abroad have since yesterday around the world, many will vote for the first time in their lives in an Iraqi election, and many will raise a blue stained finger in salute to freedom. The blue ink used by the poll workers will remain on the finger for a couple days which will preclude voting more than once. The terrorists have warned the populace that their blue-stained finger will mark them for death. When I was a youth studying 'Civics,' which was still being taught with the emphasis on intellectual diversty rather than the cultural diversity and mutliculturalism so widespread today, we were bored to the extreme by the bland textbooks. We also didn't have the topical...
Read more

I Have a Plan

I am four weeks into my new running training plan. And I'm excited because I am injury free. Usually when I come off a long period of little or no running, I try to come back too damn fast. With my program, taken from marathontraining.com, I am progressing at a rate that will preclude injuries, unless I trip over my pup, Oslo, or an armadillo or something. I would love to run another marathon, particularly the Marine Corps Marathon in Wash D.C. The problem is that that one is in October and training is just too difficult in these hot/humid summers to be ready in October. I'm looking at some late spring races out in CO, SD, and WY. I've got some cousins I've got to visit in CO, so if I time it right...
Read more