1-26-2011-wildflower field

    this is an extenuation of yesterday's blog about oardc(ohio agricultural research and development center), part of ohio state university , wooster research station ,wooster , oh.. Ohio Agricultural Research and Development Center - Home- . takes awhile to get their plug in. went over in june and was driving around the campus next to agricultural technical institute , and came upon this field of wildflowers they had planted. it was overwhelming in person to see all those lovely flowers in one place.

    there was a field about 2 acres in size and it was completely covered with poppies , bachelor buttons, field daisies, and i dont know what else . i felt like i was in oz and i was headed to the emerald palace. last year i went back to see again but the planting was thin if there was one. last year was after the tornado went through and planting wildflowers may have been low on their list of things to do. i sure hope they pursue this as it was breathtaking. maybe some sunflower research too. would be glad to help them. i have planted sunflowers in large quantities for last 5 years. it started when a friend brought down some sunflowers to compost . i saved the seed as it grew a sunflower at least 16 inches across. this was supposedly from hybrid sunflower seed that was  picked exclusively for large heads. i planted the sunflower seed the next year and had a tremendous yield and numerous record size heads . stalks in the 3 inch size range. almost big enough to use a chainsaw to cut down. according to what i had learned hybrid yields should go down if you reuse the seed. this leads me to believe that a lot of seed they claim to be hybrid is in effect pure seed and not a hybrid cross. the seed companies claim it is hybrid to encourage you to buy their so called hybrid seed again next year. now they are claiming to genetically modify the seed to make it more resistant to herbicides  and pesticides. monsanto received a patent and have teams of inspectors out in the field scouring farmers corn to make sure there are no copyright infringements. seems the aztecs should have the patent on that as corn originally was cultivated in latin america. it was called maize and some variations still exist today. putting a patent label on our food is the next step. and who knows how they are altering. altering for production no doubt will create a plant that may have bad taste effects but will increase production or a variety of other ill effects may occur. feeding it to cattle and then to us is no better. nature has a way of genetically modifying all living things and this is called evolution. does this mean monsanto has a patent on evolution. 

     plant pure seeds and save the seeds from produce to the next year. this are called heritage seeds. you should always have a jar sealed tightly with heritage seeds to use in case of an emergency. and what emergency you may ask? none i have experienced in my lifetime but you never know. having a jar full of hybrid seeds is good  also. but i think if you were faced with longtime food shortages being able to yearly produce your own food for yourself and your family is always a good thing.and heritage seeds will allow this.

    this is an opossum that was along the lane one day while i was headed to the mailbox. he was a little camera shy but i finally got a good pic. those little feet looked cold . he could thank nature for that as evolution should have gave him some furry ones. but for some reason the opossum doesnt have fur on their feet. not quite sure if they hibernate in winter and  the weather at the time this was taken , had been an especially long cold snap and he was foraging for food.