Blackberries are ready now. Blueberries in 10 days. Please call 903-645-3232 for availability. Map to farm.

This is our sign on Highway 11.

If you haven't been to the homepage in a while, I just changed the layout and added a collage.

Please let me know if it looks funny on your browser as I ran into some troubles getting it to look right on the PC.

Should look like this with horizontal and vertical pics and no white space between yellow box and horizontal pics.

Here is an article about a chemist with a life-friendly approach to his work.

Safe By Design

Snippets...

"Collins and his colleagues have invented nontoxic chemical catalysts that dramatically boost the power of one of nature’s miracle cleaners: hydrogen peroxide. Our bodies make hydrogen peroxide every day to destroy toxicants. Mimicking this process, Collins and his colleagues have created molecules called TAML activators, which work with hydrogen peroxide to clean up industrial pollution—and prevent it from happening in the first place."

"In my worldview, green chemistry should always ask: is it good for babies? Or more significantly, is it bad for babies? If it’s bad for babies don’t do it. That’s what we’ve got to get ingrained into our field. That, of course, opens a whole new set of questions like, how do you understand whether some chemistry is or is not bad for babies? That then brings up the remarkable fact that chemists are not trained in toxicity and ecotoxicity. With conventional chemistry, we’re giving people the keys to cars without any driver training."

"Sustainability doesn’t just mean feeling positive about the direction of our civilization. It’s also about fundamental strategic stability in the stock market, which is why change is going to happen."

"I’m very optimistic. The three big technology areas for sustainability are safe energy, which has nothing to do with fossilized carbon or nuclear power, but will be solar based; renewable feed stocks; and a nonpolluting technology base. These things are not only doable; they’re inspiring to contemplate, wonderful to watch in progress, and fun to work on."

When I heard the learn'd astronomer,
When the proofs, the figures, were ranged in columns before me,
When I was shown the charts and diagrams, to add, divide, and measure them,
When I sitting heard the astronomer where he lectured
    with much applause in the lecture room,
How soon unaccountable I became tired and sick,
Till rising and gliding out I wander'd off by myself,
In the mystical moist night-air, and from time to time,
Look'd up in perfect silence at the stars.

- Walt Whitman

Radiology turns to blueberry juice for a sharper MRI

"It's a trendy drink among health-conscious people who like to pack a wallop of antioxidants while quenching their thirsts, but radiology experts have also latched on to blueberry juice -- as a drink to give patients before undergoing magnetic resonance imaging scans on their bile ducts."

I couldn't resist that line. Apparently these two items are part of an Ancient Egyptian remedy for baldness. If that's not up your alley how about pigeon droppings, cumin, horseradish, and beet root, as recommended by the "father of medicine," Hippocrates.

All of this fairly nonsensical talk is in reference to recent news of a genetic breakthrough in the War on Baldness. Apparently some evil scientists doing some evil scientist stuff (like maybe removing "large patches of skin from the backs of mice") discovered that mice (and probably humans) have the capability to regenerate hair follicles. The secret lies in leaving the gaping wounds undressed. "The regrowth effect had probably not been identified before in humans because wounds large enough to kick-start it tended to be treated with stitches or dressings, which appeared to inhibit the formation of new follicles." Poor mice. But we can't let the innocent mouse stand in the way of our War on Baldness. In ten years when they've finally worked out proper methods for rototilling foreheads and planting hair making proteins I may be in need of treatment. If not a whole house carpeting, then maybe at least a hallway piece...

The rain is coming down. This is a good thing, unlike in Missouri. The thunder has been amazingly loud. My favorite kind of spring storm. The cold air rushes in, sky darkens, and the clouds light up. My dog has never been terribly fond of thunder and whines while looking to me for some sort of parental comfort. Meanwhile the thunder booms. The house shakes. His pleas are not heard and the storm continues.

Through the same window that I watch the storm I can see my tomato plants. Most have flowers at this point and I've seen at least one marble sized tomato just beginning to grow. It will still be a while before I can pluck a ripe red tomato and slice it up for a sandwich. The insipid store bought variety do the tomato absolutely no justice. They are tomatoes in name only. Picked green, shipped thousands of miles, and ethylene gas ripened.

I have several varieties planted: brandywine, brandyboy, supersteak, and chadwick cherry. All are in 5-gallon black plastic nursery pots. When you don't have time for a real garden, pot tomatoes make a good substitute. In fact for a small number of plants it may be the best way to grow them. The soil warms faster in a black pot and weeds are pretty much nonexistent. I've even run dripline to them so I can water unattended. Stick a roll of concrete reinforcing wire around them and you'll have a nice setup. After that it's just water, fertilize, and wait.