the watcher

Just a couple of first hand accounts on alfalfa , poplar, cows and trees.
I have grown alfalfa most of my life. As a feed when I had cattle,  as a crop when I sold bales and notably as a rotational crop in grain production. Alfalfa is a nitrogen fixer. It takes nitrogen from the air and converts it into a form that can be used by plants. It's root system also breaks through hard pan and mellows up soil for multiple years. It along with other legumes and beneficial plants can be part of a plow / graze down system for organic production. ( which we currently do )
On poplar. They are a pretty good firewood. No, not as good as oak or ash but properly cured and STACKED it's good wood. We currently burn almost exclusivly spruce as many  of the spruce planted by my father and uncle in the 30s or maybe even late 20s have timed out and are dieing. I'd much rather burn poplar but we need to clean up the dead spruce. One of the good things about planting poplar is I dont believe any of the host of diseases and bugs have attacked them yet. Dutch elm disease got our elms and now the Emerald Ash  bug will devastate the ash. ( including  all the ones plated as windbreaks ). Poplar are a resilient, fast growing , tree. There was a push to plant marginal land to trees for pulp and paper  a few years ago and it was poplar that was being planted.
On cows and trees : They certainly can clean out all the young trees out of a bush, depending on the number of cows and the size ( acres )  of the bush.. There was a study  done in our area a few years ago that showed the most environmentally  beneficial thing to do with our riparian zones was to fence the cattle out but allow them to come in and graze off the grasses a couple of times a year. That way there is less damage to trees, and soil  but less grasses on the clear spots that build up a thatch and send phosphates down stream.
Edit : Dammit all that cow/ poplar talk has dredged up a memory.  I can't stop myself from telling it .I had a cow, " Missy " that had a real talent for walking down poplar trees. She would take a poplar up to 3 inches in diameter ,maybe 15 ft tall , push on it then get it between her front legs on her brisket and walk it down till she got to leaves. The crazy part was no other cow could do it quite like her but they knew that she could and would gather around when she started doing it so they could join in the feast.  You wouldn't want a herd with her ability.

But it's not just the GOP. The Dems while not as utterly insane as the Trump crew have been guilty of pandering to the rich and to large corporations just to fill their coffers. Of starting needless wars that have killed 10s of thousands. Of not joining the rest of the world in a healthcare system that helps everyone. Of not waking up to the destruction of the enviroment.  Republican or Democrat the USA is all about amassing my stack of money and keeping the other guys hands off of it. That stack and what the individual desires is more important than anyone else's life ( including children), the rest of the world, the environment they live in, or their fellow citizens rights or lives.  They are a failed state. Can they recover ? Perhaps but it might require them to completely fall apart 1st. And that won't  be particularly pleasant for their next door neighbours.  

Na, it circled, plugged up and the crap flowed all over long  ago. Now it's overflowing into our place.

It is a bizarre ,violent country. When the grocery store mass shooting happened ,one thing really stuck in my mind. They reported that the shooter came in and the armed guard shot him but he was wearing an armoured vest so it didn't hurt him. Now think about that. An ARMED GUARD in a grocery store. Is there another country in the world so F#@#ed up that they need armed guards in their grocery stores ? Can you imagine walking into Costco  or Safeway in Winnipeg and seeing an armed guard ? And now all the focus in the latest school shooting has moved to how the police screwed up.  ( Which they did)  Unfortunatly the side effect of that is it takes attention away from the real issues of why it happened. Easy access to people killers, reduction in accessibility  to mental health care and other social services and a general rot in their society. 

But it's not just the GOP. The Dems while not as utterly insane as the Trump crew have been guilty of pandering to the rich and to large corporations just to fill their coffers. Of starting needless wars that have killed 10s of thousands. Of not joining the rest of the world in a healthcare system that helps everyone. Of not waking up to the destruction of the enviroment.  Republican or Democrat the USA is all about amassing my stack of money and keeping the other guys hands off of it. That stack and what the individual desires is more important than anyone else's life ( including children), the rest of the world, the environment they live in, or their fellow citizens rights or lives.  They are a failed state. Can they recover ? Perhaps but it might require them to completely fall apart 1st. And that won't  be particularly pleasant for their next door neighbours.  

Na, it circled, plugged up and the crap flowed all over long  ago. Now it's overflowing into our place.

But it's not just the GOP. The Dems while not as utterly insane as the Trump crew have been guilty of pandering to the rich and to large corporations just to fill their coffers. Of starting needless wars that have killed 10s of thousands. Of not joining the rest of the world in a healthcare system that helps everyone. Of not waking up to the destruction of the enviroment.  Republican or Democrat the USA is all about amassing my stack of money and keeping the other guys hands off of it. That stack and what the individual desires is more important than anyone else's life ( including children), the rest of the world, the environment they live in, or their fellow citizens rights or lives.  They are a failed state. Can they recover ? Perhaps but it might require them to completely fall apart 1st. And that won't  be particularly pleasant for their next door neighbours.  

Na, it circled, plugged up and the crap flowed all over long  ago. Now it's overflowing into our place.

What the ****!
How is an ad like this even legal?

Na, it circled, plugged up and the crap flowed all over long  ago. Now it's overflowing into our place.

Na, it circled, plugged up and the crap flowed all over long  ago. Now it's overflowing into our place.

Na, it circled, plugged up and the crap flowed all over long  ago. Now it's overflowing into our place.

They can't even cover an inquiry into how they almost lost their democracy... plastic straw ban in another country though.... 

 

Always good to get useful input from our friends down South.....

Fox News Guest Blasts Justin Trudeau’s ‘Dictator Starter Kit’ After Canada Bans Plastic Straws
https://www.mediaite.com/tv/fox-news-guest-blasts-justin-trudeaus-dictator-starter-kit-after-canada-bans-plastic-straws/
 

Came to post this, but saw that it has already been mentioned. Not too long ago I would have thought this was surely satire out of something like Idiocracy.

fwiw.......
 

In a perfect world..no...in today's reality politics and media/anti-media are driving sensible people out to the fringes. I would hope that in the near future that a return to centre and away from the fringes will make a much needed correction to the very polarized and non-sensical approach many are taking now in politics and political support. It is gross.
I like some policies and beliefs from every party on the spectrum, but some will never admit that each party has some redeeming qualities and will instead villify them and their supporters. That is so sad imo. Being open to opinion and debate without name calling and labelling those who opposed our viewpoint used to be what made Canada such a better place than America. Now, our politics are just as gross.

Utterly bizarre that he could legally walk around dressed in battle fatigues and carrying a weapon designed to kill people in large numbers but get arrested for carrying brass knuckles. It sounds like an DNL skit.

So far, I am finding this January 6th panel, to be way too partisan.....

Only Republicans testifying.

Really wonder where all of this will end.
 
tpm
"Eric Greitens, the disgraced former governor of Missouri seeking political redemption in a MAGA-fied U.S. Senate bid, released a campaign ad Monday advertising a “hunting permit” for his political opponents — so-called “RINOs,” or “Republicans in Name Only.” 
A campaign ad for Greitens’ new political assassination campaign opens with Greitens holding a shotgun and strolling past a mailbox labeled “The RINO’s Den.” 
“I’m Eric Greitens, Navy SEAL, and today we’re going RINO hunting,” Greitens says in the ad — though he’s not actually a SEAL anymore. 
The ad then pans to Greitens joining several men with military fatigues on the front porch of a house. One of them uses a battering ram to knock down the door, followed by the deployment of a flash-bang grenade."

A powerful speech by Lucy Mcbath on Roe vs Wade.
 

A powerful speech by Lucy Mcbath on Roe vs Wade.
 

Cows really can have distinct personalities. I had a cow  I bought from a neighbor and when she had a calf she was loaded with milk so I tried milking her. And we came to an agreement . I'd feed her some prime 2nd cut alfalfa and she would let me milk her 2 front teats.  If I tried the back 2 she would fidget and fuss. They were reserved for her calf. One day when I wasn't in a pleasant mood I went to milk her and her mood matched mine.She kept moving around and finally knocked over the pail of milk. I stood up firing off expletives and kicked her on her back shin. She looked back at me with a " oh, yeah " look and cracked me right back with her back hoof on my shin. We looked at each other for a minute , I gave her some more feed, sat down quietly and milked her accepting that I had been put in my place.

Just a couple of first hand accounts on alfalfa , poplar, cows and trees.
I have grown alfalfa most of my life. As a feed when I had cattle,  as a crop when I sold bales and notably as a rotational crop in grain production. Alfalfa is a nitrogen fixer. It takes nitrogen from the air and converts it into a form that can be used by plants. It's root system also breaks through hard pan and mellows up soil for multiple years. It along with other legumes and beneficial plants can be part of a plow / graze down system for organic production. ( which we currently do )
On poplar. They are a pretty good firewood. No, not as good as oak or ash but properly cured and STACKED it's good wood. We currently burn almost exclusivly spruce as many  of the spruce planted by my father and uncle in the 30s or maybe even late 20s have timed out and are dieing. I'd much rather burn poplar but we need to clean up the dead spruce. One of the good things about planting poplar is I dont believe any of the host of diseases and bugs have attacked them yet. Dutch elm disease got our elms and now the Emerald Ash  bug will devastate the ash. ( including  all the ones plated as windbreaks ). Poplar are a resilient, fast growing , tree. There was a push to plant marginal land to trees for pulp and paper  a few years ago and it was poplar that was being planted.
On cows and trees : They certainly can clean out all the young trees out of a bush, depending on the number of cows and the size ( acres )  of the bush.. There was a study  done in our area a few years ago that showed the most environmentally  beneficial thing to do with our riparian zones was to fence the cattle out but allow them to come in and graze off the grasses a couple of times a year. That way there is less damage to trees, and soil  but less grasses on the clear spots that build up a thatch and send phosphates down stream.
Edit : Dammit all that cow/ poplar talk has dredged up a memory.  I can't stop myself from telling it .I had a cow, " Missy " that had a real talent for walking down poplar trees. She would take a poplar up to 3 inches in diameter ,maybe 15 ft tall , push on it then get it between her front legs on her brisket and walk it down till she got to leaves. The crazy part was no other cow could do it quite like her but they knew that she could and would gather around when she started doing it so they could join in the feast.  You wouldn't want a herd with her ability.

Cows really can have distinct personalities. I had a cow  I bought from a neighbor and when she had a calf she was loaded with milk so I tried milking her. And we came to an agreement . I'd feed her some prime 2nd cut alfalfa and she would let me milk her 2 front teats.  If I tried the back 2 she would fidget and fuss. They were reserved for her calf. One day when I wasn't in a pleasant mood I went to milk her and her mood matched mine.She kept moving around and finally knocked over the pail of milk. I stood up firing off expletives and kicked her on her back shin. She looked back at me with a " oh, yeah " look and cracked me right back with her back hoof on my shin. We looked at each other for a minute , I gave her some more feed, sat down quietly and milked her accepting that I had been put in my place.