MIG Management Intensive Grazing been a growing movement since the 1970s Feed lots became the thing in which to dispose of excess grain produced after WW2. When the chemical ag came into play, incresing corn yeilds from 40 bushels an acre to 200. Grass fed beef provide Omega 3 fatty acids, where as grain fed produces bad cholesterol and etc. Look up the Stockman Grass Farmer website for more in depth info. josh

I don't know about most of the country, but I have noticed a decline where I am locally. (Of course, I don't call planting a row of taxus in front of a house "gardening" but I digress). In my area of the neighborhood, I've spotted 2 houses who really have gardens besides mine. One woman actually paved over her little porch island of dirt!! I couldn't believe it! I fill mine with Caladiums. =x Down the street a lady has a beautifully tended area of rododendrons and spring blooming bulbs and transitions nicely to summer with rows of liriope and impatiens. Across from her, the plastic plants stuck in the ground around a mangled forsythia don't change. (The forsythia never blooms because they mangle it in summer.) Behind me, spring is for peony, summer blossoms with gladiolus and hollyhocks. Everyone else has a barely surviving lawn. Among my friends are the too busy, too poor, too tired, too frustrated, and too confused gardeners. When they try to garden, they buy big coffee table books about landscaping. After biting off more than they can chew, they melt in the summer and leave the garden to the weeds. April's freeze last year killed one of my friend's desire completely. (Though she wants me to prune her trees tomorrow), After losing all her indoor grown toms, she said, "I can't garden. Whatever I plant dies. I don't have time to waste on it." I remember driving down a new subdivision and being amazed to see how many flowers were sprouting in one persons yard. Soon though, it was gone. I asked about it. The lady said that the homeowner's association limits gardens to the rear. So in my experience what the article says is true. It's not likely to be true everywhere. (After all, I've seen gorgeous gardens in the most down trailer parks. I saw a trailer covered in purple flowers of Jackmanii and White Sweet autumn. The guy had strung fishing line over it. It sounds weird but under the porch purple flowers hang in your face. It's awesome.) But I'm afraid that for too many people gardening is a foregone past time.

I would run a separate ground wire back to the earth ground/neutral point at the main service entrance. Never connect the ground wire to the neutral or to a separate ground rod (unless that ground rod is firmly bonded to the one at the main entrance, using at least #6 copper wire). The ground wire from the outlet back to the entrance may be bare or insulated copper. I would use at least the same size as the hot and neutral. I'm not positive what the NEC says, but I don't think the new ground wire would have to follow the same physical path back through the house as the original wiring. For example, if the original wiring runs through the walls, it might easier to run the ground wire under the house, tacked to the floor joists or to the ceiling joists of an unfinished cellar. The neutral wire should always be treated as a live wire, exactly like the hot wire. The purpose of the ground wire is to provide a return path back to the entrance ground, capable of carrying the full current and tripping the breaker, in case the neutral wire fails, or a short develops between the hot wire and an exposed part of the appliance. The ONLY place in the entire system where the ground and neutral should be connected together is at the service entrance point right at the meter.

Depends. For cuttings, the lights are around 12-16 inches above, depending on how tall the cutting is. For my mature hoyas on u-hoops, some are just an inch below the light cage.