Don't know if your crazy mylonite. But food production will be a very important part of survival as our world moves towrds a psot carbon direction. Edible landscaping will be most important to feeding what is left of us when TEOTWAK arrives. I got a late start as I knew nothing about food production before 2/11/08 and by the time my garden was ready to accept some seeds the summer was about a quarter over. But, as the saying goes...better late than never. My lot is only 2/3 acre and I have to use the intensive method of planting. My main garden is about 750 SF but it has rock paths. I also have 6 smaller beds that are from 20 SF to 80 SF each. Also have 26 fruit tress. Here is main garden. [IMG]http://i280.photobucket.com/albums/kk187/fookisan/reargardenvuew.jpg[/IMG] Next year will put in another bed on side about 30 SF and a few more fruit trees. if things get tougher, l'll put in squash bed about 359 SF Here are 3 good books for those interested in developing an urban homestead. [url]http://www.amazon.com/Food-Not-Lawns-Neighborhood-Community/dp/193339207X[/url] [url]http://www.amazon.com/Gardening-When-Counts-Growing-Mother/dp/086571553X[/url] [url]http://www.amazon.com/Self-Sufficient-Suburban-Gardener-Jeff-Ball/dp/0878574573[/url] I think we have a real food crisis brewing for the world. Not enough young farmers replacing the old, we will run low of fertilizer as the NG dries up and that food which is grown is devoid of nutrition and not healthy. And to make matter worse, fewer people can even afford to buy produce. With the recent food shortages in the news I have to wonder as Richard Heinberg brought up "Who will be growing our food 20 years from now?" "The average American farmer is 55 to 60 years old. The proportion of full time farmers younger than 35 years of age has dropped from 15.9% in 1982 to 5.8% in 2002. Who will be growing our food 20 years from now?" from "Peak Everything" by Richard Heinberg "Amish farmers can't compete in conventual agriculture farming. 40 years ago 90% to 95% of the Amish were farmers. Today less than 10% are farmers." from: "How the Amish Survive" DVD And even if the farmers keep up with production, many people cannot afford the high prices of produce. At Krogers a butternut squash was $7, a large apple was $1.85, a rutabaga was $3, an artichoke near $5 and a lemon was $1.35, a bag of cherries was $14.75, ONE organic yam was $8.25. And these high priced produce are being offered when times are still relatively good What will this stuff sell for when gas is $10 or $15 a gallon? Peak oil, peak NG, peak water and food as well as peak uranium will fuel mass starvation as our artificial and unsustainable world decomposes around us. As people buy less produce due to affordability issues and the produce stops selling and rots on the shelves, the farmers will grow less produce that just rots unsold and less potential farmers will be entering that field. Book and DVD list. All available from your local library. Beyond Oil: the view from Hubbert's Peak by Deffeyes, Kenneth S. [url]http://www.princeton.edu/hubbert/[/url] The Coming Economic Collapse - how you can thrive when oil costs $200 a barrel by Leeb, Stephen A Crude Awakening - the oil crash Lava Productions AG, Switzerland DVD [url]http://www.oilcrashmovie.com/[/url] The End of Suburbia - oil depletion and the collapse of the American dream by Greene, Gregory DVD [url]http://www.endofsuburbia.com/[/url] Fed Up [url]http://www.amazon.com/Fed-Up-Angelo-Sacerdote/dp/B000CNGC6G[/url] High Noon for Natural Gas: the new energy crisis by Darley, Julian [url]http://www.highnoon.ws/[/url] The Long Emergency: surviving the converging catastrophes of the twenty-first century by Kunstler, James Howard Oil Apocalypse History channel DVD Peak Oil Survival: preparation for life after gridcrash by McBay, Aric Powerdown: options and actions for a post-carbon world by Heinberg, Richard Resource Wars: the new landscape of global conflict by Klare, Michael T [url]http://www.amazon.com/Resource-Wars-Landscape-Conflict-Introduction/dp/0805055762[/url] A Thousand Barrels a Second: the coming oil break point and the challenges facing an energy dependent world by Tertzakian, Peter Twilight in the Desert: the coming Saudi oil shock and the world economy by Simmons, Matthew R. Well written book examining 12 of the key Saudi oil fields. Who Killed the Electric Car? Sony Pictures Classics release [url]http://www.sonyclassics.com/whokilledtheelectriccar/[/url] Zoom:the global race to fuel the car of the future by Iain Carson and Vijay V. Vaitheeswaran. [IMG]http://i280.photobucket.com/albums/kk187/fookisan/victorygarden.jpg[/IMG]

Hi again, Ohhhhh ya....you wouldn't want your landlord wearing your fish tank. LOL!! I re-read your original post again. I wouldn't recommend adding any other fish to this small of a tank. Your betta should be okay in there by himself. A few questions did come to mind though......how often are you cleaning and doing a water change in this tank? Are you stirring the gravel and siphoning out the debris from the bottom in every water change? What you might find works better is to not leave the light on for very long...incandencent lighting is not good....as it heats up the tank. Your betta will be much happier in temps of 76F to 79F and a more constant temp. Also if you could find a small siphon with the bulb that you squeeze to start the water flow....you might find cleaning the tank a lot easier. I have attached a small dowel to the siphon with elastics for stiring gravel and for use in the fry tanks.... Water changes should be done at least once a week and about 25% of the water taken out and replaced with water of the same temp. If you want to do larger water changes...they should be done more often....like every second day. The reason for this is so your betta doesn't go into shock with the larger change in water perameters. As for feeding.....yes its a good idea to hand feed one pellet at a time......as a general rule...a fish can't eat more than the size of his eye. Or if you prefer...what the fish doesn't eat in 5 minutes should be scooped out. Once you get the temperature under control and the cleaning of the gravel and water changes on a routine....and feed only what the fish will eat.....the worms will disappear. This will get rid of the conditions that they like and you will siphon them out in your cleaning. Also make sure you give your betta a varied diet...just to make sure he is getting all the nutrients that he needs. You will find that your male betta will spend a lot of time at the top of the tank building a buble nest, when he is happy. Hope this is more helpful! :)

rcantor, you have "Fig Rust." This is what I would do. 1. Stop fertilizing the plants. 2. Let them go dormant. 3. Burn all the infected leaves once they drop (usually after the first frost). 4. Since you are in zone 5/6 store the plants in an attached unheated garage. 5. Starting in the spring treat with copper sulfate spray (through early summer). Lastly I recommend you search this forum for both "fig rust" and copper sulfate to deepen your understanding of the challenge. Good luck Vinnie

SVB attack primarily squash and gourds but cucumbers and melons are also possible hosts. The adult moth is a 1 1/2-inch wing-span, wasp-like moth that is quite colorful (metallic green-black colors with the hind wings fringed with black and orange hairs and similar colors on the abdomen). They are also called "clear-winged" as the lower 1/2 of the black spread wings are transparent. The moths are day fliers which hatch shortly after normal planting time (early to mid-June) from pupae (dark brown, 5/8th inch long, and found in an earthen cell) overwintered in the soil. They lay single eggs which are a dull red to rose in color, 1/25th inch in diameter and glue them to the stalks and underside of the stems of squash vines around the base of the plants. Within 5-7 days the eggs hatch and the larve, a 1" white, heavy-bodied grub with a dark head then burrows into the stem of the plant where they feed till grown enough to burrow out and into the soil to pupate. The stem and then the rest of the plant quickly withers and dies. A classic sign of burrowing is a "sawdust-like" yellow frass pile near the base of the stem. In most parts of the country there is but one annual cycle, but midwestern states in zones 6 and 7 may experience a partial second hatch in late July. CONTROL: Non-chemical controls include timed-planting according to the hatch dates in your area (info available from your County AG agent or note your dates for future reference). Early and late crops (after mid-July) are seldom affected by SVB. In addition, the use of polyester row covers to prevent moth's access to the plants. The covers can be removed briefly at bloom time to allow for pollination but retaining the covers and hand-pollination is recommended. Planting resistant varieties also helps. Certain varieties offer more resistance to and tolerance of borer attack. According to University of Illinois the most tolerant varieties are: White Bush Scallop, Acorn, Summer Crookneck, Dickenson pumpkin, Green Striped Cushaw, and Butternut. The least tolerant varieties are Hubbards, Golden Delicious, Sugar and Small Varietal Pumpkin, and most all zucchni. After the borer enters the vines, home gardeners may use a sharpened wire to seek out and kill each tunneling larva; or may be able to slit the stem lengthwise with a pocket knife, remove and destroy the larvae, press the stem back together and cover with soil. In many cases the plant will heal and survive the injury if the damage is not extensive. Syringe injection of BT (bacillus thur.) into the stem will also kill the grub. To reduce the number of borers for the next year, destroy crop residue after harvest, rotate planting site, and a 2-3" deep fall and spring till is quite effective at destroying overwintering pupae. Chemical controls require a weekly preventive treatment applied to the basal three feet of the plant as soon as the vines begin to run. Some recommend either the insecticide methoxychlor or malathion Always follow the manufacturer's directions carefully including "days till harvest". And, since recommended application dates vary from zone to zone and success of treatment depends on early and repeated treatment, contact your county Extension office for current pesticide controls and application dates recommended in your area. Once the larvae have entered the stem, insecticides have little effect.