wayne: sounds like a perfect place to start a commercial (and organic) growing venture, and to have the distinction of being the first organic grower in your area--for SOMEONE. And I say, "for someone", because it's a tough row to hoe, as the old folks say, and requires a ton of fortitude and (financial) self-sacrifice when you're dealing with people who are totally unaware what really constitutes healthy food. I wouldn't encourage a person to invest all their resources in such a venture in a rural area as you mention, since it's usually a slow, learning process. And another serious consideration in growing fruits and vegetables for sale is that you're ALWAYS dealing with a perishable product. When something's ripe and ready to eat, it either has to be sold or--very shortly thereafter--discarded, at a total loss of time and effort and money. But as the price of organic produce becomes more in line with conventionally grown produce, it's an easy-enough choice for any enlightened person whether they prefer to eat vegetables and fruit contaminated with herbicides and pesticides, or those grown natually and organically, and free from chemical input, free from Genetic Modification, free from being fertilized with composted, human manure, free from irradiation, etc., etc., etc. If it sounds like I'm trying to sell a concept--I'm not. It matters not to me how much poison a person wishes to have sprayed on their food before they eat it; to each his own. I tired years ago of trying to educate the chemical generation (of which we're all a part) about healthy food. But all of us are here at this site because we're at least enlightened enough to want to learn about healthy food. As I said, it's a slow, learning process, and plenty of people are too busy struggling to survive to have the time to become enlightened about healthy food. Sadder yet, is to go to a chain and/or big-box grocey store in rural areas and watch people fill their carts with liter and two-liter bottles of carbonated sugar water to take home and feed their children. Then they wonder why Johnny and Susie can't learn or have an attention deficit. Eating health food is all about information--or the lack of it. One of the greatest achievements of the current Administration--in my mind--is Michelle Obama's dedication to the cause of proper diet for children in our schools, including the procurement of locally-grown food. A whole, new market for locally-grown food has been opened as schools and hospitals and other institutions that receive government funding are encouraged to procure locally-grown fruits and vegegtables and meat and dairy products--certainly a concept long overdue. And for the rural area I mentioned where I sell produce, people are coming around. There will always be people in rural areas who have enough money--which buys time--to learn about healthy food; and that's a beginning, and by extension, an example for others to follow. For others, I tell them it's food like their grandfathers used to grow, without chemicals and other weird inputs. And the taste of pure, unadulterated, healthily-grown, organic fruit and vegetables seals the deal. (We do grow fruit in the vegetable garden: watermelons and cantaloupes and strawberries and blackberries and raspberries, for example.) I used to write a garden column in our county newspaper for many years, and each Spring--about this time of year--I would write that, "It's time to put seeds to soil, to begin our organic vegetable gardens, and to grow the healthiest, tastiest, most nutritious, vine-ripened fruits and vegetables that nature can produce. Kings don't eat any better." And of course, it couldn't be more true. No amount of money, power, or prestiege can provide one with better food than can be grown by each of us who take the time and effort to do it in our own home gardens. Therein lies the end-result, joy of gardening: to eat the freshest, most tasty and healthy food that can be produced, and we know it to be so, because we grew it ourselves--organically.

Commerical honey (especially those sold in supermarkets) is often pasteurized. I have gathered info on it from various websites. Just Google it and you will find out more. PASTEURIZED HONEY Pasteurization of honey is a marketing issue not a health issue. The heating process in pasteurization extends the shelf life of honey by destroying the natural "seed" crystals that cause granulation and fermentation. Natural sugar tolerant yeasts are present in honey and they will grow if the moisture level is too high (over 18%) and storage temperature too warm. Honey is more likely to ferment after it has granulated, so to prevent both granulation and fermentation, a pasteurization process is used to kill the sugar tolerant yeasts. In the bulk honey industry where moisture levels in extracted honey are often higher than naturally ripened honey and where packers want their product to remain liquid for a long period of time, pasteurization is a necessity. The commercial equipment at packing establishments is made to heat honey quickly to 160 degrees F (71 degrees C) for four minutes and then cool it quickly through a heat exchanger. Without this equipment to heat and cool honey rapidly, the quality of the heated honey would be lower. Botulism spores and Pasteurized Honey Honey has a high sugar content which does not support the growth of bacteria. One of the benefits of honey is that it can be used as a bactericide and a healing agent for minor cuts, burns and intestinal upsets. Despite this fact, it is possible for Clostridium botulinum spores to exist in honey. Pasteurization or heat treatment of honey does not kill these spores. Many medical professional mistakenly associate the term pasteurization with the heat sterilization method used in the dairy and apple juice industry. Pasteurization in the honey industry is a process that kills sugar tolerant yeasts in order to extend the shelf life. The heating process is not high enough to break the tough coat of a botulism spore. The good news is that a recent Health Canada study of Canadian honey from various sources across the country showed no botulism spores. ///////////////////////////////////////////////////////// Enzymes are said to be the vital force behind every living organism and without them life is said to have a hard time existing. In fact, raw, unpasteurized honey is known to be high in enzymes, but after pasteurization, honey loses all of its enzymes. When pasteurized honey is fed to bees, it actually kills the bees because pasteurized honey is enzyme depleted. One might say then that pasteurized honey is missing its vital force. ///////////////////////////////////////////////////////////// A jar of honey likely loiters at the back of your kitchen board labeled either "pasteurized" or "non-pasteurized", We think of the pasteurization process as a health matter, ensuring products such as milk or apple juice are safe for mass consumption. However, the pasteurization of honey is a marketing issue not a health concern. The heating process in honey pasteurization extends the shelf life of the food by destroying the natural "seed" crystals that cause granulation and fermentation. If packers want their product to remain liquid for a long period of time, as on grocery store shelves, pasteurization is a necessity. If you've purchased raw or non-pasteurized honey and it crystallized over time, you may be tempted to discard it. Actually, the crystallization process has nothing to do with its purity or moisture content, but depends on the proportion of the various sugars in the honey, which, in turn depends on the floral sources used by the bees. In fact, honey keeps almost indefinitely. Edible honey has been unearthed from Egyptian ruins... ...Honey is a powerhouse of nutrition, delivering fructose, glucose, water and other sugars, in addition to many enzymes, vitamins, minerals and amino acids. In addition, it contains a host of antioxidants, which are used by the body to eliminate free radicals (nasty molecules which zip around in healthy cells and have the potential to damage them). It therefore makes a good alternative to sugar in food and drink...

One need not live in a tropical or sub-tropical area to be overwhelmed by plants! I hybridize Daylilies (Hemerocallis)and was not able to plant a single seed for three years as I was out of room to plant them out! I did try growing out several in pots, but Mother Nature took them all away from me last winter! Fickle lady, mother nature! I also am hybridizing the "Candy Lilies" and "Blackberry Lilies, which are actually members of the Iris Genus. I grow all types of Liliums and other perennials plus quite a few annuals that self sow and come back every year (mostly Snapdragons)and I save seed from good old Coleus and have several as potted plants as well as in ground plants of them. My outside garden begins to wake in late February/early March when the Snow Crocus and Grecian Windflowers make their appearance and continues until a hard frost knocks back the "Toad Lilies" and Mums. But then there is the indoor garden (that summers outside) and there are Tropical Hibiscus, several varieties of Lantana, various "house trees", numerous cacti and succulents, a few (12) Orchids, Clivia miniata and 15+ seedlings from mixed color hybrids and the Hippeastrums - 40+ named varieties a few mature seedlings from my first cross (a test and 70 or so new seedlings from last winter. Oh I must not forget the terrarium - a 55 gallon fish tank, that has 4 African Violets (2 minies, 2 standards and all are Variegated foliage) a Silver Spotted Philodendron and a small "Earth Star" bromeliad. While most of these "indoor" plants are grown under lights in the basement, all of my windows are also filled - and this time of year the hippies fill the space. Yeah, I know all about running out of space and there not ever being enough room to grow everything that I would like to! I even have space on a neighbors veggie garden for my overflow of Daylily seedlings and that still isn't enough! Most of my cacti and some of my succulent were rescued plants from Lowe's as were most of my Orchids (Phalaenopsis), I hate to see a plant thrown away because it didn't sell. Most of my Hosta were rescued from a dumpster as well as several shrubs and perennial plants! I can barely take care of what I have and I still want more! Here's a view of the basement light garden from winter 08/09: And this s just one side of one set of shelves!

The bird houses were very inexpenive kits that had small precut wood and fiberboard as piece parts. The small round opening was originally for a chickadee size. I blocked the holes and added some seperate compartments about 3x3 inches each, before putting on the small roof. A wad of plain cotton was added to each partition and small 3/8 inch to 1/2 inch diameter holes were drilled to enter into each seperate compartment. I knew that these were used, as a woodpecker had detected something and tried to peck big holes around the tiny openings, but didn't succeed. I also have a 6x6 inch chunk of wood that I drilled many various sized holed about 5 inches deep all over the four sides. Its way up on a pole with a metal trash can cover acting as a roof. Not sure if all the areas are activly supporting bees, but I also have a large mason been house that has 6 inch long tubes that are 5/16 inch in diameter, and are grouped together. They have liners inside each tube and these get replaced once per year, after the bees used the tubes. There are about 100 tubes per nest. The mason bee lays several eggs in the tubes and adds food, then plugs up the opening with mud. They hibernate and then wake up the following spring and eat the food, while opening up the end of the tubes. They are the earliest bees, earlier than even any other pollinating insect. They are noticably gone once the warmer weather is here, about mid April. By then, some of my fruit trees have been flowering already, and have been pollinated. Adding any moisture or sugar to the cotton can cause it to mold. The bumble bees treat the cotton like a bird would do for building a nest.