Pollinator Flowers - Loved by Bees, Beneficial Insects, and Butterflies

 Joe Pye Weed - Photo by Liz West

Joe Pye Weed is named after Joe Pye, who made medicine from the plant. It has been known as an herbal plant, used for various ailments.

Every time I read about plants for bees, butterflies and hummingbirds, Joe Pye's name is on the list. I have been intrigued about this so-called weed for a long time.

Some cool things about Joe Pye -
JPW is on every list for attracting butterflies. So, with Butterfly Bush and other pollinator plants, JPW will leverage the attraction. We normally have butterflies in our yard now. The next step is having more variety, based on the plants they must have, such as milkweed family for Monarchs.

JPW is a Monarch migration plant.

Bees love JPW. If it is a bee plant, then it will also be popular among the tiny deplorables. They are the beneficial insects that need nectar and pollen as adults, but lay their eggs on, in, or near pests. The horror! - the hatching babies devour the pests and turn into adults that lay the eggs later.

Look for tiny Ichneumon Wasps on sunny, calm days.
Flower Flies will also be nearby - looking like miniature honey bees, but with no sting.

Lists

I had a long list to study the other day, and I scratched the names off as bad attributes were cited, such as every part is toxic, and it is invasive (Moonflower, datura). I want invasives in the Wild Garden, but not invasive and toxic plants.

There are butterfly lists, hummingbird lists, and pollinator lists. Many plants fit all three categories, such as the mints - Monarda, Mountain Mint, Cat Mint, and Scarlet Bee Balm (invasive!).

Perhaps other gardeners do this. I think about various garden areas and imagine what plants would do well there. Such as -

Hot and sunny - sunflower family, butterfly plants, tomatoes. That area now has six little tomato plants there and one Butterfly Weed.

Last area to dry out, soggy but somewhat sunny - I am working on that. I had some sunblocking tree branches trimmed away. I could fill in with some bags of peat humus ($1.69) or mushroom compost. Joe Pye Weed and Foxglove would do well there.

Shady with some sun - Hostas are prospering in the shade, and so are Wild Strawberries. I even had Triple Crown Blackberries invade from the rather sunny north side of the house. Invasive? - that must be the reason for the Triple Crown name. They are now in full bloom and attracting bees, but most of the blooms are in the sun. In their defense, that sunny north area was once owned by weeds, now elbowed aside by the berries.

Shady but more sun - Away from the shadow of the house, some plants are fine with some shade. Last year our good friend, the Army Ranger vet, earned the electric pruning saw by trimming all our trees. The effect all over was to create sunshine where shade had dominated. He offered to loan the $100 saw back to me. I said, "No, I would more likely saw one of my own limbs off. You keep it - you earned it."

In the sunnier area near the Hostas and bird-feeding zone, I have such plants as Blueberries, Chaste Tree, Gooseberry, Clethra, and Beautyberry. I picked one sunny area for Elderberries, and they tower over the backyard now, ten feet high - and possibly reaching much higher.

Likewise, the maturing Butterfly Bushes are aiming at ten feet already.

Stumps Vindicated
Yesterday, Mrs. Ichabod looked out the window and saw birds preening on the stumps. I planted stumps with branches sticking out of them, near the birdbaths, for that purpose.

Birds must bathe and preen to fly well. The bath weighs them down with water, so they must shake it off in a safe area and line up (preen) their feathers to get them aligned for flight. Birds seem to like low-lying branches for their pruning.

As I imagined, the two birds picked the branch stumps for their preening. They were off the ground, safe, and given a good view for possible predators. Five shallow baths on the ground give them a choice in case other birds want to dominate one pool or another. Each bath cost me $3 at Walmart or Target. The concrete one was offered for $7 at the end of a season.

WELS Pastor John Parlow Is the Church and Change Exemplar

Another Parlow pronouncement -
"The Word works, so dream big."
What did these poor WELSians do,
to have to suffer through Parlow pronunciomentos?

Notice how the WELS Asian seminary
is overloaded with fake doctorates and Jeske Church Growth fanatics. Check out Denver Seminary.

 Mequon graduates like Parlow seem unable to spell -
sited for cited. Tis funny how everyone uses the ad ELCA
argument to excuse their various heresies.

Parlow posed for Ski at one of the Andy Stanley (Babtist)
ministers' conferences. About eight WELS church workers
were there, including Glende, so that was no accident.

Under Mark Schroeder, the Reformer, and his buddies - Buchholz, Steve Spencer, and Joel Voss - the Wisconsin sect has moved top speed into aping the Calvinists and Babtists. There is no better resume enhancer than going to:

• Fuller Seminary
• Willow Creek
• Trinity Divinity School
• Granger 
• Andy Stanley Immersions
• Exponential Extravaganzas
• Various weird gatherings like Soil.
• Jeske's School of Enthusiasms, or
• All of the above (Ski, Glende, Bishop Katy).

The Church Shrinkers are too lazy to get involved in academic pursuits. Their inability to spell and write coherent sentences would have them floundering in the basic introductory classes. So they discuss among themselves the easiest drive-by DMins to purchase and call one another Doctor five minutes after paying their diploma fee.

 Mark Schroeder clamped down on Justification by Faith
and what else?
Oh yes - writing against or leaking to Ichabod.

Doctor John Parlow posted his sermons on the church websty until he was caught presenting old Babtist sermons as his own. After that, those eager to study his solemn, plagiarized, banal baloney were condemned to ask for them from the parish secretary. If Hillary had used that level of security, she would be President of the United States today.

Parlow's lair is Green Bay, Wisconsin, the most alcoholic city in the USA, where a pastor is considered sober if he can still walk after drinking his lunch. No other area of WELS is so famous for plagiarism, false doctrine, and the protection of the Synod President.

As old as I am, I have never heard of a denominational president traveling to a congregation to save the hides of a boozy pastor and his alcoholic side-kick. But with Schroeder, there is no offense from the pastoral epistles too egregious to disqualify his Church Growth buddies:

1. Plagiarism? No problem. Excommunicate the lawyer.
2. Drinking on the job? No problem. WELS has bar ministries now, to sanctify their addictions.
3. Showing porn to female staff? Lighten up, will ya?
4. Taking an outraged husband to court for telling the truth? Two pastors and two staffer agree - he had it coming. The judge laughed it out of court. "A blogger in Arkansas?" he asked, incredulously. 
5. Destroying one's first parish and shrinking the second one? Share your wisdom at the next teachers' conference.

Whatever you do, do not rile the board
of Thrivent - or the easily riled Mark Jeske.

More Rain - The Importance of Water Infiltration and Cover Crops

This was an early edition of the main rose garden -
8 rose bushes from TV, and some KnockOuts from a local nursery.

My next project is distributing roses on Mother's Day. I was happy to hear about two days of rain - Thursday and today.

When I was YouTubing about cover crops, I learned how a widely diverse planting can avoid drying up from low rainfall. The same cover crops are ideal in preventing flooding and eroding the land.

Playing the role of a French peasant again, I hauled rainwater from the barrels to the roses up front. Newly sensitized to infiltration, I watched how an established rose absorbed gallons of water at once. New roses needed as much water, but they could only absorb some of the rainwater before it began running on the surface toward the street. The mulch absorbed some and keep the water in that area, but that did not compare to the big gulp of the veteran roses.

Grass absorbs a fair amount of rain, but a diverse planting opens up the soil much deeper.

Just Wait a Year
I am keen about clumping mints as beneficial insect motels in the rose garden. Thanks to Almost Eden and a few Internet sites, I got a lot of bushes started last year and the year before.

Most gardeners probably  have the same experience - "When is this little sprig going to amount to something?" We water the little guy all summer the first year, rainwater, stored water, tapwater. The bush just sits there.

However, after a winter vacation or two, with the fungus and soil creatures networked together, the roots growing, the same plant leaps from the ground and makes people wonder, "What is that?"

In fact, I wondered myself and twisted a leaf off one plant, which was reaching my waist - intense mint. Mountain Mint. Victory.

 Cat Mint looks like Lavender.

Cat Mint was just a tiny kitten mint last year. I doted on it, hoping to make it purr. This spring, the mint got its claws and grew larger and wide, deeper too.

The Crepe Myrtle began its second bloom after pruning.
This deeply rooted bush/tree facilitates water infiltration.

One gardening friend decided to pull a Crepe Myrtle bush from her yard. They eventually enlisted their heavy-duty vehicle to pull it out (often a bad idea if ropes are used - twang - instead of chains).

As I wrote before, the Crepe Myrtle astonished me by how much organic food it reduced. Every pyramid of manure or leaves or grass became flattened and the flowers burst gratefully into pink fireworks. Though drought tolerant, the bush loves to have extra water all summer.

Rest in Peace - Donna, the Widow of Dr. Robert Preus Has Passed into Eternal Life

Governor Preus and his wife posed with
sons Jack and Robert, at the cabin on Gunflint Lake.

We had supper with Robert and Donna Preus at the Sanford, Michigan congregation where their son Peter was installed.

Obituary for Donna Mae Preus
Preus, Donna Mae, age 91, of Wayzata. Preceded in death by her husband, Robert and son, Klemet. Survived by children, Daniel (Linda), Katherine (Steven) Briel, Rolf (Dorothy), Peter (Julie), Solveig (John) Fiene, Christian (Cindy), Karren (Michael) Perkins, Ruth (Stephen) Saunders, Erik (Jody); daughter-in-law, Janet Preus; 51 grandchildren; 75 great grandchildren. Funeral service 11AM, Monday, May 15, 2017 at St. John’s Lutheran Church, 9141 County Road 101, Corcoran. Interment St. John’s Cemetery. Visitation 4-6PM Sunday and one hour prior to service on Monday at the CHURCH.

The priceless New Testament by Martin Luther - Comfort for Christians

The priceless New Testament by Martin Luther - Comfort for Christians:

"The priceless New Testament by Martin Luther
less than 1 minute read
This little poem was written and recited by Martin Luther at one of his Table Talks. Imagine sitting around the table with the great reformer, listening, learning, and considering this great treasure we have been given in the New Testament.

The Priceless New Testament by Martin Luther

This testament is priceless. Oh how true!
Great art and wisdom it imparts to you.
Blessed be the man who follows its direction!
He will enjoy God’s blessing and protection.
The Word of God forevermore endures
And heaven’s kingdom unto us secures.
For all must die and leave the world someday.
And then the Word is our trusty stay.
It strengthens us at our last, painful breath.
And redeems us from eternal death.

-Table Talk 3, No. 5793. Cited in Plass. What Luther Says. No. 3133, p. 990"

'via Blog this'

Otten's Christian News Mentions Creation Gardening And The Lost Dutchman's Goldmine

 Creation Gardening teaches the relationship between
toxin-free methods, Genesis 1, and John 1 -
"All things were made through Him."

Every so often, the shun button is suspended for a few moments. I was mildly surprised to find the May 15, 2017 Christian News  featuring the covers of the latest two books, quoting some of the introductory material.

When the first edition of Thy Strong Word was published in 2000, Otten refused to publish any positive reviews of the book. Nevertheless, one of our members, from the Jackson area, was attracted to our congregation because of the mention of TSW in Christian News.

I was talking to our congregation's attorney yesterday. He got me interested in teaching New Testament Greek over the Internet, and a class quickly formed. He wanted extra copies of Thy Strong Word and Catholic, Lutheran, Protestant. A WELS pastor recommended Catholic, Lutheran, Protestant to him, and that led to Thy Strong Word being read. He said, "I could not put Thy Strong Word down."

The synods have neglected basic Biblical doctrine for so long that people are starved for the training denied them in college, seminary, and the congregation.

That is the thesis of The Lost Dutchman's Goldmine. Luther's doctrine has been forcibly ejected by the Lutherans, notably by the synodical leaders who endlessly honk, bray, squawk, and cackle their Universal Absolution and Salvation without Faith (OJ - UOJ). The ELS and WELS, LCMS, ELCA, and CLC (sic) are completely in harmony - concordia - with each other. When they say "grace," they mean Universal Forgiveness and Salvation. Some clergy and most laity disagree - if they are told the truth about their official positions.

Stephan-Walther trump the Bible and the Book of Concord. The Kokomo Statements only define the Scriptures, because WELS has no use for the Confessions. They do have around 60 essays in their beloved Essays file, praising their beloved UOJ dogma, some of them written by atheists who were once WELS clergy.

Christian News consistently trumpets the ELCA-ELS-WELS-LCMS Kokomo Statements.

I enjoy the opposition, because hatred, enmity, and shunning must accompany the Gospel. Even when Christian News tries to appear pleasant, the barbs necessarily appear.

Both of my books are described in CN as "manufactured by Amazon," a peculiar term to use. Christian News is manufactured by a local printer. Christian News is a vanity publication that the Otten family sells to the public. They have $500,000 in assets, according to public documents.

 "Shun the evil-doer! Make these books go away.
Does my beard look Eastern Orthodox?"

Martin Chemnitz Press books are largely given away, thanks to gifts from various people and my tent-making activities in higher education. ELDONA received free MCP books and KJV Bibles, but His Holiness the Bishop had his flunky tell the donor, during a meal - "Make these books go away!"

"Lutheran News, Inc., publisher of Christian News, is a non-profit organization recognized for tax-deductible giving by the federal government."

All books are manufactured somewhere now, because few publishing houses have their own printing facilities. NPH published my Liberalism: Its Cause and Cure, after ferocious opposition from the Church Growthers tried to stop the presses - and it sold very well. WELS later gave me the rights to the book. NPH manufactured it earlier. Now I do, through print-on-demand, Amazon.

Thy Strong Word is in its third edition.

Otten was going to publish Catholic, Lutheran, Protestant, after WELS put it on their list to print, then cancelled. I know Valleskey and Bivens were bitter opponents, because they threatened to boycott a WELS printer who asked to publish my books.

Publishing means paying for the printing and then selling the title for a profit, with royalties given to the author. Otten backed out of his promise, but later claimed to be the publisher. He sold it and sent off boxes of CLP to NPH, which was promoting and distributing the book like crazy.

For a long time I gave away PDFs of my books, but DropBox changed their public linking rules, nullifying that giveaway. However, I am going to repost new links to many of the PDFs. Lulu.com has some of those PDFs posted as free downloads.

 Catholic, Lutheran, Protestant
uses the material from each traditional group
to compare and contrast their teachings.

Greek Class - John 5:24-47. John the Baptist - A Burning and Shining Light. 7 PM Central Daylight, Thursday. Storm Warnings

 For now I will be marking in red
those Greek words with English derivatives.

Video for this class.

ΚΑΤΑ ΙΩΑΝΝΗΝ 5:24-471550 Stephanus New Testament (TR1550)

24 αμην αμην λεγω υμιν - οτι ο τον λογον μου ακουων και πιστευων τω πεμψαντι με εχει ζωην αιωνιον και εις κρισιν ουκ ερχεται αλλα μεταβεβηκεν εκ του θανατου εις την ζωην

25 αμην αμην λεγω υμιν - οτι ερχεται ωρα και νυν εστιν οτε οι νεκροι ακουσονται της φωνης του υιου του θεου και οι ακουσαντες ζησονται

26 ωσπερ γαρ ο πατηρ εχει ζωην εν εαυτω ουτως εδωκεν και τω υιω ζωην εχειν εν εαυτω

27 και εξουσιαν εδωκεν αυτω και κρισιν ποιειν οτι υιος ανθρωπου εστιν

28 μη θαυμαζετε τουτο οτι ερχεται ωρα εν η παντες οι εν τοις μνημειοις ακουσονται της φωνης αυτου

29 και εκπορευσονται οι τα αγαθα ποιησαντες εις αναστασιν ζωης οι δε τα φαυλα πραξαντες εις αναστασιν κρισεως

30 ου δυναμαι εγω ποιειν απ εμαυτου ουδεν καθως ακουω κρινω και η κρισις η εμη δικαια εστιν, οτι ου ζητω το θελημα το εμον αλλα το θελημα του πεμψαντος με πατρος

31 εαν εγω μαρτυρω περι εμαυτου η μαρτυρια μου ουκ εστιν αληθης

32 αλλος εστιν ο μαρτυρων περι εμου και οιδα - οτι αληθης εστιν η μαρτυρια ην μαρτυρει περι εμου

33 υμεις απεσταλκατε προς ιωαννην και μεμαρτυρηκεν τη αληθεια

34 εγω δε ου παρα ανθρωπου την μαρτυριαν λαμβανω αλλα ταυτα λεγω ινα υμεις σωθητε

35 εκεινος ην ο λυχνος ο καιομενος και φαινων υμεις δε ηθελησατε αγαλλιασθηναι προς ωραν εν τω φωτι αυτου

http://biblehub.com/greek/21.htm - rejoice accompanies....

36 εγω δε εχω την μαρτυριαν μειζω του ιωαννου τα γαρ εργα α εδωκεν μοι ο πατηρ ινα τελειωσω αυτα: αυτα τα εργα α εγω ποιω μαρτυρει περι εμου οτι ο πατηρ με απεσταλκεν

37 και ο πεμψας με πατηρ αυτος μεμαρτυρηκεν περι εμου; ουτε φωνην αυτου ακηκοατε πωποτε ουτε ειδος αυτου εωρακατε

38 και τον λογον αυτου ουκ εχετε μενοντα εν υμιν, οτι ον απεστειλεν εκεινος τουτω υμεις ου πιστευετε

39 ερευνατε τας γραφας, οτι υμεις δοκειτε εν αυταις ζωην αιωνιον εχειν και εκειναι εισιν αι μαρτυρουσαι περι εμου

40 και ου θελετε ελθειν προς με ινα ζωην εχητε

41 δοξαν παρα ανθρωπων ου λαμβανω

42 αλλ εγνωκα υμας οτι την αγαπην του θεου ουκ εχετε εν εαυτοις

43 εγω εληλυθα εν τω ονοματι του πατρος μου, και ου λαμβανετε με.  εαν αλλος ελθη εν τω ονοματι τω ιδιω εκεινον ληψεσθε

44 πως δυνασθε υμεις πιστευσαι - δοξαν παρα αλληλων λαμβανοντες - και την δοξαν την παρα του μονου θεου ου ζητειτε

45 μη δοκειτε οτι εγω κατηγορησω υμων προς τον πατερα; εστιν ο κατηγορων υμων μωσης εις ον υμεις ηλπικατε

46 ει γαρ επιστευετε μωση, επιστευετε αν εμοι - περι γαρ εμου εκεινος εγραψεν

47 ει δε τοις εκεινου γραμμασιν ου πιστευετε, πως τοις εμοις ρημασιν πιστευσετε

http://biblehub.com/greek/4487.htm

Potato Roses - How To Video

Some peel the potatoes first.

If the potatoes grow a bit, they are not going to hurt the roses.

***

GJ - I have not done this yet, except by accident. Long ago I pruned some roses and left the canes on the ground, in a pile. We had plenty of rain, and all the canes rooted simply from lying on the ground.

Many bushes have this power, to root from the freshly cut stems, so the videos above take advantage of God's engineering of the rose.

This is why every Peace rose comes from the original. The commercial rose growers use a-sexual reproduction but they also graft the showy rose onto a wild rose base. After a tough winter, sometimes only the wild rose base will grow and bloom.

Note - multiplying roses on your own is legal, but selling them is not. The commercial rose growers invest a lot of labor in developing, grafting, and marketing roses, in raising them for two years, in storing them in the cold, and shipping them out.

That is also why so many bargains are available late in the planting season (April-May). That massive investment goes on clearance, and lots of great roses can be bought for little more than the cost of a little potted tomato at Walmart. Some of the larger tomato plants are $6 a pot, and bare root roses from Weeks via Springhill were $6 this year.

Large gardening centers will also put their potted roses on sale late in the season. But avoid getting KnockOut roses. They look great for a few years, if pruned, then die. KnockOuts are inherently weak.

 Giving you the skeptical gimlet eye.

Warning! Warning! Watch YouTube Gardening Videos with a Gimlet Eye.
I look over a lot of YouTube gardening videos, and many of them appall me. One gardener showed off his big stand of rye, which he raised as a cover crop. "Now I am going to rototill it into the soil." That proves he does not comprehend the nature of soil, how God's creatures fashion soil from their unique and overlapping skills.

Another video shows a gang of people heaving logs, soil, leaves, and more - to form some kind of compost pile. If you need a posse to garden, you have the wrong hobby.

Yet another has the gardener gathering all kinds of organic material, shredding it himself, and then heating it to get rid of bacteria (!) and other organisms (?). These videos prove that God's engineering will overcome man's foolishness, as long as the measures are not mounted on a massive scale, where the soil is destroyed.

Creation Gardening will save people time and trouble,
while teaching the connection between Creation
and our favorite hobby.

Gardening Is Not Laborious
Gardening requires a certain amount of work each day, but that does not mean hauling and digging enormous amounts of materials to have a good result.

• If sod makes the best compost, why not compost on the spot by covering the lawn with opaque, organics - like cardboard and wood mulch?
• If leaves contribute carbon to the soil and shelter beneficial bugs over the winter, why not leave them on the garden and add more from the neighbors who do not read about Creation and bugs?
• If the soil benefits by leaving it in place, because of fungus and other organisms, why toss, flip, and eviscerate what improves the foundation for all plants?

 Put down that rototiller and
pick up a book on Creation gardening.

BBC - Earth - Plants talk to each other using an internet of fungus. Everyone Should Read This Popular Treatment

 This is the heavy duty version.

BBC - Earth - Plants talk to each other using an internet of fungus:



"No, we're not talking about the internet, we're talking about fungi. While mushrooms might be the most familiar part of a fungus, most of their bodies are made up of a mass of thin threads, known as a mycelium. We now know that these threads act as a kind of underground internet, linking the roots of different plants. That tree in your garden is probably hooked up to a bush several metres away, thanks to mycelia.
The more we learn about these underground networks, the more our ideas about plants have to change. They aren't just sitting there quietly growing. By linking to the fungal network they can help out their neighbours by sharing nutrients and information – or sabotage unwelcome plants by spreading toxic chemicals through the network. This "wood wide web", it turns out, even has its own version of cybercrime.

Around 90% of land plants are in mutually-beneficial relationships with fungi. The 19th-century German biologist Albert Bernard Frank coined the word "mycorrhiza" to describe these partnerships, in which the fungus colonises the roots of the plant.

Fungi have been called 'Earth's natural internet'

In mycorrhizal associations, plants provide fungi with food in the form of carbohydrates. In exchange, the fungi help the plants suck up water, and provide nutrients like phosphorus and nitrogen, via their mycelia. Since the 1960s, it has been clear that mycorrhizae help individual plants to grow.

Fungal networks also boost their host plants' immune systems. That's because, when a fungus colonises the roots of a plant, it triggers the production of defense-related chemicals. These make later immune system responses quicker and more efficient, a phenomenon called "priming". Simply plugging in to mycelial networks makes plants more resistant to disease.

But that's not all. We now know that mycorrhizae also connect plants that may be widely separated. Fungus expert Paul Stamets called them "Earth's natural internet" in a 2008 TED talk. He first had the idea in the 1970s when he was studying fungi using an electron microscope. Stamets noticed similarities between mycelia and ARPANET, the US Department of Defense's early version of the internet.

Film fans might be reminded of James Cameron's 2009 blockbuster Avatar. On the forest moon where the movie takes place, all the organisms are connected. They can communicate and collectively manage resources, thanks to "some kind of electrochemical communication between the roots of trees". Back in the real world, it seems there is some truth to this."



'via Blog this'

For the Birds - Their Habits Are Habit-Forming

People wonder about the stumps in my front and back yards.  I just dug two more in the back. They are simply a luxury I installed for the birds.

Bugs and worms will thrive under them, as the soil fungus begins its attack of the bottom of the stump.

The main attraction is the watch-tower they provide for bug-hunting. I see birds using the stumps all day long, always leaving their marks. The stumps are also handy for filling rose vases.

Birds also love to perch in safe places. In the bird-feeding area, I pour rainwater on three living perches. Two are Butterfly Bushes. One is a Pokeweed. Bushes are also landing zones for insects, so they feeders as well. The bushes provide shade for us, since they are between our house and the baking, setting sun.

 Norma Boeckler's Bluebird

Sunset provides a lively animation each evening. The shadows of birds on their swing play upon the wall behind my computer. I constructed two swings for two windows where feeders are hanging. Each swing consists of a six feet of metal rod hanging from small chains on each end.

Birds move from the bushes to the feeders to the swing - all day long. They are noisy eaters, chattering happily about their food, so they attract other birds. Rosecrested Grosbeaks joined the happy throng recently:

1. Grackles
2. Cardinals
3. Starlings
4. Common Finches
5. Goldfinches
6. Chickadees
7. Mourning Doves
8. Woodpeckers

Food, Shelter, and Water

Most of the food we provide is natural, from the mulched areas to the various plants and stumps that host insects or grubs.

The shelter comes from various bushes, trees, and vines. One bird nests in the vines hanging on our porch. The vines cover half of the picture window in front - our self-cleaning, redneck curtain.

I keep a lot of baths full of fresh water. In fact, I moved one away from the house and among the other baths. As soon as I filled it, a robin landed on the edge and began its bath, watching me warily.

God made birds to be extremely careful of anything new. If they were as sociable as puppies, there would be no birds left. 

Those who first begin to feed birds are disappointed about the deserted food. Birds may wait several weeks before they eat from a new source. Their habits also work in our favor. Once trust is established, birds carry out their daily tasks a few feet away from us. 

Most of God's Creation is hidden from us, partly by our failure to notice, but also by protective cover. As often mentioned before, no one realized the enormous influence of fungus until recently. 

I understand that some examples of fungus are thousands of acres in size, so we cannot claim they are too tiny to see. We are likely to watch 200 movies on eagles before we see a single one about the majesty, size, and power of fungus.

Fungus has probably cured one of your infections and given you a longer life. 

Many parts of God's Creation are like angels, unseen and yet at work to help us. We used to warn Little Ichabod, "You are wearing out your guardian angels. Safety first."

Creation Gardening - Various Arguments against Some Accepted Practices

Blackberries are blooming where I once only had weeds.
One weed is left - the others have fled.

I have been watching natural gardening and farming videos lately, but the best insights come from Gabe Brown. He has a combination of experience and scientific data to confirm his practices. When I walk around the neighborhood with Sassy, I see examples of various agricultural felonies.

 I have a much larger tree stump collection now,
and I bring home rotten wood from our morning walks.
Logs and stumps promote birds, bugs, and toads.

Bare Soil
Gabe Brown calls crop residue, cover crops, and mulch "soil armor," a good term. When the soil is bare, as it often is among gardeners, the surface heats up to 150 degrees in the summer. That destroys life in the soil while drying up the earth and the plant.

Wide-row planting and French intensive gardening (similar approaches) both use the concept of plants as living mulch.

Bug-Huggers Are Smart Gardeners and Farmers
Call me lazy, but I would rather attract pest eaters than try to kill pests with various poisons. Many of my plants are scattered around the front and back yards to host beneficial insects - and spiders.

• Daisies 
• The Clumping Mints - Mountain, Cat, Monarda
• Spirea
• Chaste Tree
• Clethra
• Cone Flowers
• Sunflowers
• Dandelions and other deplorables 

Crops Enrich the Soil
Those of us who have changed neglected areas into productive gardens have learned that plants enrich the soil. Brown states that 75% of the organic matter in soil comes from roots.

Root systems are unseen and therefore unheralded. They grow down to fantastic depths, often following worm tunnels, and change the soil by this action, but also by shedding organic matter all the time. The most astonishing work of roots is to set up fungal networks for sharing nutrition and water among many different plants.

The plants' shedding leaves (not to mention dead insects) will also benefit the soil. A bad weed can be tossed into the compost area or left in the deep shade of bushes to become compost. Leaves are the best way to improve soil for free - adding carbon and various nutrients from the soil and sun.

Depleting the Soil with Neatness
Many gardening and farming habits deplete the soil. With good intentions:

1. Plant residue is gathered up. 
2. Leaves are raked away. 
3. Soil is tossed and turned, as if the best thing would be to destroy the fungal networks repeatedly.

These are a few of the roses harvested for our chiropractor
last year - no chemical fertilizer, no toxins.

Water Infiltration Is a Major Issue

If the soil repels rain and snowmelt, the result is muddy flooding. A big rain is not only wasted, but the best soil is eroded away.

Creation methods open up the soil to let rain and snowmelt soak in, and also to hold the topsoil during 12 inch rains, which do happen. Therefore, soil armor prevents droughts and floods.

The Soggy Mess Is Blooming
Confession - this spring our front yard was a brown soggy mess of wet mulch, tree stumps, and the thorny silhouettes of roses. Lawns were green from excess rain. We only had sprigs of weeds popping up.

But now - drum roll - the older roses are all starting to bloom. Four orange Easy Does It roses are packed with color. They show up a block away, as I look back from Almost Eden. I cut a Veteran's Honor rose for one neighbor and Easy Does It for the altar and another neighbor. Yellow, pink, white, and red roses add to the display daily.

 How many bugs live the in the Crepe Myrtle?
The Cardinals nesting there enjoy the bugs and later the seeds
from the bush.

More details emerge in Northwest Arkansas kickback indictment | NWADG

 Randell Shelton Jr. and his attorney Shelly Koehler of Fayetteville walk into the John Paul Hammerschmidt Federal Building in Fayetteville for his original indictment March 28.

More details emerge in Northwest Arkansas kickback indictment | NWADG:



"Paris paid Shelton's consulting company $267,000 out of college money from 2013 to 2015 without notifying his college's board until October 2015, according to the indictment. Shelton is described in court documents as a mutual friend of Paris and Woods.

The case still rests on the same set of facts, and the change in the number of charges doesn't add any risk to the defendants because of federal sentencing guidelines, said attorney Shelly Koehler of Fayetteville. Koehler represents Shelton. Attorneys for Woods and Paris did not answer requests for comment Wednesday."

 Did Paris forward all those funds to Shelton without the knowledge of the college's CPA?
Certainly someone knew about that much
money being sent.

'via Blog this'

Why Would Anyone Shun Christian News ? Herman Otten Asks Disingenuously

 Herman Otten is consistent - he bans all Lutheran books.
The only Lutheran articles in CN are from the late R. Surburg.

Why Do The Organized Conservatives Shun Christian News? 
Christian News, March 3, 2014. Reprinted May 8, 2017.

This week’s lead story on the 40th Anniversary of Seminex lists some of the articles which appeared in Christian News during the months in 1974 as Seminex was being formed. Many of the articles were reproductions of newspapers reports which appeared in St. Louis and elsewhere throughout the nation about Seminex. CN’s own reports explained the theological issues involved which the secular press often missed. The AP insisted it was a struggle between power and scholarship. The conservatives were supposed to have the “power” and the liberals the “scholarship.” CN showed that the confessional Lutheran minority had the real scriptural scholarship on their side.

No, you cannot fool us with a graphic.
They are all on the same UOJ team.
Bucky's photo is older than Christian News.

Today at least some of those who sided with Seminex such as Dr. Charles Mueller, Sr., Dr. Arthur Carl Piepkorn, and Rev. Richard Neuhaus are considered orthodox and held in high esteem while, according to the LCMS bureaucracy, the editor of CN is an impenitent sinner on the road to hell, banned from preaching in any LCMS church, communing in the LCMS and banned from pastoral conferences. The LCMS’s organized conservatives have remained silent about this “excommunication.” He is a “Journalistic Wolf” out for blood as the American Lutheran Publicity Bureau already said years ago.

SP Matt Harrison was once a seminary student.Two phony doctorates in one synod -
Kintz bought a drive-by online doctorate in education,
in little more time than it takes to earn a real MA,
but he was working full-time at CPH. Astonishing!
Harrison dropped out of the seminary doctoral program,
but won an honorary for his electioneering
and winning the SP prize.
An honorary doctorate is worth one mass,
or in this case, one banjo ballad sung to Herman Otten.

“Noland Doesn’t Mention CN as a Resource for Learning About Seminex” was the title of a discussion of Seminex on the Steadfast Lutheran blog sent to Christian News by David Becker.

It simply is not politically correct for anyone who wants to be in favor with the LCMS’s Harrison administration and the LCMS’s high salaried ($186,000 a year) “unelected ruler,” Paul McCain, to quote Christian News or report what the CN editor has been saying in various publications beginning with the 1950s. With the exception of the Confessional Lutheran edited by Paul Burgdorf, and its supporters, theologians like Theodore Dierks, Harold Romoser, Arthur Drevlow, Fred Bartling, etc. most conservatives remained silent. The LCMS’s administration despised the Confessional Lutheran and few conservatives wanted to be out of favor with the LCMS administration and the district presidents.

 Buy your Reformation 500 shot-glass and other trinkets from CPH.
They refused to print Catholic, Lutheran, Protestant,
because the author (moi) published in CN.

Today most of those who want to be in favor with the Schwan supported Harrison administration act as if what the editor has written since the 1950’s about those who formed Seminex does not exist. Seldom are the 1961 and 1962 State of the Church Book of Documentations, which CN compiled before it began in 1962, the News and Views four part series on “What Is Troubling the Lutherans?” published by the Church League of America and written by Herman Otten with suggestions from a few others, including Kurt Marquart, A Christian Handbook on Vital Issues, the Five Volume Christian News Encyclopedia, Crisis in Christendom- Seminex Ablaze ever mentioned. There is no more complete source of information about Seminex than what appeared in Christian News week after week all during the years Seminex was much in the news. Hundreds of articles in CN were photographically reproduced from a large variety of sources, left, center, right.

Did Otten mention his free review copy of Creation Gardening? 

“A Sharp Difference-ON EVALUATING Christian News” on p. 13 of the December 10, 2012 CN shows the sharp difference of opinion in the LCMS about CN. The founder of the Steadfast Lutheran, who is close to the LCMS president, urged CN to close up shop after Harrison used CN to get about twice as many nominations for LCMS president than incumbent Jerry Kieschnick. Since then Harrison has refused to speak or meet with CN.

Did Otten mention his free review copy
of The Lost Dutchman's Goldmine?
Did the book's emphasis on Justification by Faith
annoy and appall him?
He has no trouble promoting Roman Catholic, Babtist, and Calvinistic books.

Noland claims that the best source of information about Seminex is Affirm, which he says is still in existence. CN helped Affirm when it began, often published its address and reprinted articles from Affirm. Now Affirm claims to publish everything conservatives need to know about the LCMS. Just compare what Affirm published with what CN published. Most of the issues of CN are now available on line. Check the index in the last issue of each year of CN since it began in 1962 with the indexes or content of Affirm. Affirm began when it was considered safe in the LCMS to challenge the liberals in public. CN gave Affirm its mailing list at its request to help Affirm reach laymen who could finance Affirm. CN did this without charge. Affirm said it would give CN it’s mailing list once it had one. Affirm never kept its promise. Affirm said it would not name names as CN was doing and would then “come up smelling like a rose” when compared to Christian News. When a founding editor of Affirm resigned because of a divorce, he sent CN some articles to publish. Dr. Tom Baker...

Paul McCain and Otten worked together to elect Al Barry,
both heatedly denying their collusion, but bragging about it
separately to me. They are both in the bag with UOJ

***

Otten is a true ecumenist -
he loves every doctrine except Luther's.

GJ - Otten treats the duplicitous and hypocritical synod politicians as his equals, as he should. He has spent 50 years getting them into office, including Jack Preus, Ralph Bohlmann, Kieschnick, McCain and Harrison.

UOJists like Otten, McCain, and Heiser+ (a recent convert to the Chief Article) ban every book and author that unhinges them, but they show an impressive breadth of interest in every false dogma that tickles their short attention spans.

In contrast, I promote all the books that might interest readers and try to find free or inexpensive copies for our ever-growing audience. For example, even though the ELDONA priests got their chasubles in a knot and spent their last conference denouncing me and hiding my books from view, I still promote Rydecki's translations.

He had to be the top dog, the only dog,
the synod president, the seminary president, the magazine editor,
the dogmatics text editor, and the censor who decided who
would succeed him in his role as SP/Sem Prez/dogmatics monopolist: F. Pieper.