Eric Wolf

Thanks everyone for you replies! I got busy looking for a new job, which I ended up finding one because my old one was SUPER stressful, fingers crossed that never happens again

Again thank you all for your replies!

Angel, thank you so much for your detailed and thorough post! Excuse my absence, I started looking for, and ended up acquiring a new job and forgot about all the threads I made here

Very insightful information to keep in mind - thank you!


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Angel Woods wrote:Just to add some more things I learned since making my last post, in defense of food and more.

Vitamins were discovered in 1912. For all of the rest of human history, people would look at you weird if you said you were deficient in Vitamin A.

As far as I know, at least in the US, supplements are way less regulated than food. There was a scandal about melatonin pills having way too much or no melatonin at all, for example. (Tip: you can drink tart cherry juice instead)

If you need supplements, get freeze dried foods in supplements. Freeze drying preserves most of the ingredients.

If you need a multi vitamin but hate the liver taste, you can get (or make, by getting empty pills, making the powder and filling them) freeze dried liver supplements.

If you need vitamin C and can't get it any other way, you might try freeze dried lemon powder.

One more thing to consider is sourcing of the ingredients, if they are not yours. Look for legit third party certifications, who owns the business, etc.

Packaging - Go for amber glass and metal lid. Avoid plastics and avoid clear bottles.

Eating is way more complex than just numbers. Food is not just ingredients. It's a complex organism and eating involves the experience of (hopefully) growing your own food, surely cooking it with your family and eating (chewing) together, but that concept does not drive sales because you can't market and make huge profits on beef or coconut.

Carolyn Spain wrote:I have the same problem with my 3-year-old blueberries.  They are producing berries this year but are thin and leggy.   I think they didn't get enough water during the last 2 drought years.   I will prune them back hard after they finish producing this year.  The soil here is Ph 5.5, so I don't think low acidity is the problem.  

What do you prune off??? If they're thin and leggy will pruning even work? Won't it take longer for the berries to produce again after you prune??

I think our soil by default is acidic. I even use pine needles as mulch.

Glad to see I'm not the only one.

Post some pictures of yours if you can!

Leigh Tate wrote:Amir, I'm not sure if I know the answer to your questions exactly, but I have these too and can share some observations. Is this the first year it's flowered? Those flowers should mean berries...

Can I see pictures of yours??

Ours are at least 3 or 4 years old!!

Ohh flowers are berries.. well idk what happened but I don't see any berries after it went to flower. We have like 3 or 4 or 5 out there. I think they're all the same type of bush. Can't remember what kind of bush they are exactly.

Hello. Many years ago we bought some high bush blueberries. I really wanted low bush, but I didn't really know much about either one - low sounded cooler ^_^

So far this year they're not really producing any berries? I went to Homedepot and those for sale already had berries, I'm not sure what happened.

(Pictures below of my high bush).

Question 1: Why did my bush not produce any berries this year yet? Or is it just delayed? I saw bees pollinating too

Question 2: Why is it growing all tall and stuff and not really producing more surface area to grow berries if/when it does produce. Are my bushes not growing the way these bushes should be growing? Maybe it's a sunlight issue. I expected it to grow out more than it has so far - it's growing kind of stringy looking.

If you look at one of the pictures below you'll see a very string plant reaching up.

I honestly want to just remove them and put low bush berries. Unless I'm supposed to prune these or something (never thought of that before)

I've planted since a cover crop of clover with intentions to interplant with the clover!!

Picture attached!

I've also hand tilled the left side of my keyhole bed (same picture below) with composted cow manure and organic fertilizer and planted kale and lettuce! How's it look guy's?

I don't get much sunlight in our tiny backyard unfortunately!

greg mosser wrote:the ant pictured isn’t in the same sub-family as fire ants - in fact, not the same sub-family as any ants with stingers. looks to be in in the Formica genus. they can be annoying but aren’t dangerous to you, or probably anything in your garden.

Then whats their purpose if they're absolutely harmless

Heres another picture

Anne Miller wrote:

C. Letellier wrote:It is important to know the desired food stuff of the ant in question.

I agree.  What plants are the ants eating or like the ants I have, are the ants carrying off the seeds?

I don't think they're eating any plants - they're just roaming around!

Saana Jalimauchi wrote:I have used cinnamon to repel ants.. I had a large pot that I filled with bagged soil and the ants had lived in one of the bags I guess.. I sprinkled a circle of cinnamon to the edge of the pot on the soil and few days later there were no more ants!

They were the basic kinds of black ants though, I have no idea if it works for other kinds of ants.

That's pretty cool! I'll try that too maybe! I think I have some cinnamon somewhere in the house. maybe I'll drop it in the holes and maybe the ants will leave

Anne Miller wrote:Those are probably not fire ants if the ants are larger than 1/4 inch.

We have large red ants that are called Harvester Ants.  These ants will rob your garden for the seeds if that is the kind of ant you have.

I use vinegar to kill ants.  The vinegar will also tell you something about your soil if it bubbles.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fire_ant

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harvester_ant

Here's a picture of it.

Will vinegar hurt the soil?