2009 | The Welker Family

H1N1 – SWINE FLU TIPS

October 13, 2009 Glenn Welker 1 Comment Tips

My wife and I have had a very hard time deciding how to protect our family from the flu. The general flu vaccines aren’t available through our pediatrician and the kids can’t get the vaccines at the local clinics. Many of our family and friends already have the flu, well before any H1N1 vaccines are available. We haven’t come up with any solutions but a family member who is a nurse forwarded us some general ways to protect yourself. It is interesting because it suggests that it is almost impossible to prevent being exposed. For what it’s worth, here are their suggestions.

Gardening

Saving seeds from peppers

October 2, 2009 Glenn Welker 2 Comments Gardening, seed saving, seeds

Peppers are quite promiscuous. Peppers have “perfect” flowers, meaning that each flower has both male and female parts. If a pepper is left alone, it will simply fertilize itself. But, if you have other varieties near by, bees and other pollinators will make sure that your peppers will have two parents. If you are adventurous then this can be a great thing. Save some seed from peppers in a mixed planting bed and you will likely be surprised next season. You may even be able to tell which plants were responsible for your next generation of peppers. You will certainly know the mother as long as you make note of it when you collect your seed.

Gardening

July 2009 Kent Whealy letter

July 23, 2009 Glenn Welker 3 Comments amy goldman, kent whealy, seed savers exchange

I have once again received a letter from Kent Whealy urging members to take action. Since the letter is incredibly long, I am choosing not to publish it as I have done previously. If enough readers request the letter, I will consider publishing it on the web site. Further, Seedsavers.org has a forum but they have chosen to ban any discussion on this topic.