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March 4, 2008
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With the recent downturn in the economy, many local garden centers have seen an increased interest from customers wanting to store vegetable seeds in case of an unforeseen emergency. If you have had this in mind, there are several things to to be aware of to be successful. These include proper storage, purchasing the correct type of seed, learning how to start seed indoors and in the garden.
The most important factors in determining how long vegetable seeds can be stored are the temperature and humidity level. Cooler temperatures and low humidity encourage longer shelf life. Several companies actually market vacuum-packed seed, which if kept frozen, may last for up to twenty years. However, it is wise to use the seed more frequently than this.
Another aspect to consider is if it is worth harvesting your own seed from garden plants. This was done in the past when seed was not readily available from stores. However, it is easier and more time efficient to just buy extra seed and store it. Knowing when to harvest seed, how to clean it and separate it from the plant can be challenging.
Another issue that can be confusing is whether to use open-pollinated or hybrid seed. Open pollinated seed come back as the same variety from year to year; whereas seed from hybrid plants will either be sterile or not come back as the same variety when replanted. Some advantages to hybrid plants are that they generally have higher yields and are more disease resistant. They are also the most common type of seed available at local garden centers.
A final thing to consider is timing seed planting to maximize the amount you can produce. In Cache Valley, the first week of June is traditionally when warm season crops can be placed in the garden.
But if you are not planning on purchasing transplants from the garden center, it is wise to know what can be sewn directly into the garden and what must be started earlier, such as many varieties of tomatoes and peppers. It is not hard to start them indoors, but you should not wait for an emergency to learn to do so.
If you would like to learn more about starting seed indoors and plant propagation, an upcoming hands-on workshop may be of interest. It is held at USU and is presented by local Master Gardeners and the Utah Native Plant
Society. Registration is $20 and participants will receive seeds and plant trays. More information is available on our Web site at http://extension.usu.edu/cache/htm/horticulture. Native and drought adapted plants will be given out but the principals are applicable to many other areas.
Taun Beddes is the horticulture agent at the USU/Cache
County Extension. He can be reached at taun.beddes@usu.
edu.
ing her 50 years old this year.
• Researchers claim that fewer than one in
100,000 women has the thin body shape of the Barbie doll. Times online
• Barbie’s body dimensions are very far outside the “normal” range. In a 2003 study posted by Bradley University, researchers stated if Barbie were full size, her measurements would be 32-17- 28, typical of a woman suffering from anorexia. The Body
Project from Bradley University
• “Slumber Party Barbie” was introduced in 1965 and came with a bathroom scale set at 110 pounds and a book called “How to Lose Weight.”
S killer thighs, a flat stomach, long blonde hair and perfect pink lipstick. And Utah
State University students are reminding the public that she’s plastic.
The women and gender studies program, directed
professor Brenda Cooper, took Barbie to a new el this month by planning a “Barbie Bash” where ents and the community were invited to redesign s so they no longer fit into stereotypical gender s. Students in media smarts and intro to women gender studies classes were assigned to make ie, Ken, G.I. Joe and Bratz dolls whoever they ed them to be without focusing solely on clothes air (for women dolls) and muscles and guns an dolls). The projects will be on display at the l-Cazier Library through March, which is also n’s History Month.
illa Burke, a student in intro to women and er studies, says she’s never had such a funny assignment but likes the idea that Barbie can represent women of all shapes, sizes, characters and careers.
“The concept of this kind of Barbie with the long hair, perfect face and makeup and how women are supposed to be is just such a false idea,” Burke says.
“It’s fake. She’s plastic. There’s nobody that can really become like that and if they do, they starve themselves every day.”
Two days before the project was due, Burke had five Barbies on her table including cross-dresser
Kendra, chubby McBarbie, gothic Barbie and
See DOLLS on C8
Photos by Alan Murray/Herald Journal
By Linda Lombardi
For The Associated Press
Taking a pet first aid class could save your pet’s life.
Instructor Lynne Bettinger knows this from personal experience.
Her emergency happened on a weekend when the vet was closed, as these things seem to do.
“One Sunday evening, my
15-year-old cocker was acting weird — pacing, restless, drooling, dry vomiting,” says Bettinger, a Red Cross pet first aid instructor.
Those symptoms could have meant many things, but then she noticed that the dog’s belly was distended. When she felt it, it was hard as a rock — a sign of bloat, a life-threatening gastric condition that is common in some larger breeds, but rare in cockers.
“If I had not taken pet first aid, I would not have recognized the symptoms,” she says.
“I might have said let’s wait and see how he’s doing. If I had waited any longer, he would have died.”
Red Cross pet first aid classes, which last about four hours, are a combination of lecture, discussion, video presentation and live demonstration. They can be taught for dogs, cats or both, and topics include actions to take in an emergency — such as CPR and controlling bleeding
— and how to recognize one, as in the case of the bloated cocker.
Students learn how to perform CPR and rescue breathing on stuffed animals modified to simulate lungs and airways.
Breathe into a tube in the stuffed animal’s mouth (covered with a sanitary mouthpiece), and its chest expands and contracts.
Real animals aren’t quite so cooperative, and there are risks
— like cracking a rib — that make sense if your pet isn’t breathing, but not if it’s done for practice.
The pet mannequins are also used to practice making emergency muzzles out of cloth strips. These can be necessary for human safety when an animal is in pain — “dealing with a sick or injured animal, even the nicest animal may bite you,” she says — but students also learn when not to muzzle, when the emergency involves choking or difficulty breathing.
The Red Cross first began offering pet first aid classes in
1997; prices are set by individual chapters.
The course was revised in
2007 to separate care for cats and dogs, which are different in some important respects.
“A cat is not a small dog,” says Deborah C. Mandell of the University of Pennsylvania, veterinary adviser to the Red
Cross. For instance, she says, while urinary blockage is possible in dogs, in cats it’s one of the most common life-threatening problems, and it’s critical to recognize the signs.
Another source for pet first aid classes is Pet Tech, which has 300 trained instructors in
30 states, Canada and Mexico.
Started 13 years ago by Thom
Somes, a former emergency medical technician and a human first aid instructor, the company offers first aid and CPR, dental care, and senior pet care classes.