Well, to kick off my No Grade 1/144 Seed model reviews, I figured I’d start with the Strike, just the basic, GAT-X105 Strike, with no Striker packs or Skygrasper, just your generic beam rifle and shield. Despite that, though, I had the choice of picking up either the Launcher Striker, Sword Strike, or just the normal one. I went for the normal one cuz I wanted it to be basic with the Beam Rifle and Shield. If I picked up the other ones, my poor little NG Duel Gundam would’ve felt out-staged.

The model itself needs plently of painting, and only has basic artulation at the head, shoulders, legs, and feet. No waist or elbow movement, or hand and knee movement. You can’t really do much but just make it stand and look cute. However, if you give it a decent paint job, it’ll look that much better.

Most of the model comes molded in white, other than the chest and stomach area, which are molded in blue and red, as well as the feet being molded entirely in red. All the black on the model that you see in the pictures were painted by me, as well as the white on the feet. The v-fin is molded in yellow, while the head is white, so theres plenty of painting involved. Whats more, no stickers are included!!! Yeah, I know…sometimes Bandai gives you useless stickers for their models, but couldn’t they have at least included an eye sticker? I hate using stickers in general cuz I think the paint makes up for it, but eye stickers are another matter. Thanks to that issue, I had to use a toothpick to paint the eye and faceplate…and it took quite some time too…

Overall, though, this is a well-sculpted model, and it  looks great when painted. If you just like to have a little piece of eye-candy standing on your desk, then this is the way to go! Just take your time with the painting and don’t give up. However, if you have an unused eye sticker then that would make things a hella easier. You’re getting what you paid for this model; it shouldn’t be over $6.00, considering what you’re getting.

More pictures of the Strike with diffrent Striker packs (I.W.S.P.) will be up soon! For now, the plain old Strike in some happy-go-lucky poses will have to do. xD

It’s just two days after Thanksgiving, but I’d forgotten to say my “thanks” for my bountiful container garden! Started from seed, this Waltham butternut squash vine has been fruiting these past few weeks. The squash blossoms are very impressive. I have a few other Waltham butternut squash vines fruiting as well, growing in other containers in my back yard. The only task that I’ve had so far is to make sure that my vines get enough air circulation, to reduce the chances of powdery mildew (see my previous posts on this topic).

As the vines grow longer and longer (and hopefully dotted with more squashes), I will likely prop up the vine (and off the ground) on upside down, empty 5-gallon containers.

Check out the lovely purplish-colored flower on one of my Black Beauty eggplants! These flowers signal that the eggplant fruits themselves will be arriving. I’ve had only leaves up until this point, so am very happy about this development! For more information about eggplant, check out this informative site:

http://ag.arizona.edu/maricopa/garden/html/pubs/0203/eggplant.html

Life may be damp and increasingly chilly, and I know we’re looking down the wrong end of the dank, dark tunnel that is winter. But poking their brave little heads above ground all over the allotment are the signs of new growth. Just enough to keep me going up there whatever the weather: little flags of hope that spring is just around the corner.

These grassy little things aren’t actually going to be edible: they’re the beginnings of several rudely healthy and vigorous fields of grazing rye which I sowed at the beginning of the month on some empty beds to protect the soil over winter.

This is my favourite green manure and hugely useful as it’s tough as old boots and evergreen. It’s a bit of a thug, so weeds don’t get a look-in, and it shoves its wiry roots through anything short of concrete (and, given time, it would probably manage that, too). For clay soils like mine it’s like punching thousands of fork tines through every sticky clod all winter long, and it breaks it all up beautifully.

You don’t have to worry about it seeding, like you do with the summer green manures (phacelia and buckwheat need particularly close watching: one day, they’re all nice and leafy and green, the next they’re bright purple with opened flowers and you’re stuck with the proverbial seven years of self-sown seedlings to weed out).

Also showing up with courageous disregard for howling gales and torrential rain of recent weeks:

Broad beans: the Aquadulce Claudia I sowed in mid-October have been up for a week or two now and are about 4″ tall already. They’re supposed to be protected with a cloche but since it keeps blowing off I think that’s a bit of a moot point. So far two bricks at each end and a heavy plank of wood propped up against each side is still proving no match for the 70mph winds regularly hitting the allotment. If anyone has a foolproof way of anchoring polythene cloches to the ground in the teeth of an English winter I would love to hear about it.

Autumn-sown onions: the oldest kids in school these days as they’re nearly three months old and already big enough to be mistaken for proper grown-up onions. No protection but they’re hanging on in there and looking fine.

Sweetpeas: went in at the same time as the broad beans and now about 5″ tall and heading for the sky. That’s not good news if I want flowers so I shall be merciless and pinch out the tops this week to force them to make nice productive sideshoots (which will also hopefully stop them looking quite so spindly).

Salads: My last sowing of mixed salad, sown back in mid-September, is now bursting to make the leap out of its module tray and into the greenhouse borders. I have been very, very neglectful of these poor little plants (OK, I forgot I had them until they popped up from some corner of the greenhouse and waved at me in a reproachful sort of way) so no doubt they’ll bolt on me as soon as they’re in the ground: but I’m a sucker for a seedling and can’t bear to throw them out so I’ll give them a chance anyway.

Garlic: amazingly the garlic I planted just over two weeks ago is already up. But only half of it: the hardneck variety, Illico, started showing a few days ago and is now a sturdy three or four inches tall: intriguing. I know it said they’re early, but that’s arriving before you’ve even left home. The more sedate softneck ‘Jolimont’ is still staying put under the soil where it’s warm and dark and they don’t get flattened by the wind every time they look up. Sensible things: I may well join them.

SEED is in fact a “deluxe port” of an already existing mobile game. Take on a exciting journey on this breath-taking world, with each and every step will be fresh and memorable.

Game Features
- There are 4 different weapon types to choose from, and together with the intense skill system,
you will shape your character as openly as you can.
- 22 unique towns, and 150 different battle fields around the world are ready for you to conquer.
Take ‘Ship’, or ‘Air Balloon’ to make the travel easier.
- Day and night changes in real-time. Some quests can only be done in the night, and your battle
experience changes from the day to the night.
- Water, Wind, Earth, and Fire are 4 major elements that affects your combat.
- Character’s appearance changes not just by equipping different armor, but the weapon you carry
also changes the appearance. This will be visually pleasing, but you may feel more attached to
your unique characters, too.
- Collect Rare items, and Set items. After a while, you will feel your collection will be something that you can be proud of.

There is no sign of online multi-player game options from the game screen. I suppose they will add online playing features later on. This is usually the case for RPG games as they have plenty of graphics and game elements to work on for the developers themselves.

The game graphics are well down to the details. I can see nice drawings like trees and the shadings of the trees. The game has a wheel control for navigation on the left and the inventory and scrolls on the right hand side of the game screen.

As like the other RPG games on the market, you have to go on different quests to obtain weapons or items. There are 50 main quests plus 100 optional quests to complete. Thus, in total, there are 150 over unique quests for the player to complete in the game.

As for weapons, you can use socket creation, equipment fortify and compounding to bring items to the Blacksmith to create special weapons. This is similar to the Diablo RPG game on PC.

There are also different spells to use against different monsters.

There are different characters which you can choose in the game. I will think when you play with different characters, you get different special effects as shown in the below screenshots. Different characters will require the game to build up different skill sets as well as character attributes.

Gunner:

Knight:

Lancer:

Wizard:

Hopefully, I can get a preview copy of this game to write more about the game to share with readers out there who are hardcore fans of RPG games. An adventure is waiting for me and I can hear the words of the adventure starts with “SEED”.

Special Research on Vegetable Seed Market of China in 2009 report ( http://www.bharatbook.com/detail.asp?id=126593&rt=Special-Research-on-Vegetable-Seed-Market-of-China-in-2009.html ) As the primary component of planting cost, seeds are at the upstream of the industry of produce, and competitiveness of the seed market decides the initiative of competition in agriculture. China is a big agricultural State, and the utilization amount of seeds for planting purpose is over 12.5 billion kg per year. The capacity of the market of seeds of hybrid corn, hybrid rice, vegetables and cotton surpassed 31.5 billion yuan in 2008. The huge market makes the seed industry of China the focus of capital investment.

The competition of the seed market of China is relatively scattered, there is a large quantity of seed companies but of small scales, hence the concentration level of the seed industry is low. The thick profit, huge market, technical and policy barriers make the seed industry an eye catching sub sector of agriculture. Alongside the constant standardization of the seed market in China in late years, there have been mergers now and then. How is the current status of the seed market of China? How is the competition of the segmented markets of different varieties? How will be the seed industry or policy development in 2009-2010? What is the trend?

we organized experts on market, technology and finance to have an accurate, objective, comprehensive and systematic in-depth analysis of the market, enterprises and policy of the seed industry, and compiled a portrait of the current status of China’s seed market comprehensively and thoroughly. Also, professional viewpoints on the development direction of the seed market were concluded for reference. This report is one of the series of reports which cover China’s corn seed market, rice seed market, vegetable seeds market and cotton seed market. The special report on vegetable seeds market has in-depth research on vegetable seeds and the main segmented markets of different varieties. The segmented markets are seeds of tomato, cucumber, eggplant, chili, Chinese cabbage, radish, cabbage, carrot, celery and cowpea. This research report aims to have an accurate understanding of the development direction of China’s vegetable seeds market from 2009-2010 through analysis of the market, analysis of import and export and analysis key seed companies.

This report is a rare special research for industrial investors, strategic investors and large-scale seed companies both from home and abroad that pay attention to China’s seed industry. This report can also be an important reference for Titans in the seed or related industries, research institutions; investment banks, funds or security agencies that wish to learn the current status of China’s seed industry understand the trend or find investment opportunities.
 
To know more and to buy a copy of your report feel free to visit : http://www.bharatbook.com/detail.asp?id=126593&rt=Special-Research-on-Vegetable-Seed-Market-of-China-in-2009.html

Or

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Joy came to me.  I said, Now?  But yes is joy’s only word.  The wind says yes.  The earth says yes.  Even the distant sea says yes.  Under the waves the many armed yes, which clutches everything says, Yes.  Then two yeses meet when a shipwreck drowns.  Here, on dry land or here, in the trees, the singing yeses desire flight.  Joy lies on the ground.  It is a seed.  Now it unfolds on my tongue.  I listen for the rain.  Its pattering says, yes, yes, yes.  And yes came to me, and I was ready for its word.  When I was a boy, there were no end of noes.  But now my body floods with yeses even to the noes.

An international crackdown on the use of woods from the world’s rain forests to make musical instruments bubbled over to Music City on Tuesday with a federal raid on Gibson Guitar ’s manufacturing plant, but no arrests.

Assistant U.S. Attorney John Webb said the search warrant was obtained based on information in a sealed affidavit outlining the investigation.

Agents of the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service made a midday appearance and served a search warrant on company officials at Gibson’s Massman Drive manufacturing plant, where it makes acoustic and electric guitars.

Some hardwoods traditionally used in making premium guitars, such as rosewood from the rain forests of Madagascar and Brazil, have been banned from commercial trade because of environmental concerns under a recently revised federal law.

Under the U.S. Lacey Act, trading in such banned woods is a federal offense, punishable by civil and criminal penalties or the seizure of property. Last year, the U.S. Congress amended a turn-of-the-century wildlife protection law (the Lacey Act) to extend its reach to endangered timber species and plants. See the next post Where Were You When Wood Became A Felony?

The following is a excerpt from the Classical Values Blog. It is very interesting and I highly recommend you read the entire article at http://www.classicalvalues.com/archives/2009/10/where_were_you_2.html

The 2008 Farm Bill (also known as the Food, Conservation, and Energy Act of 2008, aka Public Law 110-246).

This amendment [to the Lacey Act] deals with illegal plants — the primary thrust being illegal wood. Henceforth, all wood is to be a federally regulated, suspect substance. Either raw wood, lumber, or anything made of wood, from tables and chairs, to flooring, siding, particle board, to handles on knives, baskets, chopsticks, or even toothpicks has to have a label naming the genus and species of the tree that it came from and the country of origin. Incorrect labeling becomes a federal felony, and the law does not just apply to wood newly entering the country, but any wood that is in interstate commerce within the country. Here are some excerpts from a summary:

The Lacey Act now makes it unlawful to import, export, transport, sell, receive, acquire, or purchase in interstate or foreign commerce any plant, with some limited exceptions, taken in violation of the laws of a U.S. State, or any foreign law that protects plants. The Lacey Act also makes it unlawful to make or submit any false record, account or label for, or any false identification of, any plant.

The definition of the term “plant” includes “any wild member of the plant kingdom, including roots, seeds, parts, and products thereof, and including trees from either natural or planted forest stands.”

[...]

Anyone who imports into the United States, or exports out of the United States, illegally harvested plants or products made from illegally harvested plants, including timber, as well as anyone who exports, transports, sells, receives, acquires or purchases such products in the United States, may be prosecuted. In any prosecution under the Lacey Act, the burden of proof of a violation rests on the government.

[...]

Violations of Lacey Act provisions for timber and other plant products, as well as fish and wildlife, may be prosecuted through either civil or criminal enforcement actions. Regardless of any prosecution, the tainted plants may be seized and forfeited.

Everyone means everyone, which includes every reader of this blog.

Obviously, this means that in the future, the Fish and Game guys will be able to accompany SWAT Team raiders to check all wood in homes and businesses for possible violations. Even if they’re wrong in their suspicions about the wood, it can still be confiscated. (Might that be a goal? To beef up employment at Fish and Game?)

Just think about the law enforcement possibilities alone. After kicking through and impounding your illegal wooden door, a federalized army of government termites could literally strip all wood paneling and flooring from every raided house as suspicious contraband, and haul away all the furniture, wood carvings, picture frames, tools, musical instruments! I can’t think of a better harassment tool. The list of potentially regulated items is mind-boggling:

the scope of products that will require a declaration under the Lacey Act is broad and includes certain live plants, plant parts, lumber, wood pulp, paper and paperboard, and products containing certain plant material or products, which may include certain furniture, tools, umbrellas, sporting goods, printed matter, musical instruments, products manufactured from plant-based resins, and textiles.

[...]

After September 30, 2009, based on experience with the implementation of the electronic system for declaration data collection, we will phase in enforcement of the declaration requirements for additional chapters containing plants and plant products covered by the Lacey Act, including (but not limited to) Ch. 12 (oil seeds, misc. grain, seed, fruit, plant, etc.), Ch. 13 (gums, lacs, resins, vegetable saps, extracts, etc.), Ch. 14 (vegetable plaiting materials and products not elsewhere specified or included), Ch. 45 (cork and articles of), Ch. 46 (basket ware and wickerwork), Ch. 66 (umbrellas, walking sticks, riding crops), Ch. 82 (tools), Ch. 93 (guns), Ch. 95 (toys, games and sporting equipment), Ch. 96 (brooms, pencils, and buttons), and Ch. 97 (works of art). We will announce a specific phase-in schedule for those chapters in a subsequent Federal Register notice.

Did they mention shipping pallets and cargo braces? Wood is not only in stuff, it’s in the stuff that the stuff comes in! Nearly everything is regulated.

Oh, and you firearm owners out there, let’s not forget gun handles!

Ch. 93 Headings (arms and ammunition).
9302 — Revolvers and pistols.
93051020 –Parts and accessories for revolvers and pistols.
Ch. 94 Headings (furniture, etc.).
940169 — Seats with wood frames.
Ch. 95 Headings (toys, games, & sporting equipment).
950420 — Articles and accessories for billiards.
Ch. 97 Headings (works of art).
9703 — Sculptures.

Glad I don’t own an art gallery, but my picture frames are not labeled, which means there are probably multiple potential felonies in progress in my home. (Perhaps I should be more careful about what I say.)

And while the NRA might not have noticed the impending crackdown on gun handles, at least IKEA is starting to speak up.

Between Wood Control and the Consumer Product Safety Nazis, I pity anyone in the secondhand business, including all Ebay and Craigslist sellers as well as people holding garage or yard sales.

In short, I pity the American people. This is not their fault, though, for no one has any control over what is going on. Not even the despicable fools we call “legislators” who cannot read the “laws” they pass because they are not meant to be read. As to the enforcers, they are only doing their job. They have to earn a living. And we are supposed to respect them, because they lay their lives on the line, “protecting” the public! From felonious wood!

Obviously, the full implications of this dramatic loss of freedom are beyond the capacity of a single post. After all, I am just one blogger, doing this by myself, without the kind of access to data that media organizations and think tanks might have. So, I cannot possibly hope to analyze everything. As things stand, I became exhausted last night just reading through the Lacey Act Amendment stuff pertaining to wood — and that was one mere fraction of an execrable, unreadable monstrosity. I don’t mean to whine, but slogging through such horrors is not exactly my idea of Saturday night fun. But who the hell else is going to do it? Flooring and furniture industry blogs? Who the hell reads them except people in the business? They’re all greedy tree haters and have no credibility. Besides, all big business is the enemy right now. We need to stand up not only against Big Cereal, but now Big Flooring! Big Siding! Big Furniture! (Is there such an industry as Big Chopstick?)

To read the entire article please go to: http://www.classicalvalues.com/archives/2009/10/where_were_you_2.html

These are this morning’s top day trader and active trader alert stocks seen.  We have more detailed analysis and data on each stock story with links over to VSInvestor.com:

Origin Agritech Limited (NASDAQ: SEED) is today’s top gainer on genetically modified phytase corn approval.

• Yongye International, Inc. (NASDAQ: YONG) and AgFeed Industries, Inc. (NASDAQ: FEED) are chasing the stock on the news.

Cephalon Inc. (NASDAQ: CEPH) is down on missing trial endpoints.

Tech Data Corp. (NASDAQ: TECD) is hitting 52-week highs after earnings.

Diedrich Coffee, Inc. (NASDAQ: DDRX) is soaring on a superior buyout offer from Green Mountain Coffee Roasters, Inc. (NASDAQ: GMCR) over the old Peet’s Coffee & Tea, Inc. (NASDAQ: PEET) bid.

Late Friday afternoon we ran a “unusual stock options trading bit” which so far have not seen follow-through.

You can join our open email distribution list to hear more news on key analyst calls, top day trader alerts, mergers and acquisitions, Buffett and other investment gurus, IPOs, secondary offerings, private equity, and more.

JON C. OGG

There’s no low that’s too low for me to stoop to, darlings. I’m childish, petty, not v nice, and basically absolutely all right with that. Especially when I’m convinced I’m right.

And I usually am.

1. This is just not natural.

Gay penguins.  Moar gay penguins. Apparently, penguins are really gay. Gay-marriedly gay.

A very gay penguin with his gay family, gaily posing for a gay picture of him and his gay family, The photographs might have been gay, too. The camera sure was a lesbian. I have gaydar. I can tell.

In fact, so many animals are pushing the gay agenda that Wikipedia had to make an entire list of them. And the Bonobos, who are so human-like, heh heh heh, are evil filthy lesbians.

This fascinating article from the SEED magazine provides us with many valuable trolling opportunities:

Male big horn sheep live in what are often called “homosexual societies.” They bond through genital licking and anal intercourse, which often ends in ejaculation. If a male sheep chooses to not have gay sex, it becomes a social outcast. Ironically, scientists call such straight-laced males “effeminate.”

Giraffes have all-male orgies. So do bottlenose dolphins, killer whales, gray whales, and West Indian manatees. Japanese macaques, on the other hand, are ardent lesbians; the females enthusiastically mount each other. Bonobos, one of our closest primate relatives, are similar, except that their lesbian sexual encounters occur every two hours. Male bonobos engage in “penis fencing,” which leads, surprisingly enough, to ejaculation. They also give each other genital massages.

As this list of activities suggests, having homosexual sex is the biological equivalent of apple pie: Everybody likes it. At last count, over 450 different vertebrate species could be beheaded in Saudi Arabia.

Do I hear the bigots hetero-panicking yet? Mmmm(1).

Also, a list of gay animals with their gay photos.

2. There’s no gay gene.

There’s no stupid gene, either. And yet!

3. Gays are desperate, hopeless, sad, lonely, miserable people.

Possible replies:

a) And you’re so not helping.

b) Ask about how many gay friends the bigot has, and consequently, how they can tell.

c) Tell them to fuck themselves with a coat hanger.

d) Shove the statistics (with explanation) down the bigot’s bigoted throat.

d”) Mention suicidal children.

d””) Say it’s all the bigot’s fault. Make it personal. They will start feeling uncomfortable sooner or later. Stoop as low as possible. Actually, there’s no stooping too low when you’re talking to a person who believes you’re not really human at all, anyway.

4. Oh, and they’re really slutty too.

And yet they would never want to have sex with the bigot.

Bonus: point out that it’s a but bizarre how they keep bringing up the gay sex all the time. Ask them about repression. Mention internalised homophobia. Point out that homophobic males are sort of totally turned on by gay porn.

5. I LOVE gay people, but I just don’t like what they do.

This one’s fairly straightforward. Proceed from a) to b).

a) Take them at face value first. Ask them what is it that they dislike. Do they have issues with your crocheting? Or is it your choice of books? They will become exasperated, and also

b) This way you proved that you’re human. They might suffer from cognitive dissonance now. Hopefully. Proceed to point out nobody is forcing them to have gay sex, and it’s none of their business what other people do. They might have trouble dehumanising you again, because in a) you showed that your resemblance to a real person is uncanny, and you do not look much like the evil child-rapist and fire-breathing demon they pictured you to be.

6. Anal sex causes AIDS/STDs/cancer.

This why fundie kids like it so much, right?

Bonus: all sex causes all sorts of trouble if it’s not safe sex.

7. Gays can change, therefore they should.

Black people can change skin colour — I mean, look at Michael Jackson – therefore, they should.

(Shamelessly stolen from eliwurman)

8. Gay parenting harms children.

a) Ask the bigot whether the parenting of their parents was gay, because it sure harmed them.

b) Get personal. Tell them the bigot’s parenting, as a result of which more hateful homophobic might be brought up, is much moar harmful anything a pair of clueless gays could ever accomplish. They had it coming.

9. The gays already have equal rights, they want special rights!

a) Point out that the right to marry, adopt children, and not have bigoted fuckwits disrupting your life at every opportunity is not in fact a privilege.

b) Or just inform them that while eating Xian children is in fact a bit further down the gay agenda than such basics as gay marriage, you will of course do everything in your power to get your hands on the government-subsidised foetus sushi(2) that you’re clearly entitled to.

10. The bible is crystal-clear on the subject of homosexuality.

Yes. Yes it is.

(The anti-gay arguments used in this post come from the anti-gay bingo card)

(Still 15 to go)

(But you can start trolling now)

(1) Roughgarden’s theory sounds pretty interesting. Will have to pick up the book when I’m less busy.

(2) With salmon and wasabi.

We’ve been following a neighborhood Tulip Tree as it cycles through the seasons. The last time we posted photos was way back on June 18, when the seeds were green, but ripening. The seeds remained that way through most the summer, then gradually started turning brown. Once the leaves had turned bright yellow in late October, the seeds looked like this:

The Tulip Tree seeds are framed by yellow leaves. Also note the duck-bill shaped bud to the left of the seeds.

Soon the leaves were swept off the tree by a wind-drive rain, and something — probably squirrels — found the ripened seeds to their liking. Here is one of the last remaining seed clusters, photographed in early November:

This was one of the last seed clusters remaining on the Tulip Tree.

Once the seeds have all been eaten or fallen to the ground, the tree will be back to where it started last spring.

You can see our first photos of Tulip Tree buds at the bottom of this post from April 8, 2009.

Go here for our most complete post about Tulip Trees, which starts with the flowers and then goes back in time to how the tree looked as the buds were opening.

I have been hearing about the spice market and I have desperately wanted to go. It sounded like a magical place where the sights were only rivaled by the smells. Where wholesalers bargained out of burlap sacks and the color of the spices lit up the canvas of the market.

Unfortunately, it felt a little drab – more like the streets of Oliver Twist rather than the hoped fields of the Sound of Music – but there were some beautiful sights to take in. The spices did light up the back drop a little – like the hushed tones of a sepia infused photograph. Quietly stunning.

On the way to the Spice Market in Old Delhi, the streets are lined with nut wallas – a walla is a merchant – so you guessed it – a nut walla sells nuts. There were dozens of them – one right after the other. Their displays were beautiful and tasty.

There was also a paneer walla. He sells blocks of paneer – think cottage cheese meets tofu – it is very popular here among the veg and non-veg eaters. And, yes, it bothered me a little that it was not refrigerated – but it did not seem to bother anyone else.

Along the way to the actual Spice Market, you see a lot of stalls with spices in them. But even though these are not the stuff that the official wholesale spice market is made of, they are pretty all the same.

There are also all sorts of pickled treats. I am a big believer in “when in Rome” so if this had been pasta, I would have surely tried it. But alas, I am in India and could not bring myself to taste these unidentifiable delights. The locals were not so shy and quickly savored them.

Now this is another story – take a potato, slice it, and fry it in some grease – and you have yourself a customer.

These are bags of rice and flour.

These are seeds for Lotus flowers.

Someone told me what these were but I cannot remember – some form of crystallized sugar – maybe molasses – I can’t remember – if you know, please do tell.

I wanted to go all Martha Stewart on these stars of anise and decorate them with glitter or at least a little paint. Wouldn’t they be pretty hanging on a tree with a ribbon?

These bowls were in the actual Spice Market. I did not know what all of them were – but there is surely curry, pepper, cinnamon, salt, coriander, ginger, chili powder, and many other yummy spices in these bowls.

I wonder how this works. These are red chili peppers. This is a wholesale market – so it is entirely possible that these bags get emptied every day. But what happens if they don’t all sell? And who is buying that many chili peppers?

This yellow root is tumeric. It is said if you grind it and add it to a warm glass of milk and drink that every day, you will fight off the swine flu.

And, no, I really don’t want to know why they are selling rat traps here.

These are dried rose petals for making potpourri. They smelled as lovely as they looked and reminded me of my grandmother’s bathroom.

This is what a typical stall looked like. Bags brimming with spices just waiting for someone to come buy them.

And really, truly, don’t blink or you might miss it. This is the sign above the alley that tells you that you have officially arrived at the Spice Market. It was a crowded place with lots of activity – not many tourists – and a lot to see. I am glad we found it!

Five Random Factoids About Cashews

1. The Cashew plant is native to northeastern Brazil. Its English name derives from the Portuguese name for the fruit of the cashew tree, caju, which in turn derives from the indigenous Tupi name, acajú. [Thank you, Wikipedia!]
2. Although a nut in the culinary sense, in the botanical sense the fruit of the cashew is a seed. The seed is surrounded by a double shell containing a  a potent skin irritant chemically related the toxin found in poison ivy. This caustic resin is actually used in industry to make varnishes and insecticides!
3. In Malaysia, the young leaves of the plant are often eaten raw as salad or with sambal belacan (shrimp paste mixed with chili and lime).
4. Although cashews may be labeled as raw, they are never completely raw since heat is a necessity during the shelling and cleaning process. (I learned this earlier today from my very smart friend Lindsay!)
5. Cashews are delicious when eaten in a Cashew apple curry on jasmine rice*.

Deanna

*No, I didn’t make this myself. It came from a far far better place: Devour. If you’re not already familiar with it, Devour is a teeny tiny restaurant on Broughton St. in Victoria. Everyday the women who own it make about six entirely original dishes, and every day, each and every one is delicious. I can say this with authority, as I have now eaten there dozens of times, and have never had a bad meal. I have however, for slightly more than the price of a Big Mac meal, had a lunch that made me nearly weep with pleasure, and has caused me to immediately scuttle back to the office to email all my fellow office dwellers in an effort of exhort them to not miss the lamb shank/crab salad/tortiere/casoulet with duck confit etc. Go soon, go often.

Then God said, “I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food.

New International Version

I am by no means an actress. At fourteen years old, I dabbled in the art. I wrote a Shakespearean themed play to act out with a friend on a stage in front of parents, teachers and classmates. My monotone lines and blank stare were enough to scare me away. It just was not for me. I prefer to write the lines, and watch others perform. I’m a puppeteer; I run the show.

One might attribute my lack of acting skills to stage fright. It is an easy excuse. “My lines suffered from my stage fright.” No, thank you. I just cannot act. Now, you may presently be thinking: “What in hell does this have to do with writing?”

Everything.

Page fright, publication fright, whatever you would like to call it. It is the reason you have yet to submit a piece of your work to any type of publication.  You are afraid of rejection, of not being good enough. Who knows, you may not be.

Rejection means everything. It is the water to your seed of writing. You may pinch yourself to see if you are dreaming, what I am telling you is not a nightmare. Without rejection, you will be lead to think your writing does not need room to grow. It does, all writing needs room to grow. Rejection forces it to do so.

My first submission to a literary magazine took place at Rider University two years ago. I sat in my dorm, horrified. I had the guidelines in one screen, and my pieces in others. I refused to pick what to send to the magazine, I was afraid of what the outcome would be. I forced myself to submit a short story, and various poems. Not everything was accepted. To my surprise, that was thrilling. I was forced to confront the fact that my writing has yet to become perfect.

Now, I am daring you. Write a short story; write it about anything. Then, when you have tortured every last sentence to your idea of perfection, search for a literary magazine currently accepting submissions.

Submit.

Im Dezember geht Frank Dellé auf Tour. Er ist die zweite “Auskopplung” von Seed, falls ihn jemand noch nicht kennen sollte. Ich mag seine Musik und werde in Hamburg am 15.12. wohl in der Fabrik arbeiten.

Für die Tour hat er sich etwas Nettes ausgedacht, man kann die Support-Bands per Voting bestimmen.

Afton Field Farm is a grass farm.  Yes, we are a livestock farm, but grass is our focus and our first priority.  If the soil is nourished, enriched, and healthy then, subsequently, the things on that soil will be too- the grass, animals, and the environment.

{current state}

You can use animals to help encourage the growth of the natural grasses. You can see from the photo the area of the pasture we ran the chickens (both layer and broiler) this year.  The annual rye grass, which the pasture has been in for awhile for grass seed, is growing back much faster and richer than the further field.

{loaded}

We wanted/needed to speed the process up for our pasture.  We spoke to many experts, friends, and fellow farmers that helped us evaluate what would be best to plant.  We wanted to reseed because we want our pasture to be a permanent pasture with a mixture of annual, perennial, grasses, legumes, and forbes.

{the mix}

So we loaded up the 4-wheeler with our mix of red clover, white clover, orchard grass, timothy, and tall fescue (endophyte free- apparently there are these little microbe things that can cause the cattle to blot. And we don’t want that, so our fescue is free of those little guys).

{the supplier}

We got the mix from the Glacier’s, who are a local grass seed grower.

{saddle up}

So my cowboy and I saddled up the trusty 4-wheeler,

{the range}

and hit the open range

{spreading}

spreading the glorious pasture mix along the way- and praying that the ground loved it and fosters a great growing environment.

We decided to put no metal in the ground- we simply broadcast the seed over the ground.  If the ground isn’t too wet later this winter, we are hoping to put some sheep to work by hoofin’ around and stompin’ the seed deep into the ground.

{glorious!}

It was raining and there were very threatening clouds in the sky when we first rode the bucking bronco out to the pasture, but then the clouds broke and the sun beat down upon us and warmed our souls.

{promise}

And just as we were getting ready to call it a day, we looked out over our field and saw this wonderful sight.

It was the perfect way to end our day- with the promise of protection and blessing on our land.  It was spectacular.  And I think what I loved most about this moment, was that there are more rainbows that end on our land then any other place I have been to.

It’s a pretty reassuring and joyous feeling

blackened tempeh burger from Seed

it’s a little bit difficult to find parking around Seed’s venice location, but if you’re on your bicycle or walking (which, hopefully you are) around the beach path then you might want to stop in for a quick bite at Seed. there are so many vegan and vegan-friendly eateries cropping up around los angeles these days! Seed offers ‘macrobiotique’ vegan cuisine brought to you by chef eric lechasseur. you might know him from his famous cookbook, “love, eric,” and he’s also been featured in many notable magazines. he also did a second cookbook with his wife, sanae suzuki titled, “love, eric & sanae.”

the food: i only tried the blackened tempeh burger with sauerkraut for $9.95. i thought it was average as it didn’t send my tastebuds singing. call me crazy but for ten dollars i was expecting more. it was filling but it wasn’t really what i had in mind for a blackened tempeh burger. i needed more flavour and i would have enjoyed more sauce because it seemed too dry. however, i would still go back to Seed to try other things. their menu includes salads, soups, one-dish grain bowls, paninis, curry bowls and desserts. i appreciate the philosophy at Seed, which you can learn more here.

Seed
1604 Pacific Avenue
Venice, CA 90291
310-396-1604
www.seedkitchen.com

It’s always a good day to go Swimming! That’s my idea of being Baptised. Today in Rumbek, Sudan, two congregations gathered together to Baptise new Believers. How cool is that! It’s extremely cool to see this Reaping of the Harvest after my friends were there watering.

What is your role in the King’s field? Are you sowing seeds, watering, or harvesting? Each is important, but any farmer will tell you, there’s no Harvest without seed being sown.
Why don’t you pray today to the Lord of the Harvest to send out more Laborers?
Rev79.

Donut seeds, by Jason Fulford.

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