ForbesOnTech

Small Victories in a Big Garden - How to Grow the Worlds Most Expensive Heirloom Tomatoes

Gardening is my guilty pleasure but for the last two years burrowing rodents have harshed my earthy vibe.

Last year, I thought building a raised bed planter could forestall the terrestrial invaders, but I was wrong.

This year I added two more raised beds that had metal lath stapled to their bottoms. Then I filled each box with estate blended garden soil from the dirt store in nearby San Pasqual. I dumped about 900 pounds of vintage blended garden soil into each box.

That was just the first of several mistakes I made this year. Turns out when I was shoveling dirt into the new raised bed, I ripped out several staples that held the garden lath wire at the bottom of the box. I didn’t realize this until after I planted six heirloom tomatoes and planted two rows of corn I had started in small six pack planters. The corn was unmolested for two days before I notice a six inch tall plant wiggling in the evening breeze.

I know exactly what corn stalks waving in the breeze means. Damn burrowing rodents. To add insult to injury, the same evening I saw my corn stalks waving surrender, I noticed something very strange in my original raised bed. It had been savagely invaded by a large rodent,

I’ve not given up on gardening or on winning a war against gophers and squirrels, but I have some observations about my struggle.

First most of the gopher and vole remedies you see advertised in gardening magazines are totally useless.

Case in point solar powered sonic spikes. The two I purchased may have attracted rhythm m loving gophers beaus within 8 hours of my sticking the useless contraptions in the ground I notice a gopher hole right next to the spike.
I had a similar results with a wind powered clacker.

I now have a mental image of two gophers curled up around the spikes an clackers, grooving to the music of my defeat, laughing at me in little tinny gopher voices.

A few weeks ago I thought simply “If you want war, you got it”. Then I called a pest control service who trapped squirrels and killed gophers. Within10 days, the number of squirrels scampering arcos my yard dropped from ten to two.. And I haven’t seen a new gopher hole in any of my three raised beds.

It could be a pyrrhic victory since after the expense of the pest control service, plus my own rodent remedies the cost of growing big honking heirloom tomatoes is probably four times greater than hat I would pay for them at any of the four local farm stands.
the really bad news, burrowing rodents have killed seven avocado trees, one Avalon peach and two hybrid apricots.

The really good news is I that one of the Christmas gifts I received last year was a $100 gift card at my favorite local nursery, El Plantio, here in Escondido.

The other cheery thing about living near the intersection of a city and wildlands is that the squirrels and gophers have attracted natural predators.

And, the image of a California long-tailed weasel hauling off a screaming gopher, or a hawk soaring skyward with a dead squirrel in its talon is more than OK with me.

And as I learned a long time ago in a place called Khe Sanh, like a home, a garden is where you dig it.—Jim Forbes on 25 May, 2016.

9 Gift I IdeS for Recovering Stroke Patients And How I Came to Love the Short Bus

Over the last several months a couple of friends have had strokes. Mine was more than 10 years ago, but I still remember what losing my mobility and dexterity on my affected left side felt like. I couldn’t wait to get home and was fortunate to have a home health care worker with whom I played cards and walked around the lagoons for many months near my home in San Mateo, CA.

I wanted badly to resume my career and thought I could do so until my stroke specialist doctor made me understand that dream just wasn’t possible. I really didn’t want to become a shut-in glued to daytime shows on the Hitler Channel, or glued to a telescope counting birds in nearby trees or on the lagoon.

My best friend is a retired doc who rebooted his life in retirement. It was Dr. Andy who lit a fire under my butt suggesting I enroll in an adaptive PE class at the college of San Mateo. I resisted the idea at first, but my doc said “Do it” and had a social worker show me how I could get to and from my home for the classes.

Although My driver’s license hadn’t been suspended (a common practice for stroke patients who suffer cognitive damage)I didn’t feel I was safe to drive.

One of the first things my buddy Dr. Andy suggested was to sign up for the local transit district’s handicap shuttle service. TO my surprise there were already several resident s of my condo complex who used the handicap shuttle to get to and from the adaptive PE class and to go shopping in San Mateo.

Which bring me, unceremoniously, to the point of this post.

      What kind of gifts re of great use to stroke patients.

Gifts for Stroke Patients.

1. Handicapped transit passes. Because such services are often underwritten by federal agencies they are affordable. And most importantly it’s liberating to get the hell out of the house and actively reengage life. I’m not the least bit ashamed to say I rode the short bus. It helped me get to doctors’ appointments, my adaptive PE program, and post exercise social activities.
2. Enrollment fees associated with joining a student body association and an adaptive PE program, designed for handicapped people.
3. Movie Passes. I’ve lost track o how many first run movies I saw on Friday afternoons, but I used the short but to get mw to the theater a lot, And it rekindled my longstanding love of the cinema and the art of movie making. Besides, the experience reinforced my dream of being a snarky a critic as the robot Tom Servo on Mystery Science Theater.
4. Any activity that helps or forces a stroke patient use the hands and digits on their affected side. One of the activities I’ve consistently recommended to friends since I had my stroke, are shopping trips to buy three or four Big Chief Indian lined writing pads. Part of this experience should also include stopping at an be to go to an office Supplies or Stationers to try and buy a pen that’s comfortable enough to be used to practice printing and writing for extended periods. Pens with large sculpted barrels can help stroke patients get back their ability to writing or printing. You should see the pen pot on the left side sof my desk. But damn it the damage to my left hand was bad enough that I’ll never be able to legibly long hand a story, ever again.
5. Library cards. After powering through everything my library system had on California, the “on” switch in my stroke addled brain got turned on suddenly and I remembered that in every library system there’s at least one kind research librarian. Although I knew about the university of California’ historical collection at the Bancroft library, it was a research librarian in San Mateo who showed me how to prize open the UC library system enough to gain access to electronic copies of those documents. Speaking of books there is one I believe is a must-read for stroke patients or their loved ones: D. Jill Bolt Taylor’s personal odyssey through a stroke, “My Stroke of Insight.”
6. 
7. Like most stroke patients, I’m very reliant on computers to write, read news or occasionally binge watch episodic television shows. As a result of my stroke, my vision changed and I find a large screen high resolution display is easier to use for extended periods. A large screen display for desktop PCs and a notebook with great screen resolution really help. In recovery I’m highly mobile and never go anywhere without a portable computer.  My new favorite is Microsoft’s Surface Book ( a 2-in-1 notebook that lets you disconnect the screen and lets use it as a tablet .If Surface book’s hefty price tag makes you blink or  you don’t require a Windows table, look at ultrabook portables. I carried an Acer S7 ultrabook for about 18 months and recommend this sub $650 rugged portable to my friends and family.
8. 
9. Driving lessons. Stroke patients needed to remember all divers are asked or must attest to) not being mentally impaired as part of the license renewal process. Well I wasn’t howling at the moon daft, but the stroke did damage my cognitive skills and I prepared for the question by arranging a simple road-test by a driving school instructor. I passed, he gave me an “A-OK to drive” letter and I was back on the road within one year of my stroke.
10. Friendship—So I really need to At how important this is to recovering patients of all types?
11. I am no longer ashamed of my stroke disabilities. Years later, I’m willing to hop in my Kia hamster van and zip up I-5 from San Diego to catch a limit of rainbow trout at Fuller Lake, or to go be a young man and listen to a little live Tower of Power at the state or a local county fair with a friend who shares my eclectic taste in music.

A stoke changed my life forever, I lost my ability to write legibly with my ultra-dominant left hand, but I sure as hell didn’t lose my sense of fun.—Jim Forbes on 7 December 2015.

Peach Buds Pop,Apricots Blossoms; My 211 Gardening Alarm Clocks

My ”“it’s time to begin working in the garden” alarm clock are rows of fruit  trees down below my house. When they begin to bud, I haul out my tiller, garden tools and soil testing kits and start thinking about what I”ll plant in the coming six months.
This year the alarm went off two weeks ago.but I decided to wait until the snooze sounded- when my row of mixed Mongolian and Moorpark apricots erupted in flowers one week after my avalon peaches.
i enjoy my time gardening. But sometimes I think there’s a conspiracy tp give me false hope. Like this year when my normally temperamental Mantis two stroke tiller screamed to life on the first pull. and then settled into a fast idle as  I set it in the dirt.
Dirt flying, my little mantis churned through my first 4-foot square plot.  then it fouled on a three-month-old rock that was growing 18 inches under the soil. I cleared the rock from the tines and surprising me no end, my Mantis roared back to life. but just as I finished the next four foot square, a furry vole popped up from the edge of the plot. Too bad. Voles don’ slow the mantis down very much and clean up with a high pressure nozzle is easy. And their little furry remains provide good sources of organic nitrogen and calcium, both of which are important for the 20-plus tomato vies I’m planting over the next two weeks.
I am absolutely convinced there’s a vole the size of the creature in the movie “Alien” bunkered down under my driveway producing hundreds of voles that every year infest my garden and orchard.
In years past I've tried to eliminate marauding voles using dry ice, blood thinning baits, and by getting my chihuahua to pee on their mounds.ultimately, the most effective method is my scoped Beeman pellet rifle. a competition steel pellet zipping along at 800 feet per second will catch your basic tough little vole by surprise and end his days destroying your tasty vegetables.
Like most southern California gardeners I’m plagued by soil that’s slightly alkaloid.  This year I treated my garden with 70 pounds of an organic compound similar to Dolomite and have my soil chemistry back towards neutral Ph 7 readings the on area of my garden that I’ve moved more towards the acid side of the PH scale are: a 10-foot by 40 foot strip that’s dedicated to growing my yearly Sequoia and Ozark strawberries; and, six mounds in the garden where I grow my two yearly crops of Yukon Gold and Russet potatoes.
By the first of June I’ll have my initial crops of strawberries. tomatoes spuds and zucchini. And as those crops come in, I refresh my soil and replant my gardens.
For the last three years I’ve also  grown Havana and Virginia broad leaf tobacco. It makes a fine insect barrier, stopping white fly and aphids. I've been surprised at how easy it is to grow tobacco and I've reached the point where I now use my own seed stock.
I spend about two hours a day in my two gardens and have come to appreciate the activity as part of my stroke rehabilitation, because it forces me to use my impaired left hand and work on  my balance. But most of all, I like the produce from my garden.
I’m surprised at how much I enjoy gardening.The local burrowing rodents, however, probably don’t appreciate that I'm a pretty capable marksman, but then if they stayed out of my garden and orchard. they'd only have to worry about the local weasels, coyotes and raptors.-Jim Forbes on 02/15/2011.

When Stroke Recovery Experiences Can Pay Off for a Best Friend

I’ve been at a complete loss for something to write about for the last week. That lasted until mid-day Sunday when my best friend as well as fellow childhood East Fork San Gabriel Canyon explorer Chuck Woerner called.

Know the saying that a good friend “is someone who’s right there beside you when the authorities come.” Well, there we were playing a game of Clue when the juvenile detectives knocked on the door. So yes, my buddy is that kind of friend.

Chuck is one of the readers of my blog and when I write about my deep feelings about nature he’s always been in my mind as I compose a post.

Our lives have paralleled in many ways.  And now we face some of the same issues, including having come through a stroke.

I take a lot of pride in the fact that when my buddy had his CVA he called me from his hospital bed. From reading my posts on stroke recovery he understood that it’s something I’m passionate about.

So how do you translate your thoughts on stroke recovery into tangible deeds?

There’s no question that sometime in the next week I’m going to drive up to his home at the top of the grapevine on I-5 and spend as much time as I can with him.

The overwhelming emotions that ruled my life post stroke was a combination of fear and uncertainty. Sensing that  in my friend, I’ve recommended that he look into an at-home rehab program, such as the one I used and recommend, Gentiva health Services’  Rehab Without Walls \www.gentiva.com.

Looking back at my life immediate post stroke, my fears were: being unable to care for myself, losing my drivers’ license and losing my career. The word “uncertainty” encompasses all that I felt in the first 11 months after my stroke.

Then there was the small matter of my useless left hand. Rehab helped me restore basic mobility but fine motor skills are still absent in my left hand.

One of the things that helped me regain some control was an unusual series of exercises I did in an adaptive PE class in San Mateo and more recently here in Escondido.

I smile at the simplicity of the exercise: drop pennies or dimes on the bottom steps of a pool and pick them up. My success at performing this simple feat was a major personal accomplishment.

The whole adaptive PE program at the College of San Mateo was a big help in restoring my confidence. And, I’m not ashamed to admit I rode “the short bus” to that class. Another of my best friends, Dr. Andy Sobieski, suggested I take the class, which for me was equal parts basic physical conditioning and self-confidence building.

One of the points I want to make with my friend who had a recent stroke is not to isolate or become overly self-conscious about a stroke related disability.

So, I am about to practice what I’ve been advocating here: and In the process I’ll spend time with a  lifelong buddy that’s going through a shared experience.

Dive into life post stroke, Chuck, I know you can do it and you’ll smile (perhaps lopsided) at your accomplishments—Jim Forbes on 06/06/2010.

Being Handicapped Means Learning to Adapt-- Even When It's a Technological Step Back in Time

One of the things I’ve learned since having a stroke is simple: some tasks require a step back, before you can go forward

And nothing illustrates this better than the simple act of my writing a personal check. When I try to fill out a check by hand, the result is often so illegible t the bank returns it uncashed, and that becomes so frustrating I sometimes get flustered.

I use m bank’s online bill payment capabilities for virtual all of my checking but the need to physically write a check comes up at least once a month. The simple solution appears to be to buy check stock I can run through my printer.

But that particular solution is costly and not particularly easy for someone whose handicap is an inability to write.

That’s why several months ago, I found myself on CraigsList, entering the words “portable typewriter.”

A typewriter in the age of computers? “How quaint!” you may think.

But it’s a practical solution to a problem that I and other Americans left handicapped by a stroke that robbed us of the ability to write legibly face.

So if life hands you a lemon, adapt, step back to a proven technology and if you can’t make lemonade, at least make some ugly tie dyes—even if you don’t have full use of your good hand and are partly color blind.

I may have lost the use of my left hand in a stroke, but I didn’t lose my sense of humor.—Jim Forbes on 04/20/2010.

Spent four Days Tie Dying-- here are some results

Six of the 16 shirts and dresses I tie dyed last week battling writers' block. First Roses of 2009  coming up in background

here's a sun dress I dyed. blank sun dresses suck up a lot of dye.  This one took about 3 quarts in three colors. I buy my dyes and sundress blanks from www.Dharmatrading.com. i recommend them highly.

Holiday Stroke Patient Gifts-- Surviving a Stroke and Laughing

It being the Holiday season, my blog is getting a lot of traffic from Internet searches by people looking for “gift ideas for stroke patients?”

            In pasts posts on this topic I’ve emphasized that one of the most appreciated gifts you can give a stroke patient is a simple visit or perhaps  a shared shopping trip, lunch, or  a going with them to see a first run or recently released movie.

            But there are many other things that stroke patients with limited or restricted mobility really appreciate including clothing such as:

            Athletic shoes with Velcro fasteners

            Sweat suits

            Pants or shorts with elastic waste bands

            A handcrafted tie-dyed T-Shirt. (I have 12 now)

            Fleece lined moccasins for wearing around the house

            Sandals that are easily put on and taken off

            Many stroke patients experience feelings of diminished self-esteem and feel they people may not accept them because of the physical effects of  strokes. Gifts that can counter such feelings and help a person to begin socializing again include:

            Spa gift certificates.

            Gift certificates for a hair stylist manicure or pedicure.

            Public transit passes (including instructions on how the patient can summon and use point-to-point public transportation designed for the handicapped)

            Gym membership

            Registration in an adaptive PE class at a local community college.

            Gift certificate for  “healthy cooking” classes

Adult education classes.

            Enrollment in hobby related classes

            There are all kinds of mobility aids. If your stroke patient needs a cane or a “scooter” consider the following:

            A genuine Shillelagh with a sturdy wooden knob on its top

            Custom pin striping or adhesive flame decals for a scooter  (the flames make them go faster and add much appreciated personalization

Stocking stuffers for stroke patients:

            Gift cards for Itunes, transit systems, coffee shops, down front concert tickets (you can’t imagine how happy I was to find out the band “Tower of Power” was not only still alive but that someone knew and understood that I was “Still a Young Man”. Fabulous gift. I’ve also managed to gimp my way to Allman Brothers and Doobie Brothers concerts since I had my stroke.

{n.b. retirement can be a lot of fun.  One of the little tawdry games I like to play is to go to the movies and hit “the Old Guy’s Discount Trifecta:

“Senior, Handicapped and Student” discounts on a first run movie. The trick here is to ask for all three discounts with a strsight face (kinda hard to do, since I have a smile that droops on the  left side)

Hey, I may have been disabled by my stroke, but I didn’t lose my sense of humor—Jim Forbes on 12/14/2007}

            

Serious Ideas for Gifts to Stroke Patients-- While They are in the Hospital

Gift Giving—A Stroke Patients’ BedSide’s Remembrances

If You Friend or Loved One is in the Hospital

Sveral times a day posts in my blog get served up when someone types the words “gifts for stroke patients” or “stroke blogs” into a search engine.

Having been so described, I thought I would take a few moments to talk specifically about gifts for stroke patients when they ‘re in the hospital and fter they’ve come home.

Recovering from a stroke is a lonely thing. I feel the most important gift anyone can give a stroke patient is “time and patience.” It’s the latter that can be taxing for friends of stroke patients. Learning to sit patiently with a stroke victim can be taxing. First, strokes often have a side effect of shortening someone’s attention span. I freely admit to having ADD and my stroke made it much worse.

Add to that the fact that I knew I wasn’t speaking clearly and you have someone who is confined to a ward and very frustrated.

I spent about four months in a good hospital with a first-class rehab ward and a great physiatrist (a doctor that specializes in rehabbing stroke patients). About the only socialization I had was communal dining with other patients, my rehab appointments, and interactions with the nursing staff.

Visitors were a gift from heaven. What I wanted most was news from the world beyond the fifth floor of the hospital. And most patients would prefer that personal news of their world be delivered in–person, by a friend.  Flowers may look nice, but seeing a friend does more to perk someone up, and the memory lasts a long time.

If you’re going to go calling here’s an idea for a gift that will be ravenously appreciated—a wholesome burger or other favorite comfort food. Good Lord, after three months on the rehab ward, I would have killed for chow from Taco Bell or InNOut. Of course, it’s wise to check with the nursing staff before bringing such food to your friend on a ward as the ability to swallow food is sometimes compromised by a stroke.

Assuming you feel comfortable taking food to a patient, why not make it a picnic out on a green hospital lawn?

My portable computer became my lifeline to the world while I was in the hospital. If you’re going to take a notebook computer to a stroke patient, make sure it has a dial-up ISP account on it. Very few hospitals have 802.11 WiFi so dialup is a must.

Using a computer while I was in rehab helped restore some of the fine motor skills in my  stroke-damaged left hand. Today, I still can’t write legibly, but I can and do type accurately.

            My notebook also opened up the world of Amazon.com to me while I was still in the hospital. Two of the most appreciated gifts I received in the hospital were Amazon gift certificates.

            I also received a nice set of Logitech stereo gamer headphones while I was in rehab. They really helped me to enjoy the music stored on my notebook.

            DVDs are another great gift. One of my friends on the rward received PBS’  Civil War Series on DVD.  Watching it became a nightly ward social event and fueled a lot of subsequent conversations over meals.

            To cut this post short, giving a stroke patient your time and learning to sit patiently may be one of the most important gifts you can give someone while they’re in the hospital.

            And remember, your friend only had a stroke, they weren’t diagnosed with leprosy or Q fever. Don’t be afraid of them, they’re still your friend or loved one.  Jim Forbes, five years after a stroke, happily retired, but still writing, on 09/08/2007 from rural San Diego County.