Page 8-A
Opinion
Thursday, June 21, 2012
Pepper farmers no more? A new year, a new crop As the gardening season progresses, it appears that this year Chris and I won’t reprise our roles as pepper farmers. Due to some extremely zealous tomato plants, our peppers have been overshadowed, and without adequate sunlight, I doubt we’ll have a hearty crop. Our sixfoot-by-six-foot raised garden has had many positive effects on our ability to make plants grow, but there’s only so much room for plants. When the plants were small, we thought that a few rows of peppers next to the tomatoes would be a good idea. There seemed to be enough room for everything, and judging by last year’s crop, I doubted that anything would take a significant growth spurt. That was two months ago, and now we have tomato plants that are taller than Chris is. Granted, the bed is raised about two feet, but that still makes for some extremely tall tomatoes. We started with some three-foot stakes and a roll of gardening twine to hold our tomato plants upright, but when they began toppling over the highest point of the twine trellis, we upgraded to a mail-order tomato cage. Unfortunately, we didn’t think before we snipped the twine, and all of the tomato plants came crashing down, crushing an unsuspecting okra plant and sending our tomatoes into shock. With a little work, we set the tomatoes back to some semblance of order, and a good drink of water and some plant food helped them overcome their shock. The tomatoes are so bushy and wild that we still need twine and stakes to keep them from taking over our entire garden, but we’ve pretty much given up hope that the bell peppers will produce. They are lost in the tomato jungle where it is very dark and cramped. I’ll give it to the peppers that they have remained very leafy and green through all of this, but I have yet to see any fruit forming. Our jalapeños and cayenne peppers are doing a little better than the bell peppers. They managed to get rows were the tomatoes have been more successfully held back. I haven’t seen any peppers starting to form, but they are getting tall and straight, and they have plenty of light to produce fruit as the summer progresses. Since it’s been a warm spring, it’s easy to forget that summer hasn’t even really begun. By all indications from the weather, summer started in April, but this is, in fact, the true first week of summer. I keep looking at my plants and wondering why they are so slow to produce, but in truth, they are being exceptionally fast growers for summer to not even really be here. Last Saturday, we picked our first tomato of the year. It was a black cherry tomato, and it was perfect inside and out. Chris and I decided to grow heirloom tomatoes this year, and black cherry was one of his picks. They have a dark, purplish skin and a deep red flesh, and they are delicious – at least judging by our first tomato. We have many clusters that are getting ready to ripen, but the first is always the most exciting. We also have Tommy Toes, Cherokee Purple, German Pink, Delicious and Indian River that have all produced some young tomatoes. Now, we must simply wait for them to ripen. We grew tomatoes last year, and our plants never took off as well as they have this year. They stayed about two-feet tall, and each one only produced a few fruits, most of which rotted before they ever ripened. We’ve learned from our mistakes, and now we are much more careful about checking the pH levels of the soil and making sure our plants get enough nutrients. Having a good garden takes more than simply watering the plants and hoping for the best. Corn is something that neither of us has ever grown, but we decided it would be nice to have fresh corn on the cob, so we planted a patch. So far, our corn stalks each have a few ears, and we had one that looked ready compared to all the others. We picked it, shucked it, and were greatly disappointed that it only had about 15 mature kernels. I guess we learned our lesson about getting too excited. I’m still not sure how to tell when the remaining ears are ready, but I know we’ll give them more time on the stalk. While we have had a few slow starters, the squash has flourished almost as much as the tomatoes have. Last year, we had a nice butternut squash vine, but the baby squash never got bigger than a baseball before the vines died (I think we had some hungry voles that ate the roots). In our raised garden, the roots are protected, and the squash plants have taken off. One butternut vine is at least 10-feet long, and it has a squash that is more than three times the size of last year’s failed crop. We have several smaller baby squash, and on another vine, I’ve noticed an acorn squash beginning to grow. Somehow, we forgot to plant yellow summer squash, and we’ve been lamenting the fact that all we have are winter squash in our garden. Unfortunately, we simply didn’t have any more room to plant. Our peppers are already overcrowded and we can’t tell where one tomato plant begins and another ends. We’ve taken to training sprawling, viney plants to climb up rather than spread out – not that it’s saved us much space. Next year, we’ve decided to clear our hilltop and have a “real” garden where we can spread out and everything won’t be crushed side-by-side. We plan to turn our raised bed into a strawberry bed, and the rest of the garden will have plenty of room – and light – to grow at its own speed.
Will new energy wonder of the world be built?
What soars 3,000 feet into the sky, can produce 2,500 megawatts of electricity per hour and costs $5 billion? No, it’s not a giant nuclear powered rocket ship or a mountain covered in solar panels. The answer is either (1.) a massive engineering pipedream, (2.) one of the greatest boondoggles foisted on the public in the name of renewable energy or (3.) a new wonder of the modern world. Clean Wind Energy wants investors and governments to believe No. 3 is the correct answer when it comes to the “down draft tower,” proposed for 1,760 desert acres in San Luis, Arizona. The edifice would be taller than the pyramids and more massive than an oil tanker. Desalinated water would be pumped by Mexico from the Sea of Cortez to San Luis where, according to the Maryland
company’s website, a hollow cylinder with a water spray system at the top would rise more than a half mile above the arid ground. “Pumps deliver water… to spray a fine mist across the entire opening. The water evaporates and cools the hot dry air at the top. The cooled air is denser and heavier than the outside warmer air and falls through the cylinder at speeds up to and in excess of 50 mph, driving the turbines located at the base of the structure. The turbines power generators to produce electricity,” explains Clean Wind Energy. Voila! Not only does the Tower of Babylon – excuse me – downdraft tower generate power, it produces fresh water that can be used to transform San Luis and neighboring environs into an oasis, not to mention creating 2,500 construction and 1,000
permanent jobs. All this glorious promise is from a startup company whose shares were trading at 4.5 cents each at the end of March. Now, go back in time and imagine you are a local government appointee who sits on an ancient Egyptian zoning board reviewing a petition from Pharaoh for construction of a new pyramid and a giant sphinx. “You say this is solely for the glory and vanity of Great Pharaoh and has no other purpose?” The engineering minister yawns and answers, “Basically yes, but it will create several thousand slave positions and probably become a popular tourist attraction for a couple of ages. We think it can be funded partially through an energy stimulus package because both structures will cast large shadows and provide cooling from the desert sun.” Would you be skeptical or say, “Sounds like a good idea!” and scratch your approval on a clay tablet? The Yuma Sun reported on the decision of San Luis’ Planning and Zoning Commission when con-
fronted with the downdraft tower project. It resulted in a 5-1 vote to send the application to the city council for approval. “The single vote against the project came from Commissioner Hipolito Reyes, who urged postponing a vote until [the commission] and the public could learn more about what Clean Wind Energy CEO and President Ronald Pickett said would be a first-ofits-kind green energy project,” wrote The Sun. This just proves there is a skeptic in every crowd who can’t go along with the dreamers and Big Idea salesmen. Can’t Mr. Reyes see the tourism potential in this project? Whether or not the downdraft tower functions as advertised, it will cast a wide shadow, thereby cooling San Luis on scorching days and luring visitors who desire a glimpse of America’s new energy wonder of the modern world – all for a mere $5 billion. And we thought the Tennessee Valley Authority hydroelectric dam system was impressive.
Activate your adrenaline By Gov. Bill Haslam Tennessee
In Tennessee this summer, we are encouraging travelers to “Activate Your Adrenaline.” There’s so much to see and do across the state, the biggest challenge is deciding where to start. Tennessee’s State Parks system is celebrating its 75th anniversary this year. Our parks preserve and protect some of Tennessee’s most beautiful and important land areas for our citizens and visitors to enjoy. There is no admission charge, and there is a state park located within an hour’s drive of just about anywhere in the state. What a great place to consider for making summer plans whether for visitors from out of town or for those of us who have lived here all of our lives. You can take a leisurely hike along pristine trails through beautiful wooded canopies or tackle a longer excursion up a mountain, crisscrossing waterfalls and shallow creeks, climbing over fallen timbers or navigating steep ascents and descents for more of a challenge. Our state parks and nat-
ural recreation areas offer a variety of activities. You can hike, fish, mountain bike, golf, picnic, stargaze, bird watch, rock climb, kayak, canoe, or sit under a shade tree and read a good book. Most importantly, take some time to relax and enjoy Tennessee’s great outdoors. Summer is also a great time to experience some of Tennessee’s most iconic attractions. Chattanooga has the Tennessee Aquarium, Ruby Falls, the Incline Railway and Rock City, which is celebrating 80 years as one of America’s most beloved tourism sites. Knoxville is highlighting outdoor tourism with a brand new Outdoor Knoxville Adventure Center, as well as the Ijams Wilderness Center, providing an urban wilderness experience for citydwellers and city visitors, and the Great Smoky Mountain National Park is only a short drive. Summer in Tennessee wouldn’t be complete without a trip to America’s No. 1 most visited national park. The Smoky Mountains is a 500,000acre park with an
International Biosphere Reserve and World Heritage Site. It is one of Tennessee’s great natural treasures. The mountain towns of Gatlinburg, Pigeon Forge and Sevierville offer fun for everyone with dynamic attractions including Dollywood, Titanic Pigeon Forge, Ripley’s Aquarium of the Smokies, Wilderness at the Smokies, Tanger Outlets for great shopping, and the Great Smoky Arts and Crafts Community, the largest group of independent artisans in North America. Just up the road, in Northeast Tennessee, visitors can experience one of America’s most important recently discovered archaeological sites at the Natural History Museum and Visitor’s Center at Gray Fossil Site. Spend a day at Kingsport’s Bays Mountain Park and Planetarium or take time to visit Tennessee’s oldest incorporated city Jonesborough, and the night race at Bristol Motor Speedway in August is one of the hottest tickets in sports. Tennessee also has 700 historic monuments and
museums, including the homes of three presidents: Andrew Jackson’s Hermitage in Nashville; James K. Polk’s home in Columbia; and Andrew Johnson’s home and gravesite in Greeneville. Nashville is Music City, with sights and sounds to inspire the music lover in all of us. The Grand Ole Opry, America’s longest running live radio show, is center stage. Must-see attractions include the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum, Ryman Auditorium, Schermerhorn Symphony Center, Studio B and the famous downtown Honky Tonks on lower Broadway. For summer family fun, Nashville Shores on Percy Priest Lake, one of our state’s premier water parks, was named by USA Today as Tennessee’s Best Beach for 2012. Memphis, the Bluff City, on the banks of the mighty Mississippi River, is “Home of the Blues” and the “Birthplace of Rock ‘n’ Roll.” There is no question why with places like Graceland, the Stax Museum of American Soul Music, the Rock and Soul See HASLAM, Page 9-A