Wisdom of the world - Week 155

Should He Bite Me
One time a large stone fell upon Snake and covered her so that she could not rise. A man came upon her and lifted the stone, but when he had done so, she wanted to bite him. The man said, "Stop! Let us first go to someone wise." They went to Hyena, and the m Man asked him, "Is it right that Snake should want to bite me, even though I helped her so much?"
Hyena (who was looking for his own share of the man's body) said, "If you were bitten, what would it matter?" So Snake thought that settled it, but the man said again, "Wait a little, and let us go to other wise people, that I may hear whether this is right." They went and met Jackal, and the man put the same question to him.
Jackal replied, "I don't believe that Snake could ever be so covered by a stone that she could not rise. Unless I saw it with my two eyes, I wouldn't believe it. Take me to the place where you say it happened so I can see for myself whether it can possibly be true."
They went together to that place, and Jackal said, "Snake, lie down, and let yourself be covered." Snake did so, and the man covered her with the stone; and although she tried with all her strength Snake couldn't get up. Then the man wanted to let Snake go again, but Jackal stopped him saying, "Don't life the stone. She wanted to bite you, therefore, let her get up and lift it herself."
Then they both went away and left Snake there, just as before.

Roger D. Abrahams

Wisdom of the world - Week 154

The handwriting on the wall

A weary mother returned from the store
Lugging groceries through the kitchen door.
Awaiting her arrival was her eight-year-old son
Anxious to relate what his younger brother had done.

"While I was out playing and Dad was on a call
T.J. took his crayons and wrote on the wall!
It's on the new paper you just hung in the den
I told him you'd be mad at having to do it again."

She let out a moan and furrowed her brow
"Where is your little brother right now?"
She emptied her arms and with a purposeful stride
She marched to his closet where he had gone to hide.

She called his full name as she entered his room
He trembled with fear -- he knew that meant doom!
For the next ten minutes, she ranted and raved
About the expensive wallpaper and how she had saved.

Lamenting all the work it would take to repair
She condemned his actions and total lack of care.
The more she scolded, the madder she got
Then stomped from his room, totally distraught.

She headed for the den to confirm her fears
When she saw the wall, her eyes flooded with tears.
The message she read pierced her soul with a dart
It said, "I Love Mommy," surrounded by a heart.

Well, the wallpaper remained, just as she found it
With an empty picture frame hung to surround it.
A reminder to her, and indeed to all
Take time to read the handwriting on the wall.

Wisdom of the world - Week 153

Paying Double For Camels

A camel dealer reached a village to sell fine animals at a very good price. Everyone bought one, except Mr. Hoosep.
Some time later, the village received a visit from another dealer, with excellent camels, but they were much more expensive. This time, Hoosep bought some animals.
“You did not buy the camels when they were almost for free, and now you pay almost double,” criticized his friends.
“Those cheap ones were very expensive for me, because at that time I had very little money,” answered Hoosep, “these animals might seem more expensive, but for me they are cheap, because I have more than enough to buy them.”

Wisdom of the world - Week 152

Puppies For Sale

A farmer had some puppies he needed to sell. He painted a sign advertising the 4 pups and set about nailing it to a post on the edge of his yard. As he was driving the last nail into the post, he felt a tug on his overalls. He looked down into the eyes of a little boy.
"Hey farmer," he said, "I want to buy one of your puppies."
"Well," said the farmer, as he rubbed the sweat off the back of his neck, "These puppies come from fine parents and cost a good deal of money."
The boy dropped his head for a moment. Then reaching deep into his pocket, he pulled out a handful of change and held it up to the farmer.
"I've got thirty-nine cent. Is that enough to take a look?"
"It is," said the farmer. And with that he let out a whistle. "Here, Dolly!" he called.
Out from the kennel and down the ramp ran Dolly followed by four little balls of fur. The little boy pressed his face against the chain link fence. His eyes danced with delight. As the dogs made their way to the fence, the little boy noticed something else stirring inside the kennel.
Slowly another little ball appeared this one noticeably smaller. Down the ramp it slid. Then in a somewhat awkward manner, the little pup began hobbling toward the others, doing its best to catch up...
"I want that one," the little boy said, pointing to the runt.
The farmer knelt down at the boy's side and said, "Son, you don't want that puppy. He will never be able to run and play with you like these other dogs would."
With that the little boy stepped back from the fence, reached down, and began rolling up one leg of his trousers. In doing so he revealed a steel brace running down both sides of his leg attaching itself to a specially made shoe. Looking back up at the farmer, he said, " I don't run very well myself, and he will need someone who understands."
With tears in his eyes, the farmer reached down and picked up the little pup. Holding it carefully he handed it to the little boy.
"How much?" asked the little boy... "No charge," answered the farmer, "There's no charge for love."

Keeping Blackspot on roses at bay

It looked like autumn last week as the dead leaves damaged by the winds floated down to the ground. Don’t let this fool you into thinking that things are slowing down in the garden. Quite the opposite. Everything’s shooting up. There’s a new problem coming to light, blackspot on roses. I have asked the help of James Kilkelly from Gardenplansireland to give us some help at combating this perennial problem... organically.

Halt the rise of black spot, organically.

Its back! Black spot has once again raised its ugly mottled head to infect the roses of Ireland (including mine), causing leaf loss, and die back of the plants stems. Black spot (Diplocarpon rosae) is a fungal disease encouraged by much the same conditions that encourage potato blight, which are warm, moist locations with stagnant air. Most Irish roses especially those grown in areas of high rainfall are destined at some stage of their growing life to play host to blackspot.

Maybe you are lucky enough to have never had a run in with blackspot, and therefore you require an introduction to help you identify this plant ill. Blackspot is aptly named, initially appearing as purple or black circular spots with yellow-fringed halos. Over a short period of time these halos spread and join up causing the leaves they appear on to yellow and shed prematurely.

Although blackspot will rarely kill a rose outright, it will however leave you with a sickly, twiggy rose, which flowers poorly due to a lack of its life-giving leaves. Now, there are many combined chemical products available in your garden centre for the control of blackspot, for example Rose-clear, Benlate or Multirose, to name a few. But you may actually have all the raw materials already within your kitchen to create your own homemade, organic and most importantly safe black spot spray.


Method 1, Milk.
Walk across your kitchen as far your fridge. Mix equal parts milk and water, then apply this each week with an atomiser or a sprayer to the upper and lower section of the roses leaves. This milky solution causes an invisible and friendly fungus to form, which will help prevent the formation of the dreaded black spot.


Method 2, Baking soda.
Mix one tablespoon of baking soda or baking powder into one litre of water and add a drop or two of washing up liquid for stickiness. Again, apply this each week with an atomiser or a sprayer to the upper and lower sides of the roses leaves. The baking soda (Sodium bicarbonate) causes the rose leaf surface to become exceedingly alkaline which again prevents the blackspot from thriving. Both method 1 and 2 are effective only if used at the first sign of symptoms.

Method 3, The rake and clippers.
It is important to rake up the withered rose leaves and petals that litter your beds and borders, as these can act as a breeding ground for the blackspot fungus. Also, pick or snip off any live leaves that exhibit black spots, as well as looking unsightly they aid the spread of the disease. All infected rose leaves and clippings should be burnt not composted.

Method 4, The shovel.
When all is said and done, probably the best method of organic black spot control is to plant roses resistant to the disease. And there are quite a few.
Black spot resistant roses include...
Amber Queen (golden yellow),
Iceberg (white),
Trumpeter (red),
Electron (Deep pink),
Helmut Schmidt (Golden yellow),
Just Joey (Creamy peach),
Keepsake (Dark pink),
Las Vegas (Dark peach with yellow highlights),
Peter Frankenfeld (Dark pink),
Polarstern (White),
Precious Platinum (Medium red),
Silver Jubilee (Salmon pink),
Voodoo (Orange),
Love (Crimson red with white backs),
New Year (Orange),
Tournament of Roses (Rose pink),
Bonica (Rose Pink),
Escapade (Mauve-pink),
Europeana (Dark red),
Impatient (Orange-red),
Liverpool Echo (Orange),
Matangi (Red),
Orangeade (Orange-red),
Play Girl (Bright pink),
Playboy (Reddish orange),
Redgold (Golden yellow edged in dark pink),
Regensberg (Pink and white),
Sarabande (Orange-red),
Sexy Rexy (Rose-pink),
Showbiz (Scarlet red),
Viva (Red).


Top Tip
Gareth Austin from Newtowncunningham has a good tip for us too.
“I have another practice on keeping roses disease free, and it comes from the old method of preventing blight on potatoes.
Use Sulphate of Potash in Spring and early summer as a feed for the roses. The growth which develops is less soft and more disease resistant. Also as the foliage is harder they are less prone to pest attack. This method can also be used on your spuds. Mulch in Autumn with Turf or wood ash as a soil improver.”

Photo: Wild roses (dog rose) don’t seem to suffer from blackspot although the leaves did go brown after the cold winds recently.

Wisdom of the world - Week 151

A Taste of Wisdom

An aging Hindu master grew tired of his apprentice complaining and so, one morning, sent him for some salt.
When the apprentice returned, the master instructed the unhappy young man to put a handful of salt in a glass of water and then to drink it.
"How does it taste?" the master asked.
"Bitter," spit the apprentice.
The master chuckled and then asked the young man to take the same handful of salt and put it in the lake.
The two walked in silence to the nearby lake and once the apprentice swirled his handful of salt in the water, the old man said, "Now drink from the lake."
As the water dripped down the young man's chin, the master asked, "How does it taste?"
"Fresh," remarked the apprentice.
"Do you taste the salt?" asked the master.
"No," said the young man.
At this the master sat beside this serious young man, who so reminded him of himself, and took his hands, offering:
"The pain of life is pure salt; no more, no less. The amount of pain in life remains exactly the same. However, the amount of bitterness we taste depends on the container we put the pain in. So when you are in pain, the only thing you can do is to enlarge your sense of things. Stop being a glass. Become a lake."