If you or someone you know is seeking relief from a chronic condition or sun sensitivity please visit the Protexgloves website, www.protexgloves.com

Autumn is a second spring when every leaf is a flower.

Albert Camus

Just received a testimonial from a woman who got stung by a hornet, but the stinger got stuck in her gloves, not her finger. She was so lucky! Her note follows below.

As Summer heats up and insect populations soar, please be vigilant about checking for nests in trees and shrubs, near houses, and in the ground. Keep your eyes open for movements of multiple insects flying to and fro, often a sure sign of nest building and growing populations.

“Foxgloves helped me avert a trip to the ER!

I was pruning this week when I got stung in my left index finger by what I believe must have been a hornet based on how much the initial sting hurt.  Brought me to my knees.  I immediately threw my pruners down and tore off my Foxglove.  I expected to see the stinger in my finger, but not there. Ran to the house and put ice then baking soda on it.  Miraculously, very small amount of swelling and no pain!  When I looked at the glove, there was the stinger, stuck right where it got me, still in the finger of the glove!  Saved me from using and Epi Pen and a dreaded trip to the ER.  Thanks so much for a great garden glove.”

Katy

Bloomsburg, PA

Enjoy!
Beet Loaf Recipe

A frustrated fledgling had bumped up against a low hanging trap and was now a miserable victim. It appeared that it was mainly the left shoulder/wing involved, so while my partner went to grab a towel, I made sure our friend didn’t wander into the hedgerow and get further entangled and harder to reach.

Scared but feisty, the frightened baby did its best to evade capture, but was no match for two towering humans. While he held onto the toweled tike, I rushed to get some sharp scissors. Carefully cutting bit by bit we were able to extract the errant bird from it plight, but not before cutting the finger off my Foxgloves.

Fortunately, our feathered friend felt fine and flew off without a note of thanks.

Please don’t use commercial sticky traps and fly tapes in the garden. They are indiscriminate in what they trap and the white flies are NOT attracted to them “like magnets” as the package states.

The most widely consumed fruit in the world, most people have no idea that the ‘apple’ in the Garden of Eden was most likely a banana. And that the ubiquitous bananas seen in every grocery store are threatened with extinction from several pathogens due to the fact that they all are clones and share the exact same DNA. Dan Koeppel tells all in this excellent book the peels back the past and predicts the future in

“Banana, the Fate of the Fruit That Changed the World.”

 Brussels sprouts, kale, carrots, parsley, leeks and salad greens are still waiting patiently in the soil for their time at the dinner table. Many of these veggies were planted back in the spring and have been slowly growing while the tropical veggies of summer did their annual thing of flowering and fruiting during the long hot days of July and August.

Now is the time to plan your vegetable garden for next year. Now is the time to decide on where to locate the garden. Full sun is best, but often hard to find. Six hours of direct sun is the minimum for optimum production. Remember that the sun is very low in the sky now, but will be rising and setting further north and arching much higher during the growing season.

 Now is the time to mow the grass as short as possible and cover it over with newspaper or cardboard. Now is the time to find that source of manure or compost to collect and spread over the area. Do it now so that you will have a head start on spring and can spend the winter months day dreaming of the ideal vegetable garden.