The Cranberry Process! My Bog Blog

I've grown up around cranberries my whole life. My dad farms them and my hometown of Bandon-By-The-Sea, Oregon has a Cranberry Festival every year in which they crown a "Cranberry Queen." My sister and I have both competed, of course! We have a Cranberry Sweets store in which pretty much all the candy is made from cranberries, and Faber Farms, the company we sell our berries to, has a cranberry bog tour that tourists flock to almost every day. The first cranberry beds in Oregon were planted in Coos County (my hometown county!) in 1885 by a man named Charles Dexter McFarland from Massachusetts.

Cranberries are small, red berries that are pretty dang tart and taste really good after being cooked on the stove with a whole lot of sugar and some water (cranberry sauce). I often add orange juice and a few Christmasy spices (cinnamon, nutmeg, etc) for an extra zip. Most people do not eat them fresh, unless you grew up with them like me and have grown to love the tartness. They show up in candies, juices, sauces, and even in pill form for their health benefits! Although I know the answer to my question I ask, many others do not have this knowledge, and I would like to share some of it! So the question is, what is the process of growing cranberries, from beginning to end?

Here's a great Oregon site about the process of growing cranberries.

Lets start with the land. When my dad decided we were going to build cranberry bogs, what we called a "mushroom forest" was growing on the land. We used to go mushroom picking under the dense mass of evergreen trees that covered the land where our berries were to grow. I kind of miss that forest, but people kept trespassing and stealing all our mushrooms, and it was my dad's dream to have his own cranberry bogs to care for.

We had to bring in huge bulldozers and all that jazz to clear all the land and trees so that we could dig into the soil to produce what we call "bogs," which are actually just cranberry beds that are surrounded by dikes anywhere from about 4 to 10 feet high. But it doesn't look like the picture to the left right away! We also had to dig up sand and silt from another area on our property to lay down in the beds on top of the soil that contained the perfect amount of clay (to keep the water in when you flood it). And bogs must be watered, so we also had to dig out the pond nearby so it would hold more water and insert a pump system.

Then comes the peat moss (which I think already existed in our soil) and all that good stuff. Once the bogs are prepped for the vines, they look like big sandy rectangles. Then comes the planting. You don't plant them by seeds, but by vines! We decided to go with vines from two different existing farms, so we spread one batch in one bog and the other in the lower bog. The process of planting is pretty easy. You take a huge handful of vines and shake them all over the beds in an even fashion. Then, once the beds are covered with a thin layer of vines, a simple machine comes along and pushes them into the ground. After this is finished, it is time to get the whole sprinkling system fixed up and working.

Next you wait for a LONG time (3 years to produce optimal amount of berries to harvest). Of course, you don't just WAIT. Weeds will grow and pests and fungus will enter the bogs, so you have to tend to them all the time. My dad would go out every week and pull out the trees beginning to grow. You also have to water them frequently, but our sprinkling system took care of that as it turned on in relation to temperature differences. Water is essential to a good cranberry bog, as it is used for disease and insect control, frost and heat protection, harvesting, and protection from drying out and cold injury. Those sprinkler lines can break, and we've gone through quite a few pumps and repairing sprinkler lines! You must also make sure that the water is not just sitting, and this requires adequate drainage. When it comes to fertilizing, we have some trained professionals that come in and fertilize our bogs with the right balance of nutrients, because it really does take a trained professional to do so! Cranberry bogs require the right balance of acidity (they like acid soils), and a specific ratio of nutrients for optimal growth, so we figured it best to leave that to the experts so that we would produce optimal fruit. Here's a site about those specific nutrients if you care to delve into it deeper.

Once a year, bees are placed on the dikes of the bogs in boxes to pollinate the flowers so they can produce fruits! You can see each stage of the growing season go by as the light pink flowers begin to bloom in late spring.

Apparently, the name "cranberry" came from the flower, that looks like the head and bill of a crane. This is a picture of the blooms in my family's cranberry bogs. Can you see the sand/silt/clay mixture the vines grow on, and the bee pollinating the flower?

Now the fun part. After about 3 years, you're ready to harvest a nice big crop of plump red cranberries. This is done by flooding the bogs (which are actually more like beds until this point) about 2-3 feet deep and then bringing a beater machine in that beats the berries off the vines. You see, cranberries float, so when the machine beats the berries off the vines, they pop up all over the surface! It's a spectacular sight.

Once most of the berries have been beaten off the vines, they are harvested. This is where the process is most fun. We slip on our chest and hip waders and wade into the berries. Starting at one end of the field, we use these boards called "booms" that you hook together to "corral" the berries to one side of the bog. This is our own harvest a few years ago!

Then, slowly, we disattach sections of the booms as the berries are lifted into a big dump truck by a machine, and soon we are left with a little section until they are almost all in the truck! This is my sister and her high school boyfriend pushing the remaining cranberries into the lift.

And that's it! Cranberry bogs last for many years as cranberries are perennial plants, and once they start to dwindle, you can always replant! I've only known a few farms to replant, and there are a few bogs in Bandon that are about 50 years old! And remember, cranberry bogs are not actually bogs, they're beds...people have just been calling them bogs because of the flooding process for years, so I guess it's kind of stuck.

Cranberry Questions and Answers

The Magnificent World of Mosses

We step on them everyday. They surround us yet we pay no attention. As I was walking to the school this morning, thinking of what to do for a blog, I noticed all the little fuzzy green stuff in between the cracks of pavement, and then I looked up to find it on the trees, and really all over the place! I realized I never really gave much thought to mosses. They may be small and inconspicuous, but they are actually very important! How, you might ask? You're just about to find out.

Mosses are called Bryophytes (their classification). Lets briefly examine the four major moss groups....well, okay, lets mostly examine one of them. Go to this site about Bryophytes to learn more on your own.

Sphagnopsida

Otherwise known as "peat mosses," these are actually some of the most important types of moss around. What's so great about peat moss? How about fuel! Yes, in Ireland, peat moss is burned for fuel and unlike burning fossil fuels, it can be a renewable resource.

On a more personal note, peat moss is helping to fund my education!!!! What?! Yes, that's right...peat moss is essential in the growth of my dad's cranberry bogs. Cranberry vines grow in very acid soils on water-logged peat moss covered with lots of sand. And no, bogs are not always covered in water...in fact, the bogs only look like the picture at the left when you harvest them (which is of my sister and her high-school boyfriend). But this is about moss, not cranberries...so on to the next great thing about peat moss!

Peat moss is also used for its antiseptic and absorptive properties. In Russia and Northern Europe, peat moss is heat treated so that it absorbs oil but not water, and for over 20 years it has been used to mop up small-scale oil spills! Fantastic! Peat moss is a habitat saver! It also purifies air and removes odors when mixed with bacteria that break down the stink, and can filter a whole bunch of other stuff, including septic tank sludge. And forget those horrible packing peanuts...use peat!

Since peat absorbs so well (it absorbs better than a sponge), Native Americans used to use it to line diapers and menstrual pads. And because of its antiseptic properties, Rusty Peat Moss was also used to treat diaper rash! Wow...diaper rash treatment and diaper in one...those guys were freakin' smart.

Andreaeopsida

Otherwise known as "Lantern Mosses." Can you tell why by the picture? I think these are the kinds I saw on my walk from the parking lot to the school this morning. These mosses can get majorly dried out and still survive. They grow exclusively on the surface of rocks, and are the most "primitive mosses." Oh wait...looks like they only grow in cold climates usually...and there are only about 100 species...okay...my search for the mosses I saw continues....

Polytrichopsida

AKA "Nematodontous Mosses." I really had a hard time finding anything on this moss. Aha! Just found something. This moss is found in coniferous forests at a variety of elevations. It also has to have a male and female plant to reproduce, unlike other mosses. The only thing I could find a use for it is for stuffing upholstery.

(picture is not of Nematodontous moss...it's peat moss. Just thought it would be funny to put here)

Bryopsida

Also called "Arthrodontous Mosses." Okay, here it is....95% of mosses belong to this subclass. This must be where my sidewalk moss lies. These are the "true mosses." Truly fabulous.

How often can you see the whole island chain growing in moss?!

How else is moss important?

I've discussed most of the economic importance of moss, and peat moss is truly a winner in that category. Moss is also important ecologically. Mosses help control water balance, nutrient flow, and acidity in soil. This is why it's usually found in your store-bought bags of potting soil. When we have horrible rainstorms, mosses keep the soil in place. And especially in Hawaii, they maintain high humidity (for happy orchids!). Birds and mice and other animals can use it for nesting materials and shelter.

Mosses (and lichens and liverworts) also help let us know what is going on with our environment over a long period of time. Their tissues can be sampled to reveal pollutants that have been in the air. Some can also absorb chemicals in the soil.

Here's a great site on the importance of mosses, liverworts, and lichens.

And that concludes my lesson on mosses. Maybe you'll show a little more appreciation for it the next time you squish it with the bottom of your shoe. I know I will!

Life Cycle Of A Cockroach

Hawaii is filled with cockroaches, flying over our heads in the night and getting into our cookie jars if we leave the lid off. Residents of Hawaii must constantly fight the battle against the cockroaches as they weasle their way into our luggage, cars, and homes. Often, I see more than one form of cockroach...some are very small and look very different from the huge flying ones, and then occasionally I see those creepy looking little egg sacks hanging out in the corner of an unused object. This brought forth the interesting question....What is the life cycle of a cockroach???

Wow, there's even a site that describes the whole cycle with pictures...totally cool.

I guess to learn the life cycle of a cockroach we must first learn a bit about insects. Insects are Arthropods (their classification), which means that they have jointed legs. All insects have jointed legs and bodies. Insect bodies have 3 segments, 6 legs, and a set of antennae. Most insects go through metamorphosis, which is how they completely change their color, size, and shape as they go through their life cycle. Some insects have four phases of development (complete metamorphosis) and others have three (simple or incomplete metamorphosis).

The cockroach has three stages of development, or incomplete metamorphosis. The egg, the nymph, and the adult. A dragonfly also has these three stages of development!

The Life Cycle of a Cockroach:

EGG

Cockroaches lay ugly little brown egg cases that look like combs with a bulging handle. Each egg case contains 16-40 fertilized eggs that are laid by the female cockroach in dark, warm and humid places. This is why we commonly find them in small crevases in cupboards. This egg case, called an ootheca keeps the eggs from drying out. In Hawaii, these egg cases are deposited all over the place, but other types of cockroaches carry them until they hatch (ours are more of a nuisance). The eggs take 6-7 weeks to hatch, so if you see one of these I recommend getting rid of it right away! They can also lay about 8 cases a year. Female cockroaches can produce 5-30 of these cases in their lifetime, which means you could have up to 120 of those little buggers running around your house due to one cockroach!

NYMPH

Once the egg hatches after 6-7 weeks, a cute little soft, white nymph emerges, which quickly hardens and turns brown after exposure to air. These little buggers don't have wings yet so they wont be flying onto your face in the middle of the night in this stage (can you tell I've had a frightful experience with 'em?!). These little nymphs only have simple eyes (not compound), and their bodies are protected by a waxy outer skin called the cuticle. Before the nymphs become adults, they'll shed their outer skin (moult) about 8 times...meaning that you'll be eating cockroach skin in your cereal if you don't close that bag tightly! Ewww... And each time they shed their skin they become more like the adult (hence the tiny little nymphs and big huge ones we see).

ADULT

At last, after about 9-13 months, the cockroach is capable of flying onto my face in the night. It is fully developed and can fly (in Hawaii) and run all over the house super-fast. There are 18 different species of cockroaches in Hawaii. The most common, also known as "da B52 Bomber Type" is the American Cockroach. These guys can live up to five years, and can live without they're heads for up to a month, so don't go thinking that the awesome karate chop guillotine with your butcher's knife worked!! They'll also eat just about anything, including the paste on your envelopes! Yuck.

Here's a great local opinion about the cockroach called "Fear da Roach." It's pretty funny.

There's a thousand different websites with amazing facts and abilities of cockroaches with I encourage you to google and check out. So there you have it, the complete life cycle of a cockroach!

Oh yeah, and check out this crazy new idea...cockroach birth control, which involves more gene alterations...hmmm....

The Moon Hoax:The Real Scientific Facts

So I was looking at information about the moon, and decided to google it. What I came up with were tons of articles about "the moon hoax" in which a whole bunch of people believe we didn't walk on the moon! Apparently some people believe that it was all a hoax to appear to be ahead of Russia in the space program. Interesting. Well, I decided to look at what they thought was fake and find out the scientific reasoning to explain the answers! Here's a site that tries to explain the science behind the confusion. All the buzz about the Moon began on February 15th, 2001 when Fox television aired a program called Conspiracy Theory: Did We Land on the Moon? And people believed it.

What is the scientific facts that back up the claim that Astronauts did walk on the moon?

1. People thought the pictures were fake because there were no stars in the sky and film couldn't survive the vaccuum and heat.

-Have you ever taken a picture of the moon or tried to photograph the milky way on a clear night? The moon gets so small in the picture that you can barely see it, and you can never see the stars. Why? Because most of the photos were in bright light to show the astronaut in the picture, which washes out the stars in the background. Your camera must also be set where the shutter stays open for a long time. If you've ever had a camera that takes pictures in very low light, you know that it must stay very still for a long time so that the film can pick up more light. If they were to get the stars in the background, the astronaut would have looked very fuzzy. See Astrophotography for taking pictures of night stars. It can be done, but not with anyone else that moves at all in the picture! And here's a site that tells about the camera used on the moon and the special film and equipment they used.

2. People don't believe that the moon buggy could have fit in the landing module.

-Come on people, with the technology these days, we can fit anything anywhere with a little ingenuity. This cool little buggy folds up like a lawn chair. The "Lunar Roving Vehicle" (LRV) folded up into a very small package to fit into the pie-shaped confines of Quad 1 of the lunar module...which was about the size of a large suitcase. Nowadays students can compete in a Great Moonbuggy Race on earth where they require the buggy built to fold up into a 4 foot cube.

3. People think that someone had to be running the camera that followed the path of the lunar module back into the sky.

-Once again, people have no faith in technology. A lunar rover equipped with a camera was left on the surface of the moon to photograph the various surfaces of the moon, and could be controlled from Earth! Check out this cool Rover they used to explore the Kiluea Caldera!

4. People think that the American Flag couldn't have been waving in the wind because there is no wind.

-NASA astronauts and experts thought of this fact before they landed on the moon, so they put a horizonal bar at the top to hold the flag out. You can see from the picture that there is a bar at the top. And of course, in space, the flag rippled after the astronauts put it in the ground because there is no force acting against it, so it will continue to ripple a lot longer than it would on earth!

There are a lot more claims that it was a hoax, and you can check out the theories here. So what do you think? Do you believe that the landing was real or a hoax? It's easy to think of it as a conspiracy, because with technology these days, they can really fake a lot with the right facts and information.

GMO Woes...REAL Effects of GMOs on Humans

In our last class, we watched the beginning of The Future of Food. I have seen this before, so I have a question that is not answered by the video in detail. The video discussed a woman's allergic reaction to the GMO food, but there is still debate as to whether the genetic modification of the food is what causes the reaction. So my question for this week's blog is: What KNOWN effects do GMOs have on humans through documented and scientific study?

Most of the websites I visited for information tended to say things like "possible" effects. However, I did find a good site that showed documented possible problems that can be found on this GMO site.

HEALTH RISKS
We are still not so sure about consumption of GMOs and their effects on humans. There are a lot of strange things in GMO foods that are not normally found in any foods, such as a whole bunch of new proteins.

Relief! Well, okay, just a bit of relief to know that the FDA requires scientific evidence to prove that there is not an allergenic substance in the GMO food you eat, and they do require labels on GMO foods that could cause allergic reactions. However, there's so much new crazy things being injected into the DNA of our foods, who knows what kinds of new allergic reactions could show up (okay, not much relief).

Here's a few things we've found out about GMOs that are supposed to keep the population from starving to death:

• Soybeans genetically modified with a gene from the brazil nut. Peanut allergies ring a bell??
  






• The Bovine Growth Hormone (BHG)...want mammary cancer and a whole bunch of other problems? Drink BHG Milk! Here's the facts.
  
  
  

• Tobacco genetically engineered to produce gamma-linolenic acid also produce a highly toxic substance...another reason to quit smoking...it may kill you even quicker these days.

• GM Maize field in the Phillipines...now this is a good one: A whole village suddenly fell ill with respiratory problems, fever, intestinal and skin ailments. Turns out there was a field of GM maize 100 meters away from all the people who got sick. The residents were tested later and it turned out that they had the antibodies expressed in the GM maize in their blood samples. However, they could all have been experiencing "Influenza," but who knows....they weren't able to follow up on it because of course the government wouldn't fund it. Hmmm...

HOW DO I GET AWAY FROM EATING GMO FOODS???

Ronnie Cummins, the national director of the Organic Consumers Association has this to say:

"Most GMOs are used in processed foods and for animal feed," says Cummins, "If you stick to a whole foods diet, you should be able to avoid GMOs."

The Center for Food Safety can give you a better idea of what is going on with our food these days.

NOT SO WONDERFUL AFTER ALL

And for a little "haha KARMA" for the Monsanto team , a new press release explains that the Roundup Ready Soybeans are more succeptible to drought than conventional soybeans, and they lost more soybeans than regular farmers did during drought! So much for ending the starvation problem, Monsanto. And all hear this...studies are showing that GM crop yields are lower than, or at best equivalent to yields from non-GMO crops. So really, messing with nature isn't exactly feeding the planet...it's feeding the problems.

Neem: An Alternative to Chemical Pest Control!

I was reading Kerry's blog on Pilau Maile and the discussions about it, which brought up alternatives to weed control, which then brought up my growing interest in Neem. Although Neem is not a weed-killer, Neem is a great, natural way to get rid of pests (like that stinging nettle caterpillar maybe!), and it has a lot of other promising qualities to it. I learned a little about Neem in my Sustainable Agriculture class last year, but I'd like to know more as I plan to grow some to process for pest control on my own farm someday. So the question is:

What is Neem and why is it a good pest control product?

WHAT IS NEEM???
Neem is actually a tree that belongs to the mahogany family. It is native to India and Burma and grows in tropical to semi-tropical areas (hence the great excitement about growing it in Hawaii!). As you can see from the picture above, it is a tall tree with widespread branches and it is evergreen, which makes it a great tree to plant for year-long shade from the Hawaiian sun. Neem trees also produce white flowers that smell great. These flowers, in time, produce fruits that look kind of like olives.
To read a bunch of facts about Neem, click on this exciting link to Neem.

Check it out...Neem has SO many uses that I think it's even better than Noni:

• Neem can be used as a medicine to help with digestive disorders, diabetes, high cholesterol, cancer, and a lot more! And all of the parts of the tree are used in making medicines (seeds, leaves, flowers and bark) To see all the amazing medicinal purposes of Neem, go to Healthy Neem. It's freakin' amazing how many health problems Neem can aide. And here's some ways to use Neem right out of your yard to cure your own ailments: Home Uses
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• People from India use the Neem twigs to brush their teeth, and there are even Neem toothpastes on the market, so Neem is a cavity control product!!
  
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• Need to moisturize or scrub down? Neem oil is used in soaps, shampoo, balms and creams!

• People in India eat the tender shoots as vegetables, but apparently it's quite bitter. Kinda like Noni's awful taste I'm guessing. Why is it that things that are so good for you taste so bad???


• There is evidence that it can get rid of human pests too, such as head lice and scabies! So drink up your natural Neem insecticide, head-scratching children! Or maybe just put it on your head.

Okay, I have to stop listing things because there's too much to list...just go to the sites and sit in awe while reading of this amazing tree!

But most importantly and most economically useful is...
NEEM AS A PEST CONTROL PRODUCT
Now this is the coolest thing of all. Neem extracts can influence nearly 400 species of insects and it can kill insects that have become resistant to chemical pest products. Most Neem products are "broad spectrum," so they work on lots of insects, including mosquitoes! Neem is so natural that you can feed it to your cows (and it's medicinal for them too!), or even better yet, put the leaves in a watering trough so mosquitoes can't breed there! And for those of you who hate violence, Neem doesn't necessarily kill the bug in it's tracks...it incapacitates it in several ways. It deters insects, keeps it from eating and laying eggs, inhibits growth, disrupts mating, and causes chemo-sterilization! Yay Neem!!!

In my Sustainable Agriculture Class, I learned that you can easily make your own pesticide product from it by crushing the leaves and soaking them in a big garbage can of water for a while. I also found out that the Neem kernel can be crushed and can be added to the livestock grain to keep the pests out! The one discouraging thing about Neem is that it has to be applied regularly, and only repels mosquitoes in water for about 1-2 weeks unless more extract is added. But hey, better to do it regularly than to destroy the environment in one dose of chemical pesticides!

So I encourage everyone to look at the Neem Foundation website, because it has so much amazing information about this awesome tree! Now that I know more about it, I will be on a hunt to find my own Neem tree to plant!

Save the environment from pollution...plant a Neem Tree!!!

The Dreaded Flesh Eating Bacteria

HILO BAY? YIKES!!!

I just recently learned that this past friday the 12th, about 2 million gallons of partially treated sewage spilled into Hilo Bay. Yikes! Apparently a failed alarm and pump system caused the sewage to bypass a few necessary treatments before draining back into the ocean.
http://www.hawaiitribuneherald.com/articles/2007/01/14/local_news/local01.txt
They found out later in the week that bacteria levels were acceptable (as the sewage WAS partially treated), and people could swim in the water again by Monday, although I'm sure it had many lasting damaging effect on our marine life.

Learning of this in a casual conversation in one of my classes brought up the discussion of flesh-eating bacteria, something that a lot of people are afraid of. What is flesh eating bacteria, what does it do, and how does someone get it? Prepare to see a yucky picture at the end!!!

Maybe first I should explain what bacteria is. Bacteria are microorganisms with ONE CELL (aka unicelluar). They are EVERYWHERE. Most bacteria are helpful or harmless and some are harmful to humans, and some of them live inside our bodies! They're pretty dang simple, as they don't contain any membrane-bound organelles or any nucleus (picture the inside of a hot dog, maybe?), but can fix nitrogen and cause serious diseases among other things! Amazing, yeah? Bacteria also reproduce by cell division, and they can double in population faster than you can read this blog. I could go on and on about bacteria, but let's just keep it simple for the sake of the overworked student. To go more in-depth, go to: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bacteria#Cellular_structure

THE DREADED FLESH-EATING BACTERIA
Flesh-eating bacteria is otherwise known as Necrotizing Fasciitis. And what exactly is this "Necrotizing Fasciitis?" Maybe this site will give you an idea: Necrotizing Fasciitis

Necrotizing Fasciitis (say that 10 times fast!) is a RARE bacterial infection that grossly deteriorates skin and the soft tissues under it. Fat and fascia, or the tissue covering the muscles, die at a rapid rate thus giving the common gruesome name "flesh-eating bacteria."

There are actually a whole bunch of different types of bacteria that "eat flesh." One of the most common types is the same bacteria that causes strep throat, called Streptococcus pyogenes. These bacteria cause mild infections that can occur if you swim in salt water or touch crustaceans or raw ocean fish with an open wound, and you are more likely to become infected if you have cirrhosis, a chronic liver disease.

HOW THE HECK DOES IT GET IN???
Obviously, "flesh-eating bacteria" gets in through open wounds, but it can also get in through a muscle strain or bruise! Sheesh...this bacteria can be really persistent. It can also be passed from person to person through close contact such as kissing, but it's not very likely. Remember, this bacteria is rare, so don't freak out every time you pucker up.

DOCTOR, HOW MUCH TIME DO I HAVE?
Not much. You better get to the hospital ASAP. About 30% of people who develop the infection DIE. HEY NOW, DON'T WORRY, BE HAPPY! Most people don't get it as it is VERY rare...let me say this again...it is SUPER rare. And even if you were so unlucky to get it, most cases are mild and can be treated with antibiotics if you get treated quickly.

So now we've learned a little bit about a very harmful type of bacteria. I really go off the subject from blog to blog, don't I? I hope I didn't scare you all. I really thought the topic interesting because so many people talk about it but don't really know what it is. I wouldn't recommend teaching about flesh-eating bacteria to an elementary school class, though!!!