Exploring the rare, tropical and unique
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License.
I will be using this license to protect all accounts, and descriptions of my work with the greenhouse design. I believe in sharing information for the greater good of all, but with that in mind I desire proper credit for my time and ideas. I also don’t wish for my work to be improperly used, so for these reasons I am protecting it with a creative commons license.
Michael
Here we are January 1,2012 and I am in wonder of where the previous year went. I have noticed that as I get older the years seem to pass by o so quickly, and this doesn’t seem to be an exclusive feeling that I have. I have spoke to other about this and they have the same opinion. 2011 has been an alright year, there was some high moments during the year like the birth of my granddaughter, and 2011 also had some less than desirable moments. I am thankful for the things that God has provided me with during the year. I was rather healthy during the year, and I didn’t need for anything, so how could I complain. There are so many who are homeless, and without work, some of them are also sick. I would be out of line to complain, I have everything I need which is a very good feeling. As I embrace a new year full of opportunity I find myself desiring to do better in the new year. I have never been one to make new years resolutions, I just feel this is a vein act. If you want to make changes that is honorable, but to resolve to do something that you really don’t believe you’ll be able do is dumb. Farther more, to continue to do it is insanity. Some things I need to work on include my weight. I currently weigh about 335, although most people wouldn’t guess that. When the kids were younger and we would goto Kings Island the kids knew I would always win the weight guessing games. Now that I’m older it’s starting to effect my body. I was able to do something about it in 2007 and I dropped to a slip 270 from 349. I remember feeling good at 270, and desire to feel that way again. So I will be making strides to take better care of myself. My doctor claim that, “you must walk 2 miles a day and your current condition will eventually lead to your death”. I believe that walking is important, and I don’t have any problem with walking. I have found that I can clear my thoughts when I walk, which is appealing to me. I like to walk through ideas and work them out. I like to ask what if, or what could I use to accomplish this. Walking provides me the time to do so and get my mind off the work the body is doing. I will be doing more walking during 2012, I will try to set aside a consistent amount of time daily for this activity. I would like to weigh-out lighter at the end of the year, but more than that I would like to have a reduction in the meds I have to take daily. I would like to be off my Metformin and one of the HBP meds which would take me from 6 pills daily to 2. My wife and I have been studying the Dave Ramsey Financial Peace University, and only have two more sessions left. We are on a journey together to completely change our financial life. We agreed to take it live starting today, that’s kind of scary. This commitment is a total change in the way we do things. It’s hard to change habits, especially habits that have been in place for long periods of time. I have voweled to change, and I plan on staying true to my word. So I guess these will get most of my attention during the new year. I am also working on my greenhouse. I’m not sure how much I will be able to do because of the financial reforms we are working on. I guess I’m going to have to sell some stuff to get it moving. I just hope some of these orchids increase in size so I can get some money for them. This greenhouse is a passion of mine so I will take my time and do it right. My plans are to implement aquaponics practices into to irrigation system to be able to grow nursery stock. It will be a hybrid system which incorporates elements of proven systems to accomplish my desired results. I am working with sustainable elements to provide heating during the winter. I will be using solar technology for both heat and power, and this is all new to me, so I am learning as I go. I enjoy learning this kind of stuff, so it is fun for me to be able to this. I will post my progress and give as much of my technology that I use and develop as I can.
Michael
We have been having a warm Fall so far this year. We are waking up to 53 degrees F and rain, which I am not complaining about. Rain does make my life a little difficult since I work outside, but I have learned how to work around the rain. I do believe that the cool damp air is making me feel lazy this morning. I think I would rather be curled up in front of a fire napping, maybe with the tv on low as background sound. I am about finished with the last of the Fall fertilizations for the year, and we are starting into tree planting. I have a customer this is somewhat difficult, they expect extras and want to direct the work. She is kind of driving me crazy with all of her indecision, and over complication of placement of trees. She is doing quite a bit of planting, and we are making money on it, but it would be nice if she would just tell us where she could like them and then let us do our work. Gina and I have been studying the Financial Peace University course over the last month or so. I am really feeling good about this, I am seeing us actually moving in a positive direction. For once we know our numbers, we have sat down and created a budget, and we both understand what is required to meet our household needs. Gina has had a much better insight on our financial situation than I, she just didn’t have it written down which really gives it dynamics. We are both onboard, we are both involved, and we both have the same game plan on how we are going to pay off our debt. Like most married couples finances have been a major stress in our lives. We have never really had a written plan and known where our money has been going. I feel really good about this, and we will be debt free!
Today is November 8th 2011 and it is election day here in Kentucky. I love the Fall, there is something about the crispness of the air mixed with the color of the leaves on the trees that really appeals to me and always has. When I felt the coolness of the morning air I couldn’t help thinking of morning I can remember living in Southern California. I have many good memories of SoCal, walking through the desert to school, driving with my step father into the valley to a job, and my time while I was stationed at Miramar walking what we called the Ho Chi Minh trail to class at Castle Grey skull. I think of marching band competitions when I feel the crispness of the air, both of my kids competed in marching band and my wife and I were always there working with the kids and watching them compete. I also think of craft sales and harvest festival when I think of Fall, I enjoy walking them with my wife. We drink the apple cider and eat the apple fitter and take in all that Fall has to offer. Most of the pumpkin patches on River Road are gone now. Forced out by progress, or liability insurance, how sad this is that my grandchildren won’t be able to enjoy these Fall festivities, they will only hear about the stories of years gone by. I don’t like what comes next, …Winter. I don’t know if it’s just because I’m getting older, or if it’s because I have so many plants I have to drag in each year. Maybe it’s what Winter symbolizes that doesn’t sit well with me. I don’t like the finality that Winter represents, a completeness of a life cycle. I don’t embrace death well, and most people don’t. I have been in studies that have talked about the winter of marriage, or the winter of life, this always brings my spirit down. I don’t like winter,regardless of the context we are speaking of. I don’t like the cold penetrating winds, I don’t like the death associated with it, I don’t like ice and poor driving conditions. The only thing I find good about winter is the beauty of snow on a undisturbed landscape, or the sun glistening off ice in a creek bed, other than that I could do without Winter. Take me to a tropical climate where life never ends do to cold. I could live without winter and all that is associated with it.
Michael
Well I guess that sometimes it is quite easy to get lost in life. I believe that is what has happened to me during 2010 and 2011. So much has happened since my last post and I don’t think there is anyway to fill in the blanks. Basically here is my life over the past 18 months in a snapshot. April 30th 2010 myself and 800+ of my fellow coworker were laid off from Comair. I started working for Arbor Doctor as a plant healthcare specialist the beginning of May 2010. I had a mouse in my grow room winter 2010 that reeked havoc on my plants, and I lost many of them. I have not sold a thing over the 2011 season, and really haven’t tried to sell anything. I have been dabbling with aquaponics, plant tissue culture, orchids, and bonsai and I was able to get my Master Gardeners Certification in 2010. I am not maintaining a web site right now, but I still own my domain. I’m not sure what the future will hold for me and my nursery, I would love to operate a garden center or grow shop. We will see how it all plays out, and I will try to update this blog more frequently.
Michael
Well it is Feb. 23rd and we are almost done with the cold weather for the year, and I can’t wait!! I had mentioned about Mitchell Tolle in my last post, and if you missed seeing him at FBCMZ then you really missed out on a special blessing. I have made some changes in my life as a result of hearing what he was inspired to say. One of them here recently is changing my domain and hosting provider. I have been with GoDaddy for years, I guess just because I had seen the initial commercial during the Superbowl that put them on the map. Well my heart was convicted while watching the Super Bowl this year with my wife. The GoDaddy style commercial that attracted so much attention many years ago has caused me to move my business to a more conservative company. I will no longer support that type of behavior with my money. I am now with 1&1, who I noticed several years ago when I started reading Inc. Magazine. I was just comfortable with my hosting at GoDaddy and didn’t have any real problems with it, except for the commercials and I just ignored them. Part of the book, “Like a tree”, speaks about truely living the Christian life and taking stands for what you believe in. Well I was always taught to respect women, and I can find countless verses in the Bible to back this up, so I took a small stand and quite supporting a company that exploits women to gain profits. There are males of all ages watching the Super Bowl that don’t need to those kind of images and thoughts placed in their minds and my money no longer makes me responsible for those ad being presented during a male dominated sporting event. Wise up Mr. Parsons, it’s bad business, just ask Hooters executives. I actually was blessed by my move in many ways. I am in the process of moving my two domains, my new package gave me two more domains for free and I purchased an additional one for less than I could at the other registering company. Plus I am able to host all five domains for one price that is CHEAPER than GoDaddy.
MAKING CHANGES
As a result of my stand I am making some changes to my business. First I am narrowing my focus, which I believe will be a good thing. Each of the types of nursery stock I will be growing will have their own domain(URL), featuring only that type of plant. I am also going to get into some conservation work as a way to give back to my neighborhood, and my state. I am thankful to the Lord that I was allowed to be born in the United States of America and I want to use my talents to give back and do my part. More details on that later. I mentioned that I would only be focusing on certain types of nursery stock. Well my true love has always been Plumeria, so that will be my main focus. Along the way of this journey I have been on I discovered Bamboo, and fell in love with it. It is easy to work with, and is kind of like a cat and only needs a few things from you. I have worked with some plants that you must constantly pamper and I really don’t have the time for this right now. So Bamboo is the second Plant I will be growing. Then there is the Banana, there is just something mysterious about them that I just love. They are pretty fuss free, and don’t seem to be bothered by many pests. So I have decided that they are also keepers. Each of these plant types will have their own site and be marketed independently. I also have a passion for Bougainvillea, cactus, and Agave that I just can’t break, but they will not be a focal plant right now. I have too much on my plate and as Gina says, “You must focus”. I hate when she says that, but she is right. I have learned over our twenty years togather that quite often she is right. So I will have more to share later about this. I will “officially” give the URL’s and kind of an intro to what I am trying to accomplish. Stay tuned for more.
Michael
Well, here we are half way through January 2010. It’s amazing how quickly January is passing by. As anyone who knows me knows, I really don’t like cold weather, and the older I get the more I despise the cold. So I am quite happy to make it through January as quickly as possible. I just finished reading a very good book that has actually made a difference in my life.
A must read book
This is probable the best book that I have read in at least the past ten to fifteen years. It is a very straight forward book that I found easy to read. I could relate to what was being revealed in the text and I honestly think God used this book to give me a refresher on what I should be doing in a way that wasn’t harsh and convicted my heart in a loving way. The author of the book, Mr Mitchelle Tolle, is both a common man and a very talented man who has lived a very blessed life. He is an inspiration to me and I look forward to hearing him speak on January 31st at my church. If you live locally here in the Northern Kentucky/ Greater Cincinnati area I urge you to be in attendance on Sunday January 31st at the Florence Baptist Church on Mt Zion road. Mr Mitchelle Tolle is a Kentucky native if you are in need of fine art I encourage you to checkout his gallery. Mr Tolle and his wife operate their gallery in Berea, Kentucky.
Mitchelle Tolle Gallery Berea, Kentucky
Your can also make purchases from his online store if this kind of shopping is comfortable with you. You can find him out at http://www.mitchelletolle.com . I am looking forward to hearing what God has to say through the mouth of this wise and talented man.
Michael
Well it’s been a while since I have posted to this blog. I apologize for the silence, I have not abandoned the blog, just been quite busy with the nursery and what life presents as time moves along. This time of the year people tend to review the years accomplishments and failures and make resolutions for the upcoming year. I tend to resist resolutions, most people tend to break them in the first ninety days. I believe in goal setting, this is quite important especially if you are running a company. So I will share some of my goals for 2010 instead of making a resolution that the odds are against me being able to keep. In my spare time I have been researching some growing methods and practices. I have been reading about using fungi in growing programs. This topic facinates me, I love the interactions between organisms and environments. Just like the concepts and practices of aquaculture. To grow plants and fish in the some environment and each supports the other making is almost a 100% self supporting environment. I love this! I have been reading about the relationship between the fungi and the plant roots and one helps the other. In this relationship the fungi gives the plant the advantage of a wide spread mass of roots. The fungi in return gets the plants byproducts which benefits the fungi. Each partner gets what it needs to thrive through this relationship. More to come on this topic after I can speak about it first hand. One of my goals is to impliment the use of beneficial fungi to my growing program. I have also researched the use of marine elements in growing programs. There are real benefits of using sea kelp, and fish in a growing program. Some may be obvious, while other are not. I have been using some of these elements over the last several years, even before realizing the benefits. I plan on fine tuning a growing regimin based on use of these elements. Another project I have been researching has been to learn as much about tissue culture methods and practices as related to plants as I can. I purchased the book, “Plants from test tubes”, and have read the entire book. I have joined a TC group and read and research what material is available. There is a plant tissue culture class coming up in Feb that I plan on being in attendance. So I guess that this goal would be to continue to learn all I can in this class and then to put it into practice. I think this will be a turning point for my nursery. So in short I will be working on growing methods to improve the quality of the plants that I make available to my customers. I will be working on more cost effective propagation methods, that allow me to control the availablilty. Personal goals will be to make sure I remain active and control my health. As I get older I become more aware of my health. I just turned 40 this past year and it’s funny how once you get into you middle to upper 30′s you start to become more aware of health issues. Well I’m there, and I’m aware of the issues that will effect the rest of my life and I am taking measures now to correct them. So I am being realistice in my approach so that it becomes life and is natural for me. So I am wishing you the best of life during this new year, with all of the potential a new year brings. I urge you to embrace life and live it as each day as your last day. Make each day count, and learn all that you can.
Michael
I was doing some reading this weekend while waiting for flights and while in the air. I purchased a copy of Horticulture Magazine and in the Q&A section was a question about buying plants from the big boxes type stores. This is a topic That I have always had strong opinions about, and reading this article just brought it bubbling to the surface again. I have always advised people to purchase from nurseries rather than from the big box stores. There are many reasons for this, with the most important one to me being supporting local nursery’s. I have always said that Big Box store’s treat plants as a commodity, not a living thing that needs to be cared for. There is little concern about caring for the plants that are offered to the public. Why is that? Well, there are qute a few reasons, let me tell you some of them. First off, many of these stores have agreements with the growers which states that the plants are property of the grower until they sell, which then they become property of the store and must be paid for. This is a poor way to do business in my oppinion, but growers do it each season. It’s a crying shame that these growers chase after the large chain stores and just give away plants so that the chain stores can kill them do to the lack of care. Since the chain store is not responsible for the plant until it sells, most of them will not spend the wages for the labor required to properly care for the plant because it is not cost effective in their view. Now in all fairness I have been in my local Home Depot and they have had some ladies in the garden center that were taking really good care of their nursery stock, but this isn’t every season. Also my local Meijer store has had some really nice plants and employed sales clerks to care for the plants. They are isolated examples of Big Box chain stores that care for their stock. Here is what I suggest, purchase plants from local nurseries. These are the best sources of plants because that is what they do, that isn’t hard to understand. If you need medical care you see someone with a license to practice medicine, when you want plants wouldn’t you want to buy from someone with a license to sell nursery stock ? There are quite a few nurseries that do a really nice job to bring unique plants to the general public. Support these nurseries and be sure of what you are buying. These people can answer questions, and are knowledgable about plants. They are licensed by the USDA and are frequently inspected, this is to your advantage. So support your local nursery, or your favorite mail order nursery. If you need some names of good nurseries or nurseries that carry certain plants just Email me and I will suggest one.
Michael
The Pub Naples
My purchase while in Naples
Gina and I at Naples Pier
A Naples Beach View
A Naples Beach View
Naples Beach View
Naples Sunset
Naples Sunset
Naples Sunset
