National Take-Back Prescription Medicine Initiative

September 29, 2012 (10:00 AM - 2:00 PM) 

The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) has scheduled a way to safely dispose of unwanted, unused prescription medications.  At the last event, on April 28, 2012, citizens turned in 276 tons of unwanted or expired medications for safe and proper disposal at the 5,659 take-back sites that were available in all 50 states and U.S. territories. When the results of the four Take-Back Days to date are combined, the DEA and its state, local, and tribal law-enforcement and community partners have removed over 1.5 million pounds (774 tons) of medication from circulation. For more information, see http://www.deadiversion.usdoj.gov/drug_disposal/takeback/index.html or call 1-800-882-9539.


Prescription drugs are one possible source of intersex, or reproductive endocrine disruption in smallmouth bass (Micropterus dolomieu) in the Potomac River basin.

Project Budburst

Fall into Phenology With Project BudBurst! September 10 - October 31, 2012

Mark your calendars for Sept 10th to Oct 31st and share your fall observations of plants changing color, shedding leaves, and more during the 2012 Fall into Phenology campaign. Project BudBurst was delighted that so many citizen scientists participated in 2011, resulting in many more reported plant observations than have been reported during past fall seasons. Thank you for making our first seasonal campaign a success! We hope you'll participate again this year and make the 2nd annual Fall into Phenology campaign even more successful than the first.  Learn more atbudburst.org/fall.  Of course, we're always accepting your observations of plants and animals.  Click on the "Report what you're seeing" link at  tiny.cc/hampshireoutdoors.

Wolf Spider?

Photo by Neil Gillies

Neil found this handsome spider in his kitchen in Baker, WV, last week.  Among the 2000 wolf spider species in the Lycosidae family, I guessed that it was among the Genus Hogna (maybe H. aspersa or H. carolinensis).

Wolf spiders are distributed nearly worldwide (except for the poles).  They are hunting spiders, and their behaviors range from waiting to stalking to actually chasing their prey.  Although they can bite, many find them favorable because they prey upon many less desirable insects and arachnids.

Among the distinguishing features of wolf spiders is that they carry their eggs, and that two of their eyes are much larger than the others, and those eyes actually reflect light!

Photo by  Opoterser on Wikimedia Commons.

In trying to identify this spider I was surprised by how much variety there is among individuals in this Genus Hogna, and I realized that wolf spiders may be a great species to demonstrate variation due to geographic isolation.

Fall Frost Dates - Hampshire County

Our Fall frost dates for Hampshire County, WV, courtesy
of Dave's Garden:

Romney 1 Sw, WV (Hampshire county):

Temperature 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90% Fall 32° Sep 29 Oct 4 Oct 7 Oct 10 Oct 12 Oct 15 Oct 18 Oct 21 Oct 25 Fall 28° Oct 12 Oct 16 Oct 19 Oct 22 Oct 25 Oct 27 Oct 30 Nov 1 Nov 6 Fall 24° Oct 15 Oct 20 Oct 24 Oct 28 Oct 31 Nov 2 Nov 6 Nov 10 Nov 16

Container Gardens

We don't have to worry about a first frost in Hampshire County for a while (only a 10% chance before October 1), but if you've been wondering about container gardening to lengthen your growing season indoors, consider this list, courtesy of the Homesteading Survivalism blog:

==================

Homesteading / Survivalism

No Garden?  Here Are 66 Things You Can Can Grow In Containers.

Tree fruits
1. Apples
2. Kumquats
3. Avocados
4. Blackberries
5. Blueberries
6. Pomegranate
7. Cherries
8. Figs
9. Pears

Citrus fruits
10. Dwarf oranges
11. Grapefruit
12. Tangerines
13. Meyer lemons
14. Limes

Tropical fruits
Tropical fruits can also be surprisingly easy to grow indoors, even in non-tropical climates. Such as…
15. Bananas
16. Pineapple
17. Papaya
18. Guavas

The real surprises
19. Hops
20. Aloe Vera
21. Strawberries
22. Tea (well, herbal tea)
23. Quinoa!

The non-surprises
24. Tomatoes
25. Summer squash
26. Other squashes, like acorn and pumpkin
27. Hot Peppers
28. Sweet peppers
29. Cucumbers

Melons
30. Small cantaloupe
31. Jenny Lind melon
32. Golden Midget Watermelon

Herbs
33. Basil
34. Oregano
35. Parsley
36. Rosemary
37. Chives
38. Catnip
39. Thyme
40. Sage
41. Parsley

Leafy Greens
42. Kale
43. Mesclun greens
44. Spinach
45. Swiss chard
46. Lettuces
47. Mustard greens
48. Collard greens
49. Arugula

Root Vegetables
50. Carrots
51. Beets
52. Potatoes

Other healthy stuff
53. Sprouts
54. More sprouts: mung bean and lentil sprouts
55. Wheatgrass
56. Kohlrabi
57. Turnips
58. Rutabagas
59. Celeriac
60. Parsnips
61. Jerusalem Artichoke
62. Sugar snap peas
63. Rhubarb
64. Mushrooms
65. Pole Beans
66. Asparagus

 

Weather Watch

There are many strategies for predicting weather, but none has proven more useful to me than monitoring RADAR".  In the 1990's I worked on Capitol Hill representing retail agricultural suppliers, the organizations that recommended, sold, applied and troubleshooted the applications of fertilizers, pesticides, and other products on crops for farmers throughout the U.S.  Whenever I visited, there were always farmers huddled around the DTN satellite  monitor at the sales counter.  Now of course, we can do the same from any Internet connected computer and in many big cities, there are dedicated channels to local RADAR.

*RADAR is sometimes called an acronym, but technically it's only an initialism.  Acronyms are initialisms that spell actual words.

In our area, I've found the best way to plan the day is to monitor the Pittsburgh RADAR rather than Washington/Sterling's (north of Dulles Airport).  Whichever you choose, be sure to set it to loop to get the best estimate of potential weather.

http://radar.weather.gov/radar.php?product=NCR&rid=pbz&loop=yes