Thoughts from Starlight Cascade

At the end of February we planted our onion seeds. Alisa Craig,

South Port Red Globe and Red Wethersfield (2014) seed. So far only the Alisa Craig and South Port Red Globe have grown.

March 3rd we planted the Evergreen White Long Bunching onion seeds from Bumble Rock Farm. These two are up!
We will also direct seed some of these seeds to extend the growing and eating season for this onion.

Not leaving the Flowers behind, several different flower seeds were planted in March for the plant out in May. So far the Tall Orange and Tall Yellow from Robert & Carol are up
. The Zinnia’s from Bob B. are also up.

The rest are taking their time……

Soon will the be the Peppers and the Tomatoes! So exciting.

Finally! What took them soooooo long???

Prison farms in Kingston had the best stats on prison programs reform. The Previous conservative government under harper aid they were not relevant… funny how training in farming is not relevant to todays society… hard working. work ethics.. reliability… food production, inventory management, food preparation, heavy machinery training in operation and maintenance…
I could go on for a lot of more but will stop for now.

From: http://www.thewhig.com/2018/02/27/kingstons-prison-farms-to-reopen

The Liberal government committed $4.3 million over five years to reopen the prison farms at Joyceville and Collins Bay institutions.
The farms are to be run by a Correctional Service Canada rehabilitation agency. The farms were closed by the Conservative government in 2010.
Dowling said the campaign to restore the prison farms was successful because of broad support across the community.
Collins Bay and Joyceville were among about a half-dozen prison farms across the country closed by the previous government. Dowling said about 30 dairy cows descended from the original Collins Bay herd are still available to be purchased by the government to start to rebuild the prison herd.

and from https://globalnews.ca/news/4051863/kingston-prison-farms-to-reopen/
Supporters pushed to have the prison farm reopened as a way to rehabilitate inmates, and to promote local sustainability. They’ve protested outside the prison virtually every week for the past 8 years, vowing to remain there until “the cows come home.”

Sunday 2018 March 11th, a day that will live in infamy! Yet another (@#%(*^%@#!! daylight saving time switch.
Luckily, some with pull are starting to think about it now as well:

Daylight Saving Time isn’t worth it, European Parliament members say
EU says holdover from post-WWI efficiency efforts isn’t relevant in today’s world.

From: https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2018/02/daylight-saving-time-isnt-worth-it-european-parliament-ministers-say/
Earlier this week the European Parliament voted 384 to 153 to review whether Daylight Saving Time is actually worth it. Although the resolution it voted on was non-binding, the majority reflected a growing dissatisfaction with a system that has been used by the US, Canada, most of Europe, and regions in Asia, Africa, and South America for decades.

The resolution asked the European Commission to review the costs and benefits of Daylight Saving Time. If the EU were to abolish Daylight Saving Time, it would need approval of the majority of EU member states and EU Parliament members.

I could not agree more.
How much more dangerous is it to drive the next morning after a change? Much more.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/11152980

How much less healthy is it after a change?
From http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/end-of-daylight-saving-time-2015-6-eye-opening-facts-1.3296353
Daylight time and heart attacks
A study presented to the American College of Cardiology in March 2014, based on data collected from Michigan hospitals between 2010 and 2013, indicated that the number of patients admitted for heart attacks spiked 25 per cent on the Monday immediately after clocks sprang forward for daylight saving time (the first day when the average person had to get up an hour earlier for work). The study’s authors were careful to note that they had not proved a definitive link to the time change itself or changes in sleep patterns.

Daylight time and heart attacks
A study presented to the American College of Cardiology in March 2014, based on data collected from Michigan hospitals between 2010 and 2013, indicated that the number of patients admitted for heart attacks spiked 25 per cent on the Monday immediately after clocks sprang forward for daylight saving time (the first day when the average person had to get up an hour earlier for work). The study’s authors were careful to note that they had not proved a definitive link to the time change itself or changes in sleep patterns.

The amount of time wasted to make the change is on the order of two manhours around our household. Changing a simple clock is easy. Changing a digital one with a poor user interface is frustrating. Checking the programming and scripts on computers is a challenge. Having automated data processing scripts break when some systems are on UTC and others are changing from EST to EDT or back again breaks things. Legacy operating systems (running data loggers or system controls that do not work on more modern OS’s) don’t get updates and still think DST change is later in the year. They break twice each season.

arrg!

Stop Daylight Saving Time Now!

Oh, and don’t forget this:
Daylight saving time ends this Sunday, November 5: Don’t forget to fall back
This is a re-post of an article published last year because daylight saving time will always be annoying.

First introduced to Canada 100 years ago as a way to save coal, the project is now an annual eight-month ritual tolerated purely due to the belief that it’s good for us. In March, we skip our clocks ahead one hour to inject more sunlight into the evenings. Then, in November, we switch them back to “standard time.”

But if government-mandated clock shifts annoy you, you’re not alone. A hefty body of scientific research is backing up the theory that this whole clock-switching thing might be a literal waste of time.