Letters To The Editor

What’s Wrong With My Bell Peppers?

Dear Editor,

Last year was our first year using heirloom seeds. We saved two different types of pepper seeds – red Nardello and green bells. Both types of seeds were processed on the same day and in the same manner. I am really pleased with my home grown Jimmy Nardello seeds. They had great germination – (87%). However, my home grown green bell peppers were a complete disappointment – ZERO germination. Not a single one of the bell peppers came up. I replanted some more seeds with the same results – nothing. Both types were planted at the same time, in the same mini-greenhouse and both were on the same soil warmer pad. Do you have any idea as to what happened? I don’t want to make the same mistake this year. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Gardener in Idaho

Dear Gardener,

If your bell peppers were green when you harvested the seed, it sounds like the seed was not completely developed. Green bell peppers are actually immature peppers. Peppers that have matured are normally red in color, although they can be other colors as well. To properly harvest the seed from bell peppers, they should have changed colors, and be beyond the eating stage and beginning to shrivel on the plant before you harvest them. Next time, let your peppers fully mature before harvesting.

The Editor

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To Make A Difference, All Side Must Come Together

Dear Editor,

Thank you for your informative emails. I consider myself “left of center,” but try to think critically instead of thinking solely in alignment with an ideology; thus, I appreciate your prevailing message of self-reliance in the face of creeping government control over people’s lives.

One thing that strikes me, however, is the missing piece of your puzzle: the role of imperial over-reach and its inextricable connection to the dismantling of democratic values both abroad and at home.

If we are truly to “get our country back,” citizens from all along the political spectrum must confront the undeniable fact that our government — regardless of which of the two dominant parties has a majority — acts to facilitate corporate power (even “liberal” Obama green-lights Monsanto’s unchecked tyranny). The other component that goes unabated is the juggernaut of U.S. militarism that crushes people’s movements around the globe in the name of securing compliant governments favorable to multinational corporate and financier interests. Please, if this reads like just more “bleeding heart” hokum, ask yourself if you’ve really taken the time to learn as much as you can on this subject.

John Perkins’ excellent books, Confessions of an Economic Hitman and The Secret History of the American Empire provide a stunning insider’s account of global crime; and this web site: https://www.globalresearch.ca provides a cogent analysis of world events that go well beyond the mainstream media’s coverage.

I am a “liberal” (I believe in transparent/democratic government, a social safety net, and am vehemently anti-war) but I also appreciate certain viewpoints of those who call themselves “conservative.” Perhaps it can work conversely.

Respectfully,

Dear VK,

I really appreciated your email. I have always been of the opinion that there is more that unites us than divides us, if we will step back and take the time to listen to each other. We all have something to offer to the national conversation if we can get beyond the viciousness of the rhetoric that comes from both sides of the aisle.

I happen to share your viewpoint that corporatism is the driving force behind government policy today. I also think we need to quit trying to be the world’s policemen. There are enough issues within our borders that need attention without trying to micromanage the rest of the world. It is the quest for power from both sides that threatens freedom and I believe that many of us can agree with that.

Like you, I appreciate other viewpoints. There are certain subjects that I’m pretty unmovable on (constitutional rights, for example… these rights are from God, and don’t require the permission of any man or government to exercise), but I am always willing to listen and consider other opinions. I enjoy discussing these issues with others, whether like-minded or not, when the conversation is conducted in civility. Your email was certainly that, and I will look at the resources you have mentioned.

Thank you so much for writing in.

The Editor

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