Letter to the Editor

Letter to the Editor

Friday, December 30, 2011

To the Editor:

They keep saying on the radio there are seven billion people on the Earth now.

Food and shelter and seven billion people is mind boggling.

I can remember when there were 130 million people in the United States. Now there are over 300 million.

Back in the old days, the people were supporting the government. It seems now the government is supporting the people. If you have looked at the food you are buying now, you will be surprised at how much of it is from other countries.

It used to be that a large part of the population had a garden; I wonder what the percentage of teenagers has ever dug up a potato or picked a tomato.

I applaud the 4-H organization. I would like to see backyard gardens become popular and have an organization like the 4-H to sponsor it.

It would do a lot for some of our young people. It would give them something to do besides playing games and watching TV. Plus, it would give them the meaning of the word responsibility.

I was really surprised to find that we were getting most of our honey from China.

Australia has come up with a unique backyard garden. They call it "Backyard AQUAPONICS." The driving part is fish. They provide in their bath water what plants need to grow.

As the water from the fish tank is pumped into troughs where plants can dangle their roots, (it) purifies the water for the fish. There are different kinds of fish to grow -- catfish, carp, goldfish, jade perch, silver perch, tilapia, trout and blue gill.

Some of the plants that can be grown are as follows: tomatoes, eggplant, bell peppers, beans, peas, carrots and beets, plus others.

I would like to add something else to grow that would compliment the AQUAPONICS.

Barbecued rabbit is delicious. The foliage from the garden would be good food for the rabbits.

The cooked entrails of the rabbit would be good fish food. The droppings from the rabbits would make good compost.

With a freezer, a person could have good vegetables and meat year-round. I have an upright freezer.

I found that by using plastic labeled boxes, it takes away the chore of digging around a horizontal freezer.

The plastic boxes prevent the cold air from falling out of the upright freezer. That reduces the cost of operation and the chore of defrosting.

Hill DeMent

Fort Scott