Hi all,
Things are developing at their own pace on this, but I have a deadline
for the Budget on April 4, the next Weed Advisory Board Meeting.
I found a healer here in Sandpoint with a BioMeridian Meridian Stress
Assessment. It's a computerized radionics machine. You put the
vibrational frequency of a substance into the computer and save it, and
she has another instrument by Digital Health that she uses to put the
vibrational frequency into a liquid in a bottle. This would be one way
to put the Pfeiffer Field Spray and the weed peppers onto our road
without violating any state laws, I hope. If it comes to this, I will
have to work out with her on the potencies. She says the instrument
takes care of this. I am supposed to collect small samples of the soil
on Rapid Lightning Road and hold this against my stomach while she tests
me with her instrument. There are a dozen references to the Meridian
Stress Assessment on Goggle search and they have a website at
<biomeridian.com> I don't know anything about this, folks, but I will
forge ahead with whatever works while trying to keep my nose clean. It
would be nice to document everything we use on the road to be a model
for the county. I am quite concerned about BD people's sensitivities
over dealing with a government agency, the materialism involved and the
words of RS at the end of Chapter 8 in Agriculture. What is the balance
here? I am prepared to keep all BD applications secret to protect our
whole endeavor in healing the earth from disinterested hearsay. From
what I have gone through, it feels like this might be necessary.
My meeting with Christine, the State Inspector, was not very fruitful.
I've known her ever since I came here. She is probably an agnostic and
she can't deal with spiritual science and RS. What I did get out of it
was that if HC wants to register Pfeiffer Field Spray, and he probably
doesn't even if I supply the $100, he will have to list the ingredients
and have the contents tested. The ingredient list would look like the
label on a bottle of catchup--bovine manure, yarrow flowers, oak bark,
dandilion flowers, stinging nettle leaves and stems, chamomile flowers,
valerian flowers, enzymes (he would have to name them), and bacteria (he
would have to name them). They don't care about the energy from putting
all these in the earth in a rich BD soil or any spiritual aspects of our
work.
I have ordered the application form for registering a soil amendent from
the state of Idaho and I will probably send this to HC along with the
above information. It's his call and I respect this.
I'm busy trying to make out a budget for the cost-share grant to present
to the Weed Committee Meeting April 4. It looks like this so far
(below). Does anyone have any suggestions on content? I hate dealing
in numbers and money and am just putting my first draft out there. I
have $2200 to spend and I have to justify every cent. Thanks for any
help you can give. I am including the guidelines for the cost-share
grant. I am struggling. Maybe there are some experienced grant writers
out there? I know there must be more ways to follow the guidelines than
I am aware of. Help, if you have any experience with this.
Merla
* * * * * * * *
Budget for 2002
Rapid Lightning Neighborhood Weed Control Project
History: Last year the county mowed twice with two different rotary
mowers on the 3-mile paved part of the road and Robert Coles mowed once
on the 5-mile gravel part of the road with a sickle-bar mower.
Residents weed whacked what was left--absentee landowner�s
right-of-ways, ranchers� right-of-ways, around bridges, mailboxes and
parts of the whole right-of-way that the mower�s could not reach. This
type of containment of seedhead will be continued this year.
� Purchase a second Stihl 085 professional weed eater. Residents�
weedeaters are not heavy enough and break easily doing this work. It is
necessary for Herb to oversee the use of the WeedEaters and it would be
helpful if another professional weedeater was available for the second
person.
� We recommend Robert Cole�s sickle bar mower which he donated last
year. We would like the grant to pay him his time and the use of the
mower since he is not a resident of Rapid Lightning.
1. Biodynamic weed peppers - Weed peppers made by burning the seeds of
spotted knapweed, common tansy, yellow and orange hawkweed, Canada and
musk thistle will be sprayed. These peppers will be in a homeopathic
D-8 dilution.
� No further purchase will be made. We have bought a soil amendment,
Pfeiffer Field Spray, but we can�t apply it because it isn�t registered
in Idaho. Biodynamic preparations �affect the etheric realm of
existence and stimulate nonphysical dimensions that manifest in the
physical.� Hugh Courtney, Director of the Josephine Porter Institute.
They are made from exempted substances "unmanipulated bovine manure",
silica and "vegetable wastes" from the herbs-- yarrow flowers, stinging
nettle leaves and stems, chamomile flowers, oak bark, dandelion flowers
and valerian flowers that are buried in the garden over the winter. To
this has been added enzymes and several cultivated strains of beneficial
soil bacteria that have been isolated from the most fertile humus soils.
2. Allelopathic Plants - Rye, oat and other seed will be
direct-seeded.
� Possible plants and combinations of plants
Cereal Rye - Secale cerale - alone
Cereal Rye with Red Clover ((has shown excellent weed suppression once
established, and, being a legume, gives the added benefit of nitrogen
fixation by symbiotic bacteria)
Oats - Avena sativa - alone
Oats with Red Clover
Italian ryegrass - Lolium multiflorum - alone
Buckwheat - _____________ alone
Buckwheat followed by Winter Rye
Sudangrass followed by Winter Rye
Grain Sorghum - ___________(produces a hydrophobic, golden yellow
compound that exhibits remarkable selective herbicidal activity on
broadleaf and grass weeds.)
3. Mulch
� Possible mulches
Living Mulch - perennial ryegrass, red clover, white clover, hairy vetch
Straw Mulch
Road Fabric
Sorghum stalks (allelopathic)
Sunflower residues (allelopathic)
4. Crop Water Extracts <www.telmedpak.com>
� Sorgaab (Sorghum water extract)
Sorgaab with Sunflower water extract
5. Bio-controls for knapweed, thistle and hawkweed are available.
� Knapweed - Agapeta zoegana, Cyphocleonus achates, Larinus minutus,
Metzneria paucipunctellka, Urophora affinis, Urophora quadrifasciata
Thistle -
Hawkweed - Merla is going to a workshop on this on April 9 in Coeur
d�Alene
6. Reclamation and aesthetic seed mix
� Three suppliers are available:
Plants of the Wild, P.O.Box 866, Tekoa, WA. <plantsofthewild.com> 509
284-2848
4 cu inch tubes @ 45� each in bundles of 20
10 cu inch tubes @ 90� each in bundles of 20
Common Yarrow, Pearly Everlasting, Blue Columbine, Arrowleaf Balsamroot,
Indian Paintbrush, Purple Coneflower, Blue Wild Rye, Sulfer Flower,
California Poppy, Idaho Fescue, Blue Fescue, Blanket Flower, Blue Flax,
Silvery Lupine, Silky or Blue Lupine, Desert EveningPrimrose, Scorched
penstemon, Hot Rock penstemon, Firecracker penstemon, Rocky Mountain
penstemon.
Granite Seeds, Sandy, Utah
Rocky Mountain Seed Mix
Annuals - California Poppy, Scarlet Flax, Sullphur Cosmos, Wallflower,
Firewheel, Bachelor Button, Mountain Phlox, Plains Coreopsis, Shirley
poppy, Baky snapdragon, Gilia species, Drummond phlox
Perennials - Lewis blue flax, purple coneflower, Rocky Mountain Iris,
Lance-leaved coreopsis, Lupine species
Blanket flower, Sweet Anise, Penstemon species, Bloack-eyed Susan,
Mexican hat, Prairie coneflower, Colorado Blue Columbine, Aspen daisy,
Shany Goldeneye, Iceland poppy, Paintbrush species, Aster species
Grains - Barley, Cereal Rye, Foxtail millet, Japanese millet, Oats,
Regreen, Sorghum, Sudangrass, Triticale, Wheat, White proso millet
Turf grasses - Alkaligrass, Annual ryegrass, Bermuda grass, Blue Grama,
Buffalograss, Chewings fescue, Colonial bentgrass, Creeping bentgrass,
Hard fescue, Kentucky bluegrass, Perennial ryegrass, Red fescue, rough
bluegrass, Sheep fescue
Legunes - Alfalfa, Alsike clover, Birdsfoot trefoil, Cicer milkvetch,
Crownvetch, Hairy Vetch, Ladino clover, Lupines, Northern sweetvetch,
Prairie clover, Red clover, Rose clover, Sainfoin, Strawberry clover,
White Dutch clover, White Sweet cover, Wooly pid vetch, Yellow sweet
cover
Rainier Seeds, Inc, 1404 Fourth Street, Davenport, WA 99122
<rainierseeds.com> 1-800-828-8873
Over 100 varieties of grass seed to chose from for a custom mix. Some
wild flowers.
6. Record keeping
� Stakes, cord, notebooks, Digital camera, __________
7. Networking and organizing (aren't covered by the guidelines, but are
very necessary for this project. I might send a letter to the
cost-share people to ask that the grant cover this.)
* * * * * * * *
An overview of Idaho State Department of Agriculture�s
Noxious Weed Cost-Share Program
May 23, 2000
The centerpiece of Idaho's Strategic Plan for Managing Noxious Weeds is
the creation of Cooperative Weed Management Areas to mobilize all
landowners in an area to work together in stopping the spread of
invasive weeds. To accomplish this, the cooperators will use an
integrated approach, through the development of Integrated Weed
Management Plans to bring available resources and effective
weed-fighting techniques to combat the growing invasive weed problem.
The primary purpose of the Idaho State Department of
Agriculture's (ISDA) noxious weed cost share grant program is to
accelerate the attack on invasive weeds by supplementing local funds and
resources, not replacing them. Cost sharing is also intended to provide
additional incentives for local landowners, officials, and citizens to
work collaboratively to develop a more comprehensive and effective
noxious weed management program. Through strengthening of on-the-ground
management, the major economic and environmental impacts can be more
effectively
mitigated improving the quality of life for all Idahoans.
The former policy for the use of cost share grants dated 7/12/88 is
hereby rescinded. The new policy follows:
IDAHO STATE DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE
Noxious Weed Cost Share Grant
Policy
May 2000
Cost share grants are not intended to be a substitute or
replacement for county or agency funds nor for costs that should
legitimately borne by landowners consistent with the Idaho Weed Law.
Rather, they are to be used as a supplement to the resources of
landowners, and county, state, and federal partners, particularly where
a true resource crisis exists and for which delaying action for lack of
resources would lead to accelerated resource deterioration and economic
loss.
Beginning July 1, 2000 (State fiscal year 2001) cost share
grant applications will be considered for funding only for a single
year. The following requirements will be considered minimums which
applicants must meet in order to qualify to receive cost share grants:
County weed advisory committees or boards, or steering
committees in the case of Cooperative Weed Management Areas (CWMA) are
designated and approved by the participating county(s) boards of
commissioners.
Cooperative agreements, which will help ensure an
integrated geographic approach for managing noxious weeds across all
land ownership and jurisdictional boundaries, are approved by the
participating partners who own or manage lands within the designated
area.
An Integrated Weed Management Plan (IWMP) for the
county or designated area, is completed, or in the process of
completion.
An Annual Operating Plan (AOP), which addresses the objectives in the
IWMP, is prepared annually and will be the basis for cost-share grants.
Measurable objectives are included in the AOP and
demonstrate that planned activities are designed to be both effective
and strategic.
An Annual Operating Plan (AOP), which outlines the actions
to be implemented for a specific year to meet the goals and objectives
established in either the CWMA or county IWMP, must accompany the
"Noxious Weed Cost Share Requests". The Noxious Weed Cost Share Request
form must identify the estimated funding amounts or value of services to
be contributed by the cooperators and/or partners to accomplish the
planned actions identified in the AOP. The Noxious Weed Cost Share Grant
Application must be signed by the appropriate county commissioner if the
application is for a county. If the cost share application involves a
CWMA, a commissioner from each participating county must sign the
application.
Consistent with the principles of Integrated Weed
Management, cost share funds may be used for the following purposes:
� purchase and application of herbicide
� purchase, collection, and distribution of biological agents;
� application of cultural practices such as grubbing, mowing or
chopping;
� restoration practices including the purchase and seeding of
desirable plant species;
� development of educational programs and purchase of educational
materials including pamphlets, visual aids, handbooks and
training aids;
� mapping and surveying including costs of associated hardware and
software;
development of innovative grazing and related management
practices, and demonstration area which highlight an
integrated weed management approach;
� capital equipment purchases, research and development and
tech-transfer, and other unspecified weed-related costs subject
to the approval of the ISDA grant review team.
Cost share grants must be used by the recipients for the purposes, in
the approximate amounts, and during the time period specified in the
grant application. A report on the status of grant expenditures must be
provided to ISDA by December 31st of the year in which the grant was
awarded. Grant funds may not be used for other purposes or carried over
to the following year without the written approval of the ISDA State
Weed Coordinator.
Process for receiving, reviewing and approving Cost Share Grant
Applications:
ISDA will receive applications from November 1 until December 31
annually. Applications will be evaluated by an ISDA "grant review team"
consisting of the Director, Deputy Director, Animal Industries Division
Administrator, Fiscal Officer, and the State Weed Coordinator. Final
Cost Share determinations will be made by March 15th.
