THE GREAT CORN PALACE DIVIDE

i recently visited the corn palace in sunnyvale and spoke to the old guy who runs the place, and apparently his brother who co-owned the property with him for many years recently passed away - his brothers' wishes were to keep the entire piece of land growing produce, but greed has allegedly taken over and those who inherited half the five acres have already sold it!?

and to make matters worse; the family has turned a cold shoulder on the old man who just lost his brother, and even tried to cut off his access to the water well!? (see photo below) and since the san jose mercury news is not likely to write about this important story, i have decided to take it upon myself to inform the local community...

> interesting fact: the surviving brother owns about 80 acres in the central valley and mountain view, and has NEVER portioned off an acre of land for development...

since the federal government can come up with subsidies for farmers in the midwest (for instance) to keep those farms 'up and running', why can't they come up with some sort of subsidy that pays market value to landowners who own the last piece of agricultural property in any given city to permanently preserve it? - and especially or mainly where the ag land is endangered like here in the santa clara valley (the subsidy would guarantee permanent protection of open space)

(for example; sunnyvale has the old murphy family orchard which the city first seized, then gave back to them, but only if they took care of the land - this parcel is now the heritage orchard by the sunnyvale community center - mountain view needs its' own heritage agricultural land, and the pumpkin patch is a great candidate for this designation)

please tell the US congress to preserve the last remnants of rural agriculture in built-out cities! - let's help create community-based, volunteer-operated (organic?) farms to bring together communities and seed grass-roots actions! - CONTACT THE UNITED STATES HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES @ http://www.house.gov/house/MemberWWW.shtml and/or THE UNITED STATES SENATE @ http://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm > then feel free to tell your local leaders how you feel about this issue as well @ http://likroper.com/take_action.html

THE FACTS ABOUT LOAM SOIL - Loam soils are gritty, plastic when moist, and retain water easily. They generally contain more nutrients than sandy soils. In addition to the term loam, different names are given to soils with slightly different proportions of sand, silt, and clay: sandy loam, silty loam, clay loam, sandy clay loam, silty clay loam.

A "loamy" soil feels mellow and is easy to work over a wide range of moisture conditions. A soil dominated by one or two of the three particle size groups can behave like loam if it has a strong granular structure (promoted by a high content of organic matter). However, a soil that meets the textural definition of loam can become unlike loamy earth if it is compacted, depleted of organic matter, or has dispersive clay in its fine-earth fraction.

Loam soil is ideal for growing crops because it retains nutrients well and retains water while still allowing the water to flow freely. This soil is found in a majority of successful farms in regions around the world known for their fertile land...

(interesting fact: the santa clara and coyote valleys both have the largest deposits of LOAM in the world)

READ MORE ABOUT LOAM @ http://www.m-w.com/dictionary/loam - http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1E1-loam.html - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Port_Silt_Loam & http://www.hort.purdue.edu/ext/loam.html

these are photos of the corn palace land a few years back > click here to download a free screen saver - you can read more about THE CORN PALACE @ http://likroper.com/CORN-PALACE.html

> "I look forward to an America which will not be afraid of grace and beauty, which will protect the beauty of our natural environment, which will preserve the great old American houses and squares and parks of our national past and which will build handsome and balanced cities for our future" - John F. Kennedy

Lynyrd Skynyrd › All I Can Do Is Write About It - 4:21 (Allen Collins -- Ronnie Vanzant)

Well this life that I've lead has took me everywhere - There aint no place I aint never gone - But it's kind of like the saying that you heard so many times; Well there just aint no place like home - Did you ever see a she-gator protect her young? - Or a fish in a river swimming free? - Did you ever see the beauty of the hills of carolina? - Or the sweetness of the grass in tennessee? - And lord I can't make any changes - All I can do is write 'em in a song - I can see the concrete slowly creepin' - Lord take me and mine before that comes - Do you like to see a mountain stream a-flowin'? - Do you like to see a young one with his dog? - Did you ever stop to think, well, about the air your breathin'? - Well you better listen to my song - And lord I can't make any changes - All I can do is write 'em in a song - I can see the concrete slowly creepin' - Lord take me and mine before that comes - I'm not tryin to put down no big cities - But the things they write about us is just a bore - Well you can take a boy out of ol' dixieland - But you'll never take ol' dixie from a boy...

And lord I can't make any changes - All I can do is write 'em in a song - I can see the concrete slowly creepin' - Lord take me and mine before that comes - Cause I can see the concrete slowly creepin' - Lord take me and mine before that comes...

> 22 jul 2007 / UPDATE: since posting this blog segment, the dormant side of the field has been plowed...