Parsley Is All About Green

HOW GROWING AND EATING PARSLEY CAN CHANGE YOUR LIFE

Beneficial wasp on parsley leaf

A  garden full of herbs that are easy to grow can change your diet.  Just using one herb, parsley for example, can be diet changing. Parsley is easy to grow and has few pests.  Seeds can be started as soon as the ground can be worked in the spring.   Parsley can be harvested from about early June until November.  Parsley can be planted in a regular garden bed intermixed with your plants, or edging a walkway.   It likes sun or part shade and tolerates most soils.  Parsley can also be grown inside in window pots.  Harvest parsley by removing the oldest leaves from the bottom of the plant. 

  As far as your diet goes, parsley can be substituted for lettuce . Finely chop parsley and mix it with oil and garlic as a pesto sauce for macaroni. If you do not get to using your fresh parsley, let it dry. Of course it can be used as a cooking seasoning in any meal as it has a delicate flavor.  Parsley soup and parsley hummus dip can also be made.  But just adding it in any salad is a great way to enjoy more fresh parsley.

   It's nutritional value helps you get Vitamin C , Vitamin K, and Vitamin A, iron and other nutrients.  Parsley is also a strong antioxidant.

  Here is a food that can change your health, be eaten at most meals. and you can grow it right in your landscape. And of course not using strong chemical pesticides and fungicides will go a long way to reducing your exposure to chemicals. . If the plant comes back for a second year it will grow flowers. The parsley flowers will provide nectar for beneficial insects. This is a plant that will serve you and improve your landscape.    

Updates on Uncle John's solar heat pump

Uncle John has added new components to his heat pump.   He now has solar panels that will supply the electricity to run the heat pump.  He built a garage to hold the solar panels. 

SOLAR PANELS

GARAGE WITH SOLAR PANELS ON ROOF

     Soon  Uncle John's heat pump run by solar panels will be activated, stay tuned.

Uncle John's Unique Heat Pump System

UNCLE JOHN AND HIS HEAT PUMP 

Here is a brief description of Uncle John's Heat Pump/Solar Energy system that will generate electricity so John can eventually run his electric car , save energy and the world.   The headquarters of his plan is centered in his basement.  In the picture above John is standing where the water from the heat exchange pump system comes in from outside the house (from a depth of 7-8 ft) and enters the basement.  From there it runs through the heat pumps. Passive heat exchange is also utilized to minimize power consumed by the heat pump compressors. Computerized components run and monitor the system.

Geothermal tubing installation

Non-chemical sulfur water treatment system

Heat exchange pump

    In the heat exchange pump water from the outside enters the heat exchange system.   The heat from the outside water is removed and added to Johns house as radiant heating in the floor or from hot air vents in the winter.   In the summer the system works in reverse cooling the house.  

   Another energy gathering  system is a solar water heating unit.  In the future John is adding photovoltaic panels to gather electrical energy.

  

Temperature underneath the floor supplied by the radiant floor heating running off of Heat Pump System

  The thermometer shows the temperature of 78.4 degrees surrounding the not yet insulated radiant floor heating system.

Raspberry Pi computerized controlling system

The Raspberry Pi is a small computer.

   Temperatures are measured and thermostats set to monitor the system and

make it more energy efficient.  The Raspberry Pi was programmed by Uncle John using Linux open source programming. The picture below shows a report generated by the Raspberry that shows the energy gathered, in this case from the solar water heater.

Report Generated by Raspberry Pie about BTUs gathered from solar roof panels
 

Attracting Beneficial Insects to our Yards

Native Trout Lily

     Native spring blooming plants attract beneficial insects to your yard.   In the early spring, native plants like blood root, trout lily, and violets provide early season food for beneficial insects.  These insects will help protect your landscape over the season from some harmful pest insects.   Caterpillars that defoliate trees can be eaten by benefical insects that lay their eggs in harmful caterpillers.   These beneficial insects are called parasitoids.  Parasitoids can be small native wasps. Usually these wasps are so small you need a hand lens to see them.   In your landscape these beneficial insects can only survive with your help.   By not spraying with dangerous pesticides that kill all insects and by providing habitat and food for the beneficial insects by planting flowering perennials, shrubs, and trees, we can help make our world more chemical free. 
   Each one of us can help reestablish the balance of nature in our own backyard.