Can you guess which famous first lady made each of these quotes? To make it a little easier, here are the Presidents’ wives that made these statements: Laura Bush, Nancy Reagan, Eleanor Roosevelt and Hillary Clinton. The names are not in order, of course. See if you can match them correctly.

1. No one can make you feel inferior without your consent.

2. I suppose I could have stayed home and baked cookies and had teas.

3. Children who are read to learn two things: one, that reading is worthwhile, and two, that they are worthwhile.

4. A woman is like a tea bag; you don’t know her strength until she is in hot water.

Who do you think made each of these statements? Let us know.
Deborah Tukua, www.hollycreekbooks.com

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by Farmers Almanac Staff
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Here’s a fun challenge for history buffs. See if you can guess which former US President made each of these famous quotes.

1. I not only use all the brains I have, but all I can borrow.

2. If you can’t stand the heat, get out of the kitchen.

3. It is just as hard to do your duty when men are sneering at you as when they are shooting at you.

4. Let us have faith that right makes might, and in that faith let us to the end dare to do our duty as we understand it.

Note: Here’s a little help. The presidents who made these quotes are: Harry S. Truman, Abraham Lincoln and Woodrow Wilson. Two of the statements were made by President Wilson. Now do you think you can match the President to his famous quote? Give it a try, won’t you?

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by Farmers Almanac Staff
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Early autumn is perfect for planting trees and bushes in your yard. If you want to make make your backyard a bird-friendly haven and a bird watcher’s paradise, consider these trees:

SHRUBS						TREES
Azalea						Crabapple
Holly						  Dogwood
Lilac						  Holly
Pyracanthas				      Honey Locust
Rhododendron				     Serviceberry
Weigela

Deborah Tukua, co-author of Pearls of Garden Wisdom.

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by Farmers Almanac Staff
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With autumn beginning today, the season change reminds us of things we must do to prepare for winter and next spring. Here are a few tips to consider for fall lawn care.

~To ensure a healthy lawn next spring, fertilize this fall. Warm-season grasses can be fertilized through September. Cool-season grasses can be successfully fertilized during the months of September, October and November. This will promote stronger roots and crowd out the weeds before they have a chance to crop up.

~When mowing the lawn for the final time this season, set the blade height to 2” or as low as 1 ½” to help the grass survive cold winter weather.

~ September is the most effective time to apply a grub control product, if grubs are a problem to your lawn.

~Fall is the ideal time to seed a new lawn with cool season grasses such as bluegrass, fescue, ryegrass and bentgrass.

~Or, plant a crop of white clover in a field or pasture to feed the deer through winter and to add additional nutrients to your soil in spring, when you disc your fields.

Deborah Tukua, coauthor of Pearls of Garden Wisdom.

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by Farmers Almanac Staff
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Energy saving tips from Sustainable Enterprises

You’ve heard the usual drivel about raising your thermostat, lowering your thermostat, buying new Energy Star appliances, ad nauseam. Here are some energy saving tips that will really help you out, and cost little or nothing at all. Read tips from members of our Sustainable Enterprises community, or, add your own advice.

Get a computer-controlled thermostat. A good quality, computer controlled thermostat costs as little as $30 and allows you to custom tailor your climate control schedule. If you are using a one-setting thermostat, you are wasting money and energy. Be sure your thermostat has at least four programmable temperature settings per day.

A decent thermostat will not only save you enough money in two months to pay for itself, your house will be more comfortable, too. Thermostats are easy to install; most have only four, color-coded wires. (Be sure to flip off the circuit breaker before making the switch.) The whole process shouldn’t take more than a half-hour.

Don’t run an empty refrigerator. Every time you open the refrigerator or freezer door, precious cold air flows out, down toward the floor (heat rises, cold sinks), the unit must then turn on to chill the warm air which has taken its place. Empty fridges and freezers lose more cold air and ergo, consume more energy than full ones (once completely chilled). This is especially critical in a prolonged power outage.

If you don’t eat enough to keep a full refrigerator, simply take used clear #1 plastic (PET) juice or soda bottles, and fill them with clean water. Fill your freezer first, then your refrigerator. When you open the door, the cold air falls out, but the frozen and chilled bottles remain, easing your refrigerator’s load and lowering your bill. In a prolonged power outage, you can slowly transfer frozen bottles to the refrigerator to maintain food quality. Frozen bottles also work great in ice-chests. (PET bottles are incredibly strong and will withstand dozens of freeze-thaw cycles. However, you must leave some free space at the top the bottle and don’t twist the cap on tight, otherwise the bottle will burst when it freezes.)

Get a clothes line. Drying is the one job in the world which, if not done, will do itself. Clothes will dry, even in damp, cool weather. Tumble dryers beat up your clothes while wasting energy, so your favorite togs do not last as long and your power bill skyrockets. Well-hung laundry often does not need ironing; the wrinkles are pulled out by gravity, offering additional energy savings.

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by Farmers Almanac Staff
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Earlier this week as I crawled into bed and gazed into the mirror closet doors, there was the reflection of a huge, orange half moon, illuminating our dark room. Wow! I don’t recall seeing the moon in our mirror before. The high window at the gable end of our house allowed the harvest moon’s image to be cast inside our room and onto the mirror. Funny, but when I looked directly up and through the high window at the night sky I couldn’t see the moon.

Well I’ve got to get a closer look at this moon, I thought. So out of bed I climbed and went outside leaving all the lights off. As I stood at the edge of the porch there it hung in space. And there I saw for the first time the silhouette of a man on the right side of the half moon! It was a stick man with two legs and a torso like a roman soldier from biblical times or an archer from Robin Hood’s merry clan. I don’t know what man in the moon other people have seen, but I was delighted to finally see the fellow for myself.

Later, I did a little investigating. Rather than a full person depicted on the moon’s surface, the man in the moon generally refers to a human face with two eyes and nose and a mouth showing up. The face’s eyes are the Mare Imbrium and Mare Serenitatis. Its nose is the Sinus Aestuum, and its open mouth is the Mare Nubium and Mare Cognitum. Where you are in the world affects what you see silhouetted on the moon. Some cultures see the silhouette of a woman, a rabbit or even a buffalo. Most always these images are seen on the full moon.

The next full moon is this weekend. On Saturday or Sunday be sure to look for the fellow in the night sky if he doesn’t appear in your mirror! But why wait, look for the fellow I saw on the right side of the moon tonight. And for those of you that don’t want to wait until dark to look at the moon, thanks to the internet you can have a look now!

Log onto the US Naval Observatory’s website. The current appearance of the moon is updated multiple times daily. Go to http://aa.usno.navy.mil/data/ and click on What the Moon Looks Like Today for a close-up view of the moon. Another really fun site that points out silhouettes on the moon is http://home.hiwaay.net/~krcool/Astro/moon/mim.htm.

Happy Moon Watching,
© Deborah Tukua,
www.hollycreekbooks.com

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by Farmers Almanac Staff
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Top Ten Hurricane Tips

If your city or town is in imminent danger of a hurricane, most likely evacuation announcements have been made, and should be taken seriously. Here are a few things to consider before you leave:

1. First, get important papers and special photos in order and secured in plastic. Identification is difficult and time-consuming to replace: so be sure to include social security cards, birth certificates, high school diplomas or GED certificates, titles or deeds to property. Photos of special occasions or loved ones cannot be replaced, so including these is important as well.

2. Think ahead and take video or photos of your property before you leave. This will help later on with any insurance checklist claims for damage that may need to be filed.

3. If staying with relatives is not an option, consider booking a room in a hotel or motel in another nearby town or state. Make sure to get directions and put them in the car ahead of time. It is easy to forget that piece of paper in the rush out the door. A cheaper route might be to find temporary hurricane shelters. Usually nearby towns not in the direct path of the hurricane will provide these for people in need.

4. Unfortunately, it is unlikely that your pet will have a place in a motel or hotel. Keep this in mind and try to find alternate housing for your loved one until it is safe to return, or check out pet-friendly hotels in your area.

5. Designate a spot, in the hall closet, to keep a bag of clothes for each person in the household. Make sure to include sleeping gear if you plan on going to a temporary shelter.

6. Along with overnight clothes, consider stocking your Hurricane Kit with the following: extra cash, generator, batteries, flash lights, battery operated radio/television, bottled water, toilet paper, non-perishable foods such as cereal or crackers, canned goods, can opener, a small cooler, candles, prescription medicines and any over-the-counter remedies you use regularly; and if you have small children - diapers, baby wipes, formula, baby food.

7. Count on the power being out for at least a day or two. Remember that ATM’s will be non-operating, so have at least some hard cash in your Hurricane Kit (see no. 6, above) to see you through the storm.

When TV and computer games no longer operate, board games or a deck of cards come in handy! Arts and crafts, crayons and downloadable coloring pages are always great distractions for the kids - so make sure you’ve stored some of these supplies in a tote bag or in the car trunk.

8. If you decide to tough out the storm, stay downwind in your home. This means if the wind is hitting the living room windows, go to the room opposite the living room.

9. Plywood is a ‘hot’ commodity for those of who decide to stay. Boarding up windows that will take the brunt of the wind and rain is the wisest decision. If board is not available, protect your windows from the wind by criss-crossing them with layers of duct or packing tape. This will be enough protection for light-to-medium winds, but learning how to build and install plywood hurricane shutters is your safest bet. If you can afford it, have them installed by a professional.

10. Finally, STAY INSIDE. However tempting it may be to videotape or take photos of the storm, be sure to shoot from indoors - where it’s safe, and dry!

Hurricanes are serious business. Weather forecasters can only predict so much. Educate yourself and stay on top of weather updates in your area. There is no harm in being overly cautious. In most cases where a hurricane is concerned, it truly is better to be safe than sorry.

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by Farmers Almanac Staff
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Wreaths are beautiful on our front doors and when gracing garden gates and even the sides of sheds. Adding even more loveliness than a wreath is having a wreath that attracts and feeds wild birds. In fall and winter I love watching each wild bird as it comes to eat the sumac from the wreath I have made and hung on our door.
To make the natural bird feeder wreath, start with a grapevine wreath for the base. September is the ideal month for collecting natural, organic materials for a wreath. Gather from nature or your garden any combination of these dried seed heads from sumac, elderberry, millet, sorghum, sunflowers, yarrow, or purple coneflower for your wreath. Attach the dried materials to the wreath with floral wire and picks or just poke the stems into the grapevine. The fuller the arrangement, the more beautiful it becomes. Hang your filled wreath where you can be sure to sit and watch the birds feed now through winter!
Note ~ An added warning, don’t be tempted to hang this wreath indoors. After a month or two, moths may hatch! I made this mistake and suddenly one day our bedroom was filled with flying moths!

For more gifts from the garden ideas, you’ll want a copy of Deborah Tukua and Vicki West’s resourceful book, Pearls of Garden Wisdom. Sold here at FATV or at www.hollycreekbooks.com.

by Farmers Almanac Staff
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In our blessed land of abundance, most of us have plenty to share with others on a regular basis. We’d like to exchange ideas for helping others in need. I’ll share two things we do, only to encourage you to tell us how you help. Give us ideas of things that we could be doing weekly or monthly to assist others in time of need.

~ Instead of selling the clothes we don’t wear any more we pass them along to young families with children or donate them to a girl’s home, or a single parent family, etc.

~ Save the thick plastic bags with zippers that new bedspreads, sheets, etc. come in and fill with sample size toiletries to donate. We bring home the unused shampoo and soaps from our stays in hotels. We store them in one of the zipper bags. Once the bag is filled we donate it to missionaries going to poor regions of Mexico or donate them to a women’s crisis home (safe house).

Now it’s your turn to share some resourceful, creative and ever so practical ways that you give to others regularly, please. Giving also includes your time and talents, of course!

Deborah Tukua, country author
www.hollycreekbooks.com

by Farmers Almanac Staff
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A month from now, my parents will be celebrating their 50th wedding anniversary at the beach. I am going to have a cake made to resemble their wedding cake and use their bride and groom cake topper on it. To signify this special time at the beach, we’ll use gold seashells on the cake, which were not on their first. When they look back at photos of the cake, the seashells will remind them how they spent their anniversary. I would love to have some other ideas for keepsakes and gifts for them and for the guests that will be attending the weekend get-away. Does anyone have any ideas for fun games to play? Or any presentation ideas? We want to make this a very special time and load it up with lots of memories and mementos to cherish for years to come. If you hosted a 50th anniversary party for your parents or know of any great ideas for doing so, pass them along, please!

Deborah Tukua
www.hollycreekbooks.com

by Farmers Almanac Staff
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