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NFR: News Flash!!! Gardeners use manure!! May I rant?? I received this email from a guy who owns
- Thread starter joe
- Start date
michael-in-phoenix
Well-known member
The conversation JUST GOT REAL. Nothing like a good, old-fashioned 'problem solver'.
steve2-in-la
Well-known member
Sure, if he's not careful, your neighbor could be "sleeping with the fish's....emulsion". Ahem.
mariadnoca
Moderator
Oh, he's working up to Get Off My Lawn. I'm wid yous guys, timta maka caul ta uncle Pauly.
NFRC In my family, stubborn opposition to things is met with a threat to call Uncle Tony.
My mom's Uncle Tony (my grandfather's twin; their parents were from northern Italy) worked for the city of Denver in the '40s, and had some connections of somewhat questionable nature, in retrospect. My mom's favorite story is when she woke up as a kid, one Sunday morning, to find a slot machine on her parents' porch; her dad (who owned his own insurance company) knew it had to have come from Uncle Tony, who claimed he was just letting it rest there, out of sight, for a while. "It's not out of sight on my porch!" my grandfather apparently shouted over the phone. "Get rid of it!"
When Uncle Tony died in the late '70s, all of his suit pockets were overflowing with parking tickets that he'd agreed to "take care of" for friends. smileys/wink.gif
When my husband married into the family, he quickly learned not to mess with the Italians from north Denver... But now even he has taken up the spirit of things, wondering aloud, in difficult situations, "What Would Uncle Tony Do?" smileys/wink.gif
My mom's Uncle Tony (my grandfather's twin; their parents were from northern Italy) worked for the city of Denver in the '40s, and had some connections of somewhat questionable nature, in retrospect. My mom's favorite story is when she woke up as a kid, one Sunday morning, to find a slot machine on her parents' porch; her dad (who owned his own insurance company) knew it had to have come from Uncle Tony, who claimed he was just letting it rest there, out of sight, for a while. "It's not out of sight on my porch!" my grandfather apparently shouted over the phone. "Get rid of it!"
When Uncle Tony died in the late '70s, all of his suit pockets were overflowing with parking tickets that he'd agreed to "take care of" for friends. smileys/wink.gif
When my husband married into the family, he quickly learned not to mess with the Italians from north Denver... But now even he has taken up the spirit of things, wondering aloud, in difficult situations, "What Would Uncle Tony Do?" smileys/wink.gif
Too funny! If anyone is interested, here is the sanitized response I sent 4 days later,
after clearing it with the Board of Directors of my non-profit AND the staff at Park and Rec. (It's amazing how much time is taken up by these chronic complainers. Uncle Tony would have handled it much more efficiently):
Hello Mario,
I am sorry to hear that you were inconvenienced by odor and flies on Friday.
All of our gardeners are instructed to use composted organic materials. Organic gardening is impossible without them. The bags of manure/compost blend you see in the garden are an affordable and appropriate product for growing vegetables. Sometimes there is an anaerobic odor when the bag is first opened, but it dissipates quickly as the material absorbs oxygen.
I was at the garden on both Thursday and Saturday mornings and I did not see or smell anything inappropriate at those times. It appears that one of the gardeners near you spread manure and compost on Friday, when it was quite hot, which would account for the smell you experienced and explain the extra flies. Otherwise the gardeners have been using this material all along with no ill effect. We have been making our own compost as well and when it is ready the gardeners will likely prefer it over store-bought bagged products. If the problem persists let me know and we can discuss strategies to prevent it.
I do sympathize because my own kitchen was full of flies Friday evening. I had been cooking all afternoon for a party with the door open for air. It was very hot, and I got swarmed too.
But speaking of flies, as the old saying goes, you catch more of them with honey than with vinegar. Long Beach Organic works very hard to maintain neighborly relations while providing a valuable resource for the community. I'm very proud of the Mary Molina Garden so far and I believe it to be a tremendous boost to your neighborhood. On a personal note, I have to tell you that I was taken aback by the tone of your email. I would be more responsive to your issues and concerns if they were presented in a respectful manner.
Sincerely,
Joe Corso
Garden Director
Long Beach Organic, Inc
after clearing it with the Board of Directors of my non-profit AND the staff at Park and Rec. (It's amazing how much time is taken up by these chronic complainers. Uncle Tony would have handled it much more efficiently):
Hello Mario,
I am sorry to hear that you were inconvenienced by odor and flies on Friday.
All of our gardeners are instructed to use composted organic materials. Organic gardening is impossible without them. The bags of manure/compost blend you see in the garden are an affordable and appropriate product for growing vegetables. Sometimes there is an anaerobic odor when the bag is first opened, but it dissipates quickly as the material absorbs oxygen.
I was at the garden on both Thursday and Saturday mornings and I did not see or smell anything inappropriate at those times. It appears that one of the gardeners near you spread manure and compost on Friday, when it was quite hot, which would account for the smell you experienced and explain the extra flies. Otherwise the gardeners have been using this material all along with no ill effect. We have been making our own compost as well and when it is ready the gardeners will likely prefer it over store-bought bagged products. If the problem persists let me know and we can discuss strategies to prevent it.
I do sympathize because my own kitchen was full of flies Friday evening. I had been cooking all afternoon for a party with the door open for air. It was very hot, and I got swarmed too.
But speaking of flies, as the old saying goes, you catch more of them with honey than with vinegar. Long Beach Organic works very hard to maintain neighborly relations while providing a valuable resource for the community. I'm very proud of the Mary Molina Garden so far and I believe it to be a tremendous boost to your neighborhood. On a personal note, I have to tell you that I was taken aback by the tone of your email. I would be more responsive to your issues and concerns if they were presented in a respectful manner.
Sincerely,
Joe Corso
Garden Director
Long Beach Organic, Inc
michael-in-phoenix
Well-known member
PERFECTO. And you did the right thing by "circling your wagons" with the City staff and the Board.
michael-in-phoenix
Well-known member
The mob is alive and well in America. My partner, years ago, started selling...
...liquor and cigarettes on the close-out market. He teamed up with a distributor who had the proper licenses to sell tobacco and alcohol.
Everything was going along just peachy. He was selling a little at first, but as soon as his volume became substantial, he got "the phone call".
A group of "businessmen" wanted to meet with him and discuss "his profit structure, going forward". Seems he had stepped on a few toes.
He immediately ceased selling those items, not wanting the hassle.
Scary.
Michael
...liquor and cigarettes on the close-out market. He teamed up with a distributor who had the proper licenses to sell tobacco and alcohol.
Everything was going along just peachy. He was selling a little at first, but as soon as his volume became substantial, he got "the phone call".
A group of "businessmen" wanted to meet with him and discuss "his profit structure, going forward". Seems he had stepped on a few toes.
He immediately ceased selling those items, not wanting the hassle.
Scary.
Michael
Right on the mark.
But no invocation of Mario's mama and papa?
For the record, Uncle Tony had no serious connections to the mob--other Denver Italian families apparently did, though, and when the Colorado Historical Society did an exhibit a couple years ago on old Denver Italian families, my mom and I went, and my mom could be heard snickering loudly in front of a display showing an empty violin case belonging to a notorious mob family.
"They didn't store violins in that," she said. smileys/wink.gif
But no invocation of Mario's mama and papa?
For the record, Uncle Tony had no serious connections to the mob--other Denver Italian families apparently did, though, and when the Colorado Historical Society did an exhibit a couple years ago on old Denver Italian families, my mom and I went, and my mom could be heard snickering loudly in front of a display showing an empty violin case belonging to a notorious mob family.
"They didn't store violins in that," she said. smileys/wink.gif