Gas prices

[cowman]

Had to slip over to Kelowna on the weekend to buy some specialty equipment I got a steal on.
I found it amazing that at Cochrane gas was 97.7/liter...it was 89 at Red Deer!
At Vernon BC gas was $1.034...the highest I saw?
Incidently the city of Kelowna is going crazy with growth! My contact there told me this wine thing is really booming and everyone is expanding and building! He thinks within ten years there won't be a peach or apple tree left as everyone tears out the orchards and plants g****s! Apparently the local college offers all kinds of classes on every aspect of wine production and they can't keep up to demand!

[GALAXIE500]

So we are turning into a nation of wino's ???

Gas is 92.4 here and also in Edmonton in most places.
Cochrane is always higher.

[cakadu]

To me there is no justification for the gas prices going up like that again. The prices must have dropped since the weekend emrald as we were up there on Saturday and it was 95.4 then.

I wonder if any wine drinker ever gets up in arms over how many times g****s must be sprayed? I was quite shocked to find out the frequency under which g****s have to be sprayed. Kind of makes me glad I don't imbibe.

[cakadu]

I guess they feel that the alcohol will kill the effect of the spray Linda !!! Or maybe after they drink enough of the stuff they don't worry about anything !

[cowman]

87 cents yesterday in Red Deer, so maybe on the way down? I guess when you see oil at over $64/bl(yesterday) the price can be justified? I notice natural gas isn't moving but hanging in there at $7.50/j? Hopefully it will be a long hot summer in the States so the price will rise? Get some more pennies in the old economy!
Actually this guy in BC was telling me BC wine(and Ontario wine) is about as good as anything in the world! It just hasn't got promoted like France, South Africa, Australia, California etc.? He says they win a good part of the wine competitions. I guess they literally wipe out everyone else in the ice wine categories!
I find this interesting as my spouse belongs to this wine club where they each brew up a batch and then everybody swaps it back and forth so you get a real variety? It is kind of interesting how the whole process works and all the little things you can do to tweek the taste, alcohol content eyc.? I call them the high class winos!

[cowman]

Linda: Not too sure how often they spray the g****s? I talked to a guy once from California who told me they spray the hell out of lettuce, tomatoes,etc.? I guess it is about the only way they can get a consistant product to market?
Now personally I like to grow my own veggies as much as possible, not because I worry too much about sprays, but because they just taste a lot better...in my opinion! Some of this garbage you buy at Safeway tastes like cardboard, despite looking very good! I've often wondered how an apple, peach, cherry in BC can taste so good...but by the time they get it to Safeway it tastes like an old boot! I have two apple trees, six cherry trees, over 1000 chokecherry trees, and a big strawberry patch. I get some, the birds get some, the bugs get some...and we're all happy!

[cowman]

Oh and just as a sidenote: An old man up the road aways grows g****s! He got froze out last year but had a pretty good crop in 2004! He has the vines on the south side of his house and covers them with plastic in the early spring and in the fall. He got enough g****s in 2004 to make 7 bottles of wine and he claims it was the best he ever tasted!

[grassfarmer]

It must have been a while back you spoke to the guy from California Cowman. That state now has really strict laws on pesticide application - many of the crops can only get sprayed "on prescription" after a Government agrologist has come out and inspected a severe problem. The field boss from my local colony was down there in December on a study tour looking at all the new methods they use to grow fruit and vegetables without needing pesticides. Not what I'd have expected from a Hutterite but he tends to think very much along "natural" lines.

[cowman]

Well it was a few years back, I'll admit. I do find the situation you describe as pretty amazing! I wonder how California can compete with Mexican veggies and fruits?
About three years ago I went on this local tour. There was this guy just north of Innisfail growing organic vegetables and I sincerely doubt I've ever seen such good production! He grew a plow down green manure crop every third year. His vegetables were simply incredible!