thebiomajor91 Botany/Gardening

Garden Update 7/30/18

Holy moly! Just got back from a trip to Lake Tahoe with family and wow did my garden take off. I had to take more photos than usual since there’s actually things to shoot now.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HueKjGOEWaA

The three Early Girl tomato plants I planted first have all gone to fruit and there’s around 3-5 green tomatoes on each. The Gypsy peppers had actually started to dry out on a few tips so I decided to finally harvest them and only picking 4 or 5 from each plant left me with a bag full I decided I’m going to bring to work tomorrow. I tried one tonight and they taste pretty much like a bell pepper.

My three cucumber plants have baby cucumbers on them, and my lettuce had grown so much I decided I had better take some off them too.

When I left for my trip there was only a golf ball sized watermelon that has now grown into a volleyball-sized one and another has started on the neighboring plant. The peppermint plant had afroed out substantially so I cut a bunch off and have it distilling in the kitchen tonight. I need to check how long the green stalks on carrots need to be before the root is long enough to harvest.

Anyone have any natural pesticide treatments they recommend? Since I’m washing these myself, I figured a natural source would be good if I get lazy and don’t wash it all of by accident. All in all, I can’t believe how many vegetables I was able to bring home tonight! And all free! Or close to it after seeds and a few tools.

thebiomajor91 Botany/Gardening

Garden Update 7/19/18

Garden is actually looking like a garden now! Most of the plants are large enough to easily distinguish and look really nice. My blue lake pole bean had even wrapped itself around the nearest tomato cage and was pulling down on it so hard, it was actually tilting out of the soil! I’ve got to figure out how to build a support of some sorts for it to grow on. My Gypsy peppers are full of yellowish green peppers that have almost doubled in size since last week I was in the garden. None of them have turned color yet, so although they look delicious, I must keep waiting. Two of the three tomato plants I transplanted next to the Early Girls are doing well. The other somehow died, so I’ll find another to take its place. The Early Girls are already putting forth flowers, and I can hardly wait to harvest some fruit for salsa. I’ve let my apartment tomatoes growing in containers die since they were producing bite-sized fruit, which was certainly not enough to do much with.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AXk2_yKBRTw

Carrots are looking nice. I think I’ll let them grow a bit more before harvesting them and planting something in their place. Although it’s only been a week since I took some leaves off my peppermint plant to distill essential oil, it is thriving and I could hardly notice where I removed any leaves. The butter leaf lettuce looks great too. I eat a lot of lettuce in salad wraps and sandwiches, so I can’t wait for the other 5 I planted to get going as well. All have sprouted but are still quite small.

My cucumbers in the middle are growing quickly, the two basil plants look healthy, and two of the three plants east of the lettuce have to be watermelon. I still need to research what the plants I sowed, look like when they’re mature, so I know which is the other I need to remove. Overall though, everything looks great and it’s been so easy to maintain with the drip system installed. I never water it, as the lines are on a timer that waters everything automatically in the evening. As well, since last week when I did a little bit of weeding, no new growth has occurred and the plot looks relatively weed free.

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I’m thinking with how easy this has been and how rewarding, maybe next season I’ll rent out two or three plots to grow more vegetables and a dedicated space for growing plants to distill oils from.

thebiomajor91 Chemistry

God’s Medicine: Morphine

I’ve started reviewing for the MCAT and have begun by studying what I learned in Gen Chem. This afternoon, I read a chapter on the mechanisms by which atomic bonding contributes to the shape of a molecule, and how modern medicine takes advantage of this. Many drugs work by a process not unlike a lock and key. One molecule binds to another in just the right way, producing a cascade of reactions that deliver the desired physiological effect. When chemists are able to manufacture a synthetic chemical that mimics a naturally occurring one, (similar to copying a key that fits a specific keyhole), some pretty amazing things can happen. A great example of this all began when the German chemist Friedrich Sertürner isolated a chemical sometime between 1803-1805 and named it after the Greek god of dreams. The effects of morphine have been utilized for thousands of years by many civilizations. Until Serturner however, never had the active ingredient been used extensively as an anesthetic. Nicknamed “God’s Medicine,” morphine quickly became popular as the silver bullet to alleviate pain. This is a model of the actual molecule Serturner isolated.

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Morphine works by binding to opiate receptors on cells within our nervous system. A curious question then arises. Why do our bodies’ cells have receptors for a chemical produced by plants? Scientists wrestled with this question for years and many believed there was a substance produced by our own bodies that would bind in the same receptors and therefore generate a similar effect. It wasn’t until the 1970’s when a few of these would be discovered an named endorphins. The term endorphin actually stems from the combination of endogenous (within living organisms) + morphine = endorphin. Isn’t it interesting that a compound found to be produced naturally in our bodies was named after that discovered first in a plant? When Morphine binds to opiate receptors in nerve cells, signal transduction is interrupted.

 

The understanding that structure determines properties is a fundamental concept in chemistry. Understanding the structure of tiny particles such as atoms, allows us to see how molecules form and how they, in addition, react with others. This way of thinking has transformed every field of science, especially those in biology. I’ll probably make some more posts about how certain common drugs work as I find it super fascinating. The concept that shape determines many of the characteristics of a molecule is an important one and anyone interested in learning more should combine this with a study of VESPR (valence electron shell repulsion) theory, and molecular orbital theory. I’m continually amazed by what has been discovered, how much we know, and what feats are possible when we apply that knowledge.

thebiomajor91 Anatomy

Inferior Limb Osteology

Here is the second video in the Osteology series, this time, covering the bones of the inferior limb and their major landmarks. Information is taken from the Anatomy Lab Guide written by Shively and Homan at Utah Valley University and based on the nomenclature found in the Nomina Anatomica.

Bones covered in the video are hip bone, bony sacrum, femur bone, tibia, fibula, tarsal bones, metatarsal bones, and phalanges. Each with their major landmarks is named and described. I loved learning the bones in Anatomy since a knowledge of them not only gives one, much understanding of body structure but also because they have unique and interesting names.

Since working in Central Service, I’ve really been able to better understand and appreciate those things I’ve learned in school. Just the other day I was talking to a sales rep for a surgical instrumentation company about the benefits and disadvantages of certain metals used in knee replacements. Pictured above is a genual (knee) joint. I was told that with knee replacement procedures, Titanium has a tendency to promote excellent bone growth whereas stainless steel seems to inhibit it. When replacement stainless steel condyles are removed from patients, rarely is there much bone growth. On the other hand, when Titanium pieces are used, such as intramedullary nails, surgeons rely on bones producing attachments to strengthen the artificial joint, utilizing the knowledge of how the body reacts differently to these metals.

thebiomajor91 Botany/Gardening

Garden Update 7/13/18

This blog is if anything more for me than anyone else. It’s become sort of like journaling where I can write however much I want about anything I want. So with that said, it has been extremely gratifying so watch something I prepared the ground for, planted, and watered, grow! Here’s a video I took of my garden the other day and I wanted to post it since it’s easier to see what I have growing, and more fun I think than pictures, to look back on. I was last there on Friday and after having done all that weeding the prior week, everything looked good and there were hardly any new ones that had sprung up. I ended up transplanting the basil plant I had growing next to the tomatoes, next to another I had planted. I also thought I had room for three more tomatoes, so I transplanted three of the largest random ones that had come up, next to the three others I planted.
https://youtu.be/qxIJst0IgCU
My Gypsy peppers are doing awesome and all four plants have gone to fruit with beautiful yellow/green peppers about 4 inches long. I read online that, like bell peppers, they’ll turn orange then red when they’re fully ripe, so although I was tempted to pick them, I’m gonna leave them a little longer.

Lettuce is looking so good! I love salad wraps and lots of lettuce on my sandwiches, so seeing it do so well, is awesome. I can’t wait to eat it. I planted four or five more in fact where I dug up that unknown invader plant. Carrots also seem to be doing quite well. At least most of the stocks are pretty tall now. I had read that they dry quickly and must be watered frequently so initially, I wondered if they’d grow in such a dry climate, however they seem to be happy. Overall, I’m very pleased that things are finally starting to grow, look good, and put out fruit. I think I’ll definitely want to do this again next year.

thebiomajor91 Botany/Gardening, Chemistry

Peppermint Oil Distillation

I decided yesterday when I was in my garden that my peppermint plant was doing well enough to take some leaves off it and try my hand at distilling the oil. I filmed and edited the procedure and it was really fun! I started around 9 in the evening and let it run for only an hour and a half before it became too late and I wanted to go to bed, so… I probably could have extracted more oil given more time, but that will be another day then, right?

thebiomajor91 Botany/Gardening

Foreigners Taking Over

I neglect my garden for three days and look what happens! There were some plants coming through from the previous gardener, and not knowing what they were I decided to let them grow until they were a little bigger to see if they’d be something I’d keep. But seemingly overnight something resembling a squash/pumpkin, I’m not sure what it was, grew to overshadow a large section of my little starts.

After a couple hours of weeding, I was finally able to see not only the lettuce I didn’t think made it, but my carrots too. As well, I discovered a few random tomato plants growing where I had not planted, but I think I’ll transplant them next to the three Early Girls I planted and have six plants total. I figure I’ll get to enjoy the fruits of my labor (haha) much earlier this way rather than wait for new seeds to germinate, sprout, and go to flower. I figure I’ll get to enjoy the fruits of my labor (haha) much earlier this way rather than wait for new seeds to germinate, sprout, and go to flower.

Overall, I’m quite pleased with how things are growing. Despite someone having stolen my hose and not being able to water as often, it turns out it was actually beneficial for my plants. Once I had cleared some weeds, I noticed fungi growing and realized I was probably overwatering. Thankfully the drip system has worked very well and all the plants look healthy.

thebiomajor91 Botany/Gardening

No Dig From Here on Out

Last time I ever till compost in and unearth a bunch of weed seeds! Two days later and I finally finished pulling all the weeds that cropped up!

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I guess I’m not even finished. I still have another block to weed and since my veggie starts are so small I don’t know what is what and for fear of uprooting what I’ve planted, I have to let some weeds grow until they’re distinguishable. There’s a guy in Somerset, England named Charles Dowding, who runs a small commercial farm using no-dig methods, with really good results. I found him on Youtube when I was researching how to best garden and, … I’ve got to say, he’s got the right idea.

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Here’s one of his videos for anyone interested.

thebiomajor91 Botany/Gardening

First Tomatoes of the Season

First tomato of the season from my potted plants! They’re smaller than the store bought ones they were planted from but I’ve heard hybrids grow smaller than their parents?

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They’re almost like cherry tomatoes. They still taste great but so much smaller. Strange. Couldn’t be that I have three plants to a pot and that they don’t have a constant supply of nutrients from the ground. Haha Next time, if I plant container tomatoes it will be in much larger containers and one plant to each pot. Hopefully, the plants in my garden will start fruiting soon.

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