Calculating the Value of 5 Sela'im

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The Torah tells us that in order to redeem a firstborn we must use 5 Shaekalim(Numbers 18:16) which are called Sela'im in Talmudic terms. This has been calculated to be 96 grams of pure silver. The custom is to round it up to 100 grams to avoid any mistake in calculation.
Currently, the value of pure silver is measured in troy ounces. 100 grams are equal to 3.21507 troy ounces. One can find out the updated value of pure silver at the NY Times business section under commodities (look for 'metals'):
http://markets.on.nytimes.com/research/markets/commodities/commodities.asp

What do you do when you don't have these?

Thus, in order to figure out the sum of money needed for a pidyon ha'ben one must multiply the value of a troy ounce by the above mentioned figure. This calculation should be done on the day of the pidyon as the value of silver may change daily.
Exaple of the calculation on 4/4/12:
Value of silver – 3,325 cents per troy ounce.
3,325*3.21507= 10,690.1077 cents. Therefor the value of 100 grams of silver is 106.9$
There is a difference of opinion whether or not the redemption may be done with modern currency or do we have to use an object which is worth 5 sela'im. I consulted with my teacher Rav Yossef Zvi Rimon and he is of the opinion that cash can be used for the pidyon. The reason for this is that modern currency can be used everywhere and therefor it has an objective value just as any other object does.  

Mary Lou's tour (come see my garden for yourself)

To contact us Click HERE
Many of you out there in Orange County and Long Beach and elsewhere fondly remember a little nursery called Heard's Country Gardens. Tucked away in an odd quasi industrial area of Westminster sat a nursery that was the brainchild of Mary Lou Heard.  Filled with rare perennials, it captured the hearts of gardeners in the area.

Once when I was 15 or 16 years old I went to Heard's with my grandma to pick out some herbs.  I was visiting from Northern California and loved to see the variety of plants that the nursery had to offer.  There were few people in the nursery that day, and Mary Lou was grooming plants in the 4" area. I said to her "I love this blue eyed grass, it grows on my parents ranch", Mary Lou said something like "I like it too, it's one of my favorites", then I said something to the effect of "it's a tiny iris relative you know" and Mary Lou said plainly "no, it's not".  I then asked Mary Lou if she had a plant encyclopedia where we might check the plant's family. She showed me directly to the book.  I was right. Mary Lou offered me a job on the spot.  I told her the 500 mile commute would be tough and that I'd probably better finish high school.

Later when I was 19, I was living in the area and looking for work. I went and asked for the job she had offered me. She took my number and said she would call me. I heard nothing for two weeks. At this point I called and was asked "how can I help you" to which I replied "I want you to hire me".  She did.  And so began my career in horticulture.  At first I was just a leaf picker and a hose dragging waterer, but every week with the help of Mary Lou and others in the nursery I learned about plants. So many plants. Mary Lou kept such a wide variety around and sometimes there would be a flat of plants in one day and you wouldn't see them again until the next year or ever.  But I learned them all, or at least as best as I could.

I worked for Mary Lou for about 5 years, until she closed the nursery.  After two years of battling colon cancer she had to let the business go.  Later that summer she passed away.

There are countless stories I could tell about Mary Lou, but the thing that I want to share is that she had a pure love of plants and gardening.  That is why she started the garden tour.  Mary Lou always wanted it to be about real people and real gardens. She wanted people to be able to share their love of gardening with each other.

Today the garden tour lives on in her name.  It benefits a women's shelter, a horticultural scholarship and a cancer charity.

After all these years my garden will be on the tour, I think Mary Lou would be proud.  I hope you all can come see my garden this Sunday 10am to 5 pm.

Here is the info:

In case you forget, my name is Dustin

heardsgardentour.com

addresses for the tour

Here are some before and after shots.




Front yard early 2010


Frontyard 2012

Frontyard 2010
Frontyard 2012


Backyard 2010
Backyard 2012

In the category of flowers so large they're silly, relatively speaking of course... Stapelia gigantea

To contact us Click HERE
Hi,

It has been such a long summer.  So much for autumn, the heat waves roll on.  I really do want to blog... Sorry for being away for so long.  And for those of you who asked, yes I will be blogging about my trip to Europe.  :)

Sometimes plants bloom even when you neglect and de facto abuse them.  Put sun plants in shade, shade plants in sun, water the dry plants and dry out the water plants. You might think I don't like plants. And there is much justification in the name of testing and discovery.  This is the case of my Stapelia gigantea. Given to me  a while back from my friends Sue and James of The Folly Bowl, I did have every intention of integrating this succulent into the garden, but the spots in the garden keep shrinking. So there it sat on the side yard in partial shade nearly rotting in moist potting soil... for about a year and a half!  Why did I finally take pity on it and move it to the sun? Pity I guess.

So, seemingly out of spite it bloomed this week. I've been watching the pregnant podlike blooms swelling for quite a while, waiting waiting waiting.  Yesterday it happened the alien was swarmed with flies. Yup, carrion scented, just what you want in the garden. Still, its a keeper.

If you want a cutting, let me know.

Introducing Encelia 'Gimbel's Gold'

To contact us Click HERE
Working in horticulture for years, I am always looking for new varieties either in nurseries or out in nature etc.  Wherever I am I keep an eye for variations in habit and foliage.  Two years ago, while in hiking Griffith Park I noticed a strange stem on an Encelia californica, our beautiful and abundant brittlebush.  I snapped a little yellowy stem off of the plant and crammed it into a plastic water bottle.

Fortunately the cutting struck,  and after several months I took many more cuttings from that new plant.  This spring I planted several in the ground to see how they would perform. Below are some photos that I took this morning.  I think 'Gimbel's Gold' is a winner, what do you think?  I can't wait for the plant to be covered in those yellow daisies!  The only drawback is that the variegation only shows on the new growth.

Cool plants: Melianthus 'Purple Haze'

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As I've mentioned many times on this blog I do have a tendency to fixate on certain plants and certain plant types. One thing I look for more and more is any compact form of plants I already love.  This time the object of my affection is Melianthus 'Purple Haze'.  Normally Melianthus major is a whopping 6' + shrub, which really doesn't fit that many urban gardens, but this compact cultivar grows to 2'-3' max.  M. 'Purple Haze' has the nice ric rac edged foliage of the species with the added benefit of being uniquely blushed in lavender-purple, so its a great foliage plant.  The African honey bush also gets flower spikes in the spring which are attractive to pollinators, though I haven't had M. 'Purple Haze' flower in my garden yet. This year will be the first spring in which it is established in the garden so we'll see what happens.

Roger Raiche once told me the story of how he discovered this cultivar, He was at a nursery in the Bay Area, cruising through the 1 gallons when he spotted a purplish runt.  He grabbed it immediately knowing that he had something special. Since then it's been passed around but finally Monrovia picked it up with Dan Hinkley's recommendation.



Melianthus 'Purple Haze' 
Melianthus with concrete hedgehog-urchins

Mary Lou's tour (come see my garden for yourself)

To contact us Click HERE
Many of you out there in Orange County and Long Beach and elsewhere fondly remember a little nursery called Heard's Country Gardens. Tucked away in an odd quasi industrial area of Westminster sat a nursery that was the brainchild of Mary Lou Heard.  Filled with rare perennials, it captured the hearts of gardeners in the area.

Once when I was 15 or 16 years old I went to Heard's with my grandma to pick out some herbs.  I was visiting from Northern California and loved to see the variety of plants that the nursery had to offer.  There were few people in the nursery that day, and Mary Lou was grooming plants in the 4" area. I said to her "I love this blue eyed grass, it grows on my parents ranch", Mary Lou said something like "I like it too, it's one of my favorites", then I said something to the effect of "it's a tiny iris relative you know" and Mary Lou said plainly "no, it's not".  I then asked Mary Lou if she had a plant encyclopedia where we might check the plant's family. She showed me directly to the book.  I was right. Mary Lou offered me a job on the spot.  I told her the 500 mile commute would be tough and that I'd probably better finish high school.

Later when I was 19, I was living in the area and looking for work. I went and asked for the job she had offered me. She took my number and said she would call me. I heard nothing for two weeks. At this point I called and was asked "how can I help you" to which I replied "I want you to hire me".  She did.  And so began my career in horticulture.  At first I was just a leaf picker and a hose dragging waterer, but every week with the help of Mary Lou and others in the nursery I learned about plants. So many plants. Mary Lou kept such a wide variety around and sometimes there would be a flat of plants in one day and you wouldn't see them again until the next year or ever.  But I learned them all, or at least as best as I could.

I worked for Mary Lou for about 5 years, until she closed the nursery.  After two years of battling colon cancer she had to let the business go.  Later that summer she passed away.

There are countless stories I could tell about Mary Lou, but the thing that I want to share is that she had a pure love of plants and gardening.  That is why she started the garden tour.  Mary Lou always wanted it to be about real people and real gardens. She wanted people to be able to share their love of gardening with each other.

Today the garden tour lives on in her name.  It benefits a women's shelter, a horticultural scholarship and a cancer charity.

After all these years my garden will be on the tour, I think Mary Lou would be proud.  I hope you all can come see my garden this Sunday 10am to 5 pm.

Here is the info:

In case you forget, my name is Dustin

heardsgardentour.com

addresses for the tour

Here are some before and after shots.




Front yard early 2010


Frontyard 2012

Frontyard 2010
Frontyard 2012


Backyard 2010
Backyard 2012

In the category of flowers so large they're silly, relatively speaking of course... Stapelia gigantea

To contact us Click HERE
Hi,

It has been such a long summer.  So much for autumn, the heat waves roll on.  I really do want to blog... Sorry for being away for so long.  And for those of you who asked, yes I will be blogging about my trip to Europe.  :)

Sometimes plants bloom even when you neglect and de facto abuse them.  Put sun plants in shade, shade plants in sun, water the dry plants and dry out the water plants. You might think I don't like plants. And there is much justification in the name of testing and discovery.  This is the case of my Stapelia gigantea. Given to me  a while back from my friends Sue and James of The Folly Bowl, I did have every intention of integrating this succulent into the garden, but the spots in the garden keep shrinking. So there it sat on the side yard in partial shade nearly rotting in moist potting soil... for about a year and a half!  Why did I finally take pity on it and move it to the sun? Pity I guess.

So, seemingly out of spite it bloomed this week. I've been watching the pregnant podlike blooms swelling for quite a while, waiting waiting waiting.  Yesterday it happened the alien was swarmed with flies. Yup, carrion scented, just what you want in the garden. Still, its a keeper.

If you want a cutting, let me know.