tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38709303240521783912024-02-07T19:08:06.670-08:00Sustainable Urban Gardens ... the blogMore information about sustainable urban gardening with an interactive element.
We invite you to visit our website: Sustainable Urban Gardens - www.sacgardens.orgUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger126125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3870930324052178391.post-38536393438156558062018-09-24T00:39:00.001-07:002018-09-24T00:43:47.958-07:00Stinging Nettle Video — The Most Nutritious Plant On Earth?<br />
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><b>Stinging Nettle — The Most Nutritious Plant On Earth?
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Stinging Nettle (Urtica dioica) is plant whose edible, medicinal, and utilitarian benefits typically surpass those of other wild species. In this video, we discuss all things stinging nettle — including <b>proper identification</b>, <b>look-alikes</b>, <b>medicinal properties</b>, and more!
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<iframe allow="autoplay; encrypted-media" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="242" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/ANZ60K3h2ow?rel=0" width="430"></iframe>
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<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3870930324052178391.post-11422206366536823462018-09-23T20:27:00.000-07:002018-09-23T20:27:59.844-07:00STINGING NETTLES - For the Garden<b>STINGING NETTLE</b><i><b> - Urtica dioica<br /></b></i><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpouS1xWJiZ-uH8Y14y7TV4kPgXTNbREtJRSg4bMf4h973ZGudqmJhnvLidILhlVQb0FZlDb4afzYKyz44z1XtJRg2hqkfi35S-8uOrw7bo3Uu6XOoiO0HaDRR9kyGqD43kYQgtfeeYR0e/s1600/stingingnettle3c360.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="287" data-original-width="360" height="159" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpouS1xWJiZ-uH8Y14y7TV4kPgXTNbREtJRSg4bMf4h973ZGudqmJhnvLidILhlVQb0FZlDb4afzYKyz44z1XtJRg2hqkfi35S-8uOrw7bo3Uu6XOoiO0HaDRR9kyGqD43kYQgtfeeYR0e/s200/stingingnettle3c360.png" width="200" /></a><span style="color: #43553f; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;"><b><br /></b><span style="color: #43553f;"><b>Stinging Nettle offers</b> extraordinary
nutrition, both for plants and humans. The nettles plant provides edible, medicinal, and utilitarian benefits, surpassing those of other wild plant species.</span><span style="color: #43553f;"> </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="color: #43553f;">Stinging Nettle grows in the wild throughout the US, especially in areas with regular rainfall. Nettles are partial to rich, moist to wet soil, and may also be found deep in the woods, or even on roadsides.</span></span><span style="color: #43553f; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> They can be very successful weeds, tolerating a wide range of soil conditions.<br /></span><br />
<span style="color: #43553f; font-family: arial, helvetica, sans-serif;">This herb is extraordinarily rich in nitrogen, potassium, magnesium, oligoelements, enzymes, and trace minerals, especially iron.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="color: #43553f;">The herb acquired its name because </span><span style="color: #43553f;">of its sting, which doesn't last more than a
few hours, but is highly irritating. You d</span><span style="color: #43553f;">on't want to b</span><span style="color: #43553f;">rush up against a nettle plant, because they will definitely let you know who they are - Stinging Nettle. <b>Gloves</b> are advised when harvesting, and/or digging up a plant to transplant to your garden. Best to plant in an out of the way area that you do not have to closely pass by very often. </span></span><span style="color: #43553f; font-family: "georgia" , serif;"> </span></div>
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<b style="color: #43553f;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">How to Use Nettle in the Garden</span></b></div>
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<span style="color: #43553f;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Stinging nettles seems to stimulate the "immune system" of plants, by providing good balanced nutrition, which makes them more resistant to insect and disease attacks. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="color: #43553f;">For those unable to forage seaweeds from the </span><span style="color: #43553f;">beach,</span><span style="color: #43553f;"> stinging nettle is the answer for making compost and tea for the garden.</span></span></div>
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<b style="color: #43553f;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Stinging Nettle Tea for your Plants</span></b></div>
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<b style="color: #43553f;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">How to make Nettle Tea - purin-d'ortie</span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="color: #43553f;">1. </span><span style="color: #43553f;">Use a large container, such as a large plastic garbage can and cover with a lid</span><span style="color: #43553f;">. Need to use a non-chlorinated water, such as from a rainbarrel. Chlorine inhibits the fermentation of the tea. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="color: #43553f;">2. </span><span style="color: #43553f;">Cut fresh nettles tops at about half their height. </span><span style="color: #43553f;">Mix the cuttings with water in the can.<br /><br /></span><span style="color: #43553f;">3. Mix one gallon of water with every pound of fresh nettles (or with every 2 ounces of dried nettles). </span><span style="color: #43553f;"> </span><span style="color: #43553f;">Keep covered with lid. Fermented </span><span style="color: #43553f;">nettle tea has a very strong odor. Allow the nettles to brew/ferment from one to three weeks, depending on the ambient temperature. The hotter it is, the quicker the process. Note: place can in shade during the summer to prevent the mixture from overheating and killing the necessary fermenting bacteria. When the fermentation has ceased, the tea is ready. Stir the mixture to test this. Cover your nose, or turn head away to avoid the fumes, then quickly peak at the mixture. If there are no more bubbles, then the fermentation is complete.<br /><br />4. Strain the tea as soon as the fermentation has stopped. Store the infusion in clean plastic or glass containers in a cool spot and label well. It is ready for use as an herbicide, or dilute to use for foliar feeding or as a nutritional soil drench.<br /><br /><b>Use Diluted Nettle tea as a </b></span></span><span style="color: #43553f; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><b>Supplementary Plant Food</b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #43553f;"><b><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Nettle tea must be diluted before using as a foliar feeding spray or applied as a nutritional soil drench.</span></b></span></div>
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<span style="color: #43553f;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">To dilute the tea for
soil applications - dilute to a 10% solution (1 cup of original infusion to
10 cups of water)</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span style="color: #43553f;">To dilute the tea for </span><span style="color: #43553f;">foliar feeding - </span><span style="color: #43553f;">dilute to a 5% solution (1 cup of original infusion to 20 cups of water)</span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #43553f; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><b>Use </b></span><span style="color: #43553f; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><b>Undiluted Nettle tea </b></span><b style="color: #43553f; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">as a Organic Herbicide</b></div>
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<span style="color: #43553f; font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Undiluted nettle tea can be used as an organic herbicide. Use the undiluted nettle tea on actively growing weeds, and two weeks later, the weeds will be gone and the ground will be richly fertilized and ready for planting.</span></div>
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3870930324052178391.post-56950901367029170722017-06-02T19:18:00.000-07:002017-06-02T19:25:41.767-07:00Interesting Facts About Lemons<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-size: small;">WE CAN CELEBRATE LEMONS ALL YEAR-ROUND!</span></span></span><b><span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></span></span></b><br />
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Lemons are available year-round on your lemon trees in and around Sacramento and the central valley. They are at their peak in May, with a whole new crop that can stay on your tree, just for the picking when you need them. So, don't strip your tree when the new crop comes on and you will never have to buy another lemon.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">You can grow Eureka and Lisbon lemons and also the relatively sweet Meyer varietiy. It is really nice to have a Meyer and another variety as well.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Lemons are citrus fruits and a good source of
vitamin C, which is a potent antioxidant that helps to keep the immune system
strong.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />You can use both the flesh and the
peel (as a zest if the lemon is organic) in all types of dishes. The juice from a Meyer lemon is wonderful in a Caesar Salad dressing made from scratch. Or you may want to bake with them, as in a Lemon Olive Oil Cake or Lemon Cookies.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Lemons are also a wonderful resource as a natural cleaning product for your home. <span style="background-color: white;"><span style="background-attachment: scroll; background-clip: border-box; background-image: none; background-origin: padding-box; background-position: 0% 0%; background-repeat: repeat; background-size: auto auto; line-height: 115%;">Try using lemon halves before bringing out
possibly toxic chemical cleaners.</span></span> You can use them as a bleaching agent on clothing. <br /> </span></span></div>
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
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mso-tstyle-colband-size:0;
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<![endif]--><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="background-attachment: scroll; background-clip: border-box; background-image: none; background-origin: padding-box; background-position: 0% 0%; background-repeat: repeat; background-size: auto auto; line-height: 115%;">Clean your tea kettle or coffee pot with lemons.</span><span style="background-attachment: scroll; background-clip: border-box; background-image: none; background-origin: padding-box; background-position: 0% 0%; background-repeat: repeat; background-size: auto auto; line-height: 115%;"><br />
</span><span style="background-attachment: scroll; background-clip: border-box; background-image: none; background-origin: padding-box; background-position: 0% 0%; background-repeat: repeat; background-size: auto auto; line-height: 115%;">For
mineral deposit build up in your tea kettle, fill the kettle with water, add a
handful of thin slices of lemon peel and bring to a boil. Turn off heat and let
sit for an hour, drain, and rinse well. For coffee pots, add ice, salt and lemon rinds to the empty pot. Swish and swirl for a minute or two,
dump, and rinse.</span></span> </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Lemons are very effective in removing grease from your
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<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Bottom of Form"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Normal (Web)"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Acronym"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Address"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Cite"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Code"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Definition"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Keyboard"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Preformatted"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Sample"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Typewriter"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="HTML Variable"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Normal Table"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="annotation subject"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="No List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Outline List 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Outline List 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Outline List 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Simple 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Simple 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Simple 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Classic 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Classic 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Classic 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Classic 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Colorful 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Colorful 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Colorful 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Columns 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Columns 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Columns 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Columns 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Columns 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Grid 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Grid 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Grid 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Grid 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Grid 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Grid 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Grid 7"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Grid 8"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table List 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table List 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table List 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table List 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table List 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table List 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table List 7"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table List 8"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table 3D effects 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table 3D effects 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table 3D effects 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Contemporary"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Elegant"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Professional"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Subtle 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Subtle 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Web 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Web 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Web 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Balloon Text"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" Name="Table Grid"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Table Theme"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" Name="Placeholder Text"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="1" QFormat="true" Name="No Spacing"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" Name="Medium Shading 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" Name="Medium List 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" Name="Medium Grid 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" Name="Dark List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" Name="Colorful Shading"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" Name="Revision"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="34" QFormat="true"
Name="List Paragraph"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="29" QFormat="true" Name="Quote"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="30" QFormat="true"
Name="Intense Quote"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" Name="Dark List Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" Name="Dark List Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" Name="Dark List Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" Name="Dark List Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" Name="Dark List Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="60" Name="Light Shading Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="61" Name="Light List Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="62" Name="Light Grid Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="63" Name="Medium Shading 1 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="64" Name="Medium Shading 2 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="65" Name="Medium List 1 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="66" Name="Medium List 2 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="67" Name="Medium Grid 1 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="68" Name="Medium Grid 2 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="69" Name="Medium Grid 3 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="70" Name="Dark List Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="71" Name="Colorful Shading Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="72" Name="Colorful List Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="73" Name="Colorful Grid Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="19" QFormat="true"
Name="Subtle Emphasis"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="21" QFormat="true"
Name="Intense Emphasis"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="31" QFormat="true"
Name="Subtle Reference"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="32" QFormat="true"
Name="Intense Reference"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="33" QFormat="true" Name="Book Title"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="37" SemiHidden="true"
UnhideWhenUsed="true" Name="Bibliography"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="39" SemiHidden="true"
UnhideWhenUsed="true" QFormat="true" Name="TOC Heading"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="41" Name="Plain Table 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="42" Name="Plain Table 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="43" Name="Plain Table 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="44" Name="Plain Table 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="45" Name="Plain Table 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="40" Name="Grid Table Light"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46" Name="Grid Table 1 Light"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="Grid Table 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="Grid Table 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="Grid Table 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="Grid Table 5 Dark"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51" Name="Grid Table 6 Colorful"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52" Name="Grid Table 7 Colorful"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="Grid Table 1 Light Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="Grid Table 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="Grid Table 3 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="Grid Table 4 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="Grid Table 5 Dark Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="Grid Table 6 Colorful Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="Grid Table 7 Colorful Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="Grid Table 1 Light Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="Grid Table 2 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="Grid Table 3 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="Grid Table 4 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="Grid Table 5 Dark Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="Grid Table 6 Colorful Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="Grid Table 7 Colorful Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="Grid Table 1 Light Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="Grid Table 2 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="Grid Table 3 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="Grid Table 4 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="Grid Table 5 Dark Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="Grid Table 6 Colorful Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="Grid Table 7 Colorful Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="Grid Table 1 Light Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="Grid Table 2 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="Grid Table 3 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="Grid Table 4 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="Grid Table 5 Dark Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="Grid Table 6 Colorful Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="Grid Table 7 Colorful Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="Grid Table 1 Light Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="Grid Table 2 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="Grid Table 3 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="Grid Table 4 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="Grid Table 5 Dark Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="Grid Table 6 Colorful Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="Grid Table 7 Colorful Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="Grid Table 1 Light Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="Grid Table 2 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="Grid Table 3 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="Grid Table 4 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="Grid Table 5 Dark Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="Grid Table 6 Colorful Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="Grid Table 7 Colorful Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46" Name="List Table 1 Light"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="List Table 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="List Table 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="List Table 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="List Table 5 Dark"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51" Name="List Table 6 Colorful"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52" Name="List Table 7 Colorful"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="List Table 1 Light Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="List Table 2 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="List Table 3 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="List Table 4 Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="List Table 5 Dark Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="List Table 6 Colorful Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="List Table 7 Colorful Accent 1"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="List Table 1 Light Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="List Table 2 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="List Table 3 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="List Table 4 Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="List Table 5 Dark Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="List Table 6 Colorful Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="List Table 7 Colorful Accent 2"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="List Table 1 Light Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="List Table 2 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="List Table 3 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="List Table 4 Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="List Table 5 Dark Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="List Table 6 Colorful Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="List Table 7 Colorful Accent 3"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="List Table 1 Light Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="List Table 2 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="List Table 3 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="List Table 4 Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="List Table 5 Dark Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="List Table 6 Colorful Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="List Table 7 Colorful Accent 4"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="List Table 1 Light Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="List Table 2 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="List Table 3 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="List Table 4 Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="List Table 5 Dark Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="List Table 6 Colorful Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="List Table 7 Colorful Accent 5"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="46"
Name="List Table 1 Light Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="47" Name="List Table 2 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="48" Name="List Table 3 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="49" Name="List Table 4 Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="50" Name="List Table 5 Dark Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="51"
Name="List Table 6 Colorful Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" Priority="52"
Name="List Table 7 Colorful Accent 6"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Mention"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Smart Hyperlink"/>
<w:LsdException Locked="false" SemiHidden="true" UnhideWhenUsed="true"
Name="Hashtag"/>
</w:LatentStyles>
</xml><![endif]--></span></span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: "verdana" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="line-height: 115%;"><span style="background-color: white;"></span> </span><span style="background-color: white;"><span style="background-attachment: scroll; background-clip: border-box; background-image: none; background-origin: padding-box; background-position: 0% 0%; background-repeat: repeat; background-size: auto auto; line-height: 115%;"> </span></span><br />Add 2 Tbsp lemon juice to 10 drops of (real)
lemon oil and a few drops of jojoba oil to clean and polish wood
furniture.</span></span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3870930324052178391.post-36659100584852170762016-08-03T17:45:00.000-07:002016-08-03T17:45:18.475-07:00Compost and its Importance to the Food We Eat<div>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><span class="_50f4">Sitric Compost Garden Community - <br /><br />Dan Barber, US chef extraordinaire and champion of sustainable agriculture (<a href="http://www.bluehillfarm.com/food/overview/team/dan-barber">www.bluehillfarm.com/food/overview/team/dan-barber</a>) explains that COMPOST is the most important ingredient in his recipe for the best tasting salad.<br />Compost warms the greenhouse seedlings. Compost does so much more .</span></span><br />
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Unknownnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3870930324052178391.post-55729619011145081722016-03-06T18:16:00.000-08:002016-03-06T18:20:10.438-08:00Scientists say California hasn’t been this dry in 500 years<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/energy-environment">Energy and
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<b><span style="font-size: 20.0pt; line-height: 107%;">Scientists say California hasn’t been
this dry in 500 years</span></b></div>
<span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 107%;">By <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/people/darryl-fears">Darryl Fears</a>
<br />September 2015 </span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjV77-sZmIBaHUo7nPHNUTTbbpDX7mTjc1q7eUE1O-I5DBx0pR47DWdkcg98nADn0qIMysW7LG3lqo-T3iEYih9Ln1LIO8Y9LeCse9Spnn0PL7K3aZ6kDPp-iuvdYwhvkwBi2a4cK_b9C0/s1600/ca_dry500yr_1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhjV77-sZmIBaHUo7nPHNUTTbbpDX7mTjc1q7eUE1O-I5DBx0pR47DWdkcg98nADn0qIMysW7LG3lqo-T3iEYih9Ln1LIO8Y9LeCse9Spnn0PL7K3aZ6kDPp-iuvdYwhvkwBi2a4cK_b9C0/s400/ca_dry500yr_1.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif;">A snowboarder threads his way through patches of dirt in Olympic Valley, Calif. Many Tahoe-area ski resorts have closed due to low snowfall as California’s historic drought continues. (Max Whittaker/Getty Images)</span></td></tr>
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Researchers knew California’s drought was already a record breaker when they set out to find its exact place in history, but they were surprised by what they discovered: It has been 500 years since what is now the Golden State has been this dry.<br />
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California is in the fourth year of a severe drought with temperatures so high and precipitation so low that rain and snow evaporate almost as soon as they hit the ground. A research paper released Monday said an analysis of blue oak tree rings in the state’s Central Valley showed that the amount of mountain snow California relies on for moisture hasn’t been so low since the 1500s. That was around the time when European explorers landed in what became San Diego, when Columbus set off on a final voyage to the Caribbean, when King Henry VIII was alive.<br />
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A team of researchers embarked on the study in April when state officials announced they had found “no snow whatsoever” in the Sierra Nevada mountains for the first time in 75 years of measuring. The research showed the level of snowpack is actually the lowest it has been in five centuries. Mountain snowpack provides 30 percent of California’s annual water supply when it melts and flows to rivers, streams, lakes and reservoirs. Across the state, the levels of water in those bodies are nearing historic lows.<br />
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<a href="http://[Global warming worsened the California drought, scientists say]" target="_blank">[Global warming worsened the California drought, scientists say]</a><br />
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“The results were astonishing,” Valerie Trouet, an associate professor at the University of Arizona who was a senior author for the study published in the journal Nature. “We knew it was an all-time low over a historical period, but to see this as a low for the last 500 years, we didn’t expect that. There’s very little doubt about it.”<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Drought plagues California</td></tr>
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Climate models suggest many Western states will face longer and harsher droughts in the decades to come.<br />
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In a statement, Nature said the “findings highlight the critical condition” of California’s reservoirs and groundwater, where water the state needs for municipalities and agriculture is stored. Both of those sources are slowly being drained, with little precipitation to replenish the rivers and lakes that supply them.<br />
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The small amount of moisture stored in plants and the soil is quickly evaporating into the state’s dry atmosphere, exposing the parched ground to lightning strikes that spark wildfires. California has experienced about a thousand more wildfires this fire season compared to last, including two that are currently raging in the northern part of the state.<br />
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California is having its “second-busiest season in a decade,” said Stanton Florea, a spokesman for the Forest Service’s Pacific Southwest Region, which manages 21 million acres of wildlands in California.<br />
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In April, Gov. Jerry Brown (D) ordered the state’s first mandatory water cut for metropolitan areas. He announced the restriction from a dry patch of grass in the Sierra Nevada near Lake Tahoe that normally would have been wet from melting snow.<br />
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Since that day, the state’s 400 water utilities have implemented water cuts of up to 35 percent in some areas, and farmers who long enjoyed the right to freely take water from rivers to water crops and hydrate livestock gave up a quarter of those rights for fear that the state would restrict them even more. Federal and state officials have used convoys to truck salmon and other fish from one part of the state to another, fearing a mass die-off if they tried to migrate to the Pacific Ocean in rivers that are abnormally low and completely dry in places.<br />
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<a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/energy-environment/wp/2015/09/03/western-sagebrush-is-vanishing-and-these-10-animals-are-just-trying-to-hang-on/" target="_blank">[10 animals that will disappear with Western sagebrush]</a><br />
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<span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 107%;"></span>And the news keeps getting worse. A study by scientists at NASA and Columbia University said California was one of several states in the Southwest facing a mega-drought that could last up to 30 years if greenhouse gas emissions are not dramatically curtailed by 2050. A study by scientists at Stanford University said a future of more-frequent drought in California is a near certainty because temperatures are increasing at a time when precipitation rates are steady, allowing heat to overwhelm the moisture. And another Columbia study said California’s current drought is part of a natural pattern, but human-caused climate change has made it significantly worse.<br />
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The Columbia study analyzed month-to-month climate data between 1901 and 2014 to find fluctuations in precipitation, wind, temperature and humidity. It said average temperatures in California have increased by 2.5 degrees Fahrenheit over 113 years. And, starting in the 1960s, heat increased with the introduction of more greenhouse gases from automobiles and other sources.<br />
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“When greenhouse gases accumulate, it’s like a bully showing up at your door to demand that you give it more and more every year,” said the study’s lead author, Park Williams, a bio-climatologist at Columbia University’s Earth Science Institute. In California, that meant more moisture evaporated from rain and from groundwater sprayed on crops in farming regions such as the Central Valley.<br />
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Thursday’s study “confirms the same message” of the earlier studies, and supports their warnings about the impacts of climate change, Trouet said. “It’s dry. We’re not just confirming, we’re refining.” <br />
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The historic nature of the current drought was well known, but how it ranked over time was not. When Trouet and her team learned in April that snowpack that usually supplies 30 percent of the California’s potable water each year was so low, “we realized we had the data from previous research to put this into context for the longer term,” she said.<br />
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What they didn’t have were fresh tree samples, so Stahle of Arkansas traveled to the Central Valley and extracted a core sample from blue oak trees. Blue oaks love winter rain, and their tree rings express it with wide bands. Low periods of moisture result in narrow bands. “It’s like a bar code,” said Trouet. <br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfmVjrFPUb-xqh4RvjTvslC6UL0DGA-90VNmR_Hjw2rLZaVxkPUuWUlbaUe4_Dm6-c9LL0TKReUVPazOWedgYJEALLqWgqpJR32NunYWIpvNGOCjtDI-D250NPCScqhKxBo6UzTtGP1DGg/s1600/ca_dry500yr_3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="233" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgfmVjrFPUb-xqh4RvjTvslC6UL0DGA-90VNmR_Hjw2rLZaVxkPUuWUlbaUe4_Dm6-c9LL0TKReUVPazOWedgYJEALLqWgqpJR32NunYWIpvNGOCjtDI-D250NPCScqhKxBo6UzTtGP1DGg/s400/ca_dry500yr_3.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A warning buoy sits on the dry, cracked bed of Lake Mendocino near Ukiah, Calif. (Rich Pedroncelli/AP) </td></tr>
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Blue oaks in the valley are a long way from the Sierra Nevada mountains in the northern part of the state, but the same weather systems that supply rain to the low elevations where they stand result in snow in high mountain elevations. Analyzing the new core samples and others taken in previous years, the scientists didn’t observe rings as narrow at low elevations as today’s until a period that dated from the 1500s.<br />
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“We looked at the past 500 years,” Trouet said. “This is the most extreme. It doesn’t mean this won’t happen again for another 500 years. It’s likely that this will happen more often in the future because of the low amount of precipitation combined with higher temperatures makes it likely that they will occur together more often, causing droughts.”<br />
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Hundreds of homes destroyed in Calif. Valley Fire ---- Play
Video1:12<br />
A fast-moving wildfire in north-central California has destroyed hundreds of building since igniting Saturday. Thousands of residents have been forced to flee Middletown and nearby communities. (Reuters) <br />
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Darryl Fears has worked at The Washington Post for more than a decade, mostly as a reporter on the National staff. He currently covers the environment, focusing on the Chesapeake Bay and issues affecting wildlife.</div>
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<a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/energy-environment/wp/2015/09/14/scientists-say-its-been-500-years-since-california-was-this-dry/">http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/energy-environment/wp/2015/09/14/scientists-say-its-been-500-years-since-california-was-this-dry/</a><a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/news/energy-environment/wp/2015/09/14/scientists-say-its-been-500-years-since-california-was-this-dry/" target="_blank"></a>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3870930324052178391.post-35337117785393129272015-03-05T18:29:00.000-08:002015-03-05T18:29:03.031-08:00Organic farming continues to rise across the globeWorld Progress Watch
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2 million of the world’s 1.5 billion farmers are now producing organically, with nearly 80 percent based in developing countries. India boasts the most certified organic producers, followed by Uganda and Mexico.
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">By Kendra Nordin, Staff writer February 17, 2015</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"> Across the decades of boom and bust that characterize agricultural history runs a trend: the rise and recognition of organic farming worldwide.<br /><br />According to the International Federation of Organic Agricultural Movements (IFOAM), 2 million of the world’s 1.5 billion farmers are now producing organically, with nearly 80 percent based in developing countries. India boasts the most certified organic producers, followed by Uganda and Mexico.<br /><br />Currently 164 nations have certified organic farms, powering an industry worth $63.9 billion. (In 2000, there were 86 countries with certified farms producing $15.2 billion.) With this growth come opportunities for farmers to add value to their products and access expanding markets.<br /><br />While the 94 million acres of certified organic agricultural land constitutes less than 1 percent of total global agricultural land, industry analysts call the growth of organics significant, also noting that the certified numbers fail to account for the vast numbers of small-scale farmers who use organic methods by default.<br /><br />“[There are] probably 500 million small family farms worldwide; most of those are traditional farmers who farm primarily through organic principles,” says Andre Leu, president of IFOAM.<br /><br />He adds that 200,000 organic farmers become newly certified each year. “In most places there is still a dramatic loss [in the numbers] of farmers and ... where we see growth is in the organic sector.”<br /><br />Farmers today, battling climate swings and plummeting farm incomes, are essentially faced with four options: leave farming completely, obtain off-farm income, expand and play the commodity game more efficiently, or find ways to add value per unit of production, says Joel Gruver, a soil science professor at Western Illinois University in Macomb.<br /><br />“Basically, organic farming anywhere in the world – if you are certified – is the one label that is most clearly defined,” says Professor Gruver, the university’s director of organic research. “Each nation has its own rules in how they define organic, but the general set of rules is very much the same,” he says. Organic methods eschew chemical additives and rely on such practices as crop rotation to harness ecological processes that promote healthy soils and fight disease, weeds, and pests.<br /><br />For consumers, organic farming addresses a range of issues on which many feel conventional farming falls short: environmental impact, pesticide residues, and nutritional quality. It addresses concerns about energy consumption and climate change, and even restores a social connection to the land that many feel commodity farming has eroded.<br />In fact, consumer demand is the driving force behind the growth. In 2012 in the United States and Europe, markets with a healthy appetite for organic goods, there was a 10 percent year-on-year rise in sales.<br /><br />“Organic farming is the fastest growing multi-product sector in the world,” says Mr. Leu. “[I]f you go into any store now, organic products are in every section. Anything from dairy to [prepared foods] to body care products to organic clothing.... And there is no other sector like that.”<br /><br />Organic farming does draw critics. Some question the consistency of its accreditation and labeling system. There is debate over whether organics deliver higher nutritional value, and concern that the certification process is too costly to allow for financial success. And there is doubt over whether organic methods can yield enough to feed an ever-growing population. Yet consumer preference continues to grow.<br /><br />“[T]here is more demand than supply,” says Anna Lappé, author of “Diet for a Hot Planet.” Ms. Lappé also points out that less than 1 percent of agricultural research funding now goes toward refining proven chemical-free farming methods.<br /><br />Still, there have been considerable efforts to support organic farmers. A growing number of nonprofits provide microloans. IFOAM publishes the principles of organic farming on its website for those who want to practice it but can’t yet afford certification. Countries such as Denmark and Sweden have set goals for organic agriculture. The US offers small grants and loans.<br /><br />Commercial investment may gain momentum, too. Nature’s Path, an organic cereal manufacturer, recently bought 5,640 acres of farmland in Canada and northern Montana in efforts to support organic family farmers there.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br /><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Progress-Watch/2015/0217/Organic-farming-continues-to-rise-across-the-globe</span></span></span>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3870930324052178391.post-82627542161983749412015-02-20T16:13:00.001-08:002015-02-20T16:13:53.978-08:00How changing the way we farm could reduce greenhouse gas emissionsCertain farming practices can trap a majority of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. On a global scale, this could even lead to a net decrease in atmospheric greenhouse gas levels — or, in other words, help reverse climate change.<br /><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />By Skylar Lindsay, FoodTank September 3, 2014</span></span><br />
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A recent study by the Rodale Institute documents how specific organic farming practices can trap a majority of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. On a global scale, this could even lead to a net decrease in atmospheric greenhouse gas levels — or, in other words, help reverse climate change.<br /><br />The study, “Regenerative Organic Agriculture and Climate Change: A Down-to-Earth Solution to Global Warming,” highlights soil’s natural ability to trap carbon from the atmosphere. This process, called carbon sequestration, occurs when photosynthesis removes carbon from the air faster than other biological processes, like respiration, release it.<br />
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According to the Rodale, if half of the world’s croplands were shifted to regenerative methods, the world could reduce net annual greenhouse gas emissions from 51 gigatons of carbon dioxide equivalent to below 41– the threshold necessary by 2020 to limit global warming to 1.5º C.<br /><br />The figures are based on 75 peer-reviewed studies and on test sites throughout the world where organic and conventional methods are compared side by side. These include Rodale’s long-running Farming Systems Trial (FST) in the United States and more recent Tropical Farming Systems Trial in Costa Rica. Rodale uses this data to calculate a rate of carbon sequestration per area of land cultivated, and then scale-up to see the impact of global adoption of each practice.<br />
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For example, if all current cropland were cultivated using methods tested in Iran and Egypt, 21 gigatons of carbon dioxide equivalent (GtCO₂e), or 40 percent of global emissions, could be sequestered annually. If applied to the world’s pasture and grassland, Rodale calculates its recommendations could sequester 37 GtCO₂e, or over 70 percent of emissions. Changing the cultivation of cropland, pasture, and grassland together could lead to a net reduction in the greenhouse gases in our atmosphere.<br />
<br />Rodale’s recommendations focus on soil health, biodiversity, and avoiding farming methods that contribute to a net release of carbon including the overuse and misuse of pesticides, artificial fertilizers, and unnecessary tilling. The regenerative techniques include crop rotation, cover crops, mulching and green manure, composting, and no-till practices.<br />
<br />Cover cropping techniques increase soil carbon via photosynthesis and better carbon retention in topsoil layers. Perennial cover crops, called living mulches, are especially effective due to large, deep root systems. Strategic crop rotations increase soil carbon levels, and coupled with on-farm composting and cover cropping, encourages soil microbes that absorb carbon. These regenerative practices also help carbon-absorbing fungi populations.<br />
<br />Skylar Lindsay majors in Peace & Conflict Studies at Colgate University, where he heads the organic farming initiative and leads for the Outdoor Education program.<br />
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<br /><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;">http://www.csmonitor.com/Business/The-Bite/2014/0903/How-changing-the-way-we-farm-could-reduce-greenhouse-gas-emissions</span></span><br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3870930324052178391.post-1999237669346359962015-01-29T04:07:00.000-08:002015-03-05T18:53:29.774-08:00The Beauty of Pollination - Moving Art ™<span style="font-size: small;">The Beauty of Pollination - Moving Art ™<br />- a very short, but beautiful video presented </span><span style="font-size: small;">as part of a TED Talk </span><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: small;">conference in 2011</span>.</span><br />
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<iframe width="480" height="270" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/MQiszdkOwuU?feature=player_embedded" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
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This video was shown at
the TED conference in 2011, with scenes from "Wings of Life", a film
about the threat to essential pollinators that produce over a third of
the food we eat. The seductive love dance between flowers and
pollinators sustains the fabric of life and is the mystical keystone
event where the animal and plant worlds intersect that make the world go
round. Enjoy!!!<br />
<br />
"Wings of Life" now streaming on Netflix!Unknownnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3870930324052178391.post-14680874170647966112015-01-15T03:02:00.001-08:002015-01-15T03:09:57.131-08:00Little Things Matter: The Impact of Toxins on the Developing Brain<br />
<h1 class="yt" id="watch-headline-title">
<span class="watch-title long-title" dir="ltr" id="eow-title" title="Little Things Matter: The Impact of Toxins on the Developing Brain"><span style="font-size: large;">From the: </span><br /><span style="font-size: large;">Canadian Environmental Health Atlas</span></span>
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="259" src="//www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/E6KoMAbz1Bw?rel=0" width="460"></iframe>
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Published November 11, 2014 <br />
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We’ve
been studying the impact of toxins on children for the past 30 years
and reached the inescapable conclusion: little things matter. We’ve
discovered that extremely low levels of toxins can impact brain
development. We have also discovered that subtle shifts in the
intellectual abilities of individual children have a big impact on the
number of children in a population that are challenged or gifted. Steps
should be taken to reduce children's exposure to toxins or suspected
toxins.</div>
<br />
<span style="font-size: small;">Just another reason to embrace organic food and a chemical free environment.</span>
<br />
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E6KoMAbz1Bw
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3870930324052178391.post-66323965296177100702014-10-25T04:06:00.000-07:002014-10-25T04:06:27.862-07:00Wasps saved her gardens<div class="ng_intro">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwumRhEuYVgc7mkS6Jtlui3uDd4umjHPu7WUOy4jCQj7K4LOPDH4VtkzNub5XNb1akaclYD8gOku_vQgMclcgysY5VUJsvoJ8Wf9i5pS8MAnxrLysDYKgJcGPKqaINFRq-MBrQMe9gDask/s1600/sacbee_gardeninglogo_o.gif" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: .1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwumRhEuYVgc7mkS6Jtlui3uDd4umjHPu7WUOy4jCQj7K4LOPDH4VtkzNub5XNb1akaclYD8gOku_vQgMclcgysY5VUJsvoJ8Wf9i5pS8MAnxrLysDYKgJcGPKqaINFRq-MBrQMe9gDask/s1600/sacbee_gardeninglogo_o.gif" height="60" width="400" /></a></div>
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<h1 class="title">
<span style="font-size: x-small;"> </span><br />Wasps saved her geraniums
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<div class="last-modified-date">
10/18/2014 12:00 AM
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Read more here: http://www.sacbee.com/entertainment/living/home-garden/garden-detective/article2952818.html#storylink=cpy </div>
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A reader had a complaint regarding tiny green
caterpillars in her geranium plants. The answer is to get rid of the
white moth that lays an egg in each geranium bud. The caterpillar egg
hatches out in a few days and the tiny worm eats the inside of the bud.
Hence, there’s no flower or a damaged one. <br />
The secret to my hedge
rows of beautiful full-blooming geraniums is a black wasp that buzzes
in and out of the bushes and leaves them thoroughly devoid of eggs and
caterpillars. The wasps come to my garden uninvited. Where they come
from, I do not know. They just solved a bad situation.</div>
<span class="ng_tagline_name">Margaret Tucher, Davis</span><br />
<br />
You
are fortunate that a beneficial insect – a parasitic wasp – is limiting
pests on your geraniums, said UC master gardener Lorraine Van Kekerix.<br />
<br />
The wasps break the life cycle of a common moth that lays eggs in several common flowering plants including petunias and <a href="http://www.ipm.ucdavis.edu/PMG/GARDEN/FLOWERS/geranium.html" target="_blank" title="">geraniums</a>, one of the moth’s preferred host plants. The adult moth does not eat the plant.<br />
<br />
The
moth’s wings are about 1 1/2 inches across; the color ranges from light
green to brownish with lighter colored bars across the wings. It’s not
the familiar white cabbage moth but another pest, the<a href="http://www.ipm.ucdavis.edu/PMG/r441301011.html" target="_blank" title=""> geranium or tobacco budworm </a>moth.<br />
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When
the moth eggs hatch, geranium budworm larvae emerge. The larvae eat the
plants and do the damage. Specifically, geranium budworms eat the
developing flower buds so the buds do not open. Severely affected plants
may not produce flowers at all.<br />
<br />
The geranium budworms eat flower
petals as well as the buds. If the infestation is particularly large,
they may eat leaves as well. While this pest prefers geraniums, petunias
and tobacco (including flowering tobacco), it will also attack other
flowers and plants.<br />
<br />
What you describe in your rows of geraniums is
a beneficial insect, a parasitic wasp. A parasite feeds on a host
organism. Most parasites are smaller than the host and often are the
larval stages of an insect. Specialized flies and wasps are the most
common types of parasitic insects, and there are several types of
parasitic wasps that can attack geranium budworms.<br />
<br />
Most of these
wasps are tiny and do not sting people. Parasitic wasps lay eggs in or
on the geranium budworm. When the wasp larvae emerge, they develop by
feeding on and killing the worm. Parasitic wasps can lay hundreds of
eggs a day.<br />
<br />
A beneficial insect is part of the natural cycle of
checks and balances when it destroys or reduces a rapid increase in the
pest population. We benefit as we no longer need to deal with the pest.
There are many ways to protect and increase the population of these
naturally occurring beneficial insects in our gardens.<br />
<br />
Start by
reducing use of broad-spectrum pesticides (that kill a wide range of
insects) in the garden. Broad-spectrum pesticides often kill the
beneficial insects in higher proportions than the pests. Many pesticide
residues persist in the garden, and those residues can reduce the
reproduction of these beneficial insects or kill them long after the
pesticide was originally applied.<br />
<br />
If a pesticide is needed, spare
the beneficials by choosing a less persistent pesticide or one that
kills only specific pests. For example, <i>Bacillus thuringensis </i>affects only caterpillars including geranium budworms, hornworms and cabbage worms.<br />
<br />
To
maintain a population of beneficial insects, design your garden to
provide the food and habitat they need. These insects need nectar,
pollen and shelter throughout the growing season so the population is
large enough to control the pests. <br />
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Gardens with a wide variety of
plants that bloom at different times throughout the seasons can provide
these good guys the food and shelter they need at all life stages.<br />
<br />
For more information on beneficial insects, visit the University of California’s Integrated Pest Management website and obtain <a href="http://www.ipm.ucdavis.edu/PMG/PESTNOTES/pn74140.html" target="_blank" title="">Pest Note 74140</a>, “Biological Control and Natural Enemies.” You can find it at <a href="http://www.ipm.ucdavis.edu/" target="_blank" title="">www.ipm.ucdavis.edu</a>.<br />
<br />
The IPM website also features a picture <a href="http://www.ipm.ucdavis.edu/PMG/NE/index.html" target="_blank" title="">gallery of natural enemies</a>, which includes beneficial insects. <br />
The
gallery is very useful in identifying beneficial insects. It’s likely
you’ll recognize several that are already helping to control the pests
in your garden. <br />
<br />
http://www.sacbee.com/entertainment/living/home-garden/garden-detective/article2952818.html<br />
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<div style="color: black; font: 10pt sans-serif; height: 1px; overflow: hidden; text-align: left; text-transform: none; width: 1px;">
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Read more here: http://www.sacbee.com/entertainment/living/home-garden/garden-detective/article2952818.html#storylink=cpy</div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3870930324052178391.post-85451710565506478672014-08-08T01:15:00.000-07:002014-08-08T01:15:27.291-07:00Hope in a Changing Climate - trailerHope in a Changing Climate
places the restoration of ecosystems at the centre of global discussions
on climate change, poverty and sustainable agriculture.<br />
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="270" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/z_xET5iZSy0" width="480"></iframe>
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This documentary entitled Hope
in a Changing Climate highlights that fertile, life-sustaining
environments can come out of degraded ecosystems. It shows projects in
China, Ethiopa and Rwanda where large areas of decimated ecosystems that
were able to be restored through the efforts of local people, enabling
them to break free from poverty.<br /> <br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3870930324052178391.post-19286258923022131832014-07-24T13:35:00.000-07:002014-07-24T13:42:29.285-07:00Our Bees, Ourselves - Bees and Colony Collapse<div class="separator" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;">
<img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGGhUKOk6cw_gTT1l9aLwut-RNUmTgCEfgTDQ03w-39CqP2LpGjtjHfIrB5AbijPlzDOxqsdBxd704xCMGYCnBPPLF-B_d_C5fF_zYW8shUN9D69WbyRVFh7bmbMGHi7m-Lr2GQWEbxaly/s1600/nytlogo153x23.gif" height="30" width="200" /></div>
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<h2 class="story-heading">
<br /><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">Our Bees, Ourselves<br />Bees and Colony Collapse</span></span></h2>
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">MARK WINSTON JULY 14, 2014</span></span><br />
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<img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6tL2AGmKXGCOGk1LlDWjtB_QwC7KS0btKJW1V_VporId7m0govdUoTp2wdlpYn4KWx0eIF-ocbC5hoRCH2Voh_s95IwqDYJbvG4NIsvaTF0YEeHpMZ2-kQkfbH9yH1ZWBQP4tuVvOpZdC/s1600/colonycollapse_nyt7_14.jpg" height="200" width="180" /></div>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">VANCOUVER, British Columbia — AROUND the world, honeybee colonies are dying in huge numbers: About one-third of hives collapse each year, a pattern going back a decade. For bees and the plants they pollinate — as well as for beekeepers, farmers, honey lovers and everyone else who appreciates this marvelous social insect — this is a catastrophe.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">But in the midst of crisis can come learning. Honeybee collapse has much to teach us about how humans can avoid a similar fate, brought on by the increasingly severe environmental perturbations that challenge modern society.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Honeybee collapse has been particularly vexing because there is no one cause, but rather a thousand little cuts. The main elements include the compounding impact of pesticides applied to fields, as well as pesticides applied directly into hives to control mites; fungal, bacterial and viral pests and diseases; nutritional deficiencies caused by vast acreages of single-crop fields that lack diverse flowering plants; and, in the United States, commercial beekeeping itself, which disrupts colonies by moving most bees around the country multiple times each year to pollinate crops.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">The real issue, though, is not the volume of problems, but the interactions among them. Here we find a core lesson from the bees that we ignore at our peril: the concept of synergy, where one plus one equals three, or four, or more. A typical honeybee colony contains residue from more than 120 pesticides. Alone, each represents a benign dose. But together they form a toxic soup of chemicals whose interplay can substantially reduce the effectiveness of bees’ immune systems, making them more susceptible to diseases.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">These findings provide the most sophisticated data set available for any species about synergies among pesticides, and between pesticides and disease. The only human equivalent is research into pharmaceutical interactions, with many prescription drugs showing harmful or fatal side effects when used together, particularly in patients who already are disease-compromised. Pesticides have medical impacts as potent as pharmaceuticals do, yet we know virtually nothing about their synergistic impacts on our health, or their interplay with human diseases.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Observing the tumultuous demise of honeybees should alert us that our own well-being might be similarly threatened. The honeybee is a remarkably resilient species that has thrived for 40 million years, and the widespread collapse of so many colonies presents a clear message: We must demand that our regulatory authorities require studies on how exposure to low dosages of combined chemicals may affect human health before approving compounds.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Bees also provide some clues to how we may build a more collaborative relationship with the services that ecosystems can provide. Beyond honeybees, there are thousands of wild bee species that could offer some of the pollination service needed for agriculture. Yet feral bees — that is, bees not kept by beekeepers — also are threatened by factors similar to those afflicting honeybees: heavy pesticide use, destruction of nesting sites by overly intensive agriculture and a lack of diverse nectar and pollen sources thanks to highly effective weed killers, which decimate the unmanaged plants that bees depend on for nutrition.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Recently, my laboratory at Simon Fraser University conducted a study on farms that produce canola oil that illustrated the profound value of wild bees. We discovered that crop yields, and thus profits, are maximized if considerable acreages of cropland are left uncultivated to support wild pollinators.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">A variety of wild plants means a healthier, more diverse bee population, which will then move to the planted fields next door in larger and more active numbers. Indeed, farmers who planted their entire field would earn about $27,000 in profit per farm, whereas those who left a third unplanted for bees to nest and forage in would earn $65,000 on a farm of similar size.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Such logic goes against conventional wisdom that fields and bees alike can be uniformly micromanaged. The current challenges faced by managed honeybees and wild bees remind us that we can manage too much. Excessive cultivation, chemical use and habitat destruction eventually destroy the very organisms that could be our partners.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">And this insight goes beyond mere agricultural economics. There is a lesson in the decline of bees about how to respond to the most fundamental challenges facing contemporary human societies. We can best meet our own needs if we maintain a balance with nature — a balance that is as important to our health and prosperity as it is to the bees.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Mark Winston, a biologist and the director of the Center for Dialogue at Simon Fraser University, is the author of the forthcoming book “Bee Time: Lessons From the Hive.”</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">A version of this op-ed appears in print on July 15, 2014, on page A25 of the New York edition with the headline: Our Bees, Ourselves. </span></span><br />
<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2014/07/15/opinion/bees-and-colony-collapse.html">http://www.nytimes.com/2014/07/15/opinion/bees-and-colony-collapse.html</a>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3870930324052178391.post-74815928554289455802014-05-26T19:15:00.001-07:002014-05-26T20:21:33.296-07:00New Study Shows Plants Talk to Each Other Through the Soil <span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">New Study Shows Plants Talk to Each Other Through the Soil
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">by Tafline Laylin
<br />5/23/14
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLvm_cAxIloPhTuCSl-SUZJSkYCeA27tOyxCJcsv2Zmo7dtKUte4nW5WDizgnoV_PUHZmiHq9owB4Ug8pKg2O0wfsclGnhKmJgQoaivVnGP5DrQugcj93xTp5J2Q0GELakiF1C8OKRLl-B/s1600/bean_stalk_talk5_14.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiLvm_cAxIloPhTuCSl-SUZJSkYCeA27tOyxCJcsv2Zmo7dtKUte4nW5WDizgnoV_PUHZmiHq9owB4Ug8pKg2O0wfsclGnhKmJgQoaivVnGP5DrQugcj93xTp5J2Q0GELakiF1C8OKRLl-B/s320/bean_stalk_talk5_14.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">Image via Shutterstock</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">A new study conducted by Dr. David Johnson at the University of Aberdeen found that plants actually communicate with one another through the soil. The study shows that when vegetables are infected with certain diseases, they alert other nearby plants to activate genes to ward off the disease when it heads their way. The key to this communication is a soil fungus that acts as a messenger.</span></span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: left;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqih0DKpjtKEehuUGkHiEiaR9qlwQpLBQMt2MFcKwny_onNEKrc8HIbpJud8t9tAQcq3t5Scqfwp_tAIdEYpS9zzJuAQpe0LadvPg57Rs045o2NItPXtv6kVgBscKzGddzFUhJGcGHvjy_/s1600/roots_soil_talk5_14.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: .01em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqih0DKpjtKEehuUGkHiEiaR9qlwQpLBQMt2MFcKwny_onNEKrc8HIbpJud8t9tAQcq3t5Scqfwp_tAIdEYpS9zzJuAQpe0LadvPg57Rs045o2NItPXtv6kVgBscKzGddzFUhJGcGHvjy_/s1600/roots_soil_talk5_14.jpg" height="212" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">Image via Shutterstock</span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Soil fungus and certain plants have a symbiotic relationship, according to the research team, who shared their findings with The Economist. The plants deliver food and the fungus delivers minerals. But now it turns out the fungal hyphae, which creates a network in the soil that connects the various plants, plays another essential role as a messenger.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><br /><a href="http://inhabitat.com/glowing-plant-project-kickstarter-campaign-creates-bioluminescent-plants-for-natural-lighting/" target="_blank">Related: Glowing Bioluminescent Plants for Lighting Nature’s Way</a></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />In 2010, a team of Chinese researchers found that when a tomato plant became infected with a leaf blight, it was able to somehow alert nearby tomato plants, which then prepared their defense. Dr. David Johnson and his team sought to find out by which mechanism the plants were able to communicate this information with Broad Bean plants.<br /><br />To prove that the plants were communicating through the soil, the team set up a series of “mesocosms” of five bean stalks each. Beans are often attacked by aphids. When this happens, they release a chemical that attracts wasps that then come around and annihilate the aphids.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /><a href="http://inhabitat.com/3-houseplants-to-help-you-feng-shui-your-home/" target="_blank"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Related: 3 Houseplants to Feng Shui Your Home</span></a> </span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />“Five weeks after the experiment began, all the plants were covered by bags that allowed carbon dioxide, oxygen and water vapour in and out, but stopped the passage of larger molecules, of the sort a beanstalk might use for signalling. Then, four days from the end, one of the 40-micron meshes in each mesocosm was rotated to sever any hyphae that had penetrated it, and the central plant was then infested with aphids.”<br /><br />You can read more about the experiment at The Economist, but the controls demonstrated that indeed the bean plants communicated to each other through the soil when it was found that one of them had been attacked by aphids!</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br />Via <a href="http://www.economist.com/news/science-and-technology/21580443-vegetables-employ-fungi-carry-messages-between-them-beans-talk?frsc=dg%7Ca" target="_blank">The Economist<br /><span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Times,"Times New Roman",serif;"><br />http://inhabitat.com/plants-talk-to-each-other-through-a-messenger-in-the-soil/</span></span></a><br /> </span></span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3870930324052178391.post-56496667403400247862014-04-24T00:52:00.000-07:002014-04-24T02:20:45.512-07:00No-till farming's Johnny Appleseed<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">No-till farming’s Johnny Appleseed — in a grimy Prius</span></b></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: 12.0pt; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";">By <a href="http://grist.org/author/nathanael-johnson/" title="Posts by Nathanael Johnson"><span style="color: blue;">Nathanael Johnson</span></a></span></b></span></div>
<span style="font-size: large;"><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"><span style="font-size: small;">17 Apr 2014</span></span></b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Let’s start with Jeff Mitchell’s car. From the outside, it looks like a regular, if slightly dinged-up, white Prius. But inside it’s so messy that it’s hard for me to describe it without sounding like I’m exaggerating.</span></span><br /><br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgc9reO3Umj2VCvEj1Fvgitq5cd6uSKdtzA76LXJdaKi15gRPVghHyUb4Hi-ghxpkSmyJfWHBQmFoiq2_i8woCwmbRd6xemIgCuipyP1tXv8mwSdpbshRlekWbpYFurZo0EQy69UrYc0cTC/s1600/notill-grist1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgc9reO3Umj2VCvEj1Fvgitq5cd6uSKdtzA76LXJdaKi15gRPVghHyUb4Hi-ghxpkSmyJfWHBQmFoiq2_i8woCwmbRd6xemIgCuipyP1tXv8mwSdpbshRlekWbpYFurZo0EQy69UrYc0cTC/s1600/notill-grist1.jpg" height="180" width="320" /></a><span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif"; font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> </span></span><b><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"><span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></span></b></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><br /><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">When I say the back seat is packed solidly with papers, I mean that literally: It’s as if Mitchell had pulled up alongside a set of filing cabinets and transferred everything that could fit into the back, carefully filling the leg space until it was high enough to be incorporated into the stack on the seats. The papers are wedged solidly together, three-quarters of the way up to the headrests.</span></span></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">There’s some PVC pipe back there too, some metal tools, a power cord, and some luggage. But that’s just what I could see on the surface. On the front dash there’s another layer of files, and a layer of dirt. And again, when I say dirt, I’m not overstating it. It’s not just a patina of dust; there are big clots of mud clinging to the face of the radio.<br /><br />“What can I say?” Mitchell said when I asked about the state of his vehicle. “I’m embarrassed. People say I could just scatter seeds in here and they’d grow.”</span></span><br /><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">I was never able to get a straight answer out of Mitchell as to why his car was so squalid, but it’s easy enough to guess. He has spent years driving up and down California’s long Central Valley, from one field to another, asking farmers to sign up to try new conservation techniques. He estimates that the car has driven 600,000 miles, though he can’t say for sure: The odometer stopped at 299,999. The car really does have to function as a high-speed file cabinet, as well as a mobile tool shed and soil-sample transporter.<br /><br />“So, is this basically your life?” I asked, after about an hour driving down highway 99. I was expecting a good-natured gripe about him becoming permanently welded to the driver’s seat. But instead he said:<br /><br />“You know, I’ve been truly fortunate. I’ve been doing this long enough that wherever I go I’ll look out and see a field and think, ‘That’s where we did that one trial, how’s that coming along?’ And there have been some big changes. It’s gratifying. There’s a soil scientist at Berkeley, Garrison Sposito, who says it may be just once or twice in a century that agriculture has an opportunity to re-create itself in a revolutionary way. Now, it may sound way over the top, but I think that’s what’s happening with conservation agriculture. It’s energizing for me to wake up to that every day.”<br /><br />His official title is Associate Extension Vegetable Crops Specialist, but since the early 1990s Mitchell has really been a Johnny Appleseed for conservation, leading an ever-growing band of farmers toward sustainability. The idea driving Mitchell’s work is to develop farm systems that are closer to proven natural systems. That main idea breaks down into four tenets: Don’t disturb the soil; maximize the diversity of plants, insects, fungi, and microbiota; keep living roots in the soil; and keep the ground covered with plant residues. Since 1999, a team working with Mitchell has been demonstrating that it’s possible to do all that profitably.<br /><br />After another hour on the road we reached the University of California West Side Extension and Research Center. Behind a handful of one-story buildings lay a collection of plots that workers have farmed continuously with conservation techniques. Mitchell took me to a field where they had been experimenting with a tomato-and-cotton rotation since 1999: “These beds have not moved, they have not been worked, in 15 years.” This 15-year study suggests that there are real, sustained benefits to the methods that the UC researchers have pioneered.</span></span></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Mitchell waded into the shoulder-high cover crops of one bed. There’s a bed nearby of cleanly plowed soil. The contrast couldn’t be more different. Mitchell knelt in the cover crop, pushing aside the plants. The earth was covered in a layer of duff (dead leaves and twigs). It looked a lot like — well, like any bit of ground that humans haven’t recently scraped.<br /><br />“There’s more organic material going into the soil, more carbon and more nitrogen. There’s more capture of water, and the shade and residue reduces soil water evaporation.”</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">These kind of innovations might seem obvious, but the journey to no-till cotton has been exasperatingly hard. Cotton requires coddling: It has a large seed, but it’s not a vigorous seedling, so often a farmer will knock off a layer of dry soil, drop the seeds onto moist earth, then cover it up. All this requires tilling the field. So Mitchell’s team decided to fine tune a planter to bury the seeds at just the right depth: Too close to the surface and they’d dry out, too deep and they’d never make it up. But when they ran the planter over the field it bounced over dry tomato stalks and dropped seeds higgledy-piggledy.<br /><br />That first year the crop came up patchy. So they started trying residue managers, to push debris out of the way of each seed line, then brush it back into place. Mitchell went to Georgia to see what they were using there. They tried different timing and amounts of irrigation. If they tried to plant while the field was too wet the tractor would turn everything into a muddy mess. If they waited until it dried, the seed wouldn’t get enough moisture. If they irrigated after planting, the soil might form a hard crust that the seed couldn’t penetrate. They made pass after pass, making minute adjustments to the equipment until tempers frayed.<br /><br />“I’m not an argumentative guy, but some of the things have been so trying,” Mitchell remembered. At the end of one of those days, one of Mitchell’s collaborators threw up his hands and said, “This will never work!” But then, in 2004, after years of disappointments, they finally hit on just the right combination of techniques — specific levels of irrigation, fine-tuned equipment, special disk and finger attachments for the planter — and got a beautiful cotton crop.<br /><br />When all the pieces came together, the cotton began producing reliably. And Mitchell also noticed an added benefit: As the years passed, the soil improved, and all this got easier. Instead of the farm equipment needing to break up clots of compacted soil, the researchers found they were planting into soft, fine-grained earth, continuously tilled by worms and roots and microorganisms.<br /><br />Mitchell’s work looks like a clear winner on paper: The yields are now the same as in the plowed beds, and the no-till beds take less work, sequester more carbon, suck up less water, and require less tractor fuel. And yet few farmers have taken up these methods.<br /><br />“When I had the results showing that you can save 16 percent of irrigation water with residues and no till, I thought it would really change things in the Valley,” Mitchell mused. “But it hasn’t seemed to be that relevant.”<br /><br />There are farmers successfully using these methods, but the percentage is still very low. And Mitchell can understand why people are skeptical. The cost savings — for fuel and labor (water prices are too variable to estimate) — are just $70 an acre, which isn’t terribly significant for a cotton farmer. And, as Mitchell knows, there are lots of things that can go wrong when a farmer starts trying new things.<br /><br />That reluctance to change doesn’t slow Mitchell down for long. He knows that surmounting the technological challenges is less than half the battle. The bulk of the work is in teaching people how to do the same thing, and — even more importantly — convincing them that it’s worth their time.<br /><br />And so he gets in the dirty Prius again, year in and year out, adding mile after uncounted mile, and carrying his Johnny Appleseed act across California.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><a href="http://grist.org/food/no-till-farmings-johnny-appleseed-in-a-grimy-prius/?ut">http://grist.org/food/no-till-farmings-johnny-appleseed-in-a-grimy-prius/?ut</a></span></span></div>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3870930324052178391.post-63358856176520859672014-04-19T06:00:00.000-07:002014-04-19T05:40:16.348-07:00Victory in Vermont!!!<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b><span style="font-size: small;"><br /><br /><br />Victory in Vermont - in time to Celebrate on Earth Day!</span></b><br /><br /><span style="font-size: small;">Earth Day is coming up next Tuesday. This year, Mother Earth has at least one thing to celebrate—the beginning of the end of Monsanto’s evil empire.<br /><br />Yesterday, Vermont passed H.112, this country’s first no-strings-attached law requiring the mandatory labeling of GMOs (genetically modified organisms), and outlawing the practice of labeling GMO-contaminated foods as “natural” or “all-natural.”<br /><br />With the passage of the Vermont GMO labeling law, after 20 years of struggle, it’s time to celebrate our common victory. But as we all know, the battle for a new food and farming system, and a sustainable future has just begun.<br /><br />Monsanto will likely sue Vermont. And lose. And the Gene and Junk Food Giants will still try to pass a federal law intended to strip Vermont, and every other state, of the right to pass GMO labeling laws.<br /><br />But we will fight back. And we will win.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.organicconsumers.org/articles/article_29781.cfm" target="_blank">Read Ronnie’s essay</a></span></span></span><b id="yui_3_7_2_1_1397775077180_11282"><br /></b>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3870930324052178391.post-73914741701754578482014-04-17T18:02:00.000-07:002014-07-24T13:37:43.034-07:00Worms Produce Another Kind of Gold for Growers<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="font-size: large;"><b><span style="font-family: "Helvetica Neue",Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">SCIENCE</span></span></b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"><b>Worms Produce Another Kind of Gold for Growers</b></span>
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<span style="font-size: xx-small;"><br />By JIM ROBBINS<br />Published: December 31, 2012</span><br />
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SONOMA, Calif. — <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Under rows of old chicken sheds, Jack
Chambers has built an empire of huge metal boxes filled with cattle manure and
millions of wriggling red worms.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">“My buddies all had planes and boats,” said Mr. Chambers,
60, a former airline pilot. “I have a worm farm.”</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Mr. Chambers’s two decades of investment in what he calls an
“underground movement” may be paying off. New research suggests that the
product whose manufacture he helped pioneer, a worm-created soil additive
called vermicompost, offers an array of benefits for plants — helping them grow
with more vigor, and making them more resistant to disease and insects, than
those grown with other types of composts and fertilizers.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">The earthworm’s digestive process, it turns out, “is a
really nice incubator for microorganisms,” said Norman Q. Arancon, an assistant
professor of horticulture at the University of Hawaii at Hilo.</span></div>
<br />
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">And these microbes, which multiply rapidly when they are
excreted, alter the ecosystem of the soil. Some make nitrogen more available to
plant roots, accounting for the increased growth. The high diversity and
numbers of microbes outperform those in the soil that cause disease.</span></div>
<br />
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">By contrast, Dr. Arancon said, soil that has been heavily
exposed to synthetic fertilizers, pesticides and herbicides lacks microbial
richness and diversity, qualities that can be restored naturally by adding the
microbes from worms.</span></div>
<br />
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Some experts and entrepreneurs hope earthworms can also help
with another problem: the growing piles of animal waste from dairy farms and
other agricultural operations.</span></div>
<br />
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Worm Power, a company in Avon, N.Y., transforms 10 million
pounds of manure from a single dairy herd each year — about 40 percent of the
cattle’s output — into 2.5 million pounds of vermicompost. Tom Herlihy, a
former municipal waste engineer who founded the company in 2003, says it has
raised more than $6 million in venture capital and $2 million in grants for
research, much of it at Cornell University.</span></div>
<br />
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Here in Northern California, Mr. Chambers’s Sonoma Valley
Worm Farm produces about half a million pounds of similar compost, an amount he
plans to increase in the spring. He loads a long metal bin with cow manure and
300,000 to 400,000 Eisenia fetida, or red wigglers — weighing 300 to 400
pounds. In their wake, the worms leave cattle waste that has been processed
into rich and crumbly castings that look like fine peat moss.</span></div>
<br />
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">It takes six months for a vermicompost bed to become fully
mature, by which time a million worms roam the manure. Mr. Chambers continues
to add two yards of manure and harvest one yard of worm compost weekly. The
finished product is shaved, an inch at a time, off the bottom of the bin. An
established bed can go on this way for years.</span></div>
<br />
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Both operations pre-compost their manure before they fork it
over to the worms. That means piling it up and allowing it to get naturally hot
enough to kill unwanted seeds and pathogens like E. coli.</span></div>
<br />
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">The properties of worm compost are different from fertilizer
or manure. “It’s interesting and complicated,” said Rhonda Sherman, an
extension specialist at North Carolina State University who has taught
vermicomposting around the world for more than 30 years and who holds an annual
conference on the subject.</span></div>
<br />
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">“Certain plants might react well to vermicompost from dairy
manure,” she said, “and other plants might react better to food-waste
vermicompost.” That has led to “boutique composting,” with different blends for
different kinds of plants.</span><br />
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">A West Coast company, California Soils, uses worms to break
down cardboard waste fibers that are too short to be recycled. The glue used to
bind the paper serves as an important source of nitrogen for the worms. “It’s a
really good product for nut farmers and stone fruit farmers,” Mitch Davis, a
company spokesman, said of the compost, adding that it also helps control
nutgall, a fungal disease that afflicts walnut trees.</span></div>
<br />
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Worms were said to be Darwin’s favorite organism, and for
good reason: it seems they can break down most anything. Studies have shown
they can detoxify soil with cadmium, lead and other heavy metals.</span></div>
<br />
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Another product made from worm waste is a concentrate,
sometimes called tea, that Mr. Chambers extracts using an aerator. Dr. Arancon
said even a 1 percent solution of the extract had the same properties as vermicompost.</span></div>
<br />
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">At Cornell, Eric Nelson, a plant pathologist, is studying
how compost suppresses disease. Worm Power’s product, he says, does a better
job than traditional compost, perhaps because the worm compost is highly
uniform. “The key is understanding why these microbes do what they do,” Dr.
Nelson said. Then, perhaps, the mechanism can be enhanced, he said.</span></div>
<br />
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">The worm compost is considered valuable enough to fetch
almost 10 times the price of other composts.</span></div>
<br />
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Still, the industry suffers from image problems. “It’s hard
to bring it out of the ‘It’s cute to have a worm box in my backyard’ approach
and put it on par with other strategies for waste management,” said Allison
Jack, who earned her doctorate by studying vermicompost at Cornell and is now
teaching at Prescott College in Arizona.</span></div>
<br />
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">The quality of products varies widely, and because there are
no industry standards, anyone can call a product vermicompost.</span></div>
<br />
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">For a time, the worm business was a haven for swindlers.
Companies would sell worms to growers, who were told they could raise more
worms and produce vermicompost, which they could then sell back. Some of these
offers turned out to be Ponzi schemes.</span></div>
<br />
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Still, the properties of vermicompost have long been
recognized by growers. Jeff Dawson, the curator of gardens at the Round Pond
Estate winery in the Napa Valley, swears by Mr. Chambers’s castings, which he has
used for more than a decade.</span></div>
<br />
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">“A cup or half a cup in the hole as we plant each vine
increases the vine’s ability to establish itself at a much faster pace,” Mr.
Dawson said. “And it creates a healthier plant.”</span></div>
<br />
<div style="text-align: left;">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">This being California, some of Mr. Chambers’s customers are
medical marijuana growers, and he likes the way growers do business. “They hand
you cash,” he said.</span></div>
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><br />A version of this article appeared in print on
January 1, 2013, on page D4 of the New York edition with the headline: Worms
Produce Another Kind of Gold for Growers.<br /><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/01/science/worms-produce-another-kind-of-gold-for-farmers.html">http://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/01/science/worms-produce-another-kind-of-gold-for-farmers.html</a></span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3870930324052178391.post-40692926876966294652014-04-13T02:49:00.000-07:002014-04-13T02:49:22.705-07:00Cash for Grass Program in Sacramento!<h1 class="entry-title" id="story_headline">
<span style="font-size: large;">Sacramento council votes to launch ‘cash for grass’ program to save water</span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">By Ryan Lillis<br />Sacramento Bee<br />
Mar. 4, 2014</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-weight: normal;"><br /><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">The city of Sacramento wants to pay you to rip out your
water-guzzling lawn.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">The City Council voted unanimously Tuesday night to launch a
“cash for grass” program that will provide rebates to homeowners who replace
their grass lawns with drought-tolerant landscaping. Demand for the rebates is
expected to be high; city utilities officials said they already had a waiting
list for the program before the spending plan was approved.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">“I think this will really help our residents make a
difference in saving water,” said Councilman Kevin McCarty, who proposed the
program. “I think it’s time that as a city, we help incentivize action in
conservation.”</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">The rebate plan has not been finalized, but could involve
homeowners receiving 50 cents per square foot of lawn, up to 1,000 feet. The
city has set aside $100,000 for the program and plans to start issuing rebates
in April.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Sacramento has launched intense water conservation efforts
in recent weeks, as the region and Northern California grapple with a historic
drought that has led to low levels in area reservoirs and rivers.<br /></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">In January, the council voted to enact a mandatory 20
percent reduction on citywide water usage and to beef up enforcement of
residents watering lawns during the week, a violation of winter watering rules.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Utilities officials told the council that the city is off to
a good start in its water conservation. Total water use in Sacramento was down
12 percent in January, compared with the average total of the past two years.
That’s a reduction of 8 million gallons per day.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Residents have also responded to calls by the city to report
water waste.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">The city received 110 calls through the first two months of
last year from residents reporting illegal water use. Over the same time this
year, residents made 2,200 of those calls.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">That has led to a sharp increase in the number of warnings
the city has issued to homeowners, from 14 last year to 205 this year. Only a
handful of fines have been issued.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Recent rainfall has helped, but has not erased the region’s
drought concerns.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">“I want to emphasize that the drought does persist,” said
Dave Brent, city utilities director. “There really is no end in sight.”</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Utilities officials said the city would continue its water
conservation plans. Billboards will begin appearing around the city and on
buses next week urging residents to take shorter showers and “brush every other
tooth.”</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Brent said the city would also ask for money for the lawn
program in next year’s budget.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">“If you need more, come back,” said Councilman Steve Hansen.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Roseville has the oldest “cash for grass” program in the
region. Lisa Brown, a water conservation administrator in Roseville, said the
city has granted about 500 rebates since 2008. More than 350,000 square feet of
grass lawn has been replaced over that time, she said.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Roseville pays $1 per square foot for its program. Demand
was so high this year that the city has already run out of money and will have
to wait until the next fiscal year to begin issuing rebates again, Brown said.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Chris Brown, a water consultant and the former executive
director of California Urban Water Conservation Council, applauded Sacramento’s
rebate plan.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">“It’s time for Sacramento to be a leader in the Central
Valley,” he said.</span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.sacbee.com/2014/03/04/6209303/sacramento-council-votes-to-launch.html" target="_blank"><span style="font-size: small;">http://www.sacbee.com/2014/03/04/6209303/sacramento-council-votes-to-launch.html </span></a></span></div>
<br />
</h1>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3870930324052178391.post-18123664920358316922014-02-19T14:12:00.004-08:002018-09-23T20:03:51.161-07:00CAN PLANTS THINK?<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">This is a very creative, informative and cute video. This short video shares information about how plants problem solve, communicate with other plant life, and work together in groups to survive. Hope you enjoy it!<span style="font-size: xx-small;"> </span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"> </span>
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="231" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/u2GWd2j3qJ8" width="410"></iframe>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3870930324052178391.post-62908159758839299732014-02-13T19:40:00.001-08:002014-02-13T19:40:32.111-08:00CARING FOR MATURE TREES DURING A DROUGHT<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span class="userContent" data-ft="{"tn":"K"}">CARING FOR MATURE TREES DURING A DROUGHT<br /> <br /> A mature tree is defined as a tree with trunk whose diameter measures more than 16 inches around at the height of your chest.<br /> <br /> HOW MUCH WATER DOES MY LARGE TREE NEED?<br />
Mature trees vary widely in their need for water, depending on size,
age, species, and if there is irrigated lawn around it. Mature trees
that are accustomed to regular lawn watering will con<span class="text_exposed_show">tinue to require some water during this time of drought. <br /> <br />
Check the moisture of the soil (6 - 8 inches down) around the tree's
dripline (area under the outermost leaves of the tree - see diagram). If
the soil is dry and crumbly, apply water slowly so it seeps deeply into
the soil. <br /> <br /> HOW SHOULD I WATER MY MATURE TREE?<br /> Watering
slowly is important. An easy way to cut back on watering, but still
ensure your tree is getting enough, is to place an inch high can (tuna
fish or cat food can) beneath your tree, turn on your sprinklers and
then turn off the water when the can is filled. Quitting tree watering
“cold turkey” will be hard on your tree.<br /> <br /> Don't rely on a clock or a calendar, water the tree when the soil moisture is low.<br /> <br /> WHAT IF MY CITY HAS BANNED OUTDOOR IRRIGATION?<br />
The best way to be proactive and conserve water is to position a soaker
hose in a spiral pattern starting a few feet away from the trunk and
moving out to the dripline. (If possible remove the grass in this area
and cover the hose with mulch.) Monitor the hose for run off and keep
track of how long it takes to the water to penetrate 6 - 8 inches down
so that you can repeat this technique when the soil becomes dry. <br /> <br /> WHAT IF I'M WORRIED ABOUT THE HEALTH OF MY MATURE TREE?<br />
Hire a Certified Arborist who is knowledgeable about the needs of trees
and educated and equipped to provide proper diagnostic and treatment
services. Follow our guidelines to find and hire an ISA Certified
Arborist. <br /> <br /> (Great tip sheet from Sacramento Tree Foundation)</span></span></span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3870930324052178391.post-77910707306581105652013-07-22T15:40:00.000-07:002013-07-23T02:13:02.170-07:00“Mycelium is Earth’s Natural Internet.”<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Six ways mushrooms can save the world.<br /><br /> Paul Stamets gives this wonderful TED Talk about mushrooms that are organisms that cover our earth and are very important for the life on earth.<br />
<br />Paul Stamets believes that mushrooms can save our lives, restore our ecosystems and transform other worlds.</span>
<br /><br />
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="242" mozallowfullscreen="" scrolling="no" src="http://embed.ted.com/talks/paul_stamets_on_6_ways_mushrooms_can_save_the_world.html" webkitallowfullscreen="" width="430"></iframe>
<br /><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Entrepreneurial mycologist Paul Stamets seeks to rescue the study of mushrooms from forest gourmets and psychedelic warlords. The focus of Stamets' research is the Northwest's native fungal genome, mycelium, but along the way he has filed 22 patents for mushroom-related technologies, including pesticidal fungi that trick insects into eating them, and mushrooms that can break down the neurotoxins used in nerve gas.<br /><br />
There are cosmic implications as well. Stamets believes we could terraform other worlds in our galaxy by sowing a mix of fungal spores and other seeds to create an ecological footprint on a new planet.</span>
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3870930324052178391.post-51458384452242723192013-07-06T03:03:00.000-07:002013-07-06T03:04:42.115-07:00A Farm for the Future<div>
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">“All of the debts for society’s century-long
industrial fiesta are coming due at the same time. We have no choice but
to transition to a world no longer dependent on fossil fuels, a world
made up of communities and economies that function within ecological
bounds. How we manage this transition is the most important question of
our time.” <br /> ~ Richard Heinberg</span></span></div>
<br />
<div>
<span style="font-size: x-small;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">A
Farm for the Future is a video about changing the way we
garden/farm - it is made in the UK, but so much applies here in the U.S. and throughout the world.</span></span></div>
<br />
<div>
<span style="font-size: x-small;">
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">This video starts off examining animal farming, but develops into a holistic examination of growing and providing food in the future. The scope of this video and
what changes need to be made in the future are eye-opening and
thought provoking. We are all in this together, so it is encouraging to see some successful examples of farms for the future.<br />
</span></span></div>
<br /><br />
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="//www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/1Ck3bvlzdbM?rel=0" width="420"></iframe><br /><br /><br />
Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3870930324052178391.post-84461105732428048392013-06-14T04:19:00.002-07:002013-06-14T04:19:18.723-07:00Maine House Gives First Nod to GMO Labeling Bill in Landslide Vote By Steve Mistler Portland Press Herald, June 11, 2013<br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">AUGUSTA — Maine is on track to join several other states
attempting to require food producers to label food containing genetically
modified ingredients, following a landslide vote in the House of Representatives
on Tuesday. </span><br />
<br />
<div>
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">The House
voted to support L.D. 718, a bill sponsored by Rep. Lance Harvell,
R-Farmington, sets the stage for a legal entanglement between the state and
agribusiness and biotech industry giant Monsanto, which has already threatened
to sue states that pass similar labeling laws. The political battle between
industry interests and the well-organized supporters of L.D. 718 has raged
behind the scenes for several months at the State House, as the biotech
industry fights to blunt a popular movement that has taken the GMO fight to at
least 18 other state legislatures following failed attempts to pass labeling
legislation in Congress.</span></div>
<br />
<div>
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">The House
voted 141-4 in favor of a amendment that would trigger the labeling requirement
once four other contiguous states, including Maine, pass similar labeling
legislation.</span></div>
<br />
<div>
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Supporters
of L.D. 718, a bill co-sponsored by 120 lawmakers, including Democrats,
independents and Republicans, relished the looming fight with Monsanto, the
litigious international company widely vilified by supporters of the organic
food movement. Harvell blasted the company, saying lawmakers should not give
the industry "veto power" over a bill that tells people what's in their
food.</span></div>
<br />
<div>
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">"In
this body alone we have routinely taken on the federal government, which is
supposedly the most powerful government in the world," Harvell said.
"And yet, if a corporation threatens us, we fear them more? Are we going
to give these people veto power over this body and the people of the state of
Maine? Do we really live in a world where they have more power than our federal
government? It's a question that we should ask."</span></div>
<br />
<div>
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">A lawsuit
likely may await Maine if the labeling bill goes into effect.</span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Attorney
General Janet Mills, who was asked to review the constitutionality of the bill,
told lawmakers on the Agriculture Committee that it is "almost
certain" to face a legal challenge from the industry. Mills did not
guarantee that her office would be able to defend its constitutionality. <br /><br />
Proponents of the bill, including the Maine Organic Farmers & Gardeners Association,
said it is up to states to take on industry to ensure that it discloses whether
food is bio-engineered — its DNA has been spliced with that of an unrelated
plant, animal, bacterium or virus — because Congress has failed to enact
federal legislation.</span></div>
<br />
<div>
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">
No state has passed such a labeling law. At least 18 states are considering them, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. Connecticut recently passed a GMO labeling law that is nearly identical to amended version of L.D. 718. Vermont is on the verge of doing the same. A similar bill is under consideration by the New Hampshire Legislature.</span></div>
<br />
<div>
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">
Lance Dutson, a spokesman for the business and industry coalition that's opposing the bill, told the Portland Press Herald in May that Mills' review of the bill essentially reaffirmed the proposal has "serious constitutional concerns."</span></div>
<br />
<div>
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">
The constitutional issue centers on free speech, specifically compelling food manufacturers and retailers to disclose ingredients that don't pose a known public health risk. The Maine State Chamber of Commerce, the Maine Farm Bureau and the Grocery Manufacturers Association say the bill would stigmatize genetically modified foods despite a dearth of scientific research proving that such products are any less healthful than those that are grown conventionally.
</span></div>
<br />
<div>
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">
Maine law now allows retailers to label products voluntarily as certified organic or "GMO-free."</span></div>
<br />
<div>
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">
Harvell's bill would prohibit retailers from labeling a product "natural" if it contained GMOs, genetically modified organisms.<br /><br />
Advocates of new regulations say scientific evidence is emerging that genetically modified foods can increase health risks and food allergies. They say federal regulators have left testing up to the industry that is producing and profiting from genetically modified products.<br /><br />
Labeling supporters argue that independent testing on GMO foods hasn't happened because industry patents prohibit it.<br /><br />
"If it's so unique that it requires a patent, then I say that it's time that it requires a label," Harvell said.<br /><br />
Harvell, during a rousing floor speech, said Tuesday that if GMO foods are so unique that they require a patent, the public can't be sure that it's safe to eat.
<br /><br />
The Food and Drug Administration regulates genetically modified foods but does not approve them. The agency assumes the foods are safe until confronted with evidence that they're not. Michael Hansen, a senior scientist with Consumers Union, has worked on labeling legislation in Congress. He told lawmakers during a public hearing on Maine's bill that federal regulators have ceded review of genetically modified products to ensure that the industry — not the government — is legally liable if health problems surface.
<br /><br />
Opponents say a labeling law would be costly to farmers and sellers, who would have to review affidavits to determine whether the food they're selling contains genetically modified ingredients.
<br /><br />
The Legislature previously has rejected four GMO-labeling bills, but supporters say there is growing support for a law.
<br /><br />
The proposal endorsed by the House differs from the original bill. It would not take effect until five other contiguous states pass similar legislation.
<br /><br />
Some lawmakers worried that the amended version would doom the labeling effort because one state could derail the effort if it doesn't pass labeling legislation. Rep. Brian Jones, D-Freedom, said the altered bill effectively would grant New Hampshire veto power over Maine's effort if Granite State lawmakers don't pass a labeling law.
<br /><br />
Rep. Amy Volk, R-Scarborough said the amended bill would help defray some of the anticipated legal costs and "send a message to the federal government."
<br /><br />
The bill now moves to the Senate for a vote. The bill may face a steeper climb among Republican state senators. Sen. Andre Cushing, R-Hampden, on Monday described the bill as a Democrat-led effort on a conservative website.
<br /><br />
The LePage administration testified against the bill during the public hearing. Adrienne Bennett, the governor's spokeswoman, said Tuesday that the governor had not yet taken a position on the amended bill.
<br /><br />
In May the U.S. Senate rejected an amendment by U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., that would give states the power to require genetically modified food to be labeled as such. U.S. Sen. Angus King, I-Maine, voted for the amendment. U.S. Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, voted against it.<br /><br />
Steve Mistler — 620-7016
smistler@pressherald.com
</span></div>
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<div>
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.pressherald.com/news/Maine-House-gives-first-nod-to-GMO-labeling-bill-in-landslide-vote.html" target="_blank">http://www.pressherald.com/news/Maine-House-gives-first-nod-to-GMO-labeling-bill-in-landslide-vote.html</a> </span></div>
<br />
<br />
<div>
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">For
related articles and more information, please visit Organic Consumers Association - OCA's <a href="http://www.organicconsumers.org/gelink.cfm" target="_blank">Genetic Engineering page</a>, <a href="http://organicconsumers.org/monsanto/index.cfm" target="_blank">Millions Against Monsanto page</a> and <a href="http://www.organicconsumers.org/corplink.cfm" target="_blank">Politics and Democracy page</a>.</span></div>
<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3870930324052178391.post-66050507291887905212013-06-13T14:09:00.001-07:002013-06-13T14:09:57.964-07:00Connecticut First In The Nation To Pass GMO Labeling Billby <span class="auth">Jacqueline Wattles</span> | Jun 3, 2013 6:32pm<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0y21EVRp3TEjFsbwZmwOJKAySmVaF5TxwHHoDEUGhO3Zvj-pwBMGfk1fPxIaA2oVacdCG1tAkFjwS4JrQyJudd1Atfm5AWZw-tlEk8u3gq6lEvmlE0jgAsU6FEope0skwrW-sirirXrfd/s1600/ct_gmolabel6_13.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="262" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0y21EVRp3TEjFsbwZmwOJKAySmVaF5TxwHHoDEUGhO3Zvj-pwBMGfk1fPxIaA2oVacdCG1tAkFjwS4JrQyJudd1Atfm5AWZw-tlEk8u3gq6lEvmlE0jgAsU6FEope0skwrW-sirirXrfd/s400/ct_gmolabel6_13.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
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<br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"> Tara Cook-Littman, an advocate who pushed for the bill celebrates her victory</span><br />
<br />
A bill that would mandate labels on foods that contain genetically modified
ingredients passed the House Monday, making Connecticut the first state in the
nation to pass this type of legislation.<br />
<br />
Genetically modified organisms, or GMOs, are crops that have been manually
altered using modern technology in order to be resistant to herbicides and
pesticides or take on other characteristics such as a longer shelf-life.
Connecticut’s legislation came in response to a national campaign to mandate
labels on foods that contain GMOs.<br />
<br />
Gov. Dannel P. Malloy joined activists and House and Senate leadership to
celebrate the bill’s passage, assuring them that the bill’s last step before
enactment - his signature - would not be an issue.<br />
<br />
“This is important stuff. . . and I think the rest of the world is starting
to understand that,” Malloy said. “I know a lot of you are surprised. I’m not.
I saw it coming. It’s an appropriate thing to do.”<br />
<br />
Sen. President Donald Williams, D-Brooklyn, said the bill would make a
“critical difference.”<br />
<br />
“We have made history in the state of Connecticut, and this issue is so
important in terms of the safety of our food supply and the health of the men,
women, and children in this country,” Williams said. “We know these GMO foods
are tied directly to increased use of herbicides and pesticides that are
wreaking havoc in our environment.”<br />
<br />
The bill’s <a href="http://www.cga.ct.gov/asp/cgabillstatus/cgabillstatus.asp?selBillType=Bill&bill_num=HB06527&which_year=2013" target="_blank">passage</a> came after a different <a href="http://www.cga.ct.gov/asp/CGABillStatus/CGAbillstatus.asp?which_year=2013&selBillType=Bill&bill_num=SB802" target="_blank">version</a> of the bill was shuffled
between the House and Senate for weeks before leadership in both chambers came
to a compromise.<br />
<br />
The issue was whether to allow the law to go into effect automatically, or
tack on a “trigger” that would require neighboring states to pass similar
legislation before Connecticut’s law would become effective. The idea behind
the trigger, as House Speaker Brendan Sharkey said, is to ensure that
Connecticut won’t “stand alone” with the bill and cause undesirable economic
consequences.<br />
<br />
But the House and Senate resolved their <a href="http://www.ctnewsjunkie.com/ctnj.php/archives/entry/lawmakers_resolve_differences_over_gmo_labeling/" target="_blank">differences</a> last week when
compromise legislation was passed by the Senate. The new version requires that
four other states pass similar legislation in order to “trigger” Connecticut’s
labeling requirement. One of the states must share a border with Connecticut
and their combined population must equal at least 20 million people.<br />
<br />
If the trigger is met, sellers or distributors who sell products containing
GMOs that are not labeled would be subject to a daily $1,000 fine per product
and the Department of Consumer Protection would be able to embargo the
products.<br />
<br />
Sharkey said he was pleased with the compromise.<br />
<br />
“We were able to come together and compromise to protect consumers and the
economy in the state of Connecticut,” he said. “I think it’s a tremendous
achievement.”<br />
<br />
Senate Minority Leader John McKinney said the reason the bill came back
after hitting so many legislative roadblocks was because of the <a href="http://www.ctnewsjunkie.com/ctnj.php/archives/entry/senate_poised_to_approve_bill_requiring_gmo_labeling/" target="_blank">grassroots activism</a> that was louder than ever this session.<br />
<br />
“Everyone was committed to making sure we got something passed,” he said.
“Sitting down, doing the hard work, listening to the advocates, and getting the
bill passed…[the advocates] are the reason.”<br />
<br />
The bill received bipartisan support, passing the Senate unanimously and
winning a 134-3 vote in the House.<br />
Though the compromise weakens the Senate’s original bill, which would have
gone into effect in 2016 regardless of whether other states were on board, the
advocates that pressed the legislators for action said they support it.<br />
<br />
Tara Cook-Littman, the face of the Right to Know GMO campaign in
Connecticut, has spent the past two years lobbying for GMO-labeling
legislation. She said was “thrilled” about the legislation and is not concerned
about the trigger clause.<br />
<br />
“This is a very strong bill . . . it represents the highest standard
developed by GMO-labeling leaders throughout the country,” Cook-Litmann said.
“To all those concerned about the trigger clause, we have nothing to fear.”<br />
<br />
Rep. Diana Urban, one of the bill’s main proponents, said Maine, New Jersey,
and New York are “well on their way to passing similar legislation.”<br />
<br />
“This is history,” Urban said. “It’s a doable trigger, and I am just
thrilled. Sixty-two other countries either ban [GMOs] or label them, and we’re
the first in the nation to stand up and do this.”<br />
<br />
Sharkey added that passing this bill is instrumental in getting other states
to follow suit.<br />
<br />
“The hardest thing that we can ever do is get that very first state to say
to the country that this is the way we as a people want to see our country go,
and Connecticut is going to lead the way,” he said.<br />
<br />
Activists that lead GMO-labeling advocacy groups in Maine, Massachusetts,
New Jersey, and Pennsylvania all traveled to Hartford to celebrate with the
Connecticut advocates.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>and said they are
hopeful Connecticut’s bill will help push proposed legislation in their own
states through.<br />
<br />
Jim Garrison, a potato farmer and a member of Maine’s Right to Know GMO
coalition, said the Maine House of Representatives may vote on a <a href="http://www.mainelegislature.org/LawMakerWeb/summary.asp?ID=280047295" target="_blank">GMO-labeling bill</a> as early as Friday and the bill has 123 co-sponsors.<br />
<br />
Martin Dagoberto, a member of the Massachusetts Right to Know GMO coalition,
said he felt Connecticut’s action would pressure other states to follow suit.<br />
<br />
“This win for Connecticut is a win for all of us,” Dagoberto said. “It feeds
our collective momentum, and we will not be stopped. The trigger clause is
nothing more than a way to encourage other states to share the burden of
defending the integrity of our democracy and our food supply because powerful
corporate interests want to keep us in the dark.”<br />
<br />
<a href="http://assembly.state.ny.us/leg/?default_fld=&bn=S03835&term=2013&Summary=Y&Actions=Y" target="_blank">GMO-labeling legislation</a> has also been proposed in the lower house of the
New York State Legislature, a state Urban said is instrumental in getting on
board because of its big economy, but no votes have been taken yet.<br />
<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.ctnewsjunkie.com/ctnj.php/archives/entry/ct_first_in_the_nation_to_pass_gmo_labeling_bill/#.UbotZs9JvJM.blogger">CT First In The Nation To Pass GMO Labeling Bill</a>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3870930324052178391.post-44662715536918305402013-02-23T15:57:00.000-08:002013-02-23T15:57:03.697-08:00 Why Organic Produce May Be Worth The Money<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><b>Nature's way of balancing pest management and why organic produce is the mightier choice for you.</b><br /> <br /> <b>Researchers concluded that the additional “stress” of an orga</b><span class="text_exposed_show"><b>nic
farming operation makes the plants boost their production of
phytochemicals. In other words, the plants must cope with greater
challenges from natural insect predators and disease so they respond
with a higher output of defensive compounds, which can benefit people,
too. </b> <br /><i>From: Organic Consumers Association</i></span></span></span><br /><br /><b>Why organic produce may be worth the money</b></span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">By Paul Taylor</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">The Globe and Mail<br />Published Thursday, Feb. 21, 2013<br /> </span></span><br />
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</div>
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNKabdm5pr4qaoPNBt4j3M7bbhwHe4Ako0Vxa6T3MSa1GxdC-9viOB3W8C3FFos196M1pP6lfyRq-Tu7hgVwrlrwblZFH7RZqMbY5h9dD7o_wFPLORFhGktNS0Osxv5tsJh8WFWQhsVhyb/s1600/organictomato2_13.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: .1em; margin-right: .8em;"><img border="0" height="187" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhNKabdm5pr4qaoPNBt4j3M7bbhwHe4Ako0Vxa6T3MSa1GxdC-9viOB3W8C3FFos196M1pP6lfyRq-Tu7hgVwrlrwblZFH7RZqMbY5h9dD7o_wFPLORFhGktNS0Osxv5tsJh8WFWQhsVhyb/s200/organictomato2_13.JPG" width="200" /></a><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span class="text_exposed_show"></span> Organic fruits and vegetables may not be as big and beautiful as regular
produce, but appearances can be deceiving. A study of organic tomatoes
found they are packed with a much higher concentration of healthy
compounds than the conventionally grown variety. And that suggests being
smaller and less attractive can sometimes be better for you – at least
when it comes to the food supply.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">For the study, the researchers selected tomatoes from an organic farm
and a conventional operation located 1.5 kilometres apart in
northeastern Brazil. So the plants were raised in roughly the same
weather and soil conditions.</span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">The organic farm used animal manure
for fertilizer and a naturally based fungicide, while the conventional
farm relied on a chemical fertilizer and pesticides.</span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">From outward
appearances the organic tomatoes did not do so well – they were roughly
40 per cent smaller than those grown conventionally. But a detailed
analysis, published in the online journal Plos One, revealed the organic
variety contained elevated concentrations of vitamin C and other
phenolic compounds.</span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">“The contents in phenolic compounds and in
vitamin C were 139 per cent and 55 per cent higher, respectively. That
is quite a lot,” one of the researchers, Laurent Urban of the University
of Avignon in France, said in an e-mail interview.</span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">The
researchers, led by Raquel Miranda of the Federal University of Ceara in
Brazil, concluded that the additional “stress” of an organic farming
operation makes the plants boost their production of phytochemicals.</span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">In
other words, the plants must cope with greater challenges from natural
insect predators and disease so they respond with a higher output of
defensive compounds, which can benefit people, too.</span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">For instance,
vitamin C and phenolic compounds act as antioxidants, neutralizing free
radicals that can cause cell damage. Previous studies have shown that a
plant-rich diet is associated with a lower risk of cancer, heart disease
and other illnesses.</span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">The researchers noted that the agricultural sector has been primarily focused on increasing crop yields.</span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">“This
might be all right for staple food, but as far as fruits and vegetables
are concerned, it may be argued that gustative and micro-nutrient
quality matter more than energy supply,” they write in their study.</span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">“Our
observations suggest that, at least for fruits and vegetable
production, growers should not systematically try to reduce stress to
maximize yield and fruit size, but should accept a certain level of
stress as that imposed by organic farming with the objective of
improving certain aspects of product quality.”</span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">In the meantime,
Urban pointed out that many people don’t eat enough fruits and
vegetables to reap their potential benefits. Those grown organically at
least contain more nutrients per mouthful. What’s more, this type of
agriculture isn’t associated with the same level of pesticide residues
found in some conventionally grown crops, he added.</span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><span class="text_exposed_show"><a href="http://www.theglobeandmail.com/life/health-and-fitness/health-navigator/organic-produce-may-be-smaller-but-its-mightier-in-nutrients/article8900202/?cmpid=rss1" rel="nofollow nofollow" target="_blank"><span>http://</span><wbr></wbr><span class="word_break"></span><span>www.theglobeandmail.com/life/</span><wbr></wbr><span class="word_break"></span><span>health-and-fitness/</span><wbr></wbr><span class="word_break"></span><span>health-navigator/</span><wbr></wbr><span class="word_break"></span><span>organic-produce-may-be-smaller-</span><wbr></wbr><span class="word_break"></span><span>but-its-mightier-in-nutrients/</span><wbr></wbr><span class="word_break"></span>article8900202/?cmpid=rss1</a></span></span></span><br />
<br />Unknownnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3870930324052178391.post-64071163889109945192013-02-21T15:52:00.000-08:002013-02-21T15:52:38.219-08:00Letter: Moving ahead on composting<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMzQWyDgzBmRBdv6rxxgWT7Q2XLxOUv9HV_wDK6rHMejxAMLxOHhTt8qObhyfk5-S-GK4SFbCN_RG0c8MZhNn-AL14-TOrDldY2ufasHMmYz7k3bR90gYr5YtJcSaJ0F6iruZW400Hbn_2/s1600/montrealgazette_logo.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 0em; margin-right: 2em;"><img border="0" height="94" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMzQWyDgzBmRBdv6rxxgWT7Q2XLxOUv9HV_wDK6rHMejxAMLxOHhTt8qObhyfk5-S-GK4SFbCN_RG0c8MZhNn-AL14-TOrDldY2ufasHMmYz7k3bR90gYr5YtJcSaJ0F6iruZW400Hbn_2/s320/montrealgazette_logo.JPG" width="320" /></a></div>
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<br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Letter: Moving ahead on composting</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Montreal Gazette February 19, 2013</span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Re: “<a href="http://www.montrealgazette.com/life/Editorial+Compost+network+delays+waste+good+waste/7900573/story.html" target="_blank">Composting delay is a waste of good waste</a>” (Editorial, Feb. 1)</span></span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">I read with interest your editorial on the delay in setting up a compostables collection network. I’d like to add my voice to those suggesting finding local solutions and point to a couple of kinds of “low hanging fruit” in managing organic resources currently being treated as waste at great expense.<br /><br />The first group are the materials that can be successfully “lawn composted”: grass clippings and deciduous fall leaves. The right tool for this is the now ubiquitous mulching mower. Research funded by the golf-course industry has shown that both grass clippings and a surprisingly large amount of fall leaves can simply be shredded into turf with no harm to turf quality, but instead, improvement of the soil. This costs less labour than collecting; fall leaves can be shredded into turf in a third the time it would take to rake and bag them, with no demand on the public fisc for hauling and composting and re-hauling the compost to your neighbourhood. In many ways, our old habits are dying hard for no good reason, since this is a method that requires not more work, but less.<br /><br />The second low hanging fruit out there are spent coffee grounds. Coffee grounds are sterile, high in nitrogen compared to other compostables, and have no weed seed or pathogen issues. Once dried, they can be stored, bagged and resold to the public as a soil amendment, already in particles suitable for spreading with any ordinary fertilizer spreader. While the mulching mower is now everywhere, here a good technology needs to be developed to rapidly dewater and dry coffee grounds with minimal energy expenditure — some combination of draining, pressing and solar drying would probably fill the bill. Coffee sellers like Tim Hortons, McDonalds, Second Cup and Starbucks process hundreds of tons of coffee grounds in our area and have the resources to save the environment a huge amount of hauling around of unnecessary wet materials. Some combination of cost avoidance, sales revenues and positive PR should make this economically a winner.<br /><br />Some similar dehydration technology might be used in the treatment of other kitchen wastes, which, like grass clippings, are mostly water, and which become rapidly putrid when enclosed in an air-free container, like a plastic bag or even a green bin. This is why central composting will always generate some nuisance factor in its immediate neighbourhood, since the anaerobic wet materials will always bring in a stench, even if composting will eventually eliminate it.<br /><br />Local worm composting is a potential solution in some situations where a stream of kitchen-type wastes can pass directly from the kitchen to the worm area without being closed up and allowed to get stinky. This can also serve as a way to use some of the paper that flows through our city, including The Gazette, soiled cardboard and paper that might otherwise not be eligible for paper recycling. Vermicompost thus made can also be dried down somewhat before being taken for use in gardens, yards and other applications, thus lightening the load on hauling requirements.<br /><br />Keeping organic resources out of anaerobic landfills is a worthy goal, and even hauling them to compost sites instead is better than letting them generate methane, 30 times the greenhouse gas carbon dioxide is. But, the right approach to organic resource management is to find the best and lowest cost way of treating them as locally as possible. In this way we can improve our soils and capture carbon there while burning up the least amount of carbon fuels in the process.<br /><br />Frank Teuton<br /><br />Pointe-Claire<br /><span style="font-size: x-small;">© Copyright (c) The Montreal Gazette</span><br /><span style="font-size: x-small;">Read more: http://www.montrealgazette.com/opinion/Letter+Moving+ahead+composting/7984103/story.html</span></span>Unknownnoreply@blogger.com1