Pesticides deform two more species of California’s frogs
TreeHugger - 8/17/2009.By Sara Novak – Pesticides are again doing a number on California’s amphibian population according to a new study by Don Sparling of Southern Illinois University Carbondale in Mongabay. A poisonous cloud of endosulfan is blowing through the Sierra Mountains and into crucial frog habitats. Which frogs are falling victims and why is the die off so dramatic? |
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Let’s (re)do school lunch
Grist - 8/17/2009.By Kurt Michael Friese – There has been a cultural revolution in this country over the last 50 to 75 years, a sort of intellectual cleansing that has removed from most people’s minds any understanding of food, of cooking, of the pleasures of the kitchen and table, and replaced it with the language of the drive-thru, the shopping mall, and the convenience store. ... Nowhere is this more evident than in our schools, where our kids are not taught about food and cooking, not even the “Home Economics” of my high school years. |
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‘Killer spices’ provide eco-friendly pesticides for organic fruits and veggies
EurekAlert! - 8/16/2009.By Michael Bernstein – Washington: Mention rosemary, thyme, clove, and mint and most people think of a delicious meal. Think bigger … acres bigger. These well-known spices are now becoming organic agriculture's key weapons against insect pests as the industry tries to satisfy demands for fruits and veggies among the growing portion of consumers who want food produced in more natural ways. |
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Highmoor Farm: celebrating a century of research
Kennebec Journal - 8/16/2009.By Craig Crosby – It was taken nearly 100 years ago, but the energy in the photo is still alive. Dozens of sharply-dressed men and women, eyes fixated on the speaker, gather around a box of apples. The apple growers who gathered for the Maine Pomological Society's first meeting at the Highmoor Farm in 1909 were anxious to hear what others at the new state-run experimental farm had learned that would allow them to grow better, longer-lasting apples. Not much has changed in the last 100 years. |
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