Is Lead Poisoning a Risk in Urban Gardens?

...issue. But if the results of a University of Washington study on lead and urban agriculture are to be believed, we might not need to be as concerned. The researchers note that most vegetables don’t take up lead and that improving soil with compost greatly reduces the bioavailability of lead. You can read a summary of the results of this research paper here. Thanks to Joanne Poyourow of Environmental Change Makers for tipping me off to this resear...

Read…

Your Urban Homesteading Vocabulary Word of the Day: Slumgum

...of slumgum. Don’t leave your slumgum outside like I did. It turns out that urban night critters such as skunks and raccoons also love slumgum. Some mammal dragged mine off and ate it! Side note: check your library’s online digital resources. The Los Angeles Public Library offers the Oxford English Dictionary, and many more online reference resources, for free to anyone with a LA library card. Stay tuned for a longer post on beeswax processing in t...

Read…

107 Urban Beekeeping with Terry Oxford

...systemic neonicotinoid pesticides such as Imidacloprid. Terry’s website is Urban Bee San Francisco. We get into a lot of topics including: Keeping bees on rooftops in San Francisco Ants and small hive beetles Natural beekeeping Splitting Natural beekeeper Michael Bush’s website Pesticide activism Treatment of nursery trees with neonicotinoids Senate bill 602 that would have required labeling of nursery plants treated with neonicotinoids How the Ca...

Read…

Saturday Tweets: Crowbox, Urban Walking and the War on Cars

...ter.com/YqGqW20JkL — HarvardPublicHealth (@HarvardChanSPH) August 22, 2018 Urban walking isn’t just good for the soul. It could save humanity | Jonn Elledge https://t.co/WzAOB1t99g — Root Simple (@rootsimple) August 21, 2018 Fascinating graphic. The areas in yellow show wild bee declines. Notice that it follows the most intensive agricultural areas: America’s corn belt, Mississippi River floodplains, & California’s central valley. Big ag killing p...

Read…

The Brooklyn Bee

...g Island, and advice from a beekeeping supplier. Howe said that the key to urban beekeeping is maintaining good relations with the neighbors since bees have a tendency to swarm on occasion and people are always shocked to see a basketball sized cluster of bees hanging out on a local light post. He deals with these sticky situations through careful neighborhood diplomacy and, of course, free honey. Howe argues that his honey is more organic than co...

Read…