Day to day, our decisions count

...most of that’s soil which is being stripped of its wealth by unsustainable farming practices. So yeah…uggh. There’s no need to beat this with a hammer. What can we do at home? What kind of personal disciplines can we take on to stop wasting food? I don’t have all the answers! I’m hoping you all will have some suggestions. Here’s a few things I can offer: Avoid eating out, especially at places where you know the food isn’t sourced well, and the por...

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Bitter Greens

...a, a green that America has suddenly discovered after last month’s factory farming spinach nightmare. We also added a tough and bitter leaf chicory from our friends at Grow Italian. Hopefully, by succession planting we should have a winter and spring full of green, if somewhat bitter vegetables. How do we prepare these bitter greens around the compound? Very simply — in a pan with garlic, olive oil, salt, and pepper. Sometimes we add some Parmigia...

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A Plea to End Daylight Savings Time

...keeps chickens knows that this time change nonsense has nothing to do with farming. The hens look to the sun as their cue to start their working day. The same goes for the cats who are, as I write this, staging a loud protest in the kitchen to let us know that breakfast is an hour late. It’s bad enough that our clocks are an abstraction of solar time. Why do we need to add another layer of abstraction by changing our clocks rather than adjusting o...

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Roundup

...ntly used in agricultural application. An epidemiological study of Ontario farming populations showed that exposure to glyphosate, the key ingredient in Roundup, nearly doubled the risk of late miscarriages. Seralini and his team decided to research the effects of the herbicide on human placenta cells. Their study confirmed the toxicity of glyphosate, as after eighteen hours of exposure at low concentrations, large proportions of human placenta be...

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“Interstellar”: Leaving the farm for the stars

...e the scientist literally saves mankind. This dualistic set-up–Science vs. Farming or really, as the story plays out, Science vs. Earth is a very bad model, yet it is the one we are presented with over and over again. You’ve heard the quote attributed to Einstein that says something along the lines of “We’re not going to solve our problems by using the same thinking we used to get into trouble”? I feel like we are swimming deep in those problemati...

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