conuly | Entries tagged with agriculture

Current Mood: accomplished

With Keepers Obsolete, Lighthouse Duties Fall to New Set of Stewards

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Scissors, Glue, Pencils? Check. Cleaning Spray?

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Eat an Apple (Doctor’s Orders)

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Farmers Lean to Truce on Animals’ Close Quarters

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Current Mood: awake

There's apparently a shortage of small slaughterhouses, which I did not know.

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Here is a set of letters in response to an editorial, all about how to change our election system. I'm going to copy all of them.

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And here's a short article about a charter school which used their cafeteria as a nightclub on weekends. There's a lot of anger about this, which I can see and largely agree with, but on the other hand it strikes me as an efficient use of space - I mean, if school isn't in session, it's not like it's corrupting children, is it?

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And finally, an article about ballet and twitter

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Current Mood: sick

I haven't read the whole thing, but it seems to run: Guess what? There's ammonia in beef to get rid of e. coli, and just now we're starting to think that it's not such a great idea after all! Also, it doesn't seem to even get rid of pathogens as well as we thought!"

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I may have already linked to this article

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Current Mood: cheerful

From the NYTimes

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From TIME magazine
It has photos!

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Current Mood: accomplished

On a woman's effort to speak Hindi in NYC

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Daughter Against Use of Father’s Name to Subvert Neo-Nazis

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When an Ear Witness Decides the Case

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An article on beekeeping in the city

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An article on how feeding cows a different diet not only reduces their methane output but - surprise! - makes them healthier

One on the proposal in the UK to stop teaching the specific mnemonic "I before E except after C". I personally have seen people claim this is due to "political correctness gone amok" (there's a term that no longer means anything if I ever saw one!), that it's due to "Obama's election" (these people seem to think that the UK is synonymous with the US), that it's due to not wanting to teach children how to spell, that there's NO way to learn how to spell without reciting inane jingles at every turn, and that all the rules are flying out the window. Not to mention the people who don't understand the rule in the first place. Why is language always ostensibly defended by people who lack the reading comprehension skills to understand that it was never under attack in the first place? WHY?

An article on why ethnic jokes aren't that funny

An article on octopi that "walk" to get past predators. COOL.

Current Mood: bouncy

One about choosing a trade instead of years in college - haven't read the whole thing yet.

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One about interning at an organic farm

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One about the very firstest Jewish American Girl doll ever.

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An article on Stapleton, where I live! Evangeline and Ana have really enjoyed seeing all the sailors for Fleet Week, which kinda changes my ambivalence towards the whole occasion (any occasion that requires the use of multiple flyovers while also crowding the Ferry doesn't exactly get the thumbs up from me). Yesterday the boat was a full 15 minutes late, so we took car service home. The nieces called out the window "Hi sailor! Bye sailor!" at all of them passing, and they spent an amusing several minutes singing an impromptu song about the "three sailors" they saw when walking.

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One on how proposals to legalize gay marriage in NY (yay) are having trouble finding opposition. Good. I cannot believe the nerve of some groups trying to call themselves "pro-family". Fucking twits.

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An article on recent urban planning in NYC. Go look at it, it's got a nifty graphic with a before and after view of a street in Brooklyn

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Current Mood: chipper

Remember that it's in closed beta, so don't go getting overenthused. And remember that the best way (I'm told) to get a code is to sign up for an OpenID account and hang around, or else to wait until open beta.

I have three codes, and I already promised one away. Anybody wanting one of the remaining two can comment here with their email - and

kynn, you can do the same if you don't know my email, I know it's you!

I'd rather give these to people I have name recognition of, so if you're not using your main account, seriously, tell me who you are. Comments are screened. I'm heading into the city to buy books. (No, really, that was always my plan, even before this weekend!)

For those not interested in Dreamwidth, I present this unintentionally hysterical letter to the Obamas about organic gardening. Another link is here.

Listen, if you're gonna get your nose in a snit because the Obamas dare to not want icky pesticides all over their garden, at least get your grammar standard. I'd never stoop to such a thing, but others are just sitting and waiting for their time to pounce. The concept of organic gardening doesn't make "so-and-so and I shudder" it makes "so-and-so and me shudder"! Except it doesn't, because I don't, in fact, shudder at that concept. Because that's silly. Links courtesy of

l33tminion.

I'll eventually be by to unscreen comments about the farming.

Edit: Codes are gone, and spoken for in the future as well. Sorry!

Current Mood: sleepy

About the surprising difficulty in donating "unpretty" produce to the poor. The part about half of food grown in the US being wasted has to be hyperbole, though. I know we waste a lot, but surely it isn't that much...?

Current Mood: busy

One on picky eating.

Let me be fair - I don't think picky eating is entirely a good parent/bad parent thing, although I do think there are probably things you can do to exacerbate it. However, I do think that until you know if your kid will be picky or not, it is wise to restrict their diet to healthy foods. If your kid is so picky that they'll only eat liver, green veggies, and persimmon, that might be annoying, but at least you can rest assured that, right or wrong, nobody will judge you the way they judge the parents of the kid who only eats fluffernutters and chicken mcnuggets.

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One on veggie gardening.

Our garden is kinda half-assed this year for a few reasons. Next year - fully assed! Yeah!

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One on city farms in Cuba

The Daily Kos piece, John McCain wants to kill me.

An article on sustainable food

Current Mood: bouncy

Dharma in the Dirt
It comes with a slideshow

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After 60 Years, Arabs in Israel Are Outsiders

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An incredibly insulting reply to jypsy about the "Run the Dream" guy.

An article on home wind power

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Preserving Fossil Fuels and Nearby Farmland by Eating Locally

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Change We Can Stomach

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Current Mood: cheerful

Link to the post first.
And now the article!

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Quote from the article:

“So that the next time we ask a kid where a tomato comes from,” she said, “he won’t have to say a supermarket. He can say, Here’s an urban farm, and here is where I’m growing that tomato that you’re talking about. How great is that?”

This is especially timely to me because, as we were home today because the children were a little sick (they claimed sore throats, they had a *slightly* elevated temperature (one degree does not a fever make), and Ana definitely had phlegm, but they were *really fucking hyper* instead of cozy) we watched some TV in the afternoon. The episode of Blues Clues we watched had to do with growing and where plants come from, and we ascertained that oranges come from trees. Evangeline was shocked and horrified at this revelation, turning to me to explain, most emphatically, that oranges do not come from trees (what a notion!) but from the fridge.

I eventually dissuaded her of this idea - after all, the TV kept insisting that all sorts of foods come from plants and the dirt - but I'm not sure she was entirely convinced. She may just be humoring us.

Current Mood: cheerful

It includes little banners to encourage people to write their representatives telling them to fix the farm bill.

It's also well worth reading. Go ahead, it won't take very long.

Current Mood: thoughtful

They're going up. Naturally.

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Current Mood: cheerful

Repetitive exposure to an opinion can influence as much as exposure to opinions from several people

I have a friend, Rachel. Rachel is a wonderful person, and very "crunchy", as they say. Now, a few months ago she was raving about how she was going to join a CSA, and get farming experience, and this, and that... actually, I'm pretty sure she never did that. Now, at the time, my thought was "Rachel, you're Ms. UberCrunchy, there's food at the store".

But when I read about it a second time... I got to thinking. And now it's the third time, and I'm convinced! Give me the money and sign me up, right? I'm not sure I have the money for the one I want, but maybe I can start with a half share and work my way up?

Next weekend, I'm cleaning out the backyard. I think I'll see if I can talk my mom at least into getting purple carrots. What else should I plant? Our soil is pretty rocky, so I'm not even sure the carrots are a great idea... can I grow them in massive pots?

Edit: This might be best, you don't have to pay all at once. I just now called and recommended it to a friend of mine who uses food stamps, because that's an option too. Maybe I can call the others, see if they too can be paid in installments if you need to, that'd be good. I just wish there were some way to compare and contrast them without having to join them all individually!