It was nice yesterday so I went to work. Planted about 100 lettuce seedlings in a hoop house. It was a hodgepodge of varieties-lollo rosa, cracoviensis, marvel of four seasons, Amish deer tongue, forellenschluss and Simpson green leaf. All heirlooms. They should be ready to harvest in 35 to 40 days. Just about right for the first regular season Farmers Market.
Planting lettuce in a hoop house on a sunny day is hot work. I was dripping sweat in minutes and realizing a long sleeved t-shirt and jeans was way too many clothes. But I did not want to get naked (Eugene was okay with the idea, though) so I sucked it up and dripped on the seedlings while I dug my hands in the warm damp earth planting cube of lettuce after cube of lettuce. once in the ground we gave each plant a hit of kelp/fish solution and put up #9 wire hoops and than a layer of row cover over top of them.
After that was done I went in for lunch and did some business with Miami University which is getting into supplying local foods to their numerous dining facilities. they have a local foods dinner coming up next week and needed root vegetables so we have sold them all our remaining taters, rutabagas, parsnips and about half of the leeks we still have in the ground and a dozen heads of garlic. After that we will pretty much be done with our winter vegetables. that is as it should be, it's spring after all.
The afternoon was spent cleaning and mulching the asparagus and Eugene pruning the two big and unkempt apple trees. I hate heights. No let me rephrase that, I am terrified of heights. So I don't do ladders or getting up on roofs or things of that nature if I can avoid it. That means if the tall trees are gonna get pruned Eugene has to do it. Fortunately he seems to enjoy climbing around in trees with saws and cutter. More power to him.
I stayed on the ground and spent the afternoon yanking dead asparagus canes out of the ground and putting them into a pile. I really should have worn gloves as the things will give your hands a lot of tiny cuts. I knew that going into the job and yet I went with naked hands and now regret that decision. Cleaned up 6 50' beds than went in to wash the cuts on my hands and rub them with shea butter. My hands were really sore, not so much from the cuts (though those did and do hurt) but muscle soreness. I had to do some serious yanking on some canes and my hands were not used to that kind of abuse (but they will get used to it soon enough). The shea butter helped my hands a bit and I went back to the garden to finish the job by digging up some of the perennial weeds which was not all that much fun with sore hands and heavy waterlogged soil. But I got many weeds extracted and than started cutting open bales of organic straw and spreading it on the 6 beds occasionally picking out thistle down and entire flower heads. This is a hazard with using certified organic straw-there tends to be a bit of thistle seed in it but with my sharp eyes I can usually get 95% of it out. I really do not want to get a thistle problem in the asparagus beds if I can help it so it pays to be alert when using the Filbrun's straw.
Got done with the mulching around dusk and picked some tiny heads of lettuce that overwintered under a row cover and were basically forgotten and assumed dead. They were not dead and quite delicious. And it looks like they will grow into nice sized heads of marvel of four seasons and buttercrunch. I also found a patch of cilantro that made it through winter and should get nice in the next 2 or 3 weeks. went back to the house and star fed the dogs than made dinner of brats from the Filbruns hogs and the lettuce and some scallions we over wintered. A locally grown meal except the buns and condiments.
Took a long hot shower and rubbed my now very sore and swollen hands with arnica, watched Lost and went to bed. Over night the arnica did wonders to my hands and today they are hardly sore at all. It's amazing stuff.
It was a good way to usher in the vernal equinox
Showing posts with label TV. Show all posts
Showing posts with label TV. Show all posts
Friday, March 21, 2008
Friday, November 23, 2007
BND So Far
I am about mid way through Buy nothing day. So far I did not get up at 3am in order to make it to one of the various box retailers for the "Door Buster" savings. I have not been within 25 miles of a mall nor have I purchased anything on-line or at a local retailer.
What I have done is make strawberry pancakes, coffee, played games, read several interesting blogs, posted on a few forums, cleaned popcorn, washed the dishes, washed a load of laundry, made and ate lunch. I just might make some nut brittle this afternoon (I actually have everything one would need for such a project except white cotton gloves) and perhaps hamburger (from pastured, local cattle).
Oh yes, and I have watched both local and national news and their accounts (encouragement) of Black Friday activities. All I can say is anyone participating in Black Friday is participating in a insane event. Even the descriptions of Black Friday-Shopping Frenzy, stressful, full contact shopping, etc..-are not the descriptive terms of a sane activity. Okay, these people are getting good deals on stuff but do they really need this stuff? Most likely not and it will soon enough either be landfilled or end up in storage or maybe yard sale fodder.
Pity, especially when we are at a point in history when we really cannot afford such craven and unnecessary consumerism. It is healthy for no one.
What I have done is make strawberry pancakes, coffee, played games, read several interesting blogs, posted on a few forums, cleaned popcorn, washed the dishes, washed a load of laundry, made and ate lunch. I just might make some nut brittle this afternoon (I actually have everything one would need for such a project except white cotton gloves) and perhaps hamburger (from pastured, local cattle).
Oh yes, and I have watched both local and national news and their accounts (encouragement) of Black Friday activities. All I can say is anyone participating in Black Friday is participating in a insane event. Even the descriptions of Black Friday-Shopping Frenzy, stressful, full contact shopping, etc..-are not the descriptive terms of a sane activity. Okay, these people are getting good deals on stuff but do they really need this stuff? Most likely not and it will soon enough either be landfilled or end up in storage or maybe yard sale fodder.
Pity, especially when we are at a point in history when we really cannot afford such craven and unnecessary consumerism. It is healthy for no one.
Wednesday, October 03, 2007
Farm Grown Food
Have noticed on television ads the use of the term"farm grown Food" several ad campaigns are using this useless term to make their products sound wholesome (which may or may not be the case).
I call the term useless because all the food used by the corporate food system is grown on farms. I suspect this will be the case until they come up with something else. perhaps "food" synthesized in laboratories, though I suspect the labs would be referred to as farms.
I see the use of the term "Farm Grown Food" as yet another disconnect between the eater the the farmer. The term is being used because some ad company did a lot of market research and found that people related to the term. I am willing to bet that people associated "Farm Grown Food" with wholesomeness, freshness and other good things. now the food that is using this term in their ads is always over processed crap that bears little resemblance to the raw product right off the farm. I also suspect people assume the farm that grows the food is a quaint farm with grazing cows, a few chickens pecking in the yard, a big garden, some fruit trees, a red barn with a silo and a straw hatted farmer riding a smallish antique tractor around his amber waves of grain wheat field. "Farm Grown Food" would have nothing to do the the behemoth "Factory farms" that reduce property values, keep lots of livestock cruelly confined in very unhealthy conditions and pollute the local air, soil and water or the big grain farms that use majestically huge equipment to bring in the harvest from millions of acres. No, few want to think about their food being grown so industrially. And so the gap between reality and fantasy gets ever wider. Because so few people care about where their food comes from, the corporations who control what we eat gain ever more control over us. They feed on our collective ignorance and lack of concern and because of that we allow them to feed us ever more dangerous stuff.
One of my missions in life is to educate the ignorant about how food is grown and to reconnect as many people as I can to the farm. To educate them on the realities of industrial/Green revolution farming vs more sustainable farms. To educate them on the fact the choices that they make as to what they eat have far reaching ramifications on many levels-human rights, environmental health, personal health, politics, etc.. To teach people that there is farm grown food and than there is local farm grown food.
I call the term useless because all the food used by the corporate food system is grown on farms. I suspect this will be the case until they come up with something else. perhaps "food" synthesized in laboratories, though I suspect the labs would be referred to as farms.
I see the use of the term "Farm Grown Food" as yet another disconnect between the eater the the farmer. The term is being used because some ad company did a lot of market research and found that people related to the term. I am willing to bet that people associated "Farm Grown Food" with wholesomeness, freshness and other good things. now the food that is using this term in their ads is always over processed crap that bears little resemblance to the raw product right off the farm. I also suspect people assume the farm that grows the food is a quaint farm with grazing cows, a few chickens pecking in the yard, a big garden, some fruit trees, a red barn with a silo and a straw hatted farmer riding a smallish antique tractor around his amber waves of grain wheat field. "Farm Grown Food" would have nothing to do the the behemoth "Factory farms" that reduce property values, keep lots of livestock cruelly confined in very unhealthy conditions and pollute the local air, soil and water or the big grain farms that use majestically huge equipment to bring in the harvest from millions of acres. No, few want to think about their food being grown so industrially. And so the gap between reality and fantasy gets ever wider. Because so few people care about where their food comes from, the corporations who control what we eat gain ever more control over us. They feed on our collective ignorance and lack of concern and because of that we allow them to feed us ever more dangerous stuff.
One of my missions in life is to educate the ignorant about how food is grown and to reconnect as many people as I can to the farm. To educate them on the realities of industrial/Green revolution farming vs more sustainable farms. To educate them on the fact the choices that they make as to what they eat have far reaching ramifications on many levels-human rights, environmental health, personal health, politics, etc.. To teach people that there is farm grown food and than there is local farm grown food.
Monday, September 17, 2007
We are Women Dammit
This morning I have a rant.
For several months, perhaps this has been going on for a couple of years, I have noticed that people on TeeVee have replaced the term "Woman" with the term "Female". As in, "that female over there screwed my boyfriend". This is most prevalent on the news and the afternoon shows (Judge Joe, People's Court, Maury, Jerry Springer etc.. ) Yeah I watch a lot of crap when I don't have to other things to do in the afternoons. I'm a TeeVee addict like most citizens of the USA. I'd like to say I watch only PBS (and I do watch a lot of PBS) but I can't take most of the kid shows they have in the afternoon.
I assume this is coming straight out of cop speak as in the "female perp"... which is fine for the police. But now this way of referring to Women is creeping into common language. No more than creeping, it is galloping into common usage, thanks to bad TeeVee
I hate it when the local news does a live interview and a woman, for Christ's sakes, uses the term "Female" to describe what some woman did (it could even be herself she is describing). Dammit, use the term Woman when you are talking about a woman. Are the women of this country so afraid of their womaness that they will not use the word woman? Using the term Female, to me, is neutering the whole idea of Woman (maybe spaying is a better term than neutering). We are fast losing any empowerment the feminist movement of the 1970's and 80's gave us by using this awful term to refer to our sex
We are humans, therefore we are women, not females. FYI kids, female refers to any species so you could be talking about a dog, horse, iguana, bee, slug (okay slugs are hermaphrodites), a toad, a cow, a tree, etc..
I notice men are NOT referred to as males, they still will use the term Man when referring to the male of the human species. And this is despite the cops using the term Male when referring to a suspect/perp/etc who is a man. Maybe what I am seeing is the death of feminism. I hope not but it seems that too many women out there do not appreciate being a woman and the power we women all have if we are will to find it and tap into it so the refer to themselves as females.
Women are smarter (That's right the women are smarter) and we have impressive powers. Our breasts alone contain strong powers few men can resist. Ladies, we need to tap into our powers more than we seem to be doing these days and quite referring to ourselves as females, We are Women dammit! So quit referring to you and me as Female.
For several months, perhaps this has been going on for a couple of years, I have noticed that people on TeeVee have replaced the term "Woman" with the term "Female". As in, "that female over there screwed my boyfriend". This is most prevalent on the news and the afternoon shows (Judge Joe, People's Court, Maury, Jerry Springer etc.. ) Yeah I watch a lot of crap when I don't have to other things to do in the afternoons. I'm a TeeVee addict like most citizens of the USA. I'd like to say I watch only PBS (and I do watch a lot of PBS) but I can't take most of the kid shows they have in the afternoon.
I assume this is coming straight out of cop speak as in the "female perp"... which is fine for the police. But now this way of referring to Women is creeping into common language. No more than creeping, it is galloping into common usage, thanks to bad TeeVee
I hate it when the local news does a live interview and a woman, for Christ's sakes, uses the term "Female" to describe what some woman did (it could even be herself she is describing). Dammit, use the term Woman when you are talking about a woman. Are the women of this country so afraid of their womaness that they will not use the word woman? Using the term Female, to me, is neutering the whole idea of Woman (maybe spaying is a better term than neutering). We are fast losing any empowerment the feminist movement of the 1970's and 80's gave us by using this awful term to refer to our sex
We are humans, therefore we are women, not females. FYI kids, female refers to any species so you could be talking about a dog, horse, iguana, bee, slug (okay slugs are hermaphrodites), a toad, a cow, a tree, etc..
I notice men are NOT referred to as males, they still will use the term Man when referring to the male of the human species. And this is despite the cops using the term Male when referring to a suspect/perp/etc who is a man. Maybe what I am seeing is the death of feminism. I hope not but it seems that too many women out there do not appreciate being a woman and the power we women all have if we are will to find it and tap into it so the refer to themselves as females.
Women are smarter (That's right the women are smarter) and we have impressive powers. Our breasts alone contain strong powers few men can resist. Ladies, we need to tap into our powers more than we seem to be doing these days and quite referring to ourselves as females, We are Women dammit! So quit referring to you and me as Female.
Thursday, August 30, 2007
We Will Be on TV-WHIO 7
We got interviewed by Channel 7 (WHIO) this afternoon about local foods. There is yet another spinach recall and Kimberly Thomson came out with a camera woman (I don't remember her name but enjoyed her presence almost as much as the dogs did) and interviewed us about why local food is safer and if the industrial food system can even be made safe. They took a lot of footage of the garden, us talking to Kimberly and other stuff. It was interesting and fun.
First time we have been on TeeVee. Been in several magazines this year and have had a lot of newspaper interviews in the past and now we have television under our belt.
You can catch us tonight Aug 30 2007 between 5pm and 6pm. They said most likely we will be on during the 5:30 broadcast. You should be able to find webcast at http://www.whiotv.com sometime tonight.
The process was pretty simple. They drove up in the big van with the antenna on it and the editing room inside. The camera woman put a mic on Eugene and than she started shooting video of the front of our store. She had us walk in the store and turn around and than shot some inside shots of the produce. Than we walked out to the garden where we were met by the dogs, Nate, Arlo and Danny. They thought the idea of two strangers coming to visit was GREAT and could barely contain themselves.
In the garden Kimberly interveiewed us on camera about our thoughts on local foods. If we thought they are safer than industrial food (yes). If local foods are getting more popular (a big yes). If people are nervous about industrial foods (I'd say so). Than many shots were taken of the produce and compost piles. Eugene walked around helping with that while I talked abit more with Kimberly about problems with our food system.
After that we left the garden and they set up the opening shot for the piece in front of the store by our signage and the flowers out front.
I am looking forward to seeing this this evening.
First time we have been on TeeVee. Been in several magazines this year and have had a lot of newspaper interviews in the past and now we have television under our belt.
You can catch us tonight Aug 30 2007 between 5pm and 6pm. They said most likely we will be on during the 5:30 broadcast. You should be able to find webcast at http://www.whiotv.com sometime tonight.
The process was pretty simple. They drove up in the big van with the antenna on it and the editing room inside. The camera woman put a mic on Eugene and than she started shooting video of the front of our store. She had us walk in the store and turn around and than shot some inside shots of the produce. Than we walked out to the garden where we were met by the dogs, Nate, Arlo and Danny. They thought the idea of two strangers coming to visit was GREAT and could barely contain themselves.
In the garden Kimberly interveiewed us on camera about our thoughts on local foods. If we thought they are safer than industrial food (yes). If local foods are getting more popular (a big yes). If people are nervous about industrial foods (I'd say so). Than many shots were taken of the produce and compost piles. Eugene walked around helping with that while I talked abit more with Kimberly about problems with our food system.
After that we left the garden and they set up the opening shot for the piece in front of the store by our signage and the flowers out front.
I am looking forward to seeing this this evening.
Friday, December 08, 2006
Buh Bye Clayton
Clayton looking pensiveMy favorite talking head has left national news for Philly. Clayton Morris did his last stint as a part of the Daily Buzz today and I am rather sad. he was an irreverent breath of left wing liberal fresh air during a time when the right wing neocon spinmeisters such as Hannerty and O'Reilly ruled the air waves and thus national opinion.
Oh sure the guy was on a 4th rate national news show that I probably would have ignored if the show had not gotten it's start in some sort of garage in Miamisburg Ohio back in the early months of this millennium and I had not been bored enough to read about it in one of Dayton, Ohio's alternative newspapers while manning our produce stand at the Dayton 2nd Street Market.
Thus a few weeks after the Daily buzz was birthed I was a loyal viewer. What was not to love. A new morning news show on an incredibly limited budget that was national but because of said tight budget all the outdoor (and I guess indoor too) shots were local to me. I first noticed Clayton when he went for a visit to WHIO, channel 7 in Dayton. The folks at WHIO were not very thrilled to have this rather strange and obnoxious (and perhaps insane) young man arriving with a camera man. Clayton just wanted to say "hey" but WHIO did not and escorted him off the property. Ah good times...
After that, he cruised the mean streets of Kettering looking for breakfast by going door to door and asking. I was always amazed when the women who answered actually would feed him and not call the cops on him. if he had knocked on my door I would have made him breakfast and it would have included more than pop tarts or cold cereal.
Move forward and the show moves out of their garage in SW Ohio and down to sunny Florida where Clayton gets more air time and comes up with some very good regular segments such as Keeping them Honest and News by the numbers.
Clayton's departure will leave a huge hole in the show's cast as there are few people on the planet who can play well with Mitch English the Buzz's frenetic comedian/weatherdude/radio guy.
I did find it a strange coincidence that Jerry Springer, another left leaning news guy (yeah I know he also does the raunchy Springer Show too) quit his news show today also. i take this as a good sign in the cosmic scheme of things-we no longer need these people in the national media championing the lefties out there and keeping the hard righties from destroying the planet for greed, power and oil.
But I digress. Clayton I dunno if you will read this but if you do good Luck in Philly. I'll bet you are happy to be closer to your mom and dad too.
Wednesday, December 06, 2006
NBC Airs Biased Segment on Organics
This came in my inbox this morning. I saw this segment and It was pretty one sided. I guess this is to be expected as there seems to be yet another attack on organics from the anti-organics crowd that started with the e-coli contaminated spinach this past October that was not organic spinach but early on was thought to be. And of course the organic opponents such as the Hudson institute and the father/son team of Dennis and Alex Avery took the opportunity to build up some negative momentum and it seems the Today Show has been swept up somewhat by this momentum.
There is so much to be said about organics and so few competent people in the news on any level (including almost all agricultural reporters) that rarely good information is reported so it is up to us in the know to set the record straight. Below is all the information you need to send NBC the message that we will not put up with half assed, biased reporting and information.
Take Action: NBC's "Today Show" and organic misinformation
Dear friends,
We asking for NBC's "Today Show" to give equal time on organics. The show ran a piece yesterday, which paints organic food as unsafe, leaving the impression that conventional chemically grown food is better. Please join us in asking the Today Show to get the facts right. See video clip below, how to contact the Today Show, and our abbreviated comments (which you can use) below. You can also view our longer letter to the Today Show at http://www.beyondpesticides.org/today_show_organic.pdf.
Thanks.
Beyond Pesticides
http://video.msn.com/v/us/msnbc.htm?g=18cf1bd8-4c53-4cee-b6de-c625b114d0ce&f=05&fg=rss
Viewer Comment Line: 212-664-3499
General Number 212-664-4249
today@nbc.com
Sample letter/email. Simply cut, copy and paste into your email body or word processing app.=, Change where appropriate, or not
December 5, 2006
Today Show
NBC Universal
30 Rockefeller Plaza
New York, NY 10112
(212) 956-2395
Re. How Fresh Is Organic Food?
A Call for More Truthful & Accurate Reporting
Dear NBC Today Show Producers:
I appreciate your attention to organic food in your December 4, 2006 segment How Fresh Is Organic Food?, but I am troubled by the serious lack of focus on the hazards of chemical-intensive agriculture and food commodities. The piece glosses over key organic issues and leaves viewers with the impression that chemically-treated food is safer. Nothing could be further from the truth. As a disappointed viewer and concerned consumer, I am writing to ask you to do a follow-up story, giving equal time and consideration to the value of organics. Please take the following into consideration:
1. Your piece does not articulate effectively the hazards of pesticides and the importance of curtailing their use. The key issues for concern are pesticide residues in and on food commodities and agricultural practices that hurt the environment and those working on farms. Pesticides found in and on food are known to cause cancer, birth defects and other serious health effects.
2. Creating a false choice between chemically-treated food with less bacteria and organic. Because of the hazards of pesticides, the Today Show piece created a false choice between what you characterized as safer chemically-grown food and more dangerous organic food. Instead, the choice is to adopt adequate cleaning practices, recognizing the important role that bacteria plays in digestion and the environment.
3. Additionally, no mention was given to other health concerns resulting from conventional agriculture, such as use of antibiotics in animal production. Antibiotic use in animal production has been linked to antibiotic resistance in bacteria.
4. Your piece also glosses over a key issue when it comes to the freshness of organic. People increasingly want fresh food, rather than food preserved by chemicals for lengthy periods. Buying organic and local is increasingly an option consumers are turning to, and in turn, are supporting their local economy.
Thank you for your attention to this issue.
Sincerely,
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