Healthy soil and sustainable growing

[onezero <onezero@ecomail.org>]

Cordalie:

    With a little research and some settled stress you will find that the no
till is popular because it produces more with less effort. 

    To wrangle the temperament of Eastern gardener must be approached with
caution. May I suggest a community garden connected to a column in the 
newspaper
and SHOW them how it is done. 

    enjoy your day, D. 

Quoting cordalie.benoit@aya.yale.edu:

> I need some simple materials to discourage (or encourage to no till) 
> community gardeners in New Haven, CT from wanting to rototill their plots. 
> Thanks, Cordalie
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: <livingontheland-request@lists.ibiblio.org>
> To: <livingontheland@lists.ibiblio.org>
> Sent: Saturday, May 05, 2007 12:00 PM
> Subject: Livingontheland Digest, Vol 90, Issue 6
> 
> 
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> > than "Re: Contents of Livingontheland digest..."
> >
> >
> > Today's Topics:
> >
> >   1. tastier snow peas (yarrow@sfo.com)
> >   2. Re: bees and vegetables (mtncats)
> >   3. Re: What do you cook your organic food in? (Ken Hargesheimer)
> >   4. Re: bees and vegetables (Claudia & Linda)
> >   5. Everything you didn't want to know about Colony Collapse
> >      Disorder (Douglas  Willhite)
> >   6. Re: What do you cook your organic food in? (BirdWalk)
> >   7. Re: tastier snow peas (Dieter Brand)
> >   8. Kingsolver Releases New Book on Local Food (TradingPostPaul)
> >   9. Certified Naturally Grown (TradingPostPaul)
> >  10. Re: Carbon Farmer (Dieter Brand)
> >  11. Food preservation and democracy (Douglas  Willhite)
> >  12. Health, Justice and Sustainability News Tidbits
> >      (Douglas  Willhite)
> >  13. Fwd: MODERN MIRACLE MEN (Tradingpost)
> >
> >
> > ----------------------------------------------------------------------
> >
> > Message: 1
> > Date: Fri, 4 May 2007 00:56:31 -0700
> > From: yarrow@sfo.com
> > Subject: [Livingontheland] tastier snow peas
> > To: Healthy soil and sustainable growing
> > <livingontheland@lists.ibiblio.org>
> > Message-ID: <f06110403c260960e3189@[66.81.79.153]>
> > Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" ; format="flowed"
> >
> > Speaking of brix...I was talking with a fellow community gardener
> > today, who was wondering why her snow peas were not sweet. So we
> > taste-tested hers and mine; mine were sweet, hers were more bland and
> > did have a bitter edge. I grew mine with homemade compost; she used
> > an organic fertilizer (EB Stone?). We both watered every 2-3 days,
> > and picked them at about the same size. Maybe hers had too much N?
> >
> >
> > ------------------------------
> >
> > Message: 2
> > Date: Fri,  4 May 2007 07:58:24 -0400 (EDT)
> > From: "mtncats" <mtncats@myway.com>
> > Subject: Re: [Livingontheland] bees and vegetables
> > To: livingontheland@lists.ibiblio.org
> > Message-ID: <20070504115824.3E24646859@mprdmxin.myway.com>
> > Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII"
> >
> >
> > Wow.  I presume that's ususual.  My NW Ohio friends tell me how cold it's 
> > been, still haven't put their boat in Erie.  Latest ever.
> >
> > Spring was very late for most forest plants here this year but I've had a 
> > large number of buzzing critters in my garden.  As my wintered-over 
> > arugula's going to seed, we had the normal variety/quantity of "bees" (no 
> > entomologist here).
> >
> > Tom (in central Virginia)
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > --- On Thu 05/03, elderberryjam < elderberryjam@zippytech.com > wrote in 
> > part:
> >
> > Second question: is it still possible to get bees and start home hives; 
> > and if so, where is the best place to look? There are others I can ask, 
> > but thought I'd ask here also. I went for a walk out in the pasture today,
> 
> > and saw a grand total of 2 bumble bees on the numerous dandelions, in all 
> > my walk. It was in the 70's here in Ohio.
> >
> > _______________________________________________
> > No banners. No pop-ups. No kidding.
> > Make My Way  your home on the Web - http://www.myway.com
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > ------------------------------
> >
> > Message: 3
> > Date: Fri, 4 May 2007 05:08:45 -0700 (PDT)
> > From: Ken Hargesheimer <minifarms2@yahoo.com>
> > Subject: Re: [Livingontheland] What do you cook your organic food in?
> > To: Healthy soil and sustainable growing
> > <livingontheland@lists.ibiblio.org>
> > Message-ID: <418967.19190.qm@web36507.mail.mud.yahoo.com>
> > Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"
> >
> > http://www.theecologist.org/archive_detail.asp?content_id=475
> >
> >  If this does not scare you, nothing will.
> >
> >  Ken Hargesheimer
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > ---------------------------------
> > Bored stiff? Loosen up...
> > Download and play hundreds of games for free on Yahoo! Games.
> > -------------- next part --------------
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> >
> > ------------------------------
> >
> > Message: 4
> > Date: Fri, 4 May 2007 09:46:04 -0500
> > From: "Claudia & Linda" <dragonhill2@netzero.net>
> > Subject: Re: [Livingontheland] bees and vegetables
> > To: "Healthy soil and sustainable growing"
> > <livingontheland@lists.ibiblio.org>
> > Message-ID: <009601c78e5a$f1dfdf10$07dee204@YOURDC3E0B8F38>
> > Content-Type: text/plain; format=flowed; charset="iso-8859-1";
> > reply-type=original
> >
> > Gwen, in answer to your second question--yes, it is still possible to get
> > bees and start a home hive.  Your best bet is to see if you can find a 
> > local
> > beekeeping club; usually beekeepers are a friendly bunch and club members
> > will help newcomers get started.  Some members may have "nucs" (frames of
> > brood, with a few thousand bees and a queen) to sell you or they can tell
> > you where to buy a nuc.  Used to you could buy packaged bees thru the mail
> > from Dadant, but now I understand you have to pick them up at one of their
> > branches.  I think you can still buy a nuc thru the mail and there are
> > places that have those.  I have one source for nucs but I don't have the
> > name and address handy.  If you're interested, I'll look it up for you.  I
> > used to keep several hives of bees but lost my last one about 3 years ago.
> > I just set up a new hive again this spring.  With all the pressure on 
> > honey
> > bees I figure everyone who possibly can should keep hives.  You really
> > should have more than one hive so if a hive becomes weak you can combine 
> > it
> > with a stronger hive or give it brood from a stronger hive.  You just
> > increase your chances of success if you have two or more hives.  My aim is
> > to have at least 5 hives eventually but just one nuc was available locally
> > to begin with.  Hopefully I can keep the mites under control and avoid 
> > this
> > new Colony Collapse Disorder and all the other threats to bees and get 
> > this
> > hive off to a good start.
> >
> > Claudia
> >
> >
> > ----- Original Message ----- 
> > From: "elderberryjam" <elderberryjam@zippytech.com>
> > To: <livingontheland@lists.ibiblio.org>
> > Sent: Thursday, May 03, 2007 10:54 PM
> > Subject: Re: [Livingontheland] bees and vegetables
> >
> >
> >> This year I ordered about $75 worth of seeds from Baker's Creek, and 
> >> Seeds
> >> of Change. Now I'd like to know, what vegetables are least dependent on
> >> bees
> >> for pollination? We are late getting our garden in. DH just plowed - I
> >> know
> >> many of you prefer no-till and all that, but we haven't plowed for 
> >> several
> >> years, and this was the year. I can't plant everything I bought this 
> >> year.
> >>
> >> Second question: is it still possible to get bees and start home hives;
> >> and
> >> if so, where is the best place to look? There are others I can ask, but
> >> thought I'd ask here also. I went for a walk out in the pasture today, 
> >> and
> >> saw a grand total of 2 bumble bees on the numerous dandelions, in all my
> >> walk. It was in the 70's here in Ohio. A local beekeeper we know,
> >> according
> >> to my folks, has lost 90% of his hundreds of hives. I don't see he and 
> >> his
> >> wife often enough to ask them much.
> >>
> >> Thanks,  Gwen
> >>
> >> _______________________________________________
> >> Livingontheland mailing list
> >> Livingontheland@lists.ibiblio.org
> >> http://lists.ibiblio.org/mailman/listinfo/livingontheland
> >>
> >>
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > ------------------------------
> >
> > Message: 5
> > Date: Fri, 4 May 2007 09:40:51 -0700
> > From: "Douglas  Willhite" <drwillhite@earthlink.net>
> > Subject: [Livingontheland] Everything you didn't want to know about
> > Colony Collapse Disorder
> > To: <livingontheland@lists.ibiblio.org>
> > Message-ID: <A0FF2AB359B547759AE1F5E64D54B313@DouglasPC>
> > Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"
> >
> > This is the best article I've found to date on Colony Collapse Disorder. 
> > Unless there's an important breakthrough I won't be sending more articles 
> > about it.  --  Doug
> >
> >
> > Everything you didn't want to know about Colony Collapse Disorder
> > By Peter Dearman
> >
> >It sounds like the start of a Kurt Vonnegut novel:
> >
> >  Nobody worried all that much about the loss of a few animal species here 
> > and there until one day the bees came to their senses and decided to quit 
> > producing an unnaturally large surplus of honey for our benefit. One by 
> > one, they went on strike and flew off to parts unknown.
> >
> > Among the various mythologies of the apocalypse, fear of insect plagues 
> > has always loomed larger than fear of species loss. But this may change, 
> > as a strange new plague is wiping out our honey bees one hive at a time. 
> > It has been named Colony Collapse Disorder, or CCD, by the apiculturalists
> 
> > and apiarists who are scrambling to understand and hopefully stop it. 
> > First reported last autumn in the U.S., the list of afflicted countries 
> > has now expanded to include several in Europe, as well as Brazil, Taiwan, 
> > and possibly Canada. (1)(24)(29)
> >
> > Apparently unknown before this year, CCD is said to follow a unique 
> > pattern with several strange characteristics. Bees seem to desert their 
> > hive or forget to return home from their foraging runs. The hive 
> > population dwindles and then collapses once there are too few bees to 
> > maintain it. Typically, no dead bee carcasses lie in or around the 
> > afflicted hive, although the queen and a few attendants may remain.
> >
> > The defect, whatever it is, afflicts the adult bee. Larvae continue to 
> > develop normally, even as a hive is in the midst of collapse. Stricken 
> > colonies may appear normal, as seen from the outside, but when beekeepers 
> > look inside the hive box, they find a small number of mature bees caring 
> > for a large number of younger and developing bees that remain. Normally, 
> > only the oldest bees go out foraging for nectar and pollen, while younger 
> > workers act as nurse bees caring for the larvae and cleaning the comb. A 
> > healthy hive in mid-summer has between 40,000 and 80,000 bees.
> >
> > Perhaps the most ominous thing about CCD, and one of its most 
> > distinguishing characteristics, is that bees and other animals living 
> > nearby refrain from raiding the honey and pollen stored away in the dead 
> > hive. In previously observed cases of hive collapse (and it is certainly 
> > not a rare occurrence) these energy stores are quickly stolen. But with 
> > CCD the invasion of hive pests such as the wax moth and small hive beetle 
> > is noticeably delayed. (2)
> >
> > Among the possible culprits behind CCD are: a fungus, a virus, a 
> > bacterium, a pesticide (or combination of pesticides), GMO crops bearing 
> > pesticide genes, erratic weather, or even cell phone radiation. "The odds 
> > are some neurotoxin is what's causing it," said David VanderDussen, a 
> > Canadian beekeeper who recently won an award for developing an 
> > environmentally friendly mite repellent. Then again, according to Dennis 
> > vanEngelsdorp, the top bee specialist with the Pennsylvania State 
> > Department of Agriculture, "We are pretty sure, but not certain, that it 
> > is a contagious disease." Their comments notwithstanding, most scientists 
> > are unwilling to say they understand the problem beyond describing its 
> > outward appearance. Perhaps a government or UN task force would be a good 
> > idea right about now. (3)(25)
> >
> > According to an FAQ published on March 9, 2007 by the Colony Collapse 
> > Disorder Working Group based primarily at Penn State University, the first
> 
> > report of CCD was made in mid-November 2006 by Dave Hackenberg, a 
> > Pennsylvania beekeeper overwintering his 2900 hives in Florida. Only 1000 
> > survived. Soon other migratory beekeepers reported similar heavy losses. 
> > Subsequent reports from beekeepers painted a picture of a marked increase 
> > in die-offs, which led to the present concern among bee experts. (2)
> >
> > The name CCD was invented by vanEngelsdorp and his colleagues at Penn 
> > State. It reflects their somewhat medical view of the situation. The BBC 
> > suggested in a sub-headline to a story on CCD that the problem would be 
> > more aptly named the "vanishing bee syndrome." This proposal may have 
> > merit, considering how mass opinion polls influence policy these days. (4)
> >
> > News of the CCD problem hit all of the major media networks in February 
> > 2006. A widely run Associated Press story said reports of unusual colony 
> > deaths have come in from at least 22 states, and that some commercial 
> > beekeepers reported losing more than half of their bees. The same story 
> > informed that autopsies of CCD bees showed higher than normal levels of 
> > fungi, bacteria and other pathogens, as well as weakened immune systems. 
> > It appears as if the bees have got the equivalent of AIDS. (5)
> >
> > An April 15, 2007 story in The Independent reported that the west coast of
> 
> > the U.S. may have lost 60% of its commercial bee population, with an even 
> > greater 70% loss on the east coast. The same story said that one of 
> > London's biggest bee-keepers recently reported 23 of his 40 hives empty. 
> > But, the U.K. Department of the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs was 
> > quoted as saying, "There is absolutely no evidence of CCD in the UK." (6)
> >
> > One must wonder where the truth lies considering the level of 
> > sensationalism prevalent in the British press. Case in point, this same 
> > story (among several others, to be fair) attributes a juicy but dubious 
> > quote to Einstein: "If the bee disappeared off the surface of the globe, 
> > then man would only have four years of life left." (6)(7)
> >
> > Einstein, in all likelihood, never said that, but if he did, it is a 
> > justifiable exaggeration. Bees certainly are important, and it will get 
> > ugly if we lose them. "It's not the staples," said Jeff Pettis of the U.S.
> 
> > Agricultural Research Service. "If you can imagine eating a bowl of 
> > oatmeal every day with no fruit on it, that's what it would be like" 
> > without honeybee pollination. (8)
> >
> > The beekeeping industry underpins the American agricultural industry to 
> > the tune of $US 15 billion or more. The picture is similar in many 
> > countries, especially in the West. Honey bees are used commercially to 
> > pollinate about one third of crop species in the U.S. This includes 
> > almonds, broccoli, peaches, soybeans, apples, pears, cherries, 
> > raspberries, blackberries, cranberries, and strawberries. Other insects, 
> > including other kinds of bees, may be used to pollinate some of these 
> > crops, but only bees are reliable on a commercial scale. If the bees go, 
> > we will see a change for the worse at our local supermarkets. (1)
> >
> > Of course everyone is hoping for a quick solution to appear, and 
> > tantalizing reports have emerged. Recent military research at Edgewood 
> > Chemical Biological Center claims to have narrowed the likely cause of CCD
> 
> > to a virus, a micro-parasite or both. This work used a new technology 
> > called the Integrated Virus Detection System (IVDS), which can rapidly 
> > screen samples for pathogens.
> >
> > These virus laden samples were sent to UC San Francisco, where a 
> > suspicious fungus was also discovered in them, suggesting the possibility 
> > that the fungus is either an immunosuppressive factor or the fatal 
> > pathogen that kills the bees. These "highly preliminary" findings were 
> > announced in an April 25, 2007 Los Angeles Times story with the headline, 
> > "Experts may have found what's bugging the bees." The story called it "the
> 
> > first solid evidence pointing to a potential cause," and even noted that 
> > "there is reason to believe this fungus can be controlled by the 
> > antibiotic fumagillin." (10) (25)
> >
> > One wonders why the trade name of a pesticide made it into such a story, 
> > but the presence of pathogens in bees should come as no surprise to anyone
> 
> > who has been keeping up to date on bee health. Nearly all beekeepers use a
> 
> > variety of chemical and pesticide treatments on their hive boxes out of 
> > sheer necessity. A pantheon of mites, fungi and microbes prey on bees. 
> > These pests are predictably developing resistance to the chemical 
> > treatments we use to fight them. If the new IVDS results are conclusive 
> > and lead to a silver bullet solution, that will be wonderful, but such a 
> > simple model of CCD is unlikely to be the real key to saving our prime 
> > pollinators. (9)
> >
> > It is worth noting that, while CCD has been presented to the media as a 
> > sudden new problem, these same theories about causative infections have 
> > already been presented to explain previous bee die-offs, especially those 
> > in the spring of 2005, which were attributed to the now infamous varroa 
> > mite, a.k.a. "vampire mite," which began infecting American honey bees in 
> > 1987. (31)
> >
> > About the size of a pinhead, and with eight legs, it feeds on the blood of
> 
> > adult bees like a tick, and even worse, it also eats the bee larvae. 
> > Varroa is the bane of beekeepers everywhere except China, where it 
> > originated, and the honey bees have local resistance. In a case of sadly 
> > ironic timing, Hawaii just reported its first case of varroa a few weeks 
> > ago. (26)
> >
> > LiveScience senior writer, Robert Roy Britt wrote in a May, 2005 story 
> > about the mite: "Up to 60 percent of hives in some regions have been wiped
> 
> > out. Entire colonies can collapse within two weeks of being infested. 
> > North Carolina fears it is on the verge of an agricultural crisis. No 
> > state is immune." (11)
> >
> > A Science Daily story dated May 18, 2005, and sourced to Penn State, 
> > purported to explain why varroa was so bad. Entitled, "Bee Mites Suppress 
> > Bee Immunity, Open Door for Viruses and Bacteria," it explained research 
> > into levels of 'deformed wing virus,' a mutagenic pathogen that is 
> > believed to persist in bee populations because it makes guard bees more 
> > aggressive. Bees of a given hive normally carry low levels of this virus, 
> > but the Penn State researchers found that virus levels shot sky high 
> > during secondary infections if, and only if, the bees also had varroa 
> > mites. It should be clear why the varroa mite is on everyone's list of 
> > things to examine in the fight against CCD. (12)
> >
> > Another perspective
> >
> > Sharon Labchuk is a longtime environmental activist and part-time organic 
> > beekeeper from Prince Edward Island. She has twice run for a seat in 
> > Ottawa's House of Commons, making strong showings around 5% for Canada's 
> > fledgling Green Party. She is also leader of the provincial wing of her 
> > party. In a widely circulated email, she wrote:
> >
> >  I'm on an organic beekeeping list of about 1,000 people, mostly 
> > Americans, and no one in the organic beekeeping world, including 
> > commercial beekeepers, is reporting colony collapse on this list. The 
> > problem with the big commercial guys is that they put pesticides in their 
> > hives to fumigate for varroa mites, and they feed antibiotics to the bees.
> 
> > They also haul the hives by truck all over the place to make more money 
> > with pollination services, which stresses the colonies. (13)
> >
> > Her email recommends a visit to the Bush Bees Web site at bushfarms.com. 
> > Here, Michael Bush felt compelled to put a message to the beekeeping world
> 
> > right on the top page:
> >
> >  Most of us beekeepers are fighting with the Varroa mites. I'm happy to 
> > say my biggest problems are things like trying to get nucs through the 
> > winter and coming up with hives that won't hurt my back from lifting or 
> > better ways to feed the bees.
> >
> >  This change from fighting the mites is mostly because I've gone to 
> > natural sized cells. In case you weren't aware, and I wasn't for a long 
> > time, the foundation in common usage results in much larger bees than what
> 
> > you would find in a natural hive. I've measured sections of natural worker
> 
> > brood comb that are 4.6mm in diameter. .What most people use for worker 
> > brood is foundation that is 5.4mm in diameter. If you translate that into 
> > three dimensions instead of one, it produces a bee that is about half as 
> > large again as is natural. By letting the bees build natural sized cells, 
> > I have virtually eliminated my Varroa and Tracheal mite problems. One 
> > cause of this is shorter capping times by one day, and shorter 
> > post-capping times by one day. This means less Varroa get into the cells, 
> > and less Varroa reproduce in the cells. (14)
> >
> > Who should be surprised that the major media reports forget to tell us 
> > that the dying bees are actually hyper-bred varieties that we coax into a 
> > larger than normal body size? It sounds just like the beef industry. And, 
> > have we here a solution to the vanishing bee problem? Is it one that the 
> > CCD Working Group, or indeed, the scientific world at large, will support?
> 
> > Will media coverage affect government action in dealing with this issue?
> >
> > These are important questions to ask. It is not an uncommonly held opinion
> 
> > that, although this new pattern of bee colony collapse seems to have 
> > struck from out of the blue (which suggests a triggering agent), it is 
> > likely that some biological limit in the bees has been crossed. There is 
> > no shortage of evidence that we have been fast approaching this limit for 
> > some time.
> >
> > "We've been pushing them too hard," Dr. Peter Kevan, an associate 
> > professor of environmental biology at the University of Guelph in Ontario,
> 
> > told the CBC. "And we're starving them out by feeding them artificially 
> > and moving them great distances." Given the stress commercial bees are 
> > under, Kevan suggests CCD might be caused by parasitic mites, or long cold
> 
> > winters, or long wet springs, or pesticides, or genetically modified 
> > crops. Maybe it's all of the above. (24)
> >
> > This conclusion is not surprising, considering how the practice of 
> > beekeeping has been made ultra-efficient in a competitive world run by 
> > free market forces. Unlike many crops, honey is not given subsidy 
> > protection in the United States despite the huge importance of the bee 
> > industry to food production. The FDA has hardly moved at all to protect 
> > American producers from "honey pretenders" - products containing little or
> 
> > no honey that are imported and sold with misleading packaging. Rare is the
> 
> > beekeeper that does not need pesticide treatments and other techniques 
> > falling under the rubric of 'factory farming.' (15)
> >
> > You might be justifiably stunned to know how little money is being thrown 
> > at this problem. A January 29, 2007 Penn State press release (just before 
> > CCD hit the big networks) stated: "The beekeeping industry has been quick 
> > to respond to the crisis. The National Honey Board has pledged $13,000 of 
> > emergency funding to the CCD working group. Other organizations, such as 
> > the Florida State Beekeepers Association, are working with their 
> > membership to commit additional funds." A quick look at CostofWar.com will
> 
> > tell you that that $13,000 buys about 4 seconds of war at the going rate. 
> > Remember, these same scientists had presented the world with a similar 
> > threat level two years ago. Apparently they were ignored. (16)
> >
> > Anyway, breathe easy; Congress has begun talking up the concept of getting
> 
> > involved. On April 26, the Senate Agriculture Committee, perhaps not 
> > trusting CNN, heard from representatives of the beekeeping industry just 
> > how important a matter this is. Committee Chairman, Senator Tom Harkin 
> > (D-Iowa) said the bee decline should be part of the current discussion of 
> > a new farm bill. "The U.S. honey industry is facing one of the most 
> > serious threats ever from colony collapse disorder," he stated. "The bee 
> > losses associated with this disorder are staggering and portend equally 
> > grave consequences for the producers of crops that rely on honeybees for 
> > pollination. These crops include many specialty crops and alfalfa, so 
> > viable honey bee colonies are critically important across our entire food 
> > and agriculture sector." (17)
> >
> > Alfalfa? We should be worried because CCD threatens alfalfa and other 
> > specialty crops? He means apples and stuff we can assume, because Mark 
> > Brady, president of the American Honey Producers Association, had informed
> 
> > the committee that "honey bees pollinate more than 90 food, fiber and seed
> 
> > crops. In particular, the fruits, vegetables and nuts that are 
> > cornerstones of a balanced and healthy diet are especially dependent on 
> > continued access to honey bee pollination." Science is always a hard sell.
> 
> > (17)
> >
> > Even before that committee meeting, on April 16, Senator Clinton wrote a 
> > letter to U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Secretary Mike Johanns, 
> > asking "that you provide us (a bipartisan group of senators) with an 
> > expedited report on the immediate steps that the Department is and will be
> 
> > taking to determine the causes of CCD, and to develop appropriate 
> > countermeasures for this serious disorder. In particular, we ask for a 
> > specific explanation of how the Department plans to utilize its existing 
> > resources and capabilities, including its four Agricultural Research 
> > Service honeybee research labs, and to work with other public and private 
> > sector enterprises in combating CCD." These are fine questions indeed. 
> > (28)
> >
> > Hype or understatement?
> >
> > Bees are finely tuned machines, much more robot-like than your average 
> > species. They operate pretty much like the Borg of Star Trek fame. A honey
> 
> > bee cannot exist as an individual, and this is why some biologists speak 
> > of them as super-organisms. They are sensitive barometers of environmental
> 
> > pollution, quite useful for monitoring pesticide, radionuclide, and heavy 
> > metal contamination. They respond to a vide variety of pollutants by dying
> 
> > or markedly changing their behavior. Honeybees' stores of pollen and honey
> 
> > are ideal for measuring contamination levels. Some pesticides are 
> > exceptionally harmful to honey bees, killing individuals before they can 
> > return to the hive. (18)
> >
> > Not surprisingly, the use of one or more new pesticides was, and likely 
> > remains, on the short list of likely causes of CCD. But more than 
> > pesticides could potentially be harming bees. Some scientists suspect 
> > global warming. Temperature plays an integral part in determining mass 
> > behavior of bees. To mention just one temperature response, each bee acts 
> > as a drone thermostat, helping cool or warm the hive whenever it isn't 
> > engaged in some other routine.
> >
> > As you might expect, rising temperatures in springtime cause bees to 
> > become active. Erratic weather patterns caused by global warming could 
> > play havoc with bees' sensitive cycles. A lot of northeastern U.S. 
> > beekeepers say a late cold snap is what did the damage to them this year. 
> > Bill Draper, a Michigan beekeeper, lost more than half of his 240 hives 
> > this spring, but it wasn't his worst year for bee losses, and he doesn't 
> > think CCD caused it. He thinks CCD might stem from a mix of factors from 
> > climate change to breeding practices that put more emphasis on some 
> > qualities, like resistance to mites, at the expense of other qualities, 
> > like hardiness. (32)
> >
> > According to Kenneth Tignor, the state apiarist of Virginia, another 
> > possibility with CCD is that the missing bees left their hives to look for
> 
> > new quarters because the old hives became undesirable, perhaps from 
> > contamination of the honey. This phenomenon, known as absconding, normally
> 
> > occurs only in the spring or summer, when there is an adequate food 
> > supply. But if they abscond in the autumn or winter, as they did last fall
> 
> > in the U.S., Tignor says the bees are unlikely to survive. (19)
> >
> > A bee colony is a fine-tuned system, and a lot could conceivably go wrong.
> 
> > This is presumably why some scientists suspect cell phone radiation is the
> 
> > culprit behind CCD. This theory holds that radiation from mobile phones 
> > interferes with bee navigation systems, preventing them from finding their
> 
> > way home. German research has shown that bees behave differently near 
> > power lines. Now, a preliminary study has found that bees refuse to return
> 
> > to their hives when mobile phones are placed nearby. The head researcher 
> > said the result might provide a "hint" of a possible cause. Maybe they 
> > should check to see if beekeepers suddenly started using BlackBerrys in 
> > 2004.
> >
> > It should be noted that the CCD Working Group at Penn State believes cell 
> > phones are very unlikely to be causing the problem. Nor are they 
> > interested in the possibility that GMO crops are responsible. Although GMO
> 
> > crops can contain genes to produce pesticides, some of which may harm 
> > bees, the distribution of CCD cases does not appear to correlate with GMO 
> > crop plantings. (20)
> >
> > Honey bees are not native to North America or Europe. They are thought to 
> > come from Southeast Asia, although some recent research based on genomic 
> > studies indicates that their origin is actually in Africa. (21) 
> > Regardless, they represent only seven of the approximately 20,000 known 
> > species of bees. Apis mellifera, the most commonly domesticated species of
> 
> > honey bee, was only the third insect to have its genome mapped. These 
> > useful, and very prevalent, bees are commonly referred to as either 
> > Western honey bees or European honey bees. Although it is a non-native 
> > species, the honey bee has fit in well in America. It is the designated 
> > state insect of fifteen states, which surely reflects its usefulness.
> >
> > Apis mellifera comes in a wide variety of sub-species adapted to different
> 
> > climates and geographies. Behavior, color and anatomy can be quite 
> > different from one sub-species to another, the infamous killer bees being 
> > a case in point. The Native Americans called the honey bee "the white 
> > man's fly." It was introduced to North America by European settlers in the
> 
> > early 1600s, and soon escaped into the wild, spreading as far west as the 
> > Rocky Mountains. Thus, there are significant numbers of feral hives in 
> > North America, though most of the honey bees you will see are working 
> > bees.
> >
> > But you may not have even seen one for a while. These days, many gardeners
> 
> > are discovering that they must hand pollinate garden vegetables, thanks to
> 
> > widespread pollinator decline. It is more than fair to say that the 
> > extreme importance of honey bees as pollinators today stems from the fact 
> > that native pollinators are in decline almost everywhere.
> >
> > The pollination of the American almond crop, which occurs in February and 
> > March, is the largest managed pollination event in the world, requiring 
> > more than one third of all the managed honey bees in the United States. 
> > Massive numbers of hives are transported for this and other key 
> > pollinations, including apples and blueberries. Honey bees are not 
> > particularly efficient pollinators of blueberries, but they are used 
> > anyway. We depend on managed honey bees because we are addicted to a 
> > monoculture-based managed agricultural sector.
> >
> > There has been criticism that media coverage of the CCD story, perhaps in 
> > its quest to achieve the requisite 'balance,' has been too rosy. Some 
> > stories note that other pollinators are more significant than honey bees 
> > for many crops. But these stories seldom go on to tell how other 
> > pollinators are facing problems too. The BBC recently reported on the 
> > Bumblebee Conservation Trust, which is currently enlisting the public's 
> > help to catalogue bumblebee populations. The story noted that several of 
> > the U.K.'s 25 species are endangered, and three have gone extinct in 
> > recent years. (22)
> >
> > Another recent story in The Register stated that several U.K. bumblebee 
> > species are "heading inexorably for extinction." According to scientists, 
> > the process is caused by "pesticides and agricultural intensification" 
> > which could have a "devastating knock-on effect on agriculture." The 
> > disappearance of wildflower species has also been implicated in the 
> > British bumblebee decline. (23)(20)
> >
> > Bumblebees are, however, doing well in one region, Neath Port Talbot, 
> > which was declared the bumblebee capital of Wales in 2004 after experts 
> > found 15 different species thriving there. This is almost certainly 
> > because the local council allows roadside verges to become overgrown with 
> > "weeds" and wildflowers. (20)
> >
> > Surprise - it's an ecosystem thing. As with honeybees and CCD, the root of
> 
> > the bumblebee problem lies in our modern rationalist drive toward 
> > endlessly ordering the world around us. The long-term solution is a return
> 
> > to a more natural ecological order. This interpretation needs to be 
> > conveyed when mainstream media tell the CCD story.
> >
> > Of course, with all the parasites, pathogens, pesticides and transit to 
> > stress out our hardworking honey bees, they are in peril. Even if some 
> > silver bullet saves us from CCD, it is more than obvious that we need to 
> > pay more respect to bees, and to nature. This truth may be generalized to 
> > most facets of our agricultural existence; the bees are just a warning. 
> > Wherever you look, pests are getting stronger as the life forms we depend 
> > on get weaker. Adding more chemicals isn't going to help for much longer.
> >
> > Beekeepers are a busy and underpaid lot, and we should pay more heed to 
> > their services. Even now, with the vanishing bee story headlining on major
> 
> > networks, government players appear to have their eyes elsewhere. "There 
> > used to be a lot more regulation than there is today," says Arizona 
> > beekeeper Victor Kaur. "People import bees and bring new diseases into the
> 
> > country. One might be colony collapse disorder." (30)
> >
> > "The bees are dying, and I think people are to blame," is how Kaur puts it
> 
> > simply. "Bee keeping is much more labor intensive now than it was 15 years
> 
> > ago. It's a dying profession," he eulogizes. "The average age of a 
> > beekeeper is 62, and there are only a couple of thousand of us left. There
> 
> > are only about 2.5 million hives left. .It's too much work." (30)
> >
> > If CCD proves to be more than a one-time seasonal fluke, the job of 
> > beekeeping just got a lot harder. Pollination can't be outsourced, 
> > although it isn't too difficult to imagine fields full of exploited 
> > underclass laborers pollinating crops by Q-tip. Let's hope we never have 
> > to go there.
> >
> > Perhaps a sensible reaction to the information summarized in this short 
> > article would be to write a letter to your government leaders. Insist that
> 
> > they immediately allocate significant funding to combat CCD using a 
> > variety of approaches. This must include ecological approaches such as 
> > wildflower renewal. Furthermore, insist that our few remaining beekeepers 
> > be given the support they deserve and desperately need at this important 
> > juncture. Humanity cannot afford to ignore this battle. It's not science; 
> > it's common sense.
> >
> > References
> >
> > 1 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colony_Collapse_Disorder
> > Wikipedia
> > 2 http://maarec.cas.psu.edu/FAQ/FAQCCD.pdf
> > FAQ's Colony Collapse Disorder (PDF), Mid-Atlantic Apiculture Research and
> 
> > Extension Consortium, CCD Working Group
> > See also: http://www.ento.psu.edu/MAAREC/index.html
> > 3 http://en.wikinews.org/wiki/Alarm_sounded_over_US_honey_bee_die-off
> > Alarm sounded over US honey bee die-off
> > Wikinews, February 10, 2007
> > 4 http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/6438373.stm
> > Vanishing bees threaten US crops
> > By Matt Wells, March 11, 2007
> > 5 http://www.livescience.com/animalworld/ap_070211_bee_disease.html
> > Mystery Ailment Strikes Honeybees
> > By Genaro C. Armas, Associated Press, February 11, 2007
> > 6 http://news.independent.co.uk/environment/wildlife/article2449968.ece
> > Are mobile phones wiping out our bees?
> > By Geoffrey Lean and Harriet Shawcross, April 15, 2007
> > 7 http://message.snopes.com/showthread.php?p=137300
> > Thread on dubious Einstein quote.
> > 8 
> >
> http://www.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/americas/04/22/vanishing.bees.reut/index.html
> > Vanishing honeybees mystify scientists
> > Reuters, April 22, 2007
> > 9 http://www.bushfarms.com/beespests.htm
> > Enemies of Bees
> > by Michael Bush
> > 10 http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/04/070426100117.htm
> > Scientists Identify Pathogens That May Be Causing Global Honey-Bee Deaths
> > Source: Edgewood Chemical Biological Center, April 26, 2007
> > 11 http://www.livescience.com/animalworld/050517_bee_mite.html
> > Bees Wiped Out by Cascade of Deadly Events
> > By Robert Roy Britt, May 17, 2005
> > 12 http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2005/05/050517110843.htm
> > Bee Mites Suppress Bee Immunity, Open Door For Viruses And Bacteria
> > Source: Penn State, May 18, 2005
> > 13 http://eepicheep.gnn.tv/B21650
> > Labchuk's email is reproduced in comments section; authorship was 
> > confirmed by this writer
> > 14 http://www.bushfarms.com/bees.htm
> > Bush Bees Website
> > 15 http://agriculture.senate.gov/Hearings/
> > Regional Farm Bill field hearing: Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, July 21, 2006
> > 16 http://www.aginfo.psu.edu/News/07Jan/HoneyBees.htm
> > Honey bee die-off alarms beekeepers, crop growers and researchers
> > Penn State press release Jan 29, 2007
> > 17 http://www.journaltimes.com/nucleus/index.php?itemid=12512
> > Colony collapse disorder is reducing U.S. bee population
> > By Zena McFadden, Medill News Service, April 26, 2007
> > 18 http://www.apimondia.org/apiacta/articles/2003/porrini.pdf
> > Honey Bees and Bee Products as Monitors of the Environmental Contamination
> 
> > (PDF)
> > Porrini et al., University of Bologna,
> > In Apiacta, the journal of the International Federation of Beekeepers' 
> > Associations
> > ( http://www.beekeeping.com/apimondia/apiacta_us.htm )
> > 19 http://www.voanews.com/english/2007-04-27-voa3.cfm
> > Taiwan Is Latest Country Stung by Vanishing Honey Bees
> > By Jessica Berman, VOA News, April 27, 2007
> > 20 http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/wales/south_west/3747337.stm
> > Secret of bumblebee capital
> > BBC, 25 May, 2004
> > 21 http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2006/12/061211220927.htm
> > Research Upsetting Some Notions About Honey Bees
> > Source: Texas A&M University - Agricultural Communications, December 29, 
> > 2006
> > 22 
> >
> http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/scotland/tayside_and_central/6558973.stm
> > Bid to halt bumblebee decline
> > BBC, April 16, 2007
> > 23 http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/04/17/bumblebee_crisis/
> > UK's bumblebees face extinction
> > By Lester Haines
> > 24 http://www.cbc.ca/news/background/insects/
> > In Depth Insects: The plight of the honeybee
> > CBC News Online, Updated April 12, 2007
> > 25 http://www.thestar.com/article/203818
> > Why are Niagara's bees dying?
> > By Dana Flavelle, Toronto Star, April 17, 2007
> > 26 http://tinyurl.com/2wnyjv
> > Bee mite found on Oahu
> > Apr 12, 2007 by Katherine Fisher, Hawaii Health Guide.com
> > 27 http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/
> > Experts may have found what's bugging the bees
> > By Jia-Rui Chong and Thomas H. Maugh II, LA Times, April 26, 2007
> > 28 http://tinyurl.com/246o9v
> > Senator Clinton Calls on USDA to Respond
> > All American Patriots, April 20, 2007
> > 29 http://www.theregister.co.uk/2007/04/26/taiwan_bee_mystery/
> > Taiwan mislays millions of honeybees
> > By Lester Haines, The Register, April 26, 2007
> > 30 http://tinyurl.com/39a2wk
> > Collapsing colonies
> > By Joanne C. Twaddell, The Daily Courier, April 23, 2007
> > 31 http://tinyurl.com/343f8b
> > A Comparison of Russian and Italian Honey Bees (PDF)
> > By David R. Tarpy, NC State University, and Jeffrey Lee, Beekeeper, Mebane
> 
> > NC
> > 32 http://tinyurl.com/37ax5j
> > Tiers bees avoid deadly disease
> >
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> >
> > ------------------------------
> >
> > Message: 6
> > Date: Fri, 4 May 2007 12:54:50 -0500
> > From: "BirdWalk" <birdwalk@frontiernet.net>
> > Subject: Re: [Livingontheland] What do you cook your organic food in?
> > To: "'Healthy soil and sustainable growing'"
> > <livingontheland@lists.ibiblio.org>
> > Message-ID:
> > <20070504175609.CBC92180E6F@relay02.roch.ny.frontiernet.net>
> > Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
> >
> > So...............  is there anyway to remove this toxin from our bodies?
> >
> > -----Original Message-----
> >
> >
> > If this does not scare you, nothing will.
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > ------------------------------
> >
> > Message: 7
> > Date: Fri, 4 May 2007 12:22:12 -0700 (PDT)
> > From: Dieter Brand <diebrand@yahoo.com>
> > Subject: Re: [Livingontheland] tastier snow peas
> > To: Healthy soil and sustainable growing
> > <livingontheland@lists.ibiblio.org>
> > Message-ID: <443058.28453.qm@web63413.mail.re1.yahoo.com>
> > Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"
> >
> > That could well be it.  There is no need to use fertilizer for legumes 
> > like
> >  peas.  A little compost or wood ash won?t do any harm though.
> >
> > yarrow@sfo.com wrote:
> >  Speaking of brix...I was talking with a fellow community gardener
> > today, who was wondering why her snow peas were not sweet. So we
> > taste-tested hers and mine; mine were sweet, hers were more bland and
> > did have a bitter edge. I grew mine with homemade compost; she used
> > an organic fertilizer (EB Stone?). We both watered every 2-3 days,
> > and picked them at about the same size. Maybe hers had too much N?
> > _______________________________________________
> > Livingontheland mailing list
> > Livingontheland@lists.ibiblio.org
> > http://lists.ibiblio.org/mailman/listinfo/livingontheland
> >
> >
> >
> > ---------------------------------
> > Need Mail bonding?
> > Go to the Yahoo! Mail Q&A for great tips from Yahoo! Answers users.
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> >
>
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> >
> > ------------------------------
> >
> > Message: 8
> > Date: Fri, 04 May 2007 21:16:40 -0600
> > From: "TradingPostPaul" <tradingpost@riseup.net>
> > Subject: [Livingontheland] Kingsolver Releases New Book on Local Food
> > To: livingontheland@lists.ibiblio.org
> > Message-ID: <200705042116400880.09656232@mail.lobo.net>
> > Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
> >
> >
> > Kingsolver Releases New Book on Local Food
> > Starts Book Tour in Washington, DC
> > www.animalvegetablemiracle.com
> >
> > Author Barbara Kingsolver began a book tour for her latest book Animal,
> > Vegetable, Miracle in Washington, DC, this week, calling on everyone to
> > think about the origins of our food while putting politics aside and
> > bridging the "psychic divide" between urban and rural populations. "Eaters
> > must understand, how we eat determines how the world is used," she read
> > aloud from the book, as she stood at the pulpit of the Washington National
> > Cathedral, where the reading took place May 1.
> >
> > With characteristic charm and wit, Kingsolver talked about the experiment
> > behind her book, which describes a year of her family's "eating
> > deliberately" -- that is, as much local food as possible, lots of it self-
> > produced. Kingsolver said her family "looked at each passing week as
> > something like a menu in a restaurant." Her family sourced all their
> > produce, meat and dairy from their region in southwestern Virginia,
> > although
> > they did purchase things like coffee and spices from a great distance, and
> > grains such as wheat sometimes came from as far as Pennsylvania. Her
> > husband
> > baked their bread, she said.
> >
> > Kingsolver's latest isn't just another book about local food. It's a great
> > way to learn more about the food economy painlessly, since she ingeniously
> > weaves facts about our food system with vivid tales of everyday life, such
> > as why she gave her Bourbon Red turkey hen a "mental health day," or how
> > she
> > coped with 302 pounds of tomatoes in August. Kingsolver doesn't fail to
> > leave out a few heart-wrenching episodes either, like when "mountains " of
> > Virginia organic tomatoes were left to rot outside local supermarkets, as
> > the stores opted for cheaper California produce instead.
> >
> > Her storytelling talents, well-known from her novels like The Poisonwood
> > Bible and Prodigal Summer, are well intact in this work of nonfiction. 
> > With
> > this new book, she would like to "invite you to come in and sit down at my
> > table for a while," she said. When it's finished, she said, "I'll ask you,
> > 'What do you think you should do?'." While she said she prefers not to 
> > give
> > advice outright, Kingsolver did urge folks to contact Congress members
> > about
> > food policy.
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > ------------------------------
> >
> > Message: 9
> > Date: Fri, 04 May 2007 21:52:57 -0600
> > From: "TradingPostPaul" <tradingpost@riseup.net>
> > Subject: [Livingontheland] Certified Naturally Grown
> > To: livingontheland@lists.ibiblio.org
> > Message-ID: <200705042152570130.0986972C@mail.lobo.net>
> > Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
> >
> >
> > There's a page titled Frequently Asked Questions at
> > http://www.naturallygrown.org/faq.html
> >
> >
> > paul tradingpost@lobo.net
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > ------------------------------
> >
> > Message: 10
> > Date: Sat, 5 May 2007 02:03:16 -0700 (PDT)
> > From: Dieter Brand <diebrand@yahoo.com>
> > Subject: Re: [Livingontheland] Carbon Farmer
> > To: Healthy soil and sustainable growing
> > <livingontheland@lists.ibiblio.org>
> > Message-ID: <950290.16011.qm@web63415.mail.re1.yahoo.com>
> > Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"
> >
> > David,
> >
> >  You said it! ?Nature has done it for eons.? We humans haven?t done
> >  it even once, yet we think that we always know best how nature ought
> >  to do its thing. The result is the sorry state of affaires we are in 
> > today.
> >  But we keep on making the same mistake, people come up with
> >  one clever idea after the other about how we can trick nature into
> >  doing all kinds of things. There is always the next quick-fix to sort
> >  out all the mistakes of the past. The bill for that will invariably have 
> > to
> >  be paid some time in the future.
> >
> >  Regarding the issue at hand, I have nothing against subsoiling or 
> > Keyline.
> >  I believe you if you tell me that your soil looks good, your grass is 
> > green
> >  and your cows are happy. But looking good doesn?t tell us anything about
> >  the quality of the humus produced. And the greenness of the grass is not 
> > yet
> >  an indicator for the additional amount of CO2 sequestered, especially if
> >  it isn?t offset against the additional amount of fuel consumed and the
> >  amount of methane emitted.
> >
> >  Even if we admit that Keyline is the greatest thing that ever happened
> >  to grassland, we are not going to convert the entire globe to grazing 
> > land
> >  and start eating big chunks of beef for breakfast, lunch and dinner. 
> > There
> >  are many places were this is simply not possible and not even desirable.
> >  Agriculture has to improve soil fertility and make its contribution 
> > towards
> >  reducing greenhouse gas emissions by converting to no-till and using 
> > cover
> >  crops, fewer passes with fuel-gobbling monsters, less synthetic 
> > fertilizer and
> >  techniques for avoiding methane emissions.
> >
> >  A one-sided preference for grassland and arguing against the merit of 
> > forests
> >  is certainly not helpful. Looking at the fragility of the environmental 
> > envelop
> >  in Australia or at the dust bowl in the US, and comparing these to soils 
> > in
> >  Northern and Central Europe, which even after generations of deep 
> > ploughing
> >  are holding up much better, suggests that the quality of the long term 
> > humus
> >  produced by forests is of a different quality than that produced by 
> > grassland.
> >  There is a place for both, but I think cattle farmers may also want to 
> > think
> >  about the introduction of agroforestry trees into their landscape.
> >
> >  As to me, I don?t have to wait for eons to obtain results. By letting
> >  nature have its share of native woody perennials and trees, I can
> >  observe a difference in soil and vegetation every year. And regarding
> >  CO2 sequestration, I have continuous cover for 12 months a year
> >  even without being paid for it. There is nothing more anyone could
> >  achieve. On this soil and in this climate, grassland goes dry for 6 
> > months
> >  a year. My neighbour feeds his cows cabbages and all kinds of stuff
> >  because his 50 hectares (over 120 acres) of land aren?t enough for
> >  sustaining 11 cows. I don?t know why he bothers, perhaps he loves
> >  his cows, or perhaps the subsidies make it worthwhile, I don?t know.
> >  Anyway, some of my grassland is still green when his fields have gone
> >  dry for months.
> >
> >  I discovered by chance the importance of combining green annuals
> >  with woody perennials. One of my fields, ploughed for wheat
> >  production by the previous owner until about 12 years ago had
> >  become completely overgrown by brambles, bushes and trees.
> >  Clearing this field, I just cut everything (except for the trees)
> >  and left the residues on the surface while all the roots remain
> >  in the soil which was not disturbed. Grass and weeds now
> >  dominate, but the brambles and bushes are still growing back.
> >  This may be the only field in the whole region where grass stays
> >  green for 12 months a year without irrigation. My neighbour,
> >  who has a field with exactly the some soil on his side, ploughed
> >  his grazing land every year under the mistaken impression that
> >  ploughing increases fertility. His grass looks bad even during
> >  the rainy season and goes completely dry in summer. I noticed
> >  though, that he didn?t plough last year, he didn?t say a thing,
> >  he just didn?t plough. Perhaps he had a look across the fence.
> >
> >  Dieter
> >
> >
> > David Inglis <mhcsa@verizon.net> wrote:                Dieter,
> >  Thank you for your thoughtful consideration of my post.
> >  And I don?t know in which way the Keyline
> >  marketing is involved with the Carbon Farmers scheme.
> >  I don?t know either and I don?t have time to find out but it does not 
> > effect my estimation of the arguments anyway.
> >  I was just
> >  curious about the effect of subsoiling on the permanent humus in this 
> > layer.
> >  Quite rightly because, in my experience in the absence of  a growing 
> > greenmanure or pasture Keyline subsoiling presents a real danger of 
> > releasing that OM for a net loss. Also one then embarks on the usual cycle
> 
> > of increased resource usage for diminishing returns, [see below]. I am not
> 
> > against the use of material resources but I am against uses that are 
> > addictive and ultimately counterproductive.
> >  The Carbon Farmers site even has a page (which
> >  I didn?t read) with selected quotes to argue against reforestation.
> >  A.Yeoman does too[in Priority One].
> >  This seems to be indicative of a narrow commercial focus rather than
> >  a broad environmental concern. I have nothing against making money,
> >  but we have to be honest about it.
> >  It may, but if the solution does not involve making some money I doubt it
> 
> > will be adopted on a large enough scale to have a global impact even if 
> > mandated by government. Also I believe that A.Yeomans claims that 
> > Grassland sequesters more CO2 than forest. The fact that that grass can be
> 
> > turned into profit is a bonus, not the primary motivation.
> >  Anyway, both seem to emphasize grass land as the best way for 
> > soil-improvement and
> >  CO2 sequestration.
> >  Subsoiling [with Keyline] in grassland is optimal because:
> >  Roots are poised to take advantage of  newly opened substrata.
> >  Top growth and root growth can be ?pulsed? and controlled, and at a 
> > profit, initiating the process of soil formation. On bare ground the 
> > plough will hasten the demise of the soil as you suspect.
> >  A mixed ?sward? will always have some component that will respond to the 
> > circumstances be it climatic, grazing or soil management induced or other.
> 
> > I have observed that soil development occurs best when it is uninterrupted
> 
> > and that if it is interrupted the reintroduction of the missing element 
> > [typically Warmth/coolth, moisture, light and to some extent fertility ] 
> > does not initiate the soil building immediately. In a short season climate
> 
> > like mine [NE USA] that can mean soil building conditions of only 1 month 
> > in 12.
> >  Large quantities of water can be absorbed by the soil without surface 
> > erosion.
> >  In my case (semi-arid
> >  climate and clay soil), I found that the best way to improve the soil
> >  is to feed it a varied diet consisting of green annuals together with
> >  woody perennials (including brambles, shrubs, bushes and trees),
> >  and let the roots do the subsoiling.
> >  This is the natural way that has been done for eons. But we don?t have 
> > eons. At the very least we need some approach that in a very short period 
> > of time reverses the declines of the soil OM over the past couple of 
> > centuries and if land stewards hope to contribute to absorbing the CO2 
> > from sources other  than Ag. Something far more radical than that will be 
> > required.
> >  I commend you for what you are doing. Yeomans point is that the results 
> > of what you are doing can be greatly accelerated by the judicious use of 
> > simple but thoughtfully applied Human technology. It amazes me how 
> > controversial that idea is in some circles that purport to be ?protecting 
> > the earth?.
> >  Just thoughts.
> >  David
> >
> > _______________________________________________
> > Livingontheland mailing list
> > Livingontheland@lists.ibiblio.org
> > http://lists.ibiblio.org/mailman/listinfo/livingontheland
> >
> >
> >
> > ---------------------------------
> > Ahhh...imagining that irresistible "new car" smell?
> > Check outnew cars at Yahoo! Autos.
> > -------------- next part --------------
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> >
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> >
> > ------------------------------
> >
> > Message: 11
> > Date: Sat, 5 May 2007 06:44:18 -0700
> > From: "Douglas  Willhite" <drwillhite@earthlink.net>
> > Subject: [Livingontheland] Food preservation and democracy
> > To: <livingontheland@lists.ibiblio.org>
> > Message-ID: <33C8FC74714845A08220CC6A23385EA9@DouglasPC>
> > Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"
> >
> > Published on 4 May 2007 by Casaubon's Book.
> > Food preservation and democracy
> > by Sharon Astyk
> >
> >
> > The rhubarb is up. And it has me thinking about democracy, justice and 
> > what to have for dinner. We've talked here about how the opposite of 
> > poverty is self-sufficiency, and why it is that self-sufficiency is our 
> > best bet going into the future. But what does that actually look like? How
> 
> > do you live? What do you do? What do you eat? What is it like to live that
> 
> > way? And what, perhaps most importantly, would change about our culture if
> 
> > we ate that way?
> >
> > I was lucky enough to know one of the people on the earth who knew the 
> > most about this, Carla Emery, author of The Encyclopedia of Country 
> > Living: An Old Fashioned Recipe Book. Before her death in 2005, Carla was 
> > traveling the nation trying to help people get ready for a life with much 
> > less energy. She'd done almost everything in her book (and it is a big 
> > book) at least once, and new more than anyone I've ever met. Here's what 
> > she says about how she makes sure her family is fed,
> >
> >  All spring I try and plant something every day - from late February, when
> 
> > the early peas and spinach and garlic can go in, on up to mid-summer, when
> 
> > the main potato crop and the late beans and lettuce go in. Then I switch 
> > over and make it my rule to try and get something put away for the winter 
> > every single day. That lasts until the pumpkins and sunflowers and late 
> > squash and green tomatoes are in.
> >
> >  Then comes the struggle to get the most out of the stored food - all 
> > winter long. It has to be checked regularly, and you'll need to add to 
> > that day's menu anything that's on the verge of spoiling, wilting or 
> > otherwise soon becoming useless. Or preserve it a new way. If a squash 
> > gets a soft spot, I can gut it out and cook, mash, can or freeze the rest 
> > for a supper vegetable or pie, or add it to the bread dough.
> >
> >  You have to ration. You have all the good food you can eat right at arm's
> 
> > reach and no money to pay...until you run out...
> >
> >  People have to choose what they're going to struggle for. Life is always 
> > a struggle, whether or not you're struggling for anything worthwhile, so 
> > it might as well be for something worthwhile.
> >
> >  Independence days are worth struggling for. They're good for me,good for 
> > the country and good for growing children."
> >  (Emery, 493-494)
> > Her "Independence Days" were the ones in which her family ate from their 
> > own land and gardens. She was right in this - independence is worth 
> > striving for. Not only is it worth striving for because it is good for us,
> 
> > our nation and our families, but also because someday we may depend on 
> > these skills and knowledge - and right now we might have a better country 
> > if we did this.
> >
> > I'm no Carla Emery, unfortunately, although I work at being as much like 
> > her as I can. Every spring, I sit down and inventory our food stores, 
> > particularly the things I put up the previous year. At the back of my mind
> 
> > is this question: "If we had to live on what I could produce, could we?" 
> > And the answer is generally, "not as well as we'd like."
> >
> > Some years that was because of the CSA - in years when we've been short on
> 
> > a crop, all of it, or the best of it goes to our customers. We eat the 
> > tomatoes with the bird pecks, or the two eggplants left over. Sometimes 
> > the problem is that I didn't put up enough, or harvest things at the right
> 
> > time, and sometimes there's something else. One year we lost most of our 
> > potatoes, all our strawberries and a heck of a lot of other things to 
> > heavy flooding (the first two years we lived here were drought, so we 
> > didn't discover until year three that one of our large garden patches lays
> 
> > wet), another year Eric accidentally left the door to the storage area 
> > open on a bitterly cold night - poof, four months worth of potatoes, 
> > onions and apples were gone. I think this last year the problem was that I
> 
> > forgot that four growing boys keep growing.
> >
> > All of which is just a way of saying that after years of practice, I still
> 
> > don't have the feeding ourselves down to a perfect science. I'm still 
> > embarrassed about the year I made blueberry jam and didn't check the 
> > seals - every jar was moldy when we opened them. I'm not perfect and I 
> > have made every mistake you can possibly imagine. The good thing about all
> 
> > those mistakes is that eventually, you get to the point where it isn't as 
> > hard. We still buy some of our grains and beans, and are still grateful 
> > that if the potato harvest doesn't measure up, we can go to the local 
> > farmer's market and supplement our needs, and we enjoy bananas and citrus 
> > as much as the next person, along with spices and seasonings from far 
> > away. But we also keep trying to feed ourselves, and we get better at it 
> > every year. We're now to the point where most years, we probably could 
> > survive, we just wouldn't be eating our preferred diet.
> >
> > But here's the thing - even if we never achieve perfection - if we never 
> > manage to raise every single thing we want to eat, there's a great deal of
> 
> > satisfaction in putting by and getting better at it. Because even right 
> > now, every bite of food we don't purchase is a gift - it represents money 
> > we don't have to spend on groceries and can devote to other things. Every 
> > bite closer we get to feeding ourselves means we eat better.
> >
> > Americans tend to believe that hunger could never come their way. They 
> > forget that just two generations ago, during the depression, as many as 
> > 25% of urban school children were malnourished, and people stood in bread 
> > lines. They forget that the experience of privilege we've known in these 
> > wealthy nations is very odd - a historical anomaly. That pretty much all 
> > human beings starting with our grandparents and going back knew periods of
> 
> > food insecurity - and that the majority of people in the world know hunger
> 
> > at some point in their lives. Should we bet the farm on the notion that 
> > this magical immunity to the plague of hunger will go on forever?
> >
> > Growing your own food is only one part of the project - the next is 
> > preserving it, and making sure you have enough to eat, and things you 
> > like. Most places in the world have a period where you can't grow much 
> > food, either because it is too hot or too dry, too cold or too wet. So we 
> > have to put up food for those times. And then there's the job of resource 
> > management - if I left things up to my kids, I'd have strawberry jam every
> 
> > single day, until there wasn't any more, and then they'd complain until 
> > the next year's strawberry harvest. Someone has to be the one to say, "ok,
> 
> > apricot this time - let's save some of that strawberry for early spring 
> > when we'll all want something sweet." Someone has to look at the apples 
> > and the pears and take the ones that are getting soft off and make them 
> > into sauce or dried apples before they rot and spoil, literally, the whole
> 
> > barrel.
> >
> > The thing is, being involved with your food means being really seriously 
> > involved with your food. It means changing the way we've come to think 
> > about the world back to the way that we once did - revisiting a life of 
> > seasonality, with a time to plant, a time to sow, a time to harvest and a 
> > time to rest. It isn't just a song, or a Bible verse, it becomes a way of 
> > life. And that's ok, because that link to nature may be the thing that 
> > we've been missing in our lives. There's growing evidence that people who 
> > work in the dirt, live with the seasons and connect to nature are happier 
> > and healthier than those who in more artificial circumstances.
> >
> > So like all springs, my job now is to figure out how many cucumbers I need
> 
> > to plant next year, so that this time, the pickles (devoured by my three 
> > pickle-fiend sons) make it all the way until July, when I can make more. 
> > And how many potatoes to grow - and can I grow more of the cranberry 
> > colored ones that everyone liked do much? And I want to grow more of my 
> > own animal feed this year - the cost of corn is rising, and I'd like to 
> > stop buying feed altogether. How much room in my garden do the chickens 
> > need? How about the rabbits? Which of those weeds can I dry for hay? What 
> > I can I grow for them?
> >
> > Preserving food is every day work - it begins now, with the first rhubarb 
> > that will be dried or canned or made into sauce (and a reminder that I 
> > still have a bit left of last year's to eat). Next come the strawberries 
> > (I don't bother to preserve asparagus - doesn't taste as good as fresh), 
> > and nettles (very nutritious dried in tea), and then the cycle begins in 
> > earnest. It really doesn't take much time, once you get into a routine, 
> > and is well worth it. There are always some busy days in the summer, but 
> > it isn't too hard to put berries in the dehydrator after work or mix up 
> > pickle brine while making dinner.
> >
> > Even if you don't grow your own, preserving what is seasonal and fresh can
> 
> > provide you with a great deal of economic and food security - if you go to
> 
> > the farmer's market at the end of the day, you may be able to get bushels 
> > of produce for almost nothing. Then comes the work of dehydration, or 
> > canning, or pickling. But the work is worth it - both because it enables 
> > you to eat a local diet and frees you from dangers in the food supply, but
> 
> > also because it means you don't depend on corporations or others to 
> > provision you.
> >
> > And that last point may be the most important. Food preservation, and food
> 
> > production are keys to democracy. We accept that a politician who is 
> > dependent on the money special interests provides cannot be wholly 
> > independent in their thought, and know that no matter how much personal 
> > integrity they may have, their intentions are fundamentally corrupted by 
> > being beholden to others.
> >
> > Well the same is equally true of individuals - as long as we depend on 
> > large corporations to meet our basic needs, we'll never be able to judge 
> > them fairly or recreate our society. That is, we cannot simultaneously 
> > call for an end to multinational monoliths and also pay them to feed us. 
> > As long as we admit we are dependent on corporations, any attempt at 
> > reform or culture change will fail, because we ourselves are corrupted by 
> > that dependence. We cannot deplore McDonalds, and then complain because 
> > poor people cannot buy their food from the equally troubling industrial 
> > organic producers who sell through whole foods. We need to recognize that 
> > our food dependence affects not just what we eat, but the fundamentals of 
> > our democracy and our political power.
> >
> > We should not owe our lives to entities we deplore. And the only possible 
> > escape from that bind is to declare food independence - to meet as many of
> 
> > our basic needs as possible ourselves, and through small, sustainable 
> > farms with which we have real and direct relationships. And that means not
> 
> > just growing food, but ensuring a stable food supply, reasonable reserves 
> > and a dinner that depends on no one. Worth struggling for indeed!
> >
> > I'd best get cracking!
> >
> > Cheers,
> > Sharon
> >
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> >
> > ------------------------------
> >
> > Message: 12
> > Date: Sat, 5 May 2007 06:46:05 -0700
> > From: "Douglas  Willhite" <drwillhite@earthlink.net>
> > Subject: [Livingontheland] Health, Justice and Sustainability News
> > Tidbits
> > To: <livingontheland@lists.ibiblio.org>
> > Message-ID: <95E636B6DEC6414AAF8126ED535BEFFD@DouglasPC>
> > Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"
> >
> > ORGANIC BYTES #108
> > Health, Justice and Sustainability News Tidbits with an Edge!
> >
> > 5/4/2007
> >
> > Written and edited by Craig Minowa and Ronnie Cummins
> >
> >
> >      IN THIS ISSUE
> >
> >        a.. ALERT OF THE WEEK: TELL CONGRESS WE WANT COUNTRY OF ORIGIN 
> > LABELS ON OUR FOOD
> >        b.. PRODUCT PLUNDER OF THE WEEK: PET FOOD CONTAMINATION MOVES INTO 
> > USA MEAT SUPPLY
> >        c.. QUICK FACTS OF THE WEEK: MORE REASONS TO BUY LOCAL
> >        d.. WEB VIDEO OF THE WEEK: COMEDY CENTRAL PARODIES THE RBGH 
> > CONTROVERSY
> >        e.. TIP OF THE WEEK: FIVE TOP METHODS TO REDUCE YOUR ECOLOGICAL 
> > FOOTPRINT WHEN SHOPPING
> >        f.. ALERT: IT'S TIME TO PHASE OUT THE POISONOUS PLASTIC PVC
> >
> >
> >
> > ___________________________________
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >     ALERT OF THE WEEK:
> >      TELL CONGRESS WE WANT COUNTRY OF ORIGIN LABELS ON OUR FOOD
> >      Concerns over long distance food transportation (food miles) and 
> > global warming, compounded by recent food poisoning scandals, linked to 
> > contaminated pet, poultry, and pig food ingredients from China, have taken
> 
> > away many Americans' appetites for cheap imported foods. Shocked at media 
> > reports that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration is inspecting 
> > approximately one-percent of all imported food, health-minded consumers 
> > are demanding that Congress implement mandatory Country of Origin Labels 
> > (COOL) labels on food. Federal farm policy theoretically requires Country 
> > of Origin Labeling for food. Reacting to polls indicating that 80% of 
> > American consumers want to know where their food is coming from, Congress 
> > incorporated COOL into the 2002 Farm Bill. COOL was supposed to go into 
> > effect in September 2004. Unfortunately, corporate agribusiness, Wal-Mart,
> 
> > and the supermarket chains bribed an ethically-impaired Congress with 
> > millions of dollars to block implementation of COOL l
> > abels. As a result, Americans are buying billions of dollars of imported 
> > foods without knowing it. In order to promote health and sustainability, 
> > and to save North American family farms, we need to restore our right to 
> > know where our food is coming from. Tell Congress we want Country of 
> > Origin Labels for both conventional and organic food, and we want it 
> > now:http://www.organicconsumers.org/rd/cool.htm
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >     PRODUCT PLUNDER OF THE WEEK:
> >      PET FOOD CONTAMINATION MOVES INTO USA MEAT SUPPLY
> >      The pet food poisoning scandal that has prompted the largest recall 
> > of pet foods in history has spread into the livestock and meat sector. 
> > This week, the USDA admitted that the contaminated food ingredients that 
> > have killed thousands of pets across the U.S. were also used to feed hogs 
> > and chickens that have already been processed and eaten by several million
> 
> > Americans. Over three million chickens and pigs have consumed the tainted 
> > food. Although there have been no government studies done on the toxicity 
> > of this contamination, the FDA claims the risk is low. It's important to 
> > note that organic animal feed was not contaminated in this latest 
> > incident, underlining the obvious point that pet owners and meat eaters 
> > should give preference to safer, more nutritious organic products (find 
> > organic pet foods here).
> >      Learn more: http://www.organicconsumers.org/articles/article_5017.cfm
> >
> > __________________________________
> >
> >
> >
> >     QUICK FACTS OF THE WEEK:
> >      MORE REASONS TO BUY LOCAL
> >
> >        a.. Each year, the average American consumes 260 pounds of imported
> 
> > food.
> >        b.. 98.7% of foods imported into the U.S. are NOT inspected by the 
> > FDA for safety.
> >        c.. Of the scant 1.3% of imported foods the FDA tests, over 200 
> > shipments of grains, fish, vegetables, nuts, spice, oils and other 
> > imported foods are detained each month for issues ranging from filth to 
> > unsafe food coloring to contamination with pesticides to salmonella. The 
> > other 98.7% of untested food is immediately green-lighted for the American
> 
> > diet.
> >        d.. The U.S. imports almost twice as much food today as it did just
> 
> > ten years ago, yet the FDA's budget for testing imports has been cut 
> > nearly in half since 2000.
> >      Source: http://www.organicconsumers.org/articles/article_4897.cfm
> >
> >
> > __________________________________
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >     WEB VIDEO OF THE WEEK:
> >      COMEDY CENTRAL PARODIES THE RBGH CONTROVERSY
> >      Comedy Central's Colbert Report takes a hilarious look at the rBGH 
> > controversy. Although the synthetic hormone has been banned in most 
> > nations, due to its links to endocrine disruption and cancer, it is still 
> > widely used in the U.S.. Monsanto recently filed a formal complaint with 
> > the FDA demanding that dairies that have banned the use of rBGH should not
> 
> > be able to label their products as "rBGH-free." Learn more at OCA's 
> > "Millions Against Monsanto" campaign and watch the short Colbert web video
> 
> > here (Note: Mr. Colbert's humor is irreverent and for adult audiences. 
> > Viewer discretion is advised.): 
> > http://www.comedycentral.com/shows/the_colbert_report/
> >
> > ___________________________________
> >
> >     TIP OF THE WEEK:
> >      FIVE WAYS TO REDUCE YOUR ECOLOGICAL FOOTPRINT WHEN SHOPPING
> >      This month's issue of E Magazine includes interviews with leading 
> > advocates for ecological shopping, including OCA's Environmental Scientist
> 
> > Craig Minowa. Here are five quick tips for becoming a green shopper:
> >
> >        1.. Switch to environmentally friendly cleaning supplies. The use 
> > of conventional cleaners exposes your family and our environment to some 
> > very nasty toxic chemicals.
> >        2.. If you buy only one or two organic items, make them milk and 
> > meat. Most conventional milk and meat are produced on factory farms that 
> > feed their animals massive amounts of pesticide and fossil-fuel intensive 
> > conventional corn, at the same time creating massive manure lagoons that 
> > contaminate local ground water.
> >
> >        3.. Be as conscious about the packaging as you are about the 
> > product. The production and disposal of packaging takes a heavy 
> > environmental toll. You can eliminate 1,200 pounds of carbon dioxide (CO2)
> 
> > every year by simply reducing your waste by 10%. While you're at it, bring
> 
> > your own shopping bags.
> >        4.. Buy local and regional, or at least USA-grown, whenever 
> > possible, to reduce energy and pollution from long transportation. But of 
> > course some products are not produced in the US.. For overseas products, 
> > look for the organic and Fair Trade label.
> >        5.. Buy in bulk. If you regularly buy a certain product, consider 
> > buying it in bulk. It usually has less packaging, is more affordable, and 
> > requires fewer trips to the store.
> >      http://www.organicconsumers.org/articles/article_5006.cfm
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
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> >
> > ------------------------------
> >
> > Message: 13
> > Date: Sat, 05 May 2007 08:55:10 -0600
> > From: "Tradingpost" <tradingpost@lobo.net>
> > Subject: [Livingontheland] Fwd: MODERN MIRACLE MEN
> > To: livingontheland@lists.ibiblio.org
> > Message-ID: <200705050855100986.0BE4E20D@mail.lobo.net>
> > Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
> >
> >
> > *********** BEGIN FORWARDED MESSAGE  ***********
> >
> > On 5/5/2007 at 2:48 AM Tradingpost <tradingpost@lobo.net wrote:
> >
> >
> > http://www.gotwater.net/senate_doc_264.htm
> >
> > SENATE DOCUMENT 264 - Unabridged Version
> > AN ARTICLE BY REX BEACH
> > ENTITLED "Modern Miracle Men", Relating To Proper Food Mineral Balances by
> > Dr. Charles Northen, Reprinted From Cosmopolitan, June 1936
> >
> >
> > Presented by Mr. Fletcher June 1 1936 and Ordered to be Printed by the
> > United States Government Printing Office Washington: 1936 During the 74th
> > Congress, Second Session, Document No. 264
> >
> >
> > This is the Unabridged Version of this document.
> >
> >
> > MODERN MIRACLE MEN
> >
> >
> > Dr. Charles Northen,
> > Who Builds Health From The Ground Up
> > This quiet, unballyhooed pioneer and genius in the field of nutrition
> > demonstrates that countless human ills stem from the fact that 
> > impoverished
> > soil of America no longer provides plant foods with the mineral elements
> > essential to human nourishment and health!.. To overcome this alarming
> > condition, he doctors sick soils and, by seeming miracles, raises truly
> > healthy and health-giving fruits and vegetables, (By Rex Beach)
> >        Do you know that most of us today are suffering from certain
> > dangerous diet deficiencies which cannot be remedied until the depleted
> > soils from which our foods come are brought into proper mineral balance?
> >        The alarming fact is that foods -- fruit and vegetables and grains
> > -- now being raised on millions of acres of land no longer contain enough
> > of certain needed minerals, are starving us -- no matter how much of them
> > we eat!
> >        This talk about minerals is novel and quite startling. In fact, a
> > realization of the importance of minerals in food is so new that the
> > textbooks on nutritional dietetics contain very little about it.
> > Nevertheless it is something that concerns all of us, and the further we
> > delve into it the more startling it becomes.
> >        You'd think, wouldn't you, that a carrot is a carrot--that one is
> > about as good as another as far as nourishment is concerned? But it isn't;
> > one carrot may look and taste like another and yet be lacking in the
> > particular mineral element which our system requires and which carrots are
> > supposed to contain. Laboratory tests prove that the fruits, the
> > vegetables, the grains, the eggs and even the milk and the meats of today
> > are not what they were a few generations ago. (Which doubtless explains 
> > why
> > our forefathers [and foremothers] thrived on a selection of foods that
> > would starve us!) No one of today can eat enough fruits and vegetables to
> > supply their system with the mineral salts they require for perfect 
> > health,
> > because their stomach isn't big enough to hold them! And we are running to
> > big stomachs.
> >        No longer does a balanced and fully nourishing diet consist merely
> > of so many calories or certain vitamins or a fixed proportion of starches,
> > proteins, and carbohydrates. We now know that it must contain, in 
> > addition,
> > something like a score of mineral salts.
> >        It is bad news to learn from our leading authorities that 99
> > percent of the American people are deficient in these minerals, and that a
> > marked deficiency in any one of the more important minerals actually
> > results in disease. Any upset of the balance, any considerable lack of one
> > or another element, however microscopic the body requirement may be, and 
> > we
> > sicken, suffer, shorten our lives.
> >        This discovery is one of the latest and most important
> > contributions of science to the problem of human health.
> >        So far as the records go, the first man in this field of research,
> > the first to demonstrate that most human foods of our day are poor in
> > minerals and that their proportions are not balanced, was Dr. Charles
> > Northen an Alabama physician now living in Orlando, Florida. His
> > discoveries and achievements are of enormous importance to mankind.
> >        Following a wide experience in general practice, Dr. Northen
> > specialized in stomach diseases and nutritional disorder. Later, he moved
> > to New York and made extensive studies along this line, in conjunction 
> > with
> > a famous French scientist from Sorbonne. In the course of that work he
> > convinced himself that there was little authentic, definite information on
> > the chemistry of foods, and that no dependence could be placed on existing
> > data.
> >        He asked himself how foods could be used intelligently in the
> > treatment of disease, when they differed so widely in content. The answer
> > seemed to be that they could not be used intelligently. In establishing 
> > the
> > fact that serious deficiencies existed and in searching out the reasons
> > therefor, he made an extensive study of the soil. It was he who first
> > voiced the surprising assertion that we must make soil building the basis
> > of food building in order to accomplish human building.
> >
> >        "Bear in mind," says Dr. Northen, "that minerals are vital to human
> > metabolism and health--and that no plant or animal can appropriate to
> > itself any mineral which is not present in the soil upon which it feeds.
> >        "When I first made this statement I was ridiculed, for up to that
> > time people had paid little attention to food deficiencies and even less 
> > to
> > soil deficiencies. Men eminent in medicine denied there was any such thing
> > as vegetables and fruits that did not contain sufficient minerals for 
> > human
> > needs. Eminent agricultural authorities insisted that all soil contained
> > all necessary minerals. They reasoned that plants take what they need, and
> > that it is the function of the human body to appropriate what it requires.
> > Failure to do so, they said, was a symptom of disorder.
> >        "Some of our respected authorities even claimed that the so-called
> > secondary minerals played no part whatever in human health. It is only
> > recently that such men as Dr. McCollum of Johns Hopkins, Dr. Mendel of
> > Yale, Dr. Sherman of Columbia, Dr. Lipman of Rutgers, and Drs. H.G. Knight
> > and Oswald Schreiner of the United States Department of Agriculture have
> > agreed that these minerals are essential to plant, animal, and human
> > feeding.
> >        "We know that vitamins are complex substances which are
> > indispensable to nutrition, and that each of them is of importance for the
> > normal function of some special structure in the body. Disorder and 
> > disease
> > result from any vitamin deficiency.
> >        "It is not commonly realized, however, that vitamins control the
> > body's appropriation of minerals, and in the absence of minerals they have
> > no function to perform. Lacking vitamins, the system can make some use of
> > minerals, but lacking minerals, vitamins are useless.
> >        "Neither does the layman realize that there may be a pronounced
> > difference in both foods and soils--to them one vegetable, one glass of
> > milk, or one egg is about the same as another. Dirt is dirt, too, and they
> > assume that by adding a little fertilizer to it, a satisfactory vegetable
> > or fruit can be grown.
> >        "The truth is that our foods vary enormously in value, and some of
> > them aren't worth eating, as food. For example, vegetation grown in one
> > part of the country may assay 1,100 parts, per billion, of iodine, as
> > against 20 in that grown elsewhere. Processed milk has run anywhere from
> > 362 parts, per million, of iodine and 127 of iron, down to nothing.
> >        "Some of or lands, even unhappily for us, we have been
> > systematically robbing the poor soils and the good soils alike of the very
> > substances most necessary to health, growth, long life, and resistance to
> > disease. Up to the time I began experimenting, almost nothing had been 
> > done
> > to make good the theft.
> >        "The more I studied nutritional problems and the effects of mineral
> > deficiencies upon disease, the more plainly I saw that here lay the most
> > direct approach to better health, and the more important it became in my
> > mind to find a method of restoring those missing minerals to our foods.
> >        "The subject interested me so profoundly that I retired from active
> > medical practice and for a good many years now I have devoted myself to 
> > it.
> > It's a fascinating subject, for it goes to the heart of human betterment."
> >
> >        The results obtained by Dr. Northen are outstanding. By putting
> > back into foods the stuff that foods are made of, he has proved himself to
> > be a real miracle man of medicine, for he has opened up the shortest and
> > most rational route to better health.
> >
> >
> > He showed first that it should be done, and then that it could be done.
> > He doubled and redoubled the natural mineral content of fruits and
> > vegetables.
> > He improved the quality of milk by increasing the iron and the iodine in
> > it.
> > He caused hens to lay eggs richer in the vital elements.
> >        By scientific soil feeding, he raised better seed potatoes in
> > Maine, better grapes in California, Better oranges in Florida, and better
> > field crops in other States. (By "better" is meant not only an improvement
> > in food value but also an increase in quantity and quality.)
> >        Before going further into the results he has obtained, let's see
> > just what is involved in this matter of "mineral deficiencies", what it 
> > may
> > mean to our health, and how it may effect the growth and development, both
> > mental and physical, of our children.
> >        We know that rats, guinea pigs, and other animals can be fed into a
> > diseased condition and out again by controlling only the minerals in their
> > food.
> >        A 10-year test with rats proved that by withholding calcium they
> > can be bred down to a third the size of those fed with an adequate amount
> > of that mineral. Their intelligence, too, can be controlled by mineral
> > feeding as readily as can their size, their bony structure, and their
> > general health.
> >        Place a number of these little animals inside a maze after starving
> > some of them in a certain mineral element. The starved ones will be unable
> > to find their way out, whereas the others will have little or no 
> > difficulty
> > in getting out. Their dispositions can be altered by mineral feeding. They
> > can be made quarrelsome and belligerent; they can even be turned into
> > cannibals and be made to devour each other.
> >        A cage full of normal rats will live in amity. Restrict their
> > calcium, and they will become irritable and draw apart from one another.
> > Then they will begin to fight. Restore their calcium balance and they will
> > grow more friendly; in time they will begin to sleep in a pile as before.
> >        Many backward children are "stupid" merely because they are
> > deficient in magnesia. We punish them for OUR failure to feed them
> > properly.
> >        Certainly our physical well-being is more directly dependent upon
> > the minerals we take into our systems than upon the calories or vitamins 
> > or
> > upon the precise proportions of starch, protein, or carbohydrates we
> > consume.
> >        It is now agreed that at least 16 mineral elements are
> > indispensable for normal nutrition, and several more are always found in
> > small amounts in the body, although their precise physiological role has
> > not been determined. Of the 11 indispensable salts, calcium, phosphorous,
> > and iron are perhaps the most important.
> >        Calcium is the dominant nerve controller; it powerfully affects the
> > cell formation of all living things and regulates nerve action. It governs
> > contractability of the muscles and the rhythmic beat of the heart. It also
> > coordinates the other mineral elements and corrects disturbances made by
> > them. It works only in sunlight. Vitamin D is its buddy.
> >        Dr. Sherman of Columbia asserts that 50 percent of the American
> > people are starving for calcium. A recent article in the Journal of the
> > American Medical Association stated that out of 4,000 cases in New York
> > Hospital, only 2 were not suffering from a lack of calcium.
> >        What does such a deficiency mean? How would it affect your health
> > or mine? So many morbid conditions and actual diseases may result that it
> > is almost hopeless to catalog them. Included in the list are rickets, bony
> > deformities, bad teeth, nervous disorders, reduced resistance to other
> > diseases, fatigability, and behavior disturbances such as incorrigibility,
> > assaultiveness, nonadaptability.
> >        Here's one specific example: The soil around a certain Midwest city
> > is poor in calcium. Three hundred children of this community were examined
> > and nearly 90 percent and bad teeth, 69 percent showed affections of the
> > nose and throat, swollen glands, enlarged or diseased tonsils. More than
> > one-third had defective vision, round shoulders, bow legs, and anemia.
> >        Calcium and phosphorous appear to pull in double harness. A child
> > requires as much per day as two grown men, but studies indicate a common
> > deficiency of both in our food. Researches on farm animals point to a
> > deficiency of one or the other as the cause of serious losses to the
> > farmers, and when the soil is poor in phosphorous these animals become
> > bone-chewers. Dr. McCollum says that when there are enough phosphates in
> > the blood there can be no dental decay.
> >            Iron is an essential constituent of the oxygen-carrying pigment
> > of the blood: iron starvation results in anemia, and yet iron cannot be
> > assimilated unless some copper is contained in the diet. In Florida many
> > cattle die from an obscure disease called "salt sickness." It has been
> > found to arise from a lack of iron and copper in the soil and hence in the
> > grass. A man may starve for want of these elements just as a beef 
> > "critter"
> > starves.
> >        If Iodine is not present in our foods the function of the thyroid
> > gland is disturbed and goiter afflicts us. The human body requires only
> > fourteen-thousandths of a milligram daily, yet we have a distinct "goiter
> > belt" in the Great Lakes section, and in parts of the Northwest the soil 
> > is
> > so poor in iodine that the disease is common.
> >        So it goes, down through the list, each mineral element playing a
> > definite role in nutrition. A characteristic set of symptoms, just as
> > specific as any vitamin-deficiency disease, follows a deficiency in any 
> > one
> > of them. It is alarming, therefore, to face the fact that we are starving
> > for these precious, health-giving substances.
> >        Very well, you say, if our foods are poor in the mineral salts they
> > are supposed to contain, why not resort to dosing?
> >        That is precisely what is being done, or attempted. However, those
> > who should know assert that the human system cannot appropriate those
> > elements to the best advantage in any but the food form. At best, only a
> > part of them in the form of drugs can be utilized by the body, and certain
> > dieticians go so far as to say it is a waste of effort to fool with them.
> > Calcium, for instance, cannot be supplied in any form of medication with
> > lasting effect.
> >        But there is a more potent reason why the curing of diet
> > deficiencies by drugging hasn't worked out so well. Consider those 16
> > indispensable elements and those others which presumably perform some
> > obscure function as yet undetermined. Aside from calcium and phosphorous,
> > they are needed only in infinitesimal quantities, and the activity of one
> > may be dependent upon the presence of another. To determine the precise
> > requirements of each individual case and to attempt to weigh it out on a
> > druggist's scale would appear hopeless.
> >        It is a problem and a serious one. But here is the hopeful side of
> > the picture: Nature can and will solve it if she is encouraged to do so.
> > The minerals in fruit and vegetables are colloidal; i.e. they are in a
> > state of such extremely fine suspension that they can be assimilated by 
> > the
> > human system: It is merely a question of giving back to nature the
> > materials with which she works.
> >
> >        We must rebuild our soils: Put back the minerals we have taken out.
> > That sounds difficult but it isn't. Neither is it expensive. Therein lies
> > the short cut to better health and longer life.
> >        When Dr. Northen first asserted that many foods were lacking in
> > mineral content and that this deficiency was due solely to an absence of
> > those elements in the soil, his findings were challenged and he was called
> > a crank. But differences of opinion in the medical profession are not
> > uncommon--it was only 60 years ago that the Medical Society of Boston
> > passed a resolution condemning the use of bathtubs -- and he persisted in
> > his assertions that inasmuch as foods did not contain what they were
> > supposed to contain, no physician could with certainty prescribe a diet to
> > overcome physical ills.
> >        He showed that the textbooks are not dependable because many of the
> > analyses in them were made many years ago, perhaps from products raised in
> > virgin soils, whereas our soils have been constantly depleted. Soil
> > analysis, he pointed out, reflect only the content of samples. One 
> > analysis
> > may be entirely different from another made 10 miles away.
> >        "And so what?" came the query.
> >        Dr. Northen undertook to demonstrate that something could be done
> > about it. By reestablishing a proper soil balance be actually grew crops
> > that contained an ample amount of desired minerals.
> >        This was incredible. It was contrary to the books and it upset
> > everything connected with diet practice. The scoffers began to pay
> > attention to him. Recently the Southern Medical Association, realizing the
> > hopelessness of trying to remedy nutritional deficiencies without positive
> > factors to work with, recommended a careful study to determine the real
> > mineral content of foodstuffs and the variations due to soil depletion in
> > different localities. These progressive medical men are awake to the
> > importance of prevention.
> >
> >        Dr. Northen went even further and proved that crops grown in a
> > properly mineralized soil were bigger and better; that seeds germinated
> > quicker, grew more rapidly and made larger plants; that trees were
> > healthier and put on more fruit of better quality.
> >      By increasing the mineral content of citrus fruit he likewise
> > improved its texture, its appearance and its flavor.
> >        He experimented with a variety of growing things, and in every case
> > the story was the same. By mineralizing the feed at poultry farms, he got
> > more and better eggs; by balancing pasture soils, he produced richer milk.
> > Persistently he hammered home to farmers, to doctors, and to the general
> > public the thought that life depends upon the minerals.
> >        His work led him into a careful study of the effects of climate,
> > sunlight, ultraviolet and thermal rays upon plant, animal, and human
> > hygiene. In consequence he moved to Florida. People familiar with his work
> > consider him the most valuable man in the State. I met him by reason of 
> > the
> > fact that I was harassed by certain soil problems on my Florida farm which
> > had baffled the best chemists and fertilizer experts available.
> >        He is an elderly, retiring man, with a warm smile and an engaging
> > personality, He is a trifle shy until he opens up on his pet topic; then
> > his diffidence disappears and he speaks with authority. His mind is a
> > storehouse crammed with precise, scientific data about soil, and food
> > chemistry, the complicated life processes of plants, animals, and human
> > beings -- and the effect of malnutrition upon all three. He is perhaps as
> > close to the secret of life as any man anywhere.
> >        "Do you call yourself a soil or a food chemist?" I inquired.
> >        "Neither. I'm an M.D. My work lies in the field of biochemistry and
> > nutrition. I gave up medicine because this is a wider and more important
> > work. Sick soils mean sick plants, sick animals, and sick people. 
> > Physical,
> > mental, and moral fitness depends largely upon an ample supply and a 
> > proper
> > proportion of the minerals in our foods. Nerve function, nerve stability,
> > nerve-cell-building likewise depend thereon. I'm really a doctor of sick
> > soils."
> >        "Do you mean to imply that the vegetables I'm raising on my farm
> > are sick?" I asked.
> >        "Precisely! They're as weak and undernourished as anemic children.
> > They're not much good as food. Look at the pests and the disease that
> > plague them. Insecticides cost farmers nearly as much as fertilizers these
> > days.
> >        "A healthy plant, however, grown in soil properly balanced, can and
> > will resist most insect pests. That very characteristic makes it a better
> > food product. You have tuberculosis and pneumonia germ in your system but
> > you're strong enough to throw them off. Similarly, a really healthy plant
> > will pretty nearly take care of itself in the battle against insects and
> > blights --and will also give the human system what it requires."
> >        "Good heavens! Do you realize what that means to agriculture?"
> >        "Perfectly. Enormous saving. Better crops. Lowered living costs to
> > the rest of us. But I'm not so much interested in agriculture as in
> > health."
> >        "It sounds beautifully theoretical and utterly impractical to me,"
> > I told the doctor, whereupon he gave me some of his case records.
> >        For instance, in an orange grove infested with scale, when he
> > restored the mineral balance to part of the soil, the trees growing in 
> > that
> > part became clean while the rest remained diseased. By the same means he
> > had grown healthy rosebushes between rows that were riddled by insects.
> >        He had grown tomato and cucumber plants, both healthy and diseased,
> > where the vines intertwined. The bugs ate up the diseased and refused to
> > touch the healthy plants! He showed me interesting analysis of citrus
> > fruit, the chemistry and the food value of which accurately reflected the
> > soil treatment the trees had received.
> >        There is no space here to go fully into Dr. Northen's work but it
> > is of such importance as to rank with that of Burbank, the plant wizard,
> > and with that of our famous physiologists and nutritional experts.
> >        "Healthy plants mean healthy people", said he. "We can't raise a
> > strong race on a weak soil. Why don't you try mending the deficiencies on
> > your farm and growing more minerals into your crops?"
> >        I did try and I succeeded. I was planting a large acreage of celery
> > and under Dr. Northen's direction I fed minerals into certain blocks of 
> > the
> > land in varying amounts. When the plants from this soil were mature I had
> > them analyzed, along with celery from other parts of the State. It was the
> > most careful and comprehensive study of the kind ever made, and it 
> > included
> > over 250 separate chemical determinations. I was amazed to learn that my
> > celery had more than twice the mineral content of the best grown 
> > elsewhere.
> > Furthermore, it kept much better, with and without refrigeration, proving
> > that the cell structure was sounder.
> >        In 1927, Mr. W. W. Kincaid, a "gentleman farmer" of Niagara Falls,
> > heard an address by Dr. Northen and was so impressed that he began
> > extensive experiments in the mineral feeding of plants and animals. The
> > results he has accomplished are conspicuous. He set himself the task of
> > increasing the iodine in the milk from his dairy herd. He has succeeded in
> > adding both iodine and iron so liberally that one glass of his milk
> > contains all of these minerals that an adult person requires for a day.
> >        Is this significant? Listen to these incredible figures taken from
> > a bulletin of the South Carolina Food Research Commission: "In many
> > sections three out of five persons have goiter and a recent estimate 
> > states
> > that 30 million people in the United States suffer from it."
> >        Foods rich in iodine are of the greatest importance to these
> > sufferers.
> >        Mr Kincaid took a brown Swiss heifer calf which was dropped in the
> > stockyards, and by raising her on mineralized pasturage and a properly
> > balanced diet made her the third all-time champion of her breed! In one
> > season she gave 21,924 pounds of milk. He raised her butterfat production
> > from 410 pounds in 1 year to 1,037 pounds. Results like these are of
> > incalculable importance.
> >        Others besides Mr. Kincaid are following the trail Dr. Northen
> > blazed. Similar experiments with milk have been made in Illinois and 
> > nearly
> > every fertilizer company is beginning to urge use of the rare mineral
> > elements. As an example I quote from statements of a subsidiary of one of
> > the leading copper companies:
> >        Many States show a marked reduction in the productive capacity of
> > the soil * * * in many districts amounting to a 25 to 50 percent reduction
> > in the last 50 years * * *. Some areas show a tenfold variation in 
> > calcium.
> > Some show a sixtyfold variation in phosphorus * * *. Authorities * * * see
> > soil depletion, barren livestock, increased human death rate due to heart
> > disease, deformities, arthritis, increased dental caries, all due to lack
> > of essential minerals in plant food.
> >
> >        "It is neither a complicated nor an expensive undertaking to
> > restore our soils to balance and thereby work a real miracle in the 
> > control
> > of disease," says Dr. Northen. "As a matter of fact, it's a money-making
> > move for the farmer, and any competent soil chemist can tell them how to
> > proceed.
> >        "First determine by analysis the precise chemistry of any given
> > soil, then correct the deficiencies by putting down enough of the missing
> > elements to restore its balance. The same care should be used as in
> > prescribing for a sick patient, for proportions are of vital importance.
> >        "In my early experiments I found it extremely difficult to get the
> > variety of minerals needed in the form in which I wanted to use them but
> > advancement in chemistry, and especially our ever-increasing knowledge of
> > colloidal chemistry, has solved that difficulty. It is now possible, by 
> > use
> > of minerals in colloidal form, to prescribe a cheap and effective system 
> > of
> > soil correction which meets this vital need and one which fits in 
> > admirably
> > with nature's plans.
> >        "Soils seriously deficient in minerals cannot produce plant life
> > competent to maintain our needs, and with the continuous cropping and
> > shipping away of those concentrates, the condition becomes worse.
> >        "A famous nutrition authority recently said, 'One sure way to end
> > the American people's susceptibility to infection is to supply through 
> > food
> > a balanced ration of iron, copper, and other metals. An organism supplied
> > with a diet adequate to, or preferably in excess of, all mineral
> > requirements may so utilize these elements as to produce artificially by
> > our present method of immunization. You can't make up the deficiency by
> > using patent medicine.'
> >        "He's absolutely right. Prevention of disease is easier, more
> > practical, and more economical than cure, but not until foods are
> > standardized on a basis of what they contain instead of what they look 
> > like
> > can the dietician prescribe them with intelligence and with effect.
> >        "There was a time when medical therapy had no standards because the
> > therapeutic elements in drugs had not been definitely determined on a
> > chemical basis. Pharmaceutical houses have changed all that. Food
> > chemistry, on the other hand, has depended almost entirely upon
> > governmental agencies for its research, and in our real knowledge of 
> > values
> > we are about where medicine was a century ago.
> >        "Disease preys most surely and most viciously on the
> > undernourishment and unfit plants, animals, and human beings alike, and
> > when the importance of these obscure mineral elements is fully realized 
> > the
> > chemistry of life will have to be rewritten. No one knows their mental or
> > bodily capacity, how well they can feel or how long they can live, for we
> > are all cripples and weaklings. It is a disgrace to science. Happily, that
> > chemistry is being rewritten and we are on our way to better health by
> > returning to the soil the things we have stolen from it.
> >        "The public can help; it can hasten the change. How? By demanding
> > quality in its food. By insisting that our doctors and our health
> > departments establish scientific standards of nutritional value.
> >        "The growers will quickly respond. They can put back those minerals
> > almost overnight, and by doing so they can actually make money through
> > bigger and better crops.
> >        "It is simpler to cure sick soils than sick people -- which shall
> > we choose?"
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > *********** END FORWARDED MESSAGE  ***********
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > ------------------------------
> >
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> >
> >
> > End of Livingontheland Digest, Vol 90, Issue 6
> > **********************************************
> > 
> 
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