week 10 &11

Over the past two weeks I have done 45 minutes of composting, 45 minutes of research and planning on how to keep our artichoke plants alive over the winter so that they will give us fruit next season, and 30 minutes of turning soil.

Week 9

An hour of planting the last of the late garlic and composting

Raw Milk Controversy: Legal Battle

Interesting elements form article, U.S. Raw Milk Advocates Invite Farmer on Hunger Strike to Rally:

• Michael Schmidt has been on a hunger strike since Sept. 29 drinking only water and wont stop his strike until the premier will agree to meet with him to talk about the rights to buy food directly from farmers
• In Canada it is illegal for the sale or distribution of raw milk
• He has 15 convictions of provincial offences related to selling unpasteurized milk

Questions after this reading:

• How long will Michael Schmidt be able to function on only water?
• When did it become illegal across Canada to distribute raw milk?

The Raw Milk Controversy: History

Interesting elements from Raw Milk Outbreak: Canadian Experience:

• None of the children who drank pasteurized milk in Toronto had bovine TB in 1920
• According to the CDC, in seven years from 1998 to 2005, there have been 39 outbreaks associated with un-pasteurized dairy products, which involved 1 death, 66 hospitalizations, and over 800 illnesses
• It is impossible to get sterile milk directly from an animal

Questions from the reading:

• What did farmers used to do to prevent or cure diseases spread from unpasteurized milk? (pre modern technology)

Myths About Organic Agriculture

Interesting elements from Mythbusting 101:

• 20 chemicals/pesticides, herbicides are organic approved and used in large amounts on organic crops even though they may be just as toxic as man made/synthetic pesticides
• work is being done to genetically engineer nuts so that they lack the protein that cause allergic reactions
• The pesticide, discontinued for causing Parkinson's disease like symptom in rats, is redistributed and poured in to the oceans to eliminate some species of fish

Questions after this reading:

• Is there some way we can genetically modify a plant to help with deadlier diseases such as cancer, HIV, etc.

Next time I'm buying organic I will look at the label to see if there is more information on their methods

Neonicitinoids

Interesting elements from the video:

• 30%-50% of hives per year are being lost in the U.S.
• Systemic pesticides are always in the plant from the roots all the way up to the nectar and were released onto the shelves before all the environmental effects were known
• The EPA does not perform the tests, it is the businesses that do the tests
• An average of 6 different pesticides but up to 39 pesticides in hives across the U.S. in each sample found in a study done in part by Pen university
• Short term consequences are being considered but long term consequences are not being taken into account
• Industries can bend tests to benefit themselves

Questions I now have

• How can we prove (faster) that declining honey bee numbers is linked to pesticides?
• Why are administrators approving pesticides when it is the scientists who know all the data and results?

week 8

This week I did 20 minutes of composting and I spent a little over an hour turning soil in the gardens.