Once a year before winter starts, Rick Singh Matharu’s mother and grandmother perform a pungent annual ritual in the backyard of their Brampton home.
Rick retrieves a one-litre Mason jar from the fridge and encourages me to take a whiff of its lightly browned, oil-slicked contents: sweet,…
May 24, 2013
Eh Mera Punjab: Punjabi Flavours Rule in Sikh-Canadian Stronghold: Brampton, Ontario, Canada
May 23, 2013
Farmers Shoulder Nearly $17B in Losses in 2012
Before farmers received a single dime in crop insurance indemnity payments, they shouldered $12.7 billion in losses as part of their deductibles to crop insurance policies
Federally supported crop insurance saved many of America’s farmers and rural economies following last year’s horrific drought conditions. I may have even joked on-line about harvesting insurance policies. Agrithoughts is right to remind us that farmers don’t shift ALL of the risk however. The deductibles are substantial. If you read the article you’ll note that within the insurance industry crop insurance lines appear to be much more likely to experience losses than property-casualty lines generally.
As you watch beef prices spiral up, also be aware that ranchers, as opposed to crop farmers, don’t benefit from crop insurance, at least not directly.
May 23, 2013
The "Ag-Gag" War
This article offers an easy to read summary of the status of Ag Gag bills this year, the truly soap operatic drama that’s gone down between animal advocates, politicians and big ag, and the best arguments for keeping the barn doors open rather than locking away our food and the animals who produce it.
As the author says, “Americans are not on speaking terms with their food”
May 22, 2013
After the careful removal of two large dams, salmon are returning to Washington’s Elwha River. Read more.
Wet Wednesday: I’ve commented before on the Elwha restoration. It’s great to see the project also covered by Utne Reader.
May 22, 2013
nybg:
-My Nerdy Nerdiness expresses itself :)
As a chemist, this makes me smile!
Huh, kinda interesting in a “I have no idea what this means” sort of way.
I will admit to having looked a few of these up to be sure I was interpreting them correctly. What you see are the chemical formulas of various substances used to mimic plant-based aromas and flavors. Pretty, and pretty neat. ~AR
To these I would add trimyristin, an essential component of nutmeg and probably the only thing I ever successfully isolated and identified in O-chem.
Structure of Trimyristin:
(Source: kilikilipowers, via eatgeekstudy)
May 21, 2013
Off Topic: How Does The Worst Human Being Of Retail Sleep At Night? After He Sees This, He Won’t.
I first heard of A&F in the Rock Hudson movie “Man’s Favorite Sport” back in the mid Sixties. I don’t recall much mention of it again until around 1990 when an international student living with us paid money for a pair of jeans that were already worn out. What a bizarre branding experience.
May 20, 2013
All of a sudden I’m happy that I was never around more than about 25 live hogs at a time.
“Mysterious Poop Foam Causes Explosions on Hog Farms”
This is all i have to say about this:
Factory farming: foamingshitbombs.
*drops mic and walks away*
*runs back on stage and picks up mic*
Don’t buy factory farmed meat, ya’ll. go the distance. seek out better. use my buying guide if you need help.
May 19, 2013
Influential Molecule of the Week: Piperine
p.s. Yes, H-D, I’m doing weekly updates just to frustrate you!
(via eatgeekstudy)
May 18, 2013
Farm Bill FAQs
Got questions about the farm bill? We’ve got answers.
Keepin it simple over at Modern Farmer.
Time to start watching Congress again.
May 17, 2013
Pest Degree-Day Calculator
Sometimes advances in ag sciences are just flat out exciting! This is the sort of collaborative research that can help move us to a truly sustainable agriculture. Integrated pest management (IPM) lacks the cachet of organic ag and the short term profitability of input intensive conventional agriculture, but IMHO offers greater long term prospects than either. Effective IPM will depend on these sorts of tools.
Wonder when the squash vine borer will come out to attack your lovely vines? One way to tell is through Degree-Day calculations. But how to do it? This Illinois website makes it simple.
Development of agricultural pests can be tracked and projected by maintaining an account of the “heat” accumulated during each growing season. This process involves a comparison of daily maximum and minimum temperatures to a base temperature, specific for a particular pest, above which development will occur.
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Very excited about my early morning birthday gift from mon homme.
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“I got a fan letter from a young lady. It was a suicide note.
So I called her, and I said, “Hey, this is Jimmy Doohan. Scotty, from Star...
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Why God Failed to Earn Tenure
With graduations (and faculty promotion and tenure season) just past, an oldie but a goodie: why God can’t earn tenure:
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“The biggest troublemaker you’ll ever have to deal with watches you from the mirror every morning.”— Farmer Wisdom
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Can political scientists measure "quality" of democracy?
Based on the recent article I co-authored with my friend, Mihaiela Ristei Gugiu, the short...
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Check out this awesome video my friend Lauren directed for Ovenly, an adorable bakery in Greenpoint. I had never been there until yesterday when I...
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Seriously… Come on people
