Steve Eisenberg forwarded the following good-news article from the Great Falls Tribune:
BY KIM SKORNOGOSKI • TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER • APRIL 24, 2009
A Teton County jury Thursday sided with an organic rancher, saying it was a property owner’s right to decide how to control weeds along county roads. (more…)
Pollinators are animals that assist pollination of plants by moving pollen from one bloom to another. These can be butterflies, moths, certain types of beetles, hummingbirds, and so on. But perhaps the most well-known pollinators are bees:
As more honey bee colonies succumb to colony collapse disorder, nurturing of native pollinators is becoming increasingly important.
Native pollinators are threatened worldwide by habitat loss, pesticides, disease, parasites, and the effects of invasive species both as direct competitors and as negative influences upon pollinator habitat. These threats to the sustainability of native pollinators and their habitat have serious economic implications for humans and for native ecosystem diversity and stability. 3
For more, see the pdf file: Pollinators and Their Habitat (pdf, 296 KB)
See also Gathering Summary: Pollinators & their Habitat (pdf, 336 kb)
By Catherine Haug
Two recent articles in the NY Times: Eating Food That’s Better For You, Organic or Not, and Obamas to Plant Vegetable Garden at White House prompted me to revisit a November 2007 article I’d written for my personal website. This was actually a series of articles on Whole Healthful Foods; what follows is the one on Local vs Organic foods.
So many of us take for granted that food labeled “Organic” is the best there is, but is that really true?
by Catherine Haug
Thanks to fellow ESPer Steve Eisenberg for the attached post. See also Steve’s post: Notes from ‘Honeybees in the Ecosystem”; and Video: Honeybees and Colony Collapse Disorder.
Come to ESP’s Earth Day Gathering, April 22, 2009, to learn more about honeybees, native mason bees and native plants: Pollinators & Their Habitat.
And Stephanie will have a wonderful dessert!
by Eric Mortenson, The Oregonian
Friday April 10, 2009, 11:52 AM
GLADSTONE — It’s “bee day” at Ruhl Bee Supply. In the warehouse, 1,000 small wooden boxes, each holding 10,000 to 12,000 honey bees and a single queen, are ready for pickup.
Half the bees are a breed called Italian, known for their mellow disposition. The others are Carniolan, said to be more tolerant of cold and wet conditions.
Hundreds of stragglers and lonesome local bees crawl along the outside of the boxes, smelling the royal party within and anxious to join. Ruhl employees gently vacuum away the “cling-ons” as they prepare for the coming swarm.
Of customers.
Because beekeeping is, yes, all the buzz among a rising class of urban gardeners, organic hipsters and retired hobbyists. Some are looking for a ready crew of pollinators to work their vegetable gardens or fruit trees, and others are smacking their lips at the thought of fresh honey.
Read the Oregon Live Blog post for the rest of the article.
http://www.oregonlive.com/environment/index.ssf/2009/04/honeybee_be_mine.html
The USDA recently updated their Plant Hardiness Zone map, per a article on The Daily Planet blog:
USDA revises its plant hardiness map, bringing climate change down to earth for millions of households across the country.
By Jennifer Weeks
for the Daily Climate
As winter retreats northward across the nation, gardeners are cleaning tools and turning attention to spring planting. But climate change is adding a new wrinkle, and now a standard reference – the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Plant Hardiness Zone Map – is about to make very clear how much rising temperatures have shifted planting zones northward.
Read the entire article: Daily Climate: Climate Change Comes to Your Backyard .
View the updated map on the U.S. National Arboretum website.
by Catherine Haug
A few weeks ago, ESP posted an article on the the Organic Garden at the White House (Victory Garden 2009). Now that garden is under pressure from the pesticide lobbyists.
Refer to the following for opposing points of view:
I sent a message of support to Michelle Obama (see below for the text), using the White House Contact website to send my message. (more…)