MOMS can change the world, AND the acceptable imports.

Wednesday, November 14, 2007

http://www.growfish.com.au/content.asp?contentid=595here is a link to all the lucious imported poisions in fish .. you know, fish we are supposed to eat more of for the benefits? here is a list of the products that china continues to send us... who needs Al Queda... we will harm ourselves by the products we buy . Not to mention what we will allow our kids to ingest... lead... GHB when does it end?When do we stand up and STOP buying the things we dont read the labels of !!!We shop at Wally world because its cheap not because its safe... well how bout if you stood up for your children, for our future, for our rights as consumers to demand a safe product by not buying one that IS NOT safe.put your money where your future is !!! rewad the label , buy us only fish ... and shop around for US made toys this holiday season lets say to china ... they cannot convert us to communism by increasing our national debt.if you need more information or impetus then herehttp://www.boston.com/news/world/asia/articles/2007/06/28/safety_woes_widen_for_chinas_goods/

winterize the garden ..

For my climate it is time to put in fall veggies... barely time that is... I am separating off branches of my sweet potato plants, and sprigging them in the dirt hoping to create more sweet potatos before winter... First frost here is usually in november... So I still have time to get potatoes in the ground, and start some more spinich ... possibly broccoli and cabbage ... they like it cooler ...
Im covering areas of the garden with my black tarp to kill off the weeds and compost them into my soil.. trhen I will pull and rake the remaining vegitation out of the area ready for planting... then I may even amend the soil with some compost.. We will see.
for the better part of the production year my garden reamined fairly weed free but 3 weeks of no attention has seen nature take back over .. and leaves me with a lot more work !
I know I can get my gardens production to be great and cover several seasons but it is a learning process for me as I discover which plants can tollerate being planted late and which cannot..
I will of course let you know !

the economy and being green

The fed drops interest rates, and consumer confidence wanes? sound familiar? the housing market slumps , and people are invested deeply in the stock market. milk has increased by over 21% eggs 33% solution? Well mine is ... get a couple hens and start milking my goat. Only trouble with that is, in the US many states now make it illegal to milk and consume your own dairy. did you know that ? the corporations that control US dairy have pushed to make it illegal for you to drink share or sell your own milk or goats milk.

there are facts in the world, Food is a marketable comodity. people need food shelter and clothing. so I can spin yarn and grow food 2 down . most food travels a minimum of 3000 miles to reach your table . it stands to reason then to buy local helps the environment.
when you buy local produce, and from local farmers for your meat and dairy , you encourage those around you who farm, to increase their production.

I helped feed 5 added families produce from my garden this year. I will next year try to offer some for sale at my local farmers market , only I will try to grow unique and gourmet items.
but because of the prices of food increasing I will put up more food. I will can and freeze as much as I can store. it is local and as long as my freezer is efficent and an energy saver, it should be better than having my food shipped in from China .. or the honduras. So besides veggies, I will be putting up lamb and chicken, and I guess in the spring when my goats "freshen" I will learn how to cleanly milk them and begin using that too.

a comment on things to do !

Helen said...
I love water bottles -- they let me carry water in a perfect sized container -- anywhere! And I drink a LOT of water if I have one w/ me. I WISH they'd make a nalgene bottle in the easy to use size... but until they do, I buy one or two bottles of water in the evil plastic, but reuse them to death. Eventually, someone will decide that my empty water bottle is really trash, and recycle it before I can stop it... but for now, we rotate about a six-pack worth through the refrigerator, refilling whenever we drink from them. It doesn't eliminate the plastic use, but it sure cuts down.
August 13, 2007 12:17 PM

Great idea Helen !
every little bit helps!
I encourage everyone I know to change out light bulbs for the more efficent flourescent bulbs.
i have even bought friends who were on a tight budget a pack of 5 or so. We ALL know the regulars will burn out, and if money was tight then they will eventually uise the flourescent ones to be able to not have to run to the store. lol and maybe the better bulb will just "stick"

thinking green

thinking green helps. When i purchase things I ask myself if I can recycle the packaging or if it is bio degradable.. I know we do not have much in the way of recycling in my area, so when I buy a soda in a single serve, I buy it in an aluminum can. Aluminum is the one metal I am certian that my landfill removes and seperates. They dont remove MANY plastics.
I try to recycle anything I can that works in my compost pile, and food scraped from plates, feeds the chickens. so, the same energy, grown, cooked, and eaten, then possibly wasted by being tossed out, gets used yet again , feeding something else that while it emits co2 , is not emitting MORE co2 by being fed a processed grain as well as anything I can come up with.,
Speaking to my hay grower, there have been droughts and hay shortages in parts of the country that are driving buyers to our area, to buy hay.. they are inadvertently driving up the price of our hay. Making us look worried at the price our hay may cost us by the end of the upcoming winter.

things to do

If you buy plastics, for the most part , you are causeing co2 emissions thru their creation and disposal. I try myself to use as few as I can, or to use only those things I will re- use over and over and over.
But for the "everyday things" like grocery bags , I am using thicker tougher corn feed bags , I have cut them down to size a little and added a narrow strip of fabric to the bottom. I have also added a rope draw string handle.

I have also switched to buying glass or aluminum if I buy a drink for one when Im running my errands. at least the aluminum or glass can be better more efficently recycled.

if you have ideas or tips for this please do add on to it !!

being green

well the garden is getting a second set of plants put in, by me of course, and we are working on the farm of course, as this is the perpetual summer activity.
I thought I would make a suggestion about what we wear, and what we make and craft with.
Try using all natural fiber. there are LOTS of new ones to choose from. bananna silk, ingeo, soy silk, hemp, pashmina, mohair, angora, etc etc etc... all of these give you a ton of satisfaction in making gifts for others..

wearing cotton and wool is better for the environment, because it is renuable. also acrylic fibers and synthetic fibers melt to the skin . Wool does not it actually naturally resists burning. If more people pushed for natural fiber in their clothing there would be less of a demand on synthetics.


there are alternate methods to color these yarns and fibers as well as teaching your children.
use felt and cotton string in your crafts.
get white felt and tie it with cotton strings... use food coloring or kool aide, to tie dye it
but this can be done with white, natural fibered yarns you can buy. it does not work with acrylics.
good luck !!!

libby gets freedom, citizens dont.

How to become a "serf" in one easy step .


By Doreen HannesApril 22, 2007NewsWithViews.com
All you have to do is register your property with the USDA under the National Animal Identification System. You'll be assigned a seven-character number that stays with the property forever and the USDA "owns" that number according to " A User Guide" which is their latest public document on the program.
The premise id number or PIN will set you solidly in the position of giving up your rights to ownership. How can I say that? Well, words have meaning for a reason. The USDA, in their original documents regarding NAIS, refers to participants as "stakeholders" repeatedly, twenty one times in the Draft Strategic Plan alone. They also use the term "national herd" and tell us that NAIS is necessary to protect the health and marketability of the "national herd". First let's look at the PIN and then at animal identification with official NAIS compliant tags.
The USDA claims to "own" the PIN (page6 A User Guide) and when one is assigned a PIN either through truly volunteering for it or being rolled into it via other disease control programs, it stays with the property forever (Draft Program Standards pg 16-read the whole section on PIN) and the person who owns the property becomes a stakeholder. The definition of stakeholder is as follows:
"The term stakeholder, as traditionally used in the English language in law and notably gambling, is a third party who temporarily holds money or property while its owner is still being determined."
Yep. While it's owner is still being determined. It doesn't make me feel all warm and fuzzy. Now let's look at the definition of ownership as a comparison. Wikipedia defines the term as follows:
"Ownership is the state or fact of exclusive possession or control of property, which may be an object, land/real estate, intellectual property or some other kind of property. It is embodied in an ownership right also referred to as title."
So, if you have exclusive possession or control of the property in question, how can you be a stakeholder? Well, you can't be. Either it's your property, or it's someone else's property. With the NAIS, it's not your property once you have a PIN making you a stakeholder and putting you under the jurisdiction of the Area Veterinarian In Charge or AVIC. ("A User Guide" is loaded with 'consult your AVIC' with any questions about anything.)
This brings about some very serious questions regarding not only livestock but also real estate. Since the USDA "owns" the Premise Identification Number (page 6 "A User Guide") and the number can only be 'inactivated' and not expunged or completely annihilated, does it create an encumbrance on property with the PIN? Should that be part of the disclosure on the property? What happens if someone who doesn't want to be in NAIS in any way buys property with a PIN? (You know, since it's "voluntary".) Are they automatically put into the position of stakeholder under the authority of the AVIC? Will the USDA expunge that PIN upon request? According to USDA documents, even though the program is 'voluntary at the Federal level", the PIN stays permanently with the property, not with the person who applied for the PIN. What about the person whose property was assigned a PIN via the roll in procedures that have been employed to increase premise registration numbers using other programs like scrapie and brand registration or participation in the QSA program for cattle? What are the answers to these questions? It sure looks like they will need to be determined in court, as the USDA has no answers available in any of their documents.
Then of course we want to know who owns the "national herd" anyway? It can't be the stakeholder who has been assigned a premise identification number, because the stakeholder is waiting for the rightful owner to be determined, and it can't be the county or the state if this is indeed the National Animal Identification System. When NAIS is in full implementation, all covered animals, 29 species from clams to cattle, will be required to have official identification. Official identification consists of a NAIS compliant number issued with the country code at the beginning. The country code for the United States is 840. It may or may not surprise you to learn that the 840 code covers all financial instruments, like stocks, checks, and bearable securities otherwise known as dollar bills. You can find this beautiful tidbit by searching for ISO-4217. This International Organization of Standards code covers only financial instruments. When I first looked into the 840 country code there was no designation for 840 under the claimed code of ISO-3166 which is a manufacturing standard. There were only two and three character alpha codes, like US and USA, in ISO-3166. The only assignations 6 months ago for "840" were in the ISO-4217 standard which covers financial instruments and a UN assigned country code.
Regulations are already in place making it unlawful to remove or tamper with an official identification device. (User guide page 39) This regulation will lead to fully implemented three component NAIS in the not too distant future. Here's the thing, if you cannot remove an NAIS tag from an animal and the person who sold the animal is a participant in NAIS then the sale of the animal will need to be reported as a high risk activity, and the premise id of the person buying the officially identified animal will have to be recorded, or assigned whichever the case may be, the premise id is not to be expunged only inactivated if animals are no longer held on the property. No rules have been promulgated regarding whether or not official devices must be disclosed as being affixed to the animal at a sale barn, so one could actually purchase an animal with no foreknowledge of it's status as an NAIS compliant animal. However there are plenty of references to participation in the NAIS being built upon the PIN as the foundation of the system. You can't have an NAIS id device on an animal without having a PIN, you can't record 'events' regarding an animal in the NAIS information repositories without having an NAIS identification device on the animal. It's one, two, three, with the foundation of the entire system being premise identification and changing the status of the property holder from owner to stakeholder.
To further substantiate my claims, please look into the case of Mr. Dobbins in the United Kingdom. Some of his numbers on his registered show herd of dairy cattle were not jibing with their passports, so Defra (Department for Environment Food and Rural Affairs, the UK's USDA) took all of his cattle passports and confiscated his entire herd giving him 48 hours to positively identify all 576 of his cattle before they destroyed them. He couldn't identify them because Defra had confiscated all of his documents. It's like show me the title to the car, while I have taken the title and hidden it in my house thirty miles away. As an added slap in the face, no indemnity is necessary under EC regulations when animals are not identified in exact compliance with their regulations. The man's entire livelihood was destroyed because not every piece of paper was in the prescribed order.
“The ideal tyranny is that which is ignorantly self-administered by its victims. The most perfect slaves are, therefore, those which blissfully, and unawaredly enslave themselves.”_ Dresden James

It is very important to understand exactly what the definition of property is before agreeing to give it away. We tend to devalue the idea of property, as "just property" thus showing our ignorance, and disregard for our precious rights of ownership. Property is divided into two classes: real property such as land, or real estate, and personal property meaning everything to which we own title that is not land or real estate.

The ownership of property is one of our most precious rights granted under the Constitution of the United States of America. It establishes we the people as individuals with the freedom to control our own lives. The founding fathers of this great land came from European kingdoms where all of the people, and all of the land, and all of the animals, and all of the goods belonged to the monarchy. They understood that ownership is freedom. The right of property ownership is given an important place in our enumerated freedoms.

Ownership, and possession of property are two different things under the law. Ownership gives the title holder the right to retain, and to enjoy your property to the exclusion of all others. Possession is the right to temporary custody and does not necessarily include the right to title. For example a renter of an apartment, or garage, or the lessee of a dog or a bitch for breeding purposes has temporary possession without ownership. The landlord, or registered dog owner has the title, and all of the rights that accompany ownership, but is not in temporary possession of said property. Property can be acquired in numerous ways, it can be bought, inherited, received as a gift. A sale transfers ownership from the buyer to the seller. It is the expected responsibility of the owner to maintain the property in such a manner as to cause no harm to either the property, or to the surrounding neighbors, or neighborhood. With ownership, comes responsibilities that are not incurred by those persons having simple possession, such as a guardian. A guardian is simply a buffer between the actual owner i.e. the landlord, or in the case of animals, or human beings the government. The guardian has no intrinsic rights of possession, that possession is transitory and is subject to the terms of agreement between the true owner, and the guardian. A guardian has no rights in buying, selling, or trading of property. A guardian is financially responsible for the property while said property is in his/her possession.

Emotional attachment in an animal is an important reason to retain ownership, rather than relinquishing said ownership. An owner has a legal right to possession. Only when an owner's negligence, or carelessness gives due cause for the removal of the property may authorities take legal steps to remove that property from the ownership, and possession of the titled owner. Each case must be tried on an individual basis so that all owners are not subject to the same punishments as the irresponsible, careless, or negligent owner.

Breed specific dog laws are much easier to fight when we retain ownership, and use rights over our animals. There has been great headway made in the Courts of this land to overturn BSL, after the initial losses. Animals are among the most ancient of traditional property. If we wish to continue to have animals in our possession, then we should fight strenuously to retain our ownership, and property rights.



this was an article i read recently and liked .

Why would I choose to ..

Farm. I consider it a partial sustainable agriculture. I cannot grow ALL that we eat but I raise quite a healthy portion of it. I do it organically. I do it on 6 acres. Many paople look at me funny and befuddled, repeatedly asking me "why would you want to do this"? " dont you have to work from sun up to sun down?" I always say yes, but that sun up to sun down does not include my 3am trips to check on lambing ewes.

I care about the future of the planet , but I could do that in many other ways. And I am almost 40, the impacts wont really directly affect me. My sons and daughter yes, But at their curent ages there is no reprieve from the disgust at my way of doing things.

But I think even without them here I would grow my own food, and try to be as independant as I can be. I like knowing how much food I have squirreled away. I like a low grocery bill.I like learning new plants and new vegetables here . and how to grow them.
I like my spinning wheel , and my no-cell phone life.

remember , Live earth is on 07-07 and here is a link for convienence :)
http://liveearth.msn.com/

have you seen this?

http://video.stumbleupon.com/#p=8cvc0dxcg2

this is about the electric car. It should help put into real perspective why we do not have inexpensive and efficent electric transportation.

Time to pick..

The potato plants are beginning to wilt. The flowers have been dead about 4 weeks , and now the plant stalks are falling over and separating ..Im assuming this is an indicator of time to pick them.
I have several larger brown paper bags that I have saved up , and am now, putting my new crop white potatoes into them . I have not washed them, and I am hoping to find them a place cool and out of the way.

Someplace in my font of useless knowledge I have seen where Im supposed to put one apple into the bag to keep them from becoming seed potatoes, but further research is showing that to have mixed results. commonly the answer seems to be cool and dark. At this time, my house is much cooler than it is outside .

I am selecting to pick half my potato crop now, and giving the other half a week or so before I pick it. perhaps leaving it in the ground will work, but I have lost potatoes to rot this way as well.
I will let everyone know which gives me the greatest success.

Other news on the homefront :

I have completed a puppet, That I will be sending off to the Oprah Winfrey show on Monday. to see this puppet, go to my tomato-patch blog where I have posted new pictures of my latest fiber art sculpture.

Tip for the day:

the old Parmesan cheese containers can be used as a duster for your garden if you use a pyrethrum dust.
some people feel that pyrmetherin dust is NOT organic I beg to differ. Pyrethrum grows from a plant. Pyrethrum
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search
Pyrethrum refers to several Old World plants of the genus Chrysanthemum (e.g., C. coccineum) which are cultivated as ornamentals for their showy flower heads. It is also the name of a natural insecticide made from the dried flower heads of C. cinerariifolium and C. coccineum. Some members of Chrysanthemum, including these two, are placed in another genus, Tanacetum, by some authorities. Both genera are members of the daisy (or aster) family, Asteraceae. They are perennial plants with a daisy-like appearance and white petals.
C. cinerariifolium is called the Dalmatian chrysanthemum, denoting its origin in that region of the Balkans (Dalmatia). It looks more like the common daisy than other pyrethrums. Its flowers, typically white with a yellow center, grow from numerous fairly rigid stems. Plants have blue-green leaves and grow to between 45 to 60 cm in height. The plant is economically important as a natural source of insecticide. The flowers are pulverized and the active components called pyrethrins, contained in the seed cases, are extracted and sold in the form of an oleoresin. This is applied as a suspension in water or oil, or as a powder. Pyrethrins attack the nervous systems of all insects, and inhibit female mosquitoes from biting. When not present in amounts fatal to insects, they still appear to have an insect repellent effect. They are harmful to fish, but are far less toxic to mammals and birds than many synthetic insecticides and are non-persistent, being biodegradable and also breaking down easily on exposure to light. They are considered to be amongst the safest insecticides for use around food. Kenya produced 90% (over 6,000 tonnes) of the world's pyrethrum in 1998, called py for short. Production in Tanzania and Ecuador is also significant.
C. coccineum, the Persian chrysanthemum, is native the Caucasus and looks somewhat like a daisy. It produces large white, pink or red flowers. The leaves resemble those of ferns, and the plant grows to between 30 and 60 cm in height. The flowering period is June to July in temperate climates (Northern hemisphere). C. coccineum also contains insecticidal pyrethrum substances used for centuries as a lice remedy ("Persian Insect Powder", "Persian Pellitory") in the Middle East, but it is a relatively poor source compared to C. cinerariifolium.
Other species such as C. balsamita and C. marshalli also contain insecticidal substances, but are less effective than the two species mentioned above.
Pyrethroids are synthetic insecticides based on natural pyrethrum (pyrethrins); one common example is permethrin. A common formulation of pyrethrin is in preparations containing the synthetic chemical piperonyl butoxide: this has the effect of enhancing the toxicity to insects and speeding the effects when compared with pyrethrins used alone. These formulations are known as synergized pyrethrins.


so, IMHO if you get a pyrethrum dust and use it sparingly in your yard or garden , it is not being non organic. I DO avoid dusting in the early morning though because the bees are visiting. I also avoid any kind of dusting when the blossoms are really heavy , and if the plant looks healthy.
You can also use the canister for a mix of ,
20 mule team borax, baking soda and if necessary a few tbsp of pyrethrum dust. I take the wick from a scent oil product that are usually used in room deodorizers. I use mine for so many other things. I remove the wick and soak 2 cotton balls with the oil. I then re-insert the wick and save it for the last time I would make a batch of "carpet deodorizer, flea killer" I allow it to stay on my carpet for several hours and then yes, vacuum it up well.
the canister can be used over and over...

Attention to the details...

looking outside the window. Listening to the normal sounds of your area and home. Knowing when someone pulls up in your driveway. Not walking and takling or driving and talking on a cell phone.
No wonder so many people are victimized these days and we arent teaching our kids to "pay attention to their surroundings" They know more about the cable channel line up than they do about the exterior of their home.
Because I live on a farm Im dealing with city kids who come up for the summer, cousins...
the horses could be loaded up in a trailer and carried off... dogs could be killing off my entire flock of sheep and these kids would not bother looking out the window. Its not as if we are on 100 acres and they would be seruiously far from the crime scene, we are on 6 acres..
How can we teach kids to pay attention to the world around them without them learning from a tragedy?
How can I send a kid out on one of my horses on a trail ride if they cant look out a window at a blaring horn? How can I expect kids like this to look for the best ways to adapt and be more "green" if they cannot look outside the frame of that video game?

paper? plastic? or corn???

From a "fact" based reply from Gristmill : when asked for more info about "plastic and petroleum, (this is cut and pasted , )
You are probably familiar with the basic types of plastic, though you may not know their science-y names, which are often abbreviated on the bottom of your household products. Polyethylene (HDPE or LDPE) is the soft one you likely encounter most, in milk jugs, shampoo bottles, plastic bags, and so forth. Polystyrene (PS) is the hard plastic that makes casings for computers and other appliances, and also the basis of the foam product we fondly (but trademark infringingly) call Styrofoam. Polypropylene (PP) is used in dishwasher-safe containers and is also the magical fiber that rugged outdoors people favor. You'll often find polyethylene terephthalate (PET) in soda bottles, and it is sometimes recycled into fleece, upholstery fabrics, and other useful materials. And then of course there's polyvinyl chloride (PVC) -- no vinyl, and that's final.

How does plastic stack up in terms of oil use?
So how much oil is consumed by this process? This is the tricky part. From what I can tell, plastic production is a bit like leather production: it's one part of a complicated harvest. When crude oil is refined, its various chemical bits are separated. Some become gasoline, some diesel fuel, some motor oil, and others the raw material for plastics. The best estimate I could find says that about 4 percent of the world's annual oil production of some 84.5 million barrels per day is used as feedstock for plastic, and another 4 percent or so provides the energy to transform the feedstock into handy plastic.
Let's say a foam cup is what you had in mind as a "typical" plastic. In a classic study that closely examined the inputs for a foam cup vs. a paper cup and found the paper cup wanting, the petroleum inputs to the foam cup were 3.2 grams. (I'll leave it to you to weigh a foam cup if you want to, because I do not have one on hand, and I want you to feel empowered and participatory.) I've also seen it described slightly differently, that it requires about 1.78 kilograms of petroleum feedstock to make a kilogram of polystyrene.
We could make and use fewer petroleum-based plastics, but I don't know how much that would cut into oil drilling. Recycling, however, does cut into energy use. According to the U.S. EPA, manufacturing new plastic from recycled plastic requires two-thirds of the energy used in virgin plastic manufacture. I have more numbers, too: one ton of recycled plastic saves 685 gallons of oil. You can find lots of these "x amount is saved when we recycle" numbers in recycling promotional literature.
Abruptly,Umbra


But it got me to thinking, I had heard recently of new things being done with and in Of all things corn again ( any wonder the price keeps going up?) . again the below article is a "curt and paste" from "The Christian Science monitor"


A new corn-based plastic disappears into the dirt
By Liz Nakazawa Special to The Christian Science Monitor PORTLAND, ORE. – When you next buy a tub of potato salad, the container it comes in may be made from another vegetable - corn.
A new line of corn-based plastics, called polylactides or PLA, has begun to land on supermarket shelves. Its strongest selling points are that it fully degrades in 47 days, doesn't emit toxic fumes when incinerated, and requires 20 to 50 percent less fossil fuel to manufacture than regular plastics.
Graphic
Making biodegradable plastic

Related stories 01/20/00
Tough as soybeans

In May, 11 Wild Oats Markets on the West Coast became the first grocery stores in North America to switch from conventional plastics to the new corn-based product, with plans to roll them out nationally into all 90 stores later this year.
As part of the roll-out, Wild Oats has installed in-store bins where customers can return their empty containers. "We then take them to an industrial composting facility and they turn the containers into compost, which we then sell in our stores to people who buy it for their gardens," says Sonja Tuitele, communications director of Wild Oats.
A European retailer has also been selling the new plastic products. IPER, a 21-store chain in Italy, has been using the packaging for a year and has expanded its use from deli departments to dairy and bakery areas.
The new plastic has a few quirks, however. The biodegradable materials won't break down in regular landfills; they have to be taken to special industrial sites and treated like compost. Nor will they decompose in home compost bins: Temperatures there don't reach the required 284 degrees F. Yet the containers will melt if filled with hot food, or placed in the dishwasher or microwave.
Cargill, an international agriculture corporation, and Dow Chemical, have a joint venture making one line of PLA. Within 10 years, says Cargill spokesman Michael O'Brian, the company expects to be making 1 billion pounds of corn-derived plastics each year. That would mean 10 percent of the nation's annual corn supply would be converted into plastics and fiber.
PLA can also be used as an alternative for molded foam products, electronic packaging, and cups. For instance, the Coca-Cola Company used 500,000 cups made from corn at the 2002 Olympic Winter Games in Salt Lake City. And instead of creating a huge trash problem, the used cups were composted and turned into dirt.
What separates biodegradable plastics from their more long-lived cousins are polymers. Plastics based on natural plant polymers, derived from wheat or corn starches, have molecules that are easily broken down by microbes; traditional plastics have polymer molecules too large and too tightly bonded together to be broken apart by decomposer organisms.
Most biodegradable plastics currently on the market are between two and 10 times more expensive than traditional plastics. Yet plastics constitute 9 percent of the 156 million tons of trash Americans generate each year, and many consumers would be willing to pay the extra costs for a replacement product that biodegrades. According to a recent survey from market research firm RoperASW, 51 percent of respondents would pay a premium of up to 10 percent for environmentally safer versions of plastic packaging.


I say, if we request it, there may be more and more alternative plastics. I can say we are already seeing some of this in the textile industry with additions like soy silk, ingeo, and bamboo. Makes me hope we can make a difference , in time.

Tip for the day: put your thermostat at 78 degrees. If your home holds temp well, and it dosent become too hot inside 78 is very tollerable. BUT if you notice it is growing increasinly hot, you may want to check the state of your roof and shingles, and the caulk around your windows.
a reasonable caulk can be as low as 2$ a tube .

answering recent questions.

As far as the question posed about sunflower plantations being as impactful as Palm oil plantations, I believe that sunflower plants do not require the specialized environment and growing zones that the plam oil plantations require. In order to grow palm oil , large rain forests must be destroyed. Sunflowers can be grown in prairie, or grass land zones, and do not require deforestation to grow.

As far as hay in between my rows in my garden , I do not have the seed issues with grass hay (coastal Bermuda) but DO grow tons of grass if I put down straw our straw here is full of wheat seed . I have also heard pine chips actually leech nutrients from the soil , but in all honesty I haven't ever looked that one up.

You COULD go to a local feed distributor and put up a sign for unwanted wool . some farms raise sheep purely for food and shear because its humane not because they use the fiber. That wool is great in the rows of a garden as a weed blocker.

and lastly I have seen many many methods for lasagna gardening. I improvised using what I had in ample supply around here keeping the "no till" Principal in mind and so far I love my results.

I did once raise chickens , never ducks and used to hatch out about 250 each spring.I have since decided sheep are easier and more of what I am into :)

I'm posting a photo in this one of my cashgora doe ling just because she is so cute.

palm oil and its consequences

It seems a lot of things contain palm oil.
Deforestation is the cost. Removing natural trees from a forest and replacing them with field after field of palm oil trees. There has to be a better way. A better substitute.
How can I as a single consumer affect the expansion of these fields of palm oil plantations.
I can not buy things containing palm oil.
I will be looking for manufacturers that make things containing palm oil.
but until I can find a way to make an impactful list that we as consumers can "boycott" traditionally, here is a site with information about the palm oil problem
http://palmoilandtheenvironment.blogspot.com/

I personally use , regular sunflower oil to cook with, or olive oil. I try not to use corn oil because the price is climbing, and its not as heart healthy as I like, and I do not use oleo, or margarine.
apparently the human body can recognize butter as a fat it can get rid of . Whereas "whipped" (hydrogenated)fat, is harder to recognize and get rid of.

I am a hand spinner, and in our group of active knitters, there are many faceted talents.
I raise lamb, and veggies from my garden but there is another lady who bakes homemade bread. I may trade her veggies from the garden for some of her bread.

I am also drying herbs for teas for the winter. my paper bags work great for this as well. But some herbs are harder for me to grow here. I have another friend in NJ, that I mail care pkgs to once or twice a year, and I may request some of her goldenrod, for dyeing and allergy teas.

There are many ways we can network to save money, gas and energy. For example, When I go to the bulk foods store I pick up more than just for me, because it is closest to me. When I meet up with my friends at a neutral point like the knitting shop I take their flour and spices, etc.
Where I am then reimbursed.

and I promise, I will slow down my writing, check my spelling more,
and try to insert more text breaks and punctuation where it belongs. In short proofread before I post . Thanks !

Gardening

I read an article in I think it was mother earth news , about lasagne gardening,

http://www.motherearthnews.com/Organic-Gardening/1999-04-01/Lasagna-Gardening.aspx

about lasagne gardening , and here it is June first , and Im posting my results so far. I am in Southeastern part of NC and our growing season is usually long, however, this is better results than I have ever had

Top photo shows spinich , though that is beginning to bolt,

and behind that is lettuce and broccoli.

to the rt of that row is my blue lake bush beans , cabbage, dent corn, beets and carrots

Below you see more of the area , with potatoes, cabbage, silver queen corn more beans and okra as well as tomatoes and cukes.

I have added zero fertilizer except compost and bunny manure. I have added several types of heirloom seeds, from some great companies, and am getting wonderful results im excited to see thhe amish paste tomatoes. my personal faviorite thing I do with herbs is store them in brown paper lunch sacks. whenI pick them I put them into the bag and let them sit. They dry that way and no need to put them on any dehydrator.

I can later use that same paper bag for the next spring and if for some reason they rip or I need to discard them I can then put them into the row portion of my garden as a weed blocker.

I also use belly wool and scrap felted wwool from the sheep into the rows. It helps to keep down some of the weeds. now Im off to put some old hay into the rows because some of the weeds are beginning to take advantage .

Rumor mill on bees and corn

We have all heard some of the latest stories that GM (genetically modified) crops are killing the bees. Organic bee keepers say this is not the case for them as much and they cannto keep hives near GM foods because the crops do not sufficently feed those bees, look here for more on this
http://www.organicconsumers.org/articles/article_5094.cfm

Also rumor has it that this years grain crop is being counted on for more than ever before.
I know for myself, the corn prices have elevated to such a level that I can no longer afford to feed my livestock a base made of grain
http://mmdnewswire.com/content/view/1257/
My latest changes have included going to a base of beet pulp (a natural by product of creating sugar from sugar beets) and alfalfa cubes, with only about 2% of the daily feed consumed coming from grains. I have not seen signifigant weight variations, or health conditions arise from these changes, but I also offer good quality grass hay , a mineral salt suppliment,
and sometimes, rice bran , also a fat source by produuct from rice.

My protien sources though are now cotton seed meal and soy bean meal .
horse feed and whole corn has steadily increased in price but beet pulp and believe it or not alfalfa have not.
still feeding organic but now, feeding from a more available and steady supply.
a great place for more information regarding buying local food can be found here !
http://www.sustainabletable.org/issues/buylocal/
annd please, help this blog grow by sending us your ideas .
now im off to photograph for the blog from my garden !

Welcome !

I know its hard , trying to be green on a budget but I think we can all do it together! I DO want feedback and ideas , tell me how you do green things in your area that help your life, and by al means if you know of a step Im missing to make my life greener please tell me !
For example I believe in sustainability.
I grow a garden I raise sheep. Sheep exude co2, but I spin the wool and use the feces in my compost. We do eat what we grow , but we do not feed hormones or unnecessary chemicals. I feed my animals my weeds from my garden and they make it so we do not mow. I have cordoned off areas in my yard, that I can allow the ranging of sheep goats and my horses. so we might at most weed whack along the house 1 or 2x a year.. but rarely mow.
its time for the gardens to go in, I read mother earth news and used their ideas for a no till garden , which I have to say is probably looking like my best garden ever. but one of the things I do , regularly, I shop at my grocery store and buy a lot of local produce when it is in season. I dehydrate peaches, and put them in jars,I freeze them , I can them , and I do the same with all of the other veggies I possibly can . so that we buy very little from any distances.

I do not buy pre-mixed yogurts and more, things I can easily mix here at my home...
I do get my old sour cream containers, and re-use them for yogurt, and fruit in the fridgs.

I wash out and re-use baggies when they held frozen cleaned veggies. not meats.

we have on each pay day , purchased a 3 pack of the long life light bulbs, until now, the whole house has them. If you do not like the cold blue light, use a cream colored shade...
We wash everything in cold water, and dry using a clothes line.
and I have eliminated all anti bacterial products from my home. soaps and cleansers that claim to be anti bacterial have shown to be harmful to the environment.
so as an alternative, I use peroxide... bleach... and my all time fave is chlorhexadine.
thats good for direct skin injuries etc..
in different labeled bottles, for different applications.

I am looking to add good informative links
articles and tips
to this blog on a regular basis !
now Im off to work on it some, add some photos and more, but until tomorrow, how challenging can you make being green? dosent there "have to be an easier way?"