Organic for Health

President's Cancer Panel

If you haven’t yet heard the news, you will. Yesterday the President’s Cancer Panel released a report that is nothing less than monumental for the organic food movement.

It urges consumers to choose food grown without pesticides or chemical fertilizers, antibiotics and growth hormones to decrease their exposure to chemicals that can increase their risk of developing cancer.

This landmark report by a prestigious mainstream scientific panel is recognition at the highest level that the chemicals present in our environment have direct and serious consequences for human health — especially for children, who are far more susceptible to damage from environmental chemical exposures than adults.

Finally the halls of the White House are telling us what we knew for so long.

Problem? E Coli

Lettuce in 23 states recalled over E. coli fears

An E. coli outbreak possibly linked to tainted lettuce has sickened at least 19 people in Ohio, New York and Michigan, including students on at least two college campuses, prompting a recall throughout much of the country.

Freshway Foods of Sidney, Ohio, said it was recalling romaine lettuce sold in 23 states and the District of Columbia because of a possible link to E. coli.

The FDA is focusing its investigation on lettuce grown in Arizona as a possible source for the outbreak...

Solution: Grow your own!

Biochar in my garden

Image via Wikipedia

An Introduction to Biochar

Additional excitement came with the discovery of deep dark areas of “terra preta do indio” — Indian black earth — in the Amazon rainforest where the soil generally is thin, red, acidic and infertile. The patches of terra preta are alkaline with a high carbon content, and contain pot­shards indicating that it was not natural: a pre-Columbian civilization had created it. It is extracted and widely used by garden contractors because it is so fertile. It has remained fertile and retained its carbon content through the centuries.

Terra preta is black because it contains large amounts of charcoal. Infertile land had been converted to fertile land that supported a thriving civilization through the wise use of the trees that had been felled. Could charcoal, therefore, not only be a vehicle for reducing global warming but also a means to increase the fertility of degraded land, and help feed the world?

Charcoal used for this purpose is referred to as biochar. Biochar is pulverised charcoal made from any organic material (not just wood) and, when mixed with soil, it enhances its fertility. It locks carbon into the soil and increases the yield of crops. To many, this appears the closest thing to a miracle.

I have added biochar to my garden along with compost and am amazed at the positive impact it has had on my soil and crops. How to make Biochar?

To make biochar, pile up woody debris in a shallow pit in a garden bed. Burn the brush until the smoke tins and then damp-down the fire by covering it with about an inch of soil. Let it smolder until the brush is charred, then put the fire out.

Unlike tiny tidbits of ash, coarse lumps of charcoal are full of crevices and holes, which help them serve as life rafts to soil microorganisms. The carbon compounds in charcoal form loose chemical bonds with soluble plant nutrients so they are not as readily washed away by rain and irrigation. Biochar alone added to poor soil has little benefit to plants, but when used in combination with compost and organic fertilizers, it can dramatically improve plant growth while helping retain nutrients in the soil.

Try it. Just don't stand in the smoke like I did. You'll be smelling like an open fire for two days!

Catch Levon Helm in concert

It's too late baby...

Lovelock Tells BBC That Mankind Cannot Save Gaia

James Lovelock, the scientist who put forth the Gaia Theory, has told the BBC it is too late for us to save the planet. According to Gaia Theory, the entire earth is a single organism, connected and interactive. Only just over a month ago, Lovelock called for authoritarian intervention while questioning whether humans are clever enough to respond correctly to the complexities of global warming.

In this newest interview, the perpetual pessimist seems to have made his peace with the inevitable, perhaps even with the end of mankind (though not the planet)....

With the BP disaster, freak weather...we may know sooner than later whether he is right.

The Increasing Impact

Texas Governor on the Crazy Train

‘An Act of God’

Gov. Rick Perry of Texas says he has “full confidence” in BP; he says the spill was “an act of God.”

Sure and God told BP to not install back-up emergency shut-offs.

Drilling for trouble

How Can You Even Think of Drilling at a Time Like This?

That's what I want to know. Yesterday, I blasted some particularly ignorant pols and pundits who were still including shout outs to offshore drilling in their standard boilerplate speeches -- but nobody would be seriously seeking to advocate a policy of expanded drilling right now, would they? Rational pros and cons aside, it'd just be politically, well, stupid, right? Evidently not to Democratic Senator Mary Landrieu, who represents the very state that stands to get pummeled by the oil, and House Minority Leader John Boehner. They're both seriously seeking to approve more offshore drilling right now.

Yes -- right now, as a bare minimum of 200,000 gallons of oil (higher estimates put it closer to 1 million) spews into the Gulf a day, and a supreme case of negligence (albeit legal) from BP that allowed the disaster to happen unfolding before our eyes, these politicians are seriously already trying to lobby for expanded drilling

They think that Climate Change is a figment of the imagination. When the slick comes ashore will they think it is just some CGI trick? Or will they simply ignore the facts so their wallets can benefit?

Ginger Beer Kombucha

Homebrewed Berry zinger kombucha +
homebrewed Ginger Beer =

YUMMY!

Had a little of each left over in the bottles and mixed them together. Took a hesitant sip and then downed it with gusto.

Fermenting madness has come over me!

Oil is everywhere

Scientist Doesn't See a Way for Preventing Oil From Reaching Florida Keys, Eastern Seaboard

Scientists say the Gulf oil spill could get into the what's called the Loop Current within a day, eventually carrying oil south along the Florida coast and into the Florida Keys.

Nick Shay, a physical oceanographer at the University of Miami Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science, said Monday once the oil enters the Loop Current, it likely will end up in the Keys and continue east into the Gulf Stream.

Shay says the oil could affect Florida's beaches, coral reefs, fisheries and ecosystem within a week.

He described the Loop Current as similar to a "conveyor belt," sweeping around the Gulf, through the Keys and right up the East Coast.

Shay says he cannot think of any scenario where the oil doesn't eventually reach the Florida Keys.

Thanks BP. We are all in deep oily doo-doo! That's the oil scientists' term for Deep Shit!

Plow to Pint

That is series put out by Fullsteam.

Fullsteam is a Durham, North Carolina brewery-in-planning set to open in late spring. We are not yet open to the public or distributing our beers, but we can’t wait to do so! Our mission is to create a distinctly Southern beer style using local farmed goods, heirloom grains, and Southern botanicals.

The Sweet Potato Ale sounds great but I cannot wait to try....

Hogwash! hickory-smoked porter
Crafted to pair with North Carolina barbecue, this hickory-smoked porter is special. Malted barley is home-smoked over local hickory, creating a dark-and-smoky beer. Light on the hops. Here, the emphasis is on the smoke, bringing out just a touch more of that Carolina ‘cue trademark subtle smoke. Western or Eastern…for once it don’t matter none. 6.5% ABV

As a non-meat eater maybe I can have Carolina BBQ in a bottle.

Should I not drink beer?

Image via Wikipedia

Study: Mosquitoes Prefer the Blood of Beer Drinkers

Barley and hops means more bumps and itching, according to a recent study that says mosquitoes prefer to bite beer drinkers. As if we needed more reasons to kill mosquitoes.

Back to the study, researchers exposed mosquitoes to body odors from water drinkers and beer drinkers. The bugs preferred the "breath and skin emanations" of beer drinkers. (Insert joke here about attractiveness of beer-drinking men to single ladies).

According to an abstract, the study was done "to ascertain the effect of beer consumption on human attractiveness to malaria mosquitoes in semi field conditions in Burkina Faso" in West Africa.

Researchers concluded that "beer consumption is a risk factor for malaria and needs to be integrated into public health policies for the design of control measures."

So stop the suds or get ready for some scratching? The votes are in - scatching it is.

Rush on the crazy train

Image via Wikipedia

Rush Says Greens Might Be Behind BP Disaster

I want to get back to the timing of the blowing up, the explosion out there in the Gulf of Mexico of this oil rig. ... Now, lest we forget, ladies and gentlemen, the carbon tax bill, cap and trade, that was scheduled to be announced on Earth Day. I remember that. And then it was postponed for a couple of days later after Earth Day, and then of course immigration has now moved in front of it. But this bill, the cap-and-trade bill, was strongly criticized by hardcore environmentalist wackos because it supposedly allowed more offshore drilling and nuclear plants, nuclear plant investment. So, since they're sending SWAT teams down there, folks, since they're sending SWAT teams to inspect the other rigs, what better way to head off more oil drilling, nuclear plants, than by blowing up a rig? I'm just noting the timing here.

He is not the only passenger on the train. From Infowars

Oil rigs are being attacked in order to shut down oil production, not nationalize it. The name of the game is artificial scarcity designed to further cripple the economy.

On Friday, Obama promised that no new offshore oil drilling leases will be issued unless rigs have new safeguards to prevent a repeat of the explosion that unleashed the massive spill threatening the Gulf Coast, according to the Associated Press.

The number of structures in the Gulf is roughly 4,000, with 819 manned platforms. How long do you think it will take an ossified federal government to install these safeguards?

As Lindsey Williams has noted, the global elite are manipulating oil in order to create a world-wide economic depression. “America will see a financial collapse so great that it will take years to come out of it,” Williams told Alex Jones on November 21, 2008.

The same crew call global warming a major hoax. Those glaciers that are melting? Look for soldiers with very large blow torches...

If it kills bugs...