Rebels for food freedom.
“Let food be thy medicine and medicine be thy food” ― Hippocrates :
H.R 5059
Therapy Horses a Calming Influence on Veterans
Horses have the largest EMP heart aura in land mammals. They can be registered at 200 -500 feet away from the Horse. Some owners have told me they can feel their horse when they’re far away. So it doesn’t surprise me to read that veterans especially are doing so well with their Equine therapist. I will always prefer the company of a horse, to that of a person.
By Brian MacQuarrie | Globe Staff
In Norfolk, female veterans find strength through learning to ride and care for horses
Veteran Eadyie Davis of Marlborough shared a quiet moment with therapy horse Creek. ~ Wendy Maeda/Globe Staff
NORFOLK — Feet in the stirrups, hands on the reins, Karen Souza closes her eyes as a quarter horse named Rio carries her to a tranquil, peaceful place she has rarely visited.
Souza spent decades walled off emotionally after being sexually abused as a teenage soldier. She never formed a loving relationship, and she spoke only sparingly. But from that dark, bleak world, she has emerged to find a place of trust, and accomplishment, and the simple joy of working with a large, strong, patient animal.
Souza is one of several female veterans who exhale and relax once a week at the BINA Farm Center, where they learn basic horsemanship and riding skills…
View original post 421 more words
Flow the HEN.
Urban Organic Farming 101
Farming is much more work than folks think. At least in the beginning it can be back breaking, tiring, full filling, exhausting and empowering all at the same time. Most folks don’t give it enough of a try, they have a few crop failures and they throw in the trowel and head back to the supermarket and become another cog in the machine of industry.
But for those industrious enough, with gritt, no respect for failure and a drive to push, push push…will have the ultimate satisfaction of watching much ado about everything sprout from their yards, buckets, pots, planters fields, roof tops and house boats. (In Gibson British Columbia there is an entire section of house boat dedicated to gardens.)
To have the ability to create food from nothing, is a bit of deity defining moment in ones ego.
Once you get past the awesome feeling of god like powers, your humility kicks in as mother nature takes over leaving you to tend to the dirty work:
The planting, the weeding, watering, removing pest, harvest and tilling.
In may I will be sharing the stories of three individuals who rolled up their sleeves and answered the kitty gritty call of self sustainability. I want to shed light on their success and failures, showing that anyone, with the right attitude can change their lives and inexplicably that of their community and world.
Seed Hoarding.
I have amassed a modest stock of seeds for my farmers ark. I’m always on the look out for rare and peculiar breeds of corn. Today I picked up several packets of jeweled corn and a very lusty looking 160 yr old heirloom sweet corn. ( My Grandpa would be proud)
I LOVE corn, I LOVE tortilla made from fresh maze with the tiniest bit of lime and salt, the crunch of popcorn against my teeth as I enjoy another good book.
I wasted no time, jumped on to their site, read about their mission and desires to share some amazing rare and endangered seeds with small and big farmers alike and ordered my share!
Check out the Seed Watch icon to head to Native Seeds home site.
Chickens…
Still waiting…
Between battling the city and their ever ongoing incompetence at identifying their own property lines…departments…botanist from biologist. I’m still waiting on my darlings to hatch.
Silkies as I’ve read take up 25-28 days to hatch. I’m at day 24, I even broke out my stethoscope to see if I could hear a heart beep, a pip…ANYTHING!
Nada. So now I stand on chick watch waiting patiently for my new friends.
So if you’re waiting on your chickens…here is a great blog I found!
http://successwithpoultry.blogspot.com/
Eggs,Hens clucking oh my.
Hola, Me llamo Silkie.
Meet the Silkie, sweet egg laying little hen that loves to be cuddled by people.
(My sister’s South Western flare on a Japanese Chicken.)
I’m getting my very first clutch of eggs today. And I’ve been doing a lot of prep work before I bring these egg-lets to their new roost.
I’ve raised parrots, Budgies, ducks and pigeons so I figured I’d give chickens a crack. What have I learned in my preparation? Like a garden you need to do your planning before you plant.
Step one: Read, read and read some more on chickens. My site of choice has been BACKYARD CHICKENS.
Step two: Start gathering your supplies.
- 1 styrofoam cooler (You can use a plastic one if you are willing to cut holes in it.
- 1 typical wall picture frame with glass or plastic
- 1 25 watt lightbulb
- 1 lamp or light that the bulb fits into
- roll of duct tape
- a digital thermometer and humidity reader. Can be bought at walmart for 8 dollars
- a small bowl and sponge for water
- Some chicken or fence wire. The type with 1/4 inch squares is perfect (optional)
Step three: Locate a good source of fertile local eggs.
Step four : Get your eggs home and safe in their new nest. Now you will be turning these little lovelies three times a day for 18 days. :}
| Age of Poultry (feathered) Chick | Degrees in Fahrenheit |
|---|---|
| 1st Week | 90 – 95*1 |
| 2nd Week | 85 – 90 |
| 3rd Week | 80 – 85 |
| 4th Week | 75 – 80 |
| 5th Week | 70 – 75 |
| 6th Week + | 70*2 |
Here is a basic temp chart to help you out.
As I go along I’ll post and update pictures of the incubator, brooder and their coop with scratching ‘patio’.
Dupont hires bounty hunters to chase down Farmers.
“GMO giants DuPont have contracted dozens of retired law enforcement officers to begin patrolling farms in the US next year to spot any potential intellectual property theft.
DuPont Co, the second-largest seed country in the world, is hoping to find farmers that have purchased contracts to use their genetically modified soybean seeds but have breached the terms of agreement by illegally using the product for repeat harvests. Should farmers replant GMO seeds licensed by DuPont, they could be sued for invalidating their contracts.
“Farmers are never going to get cheap access to these genetically engineered varieties,” Charles Benbrook, a research professor at Washington State University’s Center for Sustaining Agriculture and Natural Resources, tells Bloomberg. “The biotech industry has trumped the legitimate economic interests of the farmer again by raising the ante on intellectual property.”
DuPont competitors Monsanto have been known to relentlessly sue small-time farmers who have been caught abusing their own patented GMO products, but the latest maneuver is being considered by some a form of intimidation. DuPont has cut a deal with Saskatchewan-based Agro Protection International, a company that contracts mostly retired police officers to patrol potential violations of IP law.
“Everyone always goes to the idea that we are trying to intimidate people and nothing could be further from the truth,”Agro President Dennis Birtles tells Bloomberg. “We are trying to create deterrence.”
According to that report, Agro already has around 45 employees patrolling farms in Canada, and a DuPont senior manager has confirmed to the media that around three dozen will start searching for IP violations in the United States starting next year.
Reached for comment by Bloomberg, Randy Schlatter from DuPont’s intellectual property program office said the contract with Agro will help their customers in the end, because honoring contracts will allow the GMO giants to continue to develop new products. Currently they have more than 225 soybean seed patents.
“Our challenge is to get customers to understand the fact that strong intellectual property protection is a benefit that ends up at the customer level,” Schlatter says. “If we can’t make a profit, we can’t invest and we can’t bring out new products.””
*http://rt.com/usa/news/gmo-agro-dupont-intellectual-926/
Rebels for food freedom. 