Big Organic

This article was hard to read because it was sideways and I couldn't figure out how to turn it right side up. I find it ridiculous that people can want labels that give a story. I want to know the facts about the food not how the animal lived. I think that a big part of organic is people saying what they think that people want to hear and not necessarily what they believe in. I want to really know where my food is coming from. I don't want the story book version I want to go to a local farm and see how they do it first hand. I think that organic is to overpriced and that a lot of it is not really what we think of as organic. I think that there are a few farmers that are doing it the "right" way and a whole bunch of others who are just pretending that they are. Organic farming is better for the animals but by how much as Michael Pollen says, is there life really any better than those of normally farmed chickens. I find it hard to believe that organic is greater in any large way.

Elixirs of Death

I did not know that insects were lab rats in WWII to see if chemicals were deadly to humans. That is a sobering thought because if the pesticides we use kill insects what do they do to us? Arsenic is deadly to humans but still arsenic spays are used to kill bugs. This seems a little counter intuitive. If we are spraying our food with poison to keep it alive are we really saving it? There is so much propaganda surrounding the DDTs that no one can really know all the facts. There have bee lies spread from the very beginning. Chemicals are very harmful things but because you grow up with them around all the time they seem less deadly. You know you don't want chemicals but when you do have them on your food they don' seem to have any effect. This is because a lot of chemicals are stored in the fats and are passed on , they have few if any obvious signs. There are so many harmful chemicals out there that a lot of people have never heard of but that have serious effects. The chemical Endrin can cause vomiting, convulsions and brain damage. Many of these chemicals are seriously harmful but few people know about them. I was shocked to learn that there were so many types of pesticides and I didn't recognize most of them, I was also not aware of the effects that they could have.

DDT

I think that DDTs are bad and should not be used. It is not a black and white case though. It does kill mosquitoes which carry the malaria virus which is of course a good thing. But it also has a negative effect on the environment and other organisms that have been affected by DDTs. Such as birds who lay eggs with softer shells. I think that it is possible to make another pesticide that does not have a negative harm on the environment. Humans are not the most important organism in the world we have to consider all other living things before we make such radical decisions. If we were to cure malaria instead of getting rid of the mosquitoes we would not hurt anyone and we would no longer have an epidemic. If DDTs live in the mothers milk it is passed down from generation to generation. It accumulates in the species instead of dissipating. It will take a very long time if it ever leaves the system of a species. It might be helpful in Africa where they could use malaria prevention, but it would hurt the species in Africa as much as it would help the humans. DDTs are not necessarily bad but they are not all good either. The risks need to be weighed before anyone takes any action.

Raw Milk :History

Raw milk is a scary thing, and I'm glad that I have only ever had pasteurized milk. But I do not think that raw milk is evil. My Oupa liked on a farm and he used to drink milk from a cow the way that we drink water from a hose. I think that it all depends on how we do it. I can't believe that there is a link between TB and raw milk. That is not something I would have guessed before reading this article. My mother is a strong believer that people should not drink cows milk, that it is wrong on a fundamental level. It is scary that so many diseases came from raw milk. I also believe that in the past thinks were more sanitary, but progress happens for a reason.It is probably better that milk is pasteurized even if some people would like to drink raw milk. I did not know about the links to diseases like TB and I would like to know exactly how that works, what is it that causes TB in patients who drink raw milk.

Raw Milk : Legal Battle

I think that it is ridiculous that people are not allowed to transport raw milk. You are allowed to buy it you just can't bring it home. I am upset at how rigid our system is in Canada. I think that you should let people do what they want if they are not hurting anybody. Who cares if people transport raw milk. I would like to follow up on this man and see if he ever gets to meet with Premier McGuinty. I think that there should be farms where they produce raw milk. If they do it by hand a lot of the diseases that are transmitted by machinery with not be applicable. I think that raw milk need to be seriously tested and there needs to be measures put on it so that children do not become sick, but if adults know the risks I think that they should be allowed to buy raw milk.

Myths about Organic Produce

I was really upset that organic uses pesticides. That is one of the major reasons to buy organic. I am happy that there is produce that does not use pesticides but I think that organic should all be pesticide free. It is really important to make sure that all organic products are as healthy as they can be, that's what people pay for. I don't like that all that matters is where the pesticide comes from. That has no effect on if it is toxic or not. What is the point of buying organic food if it is not healthier, besides environmental gains. How does it benefit me to eat organic food. It is more expensive but it is no healthier. Also it is not all that much better for the environment. I believe that the article said that organic farming is not using GMO's and I don't want that I don't think that you can modify somethings DNA and have be perfectly healthy. I think that its a good idea to not use GMO's and I am fully in support of that practice. I think that it might still be a good idea to buy organic because they are probably a little better than regular produce but I can't imagine that it would be by much. I'm not sure that it is worth the extra cost just yet. When the practices become more "organic" I think that it will become a better choice, but right now it is about even, though leaning toward the organic side.

Neonicitinoids

The worlds food supply is in serious danger. It is disgusting that the pesticides live in the seed. It travels and effects all part of the plant. Therefore it effects all animals that eat the plants. The EPA decided that they would release the pesticides even though they knew that it was toxic to honey bees. Because they did not do field studies, it was not confirmed and therefore it was not known that it would hurt bees. It was scary to learn that the pesticide company's so their own studies and the present it to the EPA instead of the EPA doing the study. The company's are making the studies lean in their favor no matter what happens to the bee because they want to make money. It is sad that the EPA accepts that the studies that they do are real. It is also not open to review so other people can not redo the tests and see if they get the same results. It is sad that the EPA feels that need to cover up the effects of the pesticides. Its scary that the pesticides stay in the soil, and may have long term effects. The EPA knew about the possibility of CCD but they are saying that they are not sure so it doesn't matter. In England they think that it does matter so they are doing further studies. The EPA decided that a label is good enough. It says not to use it around bees. But that doesn't really work because they stay in the soil and the plants and it gets pollinated throughout the food chain.

Vanishing of the Bees

I was not able to find the movie in time though I would still like to watch it at a later date, I watched the trailer and I did a little research so that I would at least have something to talk about in my blog post. I already knew that bees were essential to life because they pollinate our plant. It is a scary thought that the bees are disappearing. I would like to know what is really killing our honey bees though I suspect that we will not know for sure for many more years. A colony of bees was wiped out in three hours, the implications of that are staggering. They are simply vanishing.
Usually bees will take over a hive that is empty but these hives are sitting empty and other bees wont even look at the hive. This probably means that there is something wrong with the hive or they are afraid of what will happen to them is they take over the hive. Colony collapse is happening all over the world. There are many theories of why this is happening, including cell towers, pesticides and varroa mites. None of these have been proven, actually most of the theories have bee dis-proven.It is a scary idea that the bees can disappear and we don't know why.
I will update this post after I have seen the movie.

Nosema Disease

We did this lab in class, though we didn't find any Nosema, it was really interesting to see the bees up close. And seeing the stingers was also really interesting though the smell of the smashed up bee was really gross. Earlier I read what Nosema was and I am interested to see is this article has anymore information that was not stated in the other article. An interesting fact that I learned was that it only affects adult bees. I would like to know why that is.I would also like to know why workers are more susceptible. Is it because it really is like the stomach flu and it is received more easily outside the home, like at school? This disease is very gross and it sounds painful. Because this article was more of a lab format it lacked in some information and it had unnecessary information, like how to use the microscope. It is fairly easy to see if your hive is infected because there will be diarrhea outside the hive. There are cures for this disease but they ruin your honey supply, but then of course so does diarrhea and dead bees.

Varroa Mite Detection

You need to detect the varroa mites early because much like cancer the best defense is detection and it spreads rapidly.It is preferable to check for mites about twice a year. To check for mites you can sample the brood, this seems like hard work if you don't have a lab. This article doesn't really tell you how you go about detecting the mites when you do sample the brood.The detection boards seem like a good idea but I am not sure that I would rely only on them. I really like the alcohol wash method, i is easy and reliable and can be done in just one visit. I also really like the icing sugar method because it implies that not all the bees are killed. It is also easy and fairly accurate. If there are only a few mites you can wait until after the honey is harvested but if there are more than a hundred you need to treat right away even if some honey is lost. And if there are more than a thousand mites the collapse is imminent and must be treated immediately. I am not sure if I just missed it but I did not read any where how to actually treat the infestation, only how to tell how many mites there were. This article was a little helpful but it did not give me the full story and it had some ambiguous words throughout that clouded the meaning.

Common bee diseases

Many of these diseases are obvious and very disgusting. I appreciate the pictures so I know exactly what to look for but they were really gross. The American foul brood is caused by poor bee keeping practices but I would like to know exactly what those practices are? Apparently this disease can only be stopped by fire, I would like to know if there are any easier treatments? I believe that we have talked about chalk brood in class. It says that it is fount throughout the united states but is it found elsewhere? It would be nice if people worked harder at making cures for bee diseases, it would be to bad is your hive collapsed because you had no cure. We did a lab on Nosema, which is like a bee stomach flu. This is a particularly gross disease thankfully this disease has a cure, antibiotic Fumagillin sold as Fumidil-B mixed with sugar syrup. Most of the other diseases in the chart are insects or mites so I wont go through that in detail but the treatment is generally some sort of chemical. Other pests include squirrels, bears and racoons, the best way to get rid of them is either to kill them or prevent them from entering the hive. This is a good page to have bookmarked but I don't think that it is really something that needs to be memorized.

High School Garden

This is amazingly cool. I hope that in a few years we at least have the start to such a great garden. I would love our school to have an orchard, that would be really cool to grow apples trees and possibly sell the fruit or donate it. This is an awesome concept and I really hope that we adopt some of their ideas and use them in bettering out school. I think i would be great to have a place where students could compost the food scraps left over form their lunches.I think that we have enough students interested to start some new programs that will get us closer to that of Windermere secondary.

Worm Compost

I love worms and I have always known that they were good for compost so this idea intrigues me. I like that it can be done indoors so that in the winter you don't have to freeze outside when you do your composting. I love how this works though I'm not sure that my mom will let me keep worms in the house. Its nice that you can use any type of container, that way you don't feel the need to go out and buy a specialized compost container. Drilling holes in the bottom may be a problem for me but I think that I would be able to convince my dad to do it for me. All the bedding supplies I could get fairly easily (seaweed, sawdust, sand, straw, and other dead plants). The hardest material to get would be the worms , though it would be fun to search for worms though it will probably not take place with my friends as they are all squeamish. I always guessed but never knew that worms could drown when it gets to wet. This is my favourite composting technique. I will have to ask my parents for permission to start a worm composting bin.

Bokashi

Bokashi means fermented organic matter, this is a Japanese composting system. I know nothing about Bokashi so it was interesting to learn another way to compost than what I had grown up learning, kitchen scraps and lawn clippings and more recently, leaf mold. I like the idea that this is relatively odour free because if you are composting in an urban area you want to be conscientious of your neighbors. I also like that all kitchen waste can be reused including meat, this has always upset me, that somethings still have to be thrown out.The only real downside that I could see is that even after it is done it isn't, it still needs to be aged in soil before it can be used. You need a Bokashi bucket too start but this doesn't really upset me because you need a compost bin to compost. A strange part is that you need Bokashi mix, this is mostly wheat bran. I want to know how this aid composting. This seems like a good alternative to compost, but it also seems like a little more work, and I'm not quite sure how it works.

Compost

It works because of a bacteria, all we need to do is make sure they can do their job.I didn't know that it was bacteria doing the composting, I also didn't know that green materials are high in nitrogen and brown materials are high in carbon. Interestingly paper is considered brown material and can be used in compost. At Loutet farm I learned that thin layers are best and you want to air out your compost occasionally, and this was also mentioned in the video. Very wet and very dry compost are not preferable, you need the level of moisture to be about that of a damp sponge. The video had good information, and facts that I had not been aware of previously but the lady doing the talking kinda creeped me out.

Leaf Mold

This is nice to know, though I knew part of it before I watched the video because we are doing this in class. I didn't know that it took a year to make leaf mold though I did know that it took a very long time. To make leaf mold you need a wire cage,a rake, clap hands (though I would just use my hands), a wheel barrow (though we got on just fine with bags),a garden fork (though I'm not sure its necessary),and possible bone meal. The best leaves are from deciduous trees because they break down faster than glossy leaves. Pine needles need to be separated because they are too acidic for most plants. Damp leaves are the best because they decay faster. After you rake the leaves put them in the wire cage or in a pile in a damp shady corner to aid circulation.Bone meal should be added to aid in nitrogen levels.After you wait a year to decompose (turned occasionally throughout the year. This was a good video because it was short and to the point, and easy to understand. I like the idea of using leaves to make fertilizer, I'm not big on waste and if I can use natures garbage to help plant I am all for it, it helps that its relatively easy to do.

Winter Crops

I know nothing about planting a winter harvest so everything I learned was completely new.I learned that you should plant your winter harvest in August. Wind needs to protected against so it is preferable that your plant beds are raised. And that they will provide extra drainage. I loved the use of pictures in the guide, it really helped me understand what they were talking about. I got a good visual of what I was supposed to do. The chart that was provided was really easy to follow. I found this guide very helpful.

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