Is life fundamentally mechanical or fundamentally biological? According to Joel Salatin, the inspirational sustainable farmer of Polyface Farms who was featured in Michael Pollan’s influential book, The Omnivore’s Dilemma, the fundamental split in our food industry today is along the line of viewing life as mechanical or biological. His first advice to anyone wanting to […]
Category: Gardening
Cilantro Kills Bacteria
If you’re a cilantro lover, rejoice! Recent research published to the Journal of Medical Microbiology shows that coriander (the other name for cilantro) oil destroys bacteria including E. coli, MRSA, salmonella and Bacillus cereus. In fact, since these are some of the bacteria that can cause food poisoning, loading your dish with cilantro seems like […]
Backyard Gardeners Growing More Vegetables
A nationwide survey of more than 1 million households indicates that spending for vegetables and fruits grown in household gardens now surpasses spending for lawns, trees, shrubs – and even flowers. The same survey unearthed the following trends among gardeners: 53% grow vegetables in their gardens 90% plan to eat the produce fresh 66% will […]
Got Compost?
One of my friends recently started a backyard compost heap and raved to me about how much they’ve decreased their load at the curb on garbage day. Welcome to the wonderful world of composting, I told her. Where you don’t have to feel guilty when a vegetable rots in your fridge before you have a […]
Gardening with Vermiculite
I was taught to mix potting soil with vermiculite when preparing pots for planting for better drainage and I’m sure I inhaled some of the vermiculite dust along the way. Once I was even enveloped in a cloud of dust when I dropped the bag accidently. These days my husband supplies me with dust masks […]