The 2012 USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map is the standard by which gardeners and growers can determine which plants are most likely to thrive at a location. The map is based on the average annual minimum winter temperature, divided into 10-degree F zones.
For the first time, the map is available as an interactive GIS-based map.
Users may also simply type in a ZIP Code and find the hardiness zone for that area.
"The Southern Nevada Health District has raided an organic farm picnic destroying the organic produce, which was classified by them as bio-hazard material.
The raid at the highly regarded and reputable Quail Hollow Farm, which sits in the picturesque Moapa Valley of Southern Nevada took place place after a tip off of the event because some of the food was not ‘certified’ in the correct state." via The Economic Voice
"Apparently all the natural food served from farm must be certified by the United States Department of Agriculture so the owners had to dispose of all food including vegetables because of their ‘bio-hazard potential‘.
This meant the owners of the farm had to pour bleach on the produce in order to safely render the dangerous organic healthy potatoes safe and prevent them from being eaten by the farm owners as private citizens or by livestock such as the pigs on the farm. via The Daily Kos
"As hard and demanding as this work is, I KNOW that this is what we are meant to do.
I KNOW that it is imperative that we stand up for our food choices.
I KNOW that local, organic, sustainable food produced by ourselves or by small family, local farms is indispensible to the health and well-being of our families and our communities now and in the future! If this work were not so vitally important, the “evil forces” would not be working so hard to pull it down.
I am reminded of the passage written so forcefully by Thomas Jefferson in the Declaration of Independence:
“He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harass our people, and eat out their substance.”
The same battle continues. I pray the result of the battle will be the same, that we have been “endowed by our Creator with … life and liberty”.
We love you all, and thank you with all our souls for your continued love and support! We will stay in touch.
With warmest wishes for you and your families,
Monte and Laura Bledsoe
Written from Quail Hollow Farm
October 24, 2011
quailhollowfarmcsa.com
Email Laura at quailhollowfarm@mvdsl.com"
From an email sent by Sharon ...Thanks !
In southwest Miami, a small subdivision is being called "ground zero" of an invasion by a destructive, non-native species.
"It's us against the snails," Richard Gaskalla, head of plant industry for Florida's Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, tells weekends on All Things Considered host Guy Raz.
That's the Giant African Land Snail, to be precise. They can grow to be 10 inches long. They leave a slimy trail of excrement wherever they go. They harbor the microscopic rat-lung worm, which can transmit meningitis to humans. And they will literally eat your house.
By Carey Gillam
The heavy use of Monsanto's Roundup herbicide appears to be causing harmful changes in soil and potentially hindering yields of the genetically modified crops that farmers are cultivating, a government scientist said on Friday.
August 12, 2011
KANSAS CITY, Missouri (Reuters) - The heavy use of Monsanto's Roundup herbicide appears to be causing harmful changes in soil and potentially hindering yields of the genetically modified crops that farmers are cultivating, a government scientist said on Friday.
Repeated use of the chemical glyphosate, the key ingredient in Roundup herbicide, impacts the root structure of plants, and 15 years of research indicates that the chemical could be causing fungal root disease, said Bob Kremer, a microbiologist with the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Agricultural Research Service.
