Selected articles
~ Wild in the city
At first glance, Port Adelaide doesn't seem like prime wildlife habitat. The historic buildings and trendy condos lining Fishermen's Wharf abruptly give way to boats working the Port River and factories crowding its banks. Nature seems to hold little sway here, but take a seat and stay a while: sooner or later you'll see the graceful arc of dolphins surfacing for air. More...
~ Maori carving students seek sacred knowledge
Young men bent over their work, carving spirals and fearsome faces into massive slabs of wood. Their instructor circled the room, offering encouragement and occasionally taking up hammer and chisel himself. Outside, just steps up the path from the carving school, the earth spewed geysers and mudpots and clouds of steam, all testaments to New Zealand's place on the Pacific Ring of Fire. More...
~ Trouble for coyotes?
On a sunny Sunday afternoon, two coyotes rested on a hill overlooking the Lamar Valley, occasionally glancing over at a group of trees below them and to their left.
"I know why they're there," said Bob Crabtree, director of Yellowstone Ecosystem Studies. "Those coyotes have stopped there and rested there because they can see the pens." He explained that wolves recently brought into Yellowstone are housed in pens nestled into the group of trees. More...
~ Researchers study Cooke City streams
Scott Ladd knelt on a bare patch of ground in Yellowstone National Park, picked up a handful of rust-colored dust, and let it fall through his fingers. Ladd, a graduate student at Montana State University, said the powder is a reminder of past gold-mining activity in Cooke City. This waste, called mine tailings, contains the heavy metals copper, arsenic and lead and was systematically dumped near Soda Butte Creek upstream from Cooke City. The tailings are still washing downstream into the park. More...
~ Organic cotton grower runs on-farm ‘research station’
Steve McKaskle was introduced at a recent conference as "the most innovative cotton grower in the world." His thousand-acre farm in Missouri's Bootheel is constantly evolving as he seeks new and better ways to control insect pests, manage weeds, and improve the soil. More...
~ Blueberries highlight diverse farm
As a soil scientist for the University of Missouri, C. L. Scrivner spent his career studying soils and landscapes. Fifteen years after his retirement, he and his wife, Alleen, still enjoy researching new ideas and techniques on their Boone County farm. "We're trying to answer this question," Scrivner said. "How do you manage a really hilly farm and make some income and still keep it conservation-oriented?"
Their answer? Work with what you have. Diversify. And keep learning. More...
~ Training boosts pasture dairy start-up
At a time when many dairy farmers have left farming, Greg and Sarah Osinga are embarking on a hopeful journey: they've started their own small dairy, now milking about 35 cows on 45 rented acres. And while many dairies are growing larger and relying on confinement, the Osingas chose an integrated method with fewer barriers to entry: pasture-based farming. More...
Op-eds
~ Community food grants need funds
At a time when we Americans are increasingly concerned about where our food comes from -- and with the recent stories of tainted goods coming out of China, when we're worried about what is actually in our food -- the 2007 farm bill has the potential to fund long-term, big-picture solutions to food security issues. More...
~ Eat local through the seasons
You've probably heard about a new program called Wisconsin Homegrown Lunch, which aims to bring fresh, locally grown foods into public school lunchrooms. As a parent in one of the program's pilot schools, I've seen firsthand how much the kids enjoy eating fresh foods and meeting the farmers who grow them. I'm convinced local foods are good for our children, good for the environment and good for area farmers. But as much as I support this effort, one nagging thought has been lurking in the back of my mind: What about winter? More...
~ Farm-to-school
Our garden has been a classroom this summer: My young children have learned that seeds grow into plants, that flowers grow into fruits, and that watermelons take a really long time to ripen, even if you check on them twice a day. They've learned that the garden is a community, a complex mingling of plants and people, soil and weather, predators and pests. More...
