Ken Kailing, June 17th, 2013 
According to the World Resources Institute (WRI), each year an estimated one third of all food produced ends up spoiling in the bins of consumers, retailers, farmers and transporters. Together, this spoiled food totals 1.3 billion tonnes and is worth an estimated $1 trillion every year.
Read more: Global Food Waste Tops $1 Trillion
Lea McEvilly, June 9th, 2013 
Toward the end of the month, it was finally time to get the wool off those sheep! The shearers came, and we had one wildly busy and stressful day getting all the various groups of sheep to the shearing pen, then moved out of the way for the next group. First the hugely pregnant older ewes, then the bred ewe lambs, then the rams were shorne, and eventually returned to their original place in the barn. It was a great relief to me, and no doubt also to the sheep!
Read more: Voices From the Farm: Sheep, Sheep Everywhere!
Gene Yale, living in a Chicago suburb, has 170+ apple trees in his yard. And six high-bush blueberries! By growing tiny little trees – grafted and managed like Bonsai – Gene has a yard full of 3-foot apple treas that bear full size fruit.
Read more: Chicago’s Johnny Appleseed – Gene Yale
Kate Hilmer, May 27th, 2013 
Around the time the chicks turned four weeks old, things started to get really hairy … err, feathery around here. They weren’t the fluffy chicks they once were; down had been replaced with real feathers, and the girls had a new set of priorities. Mainly using those new wings to launch themselves to the highest available perch, where they sat and preened their pretty little feathers.
Read more: Living the Chicken Life (Part 2)
Ina Denburg, May 19th, 2013 
I feel as if I’m in a bizarre Wonderland that is unfortunately called the political reality in America! The faster I run towards devouring new information about the negative health effects of glyphosate (the active ingredient in Roundup Ready (RR) herbicide) and GMOs, the more I’m frustrated by the continuing attacks on our body politic by Monsanto and their minions.
Read more: Alice in Glyphosate Land
We’ve raided the shelves of the Kailing library to create a list of books that cover a wide range of topics and represent thinking separated by thousands of years. These books are centered on the relationship we have with the earth and each other, with our communities and surrounding ecosystems, with the plants and animals around us, and with the food we eat.
Read more: Your Summer Reading List
Kate Hilmer, May 17th, 2013 
Egg salad is my ultimate quick lunch. Got eggs? Got bread? Good to go! It takes little more than ten minutes to make enough egg salad for two with leftovers.
Read more: Lemon Dill Egg Salad
American agriculture is at a cross-roads: a point where we can either apply our scientific knowledge to create a vibrant and healthful food and farming system for the future, or double down on an outdated model of agriculture that is rapidly undermining our environment and our health.
Read more: The Healthy Farm: A Vision for US Agriculture
I am a novice baker trying my darnedest to learn how to make good bread. I would rather have bought a book by Michael Pollan called Baked. In his book, Cooked Michael talks about his time with guru bakers, farmers, and millers. He reminds us that to make good bread you only need a few basics: flour, water, salt, yeast, time, and heat. Here’s our take on local and regional grain and flour, and baking bread.
Read more: Dishing on Pollan’s Cooked
Dr. Chensheng (Alex) Lu, Associate Professor of Environmental Exposure Biology at the Harvard School of Public Health, explains why reducing pesticides in your diet is critical to reducing the toxic effects of pesticide exposure for you and your family.
Read more: Pesticides In Your Diet? Cut It Out!
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The A/V Department Seeds of Humanity: Vandana Shiva
“When seed is in the hands of five companies — 75% of the commercial seed is already in their hands. Ninety percent of the corn. Ninety percent of the soy. Ninety-five percent of the cotton — this is an emergency. It is a seed dictatorship. And when you control seed, you control food.”
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Photo of the Month Pig Mania
Crown S Ranch, Winthrop WA
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Global Food Waste Tops $1 Trillion
According to the World Resources Institute (WRI), each year an estimated one third of all food produced ends up spoiling in the bins of consumers, retailers, farmers and transporters. Together, this spoiled food totals 1.3 billion tonnes and is worth an estimated $1 trillion every year.
Read more: Global Food Waste Tops $1 Trillion