ChangeUnderground: 48 #worldorganicnews 2017 01 23

This week begin a man who took steps to save himself time and grow food in one action. Suburbia is known for its nature strips or lawns from the fence to the road. We can either turn these into food forests or mow them to comply with the middle class, lawn is king paradigm. Guy Roth from Narrabri in western New South Wales had a problem.

Quote:

I had nothing but khaki weed, pig weed and bindi-eye.

End quote.

I might add here the Guy Roth is also known as Dr Roth cotton researcher.

So faced with this the Roth family ploughed and planted wheat! That was back May 2016. In December, they harvested. The crop took some losses from cockatoos and other parrots but in the end he harvested 20 kilos of grain. That’s about 44 pounds in the old money. The good Dr plans to make some bread from the harvest. A link to this story is, of course, in the show notes.

Staying with wheat, the blog Permie Fix has a video post from Washington State University on that little known variation of wheat, Perennial Wheat. This is something that’s come up in an early podcast, I’m sure but this post let’s you see the stuff. Kevin Murphy, Assistant Research Professor narrates the video and explains the benefits and the drawbacks of this plant. The benefits? Less ploughing, fossil fuel usage, spraying and fertiliser use. The drawbacks? Mainly yield. The video is about the need for further research to increase yields through crop selection, testing in different climates and so on. A quick two minute video, so worth a look.

While we’re on the subject of slightly out of the box ideas, The blog Bee Conscious brings the post: Why a Topbar Beehive? Topbar? I hear you ask. Yes. We are, I’m sure all familiar with the Langstroth hives dotted around the globe. It is the favourite of commercial beekeepers. A mature technology, it’s limits and strengths are well known. The great advantage of the topbar design is its closer approximation to natural conditions. That said, the greatest worry with a topbar is the possibility of cross combing. That is each vertical sheet of comb not remaining independent of its neighbour. If the space between cobs exceeds the “bee space” the bees will attempt to fill the space with comb. So the initial setup and measurements for a topbar are critical. That done, the output from a topbar hive is different from the langstroth. The latter is designed for honey production and very little else. The top bar still produces honey but also beeswax. In the langstroth the comb is supplied and the bees fill it. In the topbar a line of wax is provided and the bees build the comb of this. It also then available for harvesting. In the langstroth system the comb is uncapped and left in the frames after the honey is spun out.

I have read that it is possible for the langstroth frames to accumulate pesticides in the “permanent” frames whereas this can’t occur with the topbar system as the wax is replenished each year. But having to build combs means less energy/time for honey collection. You makes your choice and lives with the decision.

human meets nature brings us a post of great import: Where did Nature go? The image of Rachel Carson at the top of the post sets the tone. For those of you who may not have heard of Rachel Carson, she published Silent Spring back in the 1960s which showed the reality of the bioaccumulation of DDT in the environment and its effect on eggshell thickness amongst other things. I’ve placed a link in the show notes if you’d like to know more.

Back to Where did Nature go? The author, not political in nature, has noticed something from the past couple of years.

Quote:

---there has been three huge political issues in the last couple of years that even I couldn’t miss. The first was the Scottish independence referendum – I’m Scottish so that was very much unmissable! Second was Brexit and third is the ongoing drama of the impending Trump presidency.

More than the political back and forth, the in-fighting and one-upmanship I’ve been struck by the absence of one key issue, thee key issue, during these debates – the relationship between humans and nature and the worsening environmental crisis.

End Quote.

Well might we ask: Where Did Nature Go? Particularly with the removal of all mentions of climate change from the White House web site on the day of inauguration. Yet the post ends on a positive note which I think we all need at the moment.

Quote:

Nature just isn’t sexy, yet; but I don’t believe that people don’t care, they do. In many cases our hands feel tied because of the societal and power structures that we exist within. We are at a tipping point, things are changing rapidly; things can change for the better, but only if we give it the attention it requires. It’s said that whatever we give attention to will grow. Let’s hope that the political spectacle will soon calm down and our attention will be drawn back to the most fundamental of human concerns – our very survival, and the survival of all that enchants our lives in this place.

End Quote.

I would disagree with “Nature just isn’t sexy” but otherwise I concur. Let’s get out there and hassle our elected representatives until they have no choice but to respond. We seem to be living in a time of change so let’s drive it!

And that brings us to the end of this week’s podcast.

If you’ve liked what you heard,could please follow the link in the show notes and vote for World Organic News in the Australian Podcast Awards Click here Thanks in advance.

Any suggestions, feedback or criticisms of the podcast or blog are most welcome. email me at podcast@worldorganicnews.com.

Thank you for listening and I'll be back in a week.

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Links

WORLD ORGANIC NEWS in the Australian Podcast Awards Click here

Urban wheat crop grown on Narrabri footpath provides bumper harvest - Rural News - ABC News

http://wp.me/p5Cqpo-dXH

The Benefits of Perennial Wheat – Permie Flix

http://wp.me/p5Cqpo-e2D

Why a Topbar Beehive? – Bee Conscious

http://wp.me/p5Cqpo-dY3

Where did Nature go? – human meets nature