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  • Philippine oil palm cultivation raises food concerns-17Dec07

    Posted by admin on October 31st, 2009 and filed under cultivation | 4 Comments »

    Al Jazeera’s Marqa Ortigas in the Southern Philippines reports on how the palm oil industry has raised fear for local food supplies and sustainable practices.

    Duration : 0:2:53

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    象象在农贸市场

    Posted by admin on October 31st, 2009 and filed under farmer\'s market | No Comments »

    秋天到了,妈妈喜欢去附近一家农场门市部买苹果和一些蔬菜。象象也很喜欢这里。 

    Duration : 0:2:36

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    Rural Hungary (1939)

    Posted by admin on October 31st, 2009 and filed under rural | 25 Comments »

    Rural Hungary (1939) – A James A. FitzPatricks “Traveltalk” in Technicolor.
    Copyright: April 22, 1939

    Duration : 0:8:59

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    Leonard Cohen – First We Take Manhattan

    Posted by admin on October 31st, 2009 and filed under first | 25 Comments »

    Leonard Cohen First We Take Manhattan
    (C) 1987 SONY BMG MUSIC ENTERTAINMENT

    Duration : 0:5:46

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    Runescape Bank Of Enrix E B! 6+ Bil Total

    Posted by admin on October 31st, 2009 and filed under bank of | 25 Comments »

    My Runescape bank.
    Runescape is a property of Jagex LTD. All rights reserved.

    Duration : 0:5:33

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    What are the best wheat free dry food brands and where can I get them?

    Posted by admin on October 30th, 2009 and filed under wheat | 8 Comments »

    My dog is Wheat free and I don’t think that her current dry food is going well for her. Also, what treats are wheat free. I’m rather new to this allergy thing. I feel bad when I can’t reward her for being good (for a Jack Russell). What sort of thing can I give her thats not like pigs ears or bones?

    Take a look at this site, it rates various foods, gives a review on each food giving pros and cons(click on the far right side across from the food name), provides a list of the ingredients, Most of the wheat foods I believe are 3 stars and greater, the 6 star foods are the ones that are grain free foods.

    THe most common food allergens are corn, wheat and soy, again most of the foods that are 3 stars and up will have any of those ingredtents

    http://www.dogfoodanalysis.com/dog_food_reviews/index.php

    But if you are stilll having troubles , it is usually recommended that you try a limited ingredient diet example has only one source of meat and one grain,(many pets who have food alergies can be allergic to multiple ingredients). as it makes it easier to rule what she may be allergic to, example some dogs are allergic to certain types of meat or certain types of grain, so at first you may want to try a food with just chicken are rice, if still having a problem you could try a lamb a rice formula, if all goes well than you know chicken is one of the problem ingredients, if not the you can try a fish and potato formula, that way you are eliminating the rice plus trying a different meat source. Nailing down allergies can be tough, as it can mean sometimes a lot of food trial as some dogs will have multiple food allergies Symptoms of possible allergies is itchy skin and re-occuring ear problems.

    If the dog is vomiting bile or experiencing soft stool that could be a sign or a food intolerance, the difference between an allergy and an intolerance is the symptoms,

    As for possible food and treat suggestions
    Canidae makes a couple one meat protein one grain foods
    they also lamb and rice biscuits
    http://www.canidae.com

    Innova EVO does have multiple meat formula but use potatoes instead of grains they have 2 foods formula( ared meant and white meat formulas) as well as grain free treats made with white meats

    http://www.naturapet.com/brands/evo.asp

    California Naturals has a lamb and rice formula food and treat they also have a Herring and sweet potato food

    http://www.naturapet.com/brands/california-natural.asp

    Wellness also make allergy foods called simple food solutions that come in duck or venison formulas they also have a treat called Pure Rewards that is grain fee meant for pets with allergies http://www.oldmotherhubbard.com/wellness/dog_wellness_simple_food_solutions_index.html, and also have wheat free treats

    If you are feeding a food with wheat and corn, the prices of the foods without will be a fair bit higher often, but because they have less fillers your feeding portions are smaller, especially when you get into grain free foods For example if I fed one of the cheapest foods I would need about 8 cups a day for my 84 dog but I feed the Innova EVO RM and because he is a serious couch potato he eats 1 1/2 cups a day so the difference in the amount I need to feed helps to offset the cost as the bag of food lasts longer

    How do you prevent bugs from getting into your grain?

    Posted by admin on October 30th, 2009 and filed under grain | 7 Comments »

    I’ve found bugs in my couscous and had to toss it out. I kept the couscous in the cardboard box package it came in. Should I store all my grain and flour in glass containers now? Or is there a way to repel bugs from your grain? Maybe add a dried orange peel or a cinnamon stick? Something?

    We keep our grains in closed containers (for those we buy in bulk) or put the box they came in into a plastic sip-top bag before putting it in the cabinet.

    How do commercial growers stop infestation of caterpillars on green broccoli?

    Posted by admin on October 30th, 2009 and filed under growers | 2 Comments »

    I have been a vegetable gardener for many years but have always refrained from growing calabrese because I do not like eating caterpillars.I use liquid Derris on a regular basis but to no avail.Please help me out all you allotment holders. I do not want to use toxic chemicals if I can help it! i.e. Systemic sprays which are absorbed into the plant rendering them inedible for up to 14 days.

    I net mine. I got some plastic piping from B+Q (about 8 ft long), they are only about 2 quid each, last for ever and choice of coulers!!!!!! Bend them into an arch over your veg, then put fine net over and peg it down. The rain and sun still get in but butterflies can’t. I put a couple outside the net to ceep the butterflies around.

    What can I do about my neighbors stupid dogs attacking my cattle?

    Posted by admin on October 30th, 2009 and filed under cattle | 2 Comments »

    My neighbor has 6 or 7 mangy looking dogs and they is constantly coming on to my land and attacking my cattle. I’ve already had to shoot 2 of them. They’ve already killed 1 of my calves. I’ve complained to the neighbor but he told me to go fuck myself.

    people are responsible for what their animals do. you can sue your
    neighbor for the lost calf. and you have every right to shoot the dogs
    before they kill any more of your animals.

    How Can Wet Rice Cultivation Prevent Tropical Disease?

    Posted by admin on October 30th, 2009 and filed under cultivation | 1 Comment »

    Apart from improving nutrition and therefore resistance to disease, I can only think of reasons why a switch from failed dryland cultivation of say, corn, to wet rice would increase disease. For example. wet places breed mosquitoes which spread malaria, and also breed a lot of snail vectors for diseases such as schistosoma (I think that is the right one…things with worms).

    That is an interesting question. You are right, based on all the studies I have read & done, rice cultivation doesn’t really help prevent tropica diseases.
    It is much perferable to do a dry land cultivation if the environment allows it. Unfortunately, this is not the case in much of southeast China/Asia where rice are primarily grown.

    The only reason for rice cultvation I could think of is crop diversity (which reduce pests, weeds etc.) but I am not sure that would do so well against tropical diseases.

    However, correct me if I am wrong, I believe the keyword here is in wet rice cultivation. That’s an interesting area of research. As you probably know, wet rice cultvation requires irrigation. This is typically done using domestic animals like ox in much of the third world country.(In North America we use mechanized machines) In addition to ox, many farmers also grow chickens, ducks, pigs and other animals to take advantage of the water nearby.

    Having domestic animals around is good because it widens the the preys for vectors like mosquitos that typically transmit these diseases. This is a tactic those in the field usually call zooprophylaxis (which means the use of animals to protect human health- sorry we are very selfish creatures). This means that mosquitos and others are less likely bite human beings and this decrease the likelyhood of catching those tropical diseases.

    Here is a study done, it is very long and filled with technical jargons. I will spare you the pain of reading though it and copy & paste the most important part of this study..

    "It was apparent that in rice irrigated villages, only a small proportion of mosquitoes that entered the house actually fed on humans. Anthropophily for both species was lowest in the planned rice village, moderate in the unplanned rice village, and highest in the non-irrigated village. These findings suggest that the extent of rice cultivation has a significant impact on the blood-feeding behavior of malaria vectors. These findings are consistent with those of previous reports that rice cultivation decreases the degree of human-vector contact by diverting mosquitoes to other hosts.11,12,14 It has been suggested that rice cultivation empowers the surrounding communities economically, enabling them to protect themselves against mosquito bites"

    This was the source of the article.
    http://www.ajtmh.org/cgi/content/full/78/2/270#R12
    (You probably need to be associated with a research institute or university to access the full article)

    Now, another possibility is the loss of habitats for many vectors after the field became a wet rice field..

    Again, it came from this article

    "The reason for this is still unknown but could be the result of loss of larval habitats after transformation of natural habitats into rice fields."

    I hope this answer your question, which is very interesting & challenging , I must admit.

    - Isotope