Daily through the screen door, the Pileated Woodpecker that we see occasionally, can be heard greeting the day in the woods along the bayou. # Powered by Twitter Tools.

Ten days into March and the weather feels more like late spring or early summer from my childhood. This week we have seen 80’s over and over again. So far the March winds (which began…

In the meantime, says Gilding, take notes: “When we look back, 2008 will be a momentous year in human history. Our children and grandchildren will ask us, ‘What was it like? What were you doing…

@BlueRidgeblog I bought , read , and wore out these books back in the ’70’s dreaming myself back to the land. Bought new copies last year. in reply to BlueRidgeblog # Spring returned. Summer is…

Reading the news this morning, I saw this short spot: Marion Nestle went to see Food, Inc and she gives it two thumbs up. I’ve only seen clips and heard a talk by the director…

Parched winter months this year have put California agriculture into a tailspin. With a third dry year in a row, the state has been forced to deeply examine its strategies for coping with dry times….

Dear Kitchen Gardener, What’s a home garden worth? With the global economy spiraling downward and Mother Nature preparing to reach upward, it’s a good question to ask and a good time to ask it. There…

We love Mark Bittman for his sensible approach to cooking and eating. The name of his column in in the New York Times,Scryve Corporate Social Responsibility Rating The Minimalist, says it all. In a recent…

Today is Texas Independence Day, when a group of men met in a tiny unfinished wooden building in the small town of Washington-On-The-Brazos to take the daring step of announcing to the world that they…

The garden for recovery movement keeps gaining ground…Roger Doiron has an op-ed out this weekend… In Jerzy Kosinski’s novel and award-winning screenplay, “Being There,” the U.S. president turns to a plain-spoken gardener named Chance for…

It seems that every where you go online these days you read the same thing…At least from anyone of a certain age…People are thinking and planning to garden their way through the crisis. Leon Hale…

Winds blow. Lakes of blue sky scud overhead in the pale gray bowl of sky. Leaves, nan-falling since autumn, fly by like sailboats in a race. # Overcast (mostly) and the temperature is at 80…

Last evening as I sat with grandson in arms gooing and oogleing, my wife made the comment that it was going to get cold again this weekend. Now my wife thinks cold on the weekends…

@bittman I had that prob a few years back…seemed to escalate as I kept taking them. Finally just quit and decided to tuff it out…worked. # Powered by Twitter Tools.

Let’s talk pills. To treat everything from allergies to heart problems, half of Americans take a prescription medicine every day, and nearly all of us reach for the pill bottle on occasion. It’s perfectly safe,…

Is it darker at night where you are? Am I seeing another byproduct of the economic crisis in that people are turning off the outside lights? # Powered by Twitter Tools.

Good article on the food safety issue from The Ethicurean Blog. Down on the farm Here’s a quick backgrounder: After the E. coli/spinach episode in 2006, big leafy greens producers in California (where the toxic…

This past week the signs of the season’s change have sprung up all around…The oaks that were stripped of their leaves by Ike in September, now are leafing out with all of that bright, spring…

@scalzi The whole reason I prefer driving…Enjoy the trip. # Powered by Twitter Tools.

On awakening our lady weather presented early summer. Light rain falls from a gray sky. Neither rising nor falling, the temperature ’tis 70. Twitter Tools Powered by Twitter Tools.

While most successful food producers are far more diligent — big name-brand peanut butter is considered safe, for example — American consumers have faced far too many food-supply emergencies in the last few years. Congress…

My reading on the web keeps coming across a common thread…It’s that over and over in blog posts and comments people are talking about buying seeds and starting to raise vegetables again. It looks like…

Reading Leon Hale’s column is an institution in Houston and the surrounding counties as well as my house. Mr. Hale has been published in a Houston Paper for most (if not all) of my life,…

Winter thunderstorms…all thunder, no rain. The day really looks wintery, ‘tho the temperature belies the look…Shorts and flipflops rule. # Powered by Twitter Tools.

It seems the story of the Peanut Corporation of America just keeps getting better and better as it shows just how poor America’s food safety system really is… Even amid a national salmonella outbreak linked…

Another above 60 winter morn…The sun rides above low clouds full of misty rain. I find myself asking…What happened to winter this year? # Powered by Twitter Tools.

First morning all week that’s not already in the 60’s. Pink clouds in a blue western sky with an almost full setting moon…Low morning fog. # Powered by Twitter Tools.

I grew up reading  Jeff Cox in Organic Gardening & Farming (or vice versa depending on the year). I was happy to find him at the OrganicToBe.org blog. His article on potatoes not only fills…

It just seems to me that when you have production of goods going into so many food products you would have controls in place to insure the safety of the public…Doesn’t it? Passing the responsibility…

When I was born in 1952, there were 203,000 farms in Iowa, only 11,000 fewer than when my dad was born in 1926. By 2002, the number had dropped to about 90,000, with roughly the…

Currently (on Mon 6:02AM CST from Pearland Regional Airport) Light Rain Temp: 66° Dewpoint: 64° Wind: SE 9 MPH The weather here this winter has seemed to be more spring (or fall) like than any I…

I find myself musing about what was and what may have been as I hit the big double nickle. Simon and Garfunkel were two of my favorites. From the release of the Graduate on, I…

Space may be the final frontier, but scientists who recently discovered a hidden forest in Mozambique show the uncharted can still be under our noses. BirdLife were part of a team of scientists who used…

Image via Wikipedia It seems this story was inevitable… ROSENBERG, TX — A trip out for a free breakfast at Denny’s took a big bite out of the wallets of several people in Rosenberg on…

High compensation doesn’t attract the very best. It attracts the greediest. via Letters – Wall St. Bonuses – Enough Is Enough – NYTimes.com. Why is this the first time I’ve ever seen anyone say this?…

Thunderstorms and hail, oh my..The first of February and the temperature is flirting with the 70’s. My apple trees still have their leaves.. # Powered by Twitter Tools.

Sunny days, cold clear nights…Down around freezing and up into the 60’s .Winter is beginning to mess with my head…And not in a good way. # Powered by Twitter Tools.

In times of economic crisis, where do we draw the line on funding cuts? Food safety? Drug Safety? Highway Safety? If we can cut funding when the economy is good, what are we going to…

And the “good” news just keeps coming in. At what point do we stop putting so much trust in corporations to do the “right” thing…Not just the profitable thing? In one of the largest food…

Days of summer followed by a day of winter followed by another round. The pollen count is crazy too. It will stuff up your nose. Sniff-sniff # Wispy, smoke-like streamers of pink streak the evening…

Currently (on Tue 5:53AM CST from Pearland Regional Airport) Mist Temp: 66° Dewpoint: 66° Wind: S 9 MPH This is what greated me this morning when I woke up. According to the forcast it’s going to…

With the morning sun, my ideal summer weather returned. Winds from the gulf have brought the mid 70s today. Weather on the Texas Gulf Coast. # Powered by Twitter Tools.

I have been spending a lot of my online time updating my websites, trying to figure out a use to make of twitter, and trying (and failing) to catch up on my photoblog. Tied for…

Winters return, though anticipated, is not appreciated. Both yesterday and today, dull and dreary after what seems like weeks of spring sun. # Powered by Twitter Tools.

I watched and listened to this as it was given on Tuesday. It wasn’t until today that I actually read it…I find myself even more encouraged than I was with the first hearing. I foresee…

From the web… That’s CalTech engineer David Rutledge, who spoke to EarthSky at a recent science meeting. He said governments around the world have overestimated coal reserves or, the amount of coal still available for…

In the news… More than 125 products have been recalled in a salmonella-and-peanuts investigation that keeps getting bigger, federal health officials said Wednesday. The list ranges from goodies like cookies and ice cream to energy…