En este post "Bio-diesel in India: from the tree to the tank!" nos introduce al Pongamia Pinnata que es un árbol natural de la India, tambien conocido como el Haya de la India al que últimamente se le estan encontrando muchas utilidades.

Muchas Gracias! Raj, y esperamos anciosamente tus post prometidos...

Traducimos esto:

¡La madre naturaleza tiene siempre una respuesta a nuestros rezos! ¡Nuestra tierra hermosa tiene más que lo suficiente para satisfacer la necesidad de cada uno pero no lo suficiente para satisfacer la avaricia incluso de algunos!

Beauty is in the Eye

Daily Photo

My Camera broke.  For Mother's Day and Birthday combined my husband bought me a Nikon D60.  Here is my favorite from the first batch of pictures I took.  I'm in love.

I don't know the name of these.  I call them Drooping Daisies but I made it up.  Anyone know the name?

She obviously hasn’t met the mother who was called away during shearing. It took three people to replace her: one to feed the shearers, one to look after the children and the third to help in the shed.

In between the two announcements was another from Mataura Valley, a new dairy company, saying it plans to build a $90 million milk drying plant near Gore. Reactions were mixed with a warning that too many companies competing for markets could lead to prices being under cut as they have been in the sheep industry.

However, farmers facing the expense of converting to dairying will be tempted by the fact they don’t have to buy shares as they do with Fonterra; and the increase in cow numbers is expected to continue. Around 100 Southland sheep and beef farms converted to dairying for the new season and a similar number is predicted to convert for the 2008-09 season.

The scale of conversion has altered the South Island landscape. Visitors used to marvel at the number of sheep, but while driving from North Otago to Balfour a couple of weeks ago what struck me was how few sheep I saw. My impression was confirmed by yesterday’s release of 2007 stock numbers from the Stats Department which explain why meat works are closing and milk plants are opening.

Last year’s drought and numerous dairy conversions have led to a 3% drop in sheep numbers from 39.6 million in 2002 to 38.5 million last year. North Island sheep numbers dropped 5%: from 19.5 million in June 2006 to 18.5 million last year – just 100,000 more than in 2002.

The South Island still has more sheep than the North, but the numbers have decreased more too: there were 19.9 million last year, 6% fewer than 2002. The decline was steepest in Canterbury where they dropped 8% to 7.2 million and Southland down 5% to 5.7 million.

Beef numbers dropped 2% from 4.5 million to 4.4 million in the five years to June 2007. At the same time dairy cows increased 31% in the South Island, from 1 million to 1.3 million with a small increase of just 22,000 to 2.9 million in the North Island.

The drop in sheep numbers signals there may well be hard times ahead for meat workers and their communities as over capacity forces PP and possibly other companies to "right-size". But there are encouraging signs for meat producers. We’re not the only country with a decline in sheep numbers. The drought has taken its toll on flocks across the Tasman too so the supply is down while the world demand for protein is growing. Beef prices are already at record highs in the USA; and the falling dollar will also help boost prices, not just for meat. Pelts and wool have been at rock bottom levels so even a small lift in returns from them will help farmers’ incomes too.

Our hometown – Billings, Oklahoma – is a rural village, really, though that is not an Okie word. “Town” is the word we use normally - but it is a very small town.

In January, 22 children from the school – the third- through sixth-graders – came to  Turtle Rock Farm to begin to learn how to grow their own vegetables. Together, we built and installed at their school three raised beds, an irrigation system, hoop houses to extend the growing season and planted lettuce, spinach, radishes, carrots, peas, beans. They have had three salads from the lettuce, spinach and radishes.

This week we made our last trip to the school this year for an end-of-school salad party. This time we took a wide variety of vegetables and made a gargantuan salad. As we chopped the vegetables, we smelled them and talked about them, so everyone knew what was in that salad. They knew which vegetables they wanted to eat and which they wanted to avoid. Some liked the smell of lemon balm, but not peppers. All looked forward to the strawberries we’d brought from our own strawberry patch.

One of the party games was a taste-test. A volunteer would close their eyes and open their mouths and we would put a small piece of a vegetable in their mouth and they were to guess what it was. Everyone volunteered. They got a lot of them right. Unrecognizable was the zucchini and the asparagus – both new experiences. The one who got the mushroom recognized it and spit it out; likewise the one who got the snap pea. The amazing thing to me was that they all volunteered for this game – knowing they could get something in their mouth they didn’t like! And, the lad who got a piece of asparagus asked for more!

When we asked them what they’d learned from their gardening experience, they made very good observations, which we pass along to you:

• There are fewer weeds in raised beds than in other gardening spaces.
• Putting the hoop houses on protected the plants from the one freeze we had later in the spring.
• There are lots of different kinds of vegetables.
• Gardening is hard work sometimes.
• Gardening is fun.

Really, that’s what they said.

It’s a small town. It’s a few children. It’s a huge success: it starts with a village.

The leadership model of One Community is one to be emulated. I hope that the new MN Ultra high speed task force thinks beyond the network to the value to be derived from the network. MN needs more than a report; we need a shared vision and a renewed positive attitude towards creating the future.

There is a long story of time wasting frustration involving several calls to the help-line. The shorter version is we are now back to dial up speed with lots of can’t-find-website-check-you-are-connected messages; the house computer can send and receive emails, eventually after several disconnects but the office computer can only send.

I don’t know if the problem is with Telecom or Orcon but I’m not very impressed with either of them - and wireless help desks don't work in the evening. 

© Photographer: Ankevanwyk | Agency: Dreamstime.com
Description:
A beautiful white wild Arabian horse head portrait with alert expression in the face galloping in nature

Keywords: (Report | Suggest)
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© Photographer: Ankevanwyk | Agency: Dreamstime.com
Description:
A wild white Arabian horse head profile portrait in opposite light and dust on a paddock of a farm during sunset in the evening.

Along the Avenue of the Saints lies Henry County Iowa.

Copy and Paste into your browser to view video: http://www.wgem.com/News/index.php?ID=24710A destination where families can get back to nature and learn about our past in an area rich with history.

Our first stop takes us to Salem and the Lewelling Quaker Museum.

During the anti slavery movement, the home was a stop along the Underground Railroad.

It's a glimpse of what life was like for those who passed through the trapdoor in the kitchen and hid in the home's secret passages.

Faye Heartsill of the Lewelling Quaker Museum says, "They would usually hide them here for a day and at night take them a days distance north so they could continue their travel to Canada."

Faye tells us 2000 people a year visit the home and many walk away with a greater appreciation of the sacrifices many made for freedom.

Another historical home from the mid 1800s is the Harlan-Lincoln in Mt. Pleasant.

James Harlan, a friend of President Abraham Lincoln lived here. He was a U.S. senator and an Iowa Wesleyan College president.

in 1898, Harlan's daughter, Mary, married Lincoln's son, Robert Todd.

A piece of the coat the President was wearing the night he was assassinated and mourning veil worn by Mary Todd Lincoln are among the artifacts on display.

If machines from the past gear you up, check out Midwest Old Threshers' Museums.

A key attraction is the Midwest Old Threshers Reunion held for 5 days over the Labor Day weekend.

Lennis Moore, Chief Executive Officer of Midwest Old Threshers says, "When people come to the museums at Midwest Old Threshers is a nice collection of the machines and the artifacts that relate to the early farming culture that we had and still do all over the Midwest."

Nearly 50,000 people converge on the site during the 5 day event.

Moore says, "It's one of the best places I can think of to come and eat and look at exciting demonstrations to see some really unusual machines and other demonstrations that are available.

From cultivating the land, to conserving it. A trip to the Oakland Mills Park and Nature Center is a great outdoor adventure for your family.

Campgrounds and rental cabins are a stones throw away from activities on the Skunk River.

The park's main attraction is the nature center.

John Pullis, Executive Director of the park says, The Nature Center features plants and animals that are indigenous to the area--mounted specimens are featured in what we call dioramas or their natural habitat.

A staff naturalist holds wildlife programs and camps for adults and kids.

You can even get up close and personal with local residents like this Bobcat in the outdoor classroom.

If all this has you hungry, you can bring your appetite to Pork's Hometown Restaurant in Winfield for a tenderloin as big as your head and an all you can eat fish dinner that packs the place.

For more information on Pork's Hometown Restaurant, call (319) 257-6648
118 S Locust St, Winfield, IA 52659-9586

Click on the links below for more information on the places we visited!

http://www.henrycountytourism.org

http://www.henrycountyconservation.com

http://www.iwc.edu/

http://www.mountpleasantiowa.org

Jake Miller WGEM News

]]> http://blandinonbroadband.wordpress.com/?p=679 Thu, 15 May 2008 14:23:26 +0000 Bill Coleman http://blandinonbroadband.wordpress.com/?p=679 According to the Intelligent Community Forum, an intelligent community invests in broadband, knowledge workers, innovation, digital inclusion and marketing. Seven communities from around the world will be honored for their efforts and success.

I attended a pre-conference session yesterday. One of the highlights was learning about the regional initiative in NE Ohio. This is a 21 county effort on economic development, education and health care. Some 1500 organizations are connected via fiber. Schools have 2 Gb connections. Over 20 hospitals are working together and sharing costs on an electronic medical record.

It is a competitive world....how are doing in this race in Minnesota?

Preparativos y podcasting sobre el I Encuentro Rural de Blogs

]]> http://chinaview.wordpress.com/?p=2530 Thu, 15 May 2008 07:38:19 +0000 chinaview http://chinaview.wordpress.com/?p=2530 John Garnaut and Francois Bougon in Dujiangyan, Sichuan, from Sydney Morning Herald, Australia, May. 14, 2008-

THE full horror of the devastating earthquake in China began to emerge yesterday as rescuers discovered whole towns all but wiped off the map, pushing the death toll beyond 20,000.

Military and police teams punched into the heart of the disaster zone, with 100 troops parachuting into a county that was previously cut off, while planes and helicopters dropped emergency supplies.

But the message from this mountainous corner of south-western Sichuan province was that town after town was flattened by Monday's 7.9-magnitude earthquake.

"The losses have been severe," said Wang Yi, who heads an armed police unit sent into the epicentre zone. "Some towns basically have no houses left. They have all been razed."

At least 7700 people died in the small town of Yingxiu alone. Only 2300 survived there.

Across Sichuan, countless thousands more people are missing or buried under the rubble of homes, schools and factories.

The Premier, Wen Jiabao, said 100,000 military personnel and police had been mobilised. "Time is life," he told rescuers.

Hundreds of survivors were pulled from rubble in Beichuan county yesterday, including five kindergarten children who were carried up the mountain road towards the city of Mianyang.

The road into Beichuan is blocked by boulders the size of houses and it takes would-be rescuers one hour to walk three kilometres.

Hardly a building remains untouched, and many have been buried beneath avalanches from the towering mountains on either side.

"Every hour we carry out between 10 and 20 people still alive," said Luan Dongmo, a police officer from Chongqing. "Of course I have let some tears fall."

Directly above the city an avalanche has sliced a third of the mountainside away....... (more details from Sydney Morning Herald)

It’s a very rural area – roosters on the front stoop, loads of cattle, and the tour guide showed us the donkey that was born last week kind of rural.

Inishmor got electricity in 1975. They generated their own electricity until 2000 (or 2003, I wasn’t taking great notes). Now they have an underwater connection to the mainland. They have broadband – well I saw at least one sign for Internet access and at least one hotel that offered free WiFi. (I didn’t actually bring my laptop – but I kept my eyes open.)

I just thought that was so telling – that a land that was so remote that they waited until 1975 to get electricity hopped on the broadband bandwagon relatively quickly.

In fairness the connection installed for electricity in 2000 made it easier to get broadband out there – but still kind of worth noting, I thought.

The farmer’s share of the retail price was 40.12 % for honey, 35.46% for milk, 30.97% for lamb chops, 18.86% for blade steak, 16.37 for bread and just 5.3% for cheese.

Feds President Charlie Pedersen  says that means the farmer’s share is just three slices or bread in a 20 slice loaf, one of four pieces of steak, three glasses from a two litre bottle of milk and a tiny slice of kilo block of cheese.

The cause of high food prices is complex and outside the control of the food producer. Transport, processing, energy and marketing, plus normal margins are some of the factors which have pushed prices up. There is a link to export prices, but this has never changed since New Zealand began exporting meat back in 1882. There is a misconception that because dairy farmers are receiving good payouts from Fonterra, this is driving up prices.

In fact, fertiliser and the cost of compliance have risen. Food producers have had to cope with a severe drought and pay high prices for supplementary feed for their stock. Many sheep and beef farmers will suffer losses this year adding to the losses of previous years.

This report clearly shows that food producers are certainly not ‘creaming it’. Let’s not forget that food producers also have to buy food for their families.

Let’s also not forget that the farmers’ share is a gross return.

The full report concludes:

One influence on the gap between retail food prices and farmers’ returns is changes in general prices in the economy (inflation), particularly from goods such as petrol. Inflation also puts downward pressure on farmers’ profits, as the returns farmers receive need to cover increasing costs of production.

A feature of New Zealand agriculture is that the majority of our agricultural production is sold in markets overseas. New Zealand also imports a significant proportion of food by value. Given the significance of these international factors, addressing increasing domestic food prices requires a response broader than simply targeting the returns to New Zealand farmers. Lowering domestic farmers’ returns

may depress the domestic supply of food, and in turn increase dependence on  imported foods and the growth of food prices further.

We saw this happening when we were in Argentina last April. The Government had increased taxes on exports of beef and dairy products in an attempt to keep domestic prices low. But as our host, an economist, pointed out the market always wins because farmers were getting rid of cattle and growing soya instead which was giving a much better return. As a result of this meat and dairy supplies were decreasing and there were fears Argentina would have to resort to imports at world prices.

An increase in the export tax on soya earlier this year led to farmer protests and in spite of resulting shortages of food, an Argentinean friend said most people support the farmers rather than the Government.

Rising prices of basic foods here has led to calls for subsidies. Those of us who went through the ag-sag of the 80s know the trouble that would cause.There are no easy answers to the question of making food affordable but attempts to tax exports or subsidise producers will only make the problem worse.

The story goes on to say that “globally we are eating more meat than we used to – 50% more than in the 1960s – with consumption predicted to double by 2050. So to help our futures and those of our children, the experts recommend eating less meat and more veges…”

In this week's Listener Tanya Hart, Marketing and PR manager for Beef & Lamb NZ responds. She points out the story lacks local context because:  

…the vast majority of New Zealand’s beef- and lamb-producing livestock is not grain-fed or produced via intensive feedlot systems. Our livestock are raised on extensive, natural pastures with no intensive farming. This results in low pollution, lower use of fertiliser and more efficient energy use. The Independent article Boland sources clearly refers to global farming systems that are substantially different from the sustainable farming practices here.
Second, New Zealanders are not eating more meat “than we used to”. We eat red meat in moderate amounts well within the “safe” guidelines outlined in the recent World Cancer Research Fund report and within those of the Ministry of Health, the National Heart Foundation of New Zealand and the Cancer Society of New Zealand.
Though eating less meat might seem a simple solution to a “global food crisis”, it has serious nutritional implications. Eating less meat is likely to lead to inappropriate diets that will not necessarily protect against obesity, cancer or rising food bills. Lean red meat is an excellent source of a whole range of nutrients and, when eaten three to four times a week, is an essential part of a healthy, balanced diet.

Eating too much meat is linked to cancer and heart disease, but too little can result in health problems too. Rather than being cause for concern, an increase in world-wide consumption of meat may be an indication that people in developing countries like China and India are becoming better off and so able to spend more on protein. That would be good news for our sheep and beef industry and also for the health of those people.  

Nota mental: cuando dudes en para qué pueden ir bien las lentillas, recuerda que enfocar con las gafas empañadas se hace desagradablemente complicado /Note to self: by wearing contacts you could avoid struggling with camera focus through fogged spectacles.

Keywords:
action, active, activity, agricultural, animal ,arabian ,background ,beauty ,breed ,breeder ,bridle ,canter, champion ,dust, dusty, eat, elegance ,equestrian, exhibition, farm ,fast, female, field, fields ,fire ,fog, fole gallop, galloping, galop ,head ,horse ,horsetail ,inactive ,light ,male ,mammal ,meadow ,moving ,opposite, paddock, pet ,ponytail, portrait, position ,pride ,proud ,ranch, reflection, rider ,riding ,run ,running, rural ,show s,peed ,sport, sports ,stallion ,strength ,stud ,studhorse ,sun ,sunshine, tail ,trot, white ,winner ,young ,

© Photographer: Ankevanwyk | Agency: Dreamstime.com
Description:
A white Arabian active horse photographed in sepia galloping towards the photographer in dusty background

Mañana Albert se estrena en el star system madrileño, y nosotros estaremos allí para dar nuestra aprobación al trabajo, y para certificar que le ha valido la pena perderse a Hercules en el Sónar. Nada más; que vuelvo el domingo.

Ya estamos acostumbrados a los altibajos. Este hermoso país pareciera ser como un mal que hay que soportar estoicamente: dos o tres años de tranquilidad -como mucho cinco- y luego la rueda empieza a circular nuevamente. Sí, estamos subidos en la vuelta al mundo, y en este momento estamos exactamente arriba, expuestos al viento, la intemperie, asombrosamente cerca del cielo y muy lejos del suelo.

Ya hemos asumido que los índices de precios son un fraude desde hace mucho tiempo, ahora asumimos que el interior -lugar en donde viví toda la vida- va a desaparecer definitivamente del Indec. No es tan importante, el interior en realidad sirve en estos momentos como fines recaudatorios y para darle dolor de cabeza al Estado Nacional (sic).

Hemos sufrido la desinformación sistemática durante un tiempo demasiado largo, hasta que los intereses económicos dejaron de tener sintonía y ahora no solo estamos informados sino que estamos siendo testigos de la guerra entre una parte del periodismo -independiente?- y el gobierno nacional.

En el interior, en donde para ver campos sembrados sólo necesitamos cinco minutos de viaje, buena parte de la población está con el campo. No vivimos directamente del campo, pero nos hemos acostumbrado a implorar por lluvia en épocas de sequía, a rogar que no granice, a desear que la cosecha sea buena; y en esto no puedo meter en la bolsa a todo el mundo, pero personalmente me encanta que a la gente que trabaja de vaya bien en la vida. Y tal vez esto último sea uno de los mayores problemas que tenemos. Sólo queremos que nos vaya bien a nosotros, sea cual sea al grupo al que pertenezcamos; pero acaso no pertenecemos todos al mismo grupo?

Las mismas personas que hoy hacen sus marchas con tractores, camionetas y otras herramientas de trabajo, son las que mueven el circuito económico del lugar en donde vivo. Son mis vecinos, mis clientes, los familiares de algún conocido, muchos están comprometidos con la sociedad y no andan juntándose en algún galpón por la noche para planificar golpes de estado.

Mi desvelo hoy, es la guerra incivil, es el golpe que se le da al vecino, es esta gente que nos habla de oligarquía como si estuviéramos en los años 50, son los que minimizan los serios problemas de nuestra nación en una simple guerra de clases sociales.

No soy tan ilusa, siempre las cuestiones económicas y de poder están en el medio. Ni los ruralistas se bañan con agua bendita por la mañana, ni algunos medios periodísticos nos quieren hacer el favor de informarnos, ni la presidencia está siendo víctima de una campaña difamatoria en su contra.

Que estamos aislados? Si, parece que si. Estar aislado del resto del mundo y encima tener tantas islas dentro del territorio nacional no es nada alentador.

Ya no podemos volver atrás, pero podemos sumar, no subirnos a la psicosis de la guerra social, sumarnos a reclamos pacíficos, soñar con que en algún momento nos bajaremos de esta vuelta al mundo.

Algunos titulares y notas:

Luis D'Elía prepara su Plan de Lucha de Clases (Perfil)

Desactiva el INDEC la polémica inflacionaria con las provincias: difundirá solo el índice del area metropolitana (Perfil)

Argentina, más aislada que nunca (El País)

Un clima de extrema tensión social (Joaquín Morales Solá en La Nación)

Nik en La Nación

perro1970, argentina, crisis, campo, opinion, clases, guerra, periodismo, rural
perro1970, argentina, crisis, campo, opinion, clases, guerra, periodismo, rural

Meanwhile, Carrizozo has an interesting history, much of which has been well preserved. 

El pasado sábado hicimos una sesión de fotos en Nigrán con David Portela. El escenario era la casa de su abuela, todo muy rural-vintage. Aparentábamos estar de after en casa de nuestra abuela...o algo así.  Lo pasé en grande, salvo por el pequeño incidente con las avispas....Lo más probable es que las fotos salgan publicadas en alguno de los números de verano de la revista Vice (yay!), Ahora sólo falta ver la postproducción.

Pond with Boy

Daily Photo # 27