Casaubon's Book
Archives for August, 2010
What Are You Breeding For?
Posted by Sharon Astyk on August 9, 2010 Wendell Berry has an essay in which he argues that the greatest single evidence for the merits of British culture is that they developed sixty-five breeds of sheep: What does it mean that an island not much bigger than Kansas or more than twice the size of Kentucky should have developed sixty or so breeds…
He’s Making Me Look Bad
Posted by Sharon Astyk on August 9, 2010 I was planning to whine a little. You see I got back from Maryland and I was really, really tired. Got up at 4am after a late night to get to the train the first night. Four hours sleep the second night, because I was (you pity me, right?) drinking wine with Dmitry Orlov, Megan…
While I’m On a Train to Maryland
Posted by Sharon Astyk on August 4, 2010 You can be doing more fun things. I’ll be out of touch and my blog will be quiet. But you could be reading some of my old colleagues and some new cool stuff at the new cooperative blog group “Scientopia.” Zuska’s there and Dr. Free Ride, and a lot of awesome folk – so have…
Stuff
Posted by Sharon Astyk on August 4, 2010 I’m about to go out of town for three days to a conference on dealing with poverty issues, energy depletion and climate change, and I’m a little nervous. We’ve had no babies born since Meadowsweet’s appearance two weeks ago, and I have three does due in the next week – not only am I a…
You’ve Still Got At Least Until Friday Before the End of the World
Posted by Sharon Astyk on August 3, 2010 Now it is no secret that I think that we are facing a major shift in our society, and one that will not be entirely fun, to put it mildly. It should also be no secret that while I love to write jokingly about when zombies come, I don’t actually believe we’re facing an apocalypse…
I Am Really PZ Myers!
Posted by Sharon Astyk on August 2, 2010 It was a busy weekend here – figuring out whether we were moving, my sister was visting, other friends were visiting, we hit the local County Fair, worked in the garden, you know, life. So until just now, I hadn’t paid any attention to the empty meanderings about science blogs in the Times Magazine. But…
How We Learn What Matters
Posted by Sharon Astyk on August 2, 2010 When Aaron Newton and I conceived _A Nation of Farmers_ we began each chapter with a framing image from World War political posters about food, energy and gardening. We wanted to bring home the point I make in writing in _Depletion and Abundance_ – that at critical moments in our history, including times of war…
We’re Staying
Posted by Sharon Astyk on August 2, 2010 We almost did it. We really did. We went so far as to get mortgage pre-approval, meet with a builder about the costs of repairing the barn and the house, and make an appointment to make a written offer. And we decided to stay here. There were several reasons for doing so. The first was…