sastyk
Posts by this author
July 19, 2010
The first thing you need to know about my farm is that it is huge. I mean enormous - by world standards. The vast majority of the world's farms - more than 80%, are very small farms, of less than 2 hectares (about 5 acres), and they produce the majority of the world's staple crops and calories.
I…
July 19, 2010
I've noticed that the comments have been kind of nasty lately around here, and I just wanted to remind everyone of my comment policy. The major part of it can be summed up as "please make an effort not to be a complete jerk." Look, I know we all get angry sometimes and say what we oughtn't - me…
July 13, 2010
"How did you get there, Roo?" asked Piglet.
"On Tigger's back! And Tiggers can't climb downwards, because their tails get in the way, only upwards, and Tigger forgot about that when we started, and he's only just remembered. So we've got to stay here for ever and ever - unless we go higher. What…
July 13, 2010
Longtime readers of ye olde blogge will remember that we talked a lot about wheat stem rust and other wheat diseases in the last few years, since Ug99 began to devastate Kenyan wheat production, and then again as it appeared in Yemen and Iran, but I don't think I've posted anything about the track…
July 13, 2010
In the previous thread commenters DC Sessions and Prometheus have been discussing the pure aesthetic appreciation of the BP disaster and other man made problems with splendor that is grim. And what they say is true -and I think interesting and worth looking at. After all, all of us are just a…
July 12, 2010
If a whole nation can have its fingers crossed, I suspect it does right now. But what happens if it (and the other containment efforts) don't work? I don't think this is fear mongering,after 3 months of oil blowing into the Gulf. We have to ask the question.
Greg Laden has an answer, by way of…
July 10, 2010
There's a great post at The Oil Drum by Jeff Radtke that gives people a good way of evaluating the resource uses in their cars. Now you don't actually have to do this to figure out that light cars are better than heavy ones - the results aren't that difficult. But if you think it is fun to figure…
July 10, 2010
I've been meaning to write something about this New York Times article that suggests that affluent homeowners are strategically defaulting more than middle class and poor ones, but Mike the Mad Biologist said it better.
While I realize regulation has become a four-letter word, regulation does force…
July 8, 2010
As a lot of you probably knew long before I did (we loaned our computer to our housemate who is frantically prepping for his orals ;-)), Scienceblogs took down the Pepsi blog. This actually exceeded my requests to management as parameters for me coming back. I had asked that Scienceblogs create a…
July 7, 2010
Until Science Blogs decides whether it wants to be a platform for science writers or a platform for corporations to buy credibility, this blog is on hiatus. You can find my work at Ye Olde Blogge aka www.sharonastyk.com. Updates as events warrant - or rather, if events warrant. If you'd like…
July 7, 2010
I'd been planning to write this post for several days, and then late last night, got a nasty surprise that changed the focus of it for me. By now many of you will have heard that Pepsi bought a blog on science blogs and is using to to establish credibility by writing a blog focused ummm...on food…
July 6, 2010
Garden Calendar
When the dogstar is aglow
plant petunias in the snow.
When the snow begins to melt
Wrap your hollyhocks in felt.
When the felt begins to bloom
pick the apples off your broom.
When the broom begins to wear
weed the turnips in your chair.
When the chair begins to rock
prune the…
July 5, 2010
Not only does my terrific colleague at Myrmecos have some of the prettiest beehives I ever did see, but he's got the best collection of hive art out there. Check it out! I forsee an art project over the winter at Gleanings Farm!
Sharon
July 5, 2010
The northeast is having its first heatwave of the year, and I thought it was a good time to re-run a piece I wrote about what to do in extreme heat if you don't have air conditioning. Because we all know what heatwaves mean - not just physical stress, health crises and unnecessary deaths from heat…
July 4, 2010
Just to let you know, I'm going to be starting another class this coming week, beginning on Tuesday - this one helping people get started with fall gardening and season extension.
If you are like most folks, you probably start out enthusiastic about your garden, but around the middle of the…
July 4, 2010
Some years ago, I had the occasion of being at a dinner party on the fourth of July with a bunch of graduate students, and we realized that among 11 of us, we came from 9 different countries. After commenting on this and the date and discussing American fireworks laws for a while, we began to…
July 2, 2010
Madeline Holler at Salon has a rather cute essay about her failures at becoming a radical homemaker. On my first quick skim through it (it was sent to me by several readers, so thanks!), I was inclined to give it a total pass, because I found myself rather liking Holler, and sympathizing to an…
July 1, 2010
In the spirit of helping my readers increase their preparedness, I thought I'd remind you that you have 0 more days before Zombie Day to shop and get ready for Zombie attacks. So just in case there are zombies coming down your pike, and you aren't ready, I offer a reprint of a piece I wrote about…
July 1, 2010
(Awesome image of zombie me by Joseph Hewitt of Ataraxia Theatre and the originator of the cool RPG Gearhead Check out my fellow bloggers to see their zombie pix! I wonder if New Society would let me use this as my book jacket photo for the new book?)
As all of you obviously know, July 1 is…
June 29, 2010
For someone in her mid-30s, I have a fairly large experience of being someone's caregiver. In high school, 'I began working in a nearby nursing home. I can't remember quite what drove me to seek that work out - it was not the kind of work that most teenagers I knew did. I think what intrigued me…
June 29, 2010
This weekend in the Washington Post, there's an article about a couple who first met while serving in various capacities during WWII, who just celebrated their marriage in DC this weekend after a "62 year engagement." This would be a romantic story in any context - but it isn't a story of parted…
June 24, 2010
At my house today it was 82 and humid. It is hot, but there's a breeze, and shade from the trees. The air is heavy and moist, but rich and green and earthy as well, and my house stays cool downstairs. In New York City today, the temperature was above 90, and I can still smell, from my childhood…
June 24, 2010
From HuffPo, this article about the likely outcome that the Democrats will fail to pass an unemployment extension - unfortunately it was bound to happen sooner or later, but it will be crushingly hard on millions of people who have just been barely making it, and now aren't.
The legislation, known…
June 24, 2010
I wrote this post in 2008, which was one of my worst gardening years ever - I made the insane mistake of setting the deadline for _A Nation of Farmers_ for June 1, which meant I spent most of the planting season in front of my computer. But I knew I wasn't the only one, and I've come to worry a…
June 24, 2010
It is hot and sticky here - only low 80s, but humid. This afternoon we should have rain, but in the meantime the sun is shining and the very last thing I feel like doing is putting any dinner on anywhere near the house. We're out of propane for the grill, and let's be honest, it isn't like it is…
June 22, 2010
I've heard from quite a number of people lately who have started gardening, but find that they can't get everyone in their family onboard with the actual eating part of all these veggies. Here are some thoughts (from 2008) on how to to convince people to try the kohlrabi. Really.
I think I get…
June 21, 2010
"No Till" is a confusing term. For most people who know nothing about agriculture, the word "till" isn't particularly revealing - it sounds like there's no cash register. Given that level of knowledge, when you are reassured that no tillage means less erosion, you aren't going to crticize. Those…
June 21, 2010
Jon Stewart somehow seems to grasp the real importance of Obama's speech:
The Daily Show With Jon Stewart
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If only we'd thought about getting off oil before…
June 17, 2010
(I really wanted to post Ronnie Gilbert's version of this song, because not only is she a fine old folkie of the sort you are damned grateful exists, but she has one of the finest set of pipes out there. But there's no video anywhere I can find of her singing. I like Mississippi John Hurt's as…
June 17, 2010
My husband turns 40 this weekend, and we are celebrating. When asked what he wanted to do for his birthday, he said he wanted a party, just like the ones we have for the kids on their birthdays - lots of food, lots of friends, very casual. We've managed to collect 40-50 friends and family…