Daucus Carota commonly known as Queen Anne's Lace
We just sold out of Wild Carrot Blossom tincture. As I wrote in an earlier post, our intention was to have made enough so that we did not sell out before this year’s harvest. The growing popularity of these tinctures year over year is amazing. I am resolved to quadrupling the amount of plant material we harvest this August.
That said, Wild Carrot Seed tincture is still available and Wild Carrot Blossom will be back in stock in October. -Tree
This article from the New York Times is a must-read for anyone who regularly wipes down their kid with antimicrobial hand sanitizers. Note especially what the article says about children who grow up on farms. -Tree
Babies Know: A Little Dirt Is Good for You
By Jane E. Brody
Published: January 26, 2009Ask mothers why babies are constantly picking things up from the floor or ground and putting them in their mouths, and chances are they’ll say that it’s instinctive — that that’s how babies explore the world. But why the mouth, when sight, hearing, touch and even scent are far better at identifying things?
When my young sons were exploring the streets of Brooklyn, I couldn’t help but wonder how good crushed rock or dried dog droppings could taste when delicious mashed potatoes were routinely rejected.
Since all instinctive behaviors have an evolutionary advantage or they would not have been retained for millions of years, chances are that this one too has helped us survive as a species. And, indeed, accumulating evidence strongly suggests that eating dirt is good for you.
In studies of what is called the hygiene hypothesis, researchers are concluding that organisms like the millions of bacteria, viruses and especially worms that enter the body along with “dirt” spur the development of a healthy immune system. Several continuing studies suggest that worms may help to redirect an immune system that has gone awry and resulted in autoimmune disorders, allergies and asthma.
Read the rest of the article here.
A recent article in the Seattle-Post Intelligencer discusses how 2/3 of the honey consumed in the US is from China and often contaminated…
Honey Laundering: Tainted Product Still Slips Easily Into US
by Andrew SchneiderConcealing discoveries of contaminated imported honey is immoral, unethical and often illegal — and it happens far too often, U.S. honey producers say.
“It doesn’t take a wizard to determine whether there are bad things in the honey we handle, nor a hero to do what it takes to keep it from our food supply,” said Mark Brady, a Texas beekeeper who sits on the National Honey Board.
“If we buy Chinese honey, as we do far too often, we know it may contain chloramphenicol or some other antibiotic that is illegal in any food product,” said Brady, who produces about a million pounds of honey a year. “To find it and not report it is criminal.”
Two-thirds of the honey Americans consume is imported and almost half of that, regardless of what’s on the label, comes from China, the Seattle P-I reported last month.
The newspaper’s five-month investigation into honey laundering — the intentional mislabeling of the country of origin — found that tons of Chinese honey coming into the U.S. is tainted with banned antibiotics.
But when the contamination is discovered by the industry through internal testing, insiders say, federal health or customs officials are almost never notified, and the honey ends up being dumped back on the market.
Read the entire article here.
We’ve had it with Crazy. She went broody three times over the summer. We let her hatch and raise the first two clutches, but broke her of the last spell which was peculiar to begin with. Instead of building a clutch of eggs she just sat in the nesting box for hours on end. I’d pull her out each morning and place her on the ground. She’d hiss at me (the best way to describe her angry vampire-like protests) and then flare out her wings and run like a nut to the feeder.
Two weeks ago she went broody again! In the middle of winter!! Rather than put her in the stew pot, we decided to purchase six 5-day old chicks from the feed store and stick them under her just as it was getting dark. We were prepared to raise the chicks ourselves if she rejected them, but no need. She immediately got that dopey new mother look on her face and began softly to coo to them.
Here are two photos taken this afternoon. There are 2 black sex links, 2 red sex links and 2 aracunas. We wanted to get some barred rocks, but the ones available were already three weeks old. Next time… -Tree
Crazy and her store bought chicks
Taking a walk with mama
