Sunday Reading, June 19th

Once again, it's been a good week for reading about everything from gardening to farming to climate change to nuclear reactors. My head's in a whirl, but here's a few items I thought worth sharing.

This article from Life on the Balcony on supporting pollinators on the balcony gives some great flower ideas as well as general information on why people should care about helping our little buzzing friends. It's their handiwork, after all, that brings about the food we love to eat.

And here's a wonderful piece from back home in Michigan about something we really love to eat and garlic's little secret: scapes.

Long and in two parts, these two articles by Tom Philpott before he moved from Grist to Mother Jones about food and place are, as always, deeply thought-provoking. I'd recommend settling in with a coffee now before beginning them. The second part includes beer, which lightens the mood some from the first.

Swinging back around to this side of the world, there's this nice piece from Martin over at Kurushii - News from Japan about how a number of Japan's reactors are heading off-line even without a tsunami. This article from the Daily Yomiuri and part of a series on how the crises unfolded is fascinating and frightening.

And, because a series of aftershocks have rolled through recently and I need some distraction, I'm ending with this video from the Whole Foods parking lot. I love his shopping bag.

Comments

Anjuli said…

For some reason when I clicked on your last link (the video in the whole foods parking lot)- it actually took me back to the link before- the article from the Daily Yomiuri...maybe you accidentally put the same link in both places- not sure! Will come back to check out the link if you get it fixed.

June 19, 2011 at 3:06 PM

Joan Lambert Bailey said…

Yikes! Many thanks, Anjuli, for catching that. Should be good to go now. Hope you like it!

June 19, 2011 at 8:07 PM

Finding Heirloom Seeds in Japan

Drying pods of heirloom Hutterite Soup Beans. Since moving to Japan eight years ago, one of my greatest challenges as a farmer-gardener has been to find heirloom or open-pollinated seeds. The majority of seeds available are not GMO (genetically modified organisms) as Japan, at this point, doesn't accept this material. Most seeds, though, are nearly all F1 varieties. Heirloom and F1 Varieties In plant breeding, F1 is the name given to the first generation of a cross between two true breeding parents. For example, if I decide to cross an Amish Paste Tomato with another heirloom variety tomato such as Emmy, in hopes of getting a gold paste tomato, the resulting generation of fruit is F1. In order to get that tomato of my culinary dreams, I'll need to choose members of that first generation that are headed in a direction I like - early ripening, medium-sized fruit, good taste - and save their seeds. I'll plant them and repeat the process again and again over time unti

Satoimo: One of Japan's Favorite Slimy Things

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Goma Ai Shingiku - Sesame and Chrysanthemum Greens

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Japan Farmers Markets

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