Here’s what smoke testing a farm field looks like, at least at the soil surface. (See our previous post.) What you can learn from a smoke test, CFAES experts say, can boost a crop’s yield and help protect water.
Month: August 2015
Farmers: What you can learn from a smoke test, and where you can see one soon
Aug. 12’s Manure Science Review will feature a demonstration of smoke testing — a way to show how fast a liquid, including liquid manure, can flow through and out of a farm field. Continue reading Farmers: What you can learn from a smoke test, and where you can see one soon
Urban farming in small spaces: Sustainable Farm Tour Series
It started as a backyard garden. Today its three sites use hoop houses, composting, permanent raised beds and more to produce certified organic mushrooms, specialty vegetables, microgreens and seedlings, which it sells at farmers markets and to restaurants. See big things coming from small city spaces when the Ohio Sustainable Farm Tour and Workshop Series continues on Sunday, Aug. 9, at Columbus’s Swainway Urban Farm (PDF; scroll to p. 30). See the farm’s website.
‘Climate change nightmares are already here’
A story in today’s Rolling Stone says “the worst predicted impacts of climate change are starting to happen — and much faster than climate scientists expected.” Screw your courage to the sticking-place and read it.
1,500 organic acres offer up more than chicken feed (though that’s a big part of it)
Northern Ohio’s Turnow Ventures grows alfalfa for value-added dehydrated chicken feed pellets plus corn, wheat, soybeans and black beans on its 1,500 certified organic acres. See fields of those crops and more, including weed control and soil fertility test plots, when the Ohio Sustainable Farm Tour and Workshop Series continues this Friday, Aug. 7 (PDF; scroll to p. 12).
Grass-based, organic dairying: Sustainable Farm Tour Series
Weaver Dairy, an 85-cow, grass-based, certified organic dairy in Hillsboro in southeast Ohio, hosts the Ohio Sustainable Farm Tour and Workshop Series on Wednesday, Aug. 5 (PDF; scroll to p. 11). (Photo: Purestock.)
Excusez-moo
Chris Mooney of The Washington Post talked to CFAES scientist Jeff Firkins, among others, for yesterday’s story on how cleaner cow burps could help fight climate change.
‘Giving a better life to the next generation’
Here’s a video related to Joe Gies’s Aug. 11 talk at Ohio State. It’s about Shelby, Ohio, creating a new downtown park — a public commons and green space — as part of its efforts to mitigate future flood damage.
Aug. 11: How one town grew from a flood
Joe Gies, who turned a 500-year flood into a better future for his hometown in north-central Ohio, speaks Aug. 11 at Ohio State as part of the Environmental Professionals Network Breakfast Club series. Continue reading Aug. 11: How one town grew from a flood