Alright. I'm doing deep breathing and meditation this morning (oddly enough, combined with lots of coffee) in order to prepare myself for the daunting, daring, and dangerous task of....... raspberry picking.
I should keep a bee keeping suit around just for the raspberry season. I put on flip flops and I don't think that's going to cut it unless I really want to take my chances at the new poison ivy remedy pills I just got as I trounce around in the woods.
Ok, some Regina Spektor on the radio is increasing my meditation for CSA pickup week 2. Feels oddly like the hymns I grew up with, piano in the back and a nice vocal melody on top. I'm ready for anything today.
So I've been weighing out and looking up glyphosate, the chemical that kills weeds in products such as Roundup. I see people spraying their driveways with this stuff, which makes me kinda giggle because I can't bring myself to care that much about a perfect driveway. If that energy was only spent growing potatoes instead of spraying their gravel... but anyway, back to glyphosate.
Europe is having their bouts of love and hate with this chemical. They've banned imports of Roundup Ready genetically modified corn and soybeans from the US. We're in love with genetically modifying things to take the weed killer Roundup because it does make commodity growing easier. The rest of the world isn't as sold on it as we are.
Here's a nice fact sheet which seems to give the pros and cons of glyphosate. And I like that they put in that bit about the endangered toads. I love toads.
http://www.pan-uk.org/pestnews/Actives/glyphosa.htm
I have a feeling there's going to be quite a few heated battles behind closed doors about this product. It's less toxic than weed killers in the past, but it's like -well, drinking bleach isn't that bad, we used to drink battery acid back in the day, bleach is waaaay better-. And it's odd that trees in hedgerows are dying on the edges of Roundup fields. Makes you wonder what's really happening to the microbial community that we can't see but rely so heavily upon.
The wind is picking up. It seems like excellent weather to lay out in the grass and stare up at the sky... well, after checking the grass for sheep poop.
I'm picking up my beef on Wednesday and splitting it Wed. night for the 8 families 1 cow program. I can't wait. I love making burgers with cream cheese or chevre worked into the patties with some fresh herbs. It's like a cheeseburger with cheese in the burger. Gormet right there. Heh.
Ok, berry picking time!
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