Monthly Archives: March 2011
FREE RANGE: FOOD, NATURE, PLACE, AND MORE
Tragic waste: some thoughts on the s-word
Michael Pollan notes in The Omnivore’s Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Mealsthat industrial agriculture has taken an elegant solution—crops feed animals, whose manure in turn fertilizes crops—and “divide[d] it into two new problems: a fertility problem on the farm… … Continue reading
Posted in Nature
Tagged agribusiness, bat guano, chickens, Lent, Madroño Ranch, manure, Michael Pollan, Nuclear Boy, Wendell Berry
Leave a comment
March Madness: mountain laurels, plastic ducks, and ‘roid rage
Jeff Meikle), the changing definition of childhood, the history of American environmentalism, and more. He writes well and often amusingly, but the overall message of his book is dire: we are almost literally drowning in waste, and we don’t really … Continue reading
Posted in Nature
Tagged baseball, climate change, earthquake, Grist.org, Japan, March Madness, sweat, tryptophan
3 Comments
Lenten reflections: dead trees, bafflement, and submission
Fittingly, this Ash Wednesday began with a vigorous north wind, the kind that knocks dead branches out of trees and can make you a little leery about walking outdoors. It blew me back to the moment that I first got … Continue reading
Posted in More
Tagged bafflement, Dai Due, feral hogs, hunting, Lent, limits, submission, Texas Hill Country, Wendell Berry
1 Comment
Maps and mobility: living in, not on, the land
I was surprised, while reading Rebecca Solnit’s fascinating Infinite City: A San Francisco Atlas, to realize that I probably know substantially more about the history of Texas than I do about the history of my native San Francisco. Of course, … Continue reading
Posted in Place
Tagged Bay Area, Frederick Jackson Turner, frontier, home, maps, Rebecca Solnit, San Francisco, sense of place, Texas State Historical Association
3 Comments