Oregano Is New CO2-Cutting Drug of Choice (For Cows)

from TreeHugger.com
by A.K. Streeter, Portland, Oregon

You weren't one of those teenagers that tried to smoke oregano straight from your mom's spice rack, were you? The urban lore of the 70's held that smoking oregano would get you high, and yes, I tried it. It definitely didn't work.

But though oregano may not be a great high, it turns out that this common herb has a lot of other medicinal properties, including curbing cows methane production by as much 40%. As cows are such a potent contributor to CO2 emissions, this is good news.

A study by Alexander Hristov of Penn State's dairy cows found that feeding them oregano along with their regular rations caused the cows to produce up to 40 percent less methane in their belches. (Contrary to earlier belief, it seems to be the burps, not the farts, that produce the most methane in ruminants.) In addition, the oregano supplement Hristov fed the cows increased their milk production by a few pounds over the course of the trials.

Grass-fed cows (who tend to eat a lot of herbs) have already been thought to be less methane-producing.

According to this LiveScience report, Hristov screened hundreds of essentials oils and plant compounds before settling on oregano as the supplement most effective at reducting methane while causing no negative effects on the cows.

Oregano is a mainstay of Italian, Greek, and other cuisines. Wikipedia says oregano became popular in the U.S. after World War II when returning soldiers brought back a taste for the "pizza spice."

But interestingly, this hearty herb also has health benefits due to its strong antioxidant properties and antimicrobial action. Hippocrates used oregano as an antiseptic as well as a cure for stomach and respiratory ailments. Oregano has recently been found to have extremely effective properties against methicillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), showing a higher effectiveness than 18 pharmaceuticals it was compared with... read more story at TreeHugger.com

Organic Strawberries Have Better Taste & Nutrition Than Conventional & Better For Soil Too: New Study

from TreeHugger.com
by Matthew McDermott, New York, NY

In the tug of war over whether organic farming is really better than conventional chemical-laden farming, a new study in the online peer-reviewed journal PLoS One comes out solidly in support of the benefits of organic. Self-described as the most comprehensive study of its kind, researchers from Washington State University found that commercial organic farms produce was more flavorful and nutritious strawberries, while leaving the soil healthier and genetically diverse.

In coming to that conclusion, the scientists analyzed 31 chemical and biological soil properties, soil DNA, as well as the taste, nutrition and quality of three strawberry varieties on 13 organic farms and 13 chemical farms in California, where 90% of the US strawberry crop is grown.

Science Daily sums up the findings:

...The organic strawberries had significantly higher antioxidant activity and concentrations of ascorbic acid and phenolic compounds.

...The organic strawberries had longer shelf life.

...The organic strawberries had more dry matter, or, "more strawberry in the strawberry."

Anonymous testers, working at times under red light so the fruit color would not bias them, found one variety of organic strawberries was sweeter, had better flavor, and once a white light was turned on, appearance. The testers judged the two other varieties to be similar... read more story at TreeHugger.com

New Honeybee Breed Key to Combating Colony Collapse Disorder

from TreeHugger.com
by Jaymi Heimbuch, San Francisco, California

A British beekeeper has been working on creating a new strain of honeybee resistant to the varroa mite, a prime suspect in colony collapse disorder (CCD), and it looks like he's hit a high note after 18 years of careful observation and selective breeding. Ron Hoskins found that bees in one of his hives figured out what a great idea mutual grooming can be -- they learned to clean the mites off one another. Hoping that this learned behavior is hereditary, he spread the genes of bees from this colony to his other hives. It worked. Now, combating CCD could be linked in no small part to how quickly the new strain of bee spreads across the country.

Daily Mail reports that the British Beekeepers Association is excited about the work Hoskins has done, and the hope is the drones from his "grooming" bees will mate with wandering female queens to spread the heartier genes across Britain. It could take quite a long time, and a lot of generations of bees before the behavior becomes normal, but if it's a way to combat the mites that wipe out entire colonies, then it's quite an exciting evolution to witness.

Hoskins, who is from Swindon, has named the new strain the "Swindon Honeybee" and all his colonies consist of this new breed. And the behavior might be the only thing that can save honeybees from the verroa mite:... read more story at TreeHugger.com

Loblaws' Grown Close to Home Foods...Aren't

from TreeHugger.com
by Bonnie Alter, London

Way back in 2007, TreeHugger Lloyd went to Loblaws, Canada's largest supermarket chain, looking for fresh local food in July and he found: cherries.

It's three years later and things have changed--sort of. Now they have a little booth at the front of the store called "Grown Close to Home" and they are selling Ontario peaches and potatoes and cucumbers. But right behind it they have their cherries from the USA and pineapple from Costa Rica. That's a rather broad definition of local. We aren't the only ones noticing this...local farmers and shoppers are pretty annoyed too.

Calling it " Grown Close to Home", the store crows that it is "bringing the
farmers market to Canadian neighbourhood grocery stores -- all in one
convenient location with bushels of variety." They are doing that for us lucky shoppers because hitting a "farmers market doesn't always fit with the realities of Canadians' hectic lifestyles."

Their definition of local and commitment to buying locally is broad. For example, Ontario peaches shipped to the western provinces are still considered part of the event. One Halifax shopper complained to the local newspaper because she "spotted plums and radishes from the United States along with rows of peaches, plums and nectarines from Ontario, with the words Grown Close to Home and the Atlantic Grown logo on the signs for some products." Loblaws apologised.

The Globe & Mail, Canada's national newspaper, points out that the farmers participating in the program are very large operations, some with hundreds and thousands of hectares, and greenhouses in Mexico and South America as well. This hardly benefits local farmers.

The Farmers' Markets Canada which represents 550 farmers markets across the country says that according to their research, farmers receive just 10% to 21% of the retail price of their produce at supermarkets, "not enough for a small family farm to survive on, while at farmers markets they get to keep an average 84%."... read more story at TreeHugger.com

NASA: Jan-July Hottest on Record, 2010 Shaping Up to be Warmest Year Yet

from TreeHugger.com
by Brian Merchant, Brooklyn, New York

Okay, you get it. It's hot. Perhaps I've been ticked off by one too many 'global cooling' myth purveyors, but here it is -- another story about how hot it is this summer, and this year in general. NASA has released another report showing that from Jan. to July, 2010 is still the hottest year ever recorded. Last July was in a three-way tie for the hottest of that month ever recorded. And yes, while it's still a bit uncertain, all signs seem to point to 2010 being the hottest year ever.

Here's more from NASA, which released the info in an article aptly titled 'What Global Warming Looks Like':

The July 2010 global map of surface temperature anomalies [above figure], relative to the average July in the 1951-1980 period of climatology, provides a useful picture of current climate. It was more than 5°C (about 10°F) warmer than climatology in the eastern European region including Moscow. There was an area in eastern Asia that was similarly unusually hot. The eastern part of the United States was unusually warm, although not to the degree of the hot spots in Eurasia.

... read more story at TreeHugger.com

Goat Rentals For Weed Control: Perfect For Managing Steep Slopes, Woody Plants, & Air Quality

from TreeHugger.com
by John Laumer, Philadelphia

Last week I wrote about the zero-emission bow-knife for vegetable garden weed control. For certain tasks the bow-knife is superior to any gasoline powered weed-wacker. It's not very good for trimming on steep slopes and handling woody shrubs, however. For those situations, there are few better methods for weed control than goat grazing. However, few of us would want to be a full time goat herd and if you left them there they would over-graze. Enter the perfect solution: goat rentals.

Gwendolyn Bounds covers the goat rental option for the Wall Street Journal in Free-Range Landscaping: Rent-a-goat.com and Others Bring in Herds to Trim the Yard, Get Rid of Weeds. Goats, apparently, fit into the corporate office landscape as well as they would in the hills around century old mansions. Goats also are a safe alternative to power tools (can't rip a foot off or tip over on you like a mower); they're cost competitive; and, IRS has no jurisdiction. But there are drawbacks; and Gwendolyn has some amusing ones to share... more story at TreeHugger.com

Swinging "Cow Wash" Means Happy, Healthy Cows and More Milk

from TreeHugger.com
by Jaymi Heimbuch, San Francisco, California


Everyone loves to get their back scratched. And for cows hard at work in dairy farms, a little rub against the "cow wash" goes a long way for getting cleaner both cleaner and calmer. The swinging brush stimulates blood circulation and improves milk production, while also relaxing the cows and helping to keep diseases from spreading. The invention by DeLaval is already popular in Swedish farms and is now making its way to the UK. Check out a video of cows enjoying their brush-up... read more story at TreeHugger.com