Park Art August 2014

Afternoon of Friday 8/08/2014 @ 3.30 pa my Art club college & I were ready & waiting at Blackwater All Amenities Park, Blain Street.

We had answered a request for help to Assist the Council officer in indigenous art. This is funded with funds from Queensland Arts council for visual arts aimed to assist children in furthering & cultivating their culture via visual art.

When the officer showed up with ‘ food’ for a BBQ I was taken aback. My companion
did not share my concern.

Taking the situation in our stride and we set about helping in food preparation.
4 mothers arrived and did the cooking. At 5 pm I asked my companion to bring me home.
The food was ready to eat so Al told the Council’s social worker who had busied herself in hosing down another area of the park.

The football bounced off the toilet block as there We’re more children arriving
through the afternoon wanting a feed. No interest was shown in painting, drawing or pastels as no supplies of paper or pens and the Arts officer had driven off yet again.

I have given some thought since to how to approach the Art in the park in a months time.

Out of Afghanaistan NOw

Australian soldiers in Afghanistan are in shock after one of the local men they were tasked with training opened fire on them, killing three and wounding seven

Children still Work in Mines

Child labour in Kyrgyz coal mines By Natalia Antelava BBC Central Asia correspondent

Kylych says the $3 a day he earns is vital for his family Sharp pieces of coal fly across a narrow, dark, airless space as a man bangs the wall of the cave with his hammer. http://www.thewe.cc/weplanet/news/children/child_labor.htm

GLYPHOSATE

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The Land

Source: http://www.theland.com.au

GLYPHOSATE promotes some complex reactions among soil organisms, American scientist Bob Kremer says, but not enough is understood about these interactions to provide specific management advice.

Dr Kremer, a microbiologist with the USDA’s Agricultural Research Service (ARS), instead suggests that there are some general principles that farmers can apply if they are regular users of the chemical.

Occasional studies over more than two decades, mostly in the laboratory, have shown that glyphosate has a complicated relationship with soil life.

In the soil, the use of glyphosate can promote certain strains of the fusarium fungus, possibly because the chemical also stimulates some plants to release more sugars into the soil through root exudates.

Glyphosate has also been shown to inhibit beneficial forms of bacteria, including some of the rhizobium that live synergistically with legumes to produce nitrogen nodulation on roots.

In the plant, the chemical suppresses phytoalexins, the amino acids that plants produce in response to infection, and binds up and makes unavailable some of the key minerals the plant needs to maintain health.

Dr Kremer suspects that all these factors combined could encourage colonisation of crop plants by hostile organisms, like fusarium.

Problem is, very little field research has been done to follow up on laboratory observations, which appear also vary between crops, crop varieties and soil types.

“At field days, I tell farmers that we really haven’t linked big problems to the use of glyphosate,” Dr Kremer said.

“But we’re saying that if all these effects are happening in the field, there may be potential for problems with diseases and decreases in yield.”

If farmers want to manage for this possibility, they should be looking at minimising the possibility of extreme conditions under which glyphosate residues could tip the balance against the crop.

That includes maintaining good levels of all essential soil nutrients.

Her Favourite Dress

 

President Barack Obama and First Lady Michelle Obama ride in a golf cart an Inaugural ball 1/20/09

everyday_i_show: photos by Pete Souza

Embarrass the Staff..

How they should be dressed:  A smock for Shepherds – as they attend the SHEEPIES..

Cattleman concerned by erosion of landowners’ rights – State News – Agribusiness and General – Political – Stock Journal

 

 

Cattleman concerned by erosion of landowners’ rights

PETER Manual, a cattleman and businessman from South Australia, says the proposed carbon tax, abrupt Indonesian live cattle exports suspension and flimsy power sharing with the Greens and Independents are not the only reasons to change the Federal government or hold a fresh election.

He says the government is also using water and environmental issues as a means of controlling people.

Mr Manual became so concerned about environmental controls and over-regulation he joined with others who shared the same view as him and started the Food-producers and Landowners Action Group SA (FLAG).

FLAG resulted from concerns in SA about the government’s draft water allocation plans and potential impacts on sustainable food production in that State.

But they are also concerned about the gradual erosion of landowner rights, with Mr Manual saying his local Natural Resource Management Board possessed more powers than the SA police.

He cited several examples of fines or regulations imposed on farmers by environmental regulators, which contradicted or invaded their basic rights and strangled their business profitability, such as being forced to fence creeks.

– State News – Agribusiness and General – Political – Stock Journal

Weatherhead Family from Queensland Aust. to Canada

 

About the Weatherhead Family

John and Colleen and family hav e been farming for well over 25 years. John was born and raised on a dairy farm in Queensland Australia, and has really been farming all of his life- that’s a few years more than 25! Colleen worked on farms in Ontario while attending school and went on to study agriculture at the University of Guelph. Colleen and John farmed together in Queensland for about 13 years, before moving to Canada in 1995. They have been farming in eastern Ontario since then. Their three children have been actively involved in farming since they were born. Because of the diverse and manual intensive nature of the farm, the whole family has to work. We also try to employ local youth whenever possible. If you know of anyone who would like to work on an organic farm, please direct them our way. Colleen is the Women’s President of the National Farmers Union of Canada. The farm is an extension of her activism, which focuses on social justice around food, farming and land. We welcome visitors to our farm. Please call ahead. We are closed on Sunday.

Weatherhead Family