Is it a Big Funnel or Are We Just Going Down The Drain?

Not only have we have seen big box retailers displace thousands of small, locally operated stores, but big agriculture has been key to the loss of thousands of vegetable varieties. Consequently our ability to buy items that best fit our needs, and vegetables that make our meals more enjoyable, and nutritious, have been diminished.  While we can do without many "things" we cannot be truly healthy without good nutrition.  Since mono-culture agriculture is more profitable, some varieties which may hold valuable nutritional and genetic traits are neglected and lost.

It would be a shame to lose the ability to save our own seeds and grow delicious and sometimes just beautiful crops, such as this Glass Gem corn that is not commercially feasible for big corporations.

It has been quite warm here until this week but we may be seeing unusually  warmer weather for our area as The Old Farmer's Almanac explains:

 "If the upcoming solar max of Cycle 24 is normal or robust, and especially if an El Niño follows it 2 years later (as often happens), then the middle of this decade will be the hottest period since humans arrived on Earth."

A warmer climate might allow us to grow more food and reduce heating bills but there are the problems of higher air conditioning costs and crop failures due to heat and droughts which also drive up food costs.   
Perhaps more serious is the northerly advance of new species and diseases though. In the South there is an insect called the Kissing Bug that transmits a tropical disease called the Chagas disease.  In the northern U.S. deer are dying from Black Tongue disease which is becoming more prevalent in the northern Whitetail populations that lack natural immunity.   In northern states hikers and campers are finding that a variety of ticks are becoming more prevalent than in previous years.  Of course, there is the enormous economic cost of severe weather events like Hurricane Sandy.  

A Super Early Spring or Hoax on Nature and People?

While woods walking yesterday I noticed that the leeks (ramps) were poking up.   So I returned today and dug a few for soup.

Never before have I ever seen leeks growing in December although I did harvest a few a few ears ago, during a very warm spell in January.  
Long gone are the traditional "killing frosts" of early September here in North Western Pennsylvania - we haven't seen them for about 25 years.  Then there are those who have predicted a "long hard winter" for several years because we have had such hot summers.  Those predictions are often followed by a prediction of "a cold wet summer" that hasn't happened either.
I wouldn't doubt that the drought affecting areas of the mid-west and plains states  is here to stay also.
All this climate changing will ultimately force a huge change in the way food is grown in the U.S.