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butterfly IN ARKANSAS

7 tips for mushroom hunters

7 tips for mushroom hunters

Mushroom hunting is a fun hobby, it can be hard but it is worth it. Over time you will start to notice them everywhere. The more you look, the more you will find. The more you find, the more you want to know.

Here are a few thing that might help you on your way:

1.)  Mushrooms thrive in moist dark places.  Look under bushes, trees 
      and fallen logs. Be safe keep an eye out for spiders and snakes.

2.) Use either paper or mesh bags to collect. Plastic will make the
     mushrooms mush up.

3.) Get to know the local trees in your area, some trees form
     symbiotic relationships with mushrooms so that is a good place 
     to start.

4.) Mushrooms respond to stress in the environment.  They are
     natural healers you may find mushrooms in burned areas, or that
     were once flooded, or where there is ground disturbed by human 
     activity such as logging.  

5.) Unless you are an expert NEVER eat or even touch the mushrooms
     you find. Unless you are absolutely positively sure of what they 
     are.  There are many species that look almost exactly the same, its 
     better to be safe.

6.) If you do take mushrooms, don't take ever single mushroom. You
     need mushrooms to spread spores, this way you will find more in 
     the future.

7.) Be careful where you look and what you touch! Watch out for 
     ticks and poison oak. I experienced my first case of poison oak ever 
     because I was trying to get a picture of a mushroom. 


Once you have found your mushrooms, take some time to learn about  them. I created a cheat sheet you can fill out in the field. I like to fill them out then try to figure out what mushrooms I have found.

You can download it here --> Mushroom Guide






Resources:
A Field Guide to Mushrooms: North America (Peterson Field Guides) [Kent H. McKnight, Vera B. McKnight] 

Morel Mushroom hunting: http://www.mushroom-appreciation.com/morel-mushroom-hunting-tips.html

Appreciate Diversity - The Dragonfly!

A bit about a dragonfly

If you happen upon a pond, or lake you will probably run into a dragonfly. Dashing here and there,  always in a rush. 

You can find dragonflies around water such as marshes, lakes, ponds, streams, and wetlands, their larvae or "nymphs", live in the water. 

I love dragonflies, I think they are neat looking. 

In Japan dragonflies are symbols of courage, strength, and happiness. 

Dragonflies are important to our ecosystem, they are predators that feed on small insects such as:

• mosquitoes
• flies
• bees
• ants
• wasps

 There are about 5680 different species of dragonflies in the world today.

Appreciate Diversity!

resources:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dragonfly

I'm eating what!?

I'm Eating What!?

When I became a vegetarian at the naive age of 16, I never dreamed that I would have to worry about bio engineered food. I thought fruit was fruit and it was good for me. Then I started to pay attention to what I was eating and what pesticides were being used on my food, it’s horrifying.

Read labels, you will see for yourself, everything has corn syrup in it. If that wasn’t bad enough, about 85% of corn in the United States is genetically modified.

This made me think, what do I know about genetically modified organisms or GMO’s?

GMO’s are Organisms, modified through the use of various genetic engineering techniques. They are literally altering or combining the genetic information of our food.    

Sounds like science fiction but over the years scientists have been sneaking GMO based products onto market shelves with no plans to inform the consumer.

The flavr saver tomato was introduced in 1994. In 1998 Golden rice was made public. In recent months they have introduced what had been adapted as “frankenfish” a genetically modified fish.

In the paper written by Michael Antoniou, Claire Robinson and John Fagan “GMO Myths and Truths”

It was shown through feeding tests that rats that had eaten the flavr saver tomatoes developed lesions in their bellies. Rats fed the GM soy suffered issues with their kidneys and hearts and Rats fed the GM corn after three generations had damage to the liver and kidney and alterations in their biochemistry.

The deeper you dig the more you find out. There have been so many keystone ingredients such as corn and soy, which have been modified that it is hard to tell if what you’re eating contains GMO’s.

This is a partial list of good that has been modified in some way:

• Tomatoes
• Cantaloupe
• Soybeans
• sugar beets
• corn
• cotton
• sweet potatoes
• Bananas
• Strawberries
• Zucchini
• Pineapples
• Cocoa beans
• Yellow squash

Here the scary part;

Around 85% of the United States corn, 91% of Soybeans, 88% cotton and 95% sugar beets are now GMO. That’s just the beginning…

It was stated by the center of food safety that, “It is estimated that upwards of 70% of processed foods on super market shelves are products that contain genetically engineered ingredients.” As for the concerns, they went on to say, “A number of studies over the past decade have revealed that genetically engineered foods can pose serious risks to humans, domesticated animals, wildlife and the environment”.

There are so many things wrong it’s hard to list them all.

There are some benefits to GMO’s unfortunately you can’t ignore the fact, that we really have no idea what impact it will have on… well everything.

Here are some of the reasons why scientists are creating modified food vs. the negative impacts

Positives

·       Increased food production

·       Resistance to some pests

and herbicides

·       Improved nutritional content

·       Disease Resistant

·       Cold Tolerance

·       Drought Tolerance

·       Salinity Tolerance

·       Pharmaceuticals

Negatives

·       Loss of locally owned family farms to Corporate owned super-farms

·       Unintended harm to other species

·       Reduced effectiveness of pesticides, so you need to use more and more, which is bad for us.

·       Gene transfer to non target species or Cross pollination. This is already happening and innocent people are being sued and losing their family farms.

·       Unknown effects on human health including

·       Allergenicity, immune suppression, cancer and antibiotic resistance

·       Transfer of antibiotic resistance markers

·       Unknown effect on biodiversity

·       Domination of world production by a few companies

·       Increased dependence on

Industrialized nations by developing countries

·       Bio-piracy foreign exploitation of natural resources

...Just to name a few.

So who is allowing these products to be distributed?

There are three companies that regulate the GMO foods in the United States instead of just one that over see’s it all.

1.) The USDA – their job is environmental concerns, such as cross pollination.

2.) The EPA – Is basically to make sure the food is safe to consume

3.) The FDA- Makes sue foods are up to the requirements of the federal food, drug and cosmetic act.

They each have their own special area, but they do not always necessarily have to communicate their findings to each other.

What you need to know

• There have been a wide variety of tests done on several GMO foods that have shown significant health issues in rats, Including stomach ulcers and cancers. 
• What you absorb what you eat. Genetic changes in our food will eventually cause changes in us. Unfortunately that may include cancer and unknown illnesses. 
• There is very little regulation on the GMO foods that make it to market shelves. The testing is done by the companies themselves.
• There just is not enough believable information.
• Right now they don’t need to tell us if we are eating it or not. 

RESOURCES

    

Genetically Modified Foods: Harmful or Helpful?

(Released April 2000)by Deborah B. Whitman http://www.csa.com/discoveryguides/gmfood/overview.php

http://www.centerforfoodsafety.org/campaign/genetically-engineered-food/crops/

Center for Food Safety, “The Hidden Health Hazards of Genetically Engineered Foods.” Food Safety

California Department of Food and Agriculture. A Food Foresight Analysis of Agricultural Biotechnology: A Report to the Legislature. January 1, 2003.Review, Spring 2000.

Excerpt/summary from: GMO Myths & Truths (92012) http://bit.ly/O0IAQS