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Minnamurra Rainforest Centre
Budderoo National Park
Jamberoo, NSW, Australia.
The Minnamurra Rainforest Area is found in the Budderoo N.P 15km west of Kiama & about 1hr south of Sydney.
It’s a 400 Hectare pocket of tropical & warm temperate rainforest.
The walk to Minnamurra Falls is approx. 4.2km return & the first 500m is wheelchair-friendly.
Allow about 2hrs for the walk to the falls - the top section is quite steep.
Boardwalks & raised platforms have been erected to minimise damage to the environment from the thousands of visitors the area receives every year.
Walkers are required to keep to the boardwalks so it does reduce the range of possible photography locations & compositions.
Photography of the river is difficult as the main vantage points are on swing-bridges & there is movement for a couple of minutes every time someone crosses them.
The Minnamurra Rainforest is beautiful but certainly not a wilderness experience due to the man-made infrastructure & constructions.
The lower section of the rainforest is quite pristine however there is still ongoing weed control & bush regeneration in the upper sections with lantana being an issue.
Minnamurra Falls consists of two levels, the upper falls which are 25m, and the lower falls which are 50m high.
Only the upper falls can be reached as rockslides have washed away the track that led to the lower falls.
The lower falls were originally the main attraction until the 1989 landslide & there is a an area of canyon there.
There is a lookout that gives you a vantage point to view the lower falls and a glimpse of the slot canyon.
Here’s hoping that one day the track is restored to provide access to an impressive & wild part of Minnamurra.
1. Patience, 2. Morning beauty, 3. Just hanging around, 4. Going into the woods, 5. Str-e-t-ch, 6. Power drink, 7. Stacks of Sea Cans in the rail yard, 8. A different beauty,
9. Just before sunrise, 10. Waiting to use the feeder, 11. Succulent, 12. Pine Grosbeak, 13. Bonanza, 14. Muskrat carrying vegetation, 15. Yellow-rumped Warbler, 16. Satisfied,
17. Beautiful buds, 18. You go, Plonker!, 19. Standing on a feast, 20. MMMMmm Good seed!, 21. Young visitor, 22. Rising through the trees, 23. Preaching to the choir, 24. Butterfly ~ 1,
25. Juggler, 26. Live Yard Ornament, 27. Hummingbird on Maltese Cross, 28. Mommy to be, 29. Bohemian Waxwing, 30. Cranberry slushy, 31. Snowflake, 32. Sandhill cranes,
33. Junco and Cedar hedge, 34. Trying to get a grip, 35. Tent with ocean view, 36. Weed control in Jasper Park, 37. Fawn, 38. Swaying perch, 39. Bohemian Waxwing, 40. Tree behind the moon,
41. Snow falling at night, 42. Winter fun!, 43. Happy Solstice!, 44. Masked berry picker, 45. Christmas card in the making?, 46. Cool seat, 47. Church in a desert, 48. Dragonfly,
49. Night reflections, 50. Found a Peanut, 51. Autumn visitor, 52. Red squirrel, 53. Gull Arguing, 54. Kamloops Lake, 55. Hummingbird 3, 56. Hummingbird 1,
57. 07:07:07:03:52, 58. Red squirrel having a look around, 59. Wheelies, 60. Spider in front of window, 61. Female Yellow Warbler on crabapple - 4, 62. Rain on the window, 63. Wilson's Warbler In crabapple tree 3 (cropped), 64. Robin
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1980 (part 1 of 2)
January 6, 1980
St. Paul’s Anglican Church in Dunrobin officially opened its new hall. Kanata Standard, Jan. 11, 1980:11.
January 7, 1980
A new Board of Directors was elected for Bridlewood. The members are as follows: President – Mike James, Vice President – Frank Crowe, Secretary – Stu Chandler, Treasurer – Rick Seaman. Kanata Standard, Jan. 25, 1980:3.
January 8, 1980
Kanata City Council voted to widen Eagleson Road to four lanes. Kanata Standard, Jan. 11, 1980:1.
January 8, 1980
Graham Ball of the Glen Cairn Community Association presented a one-year trial policy to Kanata City Council to allow community associations to run their own rinks rather than having them maintained by the city. Kanata Standard, Jan. 11, 1980:1.
January 8, 1980
The city agreed to help with ballot boxes concerning a Rural March separation vote, following a request by Bill Berry from the March Rural Association. The separation vote is scheduled for January 26, 1980. Kanata Standard, Jan. 11, 1980:1.
January 9, 1980
Gordon Gilhuly, a high school teacher from Perth, accepted his nomination by acclamation as the federal NDP candidate in the Lanark Renfrew Carleton riding. Kanata Standard, Jan. 25, 1980:21.
January 11, 1980
The Titley Realtors honoured Sylvia Milne for her standing as top sales agent for 1979. Kanata Standard, Jan. 25, 1980:21.
January 11, 1980
The Kanata Beaverbrook Community Association announced the nomination of various individuals for Man and Woman of the Year for 1979. Nominated for Woman of the Year were Mary Lou Kingham, Barbara Farmer, Diana Young; for Man of the Year, Stu Chandler and Father Francis McEvoy; and for couple of the year, George and Nancy Medynski. Kanata Standard, Jan. 11, 1980:3.
January 11,1980
A new executive committee was announced for the Katimavik Hazeldean Community Association to take office February 1, 1980. The new executive was as follows: President – Paul Niebergall, Vice President – Dave Andrews, Treasurer – Rick Watson, Secretary – Jim Carruthers. Kanata Standard, Jan. 11, 1980:4.
January 13, 1980
The Kanata Skating Rink on the Beaver Pond was officially opened. Campeau Corporation created the rink. Kanata Standard, Jan. 11, 1980:7.
January 15, 1980
The inaugural meeting for 1980 of Kanata City Council took place. Mayor Marianne Wilkinson noted priorities for 1980: community meeting facilities for Bridlewood, repairs to the Glen Cairn arena, construction on the Queensway overpass. A hydro study recommended the setting up of Kanata Hydro, market-value tax assessment was introduced, funds for a library in Glen Cairn and a fire station for the southern area were approved, and construction of the City Centre was slated to begin this year, including the construction of an office building on Katimavik Drive where City Hall will be located. The OPP Headquarters would also be relocated to Kanata within the next year. Kanata Standard, Jan. 25, 1980:1.
January 20, 1980
The Kanata Judo Club won 2 Gold (Chris Gibson, Melissa Wheeler), 3 silver (Phil Gibdon, Anna Watters, and Judoka Jamie Carson), and 1 Bronze (Stewart Wheeler) at the Regional Winter Games. Kanata Standard, Jan. 25, 1980:14.
January 22, 1980
Mayor Marianne Wilkinson sent a brief to Commissioner Eric Runacres concerning the need for schools in the Katimavik and Bridlewood areas. Kanata Standard, Feb. 8, 1980:6.
January 24, 1980
Parents from the March Hockey Association met at the Mlacak Arena to discuss the possibility of merging with the Glen Cairn Hockey Association to form a city-wide Kanata Minor Hockey Association. Kanata Standard, Feb. 8, 1980:23.
January 25, 1980
The Kanata Beaverbrook Community Association’s Man and Woman of the Year (1979) were announced as Father Francis McEvoy of South March’s St. Isidore’s Church, and Diana Young, Chairman of Kanata’s Project 4000 Coordinating Committee. Kanata Standard, Jan. 25, 1980:6.
January 25, 1980
The Kanata Soccer Club board is as follows: President – Keith Richardson, Vice President – Sid Johnson, Secretary – John Dowell, Treasurer – Jim Burrows, Past President – Alan Wilson. Kanata Standard, Jan. 25, 1980:19.
February 8, 1980
Construction began on Kanata’s new Town Centre. The Centre would be comprised of a three-storey office complex and a retail shopping facility. Located there would be the city’s municipal offices, a Bank of Nova Scotia, Loblaws, and additional medical / professional and retail space. Occupancy was slated for September 1980. Kanata Standard, Feb. 8, 1980:1.
February 8, 1980
Norm Sterling, MPP, Carleton-Grenville, announced an expansion of the interchange between Highway 417 and Carp Road by the Ministry of Transportation and Communication. The ramp would permit cars going east on Highway 417 to exit and cars going west on Highway 417 access to Carp Road. Kanata Standard, Feb. 8, 1980:10.
February 8, 1980
It was announced that an all-candidates meeting was held in Glen Cairn for the federal Nepean-Carleton riding at A.Y. Jackson. The candidates were: Gordon Hunter (Liberal), Stan White (NDP), and incumbent Walter Baker (PC). Kanata Standard, Feb. 8, 1980:10.
February 8, 1980
Kanata’s first chiropractic practice opened in the Eagleson Common. The Kanata Chiropractic Centre was run by Dr. Anthony Brunelle, BA, DC, and his wife, Dr. Marcelle Forget-Brunelle, DC. Kanata Standard, Feb. 8, 1980:12.
February 12, 1980
At a Committee-of-the-whole meeting, the City of Kanata learned that the provincial Minister of Revenue had unilaterally reduced the assessments on vacant land by up to two-thirds without the city’s knowledge, causing the city to lose $620,000 of tax assessment. Kanata Standard, Feb. 22, 1980:1.
February 18, 1980
The federal election winners were Paul Dick and Walter Baker.
February 20-23, 1980
The Kanata Theatre presented Clifford Odets’ “The Country Girl” at Earl of March Secondary School, featuring Ron Maslin, Mary Mauger and Jim Holmes. Kanata
Standard, Feb. 8, 1980:17.
February 22 – 24, 1980
Bridlewood hosted its second-annual winter carnival. Kanata Standard, Feb. 22, 1980:3.
February 22, 1980
In Mayor Marianne Wilkinson’s Commentary column, she noted that Kanata City Council, in conjunction with the Mississippi Valley Conservation Authority, had recommended that a private foundation be established to operate and restore the Pinhey Property. Kanata Standard, Feb. 22, 1980:7.
February 22, 1980
An article appeared in the Kanata Standard, describing how Bob Howland had enjoyed his time after retiring as Chairman of the National Energy Board in 1973, raising sheep with his wife Kay. Kanata Standard, Feb. 22, 1980:12.
February 25, 1980
One-hundred-and-thirty parents and sons attended the first annual Beaver Banquet held by the Kanata Scouts. Kanata Standard, March 7, 1980:8.
March 1, 1980
The Kanata Bridge Club held its last meeting of the year at the Beaverbrook Community Centre. High Man was Ken McGee and High Lady was Martha Klump. Kanata Standard, April 3, 1980:11.
March 4, 1980
Council asked the Ministry of Transportation to improve the Richardson Sideroad / Highway 17 intersection. Kanata Standard, March 7, 1980:6.
March 4, 1980
Council moved to purchase an answering machine to record inquiries and complaints. Kanata Standard, March 7, 1980:6.
March 4, 1980
Council voted to appoint J. Westeinde as Project and Construction Manager for the new Glen Cairn Library project. Kanata Standard, March 7, 1980:6.
March 5, 1980
Norm Sterling, MPP, Carleton-Grenville, announced that Dan Kelly’s Touch Football Club would receive a grant of $2,800 from Wintario to participate in the National Touch Football Championships in St. Louis, Missouri. Kanata Standard, March 7, 1980:16.
March 7, 1980
Kanata’s own Hydro utility was predicted to be in operation in 1981. With the local Hydro utility, the City would have the ability to decide on the methods for supplying power and the timing of the provision of services. Kanata Standard, March 7, 1980:2.
March 7, 1980
Judy Moore, clerk / typist at the Fire Department and Diane McCardle, Senior Citizen Coordinator, tendered their resignations. Kanata Standard, March 7, 1980:6.
March 7, 1980
An aerial ladder truck was purchased by the City Fire Department, to be kept in the Beaverbrook station. This eliminated the need for Kanata to continue using the Nepean Fire Department’s ladder. Kanata Standard, March 7, 1980:6.
March 7, 1980
Carol Estabrooks announced plans to create an original Katimavik cook book. Kanata Standard, March 7, 1980:12.
March 7, 1980
The March Hockey Association’s Florida trip draw was won by J. R. Barbe of Touraine, Quebec. The draw was organized by Carole and Arnie Redmond and J. P. Lachapelle. Kanata Standard, March 7, 1980:16.
March 7, 1980
Norm Sterling wrote a letter to the Standard concerning the growing problem of acid rain, which he described as “probably the most significant environmental problem we have ever faced.” Kanata Standard, March 7, 1980:17.
March 7, 1980
Two more Viet Nam refugee families arrived in the area, having been sponsored by Kanata No 6 and St. John’s Anglican Church Group as part of Project 4000. Kanata Standard, March 7, 1980:17.
March 10, 1980
Twenty-three Representatives from community associations in Kanata gathered for the first Community Forum, organized by Mayor Marianne Wilkinson. Kanata Standard, April 18, 1980:4.
March 11, 1980
In a Committee-of-the-whole meeting, Kanata City Council discussed the take-over of Teron Road by the city. A joint committee of the Carleton Board of Education, the City of Kanata, and the residents of Bridlewood, was formed to develop a community school for Bridlewood. The city said that it would first build a community centre, which would eventually become part of the future school. The committee was also told that the Region was considering changes that might lead to Kanata gaining control of its own day care centres in the future. Kanata Standard, March 21, 1980:1.
March 14, 1980
Allen Miller, President and founder of Miller Communications Systems, opened a new plant in the City Business Park. Kanata Standard, March 21, 1980:9.
March 15, 1980
The March Hockey Tyke playoffs ended. Superior Colour Labs (orange) beat Kanata Texaco (yellow). Kanata Standard, March 21, 1980:10.
March 21, 1980
The Canadian Marconi Company, a major electronics company, announced plans to begin operations in Kanata in the fall. Kanata Standard, March 21, 1980:1.
March 21, 1980
Finance Commissioner William Aughey became the city’s Chief Administrative Officer under a reorganization at City Hall. Kanata Standard, March 21, 1980:1.
March 21, 1980
Rural March's new Fire Station was officially opened. Kanata Standard, March 21, 1980:14.
March 24, 1980
The City of Kanata decided to turn over the sponsorship of Kanata's Oktoberfest. They appealed to any interest group within the city to adopt the task. Kanata Standard, April 18, 1980:3.
March 24, 1980
Dan Sims explained in a column that Kanata Standard would be made into a corporation and shares sold. Kanata Standard, April 18, 1980:3.
March 25, 1980
The Kanata Standard mentioned that Parks Superintendent Nancy Schwartz had discussed, with the City of Kanata, the completion of the Participark on Sandwell Green. Kanata Standard, April 3, 1980:4.
March 25, 1980
Mayor Marianne Wilkinson officiated at a ribbon cutting ceremony for Albert Gale Real Estate's new office in Hazeldean Mall. Kanata Standard, April 3, 1980:5.
March 29-30, 1980
Kanata was the site of the Ontario Women's Hockey Association Provincial Play downs. Kanata Standard, March 21, 1980:8.
March 31, 1980
Fire destroyed Gallagher's Garage, which had been owned an operated by Brian Gallagher in the rural March area for 10 years. Kanata Standard, April 3, 1980:1.
March 31, 1980
The Glen Cairn Figure Skating Club held a wind-up pop carnival. The Amateur Award Winners were: Senior--Lee Bell, Cindy Russell, Loreen Holden, Sandy Burke; Junior--Barb Goodwin, Karen Lalumiere, Karyn Ball, Kim Baker, Karen Turnbull, Janet Smith, Sandra Fuhrer, Catherine Lisson, Stephanie Baker, Elaine Stephens. The Odyssey Book Award went to Leslie Doane and the Happiness is Figure Skating Award went to Devon Sparling. Kanata Standard, April 18, 1980:17.
April 2, 1980
Mike Kosche, of Kanata, was one of 20 officer cadets who received their commission at the Naval Officer Training Centre in Victoria, British Columbia. Kanata Standard, May 2, 1980:9.
April 2, 1980
The March Hockey Association presented Mite and Tyke boys with crests. Dwight Boyce's team was given gold metals and Arnie Redmond's Midget team captured the crown in their division. Kanata Standard, April 18, 1980:18.
April 3, 1980
Two more Vietnamese refugee families arrived in the area early this month. They were cared for by the Stittsville Refugee Committee under the leadership of Ken Smith and the recently organized sponsor group of St. Isidore's Parish under Father McEvoy. Kanata Standard, April 3, 1980:8.
April 3, 1980
Miller Communications Ltd. of Kanata was awarded a contract valued at more than $60,000 to conduct an analysis of requirements for an advanced satellite digital communications system for the European Space Agency. Kanata Standard, April 3, 1980:10.
April 7, 1980
Carleton Board of Education Trustee John Lyon said that although the Katimavik school is a priority, it had not yet received approval to commence construction by the Ministry of Education. Kanata Standard, April 18, 1980:3.
April 9, 1980
A new Board of Directors was elected for the March Rural Association: President--Bill Berry, Vice President--Leslie Sparks. Also elected were Des Adam, Keith Richardson, and Dan Perley. Kanata Standard, April 18, 1980:5.
April 10, 1980
The Bridlewood Community Association ratified Lorna Bikerton as Chairman of the Block Parents Committee. The other members of the committee were: Mary Simmons, Dorothy Clarke, Lynn Gravel, Len Heitin, and David Bickerton. Kanata Standard, April 18, 1980:3.
April 10, 1980
The Bells Corners Art League presented a watercolour painting to the Ottawa Citizen, entitled "What's Black and White?" by Skip Pynn. Kanata Standard, May 2, 1980:27.
April 14, 1980
The Glen Cairn Figure Skating Club elected a new executive: President--Graham Turnbull, Vice President--Joan Dowling, Secretary--Elinor Montgomery, Treasurer--Scott McClelland. Kanata Standard, May 2, 1980:19.
April 15, 1980
Kanata City Council held a "bearpit" session in the Beaverbrook community. Discussed was the Participark, the cleaning of The Watcher, parking at Mac's Milk Plaza, the Glen Cairn sewers, and the City Centre. Kanata Standard, April 18, 1980:1.
April 15, 1980
A by-law was passed to spend $50,000 on the purchase of land for the construction of Connelly Road between Highway 7/15 and the northeast limit of Registered Plans M222. Kanata Standard, April 18, 1980:4.
April 17, 1980
Volunteers of the ESL (English as a Second Language) Pre-school program of Kanata were honoured at the Glen Cairn Community Centre. They were as follows: Joanne Barter, Doreen Boss, Isabelle Hamilton, Marian Hoey, Judy Jeffers, Marilyn Lalande, Barbara Sparling, Donna Sparling, Joan Sparling, and Maureen Wambolt. Kanata Standard, May 2, 1980:25.
April 18, 1980
Teens from the Drop-In Centre Katimavik (DICK) began cleaning up Campeau's Teron Road apartment site, an area that had earlier been called an "eyesore" by both residents and Kanata City Council. The group was paid $1000 from Campeau Corporation for the work. Kanata Standard, April 18, 1980:1.
April 18, 1980
Ju Jitsu and kickboxing classes began in Kanata, taught by Sam Khatib and Harry Rhode. Kanata Standard, April 18, 1980:18.
April 18, 1980
It was announced that the March Montessori School would open at the Chimo Plaza on Beaufort Drive in Katimavik. Kanata Standard, April 18, 1980:21.
April 18, 1980
Chicken Charlie's was announced to open on Highway 7/15, located on the site of the previous "Grand Prix" drive-in restaurant. Kanata Standard, April 18, 1980:22.
April 18, 1980
The Garden Terrace Restaurant opened in Kanata at 9A Kakulu Road in the Eagleson Common Plaza. Kanata Standard, April 18, 1980:14.
April 18, 1980
It was announced that the Public Heath Nurses of the Ottawa-Carleton Regional Health Unit would be screening children in April, May, and June with respect to hearing, vision, and speech. Kanata Standard, April 18, 1980:7.
April 18, 1980
Frank Crowe met with the Glen Cairn residents who had hired a lawyer to object to the Region's resolution on Amendment No. 9 concerning noise abatement on Eagleson Road. Kanata Standard, April 18, 1980:10.
April 23, 1980
Twelve Rangers received certificates for Guiding's highest award, the Canada Cord, at the Annual Brownie, Guide, Pathfinder, and Ranger Mother and Daughter Banquet. Kanata Standard, May 2, 1980:13.
April 25, 1980
The Kanata Ladies Bowling League season ended with the presentation of an award to Erm Boyd for contributing 10 years as a member and 7 years as statistician. The 1980-81 executive was also named: President--Mina Blouin, Vice-President--Carol Redmond, Treasurer--Norma Kelly, and Secretary--Fay Larwill. Kanata Standard, May 30, 1980:8.
April 29, 1980
Earl of March students celebrated the 416th birthday of William Shakespeare by re-enacting Shakespeare’s famous death scenes. Kanata Standard, May 16, 1980:20.
May 1, 1980
Alderman Jean Gubby announced at a Bridlewood Community Association meeting that paper pick-up would be extended to the Glen Cairn-Bridlewood area in the near future. Kanata Standard, May 16, 1980:5.
May 1, 1980
The Bridlewood Community Association Board voted unanimously not to buy shares in the Kanata Standard. They also voted that the Standard would no longer be given to non-members of the BCA after May. Kanata Standard, May 16, 1980:5.
May 1, 1980
Norm Sterling, MPP, Carleton-Grenville announced the Ontario Ministry of the Environment forwarded a cheque of $32,000 to Kanata to offset the cost of the trunk sewer for the North Business Park. Kanata Standard, May 16, 1980:5.
May 1-7, 1980
This was Proper Posture Week in Ontario. Kanata Standard, May 2, 1980:11.
May 1-7, 1980
This was the Canada Safety Council's Child Safety Week. Kanata Standard, May 2, 1980:21.
May 2, 1980
It was noted in the Kanata Standard that Mr. M. McCorkell, the Kanata by-law enforcement officer, tendered his resignation at a recent Council meeting. Kanata Standard, May 2, 1980:1.
May 2, 1980
Nancy Schwartz, Parks Superintendent, described plans for Pump House Park showing a hardball diamond, basketball court (doubling in winter as an outdoor rink), parking lot, and soccer field to be added to the existing tot lot. Kanata Standard, May 2, 1980:6.
May 2, 1980
It was announced that garden plots were available for rent in South March, behind the Old Town Hall. Kanata Standard, May 2, 1980:8.
May 2, 1980
Plans and preparations for the new library branch in Glen Cairn were said to be moving ahead. Kanata Standard, May 2, 1980:6.
May 2, 1980
The Annual meeting of the South March Women's Institute was held and the new executive was announced: President--June Gibbs, First Vice President--Mona Monaghan, Second Vice President--Nicola Butler. Kanata Standard, May 2, 1980:11.
May 2, 1980
Judy Wasylycia-Leis was acclaimed NDP candidate for the provincial riding of Carleton. Kanata Standard, May 2, 1980:14.
May 2, 1980
Sid Handleman announced his retirement as the Carleton MPP, leaving the region without a representative until the next by-election. Kanata Standard, May 2, 1980:16.
May 2, 1980
The Kanata Ladies Bowling League closed the season with Team Number 5, consisting of Arlene Pershick, Kathy Goodwin, Denyse Brisebois, and Joan Wandler, winning Section B. Kanata Standard, May 2, 1980:18.
May 2, 1980
It was announced that Raffi, a well-known children's singer, would play at the Earl of March on May 18, 1980. Kanata Standard, May 2, 1980:24.
May 3, 1980
Kanata golfers turned out to compete in the Ray Egan Memorial organized by club Captain Bob McManus. J.D. Lyon won the trophy with a net score of 68 and Bill Lund was runner up with a net score of 69. Kanata Standard, May 30, 1980:14.
May 4, 1980
The Kanata Girl Guides paraded in Ottawa for the 70th Anniversary of Girl Guides in Canada. Kanata Standard, April 18, 1980:6.
May 5, 1980
The March Kanata Skating Club elected a new executive: President--Keith Hooey, Vice-President and Music Chairman--Donna Lund, Past President and Pro Liaison--Janet Frazer. Kanata Standard, June 13, 1980:14.
May 6, 1980
During Kanata Council's "bearpit" meeting in Katimavik, the Katimavik Teen Club was awarded $1000 for demolishing the fence which surrounded the Campeau Corporation apartment site on Teron Road. Kanata Standard, May 16, 1980:1.
May 6, 1980
Parks and Recreation Director Bob Small said that the tennis courts for Katimavik-Hazeldean discussed in the 1979 budget were scheduled to proceed this year. Kanata Standard, May 16, 1980:1.
May 7-10, 1980
The Kanata Theatre's Production of "Two and Two Make Sex," a comedy by Richard Harris and Leslie Darbon, was performed, featuring Steven Jones and Chris Robinson. Kanata Standard, April 18, 1980:13.
May 8, 1980
The Explorers Graduation and Star Ceremony was held. Six Explorers received "E" pins and grad certificates: Kristin Bennett, Jennifer Godfrey, Karen Grant, Jennifer Hobbs, Carina Slaby, and Karen Westmore. Kanata Standard, May 30, 1980:23.
May 10, 1980
The Grand Opening of the Hazeldean Centre took place on Highway 7 at Young Road. It was owned and operated by the Mahfouz brothers, Ed and Frank. Kanata Standard, May 16, 1980:17.
May 12, 1980
Another meeting of concerned citizens met at the Mlacak Centre to discuss the condition of the Participark in Beaverbrook. Kanata Standard, May 16, 1980:1.
May 13, 1980
Kanata City Council discussed the possibility of installing a prefabricated relocatable building to serve as the Bridlewood Community Centre. Kanata Standard, May 16, 1980:2.
May 13, 1980
The Ladies Open Golf Day was held. The winners were: 1st--Norma Kavanagh and Gladys Cameron, 2nd--Trudy Graham and Iris Kucher, 3rd Shirley Colton and Helen Wood. Kanata Standard, May 30, 1980:8.
May 16, 1980
The March Softball Association announced its new executive: President--Chris Black, Vice President--Leo Querel, Secretary-Treasurer--Judy Cullen. Kanata Standard, May 16, 1980:21.
May 17, 1980
The Kanata Riding Club held a schooling show at Kanata's Mayfair. Winners were: 1st--Riley, owned and ridden by Frances Blais, 2nd--Courrier deBois ridden by Carolyn Wood, and 3rd--Empress, ridden by Dawn Solosky. A pet show was also held at the fair. Kanata Standard, May 30, 1980:15.
May 19, 1980
Kanata's annual Mayfair was held. Reaney Court's Storybook Characters float won 1st prize Cluster Category and Best Float Overall. Kanata Standard, May 30, 1980:1.
May 20, 1980
Alderman Charles Rogers, Bruce MacDonald and Jennifer Roddick were appointed as city representatives on the Pinhey Point Foundation. Kanata Standard, May 30, 1980:6.
May 28, 1980
A house built by high school students and sponsored by the Ottawa Chapter of the Housing and Urban Development Association of Canada and the Ottawa Board of Education was opened for public inspection on Naismith Drive in Katimavik. Kanata Standard, June 13, 1980:9.
May 30, 1980
Kanata's 1st annual bicycle rally winners were announced. 1st prizes, per category, went to: Family--the Bradley Marshall family, Age 8-13 (1st person)--Kevin Melnyk, Age 14-29--Shona Munio, Age 30+ (1st person)--Bob Wilkinson. Kanata Standard, May 30, 1980:9.
May 30, 1980
Carp's 4H Horse Club announced its new executive: President--Bev Seddon, Vice-President--Dale Vance, Secretary--Donna Warwick. Kanata Standard, May 30, 1980:9.
May 31, 1980
The 1980 "Joe Who" Kanata Tavern Restaurant Best Ball Tournament was held. First (net) prize went to Frank Doyle and Dick Millest, and First (gross) prize went to Ron Patterson and Jack Liddy. Kanata Standard, June 13, 1980:14.
May 31, 1980
An Earl of March theatre group, Stage '80, performed "Spring Song '80," the final project for Grade 13 Theatre Arts student John Leclerc. Kanata Standard, June 13, 1980:7.
June 3, 1980
Kanata City Council held a "bearpit" meeting in Glen Cairn where Council voted unanimously to continue the glass recycling for another year, under close monitoring. Kanata Standard, June 13, 1980:8.
June 5, 1980
The Kanata Ambassador National Awards were held at the National Press Club. The winners were: "A Canadian Salmon Pate" by Kurt Wadele of the National Arts Centre and "Canadian Gold" (drink) created by Scott Rae of CW's. Kanata Standard, June 13, 1980:1.
June 7, 1980
The 17th Annual Clothesline Art and Crafts Fair was held at Bell High School, featuring 86 artists. Prizes were awarded: 1st--Alton Lang, 2nd--Colin Hamer, 3rd A (Toni) Manson. Kanata Standard, June 13, 1980:11.
June 10, 1980
The Ladies Texaco Invitational Golf Tournament was held. Low Gross Winners: Aveleigh Ranson, 83, and Chris Ozarko, 85. Low New Winners: Pat Kirkconnell, 66, Marion Greenwood, 69. Kanata Standard, June 27, 1980:10.
June 13, 1980
A new executive was elected by acclamation to the KBCA: President--Ken Braun, Vice-President--Larry Demchuck, Tom Rimmer, Treasurer--Marina Card, Secretary--Barbara Farmer. Kanata Standard, June 13, 1980:6.
June 13, 1980
It was announced that the Ontario government had introduced legislation increasing the representation in the Ottawa-Carleton Regional Council from 31 to 33. This change allowed for another representative from Gloucester and one more from Nepean. Kanata Standard, June 13, 1980:10.
June 13, 1980
It was announced that the Dunrobin Shores Yacht Club and the Ontario Sailing Association would operate a Mobile Sailing School Program during the summer. Kanata Standard, June 13, 1980:18.
June 13, 1980
The winners of the March Montessori School raffle were announced. Merve Lemke won a Black and Decker Drill and Nicole Wilson, a Montessori student, won a set of Workhorse Platform Clamps. The prizes were donated by Legere Engineering Supplies. Kanata Standard, June 13, 1980:23.
June 14, 1980
The Earl of March Secondary School held its 10th anniversary celebration. Kanata Standard, May 16, 1980:19.
June 21, 1980
The 2nd Annual Katimavik-Hazeldean Road Race was held. Men’s' winners were: 15 km--Dave Pedley, 10 km--Peter Rowan-Legg, 5 km--Mike Doyle. For women's: 15 km--Jamie Riddell, 10 km--Anne McIlroy, 5 km--Lisa Kenkel. Kanata Standard, June 27, 1980:7.
June 21, 1980
Carp's Country Crafts shop held a craft demonstration featuring the work of Carp resident Gail Erickson. Kanata Standard, June 13, 1980:21.
June 22, 1980
The fifth annual sail past of the Kanata Sailing Club was held. Kanata Standard, June 27, 1980:13.
June 23, 1980
The second graduation ceremony was held at Stephen Leacock since the school became the district French Immersion school. Kanata Standard, June 27, 1980:16.
June 24, 1980
Kanata City Council agreed to request that the Regional Municipality spray certain rural roads with 2-4, D for weed control. Kanata Standard, June 27, 1980:1.
June 24, 1980
In a Committee-of-the-whole meeting, Kanata Council voted to undertake reconstruction of the former March-Huntley townline from Old Carp Road in a northerly direction for about 600m. Kanata Standard, June 27, 1980:1.
June 24, 1980
The bill setting up the Kanata Hydro Electric Commission was approved by the Provincial Legislature. Kanata City Council, therefore, appointed members of the first commission: Mayor Marianne Wilkinson, Alderman Bill Lund, Don Farmer, George Abou-Arrage, and Tom Viglasky. Kanata Standard, June 27, 1980:2.
June 26, 1980
Stella Koros was presented with the 1st annual Family Enrichment Association Supporter of the Year Award. Kanata Standard, July 11, 1980:6.
June 27, 1980
The Kanata Standard noted that Mitel was expected to put in a request to expand on a site next to their current plant. Kanata Standard, June 27, 1980:1.
June 27, 1980
Due to a carpenters' strike, the completion date of the Town Centre's office building was moved from June to July. Kanata Standard, June 27, 1980:3.
June 27, 1980
Kanata Standard recognized that MPP Norm Sterling had presented Mayor Marianne Wilkinson with a cheque for $400,000 as part of the transitional grant from the province on the 1978 incorporation of the City of Kanata. Kanata Standard, June 27, 1980:9.
June 27, 1980
The winners of the March Softball Association Playoffs were announced. Senior Girls Softball: 1st--Charlie Elliott's A Team, Intermediate Girls Softball: 1st--Jim Coumb's E Team, Junior Girls Softball: 1st--Doug Rubbra's A Team. Kanata Standard, June 27, 1980:10.
June 27, 1980
The Ontario Provincial Police in the Ottawa area announced the beginning of an Operation Bicycle Identification Project in reaction to an increased number of thefts in the area. Kanata Standard, June 27, 1980:13.
June 28, 1980
Mayor Marianne Wilkinson presented Louise Reynolds with the R.J. Volker Trophy for the Best Entry in the Show at the Kanata Horticultural Society's Annual Rose and Flower. Kanata Standard, July 11, 1980:19.
July 6, 1980
In Men's Golf, Sid Tanchuk defeated Fred Drummie in the "A" Class; George Gaston won the "B" Class championship by beating Wayne Nute. Bill McGarvie defeated Nort Smith to win the "C" Class. Kanata Standard, July 11, 1980:12.
July 7, 1980
Authority was given to the executive of the Katimavik-Hazeldean Community Association to invest $1500 in Kanata Standard, on behalf of the members of the community. Kanata Standard, July 25, 1980:2.
July 8, 1980
Three-year-old Sara Kathyrn Rose was killed in a tragic accident involving a van coming out of the loading area of the IGA Supermarket in Beaverbrook. Kanata Standard, July 11, 1980:3.
July 8, 1980
During a Committee-of-the-whole meeting, a new plan was submitted to the planning department from Del Corporation regarding the realignment of McCurdy Drive to permit the retention of Young's Pond. Kanata Standard, July 11, 1980:1.
July 11, 1980
The Kanata Standard mentioned that Katimavik-Hazeldean residents felt they were having problems dealing with Campeau Corporation in trying to get the company to replace fast-deteriorating wooden sidings and doors. Kanata Standard, July 11, 1980:1.
July 11, 1980
Funding for the Katimavik school was not approved in the year's provincial allocation. Kanata Standard, July 11, 1980:2.
July 11, 1980
Announced that the Earl of March students’ math team from grade 9-11 placed in the top 10 per cent of 1000 from across Canada. Ravi Pandya was 8th out of 26,000 competitors. Kanata Standard, July 11, 1980:8.
July 11, 1980
The Kinsmen elected a new executive: President--Brian Goudge, Vice-President--Keith Kirkham and Rich Scott, Treasurer--Adrian Fisher, Secretary--Larry Lesage. Kanata Standard, July 11, 1980:15.
July 11, 1980
Completion of the pedestrian overpass connecting Katimavik and Beaverbrook was scheduled for mid-August. Kanata Standard, July 11, 1980:17.
July 11, 1980
The Kanata Standard noted that since the retirement of MPP Sid Handleman, Kanata had been unrepresented in the provincial legislature. No by-election had been called yet and the province had since rejected the City of Kanata's request to build two new elementary schools. Kanata Standard, July 11, 1980:19.
July 15, 1980
Council formally approved the design and siting of the new Bridlewood Community Centre. Kanata Standard, July 25, 1980:13.
July 19, 1980
Kanata's Peewee Soccer team won the MacDonald-sponsored Brockville Tournament. Kanata Standard, Aug. 8, 1980:7.
July 22, 1980
Residents of Kanata complained to Campeau Corporation regarding the failed relocation of the March Montessori School, which had originally been planned for Chimo Plaza. Kanata Standard, July 25, 1980:1.
July 24, 1980
The Ottawa Real Estate Board presented a $2000 donation to the Kanata Public Library to purchase books. Kanata Standard, Aug. 22, 1980:13.
July 25, 1980
It was reported that Brian Kavanagh won the Ottawa District Junior Championship in golf playing on two golf courses, and then he shot a hole-in-one on the 8th hole at Kanata. Kanata Standard, July 25, 1980:4.
July 25, 1980
Marianne Wilkinson explained in her Commentary in the Kanata Standard that the expansion of the Atomic Energy of Canada facility in Kanata was to accommodate the growth of the industry and to provide for the relocation of staff from the commercial products division. Kanata Standard, July 25, 1980:8.
July 25, 1980
A Provincial Progressive Conservative Youth Group was formed in the Carleton Riding. Kanata Standard, July 25, 1980:12.
July 25, 1980
It was announced that Shirley Yakabuski presented a quilt made by the South March Women’s Institute to Joanne Monaghan to honour her for her 4-H achievements and leadership. Kanata Standard, July 25, 1980:13.
August 2, 1980
The Kanata Riding Club held its third horse show of the year. Kanata Standard, Aug. 8, 1980:6.
August 4, 1980
Fred Perry, three-time Wimbledon Champion, appeared at the Thunderbird Tennis Club in Kanata. Kanata Standard, Oct. 3, 1980:23.
August 6, 1980
The "energetic kids" on Reaney Square held a bottle drive to raise money for Muscular Dystrophy. Kanata Standard, Aug. 22, 1980:22.
August 8, 1980
Bridlewood received approval for its 50th Block Parent. Kanata Standard, Aug. 8, 1980:3.
August 8, 1980
Dr. Gyan P Johari of Katimavik received the Noranda Award for distinguished contribution in physical chemistry in Canada. Kanata Standard, Aug. 8, 1980:5.
August 8, 1980
Norm Sterling, MPP, Carleton-Grenville, was a guest speaker at a meeting of the Carleton riding’s Progressive Conservative Youth Association. Kanata Standard, Aug. 8, 1980:7.
August 8, 1980
The Kanata Standard noted that Nigel Cooper of Katimavik won a $3000 award from the Rene Descartes Foundation from the University of Waterloo Faculty of Mathematics. As well, Jonathan M. Smith, a fourth-year student at the University of Waterloo, won a $100 engineering prize from Babcock and Wilcox Canada Ltd. Kanata Standard, Aug. 8, 1980:12.
August 9, 1980
Karen and Larry Lashkevich organized an old-fashioned street party on Shaw Court. Kanata Standard, Aug. 22, 1980:2.
August 12, 1980
At a regular Kanata City Council meeting, there was conflict between the Carleton Board of Education and Council over the siting and colour of new portable classrooms the Board wanted to install at several area schools. Kanata Standard, Aug. 22, 1980:1.
August 15, 1980
Debbie Rogers, 18, of Glen Cairn, was injured in an accident when a ball diamond bleacher at A.Y. Jackson School that had been upended so she could cut the grass underneath it, was blown back down by a gust of wind. Debbie was hit on the back of the head as it fell and suffered a fractured skull and concussion. Kanata Standard, Aug. 22, 1980:5.
August 21-31, 1980
The Kanata Theatre group made people up as clowns at the SuperEx. Kanata Standard, Aug. 22, 1980:21.
August 22, 1980
A tentative agreement was reached to relocate March Montessori School in March Central School. Classes were expected to begin September 8. Kanata Standard, Aug. 22, 1980:1.
August 22, 1980
After submitting his resignation as the City Chief Building Inspector, George St. Aubin announced that he would be a candidate in the upcoming mayoralty race. Kanata Standard, Aug. 22, 1980:1.
August 22, 1980
Des Adam announced his intention of running for the Rural March Council seat in the November municipal election. Kanata Standard, Aug. 22, 1980:1.
August 22, 1980
The province of Ontario awarded Kanata a special assistance grant of $580,000 to remedy the problems encountered with the Glen Cairn sewers. Kanata Standard, Aug. 22, 1980:7.
August 26, 1980
In a Committee-of-the-whole meeting, residents of Bridlewood and Glen Cairn, led by Melissa Coleman, protested the apparent intention of Goulbourn and Nepean to reconstruct Eagleson Road South in Kanata to provide a major arterial road link to the Queensway. Kanata Standard, Sept. 5, 1980:5.
August 26, 1980
The Happy Companions, a Kanata senior citizen's group, travelled to Perth and Jones Falls on a day trip. Kanata Standard, Sept. 5, 1980:7.
September 2, 1980
Route changes for OC Transpo Buses were implemented, one of which was including an early-bird route. Kanata Standard, Sept. 5, 1980:13.
September 4, 1980
Senior citizens of Kanata's Happy Companions elected a new executive: President--Walter Fairclough, Vice-President--Ed Logan, Treasurer--Vic Parsons. Kanata Standard, Sept. 19, 1980:11.
September 5, 1980
The preliminary municipal candidates for the November election, 1980, were announced: Mayor--George St. Aubin, Aldermen: Ward 1--Dan Perley, Des Adam, Ward 4--Doug Nash, Ward 6--Stu Chandler. Kanata Standard, Sept. 5, 1980:1.
September 5, 1980
The Kanata Standard announced that the Katimavik-Hazeldean Community Association had been incorporated. Kanata Standard, Sept. 5, 1980:1.
September 6, 1980
Carp's Country Crafts held the last in the season's series of craft demonstrations. Kanata Standard, Sept. 5, 1980:7.
September 9, 1980
Council decided to put pressure on the Region to ensure that Eagleson Road would not become the City's major north-south throughway. Kanata Standard, Sept. 19, 1980:5.
September 10, 1980
David Crombie, the past Minister of Health and Welfare in the Conservative Government appeared as a guest speaker at the Annual Meeting of the Nepean-Carleton Progressive Conservative Association. Kanata Standard, Sept. 19, 1980:11.
September 10 - October 4, 1980
This month was named Community Forum Month in Kanata. Kanata Standard, Sept. 5, 1980:7.
September 12, 1980
The Village Square Art Gallery in Carp presented a preview of paintings by wildlife artist J. Sharkey Thomas. Kanata Standard, Sept. 19, 1980:25.
September 17, 1980
Bridlewood and Katimavik residents decided to write to the Ministry of Education regarding concerns that the elementary schools planned for those areas were no longer being built. Kanata Standard, Sept. 19, 1980:3.
September 18, 1980
The pedestrian overpass between Beaverbrook and Katimavik was opened for a walkthrough. Kanata Standard, Sept. 19, 1980:1.
September 19, 1980
It was announced in Kanata Standard that Bob Kingham, Alderman for Ward 2, had decided to seek another term. Kanata Standard, Sept. 19, 1980:1.
September 19, 1980
Two Kanata residents were given positions on the newly formed Kanata Hydro-Electric Commission: Don Farmer as General Manager and Treasurer, and Paul Huot as Office Manager and Financial Officer. Kanata Standard, Sept. 19, 1980:4.
September 19, 1980
It was announced that the Regional Planning revised report on the River Corridors had been released. Kanata Standard, Sept. 19, 1980:13.
September 19, 1980
Kanata Standard, announced that the South March Women's Institute won three prizes at the Central Canada Exhibition: 3rd--Betty Carroll for a blazer, 4th--June Gibbs for a knitted toque set, 6th--Mona Monaghan for a toy teddy bear. Kanata Standard, Sept. 19, 1980:27.
September 20, 1980
The official sod turning for the new branch of the Kanata Public Library in Glen Cairn took place. Kanata Standard, Sept. 19, 1980:3,13.
September 23, 1980
Council turned down a Parks and Recreation proposal to install 18 lamps in the Inuvik Forest in Katimavik. Kanata Standard, Oct. 3, 1980:1.
NRCS ARTICLE 4/2020: There’s a sense of pride that comes with doing something for yourself, and growing food is a major part of being self-sustaining, healthy and whole.
A one-acre community garden on the Rosebud Indian Reservation in south-central South Dakota is connecting tribal members with the land, with food, and with their past.
“It’s about food sovereignty. It’s about having the choice of where and how you get your food, knowing how to feed yourself,” said Matte Wilson. “If that grocery store wasn’t here, would you know how to feed yourself and your family?”
Born and raised on the Rosebud Indian Reservation, Wilson is now director of the recently re-branded Sicangu Community Development Corporation (CDC) Food Sovereignty Initiative. One of its major projects is the Keya Wakpala Garden. Since moving back home in 2018, food sovereignty has played a major part of Wilson’s life.
“It is something that really excites me, something I could see myself doing for the rest of my life,” he said.
Vegetable Harvest on table
The food sovereignty movement has gained significant momentum throughout the country in recent years and is largely being led by indigenous communities. According to Wilson, you don’t have to be indigenous to appreciate delicious, locally grown foods.
“Food has the power to bring people together – it’s always been an essential part of all of our social interactions, whether or not you are Lakota,” he said.
For Keya Wakpala garden manager Ed Her Many Horses, the garden and learning how to grow food has been nothing short of trans-formative.
“It’s impacted me in a lot of different ways,” he said. “It helped give me a reason to get up in the morning – it still does. There is so much to appreciate in the garden.”
But it’s more than food, he’s found. Caring for a garden fosters community. The Keya Wakpala Garden is a place where interns, volunteers, community members and children come together to work, and they take pride in the outcome.
“It’s a beacon of hope, I think,” Her Many Horses said.
The Boys and Girls Club brings kids to the garden where they can plant, pick vegetables and even harvest indigenous foods such as ceyaka, wild mint, in the nearby wetlands. They learn to identify foods as they’re grown and harvested, and follow up field work with cooking sessions. Starting with young kids, the project aims to make gardening and producing food something that’s second nature – something they’re able to pass on to future generations.
Learning by doing is key, according to Wilson.
“When they are able to see it in person and participate in the process, it is really powerful. It makes people appreciate food and agriculture more,” he said.
Garden Row signs in lakota
Foster Cournoyer-Hogan is a student at Stanford University from the Rosebud Indian Reservation who interned for the summer at the Keya Wakpala Garden. His additions to the garden plot included the signs that identified the plants with Lakota words. There was wagmu (squash), tinpsilazizi (carrots), phangi sasa (beets) and mastincatawote (lettuce).
Using the Lakota language is a way to stay connected to traditional culture. That’s especially important when children and elders visit the garden, he said.
Along with strengthening connections to culture and community, the garden is helping solve another issue on the reservation – addressing health challenges. Diabetes and diet related illness is high on the Rosebud Indian Reservation, but the produce from the garden gives people access to nourishing food.
“Our food is everything,” Cournoyer-Hogan said.
“Food is medicine,” added Wilson: “The way we treat our garden, the way we treat the land is how we treat ourselves … we take care of the land, and it takes care of us.”
The group has some expert resources when it comes to taking care of the land and the plants. Master Gardeners and university extension experts have volunteered their time and advice, and the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) provides support and funding through soil health programs.
The mission of NRCS is “helping people help the land.” That land usually refers to range land and farm acres, but the same programs and principles can apply to community gardens.
“We're trying to get people together to go back to some of the things that were important years ago to our people for self-sustainability,” said Mary Scott, a Rosebud Indian Reservation member and tribal liaison with NRCS.
Student gardner holding out herbs for the camera
The reservation’s growing environment presents some significant challenges. The garden site had been a conventional field, growing sunflowers, corn, soybeans and wheat. The heavy clay soils made it difficult to hold enough water for the garden, especially given the sloping hillside where it sits. Long, hot days would burn up the plants one day, and they next they’d be hit by torrential downpours, hail and wind.
“There are a lot of things outside of our control,” said Her Many Horses, “and that can be tough in such an extreme weather environment”
Rather than give up, however, the team has simply learned to adapt and make the most of what they have.
“We have to be really strategic about how we plan out our year to make the most of this short window,” Wilson said. “We have branched into utilizing some year-round growing structures to expand our season.”
The garden is tended with organic methods, using fish emulsion and compost for fertilizer. Local ranchers have donated hay bales – the more beaten-up and weather-worn the better. As ground cover, they help with weed control. Adding mulch or organic matter has helped break up the hard, clay soil and has been a huge asset for moisture retention as well.
We’re using a regenerative approach to agriculture,” said Her Many Horses. “We’re always trying to give back to our soil.
The garden also incorporates time-honored growing techniques of the tribal community. Produce is grown with the three sister’s method – beans, corn and squash grow in rows and benefit from one another.
“Beans help fertilize the soil by providing nitrogen,” Wilson explained. “The corn, when it grows up the stalk, the beans are able to wrap around the stalk, and the squash actually helps keep out pests and other weeds.”
7 workers talking in the garden
It’s one of many ways the garden is bringing the community back to its roots. It also brings youth and elders together, sharing a positive outlook while producing something for the whole community. It connects people with land and community, giving them knowledge to pass along wherever they go.
Sharing knowledge is a big part of the project, Scott said, because it’s how cultures and traditions are kept alive.
“Growing our own produce is very important, so that this community can become self-sustaining, not only as a people, but as a tribe,” she said.
The ultimate goal is to completely change the food system on the Rosebud Indian Reservation.
“My vision is that our community becomes a food center where we have restaurants and food trucks sourcing their foods locally,” Wilson said, “and the garden is the first step to helping change our community mindset about food.”
But it goes even deeper than that.
“I hope that our community can be healthy and happy, that we can be sovereign,” said Her Many Horses. “And for us, that starts with everyone knowing where their food comes from.”
White Poppy and Bee, Papaver somniferum, commonly known as the opium poppy[2] or breadseed poppy,[3] is a species of flowering plant in the family Papaveraceae. It is the species of plant from which both opium and poppy seeds are derived and is also a valuable ornamental plant grown in gardens. Its native range was east of the Mediterranean Sea, but now is obscured by ancient introductions and cultivation, being naturalized across much of Europe and Asia.
This poppy is grown as an agricultural crop on a large scale, for one of three primary purposes: to produce poppy seeds, to produce opium (for use mainly by the pharmaceutical industry),[4] and to produce other alkaloids (mainly thebaine and oripavine) that are processed by pharmaceutical companies into drugs such as hydrocodone and oxycodone.[4] Each of these goals has special breeds that are targeted at one of these businesses, and breeding efforts (including biotechnological ones) are continually underway.[4][5][6] A comparatively small amount of P. somniferum is also produced commercially for ornamental purposes.
Today many varieties have been bred that do not produce a significant quantity of opium.[3][5] The cultivar 'Sujata' produces no latex at all.[6] Breadseed poppy is more accurate as a common name today because all varieties of P. somniferum produce edible seeds. This differentiation has strong implications for legal policy surrounding the growing of this plant.[5]
Description
Papaver somniferum is an annual herb growing to about 100 centimetres (40 inches) tall. The plant is strongly glaucous, giving a greyish-green appearance, and the stem and leaves bear a sparse distribution of coarse hairs. The large leaves are lobed, the upper stem leaves clasping the stem,[7] the lowest leaves with a short petiole.[8]: 40 The flowers are up to 3–10 cm (1–4 in) diameter, normally with four white, mauve or red petals, sometimes with dark markings at the base. The fruit is a hairless, rounded capsule topped with 12–18 radiating stigmatic rays, or fluted cap.[9] All parts of the plant exude white latex when wounded.[7]: 93 [10]: 32
Plant showing the typical glaucous appearance
Plant showing the typical glaucous appearance
Flower
Flower
Close-up of flower center
Close-up of flower center
Capsule showing latex (opium) exuding from incision
Capsule showing latex (opium) exuding from incision
Close-up of white poppy seeds
Close-up of white poppy seeds
Metabolism
The alkaloids are organic nitrogenous compounds, derivatives of secondary metabolism, synthesized through the metabolic pathway of benzylisoquinoline.[11] First, the amino acid phenylalanine, through the enzyme phenylalanine hydroxylase, is transformed into tyrosine. Tyrosine can follow two different routes: by tyrosine hydroxylase it can form L-dopamine (L-DOPA), or it can be reduced to form 4-phenylhydroxyacetaldehyde (4-HPAA). Subsequently, L-DOPA reacts with 4-HPAA and, through a series of reactions, forms (S) -norcoclaurine, which carries the benzylisoquinoline skeleton that gives its name to this pathway. The conversion of (S) -norcoclaurin to (S) -reticuline is one of the key points, since from (S) -reticuline morphine can be formed through the morphinan route, noscapine through the path of the noscapina or berberina.[11]
Genome
The poppy genome contains 51,213 genes encoding proteins distributed 81.6% in 11 individual chromosomes and 18.4% remaining in unplaced scaffolds.[11] In addition, 70.9% of the genome is made up of repetitive elements, of which the most represented are the long terminal repeat retrotransposons. This enrichment of genes is related to the maintenance of homeostasis and a positive regulation of transcription.[11]
The analysis of synergy of the opium poppy reveals traces of segmental duplications 110 million years ago (MYA), before the divergence between Papaveraceae and Ranunculaceae, and an event of duplication of the complete genome makes 7.8 MYA.
The genes are possibly grouped as follows:[11]
The genes responsible for the conversion of (S) -reticuline to noscapine are found on chromosome 11.
The genes responsible for the conversion of (S) -reticuline to thebaine are found on chromosome 11.
The genes responsible for the conversion of thebaine are found in chromosome 1, chromosome 2, chromosome 7, and perhaps others.
Taxonomy
Papaver somniferum was formally described by the Swedish botanist Carl Linnaeus in his seminal publication Species Plantarum in 1753 on page 508.[12][13]
Varieties and cultivars
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P. somniferum has had a very long tradition of use, starting in the Neolithic. This long period of time allowed the development of a broad range of different forms. In total there are 52 botanical varieties.[14] Breeding of P. somniferum faces a challenge caused by the contradictory breeding goals for this species.[14] On one hand a very high content of alkaloids is requested for medical uses. The global demand for the alkaloids and the pharmaceutical derivatives has increased in the past years. Therefore, there is a need for the development of varieties with a high opium yield.[15] On the other hand, the food industry demands as low alkaloid contents as possible.[14]
There is one accepted subspecies, P. somniferum subsp. setigerum (DC.) Arcang.[12] There are also many varieties and cultivars. Colors of the flowers vary widely, as do other physical characteristics, such as number and shape of petals [citation needed], number of flowers and fruits, number of seeds, color of seeds, and production of opium. Papaver somniferum var. paeoniflorum is a variety with flowers that are highly double, and are grown in many colors. P. somniferum var. laciniatum is a variety with flowers that are highly double and deeply lobed. The variety Sujata produces no latex and no commercial utility for opioid production.
Distribution and habitat
The native range of opium poppy is probably the Eastern Mediterranean, but extensive cultivation and introduction of the species throughout Europe since ancient times have obscured its origin. It has escaped from cultivation, or has been introduced and become naturalized extensively in all regions of the British Isles, particularly in the south and east[16] and in almost all other countries of the world with suitable, temperate climates.[17]
Ecology
Diseases
P. somniferum is susceptible to several fungal, insect and virus infections including seed borne diseases such as downy mildew and root rot. The use of pesticides in combination to cultural methods have been considered as major control measures for various poppy diseases.[18]
The fungal pathogen Peronospora arborescens, the causal agent of downy mildew, occurs preferentially during wet and humid conditions.[19] This oomycete penetrates the roots through oospores and infects the leaves as conidia in a secondary infection.[20] The fungus causes hypertrophy and curvature of the stem and flower stalks.[21] The symptoms are chlorosis and curling of the affected tissues with necrotic spots.[22] The leaf under-surface is covered with a downy mildew coating containing conidiospores that spread the infection further leading to plant damage and death.[23] Another downy mildew species, Peronospora somniferi, produces systemic infections leading to stunting and deformation of poppy plants.[24] Downy mildew can be controlled preventively at the initial stage of seed development through several fungicide applications.[19]
Leaf blight caused by the fungus Helminthosporium papaveris is one of the most destructive poppy diseases worldwide. The seed-borne fungus causes root rot in young plants and stunted stems in plants at a higher development stage, where leaf spots appear on the leaves and is being transmitted to capsules and seeds.[23] Early sowing of seeds and deep plowing of poppy residues can reduce fungal inoculum during the plant growing season in the following year on neighboring poppy stocks, respectively.[19]
Mosaic diseases in p. somniferum are caused by rattle virus and the Carlavirus.[18] In 2006, a novel virus tentatively called "opium poppy mosaic virus" (OPMV) from the genus Umbravirus was isolated from p. somniferum containing leaf mosaic and mottling symptoms, in New Zealand.[25]
Pests
There are only a few pests that can do harm to P. somniferum.[19]
Flea beetles perforate the leaves of young plants and aphids suck on the sap of the flower buds.[19] The poppy root weevil (Stenocarus ruficornis) is another significant pest. The insect lives in the soil and migrates in spring to the poppy fields after crop emergence. Adults damage the leaves of small plants by eating them. Female lay their eggs into the tissue of lower leaves. Insect larvae hatch and burrow into the soil to complete their life cycle on the poppy roots as adults.[26]
Cultivation
In the growth development of P. somniferum, six stages can be distinguished. The growth development starts with the growth of the seedlings. In a second step the rosette-type leaves and stalks are formed. After that budding (hook stage) takes place as a third step. The hook stage is followed by flowering. Subsequently, technical maturity is reached, which means that the plant is ready for cutting. The last step is biological maturity; dry seeds are ripened. The photoperiod seems to be the main determinant of flower development of P. somniferum.[27]
P. somniferum shows a very slow development in the beginning of its vegetation period. Due to this fact the competition of weeds is very high in early stages. It is very important to control weeds effectively in the first 50 days after sowing.[28] Additionally, Papaver somniferum is rather susceptible to herbicides. The pre-emergence application of the herbicide chlortoluron has been shown to be effective in reducing weed levels.[28] However, in the last decade the weed management of Papaver somniferum has shifted from pre-emergence treatments to post-emergence treatments.[29] Especially, the application of the two herbicides mesotrione and tembotrione has become very popular. The combined application of those two herbicides has been shown to be recommendable for effective weed management in Papaver somniferum.[29] Sowing time (autumn or spring), preceding crop and soil texture are important variables influencing the weed species composition. A highly abundant weed species in Papaver somniferum fields was shown to be Papaver rhoeas.[29][30] Papaver somniferum and Papaver rhoeas belong to the same plant family, which impedes the chemical control of this weed species.[30] Therefore, weed management represents a big challenge and requires technological knowledge from the farmer.[30] In order to increase the efficiency of weed control not only chemical weed control should be applied but also mechanical weed control.[30]
For P. somniferum, a growth density of 70 to 80 plants per square meter is recommended.[31] Latex-to-biomass yield is greatest under conditions of slight water deficit.[32]
Ornamental
Live plants and seeds of the opium poppy are widely sold by seed companies and nurseries in most of the western world, including the United States. Poppies are sought after by gardeners for the vivid coloration of the blooms, the hardiness and reliability of the poppy plants, the exotic chocolate-vegetal fragrance note of some cultivars,[which?] and the ease of growing the plants from purchased flats of seedlings or by direct sowing of the seed. Poppy seed pods are also sold for dried flower arrangements.
Though "opium poppy and poppy straw" are listed in Schedule II of the United States' Controlled Substances Act, P. somniferum can be grown legally in the United States as a seed crop or ornamental flower.[33] During the summer, opium poppies can be seen flowering in gardens throughout North America and Europe, and displays are found in many private plantings, as well as in public botanical and museum gardens such as United States Botanical Garden, Missouri Botanical Garden, and North Carolina Botanical Garden.
Many countries grow the plants, and some rely heavily on the commercial production of the drug as a major source of income. As an additional source of profit, the seeds of the same plants are sold for use in foods, so the cultivation of the plant is a significant source of income. This international trade in seeds of P. somniferum was addressed by a UN resolution "to fight the international trade in illicit opium poppy seeds" on 28 July 1998.
Red opium poppy flower
Red opium poppy flower
Czech blue poppy flower
Czech blue poppy flower
Czech blue poppy seeds
Czech blue poppy seeds
Production
Poppy seed production – 2018
Country(tonnes)
Turkey26,991
Czech Republic13,666
Spain12,360
World76,240
Source: FAOSTAT of the United Nations[34]
Food
In 2018, world production of poppy seeds for consumption was 76,240 tonnes, led by Turkey with 35% of the world total (table). Poppy seed production and trade are susceptible to fluctuations mainly due to unstable yields. The performance of most genotypes of Papaver somniferum is very susceptible to environmental changes.[35] This behaviour led to a stagnation of the poppy seed market value between 2008–2009 as a consequence of high stock levels, bad weather and poor quality.[36] The world leading importer of poppy seed is India (16 000 tonnes), followed by Russia, Poland and Germany.[37]
Poppy seed oil remains a niche product due to the lower yield compared to conventional oil crops.[38]
Medicine
Australia (Tasmania), Turkey and India are the major producers of poppy for medicinal purposes and poppy-based drugs, such as morphine or codeine.[39][15] The New York Times reported, in 2014, that Tasmania was the largest producer of the poppy cultivars used for thebaine (85% of the world's supply) and oripavine (100% of the world's supply) production. Tasmania also had 25% of the world's opium and codeine production.[4]
Restrictions
Opium poppy fields near Metheringham, Lincolnshire, England
In most of Central Europe, poppy seed is commonly used for traditional pastries and cakes, and it is legal to grow poppies throughout the region, although Germany requires a licence.[40]
Since January 1999 in the Czech Republic, according to the 167/1998 Sb. Addictive Substances Act, poppies growing in fields larger than 100 square metres (120 sq yd) is obliged for reporting to the local Custom Office.[41][42] Extraction of opium from the plants is prohibited by law (§ 15 letter d/ of the act). It is also prohibited to grow varieties with more than 0.8% of morphine in dry matter of their capsules, excluding research and experimental purposes (§24/1b/ of the act). The name Czech blue poppy refers to blue poppy seeds used for food.[citation needed]
The United Kingdom does not require a licence for opium poppy cultivation, but does for extracting opium for medicinal products.[43]
In the United States, opium poppies and poppy straw are prohibited.[44] As the opium poppy is legal for culinary or esthetic reasons, poppies were once grown as a cash crop by farmers in California. The law of poppy cultivation in the United States is somewhat ambiguous.[45] The reason for the ambiguity is that the Opium Poppy Control Act of 1942 (now repealed)[46][47] stated that any opium poppies should be declared illegal, even if the farmers were issued a state permit. § 3 of the Opium Poppy Control Act stated:
It shall be unlawful for any person who is not the holder of a license authorizing him to produce the opium poppy, duly issued to him by the Secretary of the Treasury in accordance with the provisions of this Act, to produce the opium poppy, or to permit the production of the opium poppy in or upon any place owned, occupied, used, or controlled by him.
This led to the Poppy Rebellion, and to the Narcotics Bureau arresting anyone planting opium poppies and forcing the destruction of poppy fields of anyone who defied the prohibition of poppy cultivation.[48][49] Though the press of those days favored the Federal Bureau of Narcotics, the state of California supported the farmers who grew opium poppies for their seeds for uses in foods such as poppy seed muffins. Today, this area of law has remained vague and remains somewhat controversial in the United States.[50] The Opium Poppy Control Act of 1942 was repealed on 27 October 1970.[51][52]
Under the Federal Controlled Substances Act, opium poppy and poppy straw are listed as Schedule II drugs under ACSN 9630. Most (all?) states also use this classification under the uniform penal code. Possession of a Schedule II drug is a federal and state felony.
Canada forbids possessing, seeking or obtaining the opium poppy (Papaver somniferum), its preparations, derivatives, alkaloids and salts, although an exception is made for poppy seed.[53]
In some parts of Australia, P. somniferum is illegal to cultivate, but in Tasmania, some 50% of the world supply is cultivated.[54]
In New Zealand, it is legal to cultivate the opium poppy as long as it is not used to produce controlled drugs.[55]
In United Arab Emirates the cultivation of the opium poppy is illegal, as is possession of poppy seed. At least one man has been imprisoned for possessing poppy seed obtained from a bread roll.[56]
Burma bans cultivation in certain provinces. In northern Burma bans have ended a century-old tradition of growing the opium poppy. Between 20,000 and 30,000 former poppy farmers left the Kokang region as a result of the ban in 2002.[57] People from the Wa region, where the ban was implemented in 2005, fled to areas where growing opium is still possible.
In South Korea, the cultivation of the opium poppy is strictly prohibited.[58]
Uses
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History
See also: Opium
Use of the opium poppy predates written history. The making and use of opium was known to the ancient Minoans.[59] Its sap was later named opion by the ancient Greeks. The English name is based on the Latin adaptation of the Greek form. Evidence of the early domestication of opium poppy has been discovered through small botanical remains found in regions of the Mediterranean and west of the Rhine River, predating circa 5000 BC.[60] These samples found in various Neolithic sites show the incredibly early cultivation and natural spread of the plant throughout western Europe.
Opium was used for treating asthma, stomach illnesses, and bad eyesight.
Opium became a major colonial commodity, moving legally and illegally through trade networks on the Indian subcontinent, Colonial America, Qing China and others.[61] Members of the East India Company saw the opium trade as an investment opportunity beginning in 1683.[62] In 1773, the Governor of Bengal established a monopoly on the production of Bengal opium, on behalf of the East India Company administration. The cultivation and manufacture of Indian opium was further centralized and controlled through a series of acts issued between 1797 and 1949.[62][63] East India Company merchants balanced an economic deficit from the importation of Chinese tea by selling Indian opium which was smuggled into China in defiance of Qing government bans. This trade led to the First and Second Opium Wars.[64][63][61][65]
Many modern writers, particularly in the 19th century, have written on the opium poppy and its effects, notably Thomas de Quincey in Confessions of an English Opium Eater.
The French Romantic composer Hector Berlioz used opium for inspiration, subsequently producing his Symphonie Fantastique. In this work, a young artist overdoses on opium and experiences a series of visions of his unrequited love.
In the US, the Drug Enforcement Administration raided Thomas Jefferson's Monticello estate in 1987. It removed the poppy plants that had been planted continually there since Jefferson was alive and using opium from them. Employees of the foundation also destroyed gift shop items like shirts depicting the poppy and packets of the heirloom seed.[66]
Poppy seeds and oil
Main article: Poppy seed
Dried blue, grey and white poppy seeds used for pastries in Germany
Polish makowiec, a nut roll filled with poppy seed paste
Poppy seeds from Papaver somniferum are an important food item and the source of poppy seed oil, an edible oil that has many uses. The seeds contain very low levels of opiates and the oil extracted from them contains even less.[67] Both the oil and the seed residue also have commercial uses.
The poppy press cake as a residue of the oil pressing can be used as fodder for different animals as e.g., poultry and fancy fowls. Especially in the time of the molt of the birds, the cake is nutritive and fits to their special needs. Next to the animal fodder, poppy offers other by-products. For example, the stem of the plant can be used for energy briquettes and pellets to heat.[19]
Poppy seeds are used as a food in many cultures. They may be used whole by bakers to decorate their products or milled and mixed with sugar as a sweet filling. They have a creamy and nut-like flavor, and when used with ground coconut, the seeds provide a unique and flavour-rich curry base. They can be dry roasted and ground to be used in wet curry (curry paste) or dry curry.[68]
When the European Union attempted to ban the cultivation of Papaver somniferum by private individuals on a small scale (such as personal gardens), citizens in EU countries where poppy seed is eaten heavily, such as countries in the Central-Eastern region, strongly resisted the plan, causing the EU to change course. Singapore, UAE, and Saudi Arabia are among nations that ban even having poppy seeds, not just growing the plants for them.[69] The UAE has a long prison sentence for anyone possessing poppy seeds.[70]
Opiates
Main article: Opium
Dried poppy seed pods and stems (plate), and seeds (bowl)
The opium poppy, as its name indicates, is the principal source of opium, the dried latex produced by the seed pods. Opium contains a class of naturally occurring alkaloids known as opiates, that include morphine, codeine, thebaine, oripavine, papaverine and noscapine.[71][72] The specific epithet somniferum means "sleep-bringing", referring to the sedative properties of some of these opiates.[73]
The opiate drugs are extracted from opium. The latex oozes from incisions made on the green seed pods and is collected once dry. Tincture of opium or laudanum, consisting of opium dissolved in alcohol or a mixture of alcohol and water, is one of many unapproved drugs regulated by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Its marketing and distribution persists because its historical use preceded the Federal Food, Drug & Cosmetic Act of 1938.[74] Tincture of opium B.P., containing 1% w/v of anhydrous morphine, also remains in the British Pharmacopoeia,[75] listed as a Class A substance under the Misuse of Drugs Act 1971.
Morphine is the predominant alkaloid found in the cultivated varieties of opium poppy that are used for opium production.[76] Other varieties produce minimal opium or none at all, such as the latex-free Sujata type. Non-opium cultivars that are planted for drug production feature a high level of thebaine or oripavine. Those are refined into drugs like oxycodone. Raw opium contains about 8–14% morphine by dry weight, or more in high-yield cultivars.[77] It may be used directly or chemically modified to produce semi-synthetic opioids such as heroin. Wikipedia
1990 (part 1 of 3)
January 1, 1990
Mary Ann Given and Peter DesBrisay were the parents of Kanata’s first new baby of the decade. Their baby boy, Paulson, was born at 9:42 am. Kanata Standard, January 4, 1990:6.
January 4, 1990
It was reported that the Ontario Ministry of Heath had verbally committed $20 million to build two community health centres, one in Cumberland and the second in Kanata. Kanata Standard, January 4, 1990:3.
January 4, 1990
The staff at the Kanata Standard had difficulty selecting an individual as the Kanata Newsmaker of 1989. Rather, they chose Kanata City Council itself, and stated: “More than any other year, the actions and behavior of council generated more top news stories and more reader interest than any single person.” Kanata Standard, January 4, 1990:4.
January 5, 1990
Employees leaving the Kanata License Bureau on Hazeldean Road were robbed of an undisclosed amount of the day’s receipts. One masked man was armed with a shotgun, while another waited in a nearby van. Kanata Standard, January 10, 1990:5.
January 6, 1990
Kanata’s newest and largest outdoor skating rink was officially opened. The 5-acre rink was located on the “ Beaver Pond” in Kanata Lakes. Genstar Corporation and other developers of the area donated $20,000 towards its maintenance. Kanata Standard, January 10, 1990:10.
January 10, 1990
It was reported that Campeau Corporation was facing some financial difficulty. The “cash-starved” developer was facing foreclosure on a $2.3 billion U.S. loan unless it could prove solvency to its major creditor, Citibank. Kanata Standard, January 10, 1990:1,30.
January 10, 1990
Mayor Des Adam published a Mayor’s Interim Report to Kanata Residents in the Standard. It was essentially a review of 1989 and the actions of Council. Kanata Standard, January 10, 1990:2.
January 13, 1990
Kanata City Council held an all-day budget meeting. Council entered into the meeting facing a 5.7% tax increase unless they could eliminate approximately $60,000 from the budget. A previously proposed cut to the Kanata Public Library did not happen. However, some social service agencies experienced cuts. Youth Services would receive about $30,000 less than it had requested. Council decided to consult the public over cutting garbage collection. Depending on the response, the Youth Services cut could be less drastic. The Operating Budget passed that night left the City’s portion of the tax bill at a 5% increase. Mayor Adam stated in From The Mayor’s Desk: “This marks the fourth consecutive year that your municipal tax bill has increased less than the rate of inflation.” Kanata Standard, January 17, 1990:3; Kanata Standard, January 24, 1990:17..
January 14, 1989
The last westbound VIA Rail train went through Bridlewood on the Canadian Pacific tracks, which were scheduled for abandonment. Kanata Standard, January 17, 1990:1.
January 17, 1990
The Kanata Theatre opened their production of And A Nightingale Sang. Kanata Standard, January 4, 1990:8.
January 17, 1990
The Pinhey’s Point Foundation voted unanimously in favour of a $1 title transfer to the City of Kanata for Pinhey’s Point Estate. It was the view of the Foundation that the City was in a better position to deal with the financial obligations of maintaining the heritage estate on the Ottawa River. Kanata Standard, January 24, 1990:5.
January 22, 1990
British Telecom announced that it was selling its controlling shares in Mitel Corporation because of a change in its corporate philosophy. BT decided to focus more on international telecommunications networks. Mitel spokesman Tom Travers said that this was good news for Mitel. Kanata Standard, January 24, 1990:28.
January 23, 1990
In a Kanata City Council meeting, Mayor Adam asked that Council hold a public planning forum, called “Forum 2000 - Where We Are, Where Are We Going?” Adam said that the main purpose of the forum would be to get residents more involved in city planning. Kanata Standard, January 24, 1990:1.
January 23, 1990
Kanata’s newly formed Environmental Advisory Committee reported to Kanata City Council and outlined their priorities. The group would create an Environmental Code of Ethics for the City, look at use of the pesticide 2,4-D, study issues surrounding the Municipal Industrial Strategy Abatement, and implement school educational programs. Kanata Standard, January 24, 1990:5.
January 23, 1990
Alderman Eva James, Chairman of the Kanata Ottawa-Carleton Transportation Committee, reported to Kanata City Council with a recommendation to designate one of the existing lanes on the Queensway strictly for the OC Transpo buses and multi-passenger vehicles. Kanata Standard, January 31, 1990:2.
January 24, 1990
It was reported that a petition from 64 Kanata residents, including former Mayor Marianne Wilkinson, was sent to Premier David Peterson asking for a provincial audit into Kanata’s deal to lease a new City Hall. In December, Kanata City Council had approved a $7.3 million, 10-year lease for City Hall space in a new building to be built on Terry Fox Drive. Kanata Standard, January 24, 1990:1,7.
January 25, 1990
A report prepared by the Bridlewood Residents Hydro Line Committee was released at a meeting at the Bridlewood school. More than 100 residents attended. The report, based on measurements form the National Research Council, indicated that magnetic field readings in the north wing of Bridlewood Elementary School were two to three times higher than classrooms farthest from the controversial hydro line corridor. Some of the levels were significantly higher than recommended by a study by the New York Power Authority, which stressed that constant exposure posed an increased risk of cancer in children. John Morrel, the Carleton Board’s health coordinator, stated that there was still no concrete evidence of risk to students. Alderman Judy Hunter said that ultimately, the best solution was to have the lines torn down. Alternatively, she indicated that they would attempt to close the school down. Kanata Standard, January 31, 1990:1-2.
January 26, 1990
The Bank of Nova Scotia in the Beaverbrook Mall was robbed of an undisclosed amount of cash by a lone male with a gun. He escaped with another male waiting in a nearby car. It was the second time in a month that the bank had been robbed. Kanata Standard, January 31, 1990:3.
January 31, 1990
The Kanata Standard newspaper expanded its distribution into Stittsville and Carp. Kanata Standard, January 31, 1990:1-2.
February 2, 1990
The Kanata Winter Carnival: Rendezvous 90 began, and ran until February 11. It was later reported as an “overwhelming success.” Kanata Standard, January 31, 1990:24-5; Kanata Standard, February 21, 1990:22.
February 3, 1990
The long-awaited opening of the Kanata Recreation Complex was held. According to arena manager, Larry Williams, the opening was a success and gave the arena full exposure. Kanata Standard, February 7, 1990:5.
February 5, 1990
The Carleton Board of Education overturned a decision to abolish Junior Kindergarten. More than 500 parents attended the meeting to support the JK program. Kanata Trustee Hal Hansen, who first suggested eliminating JK in CBE schools, said that he was disappointed with the decision. The initial proposal was made in an attempt to keep taxes down. In his CBE Report, Hansen provided more detail of his rationale on why to cut JK. Kanata Standard, February 7, 1990:1,7; Kanata Standard, February 14, 1990:21.
February 6, 1990
A 1990-94 Corporate Strategic Plan for the City of Kanata was released at a Kanata City Council meeting. One of the major weaknesses identified in the report was public relations. The Plan also said that Kanata lacked economic diversity. Kanata Standard, February 14, 1990:6.
February 12, 1990
Kanata resident Elizabeth (Licita) Zarma, 21, died at the scene of a car-truck collision. Kanata Standard, February 14, 1990:6.
February 12, 1990
Kanata City Council voted to approve the site plan for a four-storey office building in the Terry Fox Business Park. It was meant primarily to be the new City Hall, with a 10-year lease. Kanata Standard, February 21, 1990:7.
February 14, 1990
It was reported in the Standard that the Wetlands Preservation Group of West Carleton attended the Ontario Municipal Board hearing. The group was concerned with the Eagle Creek Golf Course development by R.J. Nicol, where four holes of the course were on 50 acres of Constance Creek, a Class 1 wetland. They asked that the hearing be delayed until it knew whether the Ministry of the Environment would grant a full environmental assessment. If this were to occur, it meant that two hearings would be combined. Kanata Standard, February 14, 1990:3.
February 14, 1990
The newly formed Kanata Rails to Trails group met with the region’s transportation committee to request support for its plan to turn the abandoned CP rail line in Bridlewood into a bicycle path. The group’s chairman, Linda Makela, said the meeting was to ensure that transportation uses were not the only options considered for the rail corridor. Regional staff were to come back to the issue four weeks later, but they acknowledged all of the options for the abandoned corridor. Kanata Standard, February 14, 1990:9; Kanata Standard, February 21, 1990:8..
February 20, 1990
Judy Hunter and Paul Griffiths, of the Bridlewood Residents Hydro Line Committee, met with the Ontario Energy Minister, Lyn McLeod, in Toronto. One of their requests was to have a hearing to allow the BRHLC to present new evidence from monitoring the magnetic radiation on and adjacent to the Bridlewood hydro line corridor. They also asked the minister to limit the amount of current running through the lines. Hunter said that she felt very positive about the meeting. Kanata Standard, February 28, 1990:6,43; Kanata Standard, February 28, 1990:17.
February 21, 1990
It was reported that the Steinberg grocery stores would be franchised, including the Kanata store. The main reason for the move was the highly competitive grocery market. Some employees indicated that there were negative effects from the franchising. There were 35 full-time and 78 part-time employees at the Kanata store. Kanata Standard, February 21, 1990:1.
February 21, 1990
It was reported that the City of Kanata had no plans to declare itself “unilingual,” as several other municipalities in Ontario had done. Mayor Adam said that the issue was a provincial and national affair. A Standard editorial stated: “And it is also heartening to learn that Kanata, with an overwhelmingly English population, has no intention of making political hay out of an issue which would be ludicrous were it not for the ominous message such a declaration holds. Kanata Standard, February 21, 1990:1,4.
February 21, 1990
The City of Kanata nominated Beaverbrook native Diana Pilsworth for Canada’s 1990 environmental achievement awards in the lifetime achievement category. She was instrumental in the recycling program with 21 years of continuous operation, the longest running program of its kind in Canada. Ms.Pilsworth was also heavily involved with Kanata Pollution Probe. At the time, she was an economist with the federal department of Energy, Mines and Resources. Kanata Standard, February 21, 1990:13.
February 23, 1990
Wilbur Bradley died at the age of 77. He was the last of the original landowners of what became Glen Cairn. Kanata Standard, February 28, 1990:1,41.
February 26, 1990
Following months of delay, the Kanata branch of the Royal Canadian Legion was presented with its official charter. Kanata Standard, February 28, 1990:3.
February 26, 1990
At a Kanata City Council meeting, Alderman Hunter moved that a public meeting be held on the use of the herbicide 2,4-D. The rest of Council except Alderman James voted against the motion. Rather, Council voted to circulate a three-page report prepared by the recently formed Environmental Advisory Committee. Hunter claimed that this was yet another example of secrecy in Council, by shying away from a public airing of controversial issues. The EAC stated that it could find no reason why the City should stop using 2,4-D, as it did not pose a “serious risk.” However, the Committee still recommended that alternatives be considered. Mayor Adam later stated that Hunter was “headline grabbing,” in implying that something sinister was going on. Kanata Standard, March 7, 1990:1,4,7; Kanata Standard, March 14, 1990:1,5.
February 27, 1990
The Cowpland riverfront estate was sold to a company owned by the McMurtry family, who previously owned the property in the 1960s. All 238 acres of the property were put on the market two years earlier by Michael Cowpland, Mitel co-founder, and was rumored to be worth about $3 million. Kanata Standard, March 7, 1990:3.
March 1, 1990
The Kanata Lakes Community Association was officially formed. More than 300 people attended the meeting and elected an interim executive. Merle Nicholds was the president. Also elected were Bob Molloy, Mary Anne Penner, Dan Westaff, and Roger Nickerson. One of the main areas of interest seemed to be tax issues. Kanata Lake residents had recently voiced discontent with the high property taxes they were paying. Kanata Standard, March 7, 1990:8.
March 1, 1990
The Kanata Racers competed in the Canadian Junior Cross-Country Ski Championships. Some of the Kanata competitors were Erik Allen, Ramon Tavares, Stephen Hui, Erik Groves, Niall Wilkins, and Iain Skinner. Kanata Standard, March 14, 1990:34. Kanata Standard, March 14, 1990:34.
March 4, 1990
The Kanata Community Christian Reformed Church celebrated its eighth year in Glen Cairn. Kanata Standard, March 14, 1990:22.
March 7, 1990
It was reported that Alderman Bill Berry had retired from the real estate business to devote more time to politics and his passion for sailing. Kanata Standard, March 7, 1990:7.
March 7, 1990
Alderman Bill Berry published the first of a series of feature articles in the Standard to mark the 170th Anniversary of the original survey of March Township. Reflections of March Past: A Tribute to One of Kanata’s First Settlers, focused on the early descendants of the Monk family. Kanata Standard, March 7, 1990:19.
March 7, 1990
It was reported in the Standard that Swim Magazine named Kanata resident Jacki Brunetta one of the nation’s top ten swimmers. The eight-year-old ranked sixth out of 101 swimmers in the country. Kanata Standard, March 7, 1990:36.
March 14, 1990
It was reported in the Standard that Kanata resident Christine Woodley was organizing an environmental group made of local citizens. Tentatively called The Environmental Network, the group would start small and focus on local issues. It would not be a lobby group and would not conflict with the City’s Environmental Advisory Committee. Kanata Standard, March 14, 1990:3.
March 14, 1990
Bill Berry continued his series in the Standard on the history of March Township with Wentworth Monk: The Prophet of March. Kanata Standard, March 14, 1990:14.
March 19, 1990
Kanata City Council decided to explore the feasibility of a new shopping centre west of Marchwood-Lakeside, despite a staff report stating the proposal was premature and that the market study accompanying it had “serious flaws.” Campeau Corporation’s proposed centre required a rezoning from residential to commercial. Council decided to delay approval of the project for one month. Kanata Standard, March 28, 1990:1,46.
March 20, 1990
At a Kanata City Council meeting, Alderman Hunter moved to open up all City committees, boards, and commissions to public input. It was defeated in a 6-1 vote. The issue seemed to be less straightforward. As Brian Switzer pointed out, certain advisory bodies, commissions, and committees fell under provincial rules, and he pointed out that municipal committees and commissions were all open unless the committee members decide otherwise. Hunter stated that she was not looking to criticize committee members, but rather for Council to give direction to its committees to be more open. Alderman Berry accused that this motion was the result of the controversial 2,4-D issue and the recommendations of the Environmental Advisory Committee, where “one of its recommendations was not agreeable to one member of council, so the accusation of openness comes up.” Kanata Standard, March 28, 1990:5.
March 20, 1990
John Sellers, from the Ministry of Natural Resources, made a presentation to Kanata City Council on Kanata-area wetlands. Kanata had several Class 1 wetlands, ranked high in their significance. Maps of the region’s wetlands were also made available. Kanata Standard, March 28, 1990:6.
March 20, 1990
There was a preliminary meeting of the Environmental Advisory Committee to discuss the issue of the proposed Eagle Creek Golf Course on Constance Creek. More than 100 residents attended. The Creek had been identified as essential wetlands, according the Wetlands Preservation Group of West Carleton. Kanata Standard, March 28, 1990:7.
March 21, 1990
It was reported that Steinberg employees had filed a claim with the Ontario Labor Relations Board against their union representatives over the unsatisfactory contract they had signed with the company. Supposedly, employees did not hear about the October deal until sometime in February. Under the new contract, employees were taking home significantly less money and working more hours. The cuts seemed to stem from an earlier announcement the grocery store chain intended to franchise its operations. The Union president, Jim Crockett, said that they made the best deal they could, and that in a 1988 contract employees agreed not to strike for five years. Kanata Standard, March 21, 1990:2.
March 21, 1990
Mayor Des Adam said that he and his wife, Marg, had listed their home in rural March and were planning to move to Kanata Lakes. Adam said that it was no longer practical to have the large property and pool. Kanata Standard, March 21, 1990:3.
March 21, 1990
It was reported in the Standard that the home of Alderman Judy Hunter and her family was conditionally sold. It had been on the market for nearly a year. It was claimed that because it bordered the controversial hydro line corridor, it was a very difficult home to sell. Hunter stated that when they moved there in 1983, smaller lines ran through the corridor. The Hunters, taking a loss on the house, hoped to remain in Bridlewood. Kanata Standard, March 21, 1990:6.
March 21, 1990
A ten-month $30,000 commissioned study by Ekos Research Associates was released. The study determined that Kanata’s Parks and Recreation Department faced some challenges to meeting future needs for recreational facilities and services. Most serious, existing facilities were operating at full capacity and were unable to expand services. Kanata Standard, March 21, 1990:8.
March 21, 1990
Bill Berry continued his series in the Standard on the history of March with General Lloyd’s Great Bessborough Estate. Kanata Standard, March 21, 1990:14.
March 28, 1990
It was reported that Ontario Hydro had announced they would string a second set of transmission lines on the 500 kV towers that ran through Goulbourn, Kanata, Nepean, and Ottawa. Kanata Standard, March 28, 1990:2,47.
March 28, 1990
It was reported in the Standard that the National Capital Commission was paying $7.3 million for the expropriation of land to create a buffer zone for Stony Swamp. This was the result of deals with Coscan Development Corporation and Douglas MacDonald Development Corporation. Kanata Standard, March 28, 1990:8.
March 28, 1990
Bill Berry continued his series in the Standard on the history of March with Brewery Trade Flourished in March in the 1800s. Kanata Standard, March 28, 1990:13.
March 28, 1990
It was reported in the Standard that the 13th Annual Kanata Book Fair was a great success. A record-setting 34,000 books were collected by Stephen Leacock students. Kanata Standard, March 28, 1990:20.
April 7, 1990
Peter Murphy received a Volunteer Recognition Award from Alderman Judy Hunter. Kanata Standard, April 11, 1990:14.
April 10, 1990
The long-term plan for Pinhey’s Point was presented to Kanata City Council. The municipality had taken control of the historic estate in February. Over ten years, the City planned to spend $280,000, beginning with the construction of a new road and amphitheatre. Kanata Standard, April 18, 1990:8.
April 10, 1990
Kanata City Council approved a $60,000 loan for the Kanata Kountry Music Festival at Pinhey’s Point. Kanata Standard, May 17, 1990:1-2.
April 11, 1990
It was reported that the City of Kanata had applied to have the mid-19th century limestone Grierson homestead on Hazeldean Rd. designated as heritage. Kanata Standard, April 11, 1990:6.
April 11, 1990
It was reported in the Standard that the City of Kanata was planning to contest an appeal to the Ontario Municipal Board regarding charges that its group home policy was discriminatory. The appeal was launched by Don Anderson after Kanata City Council approved its policy on group homes, which restricted the number of occupants for correctional group homes to six and required a special institutional zoning. Anderson wanted Kanata’s policy to be 3 to 10 residents in all group homes, regardless of use, and no change in zoning. Kanata Standard, April 11, 1990:7; Kanata Standard, April 18, 1990:3.
April 11, 1990
Bill Berry continued his series of articles in the Standard on the history of March Township with Following the Lineage of the Sweeney Family. Kanata Standard, April 11, 1990:17.
April 12, 1990
Kanata-based Leigh Instruments Ltd. announced that it was eliminating nearly 700 area jobs and 163 employees in Kanata. The company’s Board of Directors voluntarily voted the company into bankruptcy. Mayor Adam was among the many surprised at the action. Adam was also quick to lay blame on the federal government and their inability to control foreign takeovers of Canada’s high-tech firms. A Standard editorial stated: “If anyone deserves to have a finger pointed in its direction, it’s the federal government for failing to provide the kind of economic leadership it so loudly trumpets towards increasingly deaf ears.” Kanata Standard, April 18, 1990:1,4,12.
April 13, 1990
The McMurtry family, who had recently purchased the Cowpland estate, asked Kanata City Council for permission to build 92 new homes and an 18-hole golf course on the site. The mansion was originally owned by Robert Campeau and purchased by Mitel co-founder Michael Cowpland in 1981. Alderman Berry stated that the family would have to apply for a zoning change to both the municipal and regional official plan. Kanata Standard, April 18, 1990:6.
April 13, 1990
Two Kanata men, Bruce Green and Robert William Richer, were charged with attempted robbery following an aborted hold-up at the Royal Bank in the Terry Fox Shopping Centre while an employee was making the day’s deposit. Kanata Standard, April 25, 1990:5.
April 16, 1990
A fire gutted a classroom in the Glen Cairn Public School, which police said was the result of arson. There was an estimated $20,000 damage. Kanata Standard, April 18, 1990:1.
April 17, 1990
The Hazeldean Steinberg grocery store was officially declared a franchise. The new owner was Michael Drouin. Kanata Standard, April 18, 1990:2.
April 17, 1990
Kanata City Council adopted a report from the Environmental Advisory Committee regarding the controversial herbicide 2,4-D. The report had previously been deferred to allow for circulation for additional feedback. The committee recommended that certain parks be 2,4-D free and that only a granular form of the chemical be used on the majority of City parks. They also recommended an educational program on non-chemical methods of weed control. Alderman Hunter refused to support the report, stating that nothing had changed since it was originally tabled. Mayor Adam stated that the lack of response from the community on the issue indicated that concern over the City’s use of 2,4-D was not widespread. Kanata Standard, April 25, 1990:8.
April 17, 1990
Kanata City Council adopted a wide-ranging environmental code of ethics, developed by the Environmental Advisory Committee, that committed the municipality to consider the environment in every aspect of its operations. Kanata Standard, April 25, 1990:9.
April 17, 1990
In a Kanata City Council meeting, Mayor Adam proposed that the City “emphasize the capital projects that promote environmental consciousness and wellness “for the community.” Council unanimously endorsed the directive. Adam indicated that this was a shift to smaller, more healthy capital projects for the City. Kanata Standard, April 25, 1990:1,8.
April 18, 1990
It was reported in the Standard that the Kanata’s Environmental Advisory Committee held its first ’open’ meeting, after some controversy over so-called closed meetings. Three members of the public attended along with three aldermen. An environmental code of ethics was discussed. Kanata Standard, April 18, 1990:7.
April 18, 1990
Bill Berry continued his series of articles on the history of March Township with A Behind the Scenes Look at Hamnett Pinhey. Kanata Standard, April 18, 1990:17.
April 21, 1990
Kanata’s Ross Nixon, 16, placed first in the senior division in the Ottawa Regional Science Fair for his invention of a Multiple Length Ribbon Cutter. Kanata Standard, May 2, 1990:15.
April 24, 1990
Kanata City Council decided to contribute $2,000 towards a program to help reduce the caterpillar population. It was claimed that the Gypsy Moth was threatening to harm hundreds of acres of trees in Kanata and West Carleton. Kanata Standard, May 2, 1990:9.
April 25, 1990
Bill Berry continued his series of articles on the history of March Township with Controversy Surrounded the Development of St. Mary’s Church. Kanata Standard, April 25, 1990:20
April 27, 1990
There was an explosion around the area of a construction site on Bluegrass Drive which sent pieces of rock flying. Sub-contractors in the area were trying to blast away two feet of rock from a long trench, which meant that explosives were closer to the surface than normal. A six-year-old boy walking nearby was nearly hit by a rock the size of a golf ball. A similar incident had occurred two months earlier in Kanata Lakes. Kanata Standard, May 2, 1990:1,44.
Engine: International 260 or 298 cu. in. six cylinder gas
Transmission: 5 speed
Old school weed control or possibly mosquito spraying by Madison County, NY Highway Department circa 1953. Pump is powered by a Wisconsin 4 cylinder gas engine seen directly behind the spray operator. Jeff thinks this may be Harmon Snyder dispersing the chemicals. Of course, this type of operation would not happen today without protective gear.
The truck appears to be 1939-'40 era International D-model, either a D-40 or a D-50 like some of the dump trucks the county owned. Note the vintage tail lights and turn signals at the rear of the truck.
Photo courtesy of Madison County archives.
January 5, 1989
It was reported that Kanata OPP charged three youths in connection with a spree of shootings in November in Katimavik. Bullets had been shot into homes and a passing bus. There were no injuries. Kanata Standard, January 5, 1989:5.
January 5, 1989
Mayor Adam, in his Mayor’s Notebook, announced that the operating budget would soon be available and it was expected that the tax increase for the year would be less than five percent. Kanata Standard, January 5, 1989:10.
January 11, 1989
It was reported that the giant Edmonton-based Triple Five Corporation had purchased 155 acres of land beside the Kanata South Business Park. There was speculation that this would fuel an extension of Terry Fox Drive further south. Kanata Standard, January 11, 1989:1.
January 12, 1989
An Eagleson Road Advisory Committee was struck by the Bridlewood Community Association to ensure its residents had a say in the controversial development along Eagleson Road. Kanata Standard, January 18, 1989:3.
January 14, 1989
Christopher Perrotta placed second in the novice skating competition at the Eastern Canadian Divisional Championships. Jennifer Boyce and her partner Michael Crooks placed third in their compulsory and free dance programs. Kanata Standard, February 8, 1989:28.
January 17, 1989
Kanata resident Bill Foster was able to get a regional sheriff to seize nearly $5,000 of City funds from a bank. Foster was suing the City after its bulldozer ripped up his fence and lawn. Foster obtained a default judgement, then presented it to the sheriff. Kanata Standard, January 25, 1989:3.
January 17, 1989
Kanata City Council approved a small commercial site located in the southwest quadrant of Town Centre lands. Alderman Read explained, in her Katimavik-Hazeldean Report, that the developer was building a small, tasteful structure on this 2-acre site. Kanata Standard, January 25, 1989:12.
January 18, 1989
Three major developers, Campeau, Triple Five, and Minto, all submitted bids to lease office space to Transport Canada. Transport Canada was considering setting up their head office in Kanata, which would make it the largest employer in the City next to Mitel. A Standard editorial pointed out, however, that many of the federal employees would live outside of Kanata. This could cause “unbearable strain” on local road systems. Kanata Standard, January 18, 1989:1,2.
January 18, 1989
At a press conference, the president of a Bridlewood residents’ group, Judy Hunter, said that $100,000 was needed for legal fees to continue the challenge against Ontario Hydro. This was part of a longstanding battle to have power lines re-routed around Bridlewood. The residents’ group wanted Ontario Hydro to re-route its new twin 500 kilovolt lines which were running through the community and beside the Bridlewood elementary school. The lines were expected to be at full power by October. Kanata Standard, January 25, 1989:5.
January 22, 1989
Calmar Holdings informed Mayor Adam that they would finance an extension of Terry Fox Drive. In return, Calmar asked for rezoning for 27 acres of its subdivision so that it could enter it into the bid for the new Transport Canada headquarters. Mayor Adam was very pleased that the extension could finally become a reality. Kanata Standard, January 25, 1989:2.
January 24, 1989
Kanata’s Lumonics Inc. announced it had sold its software subsidiary to a U.S. firm for $2 million. Lumonics had about 175 local employees. It also announced the first profitable quarter since the beginning of 1987. Kanata Standard, February 1, 1989:25.
January 25, 1989
It was reported in the Standard that Beaverbrook resident Matthew Hall, 21, won the men’s senior title at the Eastern Canadian Figure Skating Championships. He hoped to be a contender in the 1994 Olympics. Kanata Standard, January 25, 1989:1.
January 31, 1989
Kanata City Council met in a special public meeting to pass the budget. The City had a $18.4 million operating budget, and called for a 4.8 percent increase in taxes for residents. Kanata Standard, February 1, 1989:1,3,8.
January 31, 1989
The March Rural Association held its Annual General Meeting. There was a presentation by the developers of the proposed Gateway Mall. Kanata Standard, March 1, 1989:15.
February 1, 1989
Debbie Lawes reported in the Standard that the National Capital Commission was negotiating to save Stony Swamp, a sensitive wetlands in the western end of Bridlewood, from extinction. A 1986 environmental report recommended that a buffer zone incorporating the 300 hectares of Stony Swamp be created to protect it, without which the entire ecosystem would be threatened. Kanata Standard, February 1, 1989:3.
February 1, 1989
Paul Dick was promoted to the position of Minister of Supply and Services. Dick served as MP for Lanark-Carleton (formerly Lanark-Renfrew-Carleton) since 1972. Kanata Standard, February 1, 1989:4.
February 1, 1989
Mark Henderson wrote a feature in the Standard outlining how Mayor Des Adam decided to refuse to speak with staff at the Kanata Kourier. Adam made the decision after his request to the Kourier to pull a column written by Fred Boyd was denied. Adam said that the column was “negative drivel.” Kanata Standard, February 1, 1989:5.
February 8, 1989
Hal Hansen, Kanata Trustee for the Carleton Board of Education, implemented the motion that the Board ask the Ministry of Citizenship and Culture to remove it from the nomination process for public library boards. This move was linked to an ongoing dispute between the City and the CBE on the nomination process for the Library Board. Kanata Standard, February 8, 1989:1,5.
February 8, 1989
It was reported that Kanata City Council was negotiating with Campeau Corporation regarding revitalizing plans for the Town Centre lands. The first phase would include new municipal offices for City staff. Kanata Standard, February 15, 1989:3,5.
February 14, 1989
Kanata City Council denied the Kanata March Montessori School the rezoning it needed to move into a home in Beaverbrook. Susan Chapman, spokesperson for the school, argued that Council had not followed their normal procedures in this case. Kanata Standard, February 15, 1989:5.
February 15, 1989
Kanata City Council salaries were released. In 1988 a total of $142,029 was spent on aldermen and the mayor. The mayor’s base salary for 1989 was $50,000, an increase of approximately 27 percent. Aldermen were increased 37 percent, to about $18,000. Kanata Standard, February 15, 1989:3.
February 17, 1989
A fourth incident occurred where a man attempting to lure a young girl into a car had occurred in the McElroy Drive area of Glen Cairn. Kanata Standard, February 22, 1989:1,9.
February 21, 1989
Kanata City Council approved a zoning request by Dinerex Developments Inc. to join two properties for the purposes of constructing the Hazeldean Road Plaza. Construction was set to begin in May. Kanata Standard, February 22, 1989:33.
February 22, 1985
Richard Mostyn wrote a feature in the Standard outlining the issue of a new cooperative housing project in Glen Cairn. Bob Lambert, president of the housing co-op, attempted to get permission to rezone, but was met with resistance from some Council members and Mayor Adam. Adam did not believe there was a need for this type of housing in Kanata. One cooperative housing development was already in the area. Adam stated: “We have one already working and working well. Now we’re seeing another on the same street. It’s other area’s turn now.” Alderman Eva James said that Kanata needs the project. At the February Glen Cairn Community Association’s meeting there was also substantial resistance against the co-op from about 80 residents. The main objection was that the row housing would be three stories high, when most in the area were one or two. Kanata Standard, February 22, 1989:5; Kanata Standard, March 1, 1989:14.
February 22, 1989
Debbie Lawes wrote a feature in the Standard discussing how Don Anderson was attempting to circumvent the restrictive policies of Kanata City Council with regard to group homes. Anderson was taking the issue to the Ontario Municipal Board, arguing that the City’s policies were against the Charter of Rights. Two years earlier, Anderson’s attempt to put a group home in Beaverbrook was also blocked by residents and Council. Kanata Standard, February 22, 1989:5.
February 28, 1989
Kanata City Council passed a motion to take the first steps towards creating a sixth ward for the city. The proposed ward would cover Morgan’s Grant, Marchwood Lakeside and Riddell Village. It also seemed likely that the position of regional Alderman (Alderman-at-Large) would be eliminated. Alderman James, regional Alderman at the time, argued that the position should continue, particularly if a Kanata received a new seat (from one to two) on Regional Council. The Ontario Municipal Board was still considering the increased representation on Regional Council for Kanata. Kanata Standard, March 1, 1989:5.
February 28, 1989
Kanata City Council deferred the decision on whether or not to use the 2,4-D in City parks until staff return with a full report. Though the issue of the use of this form weed control by the City was first introduced to Council back in 1983, the debate had recently heightened due to citizen-group pressure. Alderman Judy Hunter presented a report to Council based on her own research and recommended that the City use a herbicide-free turf management program. Hunter later stated in her Ward 5 Report: “The argument that we must choose between grass or weeds is not valid. While many have been conditioned into believing that only poisons can rid our parks and playgrounds of weeds, experts state that well-kept grass is itself effective in choking out weeds.” Kanata Standard, March 8, 1989:11; Kanata Standard, March 15, 1989:19.
March 1, 1989
It was reported that construction began on the 90-metre radio tower for the Ontario Provincial Police at the corner of Eagleson Road and Campeau Drive. Though the communications tower was seen by some as a “blight to the neighbourhood,” there was little that could be done to prevent its construction. Kanata Standard, March 1, 1989:1.
March 1, 1989
Patrick Norbury reported in the Standard that an Amnesty International Chapter office would be set up in Kanata. About 30 residents fought for the local chapter. Kanata Standard, March 1, 1989:1.
March 1, 1989
Judy Hunter, in her Ward 5 Report, discussed her attempts at lobbying for a commuter rail link to Ottawa. What was needed, Hunter pointed out, was a complete proposal that would be “attractive to the transportation committees of Kanata and the region” from which provincial and federal involvement could be obtained. Kanata Standard, March 1, 1989:11.
March 1, 1989
The Kanata Theatre opened their presentation of A Delicate Balance. Amanda Gibbs, reviewing the play for the Standard, said that the group “staged an excellent production” and that they were “superb” and “genuinely reflected Albee’s piercing and intricate dialogue.” Actors in the play included Gwen Knight, Jim Holmes, Dorothy Gardner, Barry Caiger, Lian Freedman, and Annmarie Copple. Kanata Standard, March 8, 1989:7,10.
March 2, 1989
The Annual Kanata Book Fair began at Stephen Leacock Public School. Students had collected 30,000 books for the Fair. Kanata Standard, March 1, 1989:13.
March 6, 1989
A weeklong pilot wood-heat safety program began. Residents of Kanata, West Carleton, and Almonte took part in the WoodHeat Information and Safety Education program, which aimed to reduce the number of wood-heat-related fires in Ontario. Kanata Standard, March 8, 1989:20-2.
March 7, 1989
Residents at a Kanata City Council meeting were able to delay for one week the possible rezoning of a property located near the intersection of Terry Fox Drive and Katimavik Road for a new hotel. Kanata Standard, March 8, 1989:4.
March 7, 1989
Kanata City Council authorized City staff to proceed with negotiations to finalize an agreement to construct the two new ice surfaces in Walter Baker Park. Kanata Standard, March 15, 1989:15.
March 8, 1989
Mark Henderson reported in a feature in the Standard that R.J. Nicol, the company which put together the deal for construction on the “often delayed” Kanata Parkland Coliseum, had been fired. A new deal was being struck where the City of Kanata would purchase the Coliseum from the new investors over a 10-year period at a cost of approximately $10 million. Kanata Standard, March 8, 1989:1,5.
March 8, 1989
It was reported that Campeau Corporation had sold its 1,200 acres of residential property in Kanata to Vancouver-based Genstar Development Company. The amount was rumored to be between $50 - 55 million. The land included Kanata Lakes as part of the Marchwood and Lakeside residential communities. This also made Genstar Kanata’s largest landowner. Campeau was a dominant force in Kanata for over twenty years. Campeau was also selling commercial holdings, including the Hazeldean Mall and its portion of the Kanata North Business Park. Kanata Standard, March 8, 1989:5; Kanata Standard, April 12, 1989:1,3.
March 9, 1989
Kanata swimmers Kelly Stevens, 13, and Cricho Brown, 15, headed to the Ontario Winter Games in North Bay. Kanata Standard, March 8, 1989:26.
March 13, 1989
A Carleton Board of Education meeting was held where the latest electro-magnetic field (EMF) readings from the controversial hydro towers were presented. The readings, which had been taken in and around the Bridlewood Community Elementary School, showed levels significantly higher in some locations and lower in others, than readings done in November. In some cases they had doubled. Kanata Standard, March 15, 1989:1-2.
March 14, 1989
Kanata City Council approved the controversial rezoning of land on Terry Fox Drive to permit a hotel. A petition with 40 signatures was presented to Council, however the concerned residents chose not to attend the meeting. Kanata Standard, March 22, 1989:3.
March 15, 1989
The City of Kanata was in court with R.J Nicol Construction. R.J. Nicol contended that the City acted improperly when it proposed a new deal to finish the Coliseum with a consortium of investors, giving Nicol no indication that they were being dropped. There was confusion surrounding the ability of Nicol to complete the job due to deals with lien claimants not being in place. On February 27 the lien claimants went to court to ask that a trustee be appointed to take over the project, claiming that their agreement with Nicol was not being honoured. Kanata Standard, March 15, 1989:1-2.
March 15, 1989
The National Capital Commission formally made an offer to purchase 25 hectares of residential land in Bridlewood in an effort to protect the Stony Swamp wetlands area. Some felt that a buffer zone was necessary to protect the sensitive wetlands. Kanata Standard, March 15, 1989:4.
March 15, 1989
It was reported in the Standard that the Kanata Kourier was planning to split into two papers to more effectively compete with the Kanata Standard. Beginning on March 24, they would publish a separate Home Guide. Kanata Standard, March 15, 1989:5.
March 21, 1989
Kanata City Council decided to purchase a “Kanata” sign, marking the City along the Queensway. It was to cost $65,000. Kanata Standard, March 29, 1989:3.
March 22, 1989
The Ontario Municipal Board decided to hold a hearing on the Kanata Parkland Coliseum issue. This meant a two-month delay on the project, which had been projected to open September 1 opening. On March 10, the OMB had received a 48-name petition from Kanata residents. Kanata Standard, March 22, 1989:1.
March 22, 1989
A Kanata youth, Jason Haring, 17, was shot and killed by a U.S. border guard. Haring was attempting to cross into Montana from British Columbia. When to told to stop, he pulled out what appeared to the guard to be a handgun. It turned out to be a toy gun. Haring was at large from a youth detention centre. Kanata Standard, March 29, 1989:1.
March 30, 1989
A Kanata woman, Christiane Uens, and her unborn infant died as a result of an automobile accident on Monkland Road. Kanata Standard, April 5, 1989:4.
April 4, 1989
Kanata City Council sent a letter to Premier Peterson asking him to push Ontario Hydro into reducing the current in its new power lines in Bridlewood. Kanata Standard, April 5, 1989:4.
April 4, 1989
Kanata City Council approved the addition of a sixth ward and the elimination of the regional alderman position. The new ward would give the developing communities of Morgan’s Grant, Marchwood-Lakeside, and Riddell Village their own representation. Kanata Standard, April 12, 1989:4.
April 5, 1989
Kanata City Council entered into negotiations to purchase the Orange Lodge, a 106-year-old stone house on Goulbourn Road. The building was being sold for only $17,000, due to taxes owed. Kanata Standard, April 5, 1989:1.
April 5, 1989
It was reported that Triple Five Corporation was taking Public Works to court. Triple Five was one of the original bidders on the proposed headquarters for Transport Canada. Supposedly, Triple Five was dropped from the bidding due to missing pages in its tender. There were also allegations that someone in Public Works had been bribed to tamper with the company’s tender. Kanata Standard, April 5, 1989:4.
April 11, 1989
Kanata City Council approved a new high school at the corner of Castlefrank and Katimavik roads, scheduled to open the following September. Kanata Standard, April 12, 1989:16.
April 12, 1989
Richard and Marion Blasius donated an antique study to the City of Kanata, valued at over $21,000. It was an eight-piece solid oak suite with a double pedestal desk, large bookcase with hand-carved pillars and faces, a round table and side table, a red velvet upholstered armchair, and three red velvet upholstered side chairs. Mayor Adam said that it would likely be placed in the new Mayor’s office in the new City Hall. Kanata Standard, April 19, 1989:6.
April 14, 1989
A serious accident involving a garbage truck and smaller vehicle occurred at the corner of Abbeyhill Drive and Eagleson Road. Three-year-old Meagan Tuck, a passenger in the car, was severely burned in the accident. Fire Captain John Tollman, after assessing the child’s injuries, began to drive her in the fire department’s emergency vehicle to the hospital. However, that vehicle was then involved in an accident at the corner of Eagleson and Hazeldean, after which a police cruiser rushed the child and an injured firefighter to the hospital. Kanata Standard, April 19, 1989:1,2,7.
April 18, 1989
A report prepared by McNeely Engineering recommended large increases in lot levies, for new homes and commercial development, to pay for an ambitious road construction project. In a feature on this issue in the Standard, Debbie Lawes pointed out that this could increase the cost of a new home in Kanata by $2,600. However, this would pay for $26 million in new roads over a nine-year period. Mayor Adam defended this increase and stated: “One of the joys of this plan is that the largest number of people will be paying for it.” Kanata Standard, April 19, 1989:1,3,4.
April 18, 1989
Kanata City Council approved a contract with Ekos Research Associates to review the 1982 Parks and Recreation Master Plan. This would help identify community needs for parks and recreation services. Kanata Standard, April 26, 1989:4.
April 19, 1989
It was reported that Jennifer Kalnitsky won the under-16 class of the Canadian Tennis Championships. Kanata Standard, April 19, 1989:22.
April 23, 1989
OPP officers shot Stittsville resident, John Stokes. Stokes was reportedly on a shooting rampage with a shotgun in front of the Stittsville gun club. Kanata Standard, April 26, 1989:6.
April 24, 1989
A rally was held in Ottawa to protest the firing of a Kanata ambulance attendant. Pat Proulx was fired on April 17 after he told the media that ambulance services in the Ottawa-Carleton area were inadequate. Proulx was also vice-president of the local ambulance attendants’ union. Kanata Standard, April 26, 1989:1,38; Kanata Standard, May 3, 1989:3.
April 26, 1989
It was reported in the Standard that the parents of Meagan Tuck, a child injured on April 14 in an accident involving a garbage truck, were suing the City of Kanata. Meagan was still in serious condition at the time. Kanata Standard, April 26, 1989:5.
April 26, 1989
Patrick Norbury reported in the Standard that the City of Kanata was attempting to purchase 12 kilometres of Ottawa River waterfront. Alderman Bill Berry said that the City intended to build a municipally owned marina in the future. Kanata Standard, April 26, 1989:7.
History of Rice
Rice plants have been traced back to 5000 BC, but the practice of rice growing is believed to have originated in areas of China, and southern and eastern Asia, in about 2000 BC.
History of Rice Cultivation
There are many unproven mythological tales related to origin of rice, though historians hold little or no stock in any. Rice cultivation is considered to have begun simultaneously in many countries over 6500 years ago. Rice has been cultivated in China since ancient times. Chinese records of rice cultivation go back 4000 years. Most believe the roots of rice come from 3000 BC India, where natives discovered the plant growing in the wild and began to experiment with it. Cultivation and cooking methods are thought to have spread to the west rapidly and by medieval times, southern Europe saw the introduction of rice as a hearty grain. In several Asian languages the words for rice and food are identical.
African rice has been cultivated for 3500 years. In the Middle East and Mediterranean Europe, it started around 800 BC. Rice spread throughout Italy and then France, after the middle of the 15th century, later propagating to all the continents during the great age of European exploration. In 1694, rice arrived in South Carolina, probably originating from Madagascar. The Spanish brought rice to South America at the beginning of the 18th century.
Rice cultivation has been carried into all regions having the necessary warmth and abundant moisture favorable to its growth, mainly subtropical rather than hot or cold.
Extended Use of Rice
Rice has potential in a wide range of food categories. Besides having nutritional and medicinal benefits, the by-products of rice are equally important and beneficial. By-products from growing rice create many valuable and worthwhile products. The unedible parts, that are discarded through the milling process, and the edible part could be transformed into some of the following suggested products.
Rice By-Products
•Rice Husks
•Rice Bran
•Broken Rice
•Rice Flour
•Rice Milk
•Rice Pudding
•Rice Starch
•Rice Straw
•Rice used in Beverage Making
•Rice Paper
•Rice Glue
•Rice Cakes (mochi)
•Rice Vinegar
•Rice Soy Milk
•Red Yeast Rice
•Rice based food products
Types and Forms of Rice
Worldwide, there are more than 40,000 different varieties of rice. Often times, rice is categorized by its size as being either short grain, medium grain or long grain. Short grain, which has the highest starch content, makes the stickiest rice, while long grain is lighter and tends to remain separate when cooked. The qualities of medium grain fall between the other two types. Another way that rice is classified is according to the degree of milling that it undergoes. This is what makes a brown rice different than a white rice. Thus, the primary differences in different varieties of rice are their cooking characteristics, shapes and even colors and in some cases, a subtle flavor difference. The influx of convenience foods has brought consumers rice in bags, packets and cartons. Rice can be purchased cooked or uncooked, packed, dehydrated and also frozen. To meet the many special requirements of packaged foods, rice undergoes varying degrees of processing, including regular-milled, parboiled, precooked, and brown.
Accordingly, we can divide types and forms of rice in the following categories:
Long Grain / All Purpose: Indica Rice
Medium Grain Rice: Javanica Rice
Short Grain Rice: Japonica Rice
Speciality/Aromatic Rice
Nutritional Facts about Rice
Rice remains a staple food for the majority of the world's population. Rice is very nutritious. This important carbohydrate is the staple food for more than two-thirds of the world's population who rely on the nutritional benefits of rice.
Rice has the following nutritional benefits:
•Excellent source of carbohydrates: Rice is a great source of complex carbohydrates, which is an important source of the fuel our bodies need.
•Good energy source: Carbohydrates are broken down to glucose, most of which is used as energy for exercise and as essential fuel for the brain.
•Low fat, Low salt, No cholesterol: Rice is healthful for what it does not contain. Rice has no fat, no cholesterol and is sodium free. Rice is an excellent food to include in a balanced diet.
•A good source of vitamins and minerals such as thiamine, niacin, iron, riboflavin, vitamin D, calcium, and fiber.
•Low sugar
•No gluten: Rice is gluten free. All rice is gluten free, making rice the essential choice for people with gluten free dietary requirements.
•No additives and preservatives: Rice contains no additives or preservatives, making it an excellent inclusion in a healthy and balanced diet.
•Contains resistant starch: Rice also contains resistant starch, which is the starch that reaches the bowel undigested. This encourages the growth of beneficial bacteria, keeping the bowel healthy.
•Non-allergenic
•Cancer prevention and diet: Whole grains (such as brown rice) contain high amounts of insoluble fiber-the type of fiber some scientists believe may help protect against a variety of cancers.
•Rice is a low-sodium food for those with hypertension.
•It is a fair source of protein containing all eight amino acids.
Interesting Facts about Rice
SOME INTERESTING FACTS ABOUT RICE
•More than 90 percent of the world's rice is grown and consumed in Asia, where people typically eat rice two or three times a daily. Rice is the staple diet of half the world's population.
•Rice farming has been traced back to around 5,000 BC.
•Hundreds of millions of the poor spend half to three fourths of their incomes on rice and only rice.
•To plow 1 hectare of land in the traditional way, a farmer and his water buffalo must walk 80 km.
•It takes 5,000 liters of water to produce 1 kg of irrigated rice.
•More than 140,000 varieties of cultivated rice (the grass family Oryza sativa) are thought to exist but the exact number remains a mystery.
•Three of the world's four most populous nations are rice-based societies: People's Republic of China, India, and Indonesia. Together, they have nearly 2.5 billion people almost half of the world's population.
•The average Asian consumer eats 150 kg of rice annually compared to the average European who eats 5 kg.
•Every year, 50 million people are added to Asia's soaring population of 3.5 billion.
•Improved varieties are planted on three fourths of Asia's rice land and are responsible for producing most of the continent's rice.
•Asia is home to 250 million rice farms. Most are less than 1 hectare.
•In several Asian languages the words for 'food' and 'rice' are identical.
•Rice is thrown on newly married couples as a symbol of fertility, luck and wealth.
•65 kilos of rice are milled annually for every person on earth.
Basmati Rice in India
Basmati Rice, a variety of long grain rice with a fine texture, is the world's best rice that one can use for cooking and the leading aromatic fine quality rice in the world trade. Basmati rice means the "queen of fragrance" or the perfumed one. This type of rice has been grown in the foothills of the Himalayas for thousands of years. In India, Basmati rice is characterized by extra long, superfine slender grains having a length to breadth ratio of more than 3.5, sweet taste, soft texture, delicate curvature and an extra elongation with least breadth-wise swelling on cooking. This highly aromatic rice is India's gift to the whole world.
Find out everything you could possibly know about Basmati rice in India under the following heads:
History of Basmati Rice
Characteristics of Basmati Rice
Agronomic Features of Basmati Rice
Areas Producing Basmati Rice in India
The Basmati Patent
Production of Basmati Rice in India
Export of Basmati Rice from India
Basmati Rice Brands of India
Varieties of Basmati Rice
India in World Basmati Rice Industry
Rice in India
Rice is grown in many regions across India. For about 65% of the people living in India, rice is a staple food for them. Rice is essential to life in India. It is a part of nearly every meal, and it is grown on a majority of the rural farms.
Some important facts about rice in Indian Scenario are as:
•Agriculture is the main source of income for families in India. Farms cover over half the land and almost three-quarters of that land is used to grow the two major grains: rice and wheat.
•India is the second leading producer of rice in the entire world, preceded only by China.
•India's annual rice production is around 85-90 million tons. Annual consumption, is around 85 million tons.
•In India, Rice is cultivated in both seasons - Winter and Summer.
•West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Punjab, Tamil Nadu, Bihar, Orissa, Assam, Karnataka and Haryana are the major producing states. More than 50% of total production comes from the first four states.
•Food Corporation of India purchases around 20 to 25% of the total rice production in the country both under levy from the rice mills and directly in the form of paddy from the farmers at Minimum Support Prices announced by the Govt.
•More than 4000 varieties of rice are grown in India.
•India is the world's largest exporter of Basmati rice to Saudi Arabia and other Middle East Countries, Europe, and the United States.
•India has the potential to export one million tons of Basmati rice.
•Major destinations for Indian non-basmati, white/parboiled rice are Bangladesh, Indonesia, Philippines, Nigeria, South Africa, Ivory Coast, and other African countries.
Rice Processing
Harvesting is the process of collecting the mature rice crop from the field. Harvesting at the right time and in the right way maximizes grain yield and minimizes grain losses and quality deterioration. The post-harvesting operations of paddy crop and the storage of grains are as much important as producing the crop, because post-harvesting technology affects the quantity and quality of paddy and the finished product, that is, rice. Generally, losses in paddy and rice during the post-harvest operations amount to about 10% of field production. It is, therefore, necessary to adopt proper technology after harvesting the crop for the improvement of the quantity and quality of paddy and rice.
Post production includes all operations starting from harvesting up to grading and the stages are interdependent.
The various steps involved are as folllows :
Cleaning and Hulling
Drying
Quality and Grading
Harvesting or Cutting
Milling
Storage
Threshing
Rice Varieties in All India
Rice forms an integral part of the life of all Indians. The harvesting area of rice in India is the largest in the world. Rice cultivation is found in all the states of India.
Let us browse though the wide varieties of rice available in all parts of the country with their characteristics.
ASD-16 Rice
ASD-17 Rice
Gauri Rice
Gayatri Rice
Hari Rice
Heera Rice
HKR-120 Rice
IET-10222 Rice
IET-8548 Rice
Jaya Rice
Kalyani-II Rice
Kanak Rice
Karna Rice
Kshira Rice
Lalat Rice
Mahaveera Rice
MDU-3 Rice
Moti Rice
Narendra Dhan-118 Rice
Padmini Rice
Panvel-2 Rice
Pathara Rice
Prasanna Rice
Ratnagiri-1 Rice
Ratnagiri-2 Rice
Seshu Rice
Sonasali Rice
Sravani Rice
Srinivas Rice
Tara Rice
Vanaprabha Rice
Vikas Rice
Vikramarya Rice
Vivek Dhan-62 Rice
VL Dhan-163 Rice
Development of Hybrid Rice in India
During the last few years, hybrid rice technology in the tropics has entered the commercialization phase in India, Vietnam, the Philippines, Bangladesh, and Indonesia. Research to develop hybrid rice was initiated in India way back in 1970s but with no success. It was only in the year 1989, the research programme was accelerated and intensified and within a period of 5 years, half a dozen rice hybrid rice varieties were developed from public and private sectors in India. By the end of 2001, a total of 19 hybrid rice varieties were released.
However, farmer adoption of hybrid rice has been much slower than expected because of several constraints. Improving grain and cooking quality characteristics of hybrids, incorporating resistance to some major pests and diseases, increasing average seed yields on a large scale to reduce seed costs are the research priorities. Policy interventions by the government for increased support, aggressive popularization of hybrids, and assured procurement of hybrid rice at a minimum support price are needed. If these problems can be solved, hybrid rice could be cultivated on 3-4 million hectares in India during the next decade to partially sustain food security. The government has intended to popularize hybrids on a priority basis during the tenth five-year plan period (2002-07).
Steps to Develop Hybrid Rice
•Use new seeds every season and follow recommended seeding rate
•Raise healthy seedlings
•Prepare the land early and properly
•Transplant seedlings then replant empty hills
•Apply the right kind and amount of fertilizer at the right time
•Maintain the right amount of water
•Manage the pests
Harvest on timeteps to Improve Production of Rice
The following strategies may be adopted to increase the productivity of rice in various states:
•Emphasis may be given on a cropping system approach rather than a single crop development approach..
•Propagation of location specific crop production technologies in different agro-climatic zones.
•Replacement of low potential/pest susceptible old varieties by new high yielding varieties with promising yield potential.
•To encourage cultivation of hybrid rice through demonstrations and making seed available to the farmers.
•Motivating the farmers to provide life saving irrigation to the crop wherever possible during long dry spells.
•Improving soil fertility.
•Emphasis on balanced use of plant nutrients along with the popularization of integrated plant management system.
•Use of bio-fertilizer.
•Popularization of line sowing in upland rice areas through suitable seeding devices establishment of desired level of plant population, easy in weed control and the application of other management techniques.
•Encouraging the use of machines as well as bullock drawn and hand operated implements.
•Effective control of pests and diseases by emphasizing the need based application of pesticides.
•More emphasis on the adoption of non-monetary inputs like timely sowing, maintaining optimum plant population, timely irrigation, efficient use of fertilizers, plant protection measures and timely harvesting of crop etc.
•
Medicinal Uses of Rice
Rice is believed by some to have medicinal properties. Although, this is not scientifically proven effective, it has been used in many countries for medicinal purpose. For example:
•Philippines: Rice polishings-the bran-is extracted and used as an excellent source of Vitamin B to prevent and cure beri-beri.
•Malaysia: In the Medicinal Book of Malayan Medicine, it is prescribed that boiled rice "greens" can be used as an eye lotion and for use with acute inflammation of the inner body tissues. The book also recommends applying a mixture of dried, powdered rice on certain skin ailments.
•Cambodia: The hulls (husk) of mature rice plants are considered useful for treating dysentery. The hulls of a three-month old rice plant are thought to be diuretic.
•China: The Chinese believe rice strengthens the spleen, as well as "weak stomach," increases appetite, and cures indigestion. Dried sprouted rice grains were once used as an external medicine to aid in digestion, give tone to muscles, and expel gas from the stomach and intestines.
India: Rice water is prescribed by the Pharmacopoeia of India as an ointment to counteract inflamed surface. Factors Influencing the Price of Rice
Factors that affect Rice Prices are as follows:
•Weather: Role of weather in rice production is immense. Temperature, rainfall and soil moisture are the important parameters that determine the crop condition. Further, natural calamities can also affect crops. Markets keep watch of these developments.
•Minimum Support Price: Changes in the minimum support prices (MSP) by the government also have immense impact on the price of rice.
•Government policies: Exchange rates, Fiscal policies, Export incentives and export promotion also influence price.
•Substitute Product: Availability of substitute products at cheaper rate may lead to weakness in demand. This situation happens especially when the main products price tends to become higher.
•Consumption: Rice consumption depends on two factors - population and income. Lets take for example Asia. Rice is the staple food of Asia. Low-income groups consume more rice according to the per capita income increase. But as the income increases, there arrives a point when the consumption starts to dip. Income growth and reduction in population result in a low consumption of rice.
•Seasonal cycles: Seasonal cycles are present in rice cultivation. Price tends to be lower as harvesting progresses and produce starts coming into the market. At the time of sowing and before harvesting price tends to rise in view of tight supply situation.
•Demand: Import demands as well as domestic demand.
•Breakthrough in the technology may increase the productivity and would lead to more supply. This may bring some softness in the price.
•
History of Rice
Rice plants have been traced back to 5000 BC, but the practice of rice growing is believed to have originated in areas of China, and southern and eastern Asia, in about 2000 BC.
History of Rice Cultivation
There are many unproven mythological tales related to origin of rice, though historians hold little or no stock in any. Rice cultivation is considered to have begun simultaneously in many countries over 6500 years ago. Rice has been cultivated in China since ancient times. Chinese records of rice cultivation go back 4000 years. Most believe the roots of rice come from 3000 BC India, where natives discovered the plant growing in the wild and began to experiment with it. Cultivation and cooking methods are thought to have spread to the west rapidly and by medieval times, southern Europe saw the introduction of rice as a hearty grain. In several Asian languages the words for rice and food are identical.
African rice has been cultivated for 3500 years. In the Middle East and Mediterranean Europe, it started around 800 BC. Rice spread throughout Italy and then France, after the middle of the 15th century, later propagating to all the continents during the great age of European exploration. In 1694, rice arrived in South Carolina, probably originating from Madagascar. The Spanish brought rice to South America at the beginning of the 18th century.
Rice cultivation has been carried into all regions having the necessary warmth and abundant moisture favorable to its growth, mainly subtropical rather than hot or cold.
Extended Use of Rice
Rice has potential in a wide range of food categories. Besides having nutritional and medicinal benefits, the by-products of rice are equally important and beneficial. By-products from growing rice create many valuable and worthwhile products. The unedible parts, that are discarded through the milling process, and the edible part could be transformed into some of the following suggested products.
Rice By-Products
•Rice Husks
•Rice Bran
•Broken Rice
•Rice Flour
•Rice Milk
•Rice Pudding
•Rice Starch
•Rice Straw
•Rice used in Beverage Making
•Rice Paper
•Rice Glue
•Rice Cakes (mochi)
•Rice Vinegar
•Rice Soy Milk
•Red Yeast Rice
•Rice based food products
Types and Forms of Rice
Worldwide, there are more than 40,000 different varieties of rice. Often times, rice is categorized by its size as being either short grain, medium grain or long grain. Short grain, which has the highest starch content, makes the stickiest rice, while long grain is lighter and tends to remain separate when cooked. The qualities of medium grain fall between the other two types. Another way that rice is classified is according to the degree of milling that it undergoes. This is what makes a brown rice different than a white rice. Thus, the primary differences in different varieties of rice are their cooking characteristics, shapes and even colors and in some cases, a subtle flavor difference. The influx of convenience foods has brought consumers rice in bags, packets and cartons. Rice can be purchased cooked or uncooked, packed, dehydrated and also frozen. To meet the many special requirements of packaged foods, rice undergoes varying degrees of processing, including regular-milled, parboiled, precooked, and brown.
Accordingly, we can divide types and forms of rice in the following categories:
Long Grain / All Purpose: Indica Rice
Medium Grain Rice: Javanica Rice
Short Grain Rice: Japonica Rice
Speciality/Aromatic Rice
Nutritional Facts about Rice
Rice remains a staple food for the majority of the world's population. Rice is very nutritious. This important carbohydrate is the staple food for more than two-thirds of the world's population who rely on the nutritional benefits of rice.
Rice has the following nutritional benefits:
•Excellent source of carbohydrates: Rice is a great source of complex carbohydrates, which is an important source of the fuel our bodies need.
•Good energy source: Carbohydrates are broken down to glucose, most of which is used as energy for exercise and as essential fuel for the brain.
•Low fat, Low salt, No cholesterol: Rice is healthful for what it does not contain. Rice has no fat, no cholesterol and is sodium free. Rice is an excellent food to include in a balanced diet.
•A good source of vitamins and minerals such as thiamine, niacin, iron, riboflavin, vitamin D, calcium, and fiber.
•Low sugar
•No gluten: Rice is gluten free. All rice is gluten free, making rice the essential choice for people with gluten free dietary requirements.
•No additives and preservatives: Rice contains no additives or preservatives, making it an excellent inclusion in a healthy and balanced diet.
•Contains resistant starch: Rice also contains resistant starch, which is the starch that reaches the bowel undigested. This encourages the growth of beneficial bacteria, keeping the bowel healthy.
•Non-allergenic
•Cancer prevention and diet: Whole grains (such as brown rice) contain high amounts of insoluble fiber-the type of fiber some scientists believe may help protect against a variety of cancers.
•Rice is a low-sodium food for those with hypertension.
•It is a fair source of protein containing all eight amino acids.
Interesting Facts about Rice
SOME INTERESTING FACTS ABOUT RICE
•More than 90 percent of the world's rice is grown and consumed in Asia, where people typically eat rice two or three times a daily. Rice is the staple diet of half the world's population.
•Rice farming has been traced back to around 5,000 BC.
•Hundreds of millions of the poor spend half to three fourths of their incomes on rice and only rice.
•To plow 1 hectare of land in the traditional way, a farmer and his water buffalo must walk 80 km.
•It takes 5,000 liters of water to produce 1 kg of irrigated rice.
•More than 140,000 varieties of cultivated rice (the grass family Oryza sativa) are thought to exist but the exact number remains a mystery.
•Three of the world's four most populous nations are rice-based societies: People's Republic of China, India, and Indonesia. Together, they have nearly 2.5 billion people almost half of the world's population.
•The average Asian consumer eats 150 kg of rice annually compared to the average European who eats 5 kg.
•Every year, 50 million people are added to Asia's soaring population of 3.5 billion.
•Improved varieties are planted on three fourths of Asia's rice land and are responsible for producing most of the continent's rice.
•Asia is home to 250 million rice farms. Most are less than 1 hectare.
•In several Asian languages the words for 'food' and 'rice' are identical.
•Rice is thrown on newly married couples as a symbol of fertility, luck and wealth.
•65 kilos of rice are milled annually for every person on earth.
Basmati Rice in India
Basmati Rice, a variety of long grain rice with a fine texture, is the world's best rice that one can use for cooking and the leading aromatic fine quality rice in the world trade. Basmati rice means the "queen of fragrance" or the perfumed one. This type of rice has been grown in the foothills of the Himalayas for thousands of years. In India, Basmati rice is characterized by extra long, superfine slender grains having a length to breadth ratio of more than 3.5, sweet taste, soft texture, delicate curvature and an extra elongation with least breadth-wise swelling on cooking. This highly aromatic rice is India's gift to the whole world.
Find out everything you could possibly know about Basmati rice in India under the following heads:
History of Basmati Rice
Characteristics of Basmati Rice
Agronomic Features of Basmati Rice
Areas Producing Basmati Rice in India
The Basmati Patent
Production of Basmati Rice in India
Export of Basmati Rice from India
Basmati Rice Brands of India
Varieties of Basmati Rice
India in World Basmati Rice Industry
Rice in India
Rice is grown in many regions across India. For about 65% of the people living in India, rice is a staple food for them. Rice is essential to life in India. It is a part of nearly every meal, and it is grown on a majority of the rural farms.
Some important facts about rice in Indian Scenario are as:
•Agriculture is the main source of income for families in India. Farms cover over half the land and almost three-quarters of that land is used to grow the two major grains: rice and wheat.
•India is the second leading producer of rice in the entire world, preceded only by China.
•India's annual rice production is around 85-90 million tons. Annual consumption, is around 85 million tons.
•In India, Rice is cultivated in both seasons - Winter and Summer.
•West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Punjab, Tamil Nadu, Bihar, Orissa, Assam, Karnataka and Haryana are the major producing states. More than 50% of total production comes from the first four states.
•Food Corporation of India purchases around 20 to 25% of the total rice production in the country both under levy from the rice mills and directly in the form of paddy from the farmers at Minimum Support Prices announced by the Govt.
•More than 4000 varieties of rice are grown in India.
•India is the world's largest exporter of Basmati rice to Saudi Arabia and other Middle East Countries, Europe, and the United States.
•India has the potential to export one million tons of Basmati rice.
•Major destinations for Indian non-basmati, white/parboiled rice are Bangladesh, Indonesia, Philippines, Nigeria, South Africa, Ivory Coast, and other African countries.
Rice Processing
Harvesting is the process of collecting the mature rice crop from the field. Harvesting at the right time and in the right way maximizes grain yield and minimizes grain losses and quality deterioration. The post-harvesting operations of paddy crop and the storage of grains are as much important as producing the crop, because post-harvesting technology affects the quantity and quality of paddy and the finished product, that is, rice. Generally, losses in paddy and rice during the post-harvest operations amount to about 10% of field production. It is, therefore, necessary to adopt proper technology after harvesting the crop for the improvement of the quantity and quality of paddy and rice.
Post production includes all operations starting from harvesting up to grading and the stages are interdependent.
The various steps involved are as folllows :
Cleaning and Hulling
Drying
Quality and Grading
Harvesting or Cutting
Milling
Storage
Threshing
Rice Varieties in All India
Rice forms an integral part of the life of all Indians. The harvesting area of rice in India is the largest in the world. Rice cultivation is found in all the states of India.
Let us browse though the wide varieties of rice available in all parts of the country with their characteristics.
ASD-16 Rice
ASD-17 Rice
Gauri Rice
Gayatri Rice
Hari Rice
Heera Rice
HKR-120 Rice
IET-10222 Rice
IET-8548 Rice
Jaya Rice
Kalyani-II Rice
Kanak Rice
Karna Rice
Kshira Rice
Lalat Rice
Mahaveera Rice
MDU-3 Rice
Moti Rice
Narendra Dhan-118 Rice
Padmini Rice
Panvel-2 Rice
Pathara Rice
Prasanna Rice
Ratnagiri-1 Rice
Ratnagiri-2 Rice
Seshu Rice
Sonasali Rice
Sravani Rice
Srinivas Rice
Tara Rice
Vanaprabha Rice
Vikas Rice
Vikramarya Rice
Vivek Dhan-62 Rice
VL Dhan-163 Rice
Development of Hybrid Rice in India
During the last few years, hybrid rice technology in the tropics has entered the commercialization phase in India, Vietnam, the Philippines, Bangladesh, and Indonesia. Research to develop hybrid rice was initiated in India way back in 1970s but with no success. It was only in the year 1989, the research programme was accelerated and intensified and within a period of 5 years, half a dozen rice hybrid rice varieties were developed from public and private sectors in India. By the end of 2001, a total of 19 hybrid rice varieties were released.
However, farmer adoption of hybrid rice has been much slower than expected because of several constraints. Improving grain and cooking quality characteristics of hybrids, incorporating resistance to some major pests and diseases, increasing average seed yields on a large scale to reduce seed costs are the research priorities. Policy interventions by the government for increased support, aggressive popularization of hybrids, and assured procurement of hybrid rice at a minimum support price are needed. If these problems can be solved, hybrid rice could be cultivated on 3-4 million hectares in India during the next decade to partially sustain food security. The government has intended to popularize hybrids on a priority basis during the tenth five-year plan period (2002-07).
Steps to Develop Hybrid Rice
•Use new seeds every season and follow recommended seeding rate
•Raise healthy seedlings
•Prepare the land early and properly
•Transplant seedlings then replant empty hills
•Apply the right kind and amount of fertilizer at the right time
•Maintain the right amount of water
•Manage the pests
Harvest on timeteps to Improve Production of Rice
The following strategies may be adopted to increase the productivity of rice in various states:
•Emphasis may be given on a cropping system approach rather than a single crop development approach..
•Propagation of location specific crop production technologies in different agro-climatic zones.
•Replacement of low potential/pest susceptible old varieties by new high yielding varieties with promising yield potential.
•To encourage cultivation of hybrid rice through demonstrations and making seed available to the farmers.
•Motivating the farmers to provide life saving irrigation to the crop wherever possible during long dry spells.
•Improving soil fertility.
•Emphasis on balanced use of plant nutrients along with the popularization of integrated plant management system.
•Use of bio-fertilizer.
•Popularization of line sowing in upland rice areas through suitable seeding devices establishment of desired level of plant population, easy in weed control and the application of other management techniques.
•Encouraging the use of machines as well as bullock drawn and hand operated implements.
•Effective control of pests and diseases by emphasizing the need based application of pesticides.
•More emphasis on the adoption of non-monetary inputs like timely sowing, maintaining optimum plant population, timely irrigation, efficient use of fertilizers, plant protection measures and timely harvesting of crop etc.
•
Medicinal Uses of Rice
Rice is believed by some to have medicinal properties. Although, this is not scientifically proven effective, it has been used in many countries for medicinal purpose. For example:
•Philippines: Rice polishings-the bran-is extracted and used as an excellent source of Vitamin B to prevent and cure beri-beri.
•Malaysia: In the Medicinal Book of Malayan Medicine, it is prescribed that boiled rice "greens" can be used as an eye lotion and for use with acute inflammation of the inner body tissues. The book also recommends applying a mixture of dried, powdered rice on certain skin ailments.
•Cambodia: The hulls (husk) of mature rice plants are considered useful for treating dysentery. The hulls of a three-month old rice plant are thought to be diuretic.
•China: The Chinese believe rice strengthens the spleen, as well as "weak stomach," increases appetite, and cures indigestion. Dried sprouted rice grains were once used as an external medicine to aid in digestion, give tone to muscles, and expel gas from the stomach and intestines.
India: Rice water is prescribed by the Pharmacopoeia of India as an ointment to counteract inflamed surface. Factors Influencing the Price of Rice
Factors that affect Rice Prices are as follows:
•Weather: Role of weather in rice production is immense. Temperature, rainfall and soil moisture are the important parameters that determine the crop condition. Further, natural calamities can also affect crops. Markets keep watch of these developments.
•Minimum Support Price: Changes in the minimum support prices (MSP) by the government also have immense impact on the price of rice.
•Government policies: Exchange rates, Fiscal policies, Export incentives and export promotion also influence price.
•Substitute Product: Availability of substitute products at cheaper rate may lead to weakness in demand. This situation happens especially when the main products price tends to become higher.
•Consumption: Rice consumption depends on two factors - population and income. Lets take for example Asia. Rice is the staple food of Asia. Low-income groups consume more rice according to the per capita income increase. But as the income increases, there arrives a point when the consumption starts to dip. Income growth and reduction in population result in a low consumption of rice.
•Seasonal cycles: Seasonal cycles are present in rice cultivation. Price tends to be lower as harvesting progresses and produce starts coming into the market. At the time of sowing and before harvesting price tends to rise in view of tight supply situation.
•Demand: Import demands as well as domestic demand.
•Breakthrough in the technology may increase the productivity and would lead to more supply. This may bring some softness in the price.
•
Glyphosate and the law as I understand it
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Glyphosate is the active ingredient in RoundUp weed killer. It is extensively used these days in agriculture, forestry, grasslands etc for weed control. Its safety has never been proven to the people. It is suspected to be linked with a rising tide of human illnesses and species extinction.
Here is a 4 minute video I made on my effort to unearth safety data on this chemical, and my views on the subject.
I have an ongoing case with the Government of Canada under Access to Information Act on this matter, demanding that Health Canada sends me the actual safety test report and data it is supposed to have seen prior to approving Glyphosate for use in Canadian Agriculture. I also have a public online petition on the same subject, already signed by over 20,000 Canadians.
Link to the petition : www.change.org/p/minister-of-health-canada-justin-trudeau...
A farmer at work weeding in a maize field close to the Pusa site of the Borlaug Institute for South Asia (BISA), in the Indian state of Bihar.
BISA is a non-profit research institute dedicated to the improvement of food security and reduction of hunger in South Asia. It is a collaborative effort between the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT), The Indian Council for Agricultural Research (ICAR), and the Government of India. BISA’s objective is to harness the latest technology in agriculture to improve farming productivity and sustainably meet the demands of the future. More than just a bricks-and-mortar institute, BISA is a commitment to the people of India. It is co-located in three Indian states—Punjab, Bihar, and Madhya Pradesh—each of which contains varied agro-ecological zones, representing many of the environments of South Asia.
In Bihar, the current major constraints to maize production are low seed replacement rates, late sowing, and low levels of farm mechanization. Foliar blight disease is also a growing concern among Bihar’s farmers. Both hybrids and traditional maize varieties are grown throughout Bihar and maize productivity is currently 2.5 tons per hectare, higher than the national average of 1.9.
Areas of future development for BISA Pusa include the development of climate-resilient cultivars, innovative maize genotypes, diverse wheat cultivars, disease resistance, farmer information technologies, and new irrigation technologies. Initial trials have indicated that the implementation of zero tillage on 1.5 million hectares has the potential to increase soil moisture and enhance wheat production by 0.45 million tons. The promotion of quality protein maize to address malnutrition rates as well as long-term conservation agricultural trials is also a priority for the site.
For more about BISA, see: bisa.cimmyt.org/.
Photo credit: M. DeFreese/CIMMYT.
History of Rice
Rice plants have been traced back to 5000 BC, but the practice of rice growing is believed to have originated in areas of China, and southern and eastern Asia, in about 2000 BC.
History of Rice Cultivation
There are many unproven mythological tales related to origin of rice, though historians hold little or no stock in any. Rice cultivation is considered to have begun simultaneously in many countries over 6500 years ago. Rice has been cultivated in China since ancient times. Chinese records of rice cultivation go back 4000 years. Most believe the roots of rice come from 3000 BC India, where natives discovered the plant growing in the wild and began to experiment with it. Cultivation and cooking methods are thought to have spread to the west rapidly and by medieval times, southern Europe saw the introduction of rice as a hearty grain. In several Asian languages the words for rice and food are identical.
African rice has been cultivated for 3500 years. In the Middle East and Mediterranean Europe, it started around 800 BC. Rice spread throughout Italy and then France, after the middle of the 15th century, later propagating to all the continents during the great age of European exploration. In 1694, rice arrived in South Carolina, probably originating from Madagascar. The Spanish brought rice to South America at the beginning of the 18th century.
Rice cultivation has been carried into all regions having the necessary warmth and abundant moisture favorable to its growth, mainly subtropical rather than hot or cold.
Extended Use of Rice
Rice has potential in a wide range of food categories. Besides having nutritional and medicinal benefits, the by-products of rice are equally important and beneficial. By-products from growing rice create many valuable and worthwhile products. The unedible parts, that are discarded through the milling process, and the edible part could be transformed into some of the following suggested products.
Rice By-Products
•Rice Husks
•Rice Bran
•Broken Rice
•Rice Flour
•Rice Milk
•Rice Pudding
•Rice Starch
•Rice Straw
•Rice used in Beverage Making
•Rice Paper
•Rice Glue
•Rice Cakes (mochi)
•Rice Vinegar
•Rice Soy Milk
•Red Yeast Rice
•Rice based food products
Types and Forms of Rice
Worldwide, there are more than 40,000 different varieties of rice. Often times, rice is categorized by its size as being either short grain, medium grain or long grain. Short grain, which has the highest starch content, makes the stickiest rice, while long grain is lighter and tends to remain separate when cooked. The qualities of medium grain fall between the other two types. Another way that rice is classified is according to the degree of milling that it undergoes. This is what makes a brown rice different than a white rice. Thus, the primary differences in different varieties of rice are their cooking characteristics, shapes and even colors and in some cases, a subtle flavor difference. The influx of convenience foods has brought consumers rice in bags, packets and cartons. Rice can be purchased cooked or uncooked, packed, dehydrated and also frozen. To meet the many special requirements of packaged foods, rice undergoes varying degrees of processing, including regular-milled, parboiled, precooked, and brown.
Accordingly, we can divide types and forms of rice in the following categories:
Long Grain / All Purpose: Indica Rice
Medium Grain Rice: Javanica Rice
Short Grain Rice: Japonica Rice
Speciality/Aromatic Rice
Nutritional Facts about Rice
Rice remains a staple food for the majority of the world's population. Rice is very nutritious. This important carbohydrate is the staple food for more than two-thirds of the world's population who rely on the nutritional benefits of rice.
Rice has the following nutritional benefits:
•Excellent source of carbohydrates: Rice is a great source of complex carbohydrates, which is an important source of the fuel our bodies need.
•Good energy source: Carbohydrates are broken down to glucose, most of which is used as energy for exercise and as essential fuel for the brain.
•Low fat, Low salt, No cholesterol: Rice is healthful for what it does not contain. Rice has no fat, no cholesterol and is sodium free. Rice is an excellent food to include in a balanced diet.
•A good source of vitamins and minerals such as thiamine, niacin, iron, riboflavin, vitamin D, calcium, and fiber.
•Low sugar
•No gluten: Rice is gluten free. All rice is gluten free, making rice the essential choice for people with gluten free dietary requirements.
•No additives and preservatives: Rice contains no additives or preservatives, making it an excellent inclusion in a healthy and balanced diet.
•Contains resistant starch: Rice also contains resistant starch, which is the starch that reaches the bowel undigested. This encourages the growth of beneficial bacteria, keeping the bowel healthy.
•Non-allergenic
•Cancer prevention and diet: Whole grains (such as brown rice) contain high amounts of insoluble fiber-the type of fiber some scientists believe may help protect against a variety of cancers.
•Rice is a low-sodium food for those with hypertension.
•It is a fair source of protein containing all eight amino acids.
Interesting Facts about Rice
SOME INTERESTING FACTS ABOUT RICE
•More than 90 percent of the world's rice is grown and consumed in Asia, where people typically eat rice two or three times a daily. Rice is the staple diet of half the world's population.
•Rice farming has been traced back to around 5,000 BC.
•Hundreds of millions of the poor spend half to three fourths of their incomes on rice and only rice.
•To plow 1 hectare of land in the traditional way, a farmer and his water buffalo must walk 80 km.
•It takes 5,000 liters of water to produce 1 kg of irrigated rice.
•More than 140,000 varieties of cultivated rice (the grass family Oryza sativa) are thought to exist but the exact number remains a mystery.
•Three of the world's four most populous nations are rice-based societies: People's Republic of China, India, and Indonesia. Together, they have nearly 2.5 billion people almost half of the world's population.
•The average Asian consumer eats 150 kg of rice annually compared to the average European who eats 5 kg.
•Every year, 50 million people are added to Asia's soaring population of 3.5 billion.
•Improved varieties are planted on three fourths of Asia's rice land and are responsible for producing most of the continent's rice.
•Asia is home to 250 million rice farms. Most are less than 1 hectare.
•In several Asian languages the words for 'food' and 'rice' are identical.
•Rice is thrown on newly married couples as a symbol of fertility, luck and wealth.
•65 kilos of rice are milled annually for every person on earth.
Basmati Rice in India
Basmati Rice, a variety of long grain rice with a fine texture, is the world's best rice that one can use for cooking and the leading aromatic fine quality rice in the world trade. Basmati rice means the "queen of fragrance" or the perfumed one. This type of rice has been grown in the foothills of the Himalayas for thousands of years. In India, Basmati rice is characterized by extra long, superfine slender grains having a length to breadth ratio of more than 3.5, sweet taste, soft texture, delicate curvature and an extra elongation with least breadth-wise swelling on cooking. This highly aromatic rice is India's gift to the whole world.
Find out everything you could possibly know about Basmati rice in India under the following heads:
History of Basmati Rice
Characteristics of Basmati Rice
Agronomic Features of Basmati Rice
Areas Producing Basmati Rice in India
The Basmati Patent
Production of Basmati Rice in India
Export of Basmati Rice from India
Basmati Rice Brands of India
Varieties of Basmati Rice
India in World Basmati Rice Industry
Rice in India
Rice is grown in many regions across India. For about 65% of the people living in India, rice is a staple food for them. Rice is essential to life in India. It is a part of nearly every meal, and it is grown on a majority of the rural farms.
Some important facts about rice in Indian Scenario are as:
•Agriculture is the main source of income for families in India. Farms cover over half the land and almost three-quarters of that land is used to grow the two major grains: rice and wheat.
•India is the second leading producer of rice in the entire world, preceded only by China.
•India's annual rice production is around 85-90 million tons. Annual consumption, is around 85 million tons.
•In India, Rice is cultivated in both seasons - Winter and Summer.
•West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Punjab, Tamil Nadu, Bihar, Orissa, Assam, Karnataka and Haryana are the major producing states. More than 50% of total production comes from the first four states.
•Food Corporation of India purchases around 20 to 25% of the total rice production in the country both under levy from the rice mills and directly in the form of paddy from the farmers at Minimum Support Prices announced by the Govt.
•More than 4000 varieties of rice are grown in India.
•India is the world's largest exporter of Basmati rice to Saudi Arabia and other Middle East Countries, Europe, and the United States.
•India has the potential to export one million tons of Basmati rice.
•Major destinations for Indian non-basmati, white/parboiled rice are Bangladesh, Indonesia, Philippines, Nigeria, South Africa, Ivory Coast, and other African countries.
Rice Processing
Harvesting is the process of collecting the mature rice crop from the field. Harvesting at the right time and in the right way maximizes grain yield and minimizes grain losses and quality deterioration. The post-harvesting operations of paddy crop and the storage of grains are as much important as producing the crop, because post-harvesting technology affects the quantity and quality of paddy and the finished product, that is, rice. Generally, losses in paddy and rice during the post-harvest operations amount to about 10% of field production. It is, therefore, necessary to adopt proper technology after harvesting the crop for the improvement of the quantity and quality of paddy and rice.
Post production includes all operations starting from harvesting up to grading and the stages are interdependent.
The various steps involved are as folllows :
Cleaning and Hulling
Drying
Quality and Grading
Harvesting or Cutting
Milling
Storage
Threshing
Rice Varieties in All India
Rice forms an integral part of the life of all Indians. The harvesting area of rice in India is the largest in the world. Rice cultivation is found in all the states of India.
Let us browse though the wide varieties of rice available in all parts of the country with their characteristics.
ASD-16 Rice
ASD-17 Rice
Gauri Rice
Gayatri Rice
Hari Rice
Heera Rice
HKR-120 Rice
IET-10222 Rice
IET-8548 Rice
Jaya Rice
Kalyani-II Rice
Kanak Rice
Karna Rice
Kshira Rice
Lalat Rice
Mahaveera Rice
MDU-3 Rice
Moti Rice
Narendra Dhan-118 Rice
Padmini Rice
Panvel-2 Rice
Pathara Rice
Prasanna Rice
Ratnagiri-1 Rice
Ratnagiri-2 Rice
Seshu Rice
Sonasali Rice
Sravani Rice
Srinivas Rice
Tara Rice
Vanaprabha Rice
Vikas Rice
Vikramarya Rice
Vivek Dhan-62 Rice
VL Dhan-163 Rice
Development of Hybrid Rice in India
During the last few years, hybrid rice technology in the tropics has entered the commercialization phase in India, Vietnam, the Philippines, Bangladesh, and Indonesia. Research to develop hybrid rice was initiated in India way back in 1970s but with no success. It was only in the year 1989, the research programme was accelerated and intensified and within a period of 5 years, half a dozen rice hybrid rice varieties were developed from public and private sectors in India. By the end of 2001, a total of 19 hybrid rice varieties were released.
However, farmer adoption of hybrid rice has been much slower than expected because of several constraints. Improving grain and cooking quality characteristics of hybrids, incorporating resistance to some major pests and diseases, increasing average seed yields on a large scale to reduce seed costs are the research priorities. Policy interventions by the government for increased support, aggressive popularization of hybrids, and assured procurement of hybrid rice at a minimum support price are needed. If these problems can be solved, hybrid rice could be cultivated on 3-4 million hectares in India during the next decade to partially sustain food security. The government has intended to popularize hybrids on a priority basis during the tenth five-year plan period (2002-07).
Steps to Develop Hybrid Rice
•Use new seeds every season and follow recommended seeding rate
•Raise healthy seedlings
•Prepare the land early and properly
•Transplant seedlings then replant empty hills
•Apply the right kind and amount of fertilizer at the right time
•Maintain the right amount of water
•Manage the pests
Harvest on timeteps to Improve Production of Rice
The following strategies may be adopted to increase the productivity of rice in various states:
•Emphasis may be given on a cropping system approach rather than a single crop development approach..
•Propagation of location specific crop production technologies in different agro-climatic zones.
•Replacement of low potential/pest susceptible old varieties by new high yielding varieties with promising yield potential.
•To encourage cultivation of hybrid rice through demonstrations and making seed available to the farmers.
•Motivating the farmers to provide life saving irrigation to the crop wherever possible during long dry spells.
•Improving soil fertility.
•Emphasis on balanced use of plant nutrients along with the popularization of integrated plant management system.
•Use of bio-fertilizer.
•Popularization of line sowing in upland rice areas through suitable seeding devices establishment of desired level of plant population, easy in weed control and the application of other management techniques.
•Encouraging the use of machines as well as bullock drawn and hand operated implements.
•Effective control of pests and diseases by emphasizing the need based application of pesticides.
•More emphasis on the adoption of non-monetary inputs like timely sowing, maintaining optimum plant population, timely irrigation, efficient use of fertilizers, plant protection measures and timely harvesting of crop etc.
•
Medicinal Uses of Rice
Rice is believed by some to have medicinal properties. Although, this is not scientifically proven effective, it has been used in many countries for medicinal purpose. For example:
•Philippines: Rice polishings-the bran-is extracted and used as an excellent source of Vitamin B to prevent and cure beri-beri.
•Malaysia: In the Medicinal Book of Malayan Medicine, it is prescribed that boiled rice "greens" can be used as an eye lotion and for use with acute inflammation of the inner body tissues. The book also recommends applying a mixture of dried, powdered rice on certain skin ailments.
•Cambodia: The hulls (husk) of mature rice plants are considered useful for treating dysentery. The hulls of a three-month old rice plant are thought to be diuretic.
•China: The Chinese believe rice strengthens the spleen, as well as "weak stomach," increases appetite, and cures indigestion. Dried sprouted rice grains were once used as an external medicine to aid in digestion, give tone to muscles, and expel gas from the stomach and intestines.
India: Rice water is prescribed by the Pharmacopoeia of India as an ointment to counteract inflamed surface. Factors Influencing the Price of Rice
Factors that affect Rice Prices are as follows:
•Weather: Role of weather in rice production is immense. Temperature, rainfall and soil moisture are the important parameters that determine the crop condition. Further, natural calamities can also affect crops. Markets keep watch of these developments.
•Minimum Support Price: Changes in the minimum support prices (MSP) by the government also have immense impact on the price of rice.
•Government policies: Exchange rates, Fiscal policies, Export incentives and export promotion also influence price.
•Substitute Product: Availability of substitute products at cheaper rate may lead to weakness in demand. This situation happens especially when the main products price tends to become higher.
•Consumption: Rice consumption depends on two factors - population and income. Lets take for example Asia. Rice is the staple food of Asia. Low-income groups consume more rice according to the per capita income increase. But as the income increases, there arrives a point when the consumption starts to dip. Income growth and reduction in population result in a low consumption of rice.
•Seasonal cycles: Seasonal cycles are present in rice cultivation. Price tends to be lower as harvesting progresses and produce starts coming into the market. At the time of sowing and before harvesting price tends to rise in view of tight supply situation.
•Demand: Import demands as well as domestic demand.
•Breakthrough in the technology may increase the productivity and would lead to more supply. This may bring some softness in the price.
•
Penny Livingston Stark of the Regenerative Design Institute in Bolinas, CA devotes herself to sustainable land use principles based on observing and learning from the efficiency and balance inherent in natural systems. The results are increased food production, the conservation of resources, and the re-integration of built environments (farms, homes, even towns) into their natural environment. Information artwork by Douglas Gayeton for the Lexicon of Sustainability project.
History of Rice
Rice plants have been traced back to 5000 BC, but the practice of rice growing is believed to have originated in areas of China, and southern and eastern Asia, in about 2000 BC.
History of Rice Cultivation
There are many unproven mythological tales related to origin of rice, though historians hold little or no stock in any. Rice cultivation is considered to have begun simultaneously in many countries over 6500 years ago. Rice has been cultivated in China since ancient times. Chinese records of rice cultivation go back 4000 years. Most believe the roots of rice come from 3000 BC India, where natives discovered the plant growing in the wild and began to experiment with it. Cultivation and cooking methods are thought to have spread to the west rapidly and by medieval times, southern Europe saw the introduction of rice as a hearty grain. In several Asian languages the words for rice and food are identical.
African rice has been cultivated for 3500 years. In the Middle East and Mediterranean Europe, it started around 800 BC. Rice spread throughout Italy and then France, after the middle of the 15th century, later propagating to all the continents during the great age of European exploration. In 1694, rice arrived in South Carolina, probably originating from Madagascar. The Spanish brought rice to South America at the beginning of the 18th century.
Rice cultivation has been carried into all regions having the necessary warmth and abundant moisture favorable to its growth, mainly subtropical rather than hot or cold.
Extended Use of Rice
Rice has potential in a wide range of food categories. Besides having nutritional and medicinal benefits, the by-products of rice are equally important and beneficial. By-products from growing rice create many valuable and worthwhile products. The unedible parts, that are discarded through the milling process, and the edible part could be transformed into some of the following suggested products.
Rice By-Products
•Rice Husks
•Rice Bran
•Broken Rice
•Rice Flour
•Rice Milk
•Rice Pudding
•Rice Starch
•Rice Straw
•Rice used in Beverage Making
•Rice Paper
•Rice Glue
•Rice Cakes (mochi)
•Rice Vinegar
•Rice Soy Milk
•Red Yeast Rice
•Rice based food products
Types and Forms of Rice
Worldwide, there are more than 40,000 different varieties of rice. Often times, rice is categorized by its size as being either short grain, medium grain or long grain. Short grain, which has the highest starch content, makes the stickiest rice, while long grain is lighter and tends to remain separate when cooked. The qualities of medium grain fall between the other two types. Another way that rice is classified is according to the degree of milling that it undergoes. This is what makes a brown rice different than a white rice. Thus, the primary differences in different varieties of rice are their cooking characteristics, shapes and even colors and in some cases, a subtle flavor difference. The influx of convenience foods has brought consumers rice in bags, packets and cartons. Rice can be purchased cooked or uncooked, packed, dehydrated and also frozen. To meet the many special requirements of packaged foods, rice undergoes varying degrees of processing, including regular-milled, parboiled, precooked, and brown.
Accordingly, we can divide types and forms of rice in the following categories:
Long Grain / All Purpose: Indica Rice
Medium Grain Rice: Javanica Rice
Short Grain Rice: Japonica Rice
Speciality/Aromatic Rice
Nutritional Facts about Rice
Rice remains a staple food for the majority of the world's population. Rice is very nutritious. This important carbohydrate is the staple food for more than two-thirds of the world's population who rely on the nutritional benefits of rice.
Rice has the following nutritional benefits:
•Excellent source of carbohydrates: Rice is a great source of complex carbohydrates, which is an important source of the fuel our bodies need.
•Good energy source: Carbohydrates are broken down to glucose, most of which is used as energy for exercise and as essential fuel for the brain.
•Low fat, Low salt, No cholesterol: Rice is healthful for what it does not contain. Rice has no fat, no cholesterol and is sodium free. Rice is an excellent food to include in a balanced diet.
•A good source of vitamins and minerals such as thiamine, niacin, iron, riboflavin, vitamin D, calcium, and fiber.
•Low sugar
•No gluten: Rice is gluten free. All rice is gluten free, making rice the essential choice for people with gluten free dietary requirements.
•No additives and preservatives: Rice contains no additives or preservatives, making it an excellent inclusion in a healthy and balanced diet.
•Contains resistant starch: Rice also contains resistant starch, which is the starch that reaches the bowel undigested. This encourages the growth of beneficial bacteria, keeping the bowel healthy.
•Non-allergenic
•Cancer prevention and diet: Whole grains (such as brown rice) contain high amounts of insoluble fiber-the type of fiber some scientists believe may help protect against a variety of cancers.
•Rice is a low-sodium food for those with hypertension.
•It is a fair source of protein containing all eight amino acids.
Interesting Facts about Rice
SOME INTERESTING FACTS ABOUT RICE
•More than 90 percent of the world's rice is grown and consumed in Asia, where people typically eat rice two or three times a daily. Rice is the staple diet of half the world's population.
•Rice farming has been traced back to around 5,000 BC.
•Hundreds of millions of the poor spend half to three fourths of their incomes on rice and only rice.
•To plow 1 hectare of land in the traditional way, a farmer and his water buffalo must walk 80 km.
•It takes 5,000 liters of water to produce 1 kg of irrigated rice.
•More than 140,000 varieties of cultivated rice (the grass family Oryza sativa) are thought to exist but the exact number remains a mystery.
•Three of the world's four most populous nations are rice-based societies: People's Republic of China, India, and Indonesia. Together, they have nearly 2.5 billion people almost half of the world's population.
•The average Asian consumer eats 150 kg of rice annually compared to the average European who eats 5 kg.
•Every year, 50 million people are added to Asia's soaring population of 3.5 billion.
•Improved varieties are planted on three fourths of Asia's rice land and are responsible for producing most of the continent's rice.
•Asia is home to 250 million rice farms. Most are less than 1 hectare.
•In several Asian languages the words for 'food' and 'rice' are identical.
•Rice is thrown on newly married couples as a symbol of fertility, luck and wealth.
•65 kilos of rice are milled annually for every person on earth.
Basmati Rice in India
Basmati Rice, a variety of long grain rice with a fine texture, is the world's best rice that one can use for cooking and the leading aromatic fine quality rice in the world trade. Basmati rice means the "queen of fragrance" or the perfumed one. This type of rice has been grown in the foothills of the Himalayas for thousands of years. In India, Basmati rice is characterized by extra long, superfine slender grains having a length to breadth ratio of more than 3.5, sweet taste, soft texture, delicate curvature and an extra elongation with least breadth-wise swelling on cooking. This highly aromatic rice is India's gift to the whole world.
Find out everything you could possibly know about Basmati rice in India under the following heads:
History of Basmati Rice
Characteristics of Basmati Rice
Agronomic Features of Basmati Rice
Areas Producing Basmati Rice in India
The Basmati Patent
Production of Basmati Rice in India
Export of Basmati Rice from India
Basmati Rice Brands of India
Varieties of Basmati Rice
India in World Basmati Rice Industry
Rice in India
Rice is grown in many regions across India. For about 65% of the people living in India, rice is a staple food for them. Rice is essential to life in India. It is a part of nearly every meal, and it is grown on a majority of the rural farms.
Some important facts about rice in Indian Scenario are as:
•Agriculture is the main source of income for families in India. Farms cover over half the land and almost three-quarters of that land is used to grow the two major grains: rice and wheat.
•India is the second leading producer of rice in the entire world, preceded only by China.
•India's annual rice production is around 85-90 million tons. Annual consumption, is around 85 million tons.
•In India, Rice is cultivated in both seasons - Winter and Summer.
•West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Punjab, Tamil Nadu, Bihar, Orissa, Assam, Karnataka and Haryana are the major producing states. More than 50% of total production comes from the first four states.
•Food Corporation of India purchases around 20 to 25% of the total rice production in the country both under levy from the rice mills and directly in the form of paddy from the farmers at Minimum Support Prices announced by the Govt.
•More than 4000 varieties of rice are grown in India.
•India is the world's largest exporter of Basmati rice to Saudi Arabia and other Middle East Countries, Europe, and the United States.
•India has the potential to export one million tons of Basmati rice.
•Major destinations for Indian non-basmati, white/parboiled rice are Bangladesh, Indonesia, Philippines, Nigeria, South Africa, Ivory Coast, and other African countries.
Rice Processing
Harvesting is the process of collecting the mature rice crop from the field. Harvesting at the right time and in the right way maximizes grain yield and minimizes grain losses and quality deterioration. The post-harvesting operations of paddy crop and the storage of grains are as much important as producing the crop, because post-harvesting technology affects the quantity and quality of paddy and the finished product, that is, rice. Generally, losses in paddy and rice during the post-harvest operations amount to about 10% of field production. It is, therefore, necessary to adopt proper technology after harvesting the crop for the improvement of the quantity and quality of paddy and rice.
Post production includes all operations starting from harvesting up to grading and the stages are interdependent.
The various steps involved are as folllows :
Cleaning and Hulling
Drying
Quality and Grading
Harvesting or Cutting
Milling
Storage
Threshing
Rice Varieties in All India
Rice forms an integral part of the life of all Indians. The harvesting area of rice in India is the largest in the world. Rice cultivation is found in all the states of India.
Let us browse though the wide varieties of rice available in all parts of the country with their characteristics.
ASD-16 Rice
ASD-17 Rice
Gauri Rice
Gayatri Rice
Hari Rice
Heera Rice
HKR-120 Rice
IET-10222 Rice
IET-8548 Rice
Jaya Rice
Kalyani-II Rice
Kanak Rice
Karna Rice
Kshira Rice
Lalat Rice
Mahaveera Rice
MDU-3 Rice
Moti Rice
Narendra Dhan-118 Rice
Padmini Rice
Panvel-2 Rice
Pathara Rice
Prasanna Rice
Ratnagiri-1 Rice
Ratnagiri-2 Rice
Seshu Rice
Sonasali Rice
Sravani Rice
Srinivas Rice
Tara Rice
Vanaprabha Rice
Vikas Rice
Vikramarya Rice
Vivek Dhan-62 Rice
VL Dhan-163 Rice
Development of Hybrid Rice in India
During the last few years, hybrid rice technology in the tropics has entered the commercialization phase in India, Vietnam, the Philippines, Bangladesh, and Indonesia. Research to develop hybrid rice was initiated in India way back in 1970s but with no success. It was only in the year 1989, the research programme was accelerated and intensified and within a period of 5 years, half a dozen rice hybrid rice varieties were developed from public and private sectors in India. By the end of 2001, a total of 19 hybrid rice varieties were released.
However, farmer adoption of hybrid rice has been much slower than expected because of several constraints. Improving grain and cooking quality characteristics of hybrids, incorporating resistance to some major pests and diseases, increasing average seed yields on a large scale to reduce seed costs are the research priorities. Policy interventions by the government for increased support, aggressive popularization of hybrids, and assured procurement of hybrid rice at a minimum support price are needed. If these problems can be solved, hybrid rice could be cultivated on 3-4 million hectares in India during the next decade to partially sustain food security. The government has intended to popularize hybrids on a priority basis during the tenth five-year plan period (2002-07).
Steps to Develop Hybrid Rice
•Use new seeds every season and follow recommended seeding rate
•Raise healthy seedlings
•Prepare the land early and properly
•Transplant seedlings then replant empty hills
•Apply the right kind and amount of fertilizer at the right time
•Maintain the right amount of water
•Manage the pests
Harvest on timeteps to Improve Production of Rice
The following strategies may be adopted to increase the productivity of rice in various states:
•Emphasis may be given on a cropping system approach rather than a single crop development approach..
•Propagation of location specific crop production technologies in different agro-climatic zones.
•Replacement of low potential/pest susceptible old varieties by new high yielding varieties with promising yield potential.
•To encourage cultivation of hybrid rice through demonstrations and making seed available to the farmers.
•Motivating the farmers to provide life saving irrigation to the crop wherever possible during long dry spells.
•Improving soil fertility.
•Emphasis on balanced use of plant nutrients along with the popularization of integrated plant management system.
•Use of bio-fertilizer.
•Popularization of line sowing in upland rice areas through suitable seeding devices establishment of desired level of plant population, easy in weed control and the application of other management techniques.
•Encouraging the use of machines as well as bullock drawn and hand operated implements.
•Effective control of pests and diseases by emphasizing the need based application of pesticides.
•More emphasis on the adoption of non-monetary inputs like timely sowing, maintaining optimum plant population, timely irrigation, efficient use of fertilizers, plant protection measures and timely harvesting of crop etc.
•
Medicinal Uses of Rice
Rice is believed by some to have medicinal properties. Although, this is not scientifically proven effective, it has been used in many countries for medicinal purpose. For example:
•Philippines: Rice polishings-the bran-is extracted and used as an excellent source of Vitamin B to prevent and cure beri-beri.
•Malaysia: In the Medicinal Book of Malayan Medicine, it is prescribed that boiled rice "greens" can be used as an eye lotion and for use with acute inflammation of the inner body tissues. The book also recommends applying a mixture of dried, powdered rice on certain skin ailments.
•Cambodia: The hulls (husk) of mature rice plants are considered useful for treating dysentery. The hulls of a three-month old rice plant are thought to be diuretic.
•China: The Chinese believe rice strengthens the spleen, as well as "weak stomach," increases appetite, and cures indigestion. Dried sprouted rice grains were once used as an external medicine to aid in digestion, give tone to muscles, and expel gas from the stomach and intestines.
India: Rice water is prescribed by the Pharmacopoeia of India as an ointment to counteract inflamed surface. Factors Influencing the Price of Rice
Factors that affect Rice Prices are as follows:
•Weather: Role of weather in rice production is immense. Temperature, rainfall and soil moisture are the important parameters that determine the crop condition. Further, natural calamities can also affect crops. Markets keep watch of these developments.
•Minimum Support Price: Changes in the minimum support prices (MSP) by the government also have immense impact on the price of rice.
•Government policies: Exchange rates, Fiscal policies, Export incentives and export promotion also influence price.
•Substitute Product: Availability of substitute products at cheaper rate may lead to weakness in demand. This situation happens especially when the main products price tends to become higher.
•Consumption: Rice consumption depends on two factors - population and income. Lets take for example Asia. Rice is the staple food of Asia. Low-income groups consume more rice according to the per capita income increase. But as the income increases, there arrives a point when the consumption starts to dip. Income growth and reduction in population result in a low consumption of rice.
•Seasonal cycles: Seasonal cycles are present in rice cultivation. Price tends to be lower as harvesting progresses and produce starts coming into the market. At the time of sowing and before harvesting price tends to rise in view of tight supply situation.
•Demand: Import demands as well as domestic demand.
•Breakthrough in the technology may increase the productivity and would lead to more supply. This may bring some softness in the price.
•
For the return of 3Q99 0613 Toton TMD - Toton TMD weed control train from Knighton jn, Leicester with RTC livery 69004 lead Eastleigh Green 69005 trailing I again went the quarter to half a mile from my home of Sinope bridge, Coleorton thinking of how the foot crossing gets heavily vegitationed up over Summer months as well as tight for getting to photograph the train as it made good progress on the return and went past location stops. Despite the location not looking to bad compared to other locations along the line where the track cannot be seen due to grass/vegitation weeds taking over, if you look in the first picture just beyond the foot crossing you'll see the line disappears under a blanket of green. Monday 21st August 2023. Top artistic photographer Terry Callahan has some intresting views of these trains within his Flickr pages - www.flickr.com/photos/terry47401
A farmer at work weeding in a maize field close to the Pusa site of the Borlaug Institute for South Asia (BISA), in the Indian state of Bihar.
BISA is a non-profit research institute dedicated to the improvement of food security and reduction of hunger in South Asia. It is a collaborative effort between the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT), The Indian Council for Agricultural Research (ICAR), and the Government of India. BISA’s objective is to harness the latest technology in agriculture to improve farming productivity and sustainably meet the demands of the future. More than just a bricks-and-mortar institute, BISA is a commitment to the people of India. It is co-located in three Indian states—Punjab, Bihar, and Madhya Pradesh—each of which contains varied agro-ecological zones, representing many of the environments of South Asia.
In Bihar, the current major constraints to maize production are low seed replacement rates, late sowing, and low levels of farm mechanization. Foliar blight disease is also a growing concern among Bihar’s farmers. Both hybrids and traditional maize varieties are grown throughout Bihar and maize productivity is currently 2.5 tons per hectare, higher than the national average of 1.9.
Areas of future development for BISA Pusa include the development of climate-resilient cultivars, innovative maize genotypes, diverse wheat cultivars, disease resistance, farmer information technologies, and new irrigation technologies. Initial trials have indicated that the implementation of zero tillage on 1.5 million hectares has the potential to increase soil moisture and enhance wheat production by 0.45 million tons. The promotion of quality protein maize to address malnutrition rates as well as long-term conservation agricultural trials is also a priority for the site.
For more about BISA, see: bisa.cimmyt.org/.
Photo credit: M. DeFreese/CIMMYT.
Want to clear aquatic debris? We will give you an ecofriendly service with our debris removal machine, plant control equipment and aquatic harvesting equipment.
www.weedooboats.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/Weedoo-Aqu...
In Hawaii, it's common for folks to make and display "No Spray" signs on their property to prevent government weed-control crews from spraying herbicide on their roadside plantings. I've shot photos of over 30 such signs so far, and I've only covered our neighborhood.
Here's a crude collage of these signs I put together a few months ago.
Papaver rhoeas (common names include corn poppy, corn rose, field poppy, Flanders poppy, red poppy, red weed, coquelicot, and, due to its odor, which is said to cause them, as headache and headwark) is a species of flowering plant in the poppy family, Papaveraceae. This poppy, a native of Europe, is notable as an agricultural weed (hence the "corn" and "field") and as a symbol of fallen soldiers.
P. rhoeas sometimes is so abundant in agricultural fields that it may be mistaken for a crop. The only species of Papaveraceae grown as a field crop on a large scale is Papaver somniferum, the opium poppy.
The plant is a variable annual, forming a long-lived soil seed bank that can germinate when the soil is disturbed. In the northern hemisphere it generally flowers in late spring, but if the weather is warm enough other flowers frequently appear at the beginning of autumn. The flower is large and showy, with four petals that are vivid red, most commonly with a black spot at their base. Like many other species of Papaver, it exudes a white latex when the tissues are broken.
It is known to have been associated with agriculture in the Old World since early times. It has most of the characteristics of a successful weed of agriculture. These include an annual lifecycle that fits into that of most cereals, a tolerance of simple weed control methods, the ability to flower and seed itself before the crop is harvested.
The leaves and latex have an acrid taste and are mildly poisonous to grazing animals.
Its origin is not known for certain. As with many such plants, the area of origin is often ascribed by Americans to Europe, and by northern Europeans to southern Europe. The European Garden Flora suggests that it is ‘Eurasia and North Africa’, in other words, the lands where agriculture has been practiced since the earliest times. It has had an old symbolism and association with agricultural fertility.
In Persian literature, red poppies, especially red corn poppy flowers, are considered the flower of love. They are often called the eternal lover flower. In classic and modern Persian poems, the poppy is a symbol of people who died for love (Persian: راه عشق).
While the track could do with a visit from the weed control train, the station itself is well maintained with floral displays. A passenger waits as Northern 156440 enters Millom with the 14.49 Barrow-in-Furness - Carlisle.
All photographs are my copyright and must not be used without permission. Unauthorised use will result in my invoicing you £1,500 per photograph and, if necessary, taking legal action for recovery.
A farmer at work weeding in a maize field close to the Pusa site of the Borlaug Institute for South Asia (BISA), in the Indian state of Bihar.
BISA is a non-profit research institute dedicated to the improvement of food security and reduction of hunger in South Asia. It is a collaborative effort between the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT), The Indian Council for Agricultural Research (ICAR), and the Government of India. BISA’s objective is to harness the latest technology in agriculture to improve farming productivity and sustainably meet the demands of the future. More than just a bricks-and-mortar institute, BISA is a commitment to the people of India. It is co-located in three Indian states—Punjab, Bihar, and Madhya Pradesh—each of which contains varied agro-ecological zones, representing many of the environments of South Asia.
In Bihar, the current major constraints to maize production are low seed replacement rates, late sowing, and low levels of farm mechanization. Foliar blight disease is also a growing concern among Bihar’s farmers. Both hybrids and traditional maize varieties are grown throughout Bihar and maize productivity is currently 2.5 tons per hectare, higher than the national average of 1.9.
Areas of future development for BISA Pusa include the development of climate-resilient cultivars, innovative maize genotypes, diverse wheat cultivars, disease resistance, farmer information technologies, and new irrigation technologies. Initial trials have indicated that the implementation of zero tillage on 1.5 million hectares has the potential to increase soil moisture and enhance wheat production by 0.45 million tons. The promotion of quality protein maize to address malnutrition rates as well as long-term conservation agricultural trials is also a priority for the site.
For more about BISA, see: bisa.cimmyt.org/.
Photo credit: M. DeFreese/CIMMYT.
A farmer at work weeding in a maize field close to the Pusa site of the Borlaug Institute for South Asia (BISA), in the Indian state of Bihar.
BISA is a non-profit research institute dedicated to the improvement of food security and reduction of hunger in South Asia. It is a collaborative effort between the International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center (CIMMYT), The Indian Council for Agricultural Research (ICAR), and the Government of India. BISA’s objective is to harness the latest technology in agriculture to improve farming productivity and sustainably meet the demands of the future. More than just a bricks-and-mortar institute, BISA is a commitment to the people of India. It is co-located in three Indian states—Punjab, Bihar, and Madhya Pradesh—each of which contains varied agro-ecological zones, representing many of the environments of South Asia.
In Bihar, the current major constraints to maize production are low seed replacement rates, late sowing, and low levels of farm mechanization. Foliar blight disease is also a growing concern among Bihar’s farmers. Both hybrids and traditional maize varieties are grown throughout Bihar and maize productivity is currently 2.5 tons per hectare, higher than the national average of 1.9.
Areas of future development for BISA Pusa include the development of climate-resilient cultivars, innovative maize genotypes, diverse wheat cultivars, disease resistance, farmer information technologies, and new irrigation technologies. Initial trials have indicated that the implementation of zero tillage on 1.5 million hectares has the potential to increase soil moisture and enhance wheat production by 0.45 million tons. The promotion of quality protein maize to address malnutrition rates as well as long-term conservation agricultural trials is also a priority for the site.
For more about BISA, see: bisa.cimmyt.org/.
Photo credit: M. DeFreese/CIMMYT.
The BLM is responsible for administering nearly 14 million acres of rangeland in Oregon and Washington. Much of it is grazed by livestock under a system of permits and leases in which ranchers pay grazing fees for the use of public land.
The BLM administers 1,596 ten-year permits and leases held by ranchers who graze their livestock (mostly cattle and sheep) in Oregon and Washington on 2,003 designated areas called allotments. It is a BLM priority to renew expiring grazing permits/leases, as they help promote job creation and support working landscapes.
Fifty percent of the collected grazing fees deposited into the U.S. Treasury are returned to the Range Betterment Fund for on-the-ground range improvement projects.
Depending on whether the collected fees are from permits or leases, portions are also returned to the states or counties where the fees were generated. For leases, 50% of collected fees goes to the Range Betterment Fund and the other 50% goes back to the county where the fees were generated. For permits, 50% of fees goes to the Range Betterment Fund, 12.5% goes to the state or counties where the fees were generated, and 37.5% goes to the U.S. Treasury.
Range improvements are authorized modifications or treatments designed to improve production of forage, change vegetation composition, control patterns of use, provide water, stabilize soil and water conditions, or restore, protect, and improve the condition of rangeland ecosystems to benefit livestock, wild horses and burros, and fish and wildlife.
To achieve desired conditions on the public lands, the BLM uses monitoring data to evaluate the rangeland health standards and guidelines. There are many different treatments used to assist in maintaining rangeland health, including prescribed burns, rehabilitation of burned lands, fencing, water developments, weed control, and juniper management.
Rangeland Health Assessments on these lands are used to determine watershed functions, ecological processes, water quality and habitat for all species -- including native, threatened and endangered species.
The goal of the BLM’s rangeland management program is to ensure the health and productivity of public rangelands for the use and enjoyment of current and future generations.
The BLM is committed to strong relationships with the ranching communities in Oregon and Washington, and works closely with permittees to ensure public rangelands remain healthy, productive working landscapes.
For more information head on over to:
The red kite timed its visit perfectly!
Visited the local Lower Hundridge Farm this week. The owner of the crop has sown part of a large field { or not applied weed control ! ] with remembrance poppies this year...so I just had to pay a visit!
D700 with Zeiss 35/2 ZF...1/250s @f/16 ISO 200
Time (Original) should be 06:49:51
2 images stitched with PTGui
LAN_7706+09 Panoramanx2web
CAPTION: "Community gardeners working the Keya Wakpala Garden, part of the Sicangu Community Development Corporation (CDC) Food Sovereignty Initiative."
NRCS ARTICLE 4/2020: There’s a sense of pride that comes with doing something for yourself, and growing food is a major part of being self-sustaining, healthy and whole.
A one-acre community garden on the Rosebud Indian Reservation in south-central South Dakota is connecting tribal members with the land, with food, and with their past.
“It’s about food sovereignty. It’s about having the choice of where and how you get your food, knowing how to feed yourself,” said Matte Wilson. “If that grocery store wasn’t here, would you know how to feed yourself and your family?”
Born and raised on the Rosebud Indian Reservation, Wilson is now director of the recently re-branded Sicangu Community Development Corporation (CDC) Food Sovereignty Initiative. One of its major projects is the Keya Wakpala Garden. Since moving back home in 2018, food sovereignty has played a major part of Wilson’s life.
“It is something that really excites me, something I could see myself doing for the rest of my life,” he said.
Vegetable Harvest on table
The food sovereignty movement has gained significant momentum throughout the country in recent years and is largely being led by indigenous communities. According to Wilson, you don’t have to be indigenous to appreciate delicious, locally grown foods.
“Food has the power to bring people together – it’s always been an essential part of all of our social interactions, whether or not you are Lakota,” he said.
For Keya Wakpala garden manager Ed Her Many Horses, the garden and learning how to grow food has been nothing short of trans-formative.
“It’s impacted me in a lot of different ways,” he said. “It helped give me a reason to get up in the morning – it still does. There is so much to appreciate in the garden.”
But it’s more than food, he’s found. Caring for a garden fosters community. The Keya Wakpala Garden is a place where interns, volunteers, community members and children come together to work, and they take pride in the outcome.
“It’s a beacon of hope, I think,” Her Many Horses said.
The Boys and Girls Club brings kids to the garden where they can plant, pick vegetables and even harvest indigenous foods such as ceyaka, wild mint, in the nearby wetlands. They learn to identify foods as they’re grown and harvested, and follow up field work with cooking sessions. Starting with young kids, the project aims to make gardening and producing food something that’s second nature – something they’re able to pass on to future generations.
Learning by doing is key, according to Wilson.
“When they are able to see it in person and participate in the process, it is really powerful. It makes people appreciate food and agriculture more,” he said.
Garden Row signs in lakota
Foster Cournoyer-Hogan is a student at Stanford University from the Rosebud Indian Reservation who interned for the summer at the Keya Wakpala Garden. His additions to the garden plot included the signs that identified the plants with Lakota words. There was wagmu (squash), tinpsilazizi (carrots), phangi sasa (beets) and mastincatawote (lettuce).
Using the Lakota language is a way to stay connected to traditional culture. That’s especially important when children and elders visit the garden, he said.
Along with strengthening connections to culture and community, the garden is helping solve another issue on the reservation – addressing health challenges. Diabetes and diet related illness is high on the Rosebud Indian Reservation, but the produce from the garden gives people access to nourishing food.
“Our food is everything,” Cournoyer-Hogan said.
“Food is medicine,” added Wilson: “The way we treat our garden, the way we treat the land is how we treat ourselves … we take care of the land, and it takes care of us.”
The group has some expert resources when it comes to taking care of the land and the plants. Master Gardeners and university extension experts have volunteered their time and advice, and the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) provides support and funding through soil health programs.
The mission of NRCS is “helping people help the land.” That land usually refers to range land and farm acres, but the same programs and principles can apply to community gardens.
“We're trying to get people together to go back to some of the things that were important years ago to our people for self-sustainability,” said Mary Scott, a Rosebud Indian Reservation member and tribal liaison with NRCS.
Student gardner holding out herbs for the camera
The reservation’s growing environment presents some significant challenges. The garden site had been a conventional field, growing sunflowers, corn, soybeans and wheat. The heavy clay soils made it difficult to hold enough water for the garden, especially given the sloping hillside where it sits. Long, hot days would burn up the plants one day, and they next they’d be hit by torrential downpours, hail and wind.
“There are a lot of things outside of our control,” said Her Many Horses, “and that can be tough in such an extreme weather environment”
Rather than give up, however, the team has simply learned to adapt and make the most of what they have.
“We have to be really strategic about how we plan out our year to make the most of this short window,” Wilson said. “We have branched into utilizing some year-round growing structures to expand our season.”
The garden is tended with organic methods, using fish emulsion and compost for fertilizer. Local ranchers have donated hay bales – the more beaten-up and weather-worn the better. As ground cover, they help with weed control. Adding mulch or organic matter has helped break up the hard, clay soil and has been a huge asset for moisture retention as well.
We’re using a regenerative approach to agriculture,” said Her Many Horses. “We’re always trying to give back to our soil.
The garden also incorporates time-honored growing techniques of the tribal community. Produce is grown with the three sister’s method – beans, corn and squash grow in rows and benefit from one another.
“Beans help fertilize the soil by providing nitrogen,” Wilson explained. “The corn, when it grows up the stalk, the beans are able to wrap around the stalk, and the squash actually helps keep out pests and other weeds.”
7 workers talking in the garden
It’s one of many ways the garden is bringing the community back to its roots. It also brings youth and elders together, sharing a positive outlook while producing something for the whole community. It connects people with land and community, giving them knowledge to pass along wherever they go.
Sharing knowledge is a big part of the project, Scott said, because it’s how cultures and traditions are kept alive.
“Growing our own produce is very important, so that this community can become self-sustaining, not only as a people, but as a tribe,” she said.
The ultimate goal is to completely change the food system on the Rosebud Indian Reservation.
“My vision is that our community becomes a food center where we have restaurants and food trucks sourcing their foods locally,” Wilson said, “and the garden is the first step to helping change our community mindset about food.”
But it goes even deeper than that.
“I hope that our community can be healthy and happy, that we can be sovereign,” said Her Many Horses. “And for us, that starts with everyone knowing where their food comes from.”
- Written by Janelle Atyeo
SF Bay RR, 21 June 2018
The San Francisco Bay RR operates on the southeast side of San Francisco on and near the port. It uses two Alco S2 switchers that were built for the State Belt RR, later the San Francisco Belt RR, the line that served the piers of the Port of San Francisco for many years.
As shipping companies moved to containerization, the Port of Oakland became the big northern California container terminal and most of the piers of the Port of San Francisco were abandoned or converted to uses other than marine freight, so the SF Belt RR found itself out of a job. After 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake damaged the Embarcadero Freeway, which had run over the SF Belt for most of its length, the freeway was removed, opening up San Francisco's waterfront and much of the Belt's trackage as converted for use by the Muni F line, which runs historic streetcars to Fishermen's Wharf, and the Muni lines that now server the Caltrain station.
Meanwhile, Pier 96, near Hunter's Point was converted to a container facility and the railroad's operations survived there. The line was renamed the San Francisco Bay RR and continued to use Alco S2s 23 and 25 to switch its customers.
Today, the railroad's main business is transloading dirty dirt from constructions and clean up sites in the Bay Area from trucks to railcars. It is owned by Waste Solutions Group, which also owns a fleet of hopper cars. The SF Bay and UP interchange on an as needed basis, with UP's South City job running into the SF Bay's yard on Cargo Way with empties and taking away loads.
A couple of railfans, Ryan and Ben, work for the railroad and Ryan invited me to come by for a visit. I had stopped by one afternoon a couple of years ago, and lucked out to see an S2 running around the yard a bit, but the railrroad usually goes on duty betweeen 4 and 5 am, switches cars for a few hours and then is done for the day. So, a visit to the SF Bay from Sacramento entailed a night in a hotel. It took a few tries for me to get time off from work scheduled on the same day the railroad was running.
Eventually, it all lined up and my alarm went off at 0315 at a hotel in Daly City, just south of the SF city limit.
I was at the yard by 4 and met Ben, who went out and started Alco 23. 25 is out of service with a bad bearing on the radiator fan drive shaft. Ryan explained that the SF Belt had done a jerry rigged repair of the shaft at some point and it was never documented, so nobody knew about the bearing until it failed. As a new low emission unit will be delivered in the next few months, there is no reason to repair 25. 25 will be put on display somewhere, perhaps near the Ferry Building, while 23 will be held as backup for the new unit.
But for now, an S2 built in 1944 is doing the job it was built to do. If you think about it, that is as though the Virginia and Truckee had still been using the Reno and Genoa during WW2.
Shorty after I got there, Ben went out and fired up the 23. It has a block heater, so it started easily with a puff of white smoke. He did an inspection of the engine, including checking the journal boxes. We then went back into the office and waited for Ryan, brakeman Johnny, and engineer Nick to arrive. The crew plotted their switching moves for the day. Ryan, who is yard operations manager, suggested that I get some blue hour photos from the ground as empties were switched and then we rode 23 while they switched loads.
Each car has dirt from one particular construction site and the dirt from sites cannot be mixed as different sites will have different contamination. UP ships it to a dump site in Nevada, where it is processed. Ryan explained that sometimes they can use dividers in a car to separate dirt from different projects if there is not that much.
Right now transshipping dirty dirt is the SF Bay's only business, but there a couple of other industries are interested in bringing new business. The line that crosses the Illinois St. bridge has been out of service for a couple of years as there currently no customers north of Islais Creek.
We rode the S2 for a while after the day brightened, then got down and Ryan drove me around in a company car to get some more angles as they switched. He then had other work to do and I shot the end of 23's work day as well as 25, some spare Alco parts and another project of Waste Solutions, goats that are leased out for natural weed control. Ryan said that since Waste Solutions got more cars, they can't use their goats as much for weed control in the yard as most of the yard tracks are occupied.
The crew called it a day for switching about 0800 and then would be doing other work in the yard for the rest of their work day.
All of these photos were taken with permission after signing a release and while wearing required PPE.
I want to than Ryan, Ben, Johnny and Nick for their hospitality. I had a great time.
Kudzu is a plant that was introduced to the southeast as a way to prevent erosion quickly and easily. The problem is, it does way too good a job! Kudzu grows quickly over almost anything - other plants, trees, buildings, anything that doesn't move. Once it gets established it is almost impossible to get rid of.
The usual approaches to kudzu eradication are heavy machinery or harsh chemicals but there is another way. The city of Roswell is using goats to help clear away this problem plant and they seem to be doing a good job. The goats seem to be non-stop eating machines. They have stripped the leaves from heavy patches of kudzu pretty quickly.
Word has gotten around and these hard-working animals are attracting lots of interested city folk to come watch them at their jobs. It's a bit of a walk through the weeds to see them up close and it definitely smells of the barnyard but it is fun to see them. There is a low-voltage electric fence surrounding the grazing area. It won't really hurt you but I saw several kids grabbing on and getting a little shock. (Some of the kids didn't learn the first time but the goats knew to stay away from the fence.)
Not sure how much longer they will be here so, you should take a ride over soon if you want to see them.
Kudzu eating goats from Get Your Goat Rentals
Old Mill Park
95 Mill View Ave
Roswell, Georgia, USA
Nikon D7100
Tamron 16-300 Di II VC PZD Macro
110mm @ f/6 – 1/200 sec – ISO 200
This sprayer provides innovative weed control. Infared light senses weeds and only applies chemical where needed reducing herbicide application up to 80%.
Visited the local Lower Hundridge Farm this week. The owner of the crop has sown part of a large field { or not applied weed control ! ] with remembrance poppies this year...so I just had to pay a visit!
3 images stitched with PTGui
D200 with Nikkor 105/2.8 VR
LAN_8763+66+69 Panoramanx2web
SF Bay RR, 21 June 2018
The San Francisco Bay RR operates on the southeast side of San Francisco on and near the port. It uses two Alco S2 switchers that were built for the State Belt RR, later the San Francisco Belt RR, the line that served the piers of the Port of San Francisco for many years.
As shipping companies moved to containerization, the Port of Oakland became the big northern California container terminal and most of the piers of the Port of San Francisco were abandoned or converted to uses other than marine freight, so the SF Belt RR found itself out of a job. After 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake damaged the Embarcadero Freeway, which had run over the SF Belt for most of its length, the freeway was removed, opening up San Francisco's waterfront and much of the Belt's trackage as converted for use by the Muni F line, which runs historic streetcars to Fishermen's Wharf, and the Muni lines that now server the Caltrain station.
Meanwhile, Pier 96, near Hunter's Point was converted to a container facility and the railroad's operations survived there. The line was renamed the San Francisco Bay RR and continued to use Alco S2s 23 and 25 to switch its customers.
Today, the railroad's main business is transloading dirty dirt from constructions and clean up sites in the Bay Area from trucks to railcars. It is owned by Waste Solutions Group, which also owns a fleet of hopper cars. The SF Bay and UP interchange on an as needed basis, with UP's South City job running into the SF Bay's yard on Cargo Way with empties and taking away loads.
A couple of railfans, Ryan and Ben, work for the railroad and Ryan invited me to come by for a visit. I had stopped by one afternoon a couple of years ago, and lucked out to see an S2 running around the yard a bit, but the railrroad usually goes on duty betweeen 4 and 5 am, switches cars for a few hours and then is done for the day. So, a visit to the SF Bay from Sacramento entailed a night in a hotel. It took a few tries for me to get time off from work scheduled on the same day the railroad was running.
Eventually, it all lined up and my alarm went off at 0315 at a hotel in Daly City, just south of the SF city limit.
I was at the yard by 4 and met Ben, who went out and started Alco 23. 25 is out of service with a bad bearing on the radiator fan drive shaft. Ryan explained that the SF Belt had done a jerry rigged repair of the shaft at some point and it was never documented, so nobody knew about the bearing until it failed. As a new low emission unit will be delivered in the next few months, there is no reason to repair 25. 25 will be put on display somewhere, perhaps near the Ferry Building, while 23 will be held as backup for the new unit.
But for now, an S2 built in 1944 is doing the job it was built to do. If you think about it, that is as though the Virginia and Truckee had still been using the Reno and Genoa during WW2.
Shorty after I got there, Ben went out and fired up the 23. It has a block heater, so it started easily with a puff of white smoke. He did an inspection of the engine, including checking the journal boxes. We then went back into the office and waited for Ryan, brakeman Johnny, and engineer Nick to arrive. The crew plotted their switching moves for the day. Ryan, who is yard operations manager, suggested that I get some blue hour photos from the ground as empties were switched and then we rode 23 while they switched loads.
Each car has dirt from one particular construction site and the dirt from sites cannot be mixed as different sites will have different contamination. UP ships it to a dump site in Nevada, where it is processed. Ryan explained that sometimes they can use dividers in a car to separate dirt from different projects if there is not that much.
Right now transshipping dirty dirt is the SF Bay's only business, but there a couple of other industries are interested in bringing new business. The line that crosses the Illinois St. bridge has been out of service for a couple of years as there currently no customers north of Islais Creek.
We rode the S2 for a while after the day brightened, then got down and Ryan drove me around in a company car to get some more angles as they switched. He then had other work to do and I shot the end of 23's work day as well as 25, some spare Alco parts and another project of Waste Solutions, goats that are leased out for natural weed control. Ryan said that since Waste Solutions got more cars, they can't use their goats as much for weed control in the yard as most of the yard tracks are occupied.
The crew called it a day for switching about 0800 and then would be doing other work in the yard for the rest of their work day.
All of these photos were taken with permission after signing a release and while wearing required PPE.
I want to than Ryan, Ben, Johnny and Nick for their hospitality. I had a great time.
In Hawaii, it's common for folks to make and display "No Spray" signs on their property to prevent government weed-control crews from spraying herbicide on their roadside plantings. I've shot photos of over 30 such signs so far, and I've only covered our neighborhood.
Here's a crude collage of these signs I put together a few months ago.
92 042 named 'Honegger' is seen amongst the rather fine selection of blooming weeds at the south end of Mossend Euro Terminal's access line. The weed control train obviously hasn't visited so far this summer and to be honest it would be a shame as there is quite a varid selection of wild flowers on show amongst the tracks.
A patch of weeds in a zero tillage wheat field in Fatehgarh Sahib district, Punjab, India. The field was was sown with a zero tillage seeder known as a Happy Seeder, giving a generally excellent and uniform wheat crop. However, weeds can be troublesome in conservation agriculture (CA) systems. Weed control is a key component of good CA practices, and requires focused attention.
The crop belongs to farmer Chamkaur Singh, one of the farmer leaders working in partnership with the Cereal Systems Initiative for South Asia (CSISA). CIMMYT is one of the many partners involved in CSISA, a collaborative project designed to decrease hunger and increase food and income security for resource-poor farm families in South Asia through development and deployment of new varieties, sustainable management technologies, and policies, led by the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) and funded by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation and the USAID.
Photo credit: Petr Kosina / CIMMYT.
SF Bay RR, 21 June 2018
The San Francisco Bay RR operates on the southeast side of San Francisco on and near the port. It uses two Alco S2 switchers that were built for the State Belt RR, later the San Francisco Belt RR, the line that served the piers of the Port of San Francisco for many years.
As shipping companies moved to containerization, the Port of Oakland became the big northern California container terminal and most of the piers of the Port of San Francisco were abandoned or converted to uses other than marine freight, so the SF Belt RR found itself out of a job. After 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake damaged the Embarcadero Freeway, which had run over the SF Belt for most of its length, the freeway was removed, opening up San Francisco's waterfront and much of the Belt's trackage as converted for use by the Muni F line, which runs historic streetcars to Fishermen's Wharf, and the Muni lines that now server the Caltrain station.
Meanwhile, Pier 96, near Hunter's Point was converted to a container facility and the railroad's operations survived there. The line was renamed the San Francisco Bay RR and continued to use Alco S2s 23 and 25 to switch its customers.
Today, the railroad's main business is transloading dirty dirt from constructions and clean up sites in the Bay Area from trucks to railcars. It is owned by Waste Solutions Group, which also owns a fleet of hopper cars. The SF Bay and UP interchange on an as needed basis, with UP's South City job running into the SF Bay's yard on Cargo Way with empties and taking away loads.
A couple of railfans, Ryan and Ben, work for the railroad and Ryan invited me to come by for a visit. I had stopped by one afternoon a couple of years ago, and lucked out to see an S2 running around the yard a bit, but the railrroad usually goes on duty betweeen 4 and 5 am, switches cars for a few hours and then is done for the day. So, a visit to the SF Bay from Sacramento entailed a night in a hotel. It took a few tries for me to get time off from work scheduled on the same day the railroad was running.
Eventually, it all lined up and my alarm went off at 0315 at a hotel in Daly City, just south of the SF city limit.
I was at the yard by 4 and met Ben, who went out and started Alco 23. 25 is out of service with a bad bearing on the radiator fan drive shaft. Ryan explained that the SF Belt had done a jerry rigged repair of the shaft at some point and it was never documented, so nobody knew about the bearing until it failed. As a new low emission unit will be delivered in the next few months, there is no reason to repair 25. 25 will be put on display somewhere, perhaps near the Ferry Building, while 23 will be held as backup for the new unit.
But for now, an S2 built in 1944 is doing the job it was built to do. If you think about it, that is as though the Virginia and Truckee had still been using the Reno and Genoa during WW2.
Shorty after I got there, Ben went out and fired up the 23. It has a block heater, so it started easily with a puff of white smoke. He did an inspection of the engine, including checking the journal boxes. We then went back into the office and waited for Ryan, brakeman Johnny, and engineer Nick to arrive. The crew plotted their switching moves for the day. Ryan, who is yard operations manager, suggested that I get some blue hour photos from the ground as empties were switched and then we rode 23 while they switched loads.
Each car has dirt from one particular construction site and the dirt from sites cannot be mixed as different sites will have different contamination. UP ships it to a dump site in Nevada, where it is processed. Ryan explained that sometimes they can use dividers in a car to separate dirt from different projects if there is not that much.
Right now transshipping dirty dirt is the SF Bay's only business, but there a couple of other industries are interested in bringing new business. The line that crosses the Illinois St. bridge has been out of service for a couple of years as there currently no customers north of Islais Creek.
We rode the S2 for a while after the day brightened, then got down and Ryan drove me around in a company car to get some more angles as they switched. He then had other work to do and I shot the end of 23's work day as well as 25, some spare Alco parts and another project of Waste Solutions, goats that are leased out for natural weed control. Ryan said that since Waste Solutions got more cars, they can't use their goats as much for weed control in the yard as most of the yard tracks are occupied.
The crew called it a day for switching about 0800 and then would be doing other work in the yard for the rest of their work day.
All of these photos were taken with permission after signing a release and while wearing required PPE.
I want to than Ryan, Ben, Johnny and Nick for their hospitality. I had a great time.
Former DL&W Utica branch is slowly being restored to service, new culvert , ties, brush cutting and weed control.
There’s a sense of pride that comes with doing something for yourself, and growing food is a major part of being self-sustaining, healthy and whole.
A one-acre community garden on the Rosebud Indian Reservation in south-central South Dakota is connecting tribal members with the land, with food, and with their past.
“It’s about food sovereignty. It’s about having the choice of where and how you get your food, knowing how to feed yourself,” said Matte Wilson. “If that grocery store wasn’t here, would you know how to feed yourself and your family?”
Born and raised on the Rosebud Indian Reservation, Wilson is now director of the recently re-branded Sicangu Community Development Corporation (CDC) Food Sovereignty Initiative. One of its major projects is the Keya Wakpala Garden. Since moving back home in 2018, food sovereignty has played a major part of Wilson’s life.
“It is something that really excites me, something I could see myself doing for the rest of my life,” he said.
Vegetable Harvest on table
The food sovereignty movement has gained significant momentum throughout the country in recent years and is largely being led by indigenous communities. According to Wilson, you don’t have to be indigenous to appreciate delicious, locally grown foods.
“Food has the power to bring people together – it’s always been an essential part of all of our social interactions, whether or not you are Lakota,” he said.
For Keya Wakpala garden manager Ed Her Many Horses, the garden and learning how to grow food has been nothing short of trans-formative.
“It’s impacted me in a lot of different ways,” he said. “It helped give me a reason to get up in the morning – it still does. There is so much to appreciate in the garden.”
But it’s more than food, he’s found. Caring for a garden fosters community. The Keya Wakpala Garden is a place where interns, volunteers, community members and children come together to work, and they take pride in the outcome.
“It’s a beacon of hope, I think,” Her Many Horses said.
The Boys and Girls Club brings kids to the garden where they can plant, pick vegetables and even harvest indigenous foods such as ceyaka, wild mint, in the nearby wetlands. They learn to identify foods as they’re grown and harvested, and follow up field work with cooking sessions. Starting with young kids, the project aims to make gardening and producing food something that’s second nature – something they’re able to pass on to future generations.
Learning by doing is key, according to Wilson.
“When they are able to see it in person and participate in the process, it is really powerful. It makes people appreciate food and agriculture more,” he said.
Garden Row signs in lakota
Foster Cournoyer-Hogan is a student at Stanford University from the Rosebud Indian Reservation who interned for the summer at the Keya Wakpala Garden. His additions to the garden plot included the signs that identified the plants with Lakota words. There was wagmu (squash), tinpsilazizi (carrots), phangi sasa (beets) and mastincatawote (lettuce).
Using the Lakota language is a way to stay connected to traditional culture. That’s especially important when children and elders visit the garden, he said.
Along with strengthening connections to culture and community, the garden is helping solve another issue on the reservation – addressing health challenges. Diabetes and diet related illness is high on the Rosebud Indian Reservation, but the produce from the garden gives people access to nourishing food.
“Our food is everything,” Cournoyer-Hogan said.
“Food is medicine,” added Wilson: “The way we treat our garden, the way we treat the land is how we treat ourselves … we take care of the land, and it takes care of us.”
The group has some expert resources when it comes to taking care of the land and the plants. Master Gardeners and university extension experts have volunteered their time and advice, and the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) provides support and funding through soil health programs.
The mission of NRCS is “helping people help the land.” That land usually refers to range land and farm acres, but the same programs and principles can apply to community gardens.
“We're trying to get people together to go back to some of the things that were important years ago to our people for self-sustainability,” said Mary Scott, a Rosebud Indian Reservation member and tribal liaison with NRCS.
Student gardner holding out herbs for the camera
The reservation’s growing environment presents some significant challenges. The garden site had been a conventional field, growing sunflowers, corn, soybeans and wheat. The heavy clay soils made it difficult to hold enough water for the garden, especially given the sloping hillside where it sits. Long, hot days would burn up the plants one day, and they next they’d be hit by torrential downpours, hail and wind.
“There are a lot of things outside of our control,” said Her Many Horses, “and that can be tough in such an extreme weather environment”
Rather than give up, however, the team has simply learned to adapt and make the most of what they have.
“We have to be really strategic about how we plan out our year to make the most of this short window,” Wilson said. “We have branched into utilizing some year-round growing structures to expand our season.”
The garden is tended with organic methods, using fish emulsion and compost for fertilizer. Local ranchers have donated hay bales – the more beaten-up and weather-worn the better. As ground cover, they help with weed control. Adding mulch or organic matter has helped break up the hard, clay soil and has been a huge asset for moisture retention as well.
We’re using a regenerative approach to agriculture,” said Her Many Horses. “We’re always trying to give back to our soil.
The garden also incorporates time-honored growing techniques of the tribal community. Produce is grown with the three sister’s method – beans, corn and squash grow in rows and benefit from one another.
“Beans help fertilize the soil by providing nitrogen,” Wilson explained. “The corn, when it grows up the stalk, the beans are able to wrap around the stalk, and the squash actually helps keep out pests and other weeds.”
7 workers talking in the garden
It’s one of many ways the garden is bringing the community back to its roots. It also brings youth and elders together, sharing a positive outlook while producing something for the whole community. It connects people with land and community, giving them knowledge to pass along wherever they go.
Sharing knowledge is a big part of the project, Scott said, because it’s how cultures and traditions are kept alive.
“Growing our own produce is very important, so that this community can become self-sustaining, not only as a people, but as a tribe,” she said.
The ultimate goal is to completely change the food system on the Rosebud Indian Reservation.
“My vision is that our community becomes a food center where we have restaurants and food trucks sourcing their foods locally,” Wilson said, “and the garden is the first step to helping change our community mindset about food.”
But it goes even deeper than that.
“I hope that our community can be healthy and happy, that we can be sovereign,” said Her Many Horses. “And for us, that starts with everyone knowing where their food comes from.”
- Written by Janelle Atyeo
CAPTION: "Signs in the Lakota language identifying plants, enriching connection to traditional culture."
NRCS ARTICLE 4/2020: There’s a sense of pride that comes with doing something for yourself, and growing food is a major part of being self-sustaining, healthy and whole.
A one-acre community garden on the Rosebud Indian Reservation in south-central South Dakota is connecting tribal members with the land, with food, and with their past.
“It’s about food sovereignty. It’s about having the choice of where and how you get your food, knowing how to feed yourself,” said Matte Wilson. “If that grocery store wasn’t here, would you know how to feed yourself and your family?”
Born and raised on the Rosebud Indian Reservation, Wilson is now director of the recently re-branded Sicangu Community Development Corporation (CDC) Food Sovereignty Initiative. One of its major projects is the Keya Wakpala Garden. Since moving back home in 2018, food sovereignty has played a major part of Wilson’s life.
“It is something that really excites me, something I could see myself doing for the rest of my life,” he said.
Vegetable Harvest on table
The food sovereignty movement has gained significant momentum throughout the country in recent years and is largely being led by indigenous communities. According to Wilson, you don’t have to be indigenous to appreciate delicious, locally grown foods.
“Food has the power to bring people together – it’s always been an essential part of all of our social interactions, whether or not you are Lakota,” he said.
For Keya Wakpala garden manager Ed Her Many Horses, the garden and learning how to grow food has been nothing short of trans-formative.
“It’s impacted me in a lot of different ways,” he said. “It helped give me a reason to get up in the morning – it still does. There is so much to appreciate in the garden.”
But it’s more than food, he’s found. Caring for a garden fosters community. The Keya Wakpala Garden is a place where interns, volunteers, community members and children come together to work, and they take pride in the outcome.
“It’s a beacon of hope, I think,” Her Many Horses said.
The Boys and Girls Club brings kids to the garden where they can plant, pick vegetables and even harvest indigenous foods such as ceyaka, wild mint, in the nearby wetlands. They learn to identify foods as they’re grown and harvested, and follow up field work with cooking sessions. Starting with young kids, the project aims to make gardening and producing food something that’s second nature – something they’re able to pass on to future generations.
Learning by doing is key, according to Wilson.
“When they are able to see it in person and participate in the process, it is really powerful. It makes people appreciate food and agriculture more,” he said.
Garden Row signs in lakota
Foster Cournoyer-Hogan is a student at Stanford University from the Rosebud Indian Reservation who interned for the summer at the Keya Wakpala Garden. His additions to the garden plot included the signs that identified the plants with Lakota words. There was wagmu (squash), tinpsilazizi (carrots), phangi sasa (beets) and mastincatawote (lettuce).
Using the Lakota language is a way to stay connected to traditional culture. That’s especially important when children and elders visit the garden, he said.
Along with strengthening connections to culture and community, the garden is helping solve another issue on the reservation – addressing health challenges. Diabetes and diet related illness is high on the Rosebud Indian Reservation, but the produce from the garden gives people access to nourishing food.
“Our food is everything,” Cournoyer-Hogan said.
“Food is medicine,” added Wilson: “The way we treat our garden, the way we treat the land is how we treat ourselves … we take care of the land, and it takes care of us.”
The group has some expert resources when it comes to taking care of the land and the plants. Master Gardeners and university extension experts have volunteered their time and advice, and the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) provides support and funding through soil health programs.
The mission of NRCS is “helping people help the land.” That land usually refers to range land and farm acres, but the same programs and principles can apply to community gardens.
“We're trying to get people together to go back to some of the things that were important years ago to our people for self-sustainability,” said Mary Scott, a Rosebud Indian Reservation member and tribal liaison with NRCS.
Student gardner holding out herbs for the camera
The reservation’s growing environment presents some significant challenges. The garden site had been a conventional field, growing sunflowers, corn, soybeans and wheat. The heavy clay soils made it difficult to hold enough water for the garden, especially given the sloping hillside where it sits. Long, hot days would burn up the plants one day, and they next they’d be hit by torrential downpours, hail and wind.
“There are a lot of things outside of our control,” said Her Many Horses, “and that can be tough in such an extreme weather environment”
Rather than give up, however, the team has simply learned to adapt and make the most of what they have.
“We have to be really strategic about how we plan out our year to make the most of this short window,” Wilson said. “We have branched into utilizing some year-round growing structures to expand our season.”
The garden is tended with organic methods, using fish emulsion and compost for fertilizer. Local ranchers have donated hay bales – the more beaten-up and weather-worn the better. As ground cover, they help with weed control. Adding mulch or organic matter has helped break up the hard, clay soil and has been a huge asset for moisture retention as well.
We’re using a regenerative approach to agriculture,” said Her Many Horses. “We’re always trying to give back to our soil.
The garden also incorporates time-honored growing techniques of the tribal community. Produce is grown with the three sister’s method – beans, corn and squash grow in rows and benefit from one another.
“Beans help fertilize the soil by providing nitrogen,” Wilson explained. “The corn, when it grows up the stalk, the beans are able to wrap around the stalk, and the squash actually helps keep out pests and other weeds.”
7 workers talking in the garden
It’s one of many ways the garden is bringing the community back to its roots. It also brings youth and elders together, sharing a positive outlook while producing something for the whole community. It connects people with land and community, giving them knowledge to pass along wherever they go.
Sharing knowledge is a big part of the project, Scott said, because it’s how cultures and traditions are kept alive.
“Growing our own produce is very important, so that this community can become self-sustaining, not only as a people, but as a tribe,” she said.
The ultimate goal is to completely change the food system on the Rosebud Indian Reservation.
“My vision is that our community becomes a food center where we have restaurants and food trucks sourcing their foods locally,” Wilson said, “and the garden is the first step to helping change our community mindset about food.”
But it goes even deeper than that.
“I hope that our community can be healthy and happy, that we can be sovereign,” said Her Many Horses. “And for us, that starts with everyone knowing where their food comes from.”
- Written by Janelle Atyeo
CAPTION: "Rather than give up, however, the team has simply learned to adapt and make the most of what they have."
NRCS ARTICLE 4/2020: There’s a sense of pride that comes with doing something for yourself, and growing food is a major part of being self-sustaining, healthy and whole.
A one-acre community garden on the Rosebud Indian Reservation in south-central South Dakota is connecting tribal members with the land, with food, and with their past.
“It’s about food sovereignty. It’s about having the choice of where and how you get your food, knowing how to feed yourself,” said Matte Wilson. “If that grocery store wasn’t here, would you know how to feed yourself and your family?”
Born and raised on the Rosebud Indian Reservation, Wilson is now director of the recently re-branded Sicangu Community Development Corporation (CDC) Food Sovereignty Initiative. One of its major projects is the Keya Wakpala Garden. Since moving back home in 2018, food sovereignty has played a major part of Wilson’s life.
“It is something that really excites me, something I could see myself doing for the rest of my life,” he said.
Vegetable Harvest on table
The food sovereignty movement has gained significant momentum throughout the country in recent years and is largely being led by indigenous communities. According to Wilson, you don’t have to be indigenous to appreciate delicious, locally grown foods.
“Food has the power to bring people together – it’s always been an essential part of all of our social interactions, whether or not you are Lakota,” he said.
For Keya Wakpala garden manager Ed Her Many Horses, the garden and learning how to grow food has been nothing short of trans-formative.
“It’s impacted me in a lot of different ways,” he said. “It helped give me a reason to get up in the morning – it still does. There is so much to appreciate in the garden.”
But it’s more than food, he’s found. Caring for a garden fosters community. The Keya Wakpala Garden is a place where interns, volunteers, community members and children come together to work, and they take pride in the outcome.
“It’s a beacon of hope, I think,” Her Many Horses said.
The Boys and Girls Club brings kids to the garden where they can plant, pick vegetables and even harvest indigenous foods such as ceyaka, wild mint, in the nearby wetlands. They learn to identify foods as they’re grown and harvested, and follow up field work with cooking sessions. Starting with young kids, the project aims to make gardening and producing food something that’s second nature – something they’re able to pass on to future generations.
Learning by doing is key, according to Wilson.
“When they are able to see it in person and participate in the process, it is really powerful. It makes people appreciate food and agriculture more,” he said.
Garden Row signs in lakota
Foster Cournoyer-Hogan is a student at Stanford University from the Rosebud Indian Reservation who interned for the summer at the Keya Wakpala Garden. His additions to the garden plot included the signs that identified the plants with Lakota words. There was wagmu (squash), tinpsilazizi (carrots), phangi sasa (beets) and mastincatawote (lettuce).
Using the Lakota language is a way to stay connected to traditional culture. That’s especially important when children and elders visit the garden, he said.
Along with strengthening connections to culture and community, the garden is helping solve another issue on the reservation – addressing health challenges. Diabetes and diet related illness is high on the Rosebud Indian Reservation, but the produce from the garden gives people access to nourishing food.
“Our food is everything,” Cournoyer-Hogan said.
“Food is medicine,” added Wilson: “The way we treat our garden, the way we treat the land is how we treat ourselves … we take care of the land, and it takes care of us.”
The group has some expert resources when it comes to taking care of the land and the plants. Master Gardeners and university extension experts have volunteered their time and advice, and the Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) provides support and funding through soil health programs.
The mission of NRCS is “helping people help the land.” That land usually refers to range land and farm acres, but the same programs and principles can apply to community gardens.
“We're trying to get people together to go back to some of the things that were important years ago to our people for self-sustainability,” said Mary Scott, a Rosebud Indian Reservation member and tribal liaison with NRCS.
The reservation’s growing environment presents some significant challenges. The garden site had been a conventional field, growing sunflowers, corn, soybeans and wheat. The heavy clay soils made it difficult to hold enough water for the garden, especially given the sloping hillside where it sits. Long, hot days would burn up the plants one day, and they next they’d be hit by torrential downpours, hail and wind.
“There are a lot of things outside of our control,” said Her Many Horses, “and that can be tough in such an extreme weather environment”
Rather than give up, however, the team has simply learned to adapt and make the most of what they have.
“We have to be really strategic about how we plan out our year to make the most of this short window,” Wilson said. “We have branched into utilizing some year-round growing structures to expand our season.”
The garden is tended with organic methods, using fish emulsion and compost for fertilizer. Local ranchers have donated hay bales – the more beaten-up and weather-worn the better. As ground cover, they help with weed control. Adding mulch or organic matter has helped break up the hard, clay soil and has been a huge asset for moisture retention as well.
We’re using a regenerative approach to agriculture,” said Her Many Horses. “We’re always trying to give back to our soil.
The garden also incorporates time-honored growing techniques of the tribal community. Produce is grown with the three sister’s method – beans, corn and squash grow in rows and benefit from one another.
“Beans help fertilize the soil by providing nitrogen,” Wilson explained. “The corn, when it grows up the stalk, the beans are able to wrap around the stalk, and the squash actually helps keep out pests and other weeds.”
7 workers talking in the garden
It’s one of many ways the garden is bringing the community back to its roots. It also brings youth and elders together, sharing a positive outlook while producing something for the whole community. It connects people with land and community, giving them knowledge to pass along wherever they go.
Sharing knowledge is a big part of the project, Scott said, because it’s how cultures and traditions are kept alive.
“Growing our own produce is very important, so that this community can become self-sustaining, not only as a people, but as a tribe,” she said.
The ultimate goal is to completely change the food system on the Rosebud Indian Reservation.
“My vision is that our community becomes a food center where we have restaurants and food trucks sourcing their foods locally,” Wilson said, “and the garden is the first step to helping change our community mindset about food.”
But it goes even deeper than that.
“I hope that our community can be healthy and happy, that we can be sovereign,” said Her Many Horses. “And for us, that starts with everyone knowing where their food comes from.”
- Written by Janelle Atyeo
Up close and personal with one of my more fun projects this summer—bringing goats to one of Calgary's natural areas for weed control. More details here: www.calgary.ca/goats
SF Bay RR, 21 June 2018
The San Francisco Bay RR operates on the southeast side of San Francisco on and near the port. It uses two Alco S2 switchers that were built for the State Belt RR, later the San Francisco Belt RR, the line that served the piers of the Port of San Francisco for many years.
As shipping companies moved to containerization, the Port of Oakland became the big northern California container terminal and most of the piers of the Port of San Francisco were abandoned or converted to uses other than marine freight, so the SF Belt RR found itself out of a job. After 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake damaged the Embarcadero Freeway, which had run over the SF Belt for most of its length, the freeway was removed, opening up San Francisco's waterfront and much of the Belt's trackage as converted for use by the Muni F line, which runs historic streetcars to Fishermen's Wharf, and the Muni lines that now server the Caltrain station.
Meanwhile, Pier 96, near Hunter's Point was converted to a container facility and the railroad's operations survived there. The line was renamed the San Francisco Bay RR and continued to use Alco S2s 23 and 25 to switch its customers.
Today, the railroad's main business is transloading dirty dirt from constructions and clean up sites in the Bay Area from trucks to railcars. It is owned by Waste Solutions Group, which also owns a fleet of hopper cars. The SF Bay and UP interchange on an as needed basis, with UP's South City job running into the SF Bay's yard on Cargo Way with empties and taking away loads.
A couple of railfans, Ryan and Ben, work for the railroad and Ryan invited me to come by for a visit. I had stopped by one afternoon a couple of years ago, and lucked out to see an S2 running around the yard a bit, but the railrroad usually goes on duty betweeen 4 and 5 am, switches cars for a few hours and then is done for the day. So, a visit to the SF Bay from Sacramento entailed a night in a hotel. It took a few tries for me to get time off from work scheduled on the same day the railroad was running.
Eventually, it all lined up and my alarm went off at 0315 at a hotel in Daly City, just south of the SF city limit.
I was at the yard by 4 and met Ben, who went out and started Alco 23. 25 is out of service with a bad bearing on the radiator fan drive shaft. Ryan explained that the SF Belt had done a jerry rigged repair of the shaft at some point and it was never documented, so nobody knew about the bearing until it failed. As a new low emission unit will be delivered in the next few months, there is no reason to repair 25. 25 will be put on display somewhere, perhaps near the Ferry Building, while 23 will be held as backup for the new unit.
But for now, an S2 built in 1944 is doing the job it was built to do. If you think about it, that is as though the Virginia and Truckee had still been using the Reno and Genoa during WW2.
Shorty after I got there, Ben went out and fired up the 23. It has a block heater, so it started easily with a puff of white smoke. He did an inspection of the engine, including checking the journal boxes. We then went back into the office and waited for Ryan, brakeman Johnny, and engineer Nick to arrive. The crew plotted their switching moves for the day. Ryan, who is yard operations manager, suggested that I get some blue hour photos from the ground as empties were switched and then we rode 23 while they switched loads.
Each car has dirt from one particular construction site and the dirt from sites cannot be mixed as different sites will have different contamination. UP ships it to a dump site in Nevada, where it is processed. Ryan explained that sometimes they can use dividers in a car to separate dirt from different projects if there is not that much.
Right now transshipping dirty dirt is the SF Bay's only business, but there a couple of other industries are interested in bringing new business. The line that crosses the Illinois St. bridge has been out of service for a couple of years as there currently no customers north of Islais Creek.
We rode the S2 for a while after the day brightened, then got down and Ryan drove me around in a company car to get some more angles as they switched. He then had other work to do and I shot the end of 23's work day as well as 25, some spare Alco parts and another project of Waste Solutions, goats that are leased out for natural weed control. Ryan said that since Waste Solutions got more cars, they can't use their goats as much for weed control in the yard as most of the yard tracks are occupied.
The crew called it a day for switching about 0800 and then would be doing other work in the yard for the rest of their work day.
All of these photos were taken with permission after signing a release and while wearing required PPE.
I want to than Ryan, Ben, Johnny and Nick for their hospitality. I had a great time.