Chicken industry in Texas
This article by Reporting Texas details the growth of the chicken industry in Texas, and the pitfalls and consequences of the industry.
Texas has opened its arms to Big Chicken, and Big Chicken has been good to Texas. In 2009, the industry contributed $2.1 billion to the state economy and had created 7,700 direct and indirect jobs, according to Texas A&M Agrilife Extension Program. The state is home to three of the four largest growers in the United States: Pilgrim’s Pride, Tyson and Sanderson Farms. While the U.S. Poultry and Egg Association lists Texas as the sixth-most productive state, slaughtering 684 million chickens in 2010, the United States is second to none.
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The communities that seem to owe so much to chickens are also divided by their presence. It has driven once-friendly neighbors to silence and brought an influx of out-of-county (and country) entrepreneurs. Growers live behind guarded gates. Many have unlisted phone numbers. While some families opened their doors for this story, many more hung up the phone, asked to be left alone or suggested that journalists had no place looking into the poultry industry.
How do you feel about all this landing on your dinner plate?
Thought for today
“Happiness lies first of all in health.” — George William Curtis
Photo by Sean Venn on Flickr
Soapmaking tutorial
I’m thinking about making my own bar soap for my house and to give to people as gifts. Today I researched YouTube to figure out how hard it would be to make soap. Here’s a comprehensive tutorial I found.
Thought for today
“In the middle of difficulty lies opportunity.” — Albert Einstein
Calendar thwarts “march of numbers” for nature
In early August, I received a direct message on Twitter from @ECOLOGICALCAL asking if I’d review the company’s ECOlogical Calendar if they sent me a copy. I agreed, and my calendar came in the mail shortly afterwards.
The vibrant artwork immediately caught my attention when I opened the calendar. The envelope that holds the calendar is decorated with a hand-drawn picture of bees pollinating pink flowers as the sun rises on the horizon. The cheerful, colorful artistic style continues throughout.
I became confused when I took the calendar out. I was not sure how to read it. An informational brochure in the package explains that Chris Hardman, an artist, decided to create a new type of calendar because he wanted to bring a greater understanding of nature’s cycles into modern living. The brochure says:
… as societies have grown increasingly urbanized and diversified through industrial and technological progress, the calendar has become more like a continuous, ineluctable march of numbers, a business machine telling us when to be where …
This new calendar gives a glimpse of the multitudinous interlocking phenomena that make a year on this planet the amazing event that it is: changing seasons, phases of the Moon, fluctuating tides, significant weather activity, the shifting biological behavior of flora and fauna, to name a few.
The brochure also explains how to read the calendar. There are different “bands” from top to bottom that give the user information about the sun, moon, tides, etc. The largest and most visually stunning band is in the middle: It contains colorful illustrations of different plants and animals that thrive during the seasons. At the very bottom you will see the months and dates from the traditional calendar.
Each of the four seasons is illustrated with one rectangular panel. I’m not sure if I would have room on my walls to hang up all four at once, so I would probably change them out as the year progressed. Even that way, it may be difficult for some people to find a convenient place to hang the calendar, since it’s an odd shape.
I think this product would be great for school rooms because the children would be able to visualize concepts they may otherwise find difficult to understand. The artwork would definitely catch the students’ attention.
Overall, I think this is a pretty cool idea. I especially like having a visual reminder about the length of daylight during different times of year, and the dates of the full moons. I’m happy to have a copy and I plan to hang it in my office as soon as 2012 begins.