The bases were loaded and the Riverhawks already had two outs at the bottom of the ninth in the final game of an elimination tournament. The batter at the plate had never hit a home run. The bat cracked, the ball sailed into left field; and as she sprinted past her coach at second base, the incredulous young athlete said, “Is this really happening?” In 14 years of coaching … [Read more...]
Fertile soil, the Soil Food Web, and High Desert Soilworks
The science of soil management Fertile soil is imperative for any successful farmer or grower. The Soil Food Web is the colony of organisms living in the soil. The food web is a complex living system that interacts with the environment, plants, and animals. When an agricultural town with a population of less than 300 turns out in high numbers for a workshop on soil … [Read more...]
Farm land or house lots?
Cache Valley, Utah finds solutions Suburbs march into farmlands cul-de-sac by cul-de-sac. But in Cache Valley the advance has slowed. When Nibley residents Boyd and Sheri Schiess look out across the acres of agricultural land surrounding their home, they see an uninterrupted view of the Wellsville Mountains, a carbon sink of rich, fertile soil, and their great-grandchildren's … [Read more...]
Stem cell therapy for chronic pain in Utah
On the naturopathic path Chronic pain is a serious business, but does it have to be forever? A 2011 study by the National Institutes of Health found that the annual cost of chronic pain was more than $6 billion—greater than heart disease, cancer, and diabetes, combined. While studying to become a naturopathic doctor in the late 90s, a climbing injury set Dr. … [Read more...]
Utah Senator Luz Escamilla Headed into a Campaign to be Elected Salt Lake City Mayor
Utah Senator Luz Escamilla hardly broke stride as she exited her 11th legislative session last month and headed straight into a campaign to be elected mayor of the state’s capital city in 2020. In 2008, the odds were not in favor of a 29-year-old Mexican immigrant from the West Side of Salt Lake City to be elected to the Utah Senate, she said in an interview the day after … [Read more...]
Cloud Seeding for More Powder Days
Nobody is closer to weather than people who rely on it for a living, so when the farmer I worked for several summers ago informed me that the government is manipulating weather, I payed attention. The breadth and depth of weather manipulation conspiracy theory is on par with that of alien encounters, so I went straight to a local source by googling “Utah weather … [Read more...]
Cache Valley Canals: Early Pioneers Worked for Their Water
In the spring of 1860 Logan City’s early settlers got to work digging their first major canal. The season before they managed to grow food by hand-digging irrigation trenches on individual lots. But to produce food on a scale necessary to support a whole community they needed to directly tap the mountain snow runoff. By mid-May, the completed Logan and Hyde Park Canal was … [Read more...]
Putting the Aggie in Agriculture: Student-run Garden Provides Fresh Produce and Experience
As spring brightens and days lengthen, students in Utah State University’s Student Organic Farm class are diligently monitoring the temperatures in their hoop houses and the soil moisture in their fields. It’s already planting time, and they’re helping ensure the first baskets of fresh veggies are ready for their Community Supported Agriculture customers on the third week of … [Read more...]
Human-Scale Design, Native Plants and Paths are the Norm in Moab’s New Suburb
Juxtaposed against Moab’s red rock landscape, the paved path down the urban section of the Mill Creek riparian corridor can feel like Alice’s Wonderland. Following a perennial stream, the verdant parkway meanders across bridges and through underpasses past gems like the Youth Garden Project, the city dog park, Utah State University Moab, and a well-maintained community bike … [Read more...]