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Hundreds of goats browse through a field, nibbling and foraging through the available fare. These aren't just any goats, though — they are the work force of Lariat Ranch Ecological Ser- vices. The business, based in Powell Butte, owns nearly 400 head of Spanish Boer and San Clemente goats. The goats' job is to pursue their love of eating. Their tastes include noxious weeds found on the High Desert, such as medusahead, hemlock and Russian thistle. Lariat Ranch is the only prescribed grazing company in Central Oregon. Prescribed grazing is a green way to clear fields without using chemical herbicides....

Hotels in the U.S. posted a 1.4 decline in occupancy to 53.4 for the week of 30 August-5 September 2009 compared to the same period in the previous year. The decline in occupancy was one of three declines in all three key performance measurements during the week according to Smith Travel Research (STR). Average daily rate dropped 8.6 percent to finish the week at US$92.20 whilst revenue per available room for the week decreased 9.9 percent to US$49.28. The market which reported the largest decreases in all three key metrics was Minneapolis-St. Paul, Minnesota-Wisconsin, which hosted the Republican National Convention...

I have decided to start a thread focusing on edible weeds. Many of the common plants we see everyday are edible, and while most are not hugely palatable or nutritious, a few are truly very good. If you would like to post a recipe, please post recipes related to these plants only. As always, an extreme amount of caution is advised. It's probably true that 90 percent or so of plants are actually edible, there is a small percentage that if you eat them, you WON'T have to worry about eating again! Oleander comes to mind, it would take less...

The White House Office of National Drug Control Policy reported last month that a teenager who has been depressed in the past year was more than twice as likely to have used marijuana than teenagers who have not reported being depressed (25 percent compared with 12 percent). The study said marijuana use increased the risk of developing mental disorders by 40 percent. So much for the "harmless" nature of pot. There are more worrisome statistics still. The 2006 National Survey on Drug Use and Health found that among Americans age 12 and older there were 14.8 million current users of...

The cable company, and the childrens networks are trying to poisen our kids minds!

Last September, I wrote an article entitled Top Down Right-Wing Blogosphere Growing Powerful, that argued the anti-community nature of right-wing blogs was allowing them relatively greater message discipline than left wing blogs and a superior ability to influence the content of the national media.

The county's dream of having an herbicide-free, eco-friendly road-maintenance program has hit a giant pothole. To the dismay of the Board of Supervisors — which placed a moratorium on the use of herbicide by county workers in 2005 — the county's Public Works Department on Tuesday reported it doesn't have the money or the equipment to mow the blackberry, poison oak and scotch broom sprouting along the 600 miles of public road in the unincorporated county. As a result, Public Works officials said they would return by May with a request to use quicker, more comprehensive herbicides to get the...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Fast-growing weeds have evolved over a few generations to adapt to climate change, which could signal the start of an "evolution explosion" in response to global warming, scientists reported on Monday. This means that the weeds will likely keep up with any attempts to develop crops that can adapt to global warming, said Arthur Weis, a professor of ecology and evolutionary biology at the University of California, Irvine. But some long-lived species -- like the venerated California redwood tree, with a life-span of hundreds of years -- will not have the capacity to adapt so quickly, because...

Legislation designed to control and eradicate tamarisk was signed into law by President Bush Wednesday night, U.S. Sen. Wayne Allard, R-Colo., announced Thursday... creating funding for a large-scale effort to control tamarisk, also known as salt cedar... "The tamarisk is causing severe problems throughout Colorado and the West," said Allard. "The President's signing of this legislation marks a major milestone in the ongoing effort by Congress and this administration to provide critical resources for the removal of this destructive and invasive species." The tamarisk has invaded the margins of streams, lakes and wetlands throughout the Western United States. An individual...

SAN RAFAEL, Calif. (AP) - Researchers here are looking to horse manure to study the spread of invasive weeds. Dominican University has received a $100,000 National Park Service grant to study how to slow the spread of nonnative plants and weeds in state parks, school officials said. Horse manure might be part of the problem, according to scientists. Researchers began collecting horse manure samples from trails and pastures this summer. They want to test an assumption that seeds can pass through horses, leading to sprouts of invasive weeds. "We need to know through scientific research if horses do or do...

When the New York Times refers to a new show as "transgressive," it's a bad, bad omen, and when the theme song of that new show, Showtime's new series Weeds, a satire of suburban life, is Malvina Reynolds's antique, condescending and trite "Little Boxes," the signs are even worse. Little boxes on the hillside, Little boxes made of ticky tacky Little boxes on the hillside, Little boxes all the same, There's a green one and a pink one And a blue one and a yellow one And they're all made out of ticky tacky And they all look just the...

.................Invasive plants can weaken biological diversity and transform the look of the land. Japanese knotweed, or Fallopia japonica, is one of the more nightmarish members of this group, botanists say, because it is hard to get rid of and it spreads quickly. ....Knotweed thrives in areas that have been disturbed, such as land used by people, who trample plant beds and create trails, causing native plants to wither, said Peter Del Tredici, a senior research scientist at the Arnold Arboretum. ''These plants aren't intrinsically evil," Del Tredici said. ''They are just taking advantage of the disturbance humans create." Park officials...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Don't squash that bug! Cockroaches, beetles, spiders and worms may be the U.S. government's next line of defense in the war on terror. Backed by the Pentagon (news - web sites), scientists are recruiting insects, shellfish, bacteria and even weeds to act as "bio-sentinels," which give early warning of biological and chemical attacks, detect explosives or monitor the spread of contamination. At Virginia Commonwealth University, biologist Karen Kester uses bugs as "flying, crawling Q-Tips" that can check their habitats for noxious materials from anthrax to chemicals more thoroughly, cheaply, and reliably than man-made sensors. "You look at...

SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- California became the first state Thursday to ban weeding by hand on most farms, saying the work is too backbreaking for laborers. Under a rule approved by the California Occupational Safety and Health Division, farmworkers, in most cases, will not have to stoop to pull weeds, but will instead be given long-handled tools that will allow them to work without bending over. The rule takes effect within two weeks. The regulation aims to prevent the "real and substantial risk of back injury" caused by stooping to weed or thin plants by hand, Cal-OSHA said. The workplace-safety agency...

Dan Rather will be on Larry King in a few minutes to gin up interest in his full-hour interview with former pres. Clinton (7:00 sunday, cbs) "Veteran newsman Dan Rather discusses the beheading of an American hostage, and his interview with former President Bill Clinton. Tune in at 9 p.m. ET. "

<p>Stunning vistas of water-loving purple flowers may be steeping young American toads in poison.</p> <p>Amphibian populations are in trouble all over the world, and one element in their decline could be invasive plant species such as purple loosestrife, a Cornell University researcher, Bernd Blossey, told 300 participants at an Ohio invasive plant conference.</p>

<p>FORT PICKETT, Va. (AP) In little more than 100 years in the United States, kudzu has marched across farm fields, shoved aside native plants and disrupted ecosystems with its smothering blanket of green leaves.</p> <p>Now, the nearly indestructible vine is taking on the Army.</p>

<p>Newspaper can be used to great advantage to start flower beds or extend their boundaries. It will form forming a barrier that kills existing vegetation and then rots away, improving the soil as it does.</p> <p>To start, closely crop the existing grass or vegetation and then place a generous layer (about 10 sheets thick) of newspaper on the ground.</p>

Gardeners do their best to control weeds whether in the flower bed or vegetable patch.Farmers do their best to eliminate rats from their corn crib in order to feed the farm animals and have seed for future crops.If the gardener did not remove the weeds and the farmer did not remove the rats what would they have?If you were God, the gardener and farmer of this planet, who are the first 5 weeds (people) you would pull and which are the first 3 species of vermin (groups) you would exterminate?