Industrial Farming: Bees, Dirt, and Compost

I was aware of our crisis around bees vanishing. I went to an exhibit a year ago at the Oakland museum that illustrated this and visually showed potential impacts on our food/fruits/vegetables/flowers availability as well as the economic and social impact for farms. It is scary! I can't imagine a world without fruits and vegetables.

I have not finished watching Dirt! yet, but I am finding it very interesting and I love how it caused me to consider the value of dirt and how this has a different label/definition/value from "soil".  Dirt is ~alive~ and it is essential for life!

I really enjoyed navigating and reading the website on factory farms. There is not a factory near me (in Alameda County) which I think makes sense given the city life here. But there is high density factory farms north of me in Marin County, and severe density in Sonoma County. This makes sense to me given the open land up there and they are known for farming and delicious cheese. I had it in my mind that they were local, small friendly farms so I am a little saddened by the reality.

I do compost. My housemates and I keep it in the freezer to minimize bugs or smell. It is slightly extra effort to compost but I think it is worth it. In college, I used to teach elementary schools about compost and farming when they came on field trips to UC Davis!