Harps adds bulk food section

Seen today at the Wedington St. Harps store. First time I have seen it.

Ozark Natural Foods has some competition now. Bulk foods is what I buy the most of at ONF. Though Harps is not offering the huge selection of organic bulk food, I will probably start buying some of my bulk food here. Most of this selection is nuts, dried fruit, and oats. I mostly buy almonds, pumpkin seeds, oats, and lentils by bulk.

Why bulk? Well...for one, you decide how much you want. It's slightly cheaper too. Less packaging. Supposedly more sustainable...even if you are buying in small quantities, the super thin produce bag is less intensive than whatever extra crap marketers incorporate into packaging in hopes of higher sales.

Is this healthy for my soil?

Remember the beautiful compost I was so excited about? I commented that I found a few pieces of glass in it, but that I was still happy with it. All it took was a few rains for the truth to come out...our UP rather.

So we spread about 4 cubic yards of this stuff in 400 square feet of raised beds. This much glass has come up so far...and I imagine there is a lot more of it in the soil. The rain will settle it but how much of the soil's rising crap does this represent? Just the first inch or so, right? We put 5-7 inches in most of the boxes. Is there really five or six times as much glass still left in our soil?

I am a little disappointed in the quality of the compost from the City of Fayetteville. I guess we will continue to pull glass piece by piece for years to come. There goes running my hands through soil....without gloves at least.

Benton County OK's HIV Clinic

(cross posted at NWA Center for Equality blog)

Washington County is losing their HIV Clinic…and gaining the Northwest Arkansas Regional HIV Clinic! This is long in the making, but now it is official. The NWA Times reports that the Benton County Quorum Court (it’s like city council but for the entire county) voted yesterday to form an intergovernmental agreement with Washington County and form a board of directors that will govern the newly named clinic.

The Fayetteville clinic has existed for years and has been funded by both counties and Washington Regional Medical Center, though the funding has not been equal to the share of cases. This agreement should lead to greater accountability (with the appointed board) and greater cooperation on a problem that crosses county lines.

A few questions though: Who will populate this new board? HIV/AIDS is still a health concern that disproportionately affects segments of the LGBTQ population. Should we insist that the board has some kind of representation from communities that struggle with this problem?In NWA, target communities for prevention might be Latino/as, especially women, and gay men, but care may be a bit different. Should at least one person on that board be HIV-positive, in order to have personal insight into HIV care experience?

According to an article last summer, the Clinic has 625 patients. Why is thorough treatment important to the larger community? As I reported last World AIDS Day, “treatment on anti-retroviral drugs reduces the total average viral load in a community…lower viral load in community lowers the transmission rate.” So good treatment means a healthier community..and less HIV.

Washington County HIV Clinic 3270 North Wimberly Drive Fayetteville, AR 72703 (501) 973-8450.

Here’s a rough look at the numbers provide in the article.

(Washington County HIV Clinic does treat one or two patients from Madison County)

Northwest Arkansas HIV Clinic
Washington County provides 38 percent of the clinic’s money, Washington Regional Medical Center provides 36 percent and Benton County provides 16 percent. The rest of the clinic’s money is from other sources, such as insurance reimbursements and donations. Benton County’s share in 2010 was $34,000. Benton County residents accounted for 39 percent of the clinic’s caseload, according to a survey.

Garden Journal #13

First the vegetable update, but then the really exciting news.

Parsnips. Like carrots but white and a stronger flavor. They were gnarly. Could have left them in, but needed to make way for......

THE COMPOST!!! A water bill, a borrowed truck (my dad's), and $20 plus tax bought me 2 cubic yards of the finest compost the City of Fayetteville provides it's citizens. And not knowing that each household is only allowed one scoop, I went back for a second. To give you a sense of how much 2 cubic yards is, my father's Ford F-250 was overflowing with the single scoop. Big thanks to Fillan for helping unload the first scoop and Gayathiri for helping unload the second. If Gayathiri's father knew that she came to the United States only to end up shoveling compost for a gay man I am sure he would reconsider his investment.

Don't you just love the way it crumbles?

Using the crappiest plastic wheelbarrow known to man, much of it ended up in the backyard in the many raised beds. Gentle turning in...not too deep...still leaves a good 8 inches of good soil work with in the spring. After some rain and some settling I filled them even further.

One little problem....some glass pieces in several of the boxes. Oh well..the compost is made from yard waste from citizens and I am sure random bottles end up in their curbside bags. I am still grateful to the City and her citizens who don't compost their crap in their own yard.