might be some politics of business involved eg.,. trying to discredit the opposing product? why they test this brand and maybe never any of the other myriad of brands one might well wonder, and testing is expensive and needs to be paid for by someone, so it comes back to who pays wins. ok there are residues in product, i use sugar cane mulch it is easiest and cheapest to get, it will be full of residue, as growing cane is a high end user of chemicals,even if i could get spoilt lucerne hay, what residues might it have? if not direct fall out from a nearby agriculture application or coal fired power station?? me not going to get paranoid about it i won't have anything to use even the mushroom compost we use. very doubtful if residues will be made soluble for the plants so the plants can't take it up, yes the gardener can end up with it on their hands and fingers remedy wash after using products or even gardening. as for recalling it the maker has a huge bill now for no gain for gardeners. maybe the epa should do independent costly testing of residues in at least fresh fruit & vege's instead? now that does effect our health. len Here is a link that might be useful: lens straw bale garden

This is a very beautiful fir with an outstanding colour! It was found by Talon Buchholz in the higher mountains of Mexico.

Fascinating! I only ever thought of barley as an old world crop, the kind essential to brewing beer ;). In fact the only cereal grain I had ever heard about coming from the Americas was corn. How very interesting! You could probably throw sunflowers into that mix as well. Though, the reading I have done follows yours in that many of the plants such as sunflowers and goosefoot (chenopodium, which would fall in the amaranth family), weren't necessarily "cultivated" but sort of "followed" human habitation and agriculture. Kind of an Indian version of "weed cuisine" haha. I also was reading an interesting article on peppers from NSS a little while back. While chilies were gathered and used frequently by the Indians in places like Mexico, further north, in areas like the Four Corners region, they never really caught on. The Indians there preferring a more "bland" diet.

Don't own one personally (a bit large for my accommodations :-)) but know two Bernies quite well :-) They are big, sweet, good temperated, lovable and immensely trainable dogs. Great around kids. Depending on temperament and breeding, they can be much more of a lap dog than a working dog and that herding instinct is sometimes almost nonexistent. But they do need some room and routine daily exercise.