Wilkins talks about Lachat ‘farm art’ at Weston library

Jeff Wilkins, son of photographer Bruce Wilkins, will speak about the photography and the Lachat property at the Farm Art exhibit at the Weston Public Library this weekend.

The talk, sponsored by the Friends of Lachat (as is the art exhibit) will begin at 2 p.m. on Saturday, Jan. 29, in the Community Room at the library.

Mr. Wilkins spent a lot of time at the Lachat farm with his family, helping his uncle Leon Lachat with various projects, such as creating a slalom course for skiing, and going on walks through the woods.

His father, Bruce, who was a commercial artist, took his camera with him on all the outings and his photographs have become a visual narrative of the property during the 1960s and 1970s.

A young Jeff is pictured in numerous photographs as he was a ready and able subject. Sometimes Bruce Wilkins is in the photographs as well, having handed off the camera to his in-laws. (Bruce’s wife, Ginny, was the sister of Leon Lachat’s first wife, Laurie.)

The exhibit Farm Art, which is on display at the library through February, features photographs and paintings depicting scenes from farm life — family gatherings, animals, flowing water, skiing, the Lachat meadow, pears, eggs, a pantry full of jars, barns in all seasons, winter scenics from Lachat woods and more.

While the majority of the art in the show are photographs by Bruce Wilkins, there is a mix of newly created paintings and photographs as well as paintings created in the 50s, 60s and 70s by local artists.

 Source:  Weston Forum

The Era Of Cheap Water Is Over: Deloitte

RELATED ARTICLES

Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu Limited (DTTL) today launched the Water Tight 2012 report, which explores the future of the global water sector in the year ahead. The report examines how major global trends such as population growth, increasing economic development, and urbanization, coupled with the changes in climate patterns, underscore the importance of effective public policy and private sector water stewardship in managing this finite and shared resource. Continue reading

Why Biodiversity Loss Deserves as Much Attention as Climate Change

RELATED ARTICLES

Biodiversity loss is probably a challenge that is often ignored as climate change looms. Currently the world is losing species at a rate that is 100 to 1000 times faster than the natural extinction rate, further, it is currently seeing the sixth mass extinction. Continue reading

Protecting original wetlands far preferable to restoration

RELATED ARTICLES

Even after 100 years have passed a restored wetland may not reach the state of its former glory. A new study in the open access journal PLoS Biology finds that restored wetlands may take centuries to recover the biodiversity and carbon sequestration of original wetlands, if they ever do. The study questions laws, such as in the U.S., which allow the destruction of an original wetland so long as a similar wetland is restored elsewhere. Continue reading

Local Food and The Farm Bill: Small Investments, Big Returns

Source:  Environmental Working Group

For too long, funding provided by the United States’ most far-reaching food and farm legislation has primarily benefited agri-business and large scale industrial-scale commodity farms that aren’t growing food.  Instead, they’re growing ingredients for animal feed, fuel and highly processed food — at a high cost to our nation’s health, environment and rural communities.

Continue reading

The mother who exposed the links between obesity and common chemicals

Laurie Tuffrey,  12th January, 2012

A growing interest in the links between exposure to chemicals and obesity is a testament in part to the pioneering work of Dr Paula Baillie-Hamilton

Laurie Tuffrey: Could you explain your theory about the link between environmental chemicals and weight gain?

Paula Baillie-Hamilton: My hypothesis is that chemicals are the basis behind the global epidemic, because at the levels of chemicals we are being exposed to, they’re poisoning our weight control systems, which is damaging our ability to lose weight and make us fatter.

The chemicals treat our appetite so that you actually want to eat certain foods and they make you crave the worst foods. Catecholamines like adrenaline and dopamine that help weight loss are reduced by the chemicals, which affects both metabolism and the desire to go out for a walk, so you can’t lose weight the way you could. Continue reading

Art exhibit featuring Lachat farm on display at Weston library in January

Local artist Margaret Wirtenberg’s Winter at Lachat painting will be on display at the Weston Public Library starting Jan. 8.

An array of photography and original artwork ranging from historical perspectives to present day farming will be on display throughout January at the Weston Public Library. Continue reading

Pesticides are not heart healthy

Source:  Pesticide Action Network

Researchers in Sweden have confirmed that exposure to pesticides classified as persistent organic pollutants (POPs) increases the incidence of atherosclerosis, or hardening of the arteries. Continue reading

Best safety net for farmers? Healthy soil.

Margaret Reeves , Ground Truth, Pesticide Action Network

Farmers across the country are seeing the impacts of climate change first hand. Crop losses to drought, floods, heat waves, insects and diseases made headlines throughout the year.

We hear Congress plans to improve crop insurance programs in recognition of these hardships, as negotiations for the 2012 Food and Farm Bill move ahead. But to really reduce risks, they should go one step further: tie crop insurance payments with an obligation to create healthy soil.  Continue reading

Dow & Monsanto in deadly race on the pesticide treadmill

Marcia Ishii-Eiteman's picture
Wed, 2012-01-11 15:13
Marcia Ishii-Eiteman, Ground Truth, Pesticide Action Network

Tractor spraying pesticides

You’ve all heard the news: farmers across the country are losing their fields to superweeds so formidable and fast-spreading that they break farm machinery and render millions of acres of farmland useless. These superweeds have evolved as a direct consequence of Monsanto’s RoundUp Ready pesticide-seed package. Now superbugs are emerging, resistant to Monsanto’s transgenic insecticidal crops. Ecologists predicted this ecological disaster 15 years ago.

The big question is, can we possibly learn from this ecological and agronomic disaster? The U.S. Department of Agriculture and Monsanto’s rival, Dow Chemical, apparently cannot. Continue reading

Follow

Get every new post delivered to your Inbox.