Photo by Audrey Pavia

Bob travels on the trail in Griffith Park, unfazed by traffic on the L.A. freeway.

His name was Bob, and he was a big horse. So big, in fact, that he made my 14.3 hand Milagro look like a mini whenever they rode together down the trail.

Bob was the ultimate urban horse. He lived on a 1/2-acre property here in Norco, Calif., a suburb of Los Angeles, and carried his owner, Kathy, all over the city trails. Not only that, Bob — who grew up in the Midwest and was used as an Amish plow horse until less than 10 years ago — taught Kathy’s children and nephews how to ride, comforted nervous horses and riders on trail rides, and carried Kathy to the California State Horsemen’s Association trail trials championships last fall. He regularly made trail trial judges do double takes as he successfully negotiated trail obstacles designed for horses half his size.

When Milagro and I first decided to tackle trail trials, Kathy and Bob were our anchors. Essentially fearless, Bob lead the way through densely forested sections of unknown trail, through deep and wide water crossings and across scary wooden bridges. Milagro was green and unsure of himself, but after a handful of trail trials with Bob, he found his courage. It wasn’t long before Milagro asked Bob if he could take the lead some of the time, and of course Bob graciously said “yes.”

But Bob was much more than a trail horse. He also introduced vaulting to delighted kids and adults. This sport, best described as gymnastics on horseback, is one of Kathy’s passions, and Bob was more than happy to oblige. 

The last time I saw Bob a couple of months ago, he seemed full of life. Kathy mentioned that he was having some problems with soft stool, but sometimes certain cuts of hay can cause that, and the problem came and went. When I got Kathy’s email last month that Bob had succumbed to cancer, I was completely stunned. And devastated.

The thought of never walking down the trail with Bob at our side, towering over Milagro and stealing all the attention from passersby, was more than I could bear. I would never get splashed by that giant head at community watering troughs as Bob played with the water, oblivious to everyone around him. And I would never hear his deep nicker of farewell when Kathy would stop at my house and help me unload Milagro from her trailer after a day of being out on the trail.

My only consolation is knowing Bob is happy somewhere, doing whatever it is horse spirits do when they are free from the constraints of their sadly fallible bodies. But I sure will miss him.

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Birmingham, Ala., was one of the cities where the EPA performed air toxin monitoring around schools.

How clean is the air your children are breathing at school? The EPA is on a mission to find out.

Last year, as part of a new air toxins monitoring initiative, the agency began monitoring the outdoor air around more than 60 schools in 22 states, particularly those near industrial facilities. The testing was based on a list of 187 pollutants listed in the Clean Air Act.

“As a parent myself, I want to know that when I’m sending my children off to school the air they breathe will be safe,” says EPA administrator Lisa P. Jackson. “For the first time, we have the information we need to make sure our children are breathing clean air in areas that have worried parents in the past. As we analyze these air-quality samples, EPA will continue to work quickly to protect all Americans—not just where they live and work but also where they learn and play.”

The first two of the analyses released by the EPA in June 2010 were for Pittsboro Elementary School in Pittsboro, Ind., and Minnesota International Middle Charter School in Minneapolis, Minn. According to an EPA press release, at both schools, “levels of the key pollutants monitored were below levels of both short- and long-term concern.”

The EPA will continue monitoring and issuing notices of air-toxin levels around the selected schools through the fall.

Although the EPA’s phones have been ringing off the hook over this subject (many attempts to reach the EPA for comment for this story were not returned), things at Roland-Story High School, in Story City, Iowa, couldn’t be calmer. Even if the air near the school showed trace amounts of diisocyanates prior to monitoring, it turns out that, like the schools in Pittsboro and Minneapolis, the air around the school in Story City is pretty darn clean.

A small town of about 3,000 people, Story City is about 50 miles from Aimes and 12 miles from Des Moines, but it does have one industrial location, the American Packaging Corporation. Diisocyanates is one of the byproducts the company uses for its glue.

When the EPA announced it would begin testing for the toxin around the high school, the Iowa Department of Natural Resources performed its own test, says Mike Billings, superintendent of the Roland-Story Community School District. What it found, he says, was that American Packaging’s own filters caught most of the toxin, and what might have been left was too heavy to travel as far as the school.

“My understanding is that it was an insignificant amount,” Billings says.

He said the district notified parents—many of whom work for American Packaging and were already aware of the testing—through notes sent home with students, a press release in the local paper and an announcement in the district newsletter. He says he received only about two calls about it.

“Certainly the EPA has a job to do, and they do a great job with it,” Billings said. “I think the only thing I was concerned about was the federal government spending that kind of money when the state was already on top of things.”

The EPA tested for toluene diisocyanate, methylenediphenyl and hexamethylene diisocyanate around Roland-Story High School because of industry in the area that produces them. So far, none of the three pollutants have been detected around the school.

Michaelle Chapman, a spokesperson for Birmingham City Schools, in Birmingham, Ala., says that though there were significant levels of benzene and lead detected in the air around that school, the outcry from parents has been minimal.

“I think that maybe the reason for this is these schools are located in neighborhoods where the children live, so it’s more of a community problem than a school problem,” Chapman says. “We’re a city with lots of industry, including a lot of steel manufacturing, pipe companies and so on.”

It’s unclear what, if anything, is being done to reduce toxins in the air around the Birmingham City Schools.

To learn more about the EPA’s Air Toxin Monitoring and to see a list of the schools, visit the EPA website.

Photo by Rick Gush

My basket-ball sized pumpkins hang in the lemon tree at the bottom of my garden.

The aerial pumpkins continue to be the stars of this season’s vegetable garden. The fruits in the picture above are hanging in the lemon tree at the bottom of the garden, and they look like bright orange lanterns hanging in the tree.  People keep asking me if they are going to fall one of these days, but I think the stems are made of pretty tough fibers and doubt that the hanging weight will cause breakage. The pumpkins aren’t that big really—about basketball size or smaller—but we’ve got a number of them, so we’ll be able to have a nice store of pumpkins and other squash for winter eating.

The amusing aspect of our squash crop this year is that it happened where we didn’t expect it. I planted a dozen different squash plants in carefully prepared beds and was optimistic about their chances for bountiful production. Alas, only one of those plants has produced notable fruit. But I did have a half dozen leftover seedlings I didn’t want to kill, so I found a few corners here and there where I could tuck in the seedlings. Of course, all of those second-class locations ended up being the killer locations, and all six of the leftover seedlings have produced notable squash. Ha!

Photo by Rick Gush

This is the best-looking part of my garden—not so pretty, is it?

The photo to the right is of one of my best beds.  I show it because I dislike garden writers and most garden magazines that only show the wonderful stuff.  This bed from which I’ve carefully screened out the rocks and to which I have lovingly added bags and bags of fresh manure from the dairy up the hill looks fairly lousy this week. Of course, it is the end of summer and most of the garden looks similar. The plants having already borne their fruits, but the point is that all gardens don’t look like the images on the cover of Wonderful Gardens magazine. Ours is a real garden, and therefore often looks crummy.

I think that garden failure is the huge unmentionable topic in the garden world, but it is a very real part of our lives as real gardeners. Cute looking plants that we’ve purchased from the nursery don’t always grow well, and in fact, failure is more common than success with gardens. We kill enormous amounts of plants in our gardens. Everybody does. The flower beds at Disneyland look marvelous because the instant the little plants start looking shaggy, they are ripped out and replaced with fresh specimens. But we don’t think about that, and instead we usually say something like “Boy, those gardeners are really experts!”    

Sure, gardens do pass through phases when everything is great and there are always some areas that are growing perfectly. But real gardening involves a lot of failures, disappointments and underperformance. Just like life. But that doesn’t mean that it (living or gardening) is any less fun. 

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Courtesy Stock.XCHANG/ Robert Mich

Keep your backyard flock free from salmonella by taking biosecurity precautions.

The caged chicken versus free-range chicken debate seems to rage on even in light of the more than 500 million eggs recalled in recent weeks.

Most in the egg industry still insist that raising hens in battery cages is actually better for the hen and the safety of the egg. Just this year, the United Egg Producers, a leading U.S. egg industry trade group announced that caging hens is better for food safety.

The U.K. egg industry takes the completely opposite stance. In the past five years, nine studies have been completed throughout the U.K., all of which indicate that egg operations with caged hens have higher incidences of salmonella. These studies were so convincing that the U.K. has enacted legislation making it illegal to cage hens anywhere in the U.K. beginning in 2012.

Even though U.S. studies seem to contradict those in the U.K., the U.S. stance that caged eggs are safe is starting to crack. California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger signed state legislation to ban caged hens by 2015, and many food sellers, such as Wal-Mart, Safeway, Burger King, Wendy’s and Subway, have committed to decrease the number of caged-hen eggs purchased.

Do I have to worry about salmonella in my backyard flock?

Does this let the backyard farmer who free-ranges hens off the hook? Not hardly. All the studies in the U.S. and the U.K. found many other influences that increased the incidence of salmonella besides keeping the birds in cages. Darrell Trampel, DVM, a veterinarian and poultry expert at Iowa State University, says there are recorded cases of salmonella in all sizes and types of flocks, including those that are raised organically and free-range. It’s important, even in the backyard flock, to protect your family by taking steps to reduce your chances of salmonella infection.

Backyard Biosecurity

Salmonella is transmitted among chickens through contact with fecal matter from infected birds or other animals. It’s often carried from flock to flock on the clothes and shoes of backyard visitors and the people who care for the chickens. It’s important to restrict visitors to your backyards flock to limit the chickens’ potential for exposure. Coop walks are a great way to raise funds for local poultry groups, but they also put your chickens at risk for salmonella and other chicken diseases. If you participate in a walk where a lot of people will be in contact with your chickens or equipment, prevent chicken diseases by taking biosecurity measures, such as using disinfectant foot baths and restricting visitor contact with your flock. 

Rodent Control

Salmonella is usually spread by mice and other rodents. It’s important to keep the chicken feed in a sealed container. If hens feed outside, bring food in at night and store it in rodent-proof areas. Keep the coops in good condition and well-ventilated with tight construction to prevent mice from entering. Also eliminate weeds and piled debris that attract rodents in the chicken yard.

Clean Coops

Remove manure and damp litter as it accumulates in the coop. Clean waterers weekly and feeders regularly. Hang the feeders and waters high enough to prevent the chickens from defecating or digging dirt into the containers. Clean and disinfect any used equipment immediately upon purchase, even if you aren’t going to use it for a while.

Vaccinate Your Flock

In the U.S., vaccines are sold in doses of thousands to accommodate the factory farm, which can make it tough for the small-flock farmer. Bud Wood, from Murray McMurray Hatchery, talks about the dilemma facing the small poultry farmer.

“To be fully covered for salmonella, the birds need to be vaccinated multiple times. We could vaccinate them once here at the hatchery, but the customer would need to vaccinate them again twice more,” he says. “The biggest problem is we can only get the vaccine in 5,000- or 10,000-dose units, and it needs to be used within hours of opening.”

Watch for updates in this area, and encourage veterinarians and legislators to make small quantities of the salmonella vaccine available to urban farmers.

Good Egg Hygiene

According to Gail Damerow, author of Storey’s Guide to Raising Chickens, the first line of defense in keeping eggs safe to eat is to keep nests clean and lined with fresh litter. Eggs should be collected often and stored immediately after collection at 45 degrees F. Eggs that are seriously soiled, cracked or leaking should be discarded.

To be completely safe, eggs should be completely cooked with a solid yolk and firm white. For more information about egg handling, visit the Egg Safety Center and FoodSafety.gov websites.