From Cows to Concrete

From Cows to Concrete PDF

Author: Rachel Surls

Publisher: Angel City Press

Published: 2016-05-14

Total Pages:

ISBN-13: 9781626400313

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What? Los Angeles was the original wine country of California, leading the state's wine production for more than a century? Los Angeles County was the agricultural center of North America until the 1950s? And where today's freeways soar, cows calmly chewed their cud? How could that be? Los Angeles, the capital of asphalt and Klieg lights, was once a paradise filled with grapevines and bovines, so abundant with Nature's gifts that no one could imagine a more pastoral place? Los Angeles County was the center of an agricultural empire. Today, it is the nation's most populous urban metropolis. What happened? Where did the green go? As Americans connect with gardens, farmers markets, and urban farms, most are unaware that each of these activities have deep roots in Los Angeles, and that the healthy food they savor literally had its roots in L.A. This book is for all who treasure the country's agrarian history.

Manual for Treatment and Control of Lameness in Cattle

Manual for Treatment and Control of Lameness in Cattle PDF

Author: Sarel van Amstel

Publisher: John Wiley & Sons

Published: 2008-01-09

Total Pages: 220

ISBN-13: 0470344199

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Lameness is one of the most costly diseases affecting cattle and cases are increasing as dairy cows spend more time confined to concrete instead of grassy pasture. The economic impact of lameness is significant. Preventive claw care is increasingly practiced in modern dairy farming and is now recognized as a necessary investment in herd health. Manual for Treatment and Control of Lameness in Cattle includes: clear illustrations of anatomical features of the bovine foot detailed photographs of lesions discussion on the practical aspect of functional and corrective trimming references for veterinarians, animals/dairy scientists, commercial hoof trimmers, dairy farmers and dairy health technicians

The Grand Food Bargain

The Grand Food Bargain PDF

Author: Kevin D. Walker

Publisher: Island Press

Published: 2019-03-26

Total Pages: 346

ISBN-13: 1610919475

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When it comes to food, Americans seem to have a pretty great deal. Our grocery stores are overflowing with countless varieties of convenient products. But like most bargains that are too good to be true, the modern food system relies on an illusion. It depends on endless abundance, but the planet has its limits. So too does a healthcare system that must absorb rising rates of diabetes and obesity. So too do the workers who must labor harder and faster for less pay. Through beautifully-told stories from around the world, Kevin Walker reveals the unintended consequences of our myopic focus on quantity over quality. A trip to a Costa Rica plantation shows how the Cavendish banana became the most common fruit in the world and also one of the most vulnerable to disease. Walker’s early career in agribusiness taught him how pressure to sell more and more fertilizer obscured what that growth did to waterways. His family farm illustrates how an unquestioning belief in “free markets” undercut opportunity in his hometown. By the end of the journey, we not only understand how the drive to produce ever more food became hardwired into the American psyche, but why shifting our mindset is essential. It starts, Walker argues, with remembering that what we eat affects the wider world. If each of us decides that bigger isn’t always better, we can renegotiate the grand food bargain, one individual decision at a time.

Farming in Torrance and the South Bay

Farming in Torrance and the South Bay PDF

Author: Judith Gerber

Publisher: Arcadia Publishing

Published: 2008

Total Pages: 132

ISBN-13: 9780738559308

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Jared Sydney Torrance originally founded Torrance in 1912 as an industrial city. But the land and its surrounding South Bay region thrived through agricultural activities, beginning in 1784 on the Rancho San Pedro. Farming activities continued after Ben Weston became the first one to buy land from the Dominguez family's rancho in 1847. Farming remained an important part of city commerce in the transition to a thriving Los Angeles County suburb in the late 1950s. Throughout those early years, family farmers contributed to the city's economy by raising cattle, pigs, and turkeys, as well as sugar beets, alfalfa, beans, hay, oats, barley, and flowers, and operating dairy farms. Other South Bay cities also relied on agriculture for economic growth, including Carson, once home to a thriving cut-flower farm industry, and Gardena, the one-time berry capital of Southern California, as well as the Palos Verdes Peninsula, where dry farming was a successful industry.

Making Concrete Sculpture

Making Concrete Sculpture PDF

Author: T. J. Neil

Publisher: Schiffer Books

Published: 2007

Total Pages: 0

ISBN-13: 9780764327148

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T.J. Neil shares his techniques and recipes for success in the creation of enormous concrete sculptures strong enough to withstand transport and the tests of time. This book provides valuable insights into the successful construction of concrete art through text and 371 clear color photos of concrete sculptures, both complete and under construction. A list of required materials and sound advice for procuring and mixing concrete are provided. The wide variety of concrete sculpture subjects portrayed provide artists with inspiration for projects large and small. See fishermen, strong men, mermaids, alligators, dolphins, manatees, frogs, grizzly bears, whales, horses, panthers, cows, sharks, elephants, and even a ten-foot, five thousand pound dragon that hisses three-foot flames. are also shown. Concrete craftsmen will find this book an endless source of inspiration.

Cows, Pigs, Wars, and Witches

Cows, Pigs, Wars, and Witches PDF

Author: Marvin Harris

Publisher: Vintage

Published: 2011-07-13

Total Pages: 288

ISBN-13: 0307801225

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One of America's leading anthropolgists offers solutions to the perplexing question of why people behave the way they do. Why do Hindus worship cows? Why do Jews and Moslems refuse to eat pork? Why did so many people in post-medieval Europe believe in witches? Marvin Harris answers these and other perplexing questions about human behavior, showing that no matter how bizarre a people's behavior may seem, it always stems from identifiable and intelligble sources.

Making the Modern World

Making the Modern World PDF

Author: Vaclav Smil

Publisher: John Wiley & Sons

Published: 2013-12-16

Total Pages: 263

ISBN-13: 1119942535

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How much further should the affluent world push its material consumption? Does relative dematerialization lead to absolute decline in demand for materials? These and many other questions are discussed and answered in Making the Modern World: Materials and Dematerialization. Over the course of time, the modern world has become dependent on unprecedented flows of materials. Now even the most efficient production processes and the highest practical rates of recycling may not be enough to result in dematerialization rates that would be high enough to negate the rising demand for materials generated by continuing population growth and rising standards of living. This book explores the costs of this dependence and the potential for substantial dematerialization of modern economies. Making the Modern World: Materials and Dematerialization considers the principal materials used throughout history, from wood and stone, through to metals, alloys, plastics and silicon, describing their extraction and production as well as their dominant applications. The evolving productivities of material extraction, processing, synthesis, finishing and distribution, and the energy costs and environmental impact of rising material consumption are examined in detail. The book concludes with an outlook for the future, discussing the prospects for dematerialization and potential constrains on materials. This interdisciplinary text provides useful perspectives for readers with backgrounds including resource economics, environmental studies, energy analysis, mineral geology, industrial organization, manufacturing and material science.

Until the Cows Come Home

Until the Cows Come Home PDF

Author: Sandy Donovan

Publisher: Lerner Publications

Published: 2012-08-01

Total Pages: 36

ISBN-13: 1467700827

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Hold your horses! Don't let the cat out of the bag. Don't count your chickens before they're hatched. Have you ever heard these crazy expressions? People use them even when there aren't any animals around! That's because these sentences are idioms—phrases that mean something different than what the words in them actually say. But don't let idioms get your goat. Let's explore a variety of idioms involving animals and figure out what people really mean when they use them.