Debs creations

09/06/2026

09/06/2026

New Zealand's "Edible Towns" and "Urban Orchards" movement transforms public land into shared food resources. Should we do this everywhere?

09/06/2026

During the Great Depression, President Franklin D. Roosevelt helped launch the Civilian Conservation Corps in 1933 to give unemployed young men work.

The program eventually employed about 3 million men, many of them living in camps and earning $30 a month, with most of that money sent home to support their families.

Their work changed America’s parks and forests.

CCC crews built trails, roads, bridges, campgrounds, picnic shelters, cabins, fire towers, and visitor facilities. They also fought forest fires, controlled erosion, and planted billions of trees. The National Park Service says CCC accomplishments included more than 3 billion trees planted, 28,000 miles of trails constructed, and 63,000 buildings constructed.

They also helped develop more than 800 state parks across the United States. Nearly a century later, much of their work is still part of the American outdoor experience.

So when people hike an old stone trail, cross a rustic bridge, or stay in a historic park cabin, there’s a chance they are still using infrastructure built by Depression-era workers trying to rebuild both the land and their own lives.

09/06/2026

For once, I actually agree with Steve's advice. Being silly is good for the soul.

09/04/2026

Good philosophy when you think about it.

09/04/2026

In 2022, turf workers cutting peat from a bog in County Offaly, Ireland uncovered a 48-pound lump of organic material buried well below the surface, and it turned out to be butter. It had been placed in the ground around 1000 BC, roughly 3,000 years earlier.

Bog butter is not a new discovery, since more than 500 examples have been recorded across Ireland and Scotland, usually preserved in wooden containers or wrapped in animal skin. Ancient communities seem to have buried butter in bogs for storage, for ritual, or as offerings, and the bog's chemistry preserved it. Anaerobic conditions kept out the bacteria that drive most decomposition, while the high acidity and the cold at depth held off everything else.

When they tasted it the verdict was edible, gamey and waxy and unlike anything fresh, though safe to eat and still recognizable as butter.