As the tropical rains increase in the last quarter of the year, so do the bugs - and for the gardener, that can spell trouble. Here's a collection of natural insect controls you can prepare right in your kitchen.
Nearly 65% of fruits and vegetables produced in Costa Rica contain residual traces of agrochemicals, a study from the Pesticide Department of the State Phytosanitary System found.
"Honey is thought of as more natural whereas white sugar and high fructose corn syrup are processed from the cane or the beet or the corn," said Raatz, whose paper appears in the Journal of Nutrition. "We wanted to find out if they were different. But chemically, they are very, very similar, and that's what it seems to break down to."
His goal, he says, is to give Cuban farmers a way to make a living at a time when so many have given up on it and moved to urban areas. "If we don't want foreign companies to come in and dominate Cuban agriculture all over again, that means we need to give Cuban families a way to stay on their farms," said Funes, who grew up at an agricultural research station where his father, a crop scientist, and his mother, a biologist, both worked.
Love organic produce, but don't love getting up at the crack of dawn every weekend to go to the market? San José organic food lovers can add a new afternoon produce fair to their list starting in September, as the Feria Orgánica El Trueque expands into the southeastern San José neighborhood of Zapote.
