Last August, the Iowa State University (ISU) Extension and Outreach—the arm of the land-grant university that works directly with farmers, business owners, and families on practical science applications—quietly informed 4-H members that canned goods made with recipes from the Ball Blue Book would no longer be accepted for exhibits at county fairs. A year later, the news that ISU Extension was no longer recommending the Ball Blue Book, not just to 4-H, but to any home canner, roiled the Canning subreddit, an online community with nearly 80,000 members.
Category Archives: Counter
The Counter: Gardening could be an essential part of astronaut self-care
Indoor farming is helping an isolated NASA crew thrive in Antarctica, and could reap future psychological benefits for space explorers.
The Counter: As EPA phases out climate-damaging commercial refrigerants, supermarkets will need to overhaul their entire refrigeration systems
EPA took steps this week to dramatically reduce the use of hydrofluorocarbons, a move that will ultimately reshape the grocery industry.
The Counter: Though they’re frequent targets of theft and vandalism, the gospel of community fridges spreads faster than ill will
Free-fridge projects that encourage neighbors to help each other have met with some opposition. But that hasn’t stopped them from popping up across the country.
The Counter: What does a vertical farm taste like?
Indoor farming companies—like Kimbal Musk’s Square Roots—claim their methods can replicate any climate on earth, resulting in better-tasting produce.
Jessica S. McKenzie 