I subscribe to a magazine called Mary Jane’s Farm. Mary Jane Butters has her farm in Moscow, Idaho. She always has some interesting articles and I would like to tell you about one she had in her last issue about the Vatican. Who knew what the Vatican was up to?
Outside of the Vatican in Rome, Pope Francis has given his blessing to some farm “squatters” for the use of 37 acres. The squatters have cleaned up garbage, cleared rocks from the fields and have installed an irrigation system for watering their plots of organic produce.
The Vatican also runs a 62-acre farm at Castel Gandolfo, which once served as the Pope’s summer residence for centuries. The farm uses natural practices to provide an estimated $330,000 worth of produce, eggs and olive oil to residents and employees of Vatican City.
Repairs made to the Vatican are done with milk-paint, which is a water-based paint mixed with milk and lime and has been used for thousands of years. The Vatican employees about 100 people to gussy up 500-year-old buildings with milk-paint. They also sprinkle thyme and oregano oil on statues to prevent deterioration. The Vatican’s chief architect, Vitale Zanchettin, has said that these techniques are not a matter of tradition… He ways the Vatican is not nostalgic for the past, but that these solutions age better. “They are tried and tested.”
Why Don’t Roosters Need Hearing Aids? After all, they crow from dawn to dusk and their noisy calls can reach 140 decibels. Louder than a jackhammer! But roosters don’t suffer from hearing loss. This was tested by researchers from the University of Antwerp and Ghent in Belgium. The secret is in the anatomy of their ears. When they open their beaks to the fullest, a quarter of the ear canal closes and soft tissue covers 50% of the eardrum, says Noel kirkpatrick of Mother Nature Network. “Basically they have built=in earplugs that protect them from their own noises.”
Hens’ ear canals also close, but not as much.. This slight alteration in adaptation maybe so hens can hear the subtleties of suitors’ calls and the cheeps of their chicks.
Who knew these things?? Thanks Mary Jane for your fascinating articles and as a former farm-girl, I love your magazine. Keep it coming.