Welcome to FERN’s Friday Feed (#FFF), where we share the stories from this week that made us stop and think.
Documenting New York City’s ‘wild’ apples
New York Magazine
“By day, Mullan works as the brand manager at the small-batch chocolate producer Raaka; by night, Mullan is a photographer, who has been documenting New York City’s apples and apple trees since 2017,” writes Emma Orlow. “‘At the time, it honestly hadn’t really occurred to me that fruit could even survive in urban environments,’ he remembers. ‘Even though I know more now, the feeling of amazement when I find super-large trees loaded with fruit in the city still remains … It’s funny to me that some of the best fruit I’ve ever tasted has been from the you-might-die places,’ he says. ‘Which seems like a very apt nature metaphor.’”
Virginia Woolf’s complex journey into the kitchen
Atlas Obscura
“She … harbored disdain for domestic labor and the women who performed it,” writes Reina Gattuso. “According to Alison Light, whose book Mrs. Woolf and the Servants chronicles Virginia’s relationship to domestic labor, this contradiction—between wanting to liberate herself from gender and class hierarchies, while perpetuating them—characterized much of Woolf’s life and work. Light says Woolf’s interest in cooking likely sprang from a desire to become independent—from patriarchy, from illness, and from a reliance on domestic workers. ‘That’s partly why I think she’s so joyful and exuberant when she learns to cook simple dishes.’”
Sign up for text alerts from FERN
We want to make it easier for you to keep up with all things FERN, including getting notified of FERN’s latest reporting. If that sounds appealing, text FERN to (866) 551-0955 to opt into our brand new (and low-key) SMS messaging service*.
*By providing your mobile number you consent to receive cell phone and text communications from FERN. Msg & data rates may apply. You can unsubscribe at any time by texting STOP to (866) 551-0955. Terms and privacy policy available here.
High beef prices tests Biden’s trust-busting rhetoric
The Atlantic
“Market regulation went out of style in the 1970s, a victim of its internal contradictions,” writes David Frum. “As academic critics such as Robert Bork argued back then: If, say, a supermarket gains market share from its mom-and-pop competitors by offering a wider selection at lower prices, you can understand why Mom and Pop don’t like it. But how is it ‘pro-competition’ if the government intervenes to protect Mom and Pop from competitors who are doing a better job of meeting customer needs? That argument prevailed for most of the past half century. The Biden administration is seeking to change course—and beef is where it’s starting.”
Living ‘bee fences’ protect farmers from elephants, and vice-versa
Scientific American
Lucy King’s aha! moment, when she realized that elephants are only afraid of bees when they swarm, led the zoologist “to sketch a novel design for using live beehives as ‘fences’ to protect farm crops from foraging elephants. The goal was to reduce human-elephant conflicts, which increased significantly in parts of Africa in the 2000s,” writes Cari Shane. “[N]early 10,000 beehive fences like those in King’s initial sketches are now built into sites in 20 African and Asian countries … Hives are suspended from wires hanging between wooden posts. If an elephant tries to enter a farm, it walks into the wires, shaking the hives and triggering a swarm.”
Experts fear pandemic boosted human trafficking in guestworker program
Investigate Midwest
”The H-2A program provides scaffolding for the agricultural system, allowing farms to bring in enough labor to pick fruits and vegetables Americans rely on. But many workers have been trafficked by employers using the program, said experts and activists who fear the COVID-19 pandemic has allowed the situation to grow,” writes Amanda Perez Pintado. “[T]he coronavirus pandemic has exposed flaws in the … program, according to Polaris, an organization that works to erradicate human trafficking. During a six-month period of the pandemic, according to a Polaris analysis, the number of likely labor trafficking survivors who held H-2A visas increased by more than 70%.”