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Farming 17 results
Three generations of tractor enthusiasts ride in the parade at the Monroe County Antique Machinery Association Show in May. Eleanor, 3, sits with her father, Zach Clark, on the Allis-Chalmers while her grandfather Joel Clark follows on the John Deere. | Photos by Limestone Post

Antique Machinery Club Keeps Tractors — and History — Alive
Dason Anderson
In May, the Monroe County Antique Machinery Association held its spring antique machinery and tractor show. The turnout was “impressive,” writes Dason Anderson, as more than 100 tractors and other machines were on display. Association President Tim Deckard says the two-year-old club helps give the public a deeper understanding of our local history and culture. Read the story and see the machines.
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Beth Edwards was an award-winning environmental journalist for the Indiana Environmental Reporter, based in Bloomington. Limestone Post is republishing four of her most impactful reporting projects: on coal ash, confined animal feeding operations, Martinsville’s drinking water, and a coal-to-diesel plant that had been planned in southern Indiana. | Photos by Beth Edwards (top left and bottom right) and Matthew Kaplan (bottom left); illustration by Sophia Chryssovergis

The Work of Beth Edwards, Award-Winning Environmental Reporter
Beth Edwards
Beth Edwards was an award-winning environmental reporter who, along with Enrique Saenz, developed the Indiana Environmental Reporter at Indiana University into a source for environmental news that was respected statewide and nationally. Limestone Post looks at four of her reporting projects: on coal ash, confined animal feeding operations, Martinsville’s drinking water, and a controversial coal-to-diesel plant. Read Beth Edwards’s work here.
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During legislative sessions at the Indiana Statehouse (above), any member of the Indiana House of Representatives or Indiana Senate can sponsor a bill. While a bill in either chamber must pass through a series of gatekeepers before becoming law, conflicts of interest among the lawmakers are usually not considered. | Limestone Post

Conflicts of Interest Continued During Indiana’s 2023 Legislative Session
Enrique Sáenz
This is the second article in a two-part series on lax ethics rules in the Indiana State Legislature. Both articles come from a joint investigation between the Indiana Environmental Reporter and the Arnolt Center for Investigative Journalism that shows how some Indiana lawmakers stood to benefit financially from environmental legislation they introduced or supported. Click here for the article.
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The primary reason Salt Creek was dammed in the 1960s was to control floodwaters downstream. While the Monroe Lake Control Tower (above) regulates water flow from the reservoir through the dam, the rest of Lake Monroe has become a valuable resource for drinking water, recreation, industry, wild habitat, and other uses well beyond its watershed. | Photo by Anna Powell Denton

How Healthy Is Lake Monroe — and How Long Will It Survive? Deep Dive: WFHB & Limestone Post Investigate
Michael G. Glab, Anna Powell Denton
“Lake Monroe is a reservoir, and all reservoirs eventually fill up,” says Michelle Cohen, executive director of Lake Monroe Water Fund. But, she adds, those who rely on the lake for drinking water, recreation, and other uses have the power to extend its life as long as possible. Writer Michael G. Glab takes a deep dive into the health of Lake Monroe. Click here for his report for Deep Dive: WFHB & Limestone Post Investigate.
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Members of the Indiana House of Representatives and Indiana Senate meet during legislative sessions to pass laws at the Indiana Statehouse (above). Many of those lawmakers have economic interests in the industries that stand to benefit from the laws those lawmakers author and vote on. | Limestone Post

Lax Ethics Rules Could Create Conflicts of Interest for Indiana Lawmakers
Arnolt Center for Investigative Journalism The Indiana Environmental Reporter
The Arnolt Center for Investigative Journalism and the Indiana Environmental Reporter reviewed statements of economic interest filed in 2022 by Indiana’s state lawmakers. They found more than 100 bills enacted from 2019 to 2022 that benefit industries the authors have ties to, creating at least the appearance of a conflict of interest. Click here to read their findings.
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The U.S. electrical grid is a complicated network of wires that traverse the continent and connect with regional private operators who then transmit and distribute power. Some call it “a patchwork of operators with competing interests,” writes Rebecca Hill. Indiana’s electricity comes primarily from coal, natural gas, and a growing renewables market, but the transition to renewables is not without problems. | Photo by Benedict Jones

The Power Struggle in Indiana’s Changing Energy Landscape Deep Dive: WFHB & Limestone Post Investigate
Rebecca Hill, Benedict Jones
Indiana’s electricity comes primarily from coal, natural gas, and a growing renewables market. The transition to renewables, though, is not without problems, and the grid operators, regulators, and Indiana legislators are at odds with how to handle it. Rebecca Hill takes an in-depth look at Indiana’s power structure, as part of Deep Dive: WFHB & Limestone Post Investigate. Click here to read about the transition of Indiana's energy landscape.
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A new queen emerges from a queen cell in a honey bee hive of writer and beekeeper Erin Hollinden. Honey bee populations in the U.S. have declined from 6 million in the 1940s to 2.5 million today. But more than 200,000 hobbyist beekeepers such as Erin are trying to keep them (and ultimately us) alive. | Photo by Marla Bitzer

Local Beekeepers Labor with Love as Honey Bees Decline Worldwide
Erin Hollinden
Honey bee populations in the U.S. have declined from 6 million in the 1940s to 2.5 million today. Pesticides, drought, and habitat destruction, are just a few reasons the bees are dying. But more than 200,000 hobbyist beekeepers, like writer Erin Hollinden, are trying to keep them (and ultimately us) alive. Click here to read Erin’s article.
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Creating gardens that are resilient to the vagaries of Indiana weather, says gardener and writer Jami Scholl, requires working with the forces of nature and the “limiting factors of sunlight, water, and soil.” | Photo by Jami Scholl

Resilient Gardens Bend to the Will of Mother Nature
Jami Scholl
How to create a garden that is resilient to the vagaries of Indiana weather? Jami Scholl, a writer and gardener who was active in the early stages of the urban agriculture movement in Bloomington, says we must work with the forces of nature and “the basic environmental limiting factors of sunlight, water, and soil.” Click here for Jami’s tips on creating a resilient garden.
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Thinking about planting a garden? Beth Edwards, a writer and producer for the Indiana Environmental Reporter, has written about the physical, mental health, economic, and environmental benefits of home gardening. People with no space for a garden can rent a plot through the community garden program run by in the City of Bloomington’s Department of Parks and Recreation (see the end of the article for more info). Pictured above, the Willie Streeter Community Gardens on South Highland Avenue. | Limestone Post

Hoosiers Take On Home Gardening
Beth Edwards
Home gardens not only create access to healthy food, they also offer physical, mental health, economic, and environmental benefits, writes Beth Edwards of the Indiana Environmental Reporter. No wonder home gardening has gained in popularity every year since the 2008 financial crisis. Sheltering at home has even more Hoosiers digging in. Click here to learn more.
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Abby Ang at the People’s Market CSA drive-thru on March 28. Ang and a group of vendors, community organizers, and university professors began meeting last year to plan what would become the People’s Market, “a farmers market model unprecedented in Bloomington and Indiana,” writes Ellen Wu for Limestone Post. The group had to “reorient swiftly to the drive-thru CSA once it became obvious that COVID-19 would upend everything.” | Limestone Post

Ethos of New People’s Market Focuses on Food Justice, Mutual Aid
Ellen Wu
A group of vendors, community organizers, and university professors began meeting last year to plan what would become the People’s Market, “a farmers market model unprecedented in Bloomington and Indiana,” writes IU history professor Ellen Wu. When COVID-19 “upended everything,” the group quickly reoriented to create a drive-thru CSA. Click here to read about the People’s Market.
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Knowing where your food comes from is more important than ever. With the first Bloomington Community Farmers’ Market of the season on Saturday, getting to know the farmers who produce it is easier than ever. Photographer Chaz Mottinger visited three farms to give us a closer look as they prepare for the spring market season: Barnhouse Farms, Linnea's Greenhouse, and Living Roots Farm and Sustainable Living Center (pictured here). | Photo by Chaz Mottinger

Local Farmers Prepare for Spring Market Season
Chaz Mottinger
Knowing where your food comes from is more important than ever. With the first Bloomington Community Farmers’ Market of the season on Saturday (and markets in Ellettsville and Smithville starting soon), getting to know the farmers who produce it is easier than ever. Photographer Chaz Mottinger visited three farms to give us a closer look as they prepare for market. Click here to see her photos.
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Some Hoosier farmers raise millions of animals that spend much of their lives in confinement — their sole existence in these “Confined Feeding Operations” is to get plump enough for market. But some of these animals, such as the pig pictured here, are rescued and find their way to Uplands PEAK, a farm animal sanctuary. | Photo by Alexianna Mundy, Paulina M Photography

Sanctuary Moving, Growing, Giving Farm Animals Freedom
Susan M. Brackney
Some Hoosier farmers raise millions of animals that spend much of their lives in confinement — their sole existence in these “Confined Feeding Operations” is to get plump enough for market. But some of these animals are rescued and find their way to Uplands PEAK, a farm animal sanctuary. Writer Susan M. Brackney writes more about the refuge. Click here to read the full story.
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