Farmers are taking the idea of a local food co-op beyond fruits and vegetables, signing up customers for regular deliveries of local, naturally raised meat.
[Listen](http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=11069930 “Listen to the Story”) (NPR)
Saturday, the mailbox contained:
* June 29/July 6, 2007 issue of [Entertainment Weekly](http://www.ew.com “Entertainment Weekly Website”) ([The EW 100 – The Stars We Love Right Now](http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,20043278,00.html “Read the Cover Story”))
* July 2007 issue of [Smithsonian](http://www.smithsonian.com “Smithsonian Magazine Website”) ([Come with us to the CASBAH (before it’s too late)](http://www.smithsonianmagazine.com/issues/2007/july/casbah.php “Read the Cover Story”))
* Summer 2007 issue of [The Kenyon Review](http://www.kenyonreview.org “Kenyon Review Website”) (An Interview with Ian McEwan, the 2006 recipient of the Kenyon Review Award for Literary Achievement)
* July | August 2007 issue of [This Old House](http://www.thisoldhouse.com “This Old House Website”) (annual kitchen & bath special)
* Summer 2007 issue of [Greens of Virginia](http://www.vagreenparty.org “Greens of Virginia Website”) (Arlington Courthouse Greens Run Their First Candidate)
* Summer 2007 issue of [Salem](http://www.ci.salem.va.us/ “City of Salem, VA Website”) City Magazine (Annual Sports Issue!)
* License plate stickers and another renewal notice from the [Virginia DMV](http://www.dmvnow.com “Virginia DMV Website”)
* A letter from the [U.S. Census Bureau](http://www.census.gov/acw/www “U.S. Census Bureau Website”) stating that we should receive the American Community Survey in a few days
* A subscription offer from [Bon Appetit](http://www.bonappetit.com “Bon Appetit Website”)
* A plea from the [USO](http://www.uso.org “USO Website”)
Scientists in Chile are investigating the sudden disappearance of a 5-acre glacial lake in the south of the country. One theory is that an earthquake opened up a fissure in the ground, allowing the lake’s water to drain through.
[Read](http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/6225676.stm “Read the Story”) (BBC)
Friday, the mailbox contained:
* July 2007 issue of [Wired](http://www.wired.com “Wired Website”) (Transformers – 25 Years of Butt-Kicking ‘Bots!)
* August 2007 issue of [Cuisine at home](http://www.cuisineathome.com “Cuisine at home Website”) (Splendid Summer Grilling – streamlined recipes for delicious dinners)
* An offer from [UNITRIN direct](http://www.unitrinsavings.com “UNITRIN direct Website”)
* An advertisement for Michael Moore’s [Sicko](http://www.sicko-themovie.com “Sicko Website”) from the California Nurses Association
* A card from [Bob Goodlatte](http://www.house.gov/goodlatte “Bob Goodlatte Website”) announcing Town Hall Meetings
* An advertisement from [Advanced Circuits](http://www.4pcb.com “Advanced Circuits Website”)
Thursday, the mailbox contained:
* July 2007 issue of [Business 2.0](http://www.business2.com “Business 2.0 Website”) ([50 Who Matter Now – The most influential people in the tech biz – and what you can learn from them.](http://money.cnn.com/galleries/2007/biz2/0706/gallery.50whomatter.biz2/ “Read the Cover Story”))
* July 2007 issue of [TechNet](http://www.technetmagazine.com “TechNet Magazine Website”) (Control Your IT World – How to share, secure, and recover your most critical data)
* Information about [T. Rowe Price](http://www.troweprice.com “T. Rowe Price Website”)’s Program for Charitable for Giving
* Report Cards
* A copy of the [Salem Times and Register](http://host1.bondware.com/~ourvalley/news.php?viewStory=33 “OurValley.org Website”)
* A postcard from [Sun Realty](http://www.sunrealtync.com “Sun Realty Website”) confirming a reservation
Wednesday, the mailbox contained:
* July/August 2007 issue of [Foreign Policy](http://www.foreignpolicy.com “Foreign Policy Website”) ([The States That Fail Us](http://www.foreignpolicy.com/story/cms.php?story_id=3865 “Read the Cover Story”))
* June 25, 2007 issue of [The New Yorker](http://www.newyorker.com “The New Yorker Website”) ([Annals of National Security – The General’s Report – How Antonio Taguba, who investigated the Abu Ghraib scandal, became one of its casualties.](http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2007/06/25/070625fa_fact_hersh “Read the Cover Story”))
* June 25, 2007 issue of [Sporting News](http://www.sportingnews.com “Sporting News Website”) (Be careful what you cheer for.)
* A subscription offer from [The New York Review of Books](http://www.nybooks.com “The New York Review of Books Website”)
* A subscription offer from [Southern Cultures](http://www.southerncultures.org “Southern Cultures Website”)
Paleontologists have discovered a new small gliding reptile in 220 million-year-old sediments of a quarry on the Virginia-North Carolina border. The new creature is named Mecistotrachelos apeoros, meaning “soaring, long-necked” and is about the size of a blue jay from head to tail. The Triassic Period reptile probably fed on insects, scuttling up tree trunks and foraging on the way, before gliding onto neighboring trees.
[Read](http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/19192440/ “Read the Story”) (MSNBC)
Scientists investigating a mysterious ailment that killed many of the nation’s honeybees are concentrating on pesticides and a new pathogen as possible culprits, and some beekeepers are already trying to keep their colonies away from pesticide-exposed fields.
After months of study, researchers are finding it difficult to tie the die-off to any single factor.
[Read](http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/19233858/ “Read the Story”) (AP via MSNBC)
The populations of nearly two dozen common American birds — the fence-sitting meadowlark, the frenetic Rufous hummingbird and the whippoorwill with its haunting call — are half what they were 40 years ago, a new analysis found.
The northern bobwhite and its familiar wake-up whistle once seemed to be everywhere in the East. Last Christmas, volunteer bird counters could find only three of them and only 18 Eastern meadowlarks in Massachusetts. The northern bobwhite had the biggest drop among common birds. In 1967, there were 31 million of the plump ground-loving bird. Now they number closer to 5.5 million.
Many of the species in decline depend on open grassy habitats that are disappearing because of suburban sprawl. Climate change and invasive species are to blame, too.
[Read](http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/19225721/ “Read the Story”) (AP via MSNBC)
Half a century after Mao Zedong’s “Great Leap Forward” brought irrigation to the arid grasslands of Zhengxin in a remote corner of northwest China, the government is giving up on its attempt to make a breadbasket out of what has increasingly become a stretch of scrub and sand dunes. In a problem that’s pervasive in much of China, overfarming has drawn down the water table so low that desert is overtaking farmland.
Many communities have been emptied altogether, leaving behind crumbling homes and empty courtyards.
The battle against deserts is playing out across much of western China. Desertification has caused as much as $7 billion in annual economic losses, the China Daily reported. Over the past decade, Chinese deserts expanded at a rate of 950 square miles a year. The farm production declines have forced China to draw down its grain stocks, and eventually it will need to buy a massive 30-50 million tons a year on the world market.
[Read](http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/19232648/ “Read the Story”) (AP via MSNBC)
Tuesday, the mailbox contained:
A 50-ton bowhead whale caught off the Alaskan coast last month had a weapon fragment embedded in its neck that showed it survived a similar hunt — more than a century ago.
Embedded deep under its blubber was a 3 1/2-inch arrow-shaped projectile that has given researchers insight into the whale’s age, estimated between 115 and 130 years old.
[Read](http://dsc.discovery.com/news/2007/06/13/whaleweapon_arc.html?category=archaeology&guid=20070613094500&dcitc=w19-502-ak-0000 “Read the Story”) (AP via the Discovery Channel)
People scream after finding huge frogs in their toilet bowls. Frogs hitch rides in cars, later surprising unsuspecting drivers. Since the mid 1990’s, the frogs have caused two or three blackouts per week during the spring and fall.
It’s all real, and, according to the University of Florida, the invasive Cuban tree frog is responsible for the chaos. The species has colonized over half of Florida and is now moving in on the rest of the state. The 6-inch-long frogs, which dwarf native tiny tree frogs, have also been found in Georgia, South Carolina, California, Hawaii and Canada.
[Read](http://dsc.discovery.com/news/2007/06/14/giantfrogs_ani.html?category=animals&guid=20070614111500&dcitc=w19-502-ak-0000 “Read the Story”) (Discovery Channel)
Kellogg Co. said it will increase the nutritional value of the cereals and snacks targeted at children or else stop marketing those products to them altogether.
Company brands such as Froot Loops cereal and Pop-Tarts toaster pastries that fall outside certain standards will either be reformulated or dropped from advertising that reaches audiences where at least half of the people are under age 12.
The change comes **after parents and advocacy groups worried about child obesity threatened a lawsuit**.
[Read](http://www.wtopnews.com/?nid=106&sid=1166567 “Read the Story”) (AP via WTOP)
We were away last week and received the backlog of mail today. Monday, the mailbox contained:
Now Playing: Texas Tornados – Austin City Limits: Live From Austin, TX: Texas Tornados – She Never Spoke Spanish To Me
