Hey, That’s My Grass! Goats Chomp Fire Fuels Around Previously Burned Wenatchee Neighborhood

By Courtney Flatt
These goats from a herding operation based in Ephrata were in Wenatchee in July to clean out fire fuels near Broadview neighborhood that burned in the 2015 Sleepy Hollow fire. CREDIT: COURTNEY FLATT/NWPB
A fire district around Wenatchee has come up with a new way to make wildland fires less severe. Chelan County Fire District 1 is ditching the hand tools and machinery that firefighters traditionally use to thin overgrown brush. Instead, they’re turning to a more natural approach to thin out fuels around the Broadview neighborhood that burned in the 2015 Sleepy Hollow Read More

This Pesticide Poisons, But It’s Still Sprayed On Washington Orchards — Including Christmas Trees

By Eilís O'Neil
Cristina Campos removes damaged apples from the flume, the front end of the packing line, on Tuesday November, 20, 2018, at Gilbert Orchards in Yakima. CREDIT: KUOW PHOTO/MEGAN FARMER
The chemical’s especially dangerous for babies and small children because it can have lasting neurological effects. Chlorpyrifos can blow from orchards into nearby houses; parents who work in orchards can transport the chemical home on their clothes and in their cars; and chlorpyrifos can make its way into developing fetuses through umbilical cord blood. Read More

Like That Year-Round Crisp Apple? Thank A Scientist Or Warehouse Possibly In Wenatchee

By NPR News
Different apples need different controlled storage environments. For example, Honeycrisps are sensitive to low temperatures so you can't put them in cold environments right after they've been harvested. And Fujis can't take high carbon dioxide levels. CREDIT: Getty Images/Westend61
In our globalized economy, we expect nothing less than to be able to consume our favorite fruits and vegetables all year, even when they're not in season locally. Placing strawberries from Mexico in your shopping cart in February and stocking up on kiwis from Chile in July – that's pretty much normal, even expected. But to buy an apple in March? That's a whole different Read More
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