if you wanted to track your local wind patterns…

We’ve got another good one for all of our fellow map geeks out there. Sev just learned about Windy TV from the lighthouse keeper in the Azores. The website provides a real-time map visualization of wind and weather patterns around the globe. It allows the user to zero in on a specific address or to get a satellite’s-eye-view of whole continents, and it’s a great tool for educating yourself about about predominant wind patterns and their seasonal variations.

Utility aside, we’d be remiss for not mentioning that the visualization is in and of itself downright gorgeous; as far as we’re concerned this is kind of the best way to spend time on the internet since Google Earth.

Oh, and bonus? Windy TV also provides your local forecast five days out without the encroachment of ads.

It makes so much sense to be as familiar with the wind as you are with your coastline, your local watershed, your local politics…

The air is moving! Can you feel it?!

mapping perennials

Ever wish you could find every perennial farm any where you went in the country? Turns out you can. Perennial Map provides a great interactive platform for finding perennial farms across the country. Whether you’re looking to network, hire, or just learn more, farms that raise everything from maple syrup to asparagus are listed here. Is your farm missing from the list? It’s free to create a new posting!

open source mapping through ny public library

The Lionel Pincus & Princess Firyal Map Division is very proud to announce the release of more than 20,000 cartographic works as high resolution downloads. We believe these maps have no known US copyright restrictions.* To the extent that some jurisdictions grant NYPL an additional copyright in the digital reproductions of these maps, NYPL is distributing these images under a Creative Commons CC0 1.0 Universal Public Domain Dedication. The maps can be viewed through the New York Public Library’s Digital Collections page, and downloaded (!), through the Map Warper. First, create an account, then click a map title and go. Here’s a primer and more extended blog post on the warper.

To read more, click HERE!

maps showing how maine’s coastline could change

New sea-level rise forecast is alarming: Here are 10 maps showing how Maine’s coastline could change

This computer-generated image shows what Portland’s Back Cove would look like after a rise in sea level (Natural Resources Council of Maine).

According to a report this week in Slate, a team led by the former lead NASA scientist on climate change is now forecasting a much more rapid and dramatic rise in sea level than was previously expected.

sunday reading: foodland from tni

image via thenewinquiry.com

Check out The New Inquiry Adam Rothstein’s 2012 interview with Nicola Twilley, who works for Columbia University’s Studio-X, is co-founder of the Foodprint Project, and runs the Edible Grography blog. They discuss food piracy, refrigeration geography, and strategic food reserves.

Adam Rothstein: How would you describe the Edible Geography blog project?

Nicola Twilley: I had too many diverse interests in food space, culture, naturally built and virtual landscapes, and environmental issues. Rather than having a website where I write about everything that I find interesting, I force myself to go through the lens of food.

I initially resisted launching a “food blog,” because of the image of a food blog being just “pictures of cupcakes” or “what I had for lunch,” or “ten exciting new ways to prepare quinoa.” But I think of it as a frame, frequently on an entirely different perspective to a story that I might otherwise miss. It relates to stories of domestication in agriculture, bioarchaeology, culture, technology, and almost anything else. There’s not a lot of stuff you can’t address through the lens of food, so although I call it a constraint, it hardly is at all.

CONTINUE READING

do you live in one of california’s pesticide hotspots?

image via theguardian.com

You might wonder how much of your food and air is contaminated by pesticides. Now, if you live in California, you can find out!

The Center for Investigative Reporting has put together an interactive map of California’s pesticide hotspots so you can check whether or not you live in one.

Check out the interactive map HERE.

new plant hardiness zone map!

Check it out, Greenhorns: 2012 Plant Hardiness Zone Map 
You can type in your zipcode or click on any state for a detailed map.  So user friendly!

The 2012 USDA Plant Hardiness Zone Map is the standard by which gardeners and growers can determine which plants are most likely to thrive at a location. The map is based on the average annual minimum winter temperature, divided into 10-degree F zones. Compared to the 1990 version, zone boundaries in this edition of the map have shifted in many areas. The new map is generally one 5-degree Fahrenheit half-zone warmer than the previous map throughout much of the United States.

For the first time, the map is available as an interactive GIS-based map, for which a broadband Internet connection is recommended, and as static images for those with slower Internet access. Users may also simply type in a ZIP Code and find the hardiness zone for that area.

10 years of california farmlink

Technically, if they were farmers, they would no longer qualify under the USDA’s definition of “Beginning Farmer.”

anyway… check them out.  And their snazzy new map of farm opportunities!

On August 30, 2009, California FarmLink and over 100 of its friends, farmers, funders, and new acquaintances wiled away the afternoon at Oak Hill Farm in Glen Ellen, CA, celebrating ten years of working to keep land in agriculture and farmers on that land.

mapping young farmers

It’s a popular thing, it seems. Have you been to our site, Serve Your Country food?
Dwell has a mapping project too: Small Farms Across the United States

Greenhorns – are you on our map?  Visit our Serve Your Country Food site and join!

fabulous quilted maps

you know we love maps… this is via Brooklyn Based

Remember when you were a kid, and you threw blankets over chairs to make tents? Emily Fischer did that too, but she didn’t think of them as a place to hide. She was creating peaks and valleys — topography — because what she saw was a real-life map. She’s been playing with them ever since, first as an architect, and now as the creator of beautiful quilts of Brooklyn neighborhoods called Soft-Maps.

mapping the possibilities

this is from the USDA! (and click on the map to buy our poster…)

Mapping and Modeling Eastern U.S. Food Production
By Ann Perry
September 2, 2009

Agricultural Research Service (ARS) scientists are mapping an array of county-level data from Maine to Virginia on weather, soil, land use, water availability and other elements. Then they’ll use their map to model potential crop production and find out where local food production could meet current and projected demand—and where it won’t.

food mapping

as you know, we love maps.

and here is an interesting food mapping project via Middlebury College, involving dining services, the geography department, and the college’s organic garden.

Soliciting Maps!

We’re looking for cool maps to post on the website of our mapping project, Serve Your Country Food!  Here’s a great one that represents which areas of the country are becoming more democratic (blue) or more republican (red,) based the November 4th election.   Have maps that you think we should post?  Email us!  Send an image of the map to thegreenhorns@gmail.com You can check out the maps we have so far at http://www.serveyourcountryfood.net/static/mapslinks