Wood
Prairie Seed Piece
e-Newsletter
Organic
News
and
Commentary
Friday,
March 11th 2016
Volume
24 Issue 06
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In This
Issue of The Wood Prairie Seed Piece:
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Potato
Harvest in Aroostook County, Maine. New Sweden. Circa 1930.
This
great photo of the Big Sky country that is Aroostook County is taken
from an excellent and fascinating article, New
Sweden Pioneers Made Railroad Men Rich published
by the New England Historical Society. The article tells the
story of the early settlement of New Sweden - one of five townships
north of Caribou cleared and settled by Swedish immigrants – and the
Swedes impact on the establishment of local railroads.
Meanwhile – almost one hundred years after the
photograph was taken – with our seed potato shipping in full swing we
are now busy shuffling spuds much like generations of Aroostook farmers
before us have done for two hundred years.
Despite it being the warmest Winter on
record in northern Maine, we still have snow – and have had it since
November, just not very much of it. We also still have
an excellent selection of seed potatoes available.
So whether you need one pound or 10,000 lbs of seed, please order
online or give us a call and we’ll be happy to help you.
.
Jim
&
Megan Gerritsen & Family
Wood
Prairie Family Farm
Bridgewater,
Maine
Click here for the
Wood Prairie Family Farm Home Page.
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Stop Monsanto's GMO Labeling Law
Pre-emption Bill. All of us should call our two senators
now. |
Urgent Action
Alert! Mandatory GMO Labeling Will Be Outlawed If New Senate "DARK Act"
Passes.
Draconian legislation was just introduced into the
U.S. Senate - under the
direction of Monsanto - which seeks to usurp States’
rights and outlaw
historic right-to-know GMO Labeling laws passed in Maine, Vermont and
Connecticut.
Senate Agriculture Committee Chair Pat
Roberts (R-Kansas), a longtime beneficiary of huge Monsanto campaign
contributions, is pushing the new outrageous legislation in the Senate
which is aimed at annihilating right-to-know GMO labeling overwhelmingly
supported by 90% of Americans.
Roberts’ bill, S. 2609, is the Senate
incarnation of the infamous Monsanto “DARK Act” (Deny Americans the
Right to Know) which passed the House of Representatives back in
August. Last week Roberts’ disastrous bill – which would
create a bogus
“voluntary” GMO labeling system - passed the Senate
Agriculture Committee on a vote of 14-6 with three Democrats (
Heitkamp, Klobuchar, Donnelly) voting along with the Republican
majority.
Voting on the Roberts’ bill is imminent
and is expected to occur next week in the Senate. It is essential that a tidal wave
of telephone calls be placed immediately
to U. S. Senators.
Please call your State’s two Senators plus the
twelve Senators depicted in the meme from our allies at Food Democracy
Now! Tell
the Senators to Vote No on S. 2609 and Oppose Preemption of States
Rights. Senators MUST OPPOSE any Federal GMO Labeling legislation
unless it contains these three provisions: 1) MUST be Mandatory,
2) MUST Require
On-Package labeling and 3) MUST Contain the
Words “Produced with Genetic Engineering.”
We are working closely with our allies
to defeat this horrendous Monsanto legislation. We need your
help! Find
valuable background on the situation here.
We need all of us to standup to Monsanto TODAY or
else we will lose our right-to-know about GMOs FOREVER.
Thanks to everyone for helping!
Jim & Megan
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Special
Offer: FREE Sack of Organic Potato Fertilizer.
As heavy feeders potatoes – and also corn and
squash – appreciate good fertility. When they receive what
they desire in the way of fertility and moisture these heavy feeder
crops will reward you handsomely with good yields and high nutrition.
We find that most gardens can use an extra boost in
fertility. That’s where our Organic
Potato Fertilizer comes in handy.
Now, earn yourself a FREE 3 lbs. Sack of Organic
Potato Fertilizer (Value $9.95) when the amount of goods
in your next order totals $49 or more. FREE 3 lbs. Sack of Organic
Potato Fertilizer offer ends Midnight Monday, March 14.
Please use Promo Code WPF 482.
Your order and FREE 3
lbs. Sack of Organic Potato Fertilizer offer must ship by
5/6/16. This offer may not be combined with other offers. Please call
or click today!
Questions?
Call Wood Prairie Family Farm (207)
429-9765.
Click
Here for Our Wood Prairie Family Farm Garden Tool Section.
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Good
Potatoes Need Good Fertility. If in doubt plant half your
crop without organic potato fertilizer and compare yield.
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Maine's Zest Magazine Covers
Maine Potato Harvest. Our daughter Amy holds a beautiful Butte.
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Maine's ZEST Features Wood
Prairie Family Farm.
ZEST
is a new top-shelf Maine magazine focused on the food scene in the Pine
Tree State. To accompany their feature story about us, last
Fall - during our Wood Prairie potato harvest – the editors were smart
enough to hire a talented local free-lance photographer named Denae
McKenna to shoot photos. The photographic quality is
excellent. We would have that opinion even if Denae were not
our son, Caleb’s, girlfriend from up in Caribou.
ZEST’s
online version displays just two of Denae’s
photos. But you’ll find all six in the beautiful print
edition - available by subscription or on newsstands across the State
of Maine.
Megan provided to ZEST her
favorite recipe for Potato
Corn Chowder. You also may want to sit down
before you read the interesting though sad-but-true “Licensure” section
which offers a sobering listing of the paperwork requirements all too
common nowadays for a family farm.
"Gerritsen moved to Maine with $7,000 in savings,
driving a friend’s
1960 Chevy flatbed truck that carried
all of his possessions: tools, a
chainsaw, books and the family’s
Coleman tent. He lived in that tent for
the first year while he built a cabin
on the farmland. Bit by bit, earning
money by working at nearby farms, he
was able to purchase the
equipment he needed for his own farm,
including materials to build a
woodshed and barn, as well as a tractor
and 50-year-old farm
implements. In 1984, he was introduced
to his now-wife Megan, who also
joined the farm business...”
Jim & Megan
Click
here for Our Wood Prairie Organic Certified Vegetable Seeds.
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FREE Wood Prairie Potato School
Webinars: Five Down & One To Go.
Yesterday, we
presented the fifth in our Winter-long series of Wood Prairie Potato
School Webinars. Webinar
#5 “OK, My Potatoes are Planted, Now What Do I Do?”
has now been posted online as a You Tube video on our Wood Prairie
channel.
In yesterday’s Potato Webinar we covered
the important organic management issues of weeds, fertility and insect
control in potatoes. Jim went into lots of detail on
controlling bad-behavior-poster-boy Colorado Potato Beetles.
If CPBs have been a problem in your potato patch, you will want to
watch. We also provided an overview of the various options
you have in analyzing the health and balance of your soil.
Our sixth and concluding Potato
Webinar #6 “Why Crop Rotation is an Organic Potato Farmer’s Best Friend”
will be held in three weeks on Thursday March 31 at
1 pm ET (10 am PT). We encourage you to reserve your place
now by signing up today. To those people who register we'll email you a
reminder as we get closer to the date.
For your convenience, here are links to
our other Wood Prairie Potato Webinars from this Winter.
Wood
Prairie Potato School Webinar #4: 'Of
Course Before You Harvest You've Got to Plant'
Wood
Prairie Potato School Webinar #3: 'Why All This Hullabaloo About
Efficiency at Harvest?'
Wood
Prairie Potato School Webinar #2: 'So THAT’S How They Multiply Seed
Potatoes'
Wood
Prairie Potato School Webinar #1: 'Butte
(Say “Beaut”-iful)'
Jim & Megan
Click
Here for our Wood Prairie Organic Maine Certified Seed Potatoes. |

Coming Up
March 31: Our Last Webinar of the Year. We'll save you a
seat. |
President Eisenhower on Defense.
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Recipe: Maple Syrup
Scones.
1/4 c Organic
Maple Syrup
6 T Milk
2 1/4 c Whole Wheat
Flour
1/2 c Rolled Oats
1 1/2 T Baking
Powder
1/2 tsp Sea
Salt
11 T unsalted butter, cold, cut into cubes
Preheat the oven to 400ºF degrees.
Whisk together the maple syrup and milk in a small bowl and set aside.
In a food processor, combine the flour, oats, baking powder, and salt
and pulse to mix together. Add the butter and pulse until it resembles
sandy flour (about 20 quick pulses). Add the maple syrup milk. Pulse
just until the dough comes together. If the batter is too dry add more
milk a bit at a time.
Turn onto a floured surface, knead once or twice just to bring the
dough together. Arrange the dough into a 1-inch thick rectangle. Slice
the dough into nine equal-sized squares. Arrange the scones next to one
another on a baking sheet, 1/4-inch distance between each of
them. Bake for 20-25 minutes, or until golden along the
bottom and tops. Yummy.
-Megan
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Tasty Maple
Treats.
Photo by Angela Wotton.
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Wood Prairie Farm Quick
Links
Jim
& Megan Gerritsen
Wood
Prairie Family Farm
49
Kinney Road
Bridgewater,
Maine 04735
(207)
429 - 9765
Certified Organic, Direct from the Farm
www.woodprairie.com
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