The Wood Prairie Seed Piece
            e-Newsletter
            Organic News and Commentary
                  Friday, March 23rd 2018
                       Volume 26 Issue 6


                                                   
 In This Issue of The Wood Prairie Seed Piece:
  An Early Spring?

     Earl Fruit Company 'Yosemite Brand,' Circa 1920.  Beautiful fruit crate label art used one-hundred-years ago by M.A. Murphy of Highgrove in California’s Riverside County.  Here in Maine, our beautiful landscape resembles a deep white canvas as our steady series of snowfalls builds up our snow pack pushing back Spring.  Inside and underground we are hard at work sorting organic seed potatoes, bagging them up and shipping them out.  We are at peak shipping and with our crack crew we have been keeping up with orders.  Last Sunday morning the outside thermometer read +4oF, reminding us that while we’re emerging from the depths of Winter, it isn’t so very far behind us.
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 Caleb, Jim & Megan Gerritsen & Family
 Wood Prairie Family Farm
 Bridgewater, Maine
Stripes of Wildflowers to Cut Down Pests.


This beautiful photo accompanies a recent article in The Guardian. Scientists in Central and Eastern England are experimenting with using wildflowers to attract beneficial insects which work as natural predators, eating damaging insect pests which threaten crops.  Planting twenty-foot-wide flower stripes  every 300 feet in large fields seems to effectively mesh well with the predator insects natural ranging ability.
Special Offer: FREE Organic Maine Easter Egg Baby Potatoes.

     While not by any means the record-setting ‘Early Easter’ of 1818, when Easter was celebrated on March 22, this year Easter is fairly early.  In these parts, the old timers had a saying “Early Easter, Early Spring.  Time will tell how early – or late- our Spring will be.  But one thing’s for certain and that is Easter 2018 is little more than one week away.

      Still plenty of time - if you act fast - to get some of our colorful Easter Egg Baby Potatoes to enjoy with your Easter Dinner.

     Now enjoy some Easter Eggs Potatoes and it will be on us.  Receive a FREE 2 Lb. Sack of Organic Easter Egg Baby Potatoes (Value $16.95) when your next order totals $69 or more.   FREE 2 Lb. Sack of Organic Easter Egg Baby Potatoes Offer ends 11:59 PM on Sunday, March 25, 2018, so please hurry!

     Please use Promo Code WPFF423. Your order and FREE 2 Lb. Sack of Organic Easter Egg Baby Potatoes must ship by April 6, 2018. Offer may not be combined with other offers. Please click today!

Click Here for for Selection of Wood Prairie Organic Potatoes for Your Kitchen.

Wood Prairie Easter Eggs. Baby potatoes for Easter or anytime.
Wood Prairie Family Farm Photos.


Amy Sorting Next Week's Wood Prairie Orders. Youngest Gerritsen Amy (who just turned 15 last week) had a day off today from High School due to teachers' meetings and volunteered to help Megan sort through the many hundreds of orders going out next week.  Amy is working beside Megan in her office adorned with our kids' grammar school artwork from years gone by. Can you tell we're descendants of Dutch painter Rembrandt?


Worm's Eye View: Caleb Stacking Cartons on Pallets of Organic Seed Potatoes Heading South. Caleb topping off pallets which would have been too tall to fit through the potato storage door.  Each carton of potatoes weights 50 pounds and there are seven cartons per layer.  We can fit six layers on a pallet and get it out through the door.  Any needed layer over six high gets added on top outside before loading on the truck.


Reverence and Good-Natured Maine Humor. Look closely for the words on the back of the cab of this truck which he had just loaded with those pallets Caleb had built up. The truck is from the LeJoie's Grand Prix Farms in Van Buren, up in Northern Maine's Acadian French country.  After five generations, this potato farm is still going strong.  Farm patriarch Normand LeJoie passed on five years ago after enjoying over 50 years of potato farming and driving trucks up and down the East Coast.  Mr. LaJoie was affectionately known as "Superfrog, the harmonica playing truck driver."  The potato truck's lettering pays tribute to Normand with the words "In Memory of Superfrog."


The Snows Keep Coming to Maine. In the last issue of the Wood Prairie Seed Piece we showed a photo of snow building up outside our kitchen window.  Here's that same window - with the bird feeder encased in snow - after additional storms have dropped snow and now covered up our window completely. By the end of April most of this snow will be gone.
Notable Quotes: Jim Hightower on Philosophy.
Recipe: Veggie Soup.

1 T olive oil
1 c finely chopped onion
½ c chopped celery
½ c diced green pepper
1 c diced carrot (about 2 carrots)
2 garlic cloves, minced
15.5 oz beans, rinsed and drained (optional)
2 c cubed Carola potato (about 2 medium)
1 small winter squash (Butternut, Delicata), cubed
1 – 2 c water
2 (14.5-oz) cans vegetable broth
1 tsp dried thyme or oregano
1 bay leaf
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper

Heat oil in a Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Add onion and cook until translucent. Add celery, green peppers, carrots and garlic; cook, stirring occasionally, about 4 minutes. Stir in potatoes, squash and spices. Add broth and just enough water to cover vegetables. Bring to a boil; cover, reduce heat, and simmer 40 minutes or until vegetables are tender. If using beans, add for last 20 minutes of cooking.

- Megan & Angie


Veggie Soup.
Photo by Angela Wotton.


 Caleb & Jim & Megan Gerritsen
 Wood Prairie Family Farm
 49 Kinney Road
 Bridgewater, Maine 04735
 (207) 429 - 9765 Certified Organic, From Farm to Mailbox
 www.woodprairie.com