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Wood
Prairie Farm
The
Seed
Piece Newsletter
Organic
News
and
Commentary
Friday April 12,
2013

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In This
Issue of The Seed Piece:
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A Different
Life in Maine.
Home in the
Woods. Address Unknown.
Maine Tales.
The Maine Woods Hermit
Burglar.
North Pond, Maine.
Circa 1986.
By jumpins, it must have come as one awful shock to
Christopher’s mother.
In any other year,
folks up this way in Maine might well have been preoccupied this week
with the
predicted late Winter snowstorm not just now kicking in that’s expected
to drop
Northern Maine half a foot of heavy snow.
But the fact is, the entire State of Maine has been a buzz with the
reappearance – make
that the arrest – of the Hermit Burglar who has been living alone,
undetected,
year-round in a tarp encampment in the Maine
woods for the last 27 years.
When twenty year
old Christopher Knight up and disappeared without a trace in 1986 from
his home
in Fairfield, Maine
- no note, no call - it was certainly a queer thing.
In time, the worst came to be assumed. And while Maine was tending
her potato crops
and lobster traps
and chainsaws and
skidders and ice fishing lines and herring nets and snowplows, no one imagined that one
among us was living
in solitude, no more than ten miles from Waterville. He was gaining his
sustenance by gently breaking into Summer camps – what we call cabins
here in Maine
- and stealing the necessities of his life: food, liquor, batteries and
the
occasional propane barbeque tank. The
fact is Christopher never ever built a wood fire for fear his hidden
lair would
be discovered from the fire’s smoke.
Christopher is
thought to be responsible for a thousand break-ins – that’s almost one
per week
over his 27 year habitation. He
is thought to have burgled
at night and was always predisposed to enter empty camps by an unlocked
window
and he carefully locked up when leaving. He took no money, just the
bare
essentials he needed to live. When
Christopher was arrested at Pine Tree Camp, he was wearing boots
identified as having been stolen
five years ago. The
discovery of those
familiar boots was the first hint this was no simple burglary. Truth be
told,
the arresting game warden was just the second person Christopher had
spoken to
in 27 years of his solitary life.
If you’d like to
learn more details about Maine’s
Hermit Burglar and see his photo, the Bangor
paper
did an awful good writeup the other day which a feller could find here.
Jim
&
Megan Gerritsen & Family
Wood
Prairie Farm
Bridgewater,
Maine
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Click here for the
Wood Prairie Farm Home Page
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Rep. Lance
Harvel (R-Farmington). Primary sponsor of LD 718.
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Universal Support
for Maine's GMO Labeling Bill.
Maine residents and supporters of LD 718, Maine’s Right to Know GMO
Labeling bill are gearing up for the public hearing
to be held at the State Capitol in Augusta on Tuesday April
23. Accompanying this historic event will be an outdoor rally
and press conference organized by the Maine Organic Farmers and
Gardeners Association (MOFGA) and its grassroots coalition. If you are in or near Maine
please join us in Augusta and bring your friends!
What makes Maine's fight for Right to
Know GMO legislation unique among the 50 states is the universal
perception within food-centric Maine that passage is absolutely
demanded by truth and justice. Recent scientific polling has
documented that an incredible
95% of Mainers want to know if their food is GMO and 91% of Mainers support GMO
labeling legislation. The massive
support spans the entire state and holds true across all demographic
categories: rich/poor, north/south, Tea Party/Progressive,
Democrat/Republican, rural/urban, Christian Right/Spiritual Left. This
vast popular unanimity is also reflected in the fact that LD 718 has the unprecedented
bi-partisan support 123 co-sponsors (out of a Legislature
of just 35 Senators and 151 Representatives) stretching from Kittery to
the Allagash.
Basic truthfulness in business demands
that GMO products be labeled so that families can decide for themselves
whether or not to purchase food made from GMOs. The concerns
over GMOs and their uncertainty distill into and conclude with Mainer's
universal belief of their Right to Know.
Maine often finds itself ahead of the curve on pressing
issues. Years ago Maine with its keen environmental awareness pioneered
bottle-return and billboard-ban laws despite heavy out-of-state
industry opposition. The big question which remains now is will
Monsanto tentacles be able to overturn the will of the Maine
people. Monsanto recently flaunted its disrespect for our
nation’s democratic process when through stealth and secrecy it
inserted its unconstitutional Monsanto
Protection Act into the nation's emergency
financial Continuing Resolution in a move designed to exempt it’s
gene-spliced products from judicial review.
When it comes to those who consider
themselves above the law, anything is possible. But the people in Maine
are determined.
Jim & Megan
Click here
for the latest on the OSGATA et al v. Monsanto lawsuit.
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Quotes
to Live By: Mahatma Gandhi
“First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you,
then you win.”
-
Mahatma Gandhi
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Wise man. Offering
us hope and perspective.
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Delightful
Parsnip Johnny Cakes. Photo
by Angela Wotton. |
Recipe: Parsnip
Johnny Cakes
2
c Milk
1
Large egg
1/2
c Pre-cooked parsnip,
chopped or coins
2
T Butter
Mix
dry ingredients. Beat eggs well, add milk and combine the two mixtures.
Add the tablespoon of maple syrup, along with the parsnips. Melt the
butter in a cast iron skillet and fry the fresh sage leaves until
crispy. Remove sage leaves and set aside. Spoon pancake batter onto pan
and place a fried sage leaf on the top of each pancake. Turn when
bubbly, and brown your Johnny cakes on the flip side. Enjoy as a main
meal or a savory side dish.
-Megan
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Special Offer: FREE Dark Red
Norland
Early
red potatoes are always one of the
most popular types of our Wood
Prairie Farm Organic Certified Seed
Potatoes. And
there’s good
reason. One of the
most anticipated
rites of Summer are beautiful new red potatoes freshly dug from the
garden, steamed and
served hot with butter, salt and pepper.
Our new variety, early Organic
Dark Red Norland is
a wonderful potato with good taste and
reliability which you will want to try.
Now here's your chance to earn
a FREE
(Value $15.95) –2 ½ lbs Sack of Organic Dark
Red Norland Certified Seed Potatoes - when the goods on your
next order
totals $55 or more. FREE 2 ½ lbs
Organic Dark Red Norland
Certified Seed Potatoes offer ends 11:59
PM on
Monday,
April 15, 2013,
so hurry!
Please use Promo Code WPF1143.
Your order and FREE
2 ½ lbs Organic Dark Red Norland Certified
Seed Potatoes must ship by 5/8/13.
Offer may not be combined with other offers. Please call or click today!
Click here for our Wood Prairie Farm Organic Certified Seed Potatoes
Section.
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Dark Red
Norland. Reliable early red. |
Our Mailbox: Despot
Battles, 100% Organic Potatoes and the Global Cause.

Battle of the Out
of Touch Despots.
Dear WPF.
Thought you'd like to see this comparison of
Facebook Likes between Monsanto and Kim Jong-Un. North Korea at 54,552
Likes beats Monsanto with just 17,703.
FA
World Wide Web
WPF Replies.
Numbers don't lie. Nothing here to add except one
question. Monsanto has 22,000 employees. Did 4,300 just not get the
memo?
Jim
Our Potatoes are
100% Organic.
Dear WPF.
These days it's hard to find truly organic product
in the city food markets. And the word organic doesn't have much
meaning these days. Over the internet, sites use trickery to get you to
buy their products by way of word manipulation. If you would clarify
for me that this sentence is 100% accurate. "Our potatoes are 100%
Organic." As in, if I were to leave one out of the refrigerator for a
week, it would actually start growing. Unlike the Organic ones from the
super markets. Thanking you in advance.
SW
World Wide Web
WPF Replies.
We have been MOFGA certified organic for 31 years.
When we say our potatoes are 100% organic we mean that the potatoes we
sell are what we grow on our organic farm in Maine and that everything
we grow - including 100% of our potatoes - is organic. And yes if you
put our organic potatoes out at room temperature, in 7-14 days you
would see sprouts emerge from the eyes.
Jim
Helping With the
Global Cause.
Dear WPF.
Hello! So not only do I purchase Wood Prairie Seed
Potatoes every year, I have been following all your Facebook and
website posts about OSGATA vs Monsanto. I am interested in
learning more about what your involvement with all of that fight is. In
Atlanta I am involved in the urban farming movement by growing,
volunteering, and buying from the markets. This year I want to become
even more involved. And quite honestly, I am interested in specifically
helping with the global cause against Monsanto. Can you recommend a way
I can do that in Atlanta? Is there any way I can help you from Atlanta?
Thank you for all you do. I look forward to hearing from you.
SW
Atlanta GA
WPF Replies.
Here are some ideas. Helping create a market
alternative to the world according to Monsanto is doing a lot. Keep
promoting the independence which organic seed and organic food
represents. Help spread the word about the rights and issues involved
in OSGATA et al v. Monsanto. Support good GMO labeling. Support access
to farming for new, beginner and military veteran farmers. Plant a
garden. Start a Community Garden in your neighborhood. Work with
teachers and kids to start a garden in your neighborhood's school.
We're glad you care. Thanks.
Jim& Megan
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Wood Prairie Farm Quick
Links
Jim
& Megan Gerritsen
Wood
Prairie Farm
49
Kinney Road
Bridgewater,
Maine 04735
(800)829-9765
Certified Organic, Direct from the Farm
www.woodprairie.com
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