Wood
Prairie Farm
The
Seed
Piece Newsletter
Organic
News
and
Commentary
Friday,
May 15, 2015
Volume 21 Issue 10
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In This
Issue of The Seed Piece:
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Seed
& Planting Time.
Wood Prairie
Farm Organic Vegetable & Herb Seed Rack in our Packing Room. Our
seed rack serves walk-in customers and stands right outside our office
between the Red Door and the dumb waiter which goes down the ten feet
to the potato cellar below.
Planting time
is here. Across the line in Canada, “Victoria Day” is next Monday the
18th and that is the traditional date for gardens to be planted on both
sides of the border in these parts. We still have frost ahead
of
us so frost-sensitive plants like tomatoes, peppers, beans and squash
have some time yet before they are ready to go in.
Our Spring wheat has been planted. We’ll start on
planting
onions, early beets and potatoes on Monday. Now that Spring
is
here it is hard to believe that just five weeks ago we had a record
cold -10ºF one April morning.
Wishing you a good planting and harvest
this year.
.
Jim
&
Megan Gerritsen & Family
Wood
Prairie Farm
Bridgewater,
Maine
Click here for the
Wood Prairie Farm Home Page.
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Acres USA Interview.
Volumious coverage in the top alternative Ag magazine.
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In-Depth
Interview with Jim Gerritsen Appears in Acres USA.
Acres
USA
is a journal which has been providing good information and deep
background to America’s organic and sustainable farmers for four
decades. As a publisher of books in related fields, Acres has become an
iconic thought-leader and is very influential with forward-thinking
farmers.
Acres
USA is famous for their iconic no nonsense full-length
good word interviews. Rare in other print publications, the Acres’
interview format allows great depth and detail, which is extremely
appealing to farmer-readers whose lives and livelinhoods depend on
understanding the fine points.
Jim’s
recent mid-winter interview, “Defending Organic Agriculture,”
lasted almost two hours. It has just been printed in the Acres USA
May issue. The interview was conducted by Chris Walters, son
of Acres’
founder Chuck Walters, and brother to Acres’ Editor Fred Walters.
Jim’s interview trends towards the biographical beginning with that
young man who starts up his $150/acre Maine farm, a pivotal spray drift
incident which occurred in 1979 and other on- and off-farm-related
experiences which culminate in the monumental OSGATA
et al v. Monsanto lawsuit.
"'In 1976 I was 21 years old. I had all of my possessions on the back
of a 1-ton 1960 Chevy truck with a rebuilt engine and a little camper
on back, all my tools and books and set out for Maine...'"
Jim & Megan
Click
Here for Our Certified Organic Cover Crop Seed.
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Special
Offer: FREE
Organic Adirondack
Red Seed Potatoes.
Adirondack
Red
is a recent outstanding potato introduction from Cornell
University. Sporting a beautiful smooth red-skin and
pink-flesh,
Adirondack Red is a mid-season variety. It is oblong in
shape, a
good keeper and has very good eating quality, surpassing Cranberry
Red.
Here’s your chance to trial this bright new variety. Get a FREE 1 lb. Sack of
Adirondack Red Organic Maine Certified Seed Potatoes
(value $11.95) on your next order where the goods total $45 or
more. Please use Promo
Code WPF462. Offer may not be combined with other
offers. Your order and FREE Adirondack Red
seed must ship by 6/5/15. Offer Expires 11:59p.m., Monday, May 18, so
please hurry!
Click
Here for our Wood Prairie Farm Organic Maine Certified Seed Potatoes.
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Adirondack Red. Excellent Red/Red potato from Cornell. |
Complete Our Survey. What's
your favorite potato to grow?
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Survey:
The Best Potato to Grow?
Please cast your vote in our new Wood
Prairie Farm Survey. Tell us which potato
variety you like growing best.
Those
who take our survey will be entered in a drawing and the lucky winner
will recieve a FREE 5# sack of organic Hull-less oat
cover crop seed.
The winning varieties along with the
winning entry will be announced in the next edition of the seed piece.
Jim & Megan
Click
Here for our Wood Prairie Farm Organic Certified Seed Potatoes.
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Worldwide
Farmer Movement to Protect Seed.
Ownership of seed has been in
the
able hands of farmers and the people for 10,000 years. All of
our
ancestors performed the work. They selected and protected the
genetic
seed resource which feeds all of humankind. The asset of seed has
always been and remains the Commons. The people
have never
relinquished their right of ownership of seed. The patenting
of
seed is illegitimate and represents bio-piracy and theft from the
people.
Resistance against the takeover of
seed by corporate and governmental forces is the fight of our
time. Fortunately, as this inspiring and powerful article, Saving
Seeds: Farmers Rise Up Against Industry-Backed Laws
relates, the movement to protect our seed from expropriation is world
wide and growing. This article is must read!
Jim & Megan
Click Here for Our Certified Organic Vegetable Seed.
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Universal Understanding. Worldwide,
farmers understand that seed resources belong to the people. |
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Recipe: Maple Nut
Squares.
For the crust:
1 1/4 c whole wheat
flour
1/3 c firmly packed brown sugar
1/4 tsp sea salt
1/2 c cold unsalted butter cut into 3/4-inch pieces
For the filling:
6 T unsalted butter
1/3 c organic
maple syrup
1/3 c firmly packed brown sugar
1/3 c heavy cream
2 c coarsely chopped walnuts or pecans
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line a 9-inch square baking pan with
parchment, letting it extend up the sides.
In
a large bowl, stir together the flour, brown sugar and salt until
blended. Using a pastry blender or two knives, cut the butter into the
dry ingredients until the mixture forms large coarse crumbs. Press the
crumb mixture into the bottom of the prepared pan. Bake the crust until
the edges are lightly browned and the top feels firm when lightly
touched, 12-17 minutes. Set aside.
To make the filling, combine
the butter, maple syrup, and brown sugar in a saucepan over medium
heat and stir together until the butter melts and the sugar
dissolves. Bring to a boil and boil for 1 minute. Remove from heat and
immediately stir in the cream. Stir in pecans and pour hot filling over
the crust, spreading it evenly to the edges.
Bake until filling
is set when you give the pan a gentle shake, 22-25 minutes. Transfer to
a wire rack to let cool until firm before cutting into bars, about 1
1/2 hours.
Makes 25 small squares
-Megan
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Heavenly
Maple Nut Squares.
Photo
by Angela Wotton
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Our Mailbox:
Overwhelming CPB and Tactics for Fall Planting.
Overwhelming CPB.
Dear WPF.
This
year will be the 4th season we are growing your King Harry potatoes
here in the Piedmont of North Carolina. The first year they lived up to
their billing as being resistant to Colorado Potato beetle. The 2nd
year, not so much. Last year it was worse but we're trying again this
year in a new location in the garden and finding much the same desire
in the Colorado Potato Beetle to enjoy the King Harry crop as much as
they do any other.
I am writing to ask if you
have received similar feedback from other customers. Do you know if
Cornell has found this pattern? Is it unique to our area? Are the
beetles simply adapting so they can also enjoy this food source? We are
picking lots of beetles, eggs and alas larva (so we know we're missing
a lot of eggs). We are happily seeing lots of ladybugs on the plants
this year and I hope they are eating eggs and larva. Any other natural
predators of these annoying beetles?
Thanks for all you do to keep our food stream healthy.
JA
Liberty, NC
WPF Replies.
King Harry is a traditionally bred
variety (Not GMO) which exhibits
high resistance
to not only CPB but also Potato Leafhopper and Flea Beetles. However,
resistance does not equate with immunity. I suspect you have a high
population of CPBs which are overwhelming even King Harry's remarkable
abilities.
Here are two biological controls to
consider for alternative control.
1. A biological control for CPB is the
parasitic fungus Beauvaria
bassiana ("Nautralis O").
2. While the formulation does not currently meet
USDA-NOP
standards (and thus may not be used by certified organic farmers) Bt
tenebrionsis ("Novodor" also known by misc names) is
effective early in
the season for CPB larval stages 1-4. Novodor is used by organic
farmers in
Europe.
Jim.
Tactics for Fall
Planting.
Dear WPF.
My
experience with Rose Finn Apple fingerling and Yukon Gold in my area is
that a
March planting results in an early July harvest. That doesn't seem like
enough time to refrigerate for a mid-August planting. Do you suggest I
plant an earlier maturing variety, or dig up some new potatoes earlier
in the season to save as seed for a fall planting? Also, did I
understand correctly that you are shipping seed as late as July 4?
SS
WWW
WPF Replies.
We ship our seed potatoes ten months a
year
beginning with harvest in September/October and then from our
underground potato storage throughout the Winter and Spring, ending the
season on July 4. Folks in the North may plant spring crops until early
July. For a mid August planting from tubers harvested in early July I
would keep them cool (60ºF) but not in the reefer. Plant as soon as you
see the tubers have broken dormancy. Best for this purpose would be a
short/medium dormancy variety like Dark Red Norland. Yukon Gold are
long dormancy and will require more storage time before they will
sprout and grow.
Jim.
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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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