Wood
Prairie Farm
The
Seed
Piece Newsletter
Organic
News
and
Commentary
Thursday,
June 11 2015
Volume 21 Issue 12
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In This
Issue of The Seed Piece:
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Spring
Rains.
Crossing the
Aroostook River with a Load of Hay Destined for Logging Operations.
Some of the earliest demand for Aroostook County farm crops came from
the logging camps in the North Maine Woods. This photo from one-hundred
years ago was taken in the township of Masardis - twenty miles west of
Wood Prairie Farm - and shows local farmers working to meet the needs
of draft horses involved in logging operations.
In recent weeks we've slipped into a
pattern of rainy weather and wet ground which has held us up from
finishing planting. We expect to be back planting on Friday but have
more rain forecast for Friday night and again Monday night.
.
Jim
&
Megan Gerritsen & Family
Wood
Prairie Farm
Bridgewater,
Maine
Click here for the
Wood Prairie Farm Home Page.
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Video Report Captures Monsanto
Culpability in Indian Farmer Suicides. Included are a few
pertinent quotes.
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The Real
& Sad Story on Tragic Farmer Suicides in India.
This new Russia Today documentary, 100%
Cotton. Made in India (26:36), exposes
Monsanto’s pivotal role in the widespread Indian farmer suicides.
The film documents Monsanto and their flawed GE
Cotton seed monopoly as the central player responsible for the stunning
290,000 suicides committed by debt-burdened Indian family farmers.
In producing this film, RT paid a visit last
winter to Wood Prairie Farm and interviewed Jim. Footage from
the interview made its way into two segments within the film.
"We could right now with what food we have feed 9, 10
billion people - 15 billion people - with current supplies of food. It
is not a matter of a shortage of food. The problem is distribution, and
the problem is that hunger is a function of poverty. And Biotech
companies are not going to be eliminating poverty. They are increasing
poverty by forcing farmers to have to buy seed from them each and every
year. Breaking a tradition which has gone on for 10,000 years of
farmers saving seed, regionally adapting the seed best to their farm
and their locale and their neighbors, and trading that seed back and
forth."
There is no doubt this is a very sad story to
contemplate. However, the RT producers did an excellent job
in documenting the issue. The result is a powerful and moving
documentary which succeeds at getting the painful truth out.
You will want to watch and share with friends and family
Jim & Megan
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Special
Offer: FREE
Organic
Oilseed Radish.
Some special cover crops not only add organic
matter and improve soil structure but help rid the soil of
pests. Organic
Oilseed Radish produces natural glucosinolates
(GSLs) which reduce soil-borne pests such as pathogenic nematodes and
funguses plus inhibit weed seed germination. A little Organic
Oilseed Radish seed covers a large plot.
Get a FREE
4 oz Sack of Wood Prairie Farm Organic Oilseed Radish
(Value $5.95) - when the amount of goods in your next order totals $35
or more. FREE Sack of Wood Prairie
Farm Organic Oilseed Radish offer ends 11:59 pm Monday
June 15, 2015.
Please use Promo Code WPF464.
Your order and the FREE Sack of Wood Prairie
Farm Organic Oilseed Radish must ship by 6/25/15. Please
call or click today!
Questions?
Call Wood Prairie Farm (800) 829-9765.
Click
Here for Our Wood Prairie Farm Organic Maine Cover Crop Seed.
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Powerful Cover Crop. Secure a FREE
sack of Organic
Oilseed Radish for your garden. |
This Summer's Best Read. String
up your hammock and enjoy the journey.
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Must
Read New Will Bonsall Gardening Book.
Will Bonsall and his extensive seed-saving Scatterseed Project
are well-respected and iconic institutions across not only rural Maine
but well beyond. Will and Molly’s Khadighar
Farm is located in the western Maine township of
Industry, near Farmington.
Will is one of the wisest and wittiest original
thinkers Maine has yet produced. His brand new book, Will
Bonsall’s Essential Guide to Radical, Self-Reliant Gardening
will absolutely be a welcome addition to your library and is certain to
be thoroughly enjoyed by all readers. You may order will’s book from
our Wood
Prairie Bookstore.
The risk of describing Will’s book as a gardening
book is that the aspiring reader may miss the reality that it is really
a book on life, centered as a good life should be, around a
garden. Will is a patient teacher with encyclopedic
knowledge. His writing style is warm and authentic, accentuated by his
dry New England humor.
To read this book is akin to having Will stop by
and visit by the glowing kitchen cookstove. He shares a lifetime of
observations and conclusions – both useful and essential – and a deep
respect for those who have come before us.
Jim & Megan
Click
Here for our Wood Prairie Farm Essential Books Section.
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Remarkable
Video of Instant-Concrete-Structure.
You will want to take two minutes to watch this amazing
video of a new invention for a inflatable
‘concrete tent.’ Once the idea becomes commercialized, these
units could be airlifted and become literal lifesavers in disaster
areas such as Nepal
which is still reeling from their recent earthquakes.
Jim & Megan
Click
Here for Our Wood Prairie Farm Organic Vegetable Seed.
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Amazing Video
(2:20). Permanent ingenuity. |

Steel
Fingernail. The Cobrahead is an indispensable garden tool. |
Gardening
Survey Winners.
In the last Seed
Piece we circulated a new survey asking you for the top reasons why you
garden.
Your answers were definitive.
Tied for first place were Access to
Good, Fresh Food and It’s Food I
Can Trust.
Coming behind them in third place was I Like
Growing Things.
A drawing was held for all those
readers who took our survey. The drawing winner was Pat Frappier down in
Downeast Maine’s Jonesboro.
As a winner, Pat will be receiving a FREE
Cobrahead Hand Weeder.
Thanks everyone for taking part!
Megan
Click
Here for our Wood Prairie Farm Tools & Supplies Section.
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Recipe: Easter Egg
Potato Pizza with Onions.
1 lb Whole Wheat
Pizza Dough
1/4 cup Olive Oil
1/4 cup Chopped
Fresh Rosemary
1 tablespoon Chopped
Fresh Rosemary
2 cup Sweet
Onion
6 Large Garlic
Cloves (Sliced)
1 Large Ball Mozerella Cheese
(Pulled to Shreds)
3 cup Multi-Colored
Potatoes Thinly Sliced
1 Sea
Salt
1 Freshly Ground Black Pepper
1/4 cup Parmesian
Cheese
Preheat oven to 500 degrees. On a
floured surface, shape dough into a rectangle and roll it out slightly.
Lift dough onto a well-oiled baking sheet (an 18 by 13 baking sheet
works best) and press the dough to fit into all corners of the pan.
Heat oil in a large skillet over medium
high heat. Add 1/4 cup rosemary and cook for 1 minute. Add onions and
stir to coat. Cook until onions have softened a bit, but are not
browned at all (4 to 5 minutes). Add garlic and cook until garlic is
softened (2 to 3 minutes).
Remove pan from heat, and stir in 1/2
teaspoon sea salt and 1/4 teaspoon pepper. Use a slotted spoon to
remove onion, garlic and rosemary mixture from the pan and spread it
onto the pizza base to within 1/2-inch of the edge of the base on all
sides. Spread shredded mozzarella cheese evenly over the top of the
onions.
Put potatoes into the pan with the oil
that remained from cooking onions and garlic. Season with salt and
pepper and toss to coat evenly with oil and seasoning. Arrange the
potatoes over the mozzarella. Bake pizza for 20 minutes.
Take the pan out of the oven, sprinkle
Parmesan cheese and last tablespoon of rosemary over the top of the
pizza. Finishing baking cheese is melted and golden brown (3 to 4
minutes). Cut and serve hot.
Megan
Click Here For Our Wood Prairie Farm Organic Grainery Section.
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Delicious
Easter Egg Potato Pizza.
Photo by Russel French.
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Our Mailbox: GE
Crop Ban and Internalizing Costs.
GE Crop Ban.

Dear WPF.
This is
spectacular news! Court
Declares Ban on GE Crops Legal.
RH
WWW
WPF Replies.
Jackson County organic seed farmer
Chris Hardy is a leader in Organic Seed Growers and Trade Assn
(OSGATA). Chris is one of the tireless and talented Oregon visionaries
who addressed the problem of GE contamination and bravely conceived of
the GE production ban as the necessary and essential protection for
family farmers, their families and customers. Thank you, Chris and
Oregon.
Jim
Internalizing Costs.
Dear WPF.
Most
Congress people have never met a corporatist they didn't like.
DM
WWW
WPF Replies.
I
think it's important to keep in mind that the demise and liquidation of
family farms is due to neither farmer incompetence nor inefficiency.
Instead, the major factor is bad federal policy. This bad policy dates
back to the unacknowledged USDA "Cheap Food" Policy begun in the 1950s.
It's policy
which has been heavily biased in favor of large concentrated agri-biz.
In fact, family farmers and all Americans have been victimized. True
costs have been
shifted to taxpayers and to the environment via hidden subsidies for
large agri-biz operations and externalization of real costs like the
effects of toxic contamination and myriad health problems. The
Bird Flu Outbreak
is now internalizing some of those costs and exposing the Industrial Ag
sham as untenable, and in reality, extremely expensive. Those
corporatists provide campaign funding to those running for office. If
it looks like bribery, that's because it is.
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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