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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: The Real and Sad Story on Tragic
Farmer Suicides in India.
Special Offer: FREE Organic Oilseed Radish. Must Read New Will Bonsall Gardening Book. Remarkable Video of Instant-Concrete-Structure. Gardening Survey Winners. Notable Quotes: Wendell Berry on Food. Recipe: Easter Egg Potato Pizza with Onions. Mailbox: GE Crop Ban and Internalizing Costs. This edition of the Seed Piece can be found in our Seed Piece Archives. |
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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. |
 Powerful Cover Crop. Secure a FREE sack of Organic Oilseed Radish for your garden. |
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 This Summer's Best Read. String up your hammock and enjoy the journey. |
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. |
 Amazing Video (2:20). Permanent ingenuity. |
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 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. |
 Delicious Easter Egg Potato Pizza. Photo by Russel French. |
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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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