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Wood
Prairie Farm
In This
Issue of The Seed Piece:
Seed
Piece Newsletter
Prop 37: Biotech Buys Itself An Election
and A Determined Opposition
Organic
News
and
Commentary
Vandana Shiva Video: 'Take Back the Land'
Special Offer: FREE Wood Prairie Organic Sprouting Seed
Mailbox: Facts, Struggle, Good Farming,
Truth, Grasshoppers and Taters
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Promise of New Growth and New
Hope.
Wonderful Klari Baby Cheese Sweet Pepper.
This week at long last we are sending off our new catalog to the
printer. Klari
Baby Cheese
is one of the ‘new’ organic seed varieties which we grow here on Wood
Prairie Farm that for the first time we will be offering to you this
year. Klari Baby Cheese - shaped like a wheel of cheese - is an
incredibly prolific and delicious and very
early heirloom from Hungary. Everyone should try this
pepper! You’ll find it on our website here.
Besides working on our catalog, we’ve been busy shipping
out your orders for both organic
seed potato and garden
seed and organic
kitchen potatoes, vegetables
and grains.
With Thanksgiving coming up we’re happy to help you prepare for that
favorite family holiday centered around gratitude. There's still time
to order.
We’re also buttoning up our crowdfunded
Farm Equipment Repair Shop project.
Yesterday we dug through frozen ground with our excavator to bury the
last of the shop’s utility lines – electric, water, computer and phone.
Today we’re closing up the West wall.
With a chilly morning of +15ºF earlier this week and
today’s wind and snow, we are reminded that Maine’s winter is not far
off. It's time to get the last of the firewood put away.
Jim &
Megan Gerritsen & Family
Wood
Prairie Farm
Bridgewater,
Maine
Click here for the
Wood Prairie Farm Home Page
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Prop 37 Post Mortem: Biotech Buys
Itself an
Election and A Determined
Opposition.
It took lying and systematic serial
misrepresentations plus $46 million to do it, but Biotech and their Big
Food cronies bought their way to 'victory' and ‘won’ California
Proposition 37, the people’s Right-To-Know GMO labeling
initiative. The
official vote was 47% Yes; 53% No. Throughout the Fall
Monsanto and their cabal were spending $1 million/day on a saturation
campaign of misleading television ads and disinformation concocted by
hired former tobacco industry lobbyists in an effort designed to
confuse voters into voting against their own interests.
Despite Biotech’s demonstrated utter contempt
for the democratic process, over 4 million California citizens
expressed their desire to have food labeled when that food is the
result of laboratory genetic engineering (GE). The people came within 3
percentage points of winning their battle. Many consider access
to this basic information to be a fundamental human right. As
such, the corporate-government collusion which for almost twenty years
has denied American citizens this information represents a human rights
violation.
Biotech’s
massive cheating has unintentionally communicated to the world that
they have little faith in their own products, so little that they
lacked any confidence that they could win the initiative contest if
they conducted a civil
and truthful campaign.
Some of the anti-Prop 37
campaign activities violated federal law and an official complaint
has been filed with the U.S. Department of Justice by the
Yes-On-Prop-37 allies. Election fraud represents a serious
threat to the functioning of our democracy. It is abhorrent to
our American sense of justice and it tarnishes the people’s institution
of a free and fair vote. Please
join us and sign this new petition aimed at applying pressure to
the U.S. Dept of Justice to prosecute the No-on-37-Committee for their
violations of federal law. Let’s make clear that America
and our system of honest elections is not for sale to arrogant,
malevolent, multinational corporations.
Meanwhile, in San Juan County, Washington, citizens voted by
a wide margin to entirely ban genetically modified organisms.
Washington State,
it should be noted, is one of at least 23 states
(including AZ, CT, CO, FL, HI, ID, IA, ME, MA, MN, MS, NJ, NY, NC, SC
OR, PA, VT and VA) now organizing efforts to require labeling of GE
food.
The people may have had the Prop 37 election stolen
from them, but Monsanto is delusional if it imagines it 'won'
anything. The people are not going away. We are not about to
abandon our rights. We are more determined than ever to fight for
our Right-To-Know and our Right-To-Farm.
Monsanto has no idea what they are up against and how they have
increased our resolve beyond measure.
Jim & Megan
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Vandana Shiva. Speaker
of truth.
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Vandana Shiva Video: 'Take Back the
Land'.
The always inspiring environmental activist Vandana Shiva is the
antidote to any feeling of hopelessness. Everyone should view this MUST WATCH video
(1:40).
As Vandana explains, “…the solution to
so much of this comes from people being on the land as conservers – of
the seed, of the soil, of the water. Food production is a
byproduct of ecosystem conservation…Putting people back on the land and
defending those who are on the land are the two most important projects
for our time.”
Jim & Megan
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Recipe: Autumn Vegetable Soup.
2
T olive oil
1/4
tsp ground allspice
pinch
cayenne pepper
1
qt chicken broth
1
c canned chickpeas
Heat
the oil in a large soup pot over medium-high heat. Add the carrots and
onion and cook, stirring occasionally, until they begin to soften,
about 6 minutes. Add the garlic and cook for 1 minute more. Add the
squash, allspice, cayenne, and 1 tsp salt and stir to combine. Add the
chicken broth, tomatoes with their juice, and thyme. Bring to a boil,
reduce the heat to medium, cover, and simmer for 10 minutes.
Add
the spinach and the chickpeas and cook uncovered until the squash is
tender and the spinach has wilted, about 10 minutes more. Discard the
thyme sprigs before serving. Season to taste with salt and cayenne.
Megan
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Autumn Vegetable Soup. Hearty and
Delicious.
Photo by Angela Wotton
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Wood Prairie Organic Sprouts.
Wintertime Staple.
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Special Offer: FREE
Wood Prairie Organic
Sprouting Seeds.
One of our family’s favorite staples for
winter eating are fresh organic sprouts which we easily grow right in
our kitchen using our Wood
Prairie Organic Sprouting Seeds. Utilizing well-designed ansd
economical Sprouters make the task of
growing sprouts quick and convenient. It takes about three days
to grow a batch. By investing just a couple of minutes a day you
can maintain a continuous supply of delicious and healthy sprouts all
winter long. We enjoy sprouts as a winter-time fresh salad, as a crispy
addition to sandwiches or as a fresh garnish or snack.
Our Organic
Sprouting Seed collection includes Alfalfa,
Crimson Clover, Red Clover, Rapini Broccoli, Small Crimson Lentils,
Large Green Lentils, Green Speckled Peas, China Rose Radish, and Daikon
Radish.
Here's your chance to earn a FREE 4 oz
sack of Wood Prairie Organic Sprouting Seed ($5.95 value) – Your Choice
of Variety - with your next purchase of $35 or more. FREE Wood
Prairie Organic Sprouting Seed offer ends Tuesday, November 13.
Please use Promo Code WPF1132. Your order and FREE Wood
Prairie Farm Organic Sprouting Seed offer must ship by 12/5/12. Offer
may not be combined with other offers. Please call or click today!
Click Here for Our Wood Prairie Farm Organic Sprouting Seeds.
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Our Mailbox: Plain Facts, Human
Struggle, Good Farming, Truth, Grasshoppers and Taters.
Just The Facts. Please.
Dear WPF.
Dear
Jim, I know you are busy, respectfully. My Dad doesn't believe that any
farms have been taken or that there have been heavy financial losses
secondary to suits by Monsanto saying smaller farmers have stolen their
property when in fact the pollen was brought by the wind and the
farmers never wanted the GMO seed in their crops in the first place! I
am trying to give him a couple of references. He is smart and will go
look them up. can you point me to one or two of the seminal suits and
maybe we can pick up the research tail from there? As and when it is
convenient with your busy flow, kind sir. Thank you,
SD
World Wide Web
WPF Replies.
Monsanto characterizes every one they oppose
and sue as liars and dirty rotten scoundrels. It is part of an
orchestrated plan of character assassination against opponents. Some no
doubt may have misused their technology. However it does not mean that
somehow Monsanto has learned to become honest and that all their other
characterizations are truthful and accurate. Here are three links which
provide insight into the legal issues, how Monsanto treats innocent
farmers and the nature of the products Monsanto produces.
Jim
1. Our lawyer Dan Ravicher in OSGATA et al v. Monsanto explaining
(15:30) the current legal situation.
http://www.pubpat.org/monsanto-seed-patents.htm
2. Most recent Center for Food Safety 2005 Report on Monsanto vs.
Farmers.
http://www.centerforfoodsafety.org/pubs/CFSMOnsantovsFarmerReport1.13.05.pdf
3. Dr. Donald Huber MUST VIEW lecture (part 2 of 6) (1:30:47) on
glyphosate.
http://www.seedsofdoubtconference.com/videos-la-oct-6-2012
The Very Human Struggle.
Dear WPF.
I
continue to support what you are doing on your farm and with the
lawsuit and related matters. I find this newsletter and its blockbuster
feature articles very powerful. The lies and disinformation being
exercised by the biotech industry truly violate the values I believe in
and thought our country stood for, and the same goes for the lawsuit
which you and others have been forced to bring.
DW
Peterborough NH
WPF Replies.
Thank you. The struggle against oppression has
been going on for a long long time and continues today.
Jim
Organic Is Good Farming.
Dear WPF.
Thought you might
like to take a look at this if you haven't already.
Food and Agriculture: The Future of Sustainability
http://www.un.org/esa/dsd/dsd_sd21st/21_pdf/agriculture_and_food_the_future_of_sustainability_web.pdf
MH
World Wide Web
WPF Replies.
Thanks. I read the Executive Summary and it indicates that this is a
valuable work with some outside the box thinking. I love the opening
photo. Thank you for sharing. Here's another excellent report from the
UN on related food security matters in the developing world.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2011/mar/08/eco-farming-double-food-output/
Jim
Bernie Speaks The Truth.
Dear WPF.
Not
that this is directly related to Ag, but it does clarify what is going
on in this country and why Monsanto and other corporate Ag-related
companies can get away with the things they do. I hate to say this, but
America is being looted by Corporate thugs.
A Scandal
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sknt-UBRhxo
AB
Greenville NC
WPF Replies.
You and Bernie Sanders are right on target. This is a monumental
scandal. And it cuts across all sectors of the economy. Government
collusion which facilitates seed monopoly is just another flavor of the
scandal Bernie speaks about. Thanks for bringing the video to our
attention. I would vote
for Bernie Sanders for President in a heartbeat.
Jim
Grasshoppers in Wyoming.
Dear WPF.
Dear Wood Prairie folks,
Do you guys have any advice for protecting
plants (especially potatoes) from grasshopper infestation? Last year
they destroyed most of the garden, including what started out to be a
fantastic potato crop. This year looks to be even worse and is
hopefully the peak of the cycle.
I began using 'nolo' bait last year after it was too late (many were
already adults). Diatomaceous earth is impractical when you water
frequently. This year I started early with 'nolo' bait, when the
grasshoppers were first instar. It has clearly helped but I'm hoping
you have some advice for additional control. I just ordered my third 25
pound bag. (Of course, the country weed and pest guy surge everyone to
use carbaryl. Not happening)
If you're unfamiliar with nolo bait, the information is here: http://www.goodbug.com/nolobait.html
BC
Wapiti WY
WPF Replies.
We have no problem with grasshoppers out here so our knowledge is
scant. We have heard of nolo spores. By googling 'organic grasshopper
control' Arbico came up first. We buy ladybugs and beneficial nematodes
from them. They have a competing beneficial spore product in a 50lbs
bag.
http://www.arbico-organics.com/product/semaspore-organic-grasshopper-control
And there is an informative article from The Mother Earth News.
http://www.motherearthnews.com/Organic-Gardening/Grasshopper-Control-Kill-Grasshoppers.aspx
One other idea might be vacuuming them up with a shop vac.
Good luck, Jim
Potatoes in North Carolina.
Dear WPF.
Hey Jim, thank you very much for your time
this morning I put the notes in my log. Answer to whether or not the
deer eat the potato vines is: I don’t know.. we were hoping to find out
with the Yukon Golds planted outside the fence but the voles got them
first… I have a lot of spearmint planted alongside the potato fence and
hopefully that is what kept the voles out of the potatoes…… 40
lbs from 2 ½ pounds of rose gold seed even with all the adverse events
… 20 pounds and counting from 2 pounds of Buttes… who knew!
P.S. we support everything you do for the family farmer… you are our
future and our heritage.
KB
Raleigh NC
WPF Replies.
Thanks for your support. Those are very good
yields. One of my
favorite stories is a farmer who once got 750 lbs of Rose Gold seed
from us
and harvested 24,000 lbs - that's a 32x increase. That crop was a
moneymaker.
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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