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Wood
Prairie Seed Piece
e-Newsletter
Organic
News
and
Commentary
Friday,
November 11th 2016
Volume
24 Issue 20
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In This
Issue of The Wood Prairie Seed Piece:
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End of Fall.
Bangor
and Aroostook Train Hauling Maine Potatoes. Though
this photo is undated, it is known to be from the 19th century, shortly
after rail lines came to Houlton. Aroostook County has always been big
on potatoes.
As we approach our potato work this
winter we're running short-handed, so if anyone knows of folks looking
for some good honest work, please send them our way. Thanks!
.
Caleb,
Jim
&
Megan Gerritsen & Family
Wood
Prairie Family Farm
Bridgewater,
Maine
Click here for the
Wood Prairie Family Farm Home Page.
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. Storm
Clouds Ahead: National Organic Standards Board Meeting Next Week in St.
Louis.
Senator
Patrick Leahy (D-VT), Author of 1990 OFPA Organic Labeling Law. He
supports banning Hydroponic from organic.
The National Organic Standards Board (NOSB) is
the expert citizen’s advisory panel established to advise the USDA
National Organic Program (NOP) over policies which govern regulation of
the organic industry. The NOSB was created upon passage of
Sen. Patrick Leahy’s (D-VT) Organic Foods Production Act (OFPA) in
1990. For the first time, OFPA set in motion construction of
a government regulatory process designed
to protect the interests of American consumers and honest organic
producers such as family farmers and appropriate-scale food processors.
In the years since passage of
OFPA, the corporate capture of our government, and the growing
corporate control of our economy and society has been relentless and
ever accelerating. One
disastrous example of this takeover is the corporate insertion of
artificial soil-less hydroponic systems into organic
which many of us are now fighting.
In 2010 the NOSB passed a
recommendation making clear that hydroponics have no place in
organic. In that ruling, the NOSB was backed up by over one
hundred years organic farming experience based on in-the-soil
in-the-ground food production. Organic was developed and
has always been practiced exclusively as a soil-based system.
The superior nutrition and taste of organic food is a function of this
inextricable connection to healthy soil.
In fact, so foundational is soil to the
concept of organic, that the very name ‘organic” refers to the crucial
organic-matter-content in an organic farm’s soil.
However, the USDA-NOP, acting against
the best interests of the organic community, has allowed the false
organic certification of unlabeled hydroponic food
production. In the marketplace - right now - are tremendous
amounts of bogus “organic” corporate hydroponic tomatoes, peppers,
greens, cucumbers, blue berries and other food. Hydroponic
“organic” sales are already in hundreds of millions of dollars, growing
at breakneck speed and fooling both retailers and consumers.
Much of the fraudulent “organic”
corporate hydroponic production is being imported from countries like
Mexico, Canada, and Holland. Astonishingly – and tellingly
- it would be illegal to sell these same hydroponic items
under the “organic” label in the countries where the goods are produced.
Nationwide,
the organic community is upset over hydroponics and protests have
developed. Jim is President of the
national membership trade group, Organic
Seed Growers and Trade Association (OSGATA).
He and other organic family farmers will be traveling to St. Louis to
urge the NOSB to maintain organic integrity and tell USDA NOP to kick
out hydroponic production from organic. Stay tuned.
Caleb, Jim & Megan
Click
Here for Our Organic Wood Prairie Vegetable Seed
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Wood Prairie
Family Farm Oat Cover Crop. Photo was taken this morning
thirty days after the field was harvested of potatoes. |
Special
Offer: FREE Organic
Hull-less Oat Cover Crop Seed.
That photo of our organic Hull-less
Oat Cover Crop
was taken this morning after the overnight rain was coming to an
end.
A month ago we finished harvesting our crop of organic seed potatoes
from this same field (“Shaw South #31”) and immediately chisel-plowed
the entire field. Bolted to the chisel plow was our 12-volt
spinner
seed spreader. Knowing it would be iffy whether the cover
crop would
catch we spun on the oats at double-rate (200 lbs/acre or 7 lbs/1000
square feet).
Our goal was three inches of
top growth. With our warm Fall, we’re already up four inches
tall. Just 3”
of oat top growth will remove 90% of the velocity of a rain drop’s
soil-erosive potential.
When temperature hit the teens this oat crop will die down and create a
nice protective mat which we will then disc under next spring ahead of
planting Dylan
Spring Wheat.
Here’s
your chance to secure some Organic Hull-less Oat Cover Crop seed at no
cost. Earn a FREE
2 ½ lbs. sack
of our Organic Hull-less Oat Cover Crop Seed (Value $9.95)
when your next order totals $49 or more. FREE Organic Hull-less Oat Cover Crop
Seed - offer ends 11:59 PM on Monday, November, 14 2016,
so please hurry!
Please use Promo Code WPF498. Your order
and FREE Organic Hull-less Oat
Cover Crop Seed must ship by 5/6/17. Offer may not be
combined with other offers. Please call or click today!
Click
here for our Wood Prairie Farm Organic Cover Crop Seed Section.
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Harvesting Organic Swedish
Peanut Fingerling Potatoes on Wood Prairie Family Farm.
Our neighbor and longtime co-worker, Katie
Finemore, was helping us one afternoon in late September when we were
harvesting Swedish Peanuts. Katie volunteered to film our
process of harvesting with our Finnish Juko potato harvester.
Now that the dust has settled, Frank, our IT wizard has turned Katie’s
footage into this brand
new You Tube video.
Daughter Sarah and longtime
employee Chelsea are laying on the trailer grabbing up small
escapees. Jim is driving the 92-HP (horsepower) 1966 Oliver
1850-Diesel tractor. Megan has on the blue sweater.
Tim (Chelsea’s father) and Melanie – and Katie - are helping Megan sort
rocks from potatoes. Amy had worked the morning Juko shift
and was inside the packing shed helping ship out orders.
Caleb was across the field running picking
rocks with our Lockwood rockpicker from ground
we had already harvested.
Jim & Megan
Click
Here for Our Organic Maine Certified Seed Potatoes.
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Video of Juko
Potato Harvester. Digging Swedish Peanut Fingerling
potatoes this Fall on Wood Prairie Family Farm. |
Sagan on Bamboozlers.
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Recipe: Autumn
Vegetable Soup.
2 T olive oil
3 medium Chantenay
Carrots, cut into medium dice
1 large Dutch
Yellow Onion, diced
2 cloves Red Russian Garlic,
minced
2 c cubed peeled Butternut
Squash (about 1 pound)
1/4 tsp ground allspice
pinch cayenne pepper
Sea salt
1 qt chicken broth
14.5 oz of diced Tomatoes
4 springs fresh Thyme
2 c lightly packed, coarsely chopped Winter Bloomsdale Spinach
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 Farm Quick
Links
Jim
& Megan Gerritsen
Wood
Prairie Family Farm
49
Kinney Road
Bridgewater,
Maine 04735
(207)
429 - 9765
Certified Organic, Direct from the Farm
www.woodprairie.com
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