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Wood
Prairie Farm
The
Seed
Piece Newsletter
Organic
News
and
Commentary
Friday December 06, 2013

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In This
Issue of The Seed Piece:
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Bare Ground
This Week. Snow Next Week.
The
Season of Short Daylight and Gift Giving.
Throughout the 1970s, ‘80s and 90’s our first serious snow would arrive
the week of Thanksgiving and then stay until April showers took the
Winter’s accumulated snow away. Our Falls are warmer now and
in recent years this has meant alternating snow and rain between
Thanksgiving and Christmas. That translates to our new
experience of unwelcome icy conditions in December, a hazard for both
walking and driving that the coast of Maine has long known but is still
new to us in the inland North. It will come as no surprise
that we preferred the old days when the snow would come early and
daytime temperatures would stay below freezing for a run of 3-4
months. It was predictable and it was easy. Which reminds us
of this question: How many farmers does it take to change a light
bulb? The answer, of course, is three. One to screw in the
new bulb and the other two to talk about how good that old bulb was.
Jim
&
Megan Gerritsen & Family
Wood
Prairie Farm
Bridgewater,
Maine
Click here for the
Wood Prairie Farm Home Page. |
Spelt. Photo
credit: Food Navigator.
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Primer on Ten
Ancient Grains.
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Nine Easy Steps for
Growing Delicious Potatoes in Containers.
Kerry Michaels has an effective teaching style and
you will enjoy the clarity of her tutorial as to how to grow
great potatoes in containers. Kerry
likes to use our Smart
Bags for container growing - they are versatile, re-usable,
inexpensive and long-lasting. With step-by-step photographs and concise
explanations Kerry takes the mystery out of growing potatoes anywhere
container-style.
Says Kerry, "If you’ve never had a freshly dug
potato you are in for a total treat. Like tomatoes the taste and
texture of fresh is very different than those you buy from the store.
By growing your own potatoes, you also have the opportunity to plant
unusual varieties that are hard to find. There are several advantages
to growing potatoes in containers. It is easier to protect them from
the critters that love them and you also don't have to worry so much
about weeds. It's also a really fun project to grow potatoes in
containers with kids because potato plants grow stunningly fast and
most kids love eating potatoes."
Our new Organic Patriotic Potato
Container Growing Kit starts out with
three Smart Bags for triple the fun and discounted savings.
Jim
Click Here
For Our Vermont Compost Organic Soil Mixes.
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Monsanto
Power Play. If you won't retract an embarrassing study
we'll send you an editor who will. |
Monsanto
Cranks Up Pressure to Retract Seralini Study
After a long campaign of fruitless orchestration and
concocted
dismissiveness from financially conflicted ‘academics’ on Biotech’s
payroll,
Monsanto has taken a new tact in trying to discredit the landmark
peer-reviewed
study about the effect of GE food on rats. The team was led by
respected French scientist Dr.
Gilles-Eric Seralini of Caen University.
Dr.
Seralini’s group conducted a monumental
long-term two-year-study of rats fed a diet of GE food and small
amounts of the
glyphosate herbicide GE crops are grown with.
Significantly, by design,
Seralini matched the procedures in his
study to those first utilized in Monsanto’s 90-day short term GE crop
studies.
The Seralini study results documented serious health effects which
first
appeared at 120 days. Notably,
severe toxic effects were
indicated
including kidney and liver damage and increased rates of tumors and
mortality.
The Seralini study was released in September, 2012 and has called into
serious
question Biotech’s use of short-term three-month studies to justify the
supposed
‘safety’ of their laboratory genetically engineered crops.
So, unable to bring about a retraction from
the bought-and-paid-for ‘outrage,’
Monsanto has had one of their people installed at the journal in
question, Food and Chemical Toxicology. The
retraction
effort aimed at Seralini followed the hiring of Monsanto scientist
Richard E.
Goodman at Food and Chemical Toxicology to
serve in the specially created post of Associate Editor for
Biotechnology. Adding
to public concerns, the identities of those individuals behind the
non-transparent study review have not been made public nor has there
been
any disclosure of their freedom from conflict of interest. It
is
worth mentioning, on a related note, that another Brazilian study –
also
critical of GE crops – was also retracted after Goodman’s hiring. The peer-reviewed Brazilian
study was
immediately published in another journal.
Amazingly, Food and
Chemical Toxicology Editor Dr A. Wallace Hayes could offer
no valid reason for retraction.
According to a GM Watch’s
article: “Hayes concedes
that an examination of Prof Séralini’s
raw data showed ‘no evidence of fraud or
intentional misrepresentation of the data’ and nothing ‘incorrect’
about the
data. Hayes
states that the retraction is solely based on
the
‘inconclusive’ nature of the findings on tumors and
mortality, given the
relatively low number of rats used and the choice of rat strain, which
Hayes
says naturally has a ‘high incidence of tumors’. Crucially,
however,
inconclusiveness of findings is not a valid ground for retraction.”
Here is the excellent Seralini
team's response to the retraction.
Additionally,
this article
describes the support
Prof. Seralini has received from the European Network of Scientists. Concerned
scientists and citizens from around the world are now signing an Open
Letter from
the Institute of Science in Society (ISIS)
in
support of Dr Seralini.
We
encourage you to join us in standing up for academic integrity and
signing onto
this important letter.
Jim & Megan
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Notable Quotes:
President John Kennedy on Big Business.
"My father always told me that all businessmen were sons of bitches,
but I never believed it until now."
-
John Fitzgerald Kennedy, April 1962
1917-1963
Quote borrowed from the recent Carl Gibson article 16
Mind-Blowing Facts About Who really Killed JFK.
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President
Kennedy. Victim of 1963 coup?
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Kale and
Potato Cakes.
Photo by Angela Wotton. |
Recipe:
Kale and Potato Cakes
1 large bunch of
kale, stems removed and leaves chopped
black pepper
1 c grated
cheese, such as cheddar, provolone or mozzarella
olive oil for
cooking
10 mushrooms,
chopped small
red pepper
flakes (optional)
Cube the
potatoes and steam until soft. Add the kale and cook for a few minutes
until tender. Place in a bowl and coarsely mash. Add salt and pepper to
taste. Pour enough oil into a frying pan to lightly coat the bottom.
Add the onion and mushrooms and saute until soft. Add to the kale mash.
Stir in the garlic, cheese and pepper flakes. Salt to taste or add
paprika. Form small cakes with about 1/2 cup mash per cake. Warm a
skillet over medium heat. Coat the bottom with more olive oil. Add the
mash and flatten. Brown each side, about 4 minutes. Serve hot. Makes
about 12 cakes.
Megan
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Special Offer:
Hurry & Save
$20 On Your Next Order!
We’re
here to make your dollars go further this Holiday Season! Order anything from our
wide selection of
organic goods - Organic Potatoes for
the Kitchen, Organic
Vegetables, Organic
Grains, Organic
Gifts, Organic Certified Seed
Potatoes, Organic Cover Crop
Seed or Organic
Vegetable
Seed or any of
our other items
- for yourself or as a gift for a loved one and save big while doing
so.
Receive
a Discount of $20 off
your next order over $100 in merchandise.
Please use Promo
Code WPF1164. Your order must ship by 5/08/14 so this offer DOES include Spring-shipped Organic
Ceritifed Seed Potatoes. This offer
may not be combined with other offers. Better hurry because this Offer Ends Midnight Monday December 9.
Please
call or click today!
Click Here for our Wood Prairie Farm Organic Certified Seed Potato
Section. |

Organic Basket of Potatoes.
Save while enjoying great potatoes orother gifts with loved ones.
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Our Mailbox:
Valuing Parsnips in Downeast Maine, Making Sense, Irreversible Damage
Valuing Parsnips in
Downeast Maine.
Dear WPF.
Jim Gerritsen & Family,
I recently received my order of
parsnips, carrots and 5 grain cereal. We are enjoying all of these
products. I had only tried parsnips once before and they were not
organic and they were from a grocery store. I did not like them and had
not eaten them since. So I took a chance on your parsnips, thinking if
I still hate fresh, organic ones, I might be able to give them away. No
one is getting your parsnips. I loved them!
I also ordered 50 lbs of potatoes when
you had a special on them offering free shipping. The potatoes arrived
after the parsnip order, and I can't begin to tell you how impressed I
was with them when I first opened the box. The care that was taken with
handling and cleaning those potatoes was quiet evident. And the flavor
is fantastic.
Shortly after I placed the potato
order, I was a bit angry with myself that I took advantage of your free
shipping offer. I could see that it cost you $20 to deliver them to me.
And I am well aware of all the time and effort you put into trying to
fight Monsanto and trying to ensure that our food supply is safe. I am
also a member of MOFGA and know of your support of them. Plus I have
liked your Facebook page and have read all of your posts about the
injustices that are being brought upon farmers by big business and
Monsanto and their likes. If you suggest we sign a petition etc. I am
on it. My husband and I grew up in Dayton, Ohio where Monsanto was
first headquartered (the Mound) and have friends and family who have
suffered illness and death from the unhealthy working conditions there.
Thank you so much for the work you do.
It means a lot to us.
Enclosed please find a check to
reimburse you for shipping the potatoes plus a bit more to show our
appreciation. And also thank you for the wonderful produce!
With deep appreciation,
PF
Jonesboro, Maine
WPF Replies.
You are very kind and offer proof that we have the
best customers in the world. Thank you.
Jim & Megan
Making Sense.
Dear WPF.
I watched most of the video. Some of the panel members
actually feed their kids GMOs. Jim, what you said made the most sense
of anyone on the panel.
KS
Haverill, MA
WPF Replies.
UMaine Machias posted the
recent GMO discussion video on YouTube and this format is
most user-friendly. As I said on the panel, the organic community faces
an unparalleled threat for its survival because of the unrecallable
nature of transgene pollution coupled with Biotech's unwillingness and
inability to restrain geneflow all in the context of extreme
Biotech-governmental collusion. We have truth on our side and we must
use this powerful tool to waken our people from their slumber and their
dreaming that all is well. Sadly we can not rely on government or
industry to tell us the truth about GE Food.
Jim
Irreversible Damage.
Dear WPF.
The whole issue is upside down, the Biotech firms as the
contaminators should be in the position of proving their products
validity and safety for field application. It horrifies me to see the
natural farmer with sustainable practices tried and true for millennia
forced to fight for their livelihoods against potentially irreversible
damage to the natural world. Labeling is the very least they could do.
You're fighting the good fight Jim, I commend your hard work.
JG
Davenport, IA
WPF Replies.
You have hit the nail on the head. At present we
have a broken market mechanism. Basic GMO labeling will allow consumers
to differentiate between real food and GE food. I believe when GMO
label transparency comes into being consumers will walk with their food
dollars away from GMO food. I think Biotech believes in this scenario
as well which is why they are fighting so hard and dirty to prevent
transparency and to further derail the operation of the free market.
Biotech monopolists loathe competition and choice. Hence, they
represent a threat not only to our economy and to our families but also
to our freedom. Thanks.
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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