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Wood
Prairie Farm
In This
Issue of The Seed Piece:
Seed
Piece Newsletter
Update on Organic
Community Lawsuit Against
Monsanto.
Organic
News
and
Commentary
Why GMO's Aren't
Compatible With Organic
Agriculture.
Friday, April 15, 2011
Special Offer: FREE
Experimenter's Special.
Recipe: Whole Grain
Rosemary Bread.
Our Mailbox: Confronting
Evil and Growing
in Paradise.
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Update
on
Organic Community Lawsuit Against Monsanto.
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The Monsanto reaction contained on their blog
(don’t
miss the solemn marble columns of justice!) to the organic
community’s lawsuit
challenging their GMO patents is predictably tired, arrogant and
dismissive
(‘publicity stunt’). “It has never been,
nor will it
be Monsanto policy to
exercise its patent rights where trace amounts of our patented seed or
traits
are present in farmer’s fields as a result of inadvertent
means.”
Well, that revisionist proclamation
would come as
quite a
surprise to many farmers that Monsanto has sued. There’s
Percy
Schmeiser of
Saskatchewan (Monsanto
vs. Schmeiser
The
Classic David vs. Goliath
Struggle).
There’s the Nelson’s of North Dakota (Monsanto
Still Suing
Nelsons, Other Growers).
And there’s plenty more.
Here
are the
facts. Excerpt from page 36 of our Complaint as filed,
“Monsanto
zealously
enforces its transgenic seed patents. Published
reports and Monsanto’s
own statements suggest that roughly 500
farmers are investigated for patent infringement each year. Between
1997 and April 2010, Monsanto filed
144 lawsuits against farmers in at least 27 different states for
alleged
infringement of its transgenic seed patents and/or breach of its
license to
those patents.”
For
background on
Monsanto’s
tactics of intimidation read the exposé
in Vanity Fair.
“Farmers are being
sued for having GMOs on their property that they did not buy, do not
want, will
not use and cannot sell,” said North Dakota farmer Tom Wiley. You’ll
want to read this and more in the
good
article about the 2005 report from The Center for Food Safety,
‘Prosecuting
American Farmers: Monsanto’s Investigations, Coerced
Settlements
&
Lawsuits’.
Monsanto has cultivated a climate of fear and
intimidation in rural America. Organic and traidtional non-GMO farmers
have a legitimate concern that they may face a patent infringement
lawsuit should Monsanto's patented genes trespass upon their farms.
We are now in the waiting period as
Monsanto takes
time to
develop their legal defense to our challenge
of their GMO patents.
There have been quite a few good
articles written
about the case. Click
here for one of the most
thoughtful articles written by Tom Laskewy
of Grist.
We are utilizing our Facebook
page to help keep folks
regularly updated on the lawsuit. Click
here to become a friend of Wood
Prairie Farm and join our
discussions. Jim & Megan. |
Ten
Good
Reasons Why GMO's Are Not
Compatible With Organic Agriculture.
There are times when it's helpful to
review the
basics. Please take the time to read this excellent editorial by Jim
Riddle. Jim is a solid long time member of the organic community. He
has served
as Chair of the National Organic Standards Board and is currently
Organic Outreach Coordinator for University of Minnesota.
Click
here to read Jim Riddle's editorial.
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Special
Offer: FREE Organic Potato
Experimenter's Special
Different
potato varieties excel in different regions and
microclimates.
The best
way to
determine which varieties will do well for you in your specific
location is to
test grow them out.
Years ago
we invented
the Experimenter’s
Special
to make this fun
investigation
practical for you.
The
Experimenter’s
Special allows you to select twelve organic potato tubers of up to four
different
varieties. This
is potato trialing made easy.
Also, if
you’re
short on garden space, the seed potatoes in our
Experimenter’s
Special are the
perfect size and will fit nicely into three of our popular 15-gallon
Smart
Bag
growing containers.
With your
next
purchase
$55 or more, we’ll toss in a FREE
Experimenter’s Special ($19.95 value). FREE
Experimenter’s Special offer ends
Tuesday April 19.
Please use
Promo Code
WPF 1023. FREE
Experimenter’s Special offer may not be combined with other
offers.
Entire
order must ship by May
9, 2011. Please call or click today!
Click
here for Wood Prairie Experimenter's Special
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Whole Grain
Rosemary Bread
Photo
by Angela Wotton
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Recipe:
Whole
Grain Rosemary Bread
Dry
ingredients:
3/4 c spelt
flour
1 1/2 c whole
wheat flour
3/4 c sugar
1 1/2 tsp baking
powder
3/4 tsp sea
salt
Wet
ingredients:
3 eggs
1 c olive oil
3/4 c whole milk
1 1/2 T fresh rosemary, finely
chopped
5 ounces bittersweet chocolate
(70% cacao), chopped into
1/2-inch pieces
1 T sugar for top crunch
Preheat the oven to 350F. Rub a
loaf pan with olive oil.
Sift the dry ingredients into a
large bowl, pouring any bits
of grain or other ingredients left in the sifter back into the bowl.
Set aside.
In another large bowl, whisk the
eggs thoroughly. Add the
olive oil, milk and rosemary and whisk again. Using a spatula, fold the
wet
ingredients into the dry, gently mixing just until combined. Stir in
2/3 of the
chocolate. Pour the batter into the pan, spreading it evenly and
smoothing the
top. Sprinkle with the remaining chocolate and run a fork along the
length of
the chocolate so that the batter envelops it just a bit. Sprinkle with
the
second sugar.
Bake for about 40 minutes, or
until the top is domed, golden
brown, and a skewer inserted into the center comes out clean.
The cake can be eaten warm or
cool from the pan, or cooled,
wrapped tightly in plastic, and kept for a maximum of 2 days.
Serves 8 -12. Megan.
Recipe
adapted from Good to the Grain by Kim Boyce.
Click here for our
Wood Prairie Organic Grains Section
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Our
Mailbox: Confronting Evil and Growing in Paradise

Tomato Starts In 2" Soil
Blocks. From left to right: Una
Hartsock, Orange
Banana, and Megan's line of
orange cherry
tomatoes still
under going
selection. We made the soil blocks from 100% Compost
Plus, our wonderful compost
product from Vermont Compost Company.
Q. Congrats
on
your lawsuit against the evil M. We are all behind you, watching and
sending you positive thoughts and lots of luck! Go get 'em!!!! Keep up
the good work.
JH
Oregon City OR
A. Thanks
for
your support! This has been a big effort but it's been important that
we act before
it is too late. We think we have a good legal footing for this action.
Please spread the word about the lawsuit to your friends. Thanks. Jim
& Megan.
Q. Hello!
I'm a
sustainable farmer in North Carolina and have already ordered all my
potatoes from you guys! There are quite a few well established small
farmer's organiations in this area. What can we do to join in the fight
against Monsanto? I'm just a member of Carolina Farm Stewardship
Association and Southern Sustainable Agricultural Working Groups, but
I've been active in writing my congress people and sending letters to
companies that buy from Monsanto. There are a lot of people in the
triangle/triad area and I think we might be able to apply pressure
somewhere. I was just wondering if these groups had been contacted or
what we can do to help?
VS
Oxford NC
A. Thanks
- we
can use your help! Yes, we had to draw the line somewhere and there was
simply not enough time to
bring everyone on board that wanted to join. Here are some things you
can do. Do read up on the Complaint
and the PUBPAT
press release (both are on our website). Circulate the
information with your friends and ask them to circulate to their
friends. Express your support on social media sites and consider
sending
letters to the editor or your local newspapers. Encourage donations to
organizations that have signed on as plaintiffs and support seed
companies that are active in the lawsuit. The more we can make folks
aware of the issues surrounding this lawsuit the better. This will help
put pressure on the traditional
media to not ignore this important news story. Thanks for writing. Jim.
Q. I'm
20 miles
south of New Orleans. I planted Yukon Gold potatoes back in the fall
and they have been growing well all winter. Can I plant potatoes side
by side or will they cross, and when will the potatoes be ready?
RG
Braithwaite LA
A. A
crop of
potatoes that is grown from certified seed potato tubers is a form of
vegitative propagation. As such, planting different varieties side by
side will have no impact on one another.
It is not neccessary for potatoes to
blossom in
order to have a crop. However we find it handy to use potato blossoms
as an indicator of tuber size. As a rule of thumb, when you see
blossoms
up top on a potato plant you will have tubers underground that are
around ping pong ball size. Also you can always gently dig into the
hill and feel around to determine tuber size with your fingers. Yank
out the ones large enough to eat and take them to the kitchen.
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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