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Wood
Prairie Farm
In This
Issue of The Seed Piece:
Seed
Piece Newsletter
Maine Tales: A Good Life of Farming
Organic
News
and
Commentary
FREE
Compendium of World Potato Varieties
Special Offer: FREE Organic Red Beets.
The Great Organic Wave Digest. Keeping
Track of Recent Wave News.
Mailbox: Community Support From Coast to
Coast

Picking Rocks On Wood Prairie Farm. In
a field of Spring wheat, our boys Peter and Caleb helped by their
friends and our Oliver 770 bucket tractor in early June 2004. If these
rocks were not
removed, they might bust up haying equipment the next year when this
same field rotated into clover sod. .
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Maine
Tales.
A Good Life of
Farming.
Monticello, Maine.
Circa 2012.
There might have been a time when
northern Maine wasn’t covered with rocks. But we know for a fact that
wasn’t in the last 10,000 years since the last glaciers retreated
northward. What we do know is we’ve got
awful nice soil for growing potatoes once you haul the rocks off that
the glaciers left behind. Everyone up here has learned a lot from our
life with rocks. Like what rocks can do to
bruise up potatoes and bust up machinery. Some
ground is thick with rocks and some ground maybe not so much. Our farm is blessed with a particular
abundance of rocks, here on the edge of the North Maine Woods.
Now some years ago we cleared a
four acre field that had been allowed to grow back to woods seventy
years before. We knew this history because
we counted the tree rings on the stumps after we cut the trees down.
This field is the one we now call New Big South West #3.
Once we got the stumps out we had lots and
lots of rocks to pick. After years of
searching we had come to purchase a rare side boom lag rock picker in
good condition. These machines were
popular back in the 1960s as farmers became real serious about removing
rocks from fields. We used that side boomer with our 12 yard dump truck
and it picked the lion’s share of the 600-700 yards of rocks we pulled
off that little field. Now’s it a pretty field with woods on the west
edge. We’ve grown a couple of nice crops
of organic seed potatoes and the rocks are more or less under control.
Well the reason we’re thinking
rocks in particular this week was the passing of an old retired farmer
in the town just south of Bridgewater. That
would be the town of Monticello (‘Mont-Tee-Sell-O’ unless you’re in a
big hurry when it comes across as ‘Mont-Sell-O’). Old Mike Brown was
well-respected, a good farmer, a hard worker and a real asset and
leader in his town. Like everybody, he
grew potatoes most of his 81 years. And if
you grow potatoes in northern Maine, as Mike did, there’s no escaping
it, you sure get to know your rocks. We’ll close with a verbatim
excerpt from the obituary of this potato man, printed up recently in
the local paper.
“He
was always a farmer at heart who believed in putting back into the
ground more than he took away. He upgraded the land with miles of
drainage tile, sod ditches, strip cropping and picking and disposing of
millions of rocks and rocks and rocks.”
Jim
& Megan Gerritsen
Wood
Prairie Farm
Bridgewater,
Maine
Click here for
the Wood Prairie Farm Home Page
Side Boom Rock Picker on Wood Prairie Farm.
Side boomers are pulled by a tractor. Rocks are conveyed back then
sideways and
dumped into a dump truck driving along side and underneath the boom..
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FREE Compendium of World Potato
Varieties
Traversing the breadth
of the potato world from the exotic 'Abeille,' to 625 varieties later,
the Canadian rock star 'Yukon Gold' anyone interested in potatoes will
want to download
a copy of this exhaustive potato variety listing compiled by our
friends at potato friendly Washington State University. Includes
succinct and pithy descriptions that are a potato farmer's dream come
true. This impressive work deserves a place in your farm library.
Jim
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Wonderful Carrot Pie
Photo by Angela Wotton
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Recipe:
Wonderful Carrot Pie
3/4
sugar
1
c milk
1
tsp cinnamon
1/2
tsp ginger
1/4
tsp ground nutmeg
1/8
tsp allspice or cloves
3
eggs
1
unbaked pie shell
Wash
the carrots and peel. Slice the carrots and steam them until tender.
You should have about 4 cups of sliced carrots. Puree them in a blender
or food processor.
Preheat
oven to 425 F.
Add
the remaining ingredients, except the pie shell, to the carrots in a
mixing bowl and blend until smooth and evenly mixed. Pour the puree
into the pie shell. Bake for 15 minutes. Reduce heat to 350 F and bake
for 45 more minutes, or until set. Let the pie cool for at least 30
minutes before serving. Serves 6-8.
A nice alternative to pumpkin pie. Megan.
Click
Here For Our Organic Garden Seed Section
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Special
Offer: FREE Organic Red Beets.
Beets are one of our
family’s favorite vegetables for winter. They are versatile and keep
very well. Beets are delicious, along with carrots and parsnips, when
cooked as roasted veggies. We find roasted
beets do best when a cover is placed over the pan they are roasted in.
Here’s your chance to
earn a FREE 2 lbs sack ($11.95
value) of our Wood Prairie Organic Red Beets with your next purchase of
$50 or more.
Please use Promo code WPF
1110. FREE
Organic Red Beets must ship with order and entire order must ship by
March 27, 2012. Offer may not be combined with other specials. This offer ends Tuesday 1/17/12.
Please call or click today!
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Wood Prairie Organic
Red Beets.
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'Cross Licensing Agreements for Genetically
Engineered Traits' Chart by Dr. Phil Howard MSU.
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The
Great Organic Wave Digest
Keeping Track of
Recent Wave News
* Turning the Tables: Organic Farmers Sue Monsanto.
Thorough and
comprehensive interview by host Kate Gardner on the Manic
Gardener podcast providing good background on the organic community
lawsuit, OSGATA v. Monsanto. Interviewed first is Jim Gerritsen,
President of lead plaintiff Organic Seed Growers and Trade Association
as well as Wood Prairie Farmer. Then following that portion of the
program is our lead attorney Daniel Ravicher, Executive Director of
Public Patent Foundation. This
program
is an excellent primer on our lawsuit which seeks to protect family
farmers and your family's right to choice in the marketplace.
* Daniel Ravicher | WICN Public Radio Audio Interview. 
Excellent Massachusetts public
radio WICN interview of Daniel Ravicher, lead
attorney in OSGATA v. Monsanto and lecturer at Benjamin N. Cardozo
School of Law in New York City. Invest twenty-nine minutes and you will
gain a clear understanding of why family farmers have gone to court to
challenge Monsanto's abusive behavior and how we will prove in court
their transgenic/GMO patents are invalid. Listen
to the WICN interview here.
* The
Very Real Danger of Genetically Modified Foods.
Must
read article on new research which "provide the first example of
ingested plant microRNA surviving digestion and influencing human cell
function...The Chinese RNA study threatens to blast a major hole in
Monsanto's claim. It means that DNA can code for microRNA, which can,
in fact, be hazardous...Monsanto's claim that human toxicology tests
are unwarranted is based on the doctrine of 'substantial
equivalence'...'a pseudo-scientific concept' that is 'inherently
anti-scientific because it was created primarily to provide an excuse
for not requiring biochemical or toxicological tests.'" Read
the eye-opening Atlantic article here.
* Open Up and Say "Ahh."
A recent Freedom of Information Act
request has revealed that the FBI wants 
what it calls "food activists" prosecuted as terrorists. "In the brave
new world of 21st century America, terrorism has evolved to mean
anything that threatens the status quo or challenges the standings or
profits of the corporate entities that have reduced our government
agencies to the status of pawns." Has Big Ag taken well to our
critiquing of their role in our food system? Not exactly. This tale of
corporate-government collusion would be rich satire were it not based
in fact. Our best defense is to expose this corruption. Read the
story here.
* Dr. Phil Howard's Chart of the "Big 6".
There is recent
news from India with
the guilty verdict of human right's violations in the People's Tribunal
against what are known as the "Big 6" - the six largest pesticide
and biotechnology corporations. These same six corporations are the
subject of another great visual chart: 'Cross Licensing
Agreements for Genetically Engineered Traits,' put together by
Dr. Phil Howard of MSU. The
relationships depicted are clearly more cozy than competitive.
About Facebook
We're
using daily Facebook posts to keep our Wood Prairie community up to
date on important organic topics. Please meet us on Facebook!
And Thanks to all of you who have
Liked us on Facebook.
Jim & Megan
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Our
Mailbox: Community Support From Coast to Coast.
Dear WPF.
Thanks
for the update. We watched
a clip of Jim's speech in NY. I hope the
right people are listening. Bravo to his bravery and well stated
message. USDA just gave Monsanto another go ahead for more GMO corn. We
grow organic hard red winter wheat plus lots of garden and farm raised
meat/eggs. I have never found a better source for seed potatoes than
yours!
AH
Atwood KS
WPF Replies.
Thanks for your kind words. Jim.
Dear WPF.
I've
ordered potatoes, carrots, and seeds from your farm over the years when
I run out of produce from our local CSA. I wanted to find local (New
England) produce and not buy from California. Your Seed Piece
newsletter is very
informative and I"m so appreciative of your taking a stand against
Monsanto and participating in the Farmer's March at Occupy Wall Street.
The oldest son of our CSA farmer was one of
the original OWS protesters. He was there before the media caught on to
it and he's still there.
Thank you for standing up to the corporate
takeover of our country and culture.
Happy
Holidays to you and your family.
NK
Framingham MA
WPF Replies.
We're grateful for your loyalty and support.
Jim & Megan
Dear WPF.
Thank
you for addressing the Occupy issue, very well I might add, our Great
Country is at a major crossroads, people need to wake up, turn the TV
off and address the Politicians who represent us, not the special
interest of the Few (1%).
LS
Shofler CO
WPF Replies.
Couldn't agree any more with you. Thanks for
your support.
Jim.
Dear WPF.
Thank
you all for all you do. It is my pleasure to support, via seed
purchases, you who take the time from their busy days to protect the
rights of all of us. Please know it is appreciated; the agribusiness
companies cannot be allowed to restrict the types of food we eat and
substitute their fascism for capitalism. Those who control the food,
control the people, and we can't lose this battle.
The best to all of you, and please continue to keep us informed.
CC
Orting WA
WPF Replies.
Thank you for your support. It means a lot to us. You are eloquent in
your analysis and we agree with you. It's time for us all to come
together and work united to defeat this massive common threat to our
people.
Jim & Megan
Dear WPF.
Delighted
to hear someone is fighting Monsanto. Please keep it up! Also
appreciate the wide variety of organic seed that you offer.
RE
Marion TX
WPF Replies.
We're all in this together. Your business supports our family and we
use that support to grow good organic seed for you and to help fight
despots like Monsanto.
Jim & Megan
Dear WPF.
Awesome!
As always the potato samplers are so good we feel like honey bees in
fall clover. The "Hollow Heart" in potatoes we never called it that, we
just said "Oh! They grew too fast" (growth spurt) and we ate 'em! For
us hollow hearts, skin color, etc. no problem. I grew up on a farm and
taste was more important then "cosmetic perfection". We had a dry
summer until August 25 and since then we've had 30 inches of rain. Some
of our fall plantings are washed out but our rain barrels are full. We
love your food, we steamed a big pot of potatoes with sprinkles of salt
& olive oil and ate them and then did another batch of the same!
WPF you are THE BEST. Thanks to you and your family.
JD
Richmond VA
WPF Replies.
Aw shucks, you're making us blush. Jim &
Megan.
Dear WPF.
Jim,
thank you for taking the time to talk to me about growing potatoes in
San Diego. I'm excited to get your taters in the ground! Nice video, looks like you have a nice
family business! God Bless!
KR
Chula Vista CA
WPF Replies.
Glad we could help. 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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