Watch Wood Prairie Film on Indiegogo. Just
click here
or on the Shop image above. This short film about our Indiegogo project
was made with the help of our friends Nick & Nick at No Umbrella
Media in Portland.
How IndigogoWorks.
With our hay safely in the barn we are now turning our attention to
our new Indiegogo Project. Crowdfunding, of
which Indiegogo is the world's leading platform, is a community-funded
project incubator. It is a means by which a community
comes together to support a worthy project.
Pledges are made by folks like you who want to see a project
succeed. Perks are offered for different levels of support.
Minimum
amounts are indicated for each perk, but you may pledge more than the
minimum
if you desire.
There is an
established deadline, for us, July 24, by which a financial goal
– in our case $32,000 – is targeted. Please
help us meet our goal!
Our Organic Seed Farm.
As many of you know, our
family has been
growing organic seed and organic food on Wood Prairie Farm here in
Northern Maine for the last 36 years. Our isolated
seed farm on the edge of the North Maine Woods is 115 acres, about half
in
farmland and the other half in woods.
Our family makes
our entire living from our certified organic farm. We’ve
got four children ranging in age from 21
down to 9. They all have a big role in
making our organic family farm successful.
Wood Prairie Farmers. Jim
& Megan Gerritsen, Peter (age 21), Sarah (age 13), Amy (age 9),
Caleb (age 18).
Our Involvement in
the Organic Community.
In addition to our daily
work of organic farming,
we’ve always believed that it’s our responsibility to help make our
organic
community strong and permanent. Over
the course of the last 30 years we have
donated many thousands of hours towards making Organic strong through
our
organic community volunteer work. We have been committed to
helping transform
organic family farming into a viable alternative to chemical
agriculture.
Jim is now President of Organic Seed
Growers and Trade Association. OSGATA is in
a prominent role as lead plaintiff in the landmark organic community
lawsuit, OSGATA et al v. Monsanto which is
challenging the validity of Monsanto’s GMO (Genetically Modified
Organism)
patents and seeks Court protection for family farmers from allegations
of
patent infringement should, through no fault of our own, Monsanto’s GMO
seed
trespass onto our farms and contaminate our crops. You can find
information
about OSGATA v. Monsanto on our website
www.woodprairie.com,
on our Facebook wall and in these Seed
Piece newsletters.
Solid Support. There is
massive public support of organic family farmers in OSGATA et al v. Monsanto.
Our Mission to Build a
New Farm Equipment Repair
Shop.
Potatoes are a heavy crop and
they demand extensive
use of farm machinery in order for farming to be practical and
efficient. Additionally, the
organic seed and food crops we grow require lots of other specialized
older equipment.
As farmers we spend plenty of time repairing farm equipment, keeping
our tractors
running and fabricating new machines we need in order to do a better
job
farming. From growing up around and working on the farm equipment,
Peter and
Caleb, our oldest children have become good mechanics and earned the
responsibility of doing most of our
equipment repairs.
We need a farm equipment
repair shop so our boys can do their repair work anytime including in
wet
weather and during our long Maine
winters.
We’ve worked out a budget and it means raising $32,000 through
Indiegogo to buy the materials for the repair shop. Like we have
always done, we will perform the construction
work.
Wood Prairie Welder. Peter won
the State of Maine Future Farmers of America (FFA) welding competition
in 2008.
We need your help to
build our Indiegogo Repair Shop!
This year will be the
first phase. The repair shop will be a
30 foot by 70 foot metal building on a concrete slab with radiant floor
wood
heat. The $32,000 will allow us to do
the site work, pour the slab, construct and button-up the building
shell, and
begin using the shop. Future phases will
allow us to add things like the large garage doors and the insulation. But
the
important point is that with your help we’ll get our shop built and
operating this year so that our boys will have a safe and
dry place to keep our seed equipment repaired and ready for the work of
growing good organic seed.
We’re grateful for
your support of our family and Wood Prairie Farm. Thanks for your
help
on our Indiegogo project!
Jim & Megan Gerritsen & Family
Wood Prairie Farm
Bridgewater, Maine
We would be
grateful if you would support our Indiegogo Farm Repair Shop
project. We’ve put together a collection
of Wood Prairie Farm perks that we’d like to share with you.
Thanks!
Wood
Prairie Farm Sweet Cider Label. Thirty-year-old
heritage color Wood Prairie Farm Sweet Cider label (4” x 4”) designed
in the
fruit-crate label art tradition.
Historical
Wood Prairie Farm Potato Postcard Set. A
collection of twenty-two of our original fruit-crate-label-inspired
Wood
Prairie Farm Potato Postcards including the rare Kerry Blue and Ozette
Fingerling.
Vintage Wood Prairie
Farm Chantenay Carrot Poster. Beautiful
Wood Prairie Farm Chantenay Carrot poster (10” x 15”) in fruit-crate
label
style on heavy cardstock with green motif.
Organic Wood Prairie
Farm T-Shirt. High quality unbleached organic cotton
t-shirt. Left breast printed with full color
Wood Prairie Farm logo. Choice of XL, L, M, S.
Personalized Wood
Prairie Farm Metal Art Wall Hanging. After our Kickstarter
Farm
Repair Shop is built, our boys Peter and Caleb will personally
fabricate for
you, by a process involving welding and grinding, a hand made original
3” x 9”
metal wall hanging (or paper weight) emblazoned with your name (maximum
seven characters)
and ‘[Heart] Wood Prairie Farm.
Organic Wood Prairie
Farm Container Gardening
Kit. Grow
anywhere Container Gardening Kit includes two (2) 15-gallon fabric Grow
Bags,
the book Window Boxes by Cramer &
Johnson, a heavy duty stainless steel trowel and an assortment of ten
organic
Wood Prairie Farm seed packet varieties well-adapted to container
gardening
including sweet Una Hartsock Plum Tomato and amazing Jimmy Nardello
Sweet Red
Pepper.
Choice of One Mounted
Print from “Rural Harvest” Series by Photographer Lottie
Hedley. Your choice of one black and
white matted archival inkjet print (20” x 24” white mat with 15” x
10.5” image)
from Lottie Hedley’s stark and powerful fifteen-image family farmer
series
“Rural Harvest” (https://www.lottiehedleyphotography.com/rural-harvest#0).
Choice of Two Mounted
Prints from “Rural Harvest” Series by Photographer Lottie
Hedley. Your choice of two black and
white matted archival inkjet prints (each 20” x 24” white mat with 15”
x 10.5”
image) from Lottie Hedley’s family farmer series “Rural
Harvest” (https://www.lottiehedleyphotography.com/rural-harvest#0)
Wood Prairie Farm Private
Tour and By-the-Pond Organic Picnic for Six People plus “Rural Harvest”
Mounted
Print. Enjoy a half-day with the
Gerritsen family on Wood Prairie Farm. Includes a private farm and
Kickstarter Repair
Shop tour and hay wagon ride, a momento: your choice of one black and
white
matted archival inkjet print (20” x 24” white mat with 15” x 10.5”
image) from
Lottie Hedley’s “Rural Harvest” series (https://www.lottiehedleyphotography.com/rural-harvest#0),
and the day topped off with an organic Picnic-By-The Pond and campfire
Personalized Keynote
Presentation by Jim Gerritsen at Your Location. Wood
Prairie Farm will cover
travel expenses and Wood Prairie farmer Jim Gerritsen will journey to
your
location anywhere in the lower 48 states
(please add-on actual travel expenses for locations in Alaska, Hawaii,
and Canada) and deliver a Keynote Speech at your conference or event.
Penobscot River
Whitewater Raft
Trip. Plus Two-Days Lodging for Six People plus Private Tours
& By-The-Pond
Organic Picnic plus Mounted “Rural Harvest” Print.
Spend a couple of days
in
northern Maine
with the Gerritsen family.Package
includes a private van tour of Aroostook County, Maine,
plus a private farm and Kickstarter Repair Shop tour, hay wagon ride,
organic
Picnic-By-The-Pond and campfire.
Plus two nights’ lodging
in a modern A-frame
cabin (with sauna and hot tub) at nearby Blaine Country Cabins.
Plus one of the top
outdoor adventures in the Eastern United States: a breathtaking all-day whitewater
raft trip (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qE6IaoHCJ1w&feature=related)
with the Gerritsens on the West
Branch of the Penobscot River near Katahdin. Includes the
services of a Registered Maine
Raft Guide, Class V rapids, mid-day riverside dinner (salmon, steak,
chicken or vegetarian),
and professionally photographed DVD souvenir video of your raft
trip.
Plus your
choice of a black
and white matted archival inkjet print (20” x 24” white mat
with 15” x 10.5” image) from Lottie Hedley’s “Rural Harvest” family
farm series
(https://www.lottiehedleyphotography.com/rural-harvest#0)
More Ways You Can Help Us On Our
Indiegogo Project.
First, if you are able please contribute to
help our project succeed and get a perk in return.
Also
please tell your friends!
In
addition to your pledge, you can help our Farm Repair Shop project
succeed by clicking the Like button. This helps raise
our 'gogofactor' ranking which can help channel major attention to our
project. Also please help us by spreading the word so that family
and friends come to our Indiegogo Project in any of these ways:
Please click
here to land on our Indiegogo Farm
Equipment Repair Project page. Thanks for helping our family and Wood
Prairie Farm!
Recipe: German Potato Salad.
6
Prairie Blush potatoes, peeled
1/2
pound bacon, fried and crumbled (save the grease)
1/4
c sugar
1/2
apple cider vinegar
1
1/2 c finely chopped onion
1
1/2 tsp celery seed
2
T flour
Boil
potatoes until tender. Drain and set aside to cool.
Fry
bacon, saving grease; Set bacon aside to cool. Add sugar and vinegar to
bacon grease, gently stirring until sugar is dissolved.
Slice
cooled potatoes about 1/4-inch thick and place in a 9x13-inch baking
pan. Crumble bacon and add to potatoes, along with chopped onions and
celery seed. Sprinkle flour over potato-bacon mixture. Pour
sugar-vinegar-grease mixture over all, and toss lightly.
Bake
at 350 degrees for 20 to 30 minutes.
Source:
Sun Times, 2012
Great dish for the summer.
Megan
The
Great Organic Wave Digest
U.S. Senate Defeats Sanders/Boxer GMO
Labeling Amendment SA 2310 by a Vote of 26-73.
Senate Amendment 2310 to the 2012 Farm Bill
would have offered clarity that States do have a right to require GMO
Labeling if that is the desire of their citizens. At right is a MUST
watch You Tube video (9:27) of Vermont's Senator Bernie Sanders
explaining why this legislation was necessary and how biotech bullied
Vermont against passing GMO labeling. The link below allows you to see
how your State's Senators voted.
Senate Amendment 2310 - Sanders/Boxer Amendment to clarify the right of
States to enact GMO Labeling legislation.
About Wood Prairie Farm on Facebook We're
using daily Facebook posts like those above 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.
Dear WPF. I
know a source of an alternative to Entrust for controlling Colorado
Potato Beetles. Indeed at $625 a unit, Entrust is too expensive for me.
The active ingredient of Entrust is "Spinosad". A product containing
Spinosad I have used with great success against CPB, called
"Bull's-Eye", is offered by Gardens Alive:
https://www.gardensalive.com/product.asp?pn=8756. It is promoted for
residental use, so I assume it may not be appropriate for commercial
production. I hope this info is helpful.
SD
World Wide Web WPF Replies.
Bingo! Thanks!
Jim
Avoiding GMO Sweet Corn.
Dear WPF. Hi
Jim, Do you happen to know the brand / trade name that Monsanto's GMO
sweet corn will be sold under? I know "Attribute" was the last one from
years back, but all I have heard is that Monsanto would not be using
that name.
JE
World Wide Web WPF Replies.
My understanding is that the GMO sweet corn
seed is being sold under Monsanto's Seminis Performance Series label.
But the sweet corn-on-the-cob-ears appearing in stores right now will
NOT be labeled and that is the problem for consumers wanting to know so
that they may make informed purchase for their families. 'Attribute' is
the name of a competing Sygenta GMO sweet corn seed. I think you will
want to source certified organic sweet corn from here on out because
certified organic farmers are not allowed to use GMO seed and we are
checked annually by our organic certifiers. Growing your own or buying
certified organic sweet corn will be your best assurance of avoiding
Monsanto's new GMO version. Here is a background article from a year
ago.
https://www.thepacker.com/fruit-vegetable-news/Monsanto-rolls-out-GMO-sweet-corn-127937633.html
Jim
Cost-Share Compromise.
Dear WPF. Any
government money is really taxpayer's money. The taxpayer is also the
organic farmer's customer. The customer already pays a premium for
organic, and I've been told it was to offset the certification costs. I
guess that's not correct, otherwise the customer gets hit twice.
Confused. Help me out here, Jim? Also can you get the government to pay
for my mandated car insurance? LOL.
DP
World Wide Web WPF Replies.
About the Senate's move to support renewal of
cost-share funding to help family farmers handle the cost of organic
certification: Here's my thinking as farmers who have been certified
organic for 30 years, the first twenty years voluntarily. Beginning in
October 2002, USDA enacted the Organic Labeling law passed by Congress
as part of the 1990 Farm Bill. It requires every farmer using the word
'organic' whose sales exceed $5000/yr to be certified by a
USDA-accredited organic certifier. USDA protocols have added improved
assurances to the consumer at the cost of greater effort and higher
expense to farmers and our certifiers. For example, since USDA came to
town, the cost of our organic certification has tripled to $1800/yr.
USDA reimburses us $750, so with the cost-share we pay twice what we
used to. Without the cost share we would be paying 3.5x what we used to
pay. The cost-share seems a reasonable compromise since our organic
certification is no longer voluntary but government-mandated and
accordingly much more costly. That's why we supported rejection of Sen.
Toomey's amendment (SA 2217) which sought to eliminate Organic
cost-share funding. The dollar savings to the government is a tiny drop
in the federal budget. And it also seemed mean-spirited to us. Jim.
Jim
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