Few Words...

OK folks first thing, due to money issues here we are going to have our internet off for a month or 3 while we get the money for our building projects done. So after the 8^th of this month I won't be online (according to the phone company).

I will be keeping track of what goes on here so I can update when we get it back on. WE are going to be working on our outdoor stove in the next couple of days and provided we don't get rain before tomorrow afternoon we will get more digging done in the root cellar tomorrow. We are down about 2ft now and we need about another 5 ft.

I have made a couple of decisions on some of our “standard” crops at this point. We liked the lemon cucumbers more than standard cucumbers in flavor and how they grow so unless the dragon's egg variety does well and tastes better we will be sticking with only lemon cucumbers. By the way... we had one ripen fully so far and it was so GOOD!

As it stands we will be growing red noodle long beans as the green black seeded one was having a major bug issue. While we picks the same amount of both, all but one of the black seeded were “buggy”.

I seem to be having some major issues with my squashes this year. I still have no female flowers on them. Now I see them starting then they wilt and die. However, the male flowers are flourishing. Anyone know why? I'm wondering if it's been the heat wave causing it troubles.

I have some good news on the GMO front:

http://www.naturalnews.com/033216_GMO_contamination_lawsuits.html

At least in two states a farmer can sue another for contamination by pesticides/herbicides and GMO infection. Read the article please and learn more!

I will be making my first jam/jelly attempt sometime this week as I know have everything I need to make some. Wish me luck and if I get it done before our net goes down I'll post my results.

GM Grass.. now we are getting ridiculous...

Sorry folks but this will be a multi post across the board as this is important.

The Health Ranger over at naturalnews.com is calling for a boycott of Scotts lawn products due to their soon to be newest product. What could this product be? GM grass seed... yes, -GRASS SEED- if it was not bad enough to have GMO's that were food stuffs people are going to be pushed to buy a GM grass seed that is “roundup ready”.

http://www.naturalnews.com/033022_Scotts_Miracle-Gro_GMO_seeds.html

Yippie... so now everyone who wants the “perfect lawn” will be pouring gallons of roundup on their lawns. What will eventually happen to the water tables in these areas? Poison is still poison no matter how you “bottle” it. It will still affect the rest of the environment that you put it in.

How are you going to feel when the lawns at schools are sown with this seed and they start pouring roundup all over the grass that -YOUR- child will be walking/running/playing over?

What happens when it cross pollinates with natural grasses? We'll have GM grass everywhere eventually. Also remember what I said about corn? Corn is a “grass”, it is a distant cousin to what is on the lawns in the cities. However, anyone who is trying to strengthen a “old” variety of corn with crossing it with the wild ancestor. What will happen to that ancestor plant?

With the idea of this going to happen what I see will be happening is that we will have a “new” urban desert a green one. It will be grass and nothing else, of course you could plant the GM trees so that maybe you'll have a tree in your yard too. Trees are hurt by round up just as any other plant is.

Home vegetable gardeners and “urban” homesteaders will have major issues when their neighbors grow this grass, due to the spraying of the chemicals on the GM grass. As the spray -WILL- carry over to your yard.

So protect yourself now.. protest THIS ONE if nothing else in the GM area. Check out the Health Ranger's post on naturalnews.com to see how you can voice your opinion on this subject!

To Clarify...

Just in case I hear it here about my last post...

seems everyone who reads this thinks I am complaining about hybrids. I was trying to make a statment about the idea of making a "seedless" anything... which to me.. seems very silly... and even though hybrids occur in nature a "seedless" one wouldn't truly last in nature so it seems a bit like what the Big M is doing...

everyone however is just seeing me say ... "hybrid BAD"....which I'm not... I was talking about 1 type. I did not think I was bashing hybrids, but it seems for at least 3 other places I have posted that post on seeds that people think I am bashing hybrids.

I do think hybrids are a good idea, however when you come across something like the seedless watermelon, which I have heard many people complain about it not "tasting like a watermelon". what is the real point behind it? To me it just seems like it was made just so that seeds had to be re bought every year thereby making the seed company lots of money.

This morning I cut up a yellow fleshed watermelon that I bought locally. It had that "watermelon" flavor that I remember when I was a young child. It tasted nothing like the typical "Seedless" watermelon you find in stores now. I have saved the seeds from it, and my kids were surprised by how large the seeds were. I have to say they looked big to me as well.

If you go back and look at GMO history though you will see something. The tomato, there was a GM tomato once; but the people complained that ti had no flavor compared to other store bought ones. So why is it when you have these "seedless" watermelons that to me have no flavor, people don't complain? People don't know the difference... they really don't, I mean how long has the seedless watermelon been out there? At least 20 years if my memory is right. So after 20 years that is the flavor that people are use to and now want.

So please... just because I have an issue with 1 hybrid... and compared it to a GM product... which to me has some similar things to some GM products. Does not mean I don't like hybrids, some of the tomato hybrids are wonderful. I would love to grow that all pink one that I read about how the person who "discovered it" wound up growing it. That one was used as a way to explain hybridization to people who know nothing about it.

Now here is the nice thing about a -BLOG- it's mostly a personal opinion on what the person writes. I do try to have accurate info included in what I write and sometimes my opinions shine through more. Such is the case with yesterday's post.

I would like to thank the person who responded yesterday to the seed post.. and I hope you can now see what I was trying to say.

A Word On Seeds....

Well I was talking to Silver and the kids about watermelons, and an interesting question came up. How do you get seeds for “seedless” watermelons? Now I know that those white “seeds” are seeds, but anyone who has grown watermelons and has seen the seeds you plant for them. Know they are not those little white “seeds”. So if the watermelons don't produce a standard seed, how DO you get the seed?

That brought on another question, as my reply to Silver asking about seeds for seedless watermelon was. “The same way you get seeds for a GMO that has the terminator gene in it.” Which as anyone knows, isn't an answer.

So, how do they get the seed stock for the terminator plants? I imagine you can make a new batch every year, but here is another few questions. What happens if they make a mistake? Where would they get the original seed to genetically modify? I imagine that eventually if they have their way with it that, there would be no seed without some “markers” from the GM corn. Look at Mexico for example, where they did not allow GM corn to go into their country as seed corn. Now though, due to the fact that they did allow “food stuffs” to come in with GM corn. So what did the “poor” farmers there do? They take some of any of the corn they eat and save it to grow. Now they are finding in different places around Mexico that some of the GM corn “genes” are mutating their corn plants. Sometimes so that the plant is producing multiple ears per leaf. Now on any standard corn plants they only have one per leaf. The officials are telling the people to NOT EAT OR SAVE THE SEEDS. They even want the farmers to destroy them. What does that tell you about the GM genes?

What happens when the terminator gene crosses over there? Mexico has many varieties of corn that are only seen there. They plant their corn near the “wild” types that corn came from way back when. So the wild corn is a grass, so if that “gene” jumps to the “wild” type would it then cross over to standard grass?

So, back tot he original question that led to this, seedless watermelon seeds. Well we have been told that the seedless types are a hybrid, now my mother says seedless ones have no flavor. She is right the seedless ones to me seem to not have the “flavor” I associate with WATERMELON, so is that a good side affect of the hybrid? Also why would you hybridize a plant to not produce a viable seed? What is the point of that?

One could almost question, are seedless watermelons a GMO in disguise? It would make more sense than “forcing” nature to do something unnatural. Producing something without any seed is not that far from producing one with a sterile seed. The big difference here is corn the “vegetable” part is the seed. Whereas the watermelon it has nothing to do with the seed. So we go back to where the “greed” of the BIG M and the idea of their terminator gene come into play. If the farmer that is buying watermelon seeds from you cannot use the seeds from the watermelon he grows because there are none then he has to keep buying from the seed company. Which is what happens with the terminator gene that is out there. Makes good money sense doesn't it? To the seed company any way....

Makes you think doesn't it?

Visitor Cleaning day

Well, I have a visitor coming this weekend; my mother. She is coming to see her grandkids, she is also taking them to meet their great grandparents. She is suppose to leave tomorrow from Chicago, I am guessing she will take the kiddo's on Saturday. that way she will have them back for the 4th celebration near us on Sunday. My grandparents live to the south of us, I'd wager an hour of 2 drive.

So this morning after my normal rounds, we had the kids do some work around the front yard. Silver got the weed wacker out and cut down some of the grasses and they got added to our growing compost pile. I turned it this morning and was happy to see that it was starting to turn blackish in color. I also weeded my herbs, my basil is taking off. Also the Chamomile is forming flowers and I hope it gets some runners soon. I cut our dill back and I put it into the dehydrator and plugged it in... and it didn't start...

Well I hope with the heat we have been getting and the fact that our window a/c unit takes the humidity out of the air, it will dry on it's own. We will see, and now we are in the market for a new one. I wonder how much it would cost us to build a big wooden one?

Oh interesting news article I came across today:

http://www.ky3.com/news/ky3-farmers-planted-most-corn-since-2007-crop-could-slow-food-inflation-20110630,0,6356194.story?track=rss

..and I just love this quote:

"this year's corn crop will be 92.3 million acres, the second-biggest since 1944."

Now I have a couple problems with that, first... Yep lots of acres planted, I bet if you look it up it's feed corn. which if you figure in feeding it to cattle/chickens/pigs yep meat prices might go down. Second figuring in the "feed corn" statement again that is GMO corn... YIPPEE!

Then there is my last, but most important problem with this. That number is based on the planted corn, not what has grown and been harvested. We don't know for sure that every acre that has been planted will grow correctly.

This goes along the "counting chickens before they are hatched" thing. That article states that food inflation will go down because of this, again. Only if... the crop harvests to that amount as well. No one can say with 100% accuracy that this crop will grow exactly like it's suppose to with no problems.

Maybe people who say that we will be harvesting that much because that much was planted need to go back to the age of 5 when you learned not to plan on everything on your Christmas list appearing under your tree.

Be Well and Blessed Be....

Enviropig™

I read something startling today that there is soon to be approved in Canada something called “Enviropig™” a genetically modified pig. There is a website for Canada against it:

http://www.thinkeatact.ca/campaign/enviropig%E2%84%A2-attacking-wrong-end-problem

This is the Wikipedia entry for this “animal”:

The Enviropig is the trademark for a genetically modified line of Yorkshire pigs with the capability to digest plant phosphorus more efficiently than ordinary unmodified pigs that was developed at theUniversity of Guelph.[1] Enviropigs produce the enzyme phytase in the salivary glands that is secreted in the saliva. When cereal grains are consumed, the phytase mixes with feed in the pig's mouth, and once swallowed the phytase is active in the acidic environment of the stomach degrading indigestible phytic acid with the release of phosphate that is readily digested by the pig.

Cereal grains including corn, soybean and barley contain 50 to 75% of their phosphorus in the form of phytic acid. Since the Enviropigs can now digest phytic acid, there is no need to include either a mineral phosphate supplement or commercially produced phytase to balance the diet. Because no phosphorus is added to the diet and there is digestion of the phytic acid, the manure is substantially reduced in phosphorus content, ranging from a 20 to 60% decrease depending upon the stage of growth and the diet consumed.

The benefits of the enviropig if commercialized include reduced feed cost and reduced phosphorus pollution[2] as compared to the raising of ordinary pigs.

The Enviropig was developed by the introduction of a transgene construct composed of the promoter segment of the murine parotid secretory protein gene and the E. coli phytase gene.[2] This construct was introduced into a fertilized embryo by pronuclear microinjection, and this embryo along with other embryos was surgically implanted into the reproductive tract of an estrous synchronized sow. After a 114 day gestation period, the sow farrowed and piglets born were checked for the presence of the transgene and for phytase enzyme activity in the saliva. Through breeding, this line of pigs is in the 7th generation, and the phytase trait is stably transmitted in a Mendelian fashion.

Seems from what I have read that the idea behind this is the concern of contamination from the manure that is spread on farms from the large scale pig farming pigs. Well, in my opinion; that is the problem right there. Large scale pig farming, a sustainable pig farm would be better especially if it were a pastured pig farm.

That means the pigs forage for at least 75% of it's food, not get fed 100% of it's diet through commercial feed. We still do not know what any of the GM anything will do to us down the line, but I doubt it will be good for anyone.

Here is a good question what if these pigs escape into the wild and breed with feral pigs? Somehow I doubt that would be good, and it would spread those genes where they were not meant to go. Maybe even into the US.

Stand up and say something about this, and stop it before it becomes a reality in Canada and here.

"Bad?" Corn

I have come across a strange/startling discovery lately while we are driving around. It has to do with our local corn (feed corn) crop. Now last year I had seen some areas in fields that were not as well grown as they others. No big deal right?

Well this year, while driving past at least 3 different corn fields (feed corn). I have seen some puny plants, also large portions of the field just aren't growing at all. I know and you also may know that old line about how corn should be” knee high by the 4^th of July.” At this moment I do not think that thses corn fields will manage that height at all.

Which made me think about something else, people here have heard me talk about what I think of GMO crops. Also my concerns about what they -might- do. Well what if we are already seeing some kind of affect on our crops now from it? Maybe something is going on in their genetics that is making them harder to grow? What if we are heading to a corn blight? What if...?

There is just to many questions about these crops (in my opinion anyway), also to many “what if's'” to really want to have anything to do with those crops. I don't think I will ever grow corn as I worry even with sweet corn that I would have some crossing with a GM product.

My other concern about at least the GM corn, but the others as well. When you have a crop with that “terminator” gene, where does the company get the new seed every year? The whole point on having that gene is to prevent them from producing viable seed. So where are they growing the corn that they use that gene in and how is it that the “seed corn” is/has the “terminator” gene in it?

Am I the only person asking this question?

Odd moments while driving

Dang I wish I had my camera working, because then I'd get pictures for what I'm about to comment on here.

For what it looks like here there are a good amount of farms now up for sale, and that bothers me. A year ago these same farmers were doing fine, and even considering the happenstance that these people just might have only just decided to go to the city to make life easier. That is still a lot of farms.

I saw at least a dozen farms up for same and 10 of those dozen were not up for sale last year. I think it is a disturbing trend. I do hope that it does not continue. I also wonder if it is due to the current issues in farming over the big M and it's policies? Especially with their GM products.

I personally don't want GMO food any where in my diet. Not even in the feed for the meat I may/ may not eat. Once it gets into the "system" where does it stop? What happens down the line? Maybe this will happen:

The farmer walked out to his field shaking his head, looking at the corn crops all dead; and not knowing why. This has been the first time this has ever happened as far as the farmer knew. He had been growing corn for about five years after his father stopped and gave him the farm. As he looked around even across the street he could see those corn fields dead as well, and those weren't his fields.

As far as he knows all the corn fields are dead, the only place he had heard of any growing still was on a tiny farm about five miles away. He knew though that he couldn't grow that corn, it would kill him. About a year ago someone had gotten into the county grain silo some of that corn, and it had mixed into the rest of the good corn. It was a disaster, all the livestock fed that corn died and so did the people whose food was tainted by it.

The farmer shakes his head thinking about what else that farm was growing. What was a tomato anyway? He had never heard of such a thing as a tomato, and what were beans? The only food that existed (at least as he grew up knowing) was corn made or processed meat. Everyone who grew food grew either corn, chickens, or cows. So what weird kind of food were those people growing?

He could not believe it, as he was offered food from those people the one time he went over to there. He was sick for a week after and the doctors gave him five bottles of pills to get rid of what ever was in that food. He was told by the doctor later that whatever that farm grew it did not have the one thing that all life. It was a a non-modified food, the farmer had never heard of such a thing before. His father when he had asked him told him that when he was a kid they had such foods. Also that people had only started eating the modified foods.

So he guessed someone must have hid those seeds when they were destroying all the non-modified seeds. It didn't matter now if there were as now people could only eat the modified crops now, same with the live stock. The farmer shakes his head again, his dad's childhood days were over 50 years ago, it must have been an odd time.

While yes, this is not going on now; we do not know the future affects of GM products. What if... one of the future side affects is that anything fed with them can then only eat them? What will happen if humanity becomes dependent on those alterations in the food to survive? It would change our genetic code, and then people who stayed away from them would be a different species from the “normal” humans. While this might not happen, we just don't know. We need more study of these products before humans should ingest them in any form. Even 2^nd hand form.

I do truly wonder about it...

Be Well, and Blessed Be...

Guilty!

Yes I'm guilty! Guilty of not always following through with something. Oddly it was one of my kids that caught me too.

We had decided to try to cut all high fructose corn syrup out of our diets, which includes drinking soda pop; which has many other reasons for not drinking it. Especially with Silver being a diabetic and us not wanting "artificial sweeteners" that are made for diabetics due to the veiled pasts they have.

Anyway, my kids last time we were getting ready to go to the store asked if we could buy some soda pop, of course I told them no because we're not doing soda anymore. Well, my youngest who always likes to point out errors on other people; yells. "But mom, you two had some the bottles are in the car!"

Well... she was right, we had been buying some Sasperilla (I know that's gotta be spelled wrong) from the farm store when we stop in it. I conceded to her that yes we drank it and thanked her for pointing it out. then I said, "well that's it no more soda of any kind including that stuff." It didn't go over well with my darling little girl, but at least I did remember I'm not suppose to be drinking it.

As for the rest of the "corn syrup" items, I have gone so far as to make sure catsup we buy has none in it. I am also hoping this year to make my own, I have found numerous recipes on it. Here is something I hope everyone knows about if they are trying to avoid the "corn syrup".

http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/09/14/a-new-name-for-high-fructose-corn-syrup/

http://planetgreen.discovery.com/food-health/the-fda-may-change-high-fructose-corn-syrup-name-to-corn-sugar.html

Seems they want to change the name to corn sugar to make people like it more... well in my opinion as long as i know what it's called I can avoid it. i am also avoiding sugar beets just in case they are permitted to grow the GMO variety of them.. I have been buying pure cane sugar and will keep doing so unless they make that GMO as well. I am planning to switch to honey as a sweetener once we can get our own bee hive. We have found instructions on how to build our own supers for it, so that might be this winter's project.

As for current "work"... well as we are suppose to get rain for the next 7 days I guess I am going to be doing to work ups on who I'm going to divide up my growing space this year as we want to use container gardening until we can make our raised beds. Which of course can't be done till after house building is done so we can place them properly. i hope everyone stays safe if they are in the weather that is coming along.

Be Well and Blessed Be...

Problem with GMO Crops

I read something disturbing today, it was a news article from naturalnews.com, and another blog commented on it (I believe it was No Groceries For a Year pardon if I got the name wrong guys). Both state that ranchers have discovered that cattle feed GMO feed have been having problems with infertility and spontaneous abortions.

Here is the link to the Natural News article.. it includes a letter to the head of the USDA about it.:

http://www.naturalnews.com/031473_GMOs_pathogens.html

Well... first I'd love to know how they got a copy of the letter that Col (Ret) Don M. Huber sent to the USDA, but that aside it is disturbing to think that something in the chemical makeup of Roundup and the RR seeds has helped an unknown pathogen that causes this to spread.

It also has been seen to reduce the viability of the same crops that are RR, so will this increase yields? No... it will reduce them. Then if it continues there is a possibility of crop failures, which have been seen in other countries, if I am not mistaken India is one such country.

Then we also have to wonder if it affects all these other parts of our "ecosystem" (as our food cycle is our ecosystem) are affected what affect will it have on humans? If it affects humans lets see home much GMO products you may eat in a day.

Breakfast:

Well if you are a eggs and bacon person (I know I am) then well you have after affects of GMO products right in your breakfast. The chickens that layed your eggs (unless you have your own hens and don't feed GMO crops to them) have been fed GMO corn based feed. Same thing with the bacon in this meal, the pig in the "fattening pen" they are put in befpore slaughter are given a feed that contains GMO crops in it. why because it is the cheapest.

Now if you are into just cereal for breakfast, this is what is in General Mills Honey Nut Cheerios (TM):

"Whole Grain Oats (includes the bran), Sugar (most likely made from GMO sugar beets), Modified corn Starch (GMO), Honey, Brown Sugar Syrup, Slat, Tripotassium Phosphate (anyone know what that is?), Canola (GMO) and/or Rice Bran Oil (soon to be GMO), Natural Almond Flavor. Vitamin E (Mixed tocopherols)(<--what is that one?)Added to Preserve Freshness.

So lets see,w ell seems breakfast is not GMO free... what about lunch?

Now if you are partaking of a sandwich made with some kind of meat; you've got GMO's it's in the animal feed. I'd look up bread ingredients but I don't have any store bread in house I bake mine. So how about Soup for lunch? Campbell's Tomato soup ingredient list:

"Tomato Puree (water, tomato paste), high fructose corn syrup (GMO), wheat flour, water, salt, Potassium Chloride, flavoring, citric acid, lower sodium Natural sea salt (so there's non-natural sea salt?), ascorbic acid (vitamin C), Monopotassium Phosphate"

Well that has a t least one GMO crop in it, oh btw.. a few of the ingredients in both of those my spell check did not like, guess that means they aren't real words. Oh and here is the ingredient list for Campbell's Select Harvest Garden Recipes Harvest Tomato with Basil soup for comparison:

"Tomato puree (water, tomato paste), water, wheat flour, sugar (if from beets it will be GMO soon) contains less than 2% of: Lower Sodium Natural Sea Salt (again is there unnatural out there???), Potassium Chloride, Natural Flavoring, Salt, yeast extract, citric acid, dried basil

So there you have it their "healthier" version for now is kinda OK, but like I said you need to know where that sugar comes from. So what about dinner?

Well any meat again has most likely been fed off GMO feed, I have also heard there is GMO sweet peppers out there; so be wary of that salad. Don't think beverages get you off the hook either, if you drink prepared canned drinks they most likely use corn syrup in some form in the sweeting. Also don't go for the "diet" beverages, at least one of those "sweeteners" they use in "diet" drinks is actually poison.

so my advise would be... grow your own, but if you cannot... what your labels and make your own foods!

On another note, i am still working on my yeast growing experiment, i have the liquid from my fruit (week sitting) divided between 2 containers to see if I need to let it sit longer or if it is ready now. I do hope to have a post on it tomorrow, but that's if my one with the flour already grows overnight!

Be Well and Blessed Be...