This came through from GM Watch earlier today. It's pretty important and easy to act on.
The Economist has a GM debate sponsored by BASF: "This house believes that biotechnology and sustainable agriculture are complementary, not contradictory."
We're currently losing and the debate rounds up in the next 48 hours.
Please vote now a nd vote NO - and tell everyone you know to do the same.
The following is from Phil Chandler.
Please - show the GM industry what you think of them with just one click - no signup, name or email needed - just go here - http://tinyurl.com/3yk4xj6 and vote AGAINST the motion.
I suspect this has been worded in an attempt to ask a 'soft' question, which sounds harmless, so that people will be fooled into agreeing with it. But the fact is that GM and sustainable agriculture are NOT compatible, or complementary, as the very presence of GM in an open space means that organic and other non-GM crops will inevitably be contaminated. This is happening wherever GM crops are grown, and is well-documented. American farmers who were sold on GM ten years ago are now turning against it - listen to my podcast at http://biobees.libsyn.com for evidence of this.
Don't be fooled by industry propaganda: GM crops are TOTALLY INCOMPATIBLE with sustainable agriculture.
This is not a definitive survey, but it is run by The Economist and will be used by the media as 'evidence' one way or the other.
So please, if you care about keeping our food and our bees GM-free - VOTE AGAINST THIS MOTION - http://tinyurl.com/3yk4xj6 - they don't need your name or email address, and it only takes a second.
Thanks. Phil Chandler www.biobees.com
We have about a quarter of our garlic out of the ground, and we are racing against a large dump of rain due at the end of the week. The garlic that is still in the ground then may absorb too much of the water and split, making it usless for anything much aside from compost.
Today's photos show the harvested garlic laid out on our racks to allow it to dry and cure. Then comes the joyous task of topping and tailing each bulb and removing a couple of outer layers of the papery skin.
Be sure to head over to our online Farm Gate Shop and order some garlic now - we will be ready to start delivering by mid December.
A quick post today, as it's been a long day, and the next few are likely to be the same. The images will tell the story.
A heap of rain is expected at the end of the week and we are doing our best to harvest as much of our garlic crop before the rain comes. If you'tre in the area and feel like a few hours work in the sunshine, by all means drop on by.
It is great to see this crop coming out of the ground, with many of the bulbs a very healthy size. Makes all our effort over the last 6 months really worthwhile.
The garlic bed One row done, eighteen to go
A selection from the crop
Every now and then, something comes along that brings a smile to your face, adds a glint to your eye, and a spring in your step for the rest of the day.
That’s what happened to me when I watched Birke Baehr on TEDx Next Generation recently.
This 11 year old has a real plan for sorting out the ills of our complex industrial food system, and deals with pesticides and GMO’s into the bargain.
And all in a little over 5 minutes.
Check it out.
With people like this guy around, the future might just be in good hands.
Oh and I can relate to Birke – I was 12 when I declared to my assembled family that I was going to be a farmer when I grew up!
Rain Rain Go Away ...
Once again I find myself writing with rain falling from the sky in vast quantities, and we're told the end is not in sight.
For the third time in two months, we have a low pressure system sitting almost stationary off the northern NSW coast that is driving moist air onto the coastline and adjoining ranges, and moist air is an understatement! Huey's really throwing it down.
I suppose it could be worse!
For us, the frustrating thing is not the day or two (or three) of inclement weather that means wearing raincoats and overpants, it's the following three or four days that we need to wait before we can move vehicles and trailers around the property, collecting piles of green waste, moving compost materials into place, spreading our made compost and leaf mulch around, and even working the soil in the plots.
At least the ducks and geese get to have some fun!
Our New Team Member
The most recent recruit, actually our first, young Angus Hawkens, started with us last Monday and has keenly jumped in to tasks that we've set for him. So far Angus has been shown first hand the finer points of garden bed clearing, compost heap building, and seedling planting. His first bed of planting was some leek seedlings, and whilst his effort was grand his execution was a little crooked!! He will deal with the error of his ways when it comes time to weed the rows with his hoe.
Angus will also be caring for our poultry whilst we're away from the farm delivering the produce down the coast and in Sydney.
We look forward to watching Angus develop his skills and interests through his studies and practical work with us.
Seed Collection
One aspect of what we are doing here at 'Near River' is to build up a collection of seeds from plants that we've grown here. We are doing this for a number of reasons. Firstly, by collecting seeds over a number of seasons from plants with desirable traits (large fruit, early fruit, slow to bolt to seed, etc) we can produce a strain that is specifically suited to this property. Secondly, it means we can vouch for the authenticity of the seeds organic origin; and lastly, it is a way of us participating in the preservation of heirloom varieties of vegetable species.
So far we've selected a good strain of silverbeet, coriander and pumpkin. Over time these and other varieties that we save seed from will develop attributes or even an affinity with the precise microclimate that exists here a 'Near River' that will enable them to perform really well.
Garlic
Many of you have been enjoying our fresh garlic, and yes garlic is meant to be juicy, not the dried, chlorine-bleached, methyl bromide fumigated imported Chinese stuff that the supermarkets pass off.
Given the success we've had with our initial planting last season, we intend to make this one of our core crops, and so have planted 3600 cloves in the last few weeks. They've jumped out of the ground, as the shot at right shows, so for now, this seasons crop is off to a good start.
2/3 of the planting (2400 bulbs) will be used as seed stock for the acre or two we intend to plant out next season, with the remainder being stored and distributed through the CSA.
This week's CSA Box
Oranges Navel 6
Lemon Meyer 1
Lettuce Cos 1
Rocket Cultivated Bag
Pumpkin Jap 400 gm
Garlic Bulb 1
Chili Med 2
Zucchini 1
Radish French 3
Parsley / Dill Pak
To close this week, a shot of an egg from one of our Rhode Island Red bantams. (It's the one on the right). They have been off the lay for some time now, and this appeared yesterday. When you haven't seen something for awhile, you often forget the marvel that Mother Nature is.
Till next week, cheers.
HI all and very happy New Year. May it be prosperous and abundant for everyone.
The boxes of vegetables that our CSA delivers each week go to the Port Macquarie and Wauchope region on Thursday afternoon and evening, and then Sydney's far north late on Thursday night. The rest of the Sydney deliveries are made on Friday.
We were up before the sun to harvest today, and here is this week's bounty.
That’s right, as the headline says, we’re having a one-off, mid-season intake. So you’ll need to leap at this opportunity. Read on for details.
We supply boxes of chemical-free, wholesome and nutritious vegetables each week to families in the Hastings Valley here on the Mid North Coast, and to families in Sydney, four and a half hours down the highway. This will continue through to the end of this year’s season in late June 2009, before the next season starts in September.
The produce is grown by us here on our 22 acre property, ‘Near River’, and by joining our Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) venture, you’ll have a direct connection with who is growing your food, where it’s being grown, and how it’s being grown. And for some of us in this day of global food and beverage conglomerates, supply chains and over processed foodstuffs, this is very important.
Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) is very popular in Japan, where it started in the mid-70’s, in Europe, and in America, where it continues to grow apace with over 2,000 CSA’s listed on various directories.For more information about US based CSA’s and the concept, Local Harvest is packed with details and links.
Here in Australia, CSA’s are yet to bloom, but we think their time has come, and we are looking to lead the way.
You can join our CSA, Near River Produce, by downloading and filling out either the Sydney brochure for people in Sydney’s northern, eastern and inner western suburbs, or the Hastings Valley brochure for people in the Port Macquarie and Wauchope region.
Further information can be found on this site by viewing earlier posts here, here and here, and by visiting the Near River Produce page. Readers from other Australian states who are interested in contacting CSA’s in their local area, can email us at andrew@nearriverproduce.com and we’ll forward you contacts that exist in each state.
And remember, you are what you eat! (Do you want pesticides with that?).
Back in September this year, at a suitable conference, the boffins at Google somehow convinced what I consider to be two of the food industries leading opponents to both join a panel to discuss ‘Creating a World That Can Feed Itself’.
One of these people was Hugh Grant, Chairman, President and CEO of Monsanto, and you can imagine the angle he took in the discussion.
The other participant was Mike Pollan, Knight Professor of Journalism, UC Berkeley's Graduate School of Journalism and author of ‘In Defence of Food’ and ‘The Omnivores Dilemma’.
I’ve written about Pollan before, and am a keen supporter of most if not all of his ideals. And I’ve written about Monsanto before, and am a keen opponent of most if not all of it’s ideals.
The discussion is most enlivening and interesting. Click below to view the battle!
