Rain, Rain, Rain
A word from your farmer Derek 
After the last week of rain the crops look great. The lettuce doubled in size, peas have flowers, scapes are growing on the garlic. We've eaten a few baby carrots & beets from the field this past week & plan being to harvest them for the next pick up. Tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, cauliflower, brussel sprouts were planted this past week. Now its time for our second planting of lettuce to go in. We've added azomite to our field prepping this year, I can really see a difference in the health of the plants. Azomite is a natural mined rock from a specific volcanic deposit in central Utah marketed as a free-flowing, less than 200 mesh, tan to pink powder with a density of 48 lbs./cubic foot. No additives, synthetics or fillers. Mineralogically, Azomite is rhyolitic tuff breccia. Azomite has 67 major and trace elements, so its name means "A to Z Of Minerals Including Trace Elements."
Hope you've all been enjoying your shares.
News from the organic front:
I recently read the following in the 'Natural Farmer' publication from NOFA (northeast organic farming assoc.) for obvious reason I was greatly disturbed by this. Genetic engineered food is not the way we need to go to end world hunger. "The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation has awarded the Donald Danforth Plant Science Center in Monsanto's hometown of St. Louis Missouri, $5.4 million devoted to political & lobbying activities designed to break down regulatory resistance to genetically modified crops in Africa. The center hopes to secure the approval of African governments to allow field testing of nutrient-enhanced GM bananas, rice, sorghum, & cassava. So far, there have been no takers." source ACRES USA, March, 2009 On the other side, even the World Bank & the UN's Food & Agriculture Organization, having conducted their own study,concluded that industrial agriculture, including GM crops,does not adequately address world hunger problems & often exacerbates social & environmental harm. They recommended that policymakers should focus on things suchasagro-ecological techniques, building local economies, and protecting local control of seeds.
More News from ACRES:
GE Crops Don't Deliver - Despite 20 yrs of research & 13 yrs. of commercialization, genetic engineeering has failed to significantly increase American per-acre crops yeilds according to a report, " Failure to Yield" by the Union of Concerned Scientist, "In comparison, traditional breeding continues to deliver better results" said author David Gurian-Sherman. Over 10 yrs of field data are now available,a nd UCS has made use of them all. See the full report at www.ucsusa.org/food_and_agriculture
Germany has banned Monsanto's GE corn strain MON810, joining France, Austria, Hungary, & Greece, which have also imposed 'safeguard' bans on the variety. In March 2009 a European Commission porposal to force Austra and Hungary to lift their bans was defeated by EU environmental ministers. The 3 other countries will also be facing scruntiny by the commission, which seems tohave arrived at an impasse.
My question: why are American farmers still planting GMO crops & why doens't our government follow suit of all the other countries in the world that have banned GM crops.
Meet Bennie
Bennie has the honor of being the very first livestock to move here (with Cassie). She also started me on the road of cheese making. As farmers we have a very strong desire to produce as much of our own food as we can. The decision to get a goat was made purely for financial reason. When our children were younger we wanted to give them raw milk to drink, at the time we didn't know of any raw milk dairies in the area, buying a cow wasn't an option so we started searching out goat breeds. We had tried goat milk before but didnt' like the goaty flavor, neither did Maia or Jayden. We tried our first Nubian milk at Goat Rising in Charlemont & bought raw milk from him. The kids loved the milk, drank a lot of it. It quickly became apparent that it was cheaper to just buy a goat then to buy 2 gallons of goat milk a week.
We had no idea how to milk a goat & honestly the first few milkings were a disaster. Bennie was very patient with us & stood quietly while we fumbled with her teats. By the second week we finally had the milking rythem down. Maia & Jayden loved the sweet rich milk. We would take Bennie & Cassie for walks to graze which everyone loved.
Bennie loves to climb trees & she is very good at it. Last week while trying to take pictures of all the goats for our web site, Bennie exhibited her climbing ability for me. She was demanding alot of attention (something she loves to do) which prevented me from taking pictures of the other goats. To get her out of my hair I asked her to climb a tree for me. She looked at me & then walked to the tree found a branch she wanted to reach & proceeded to 'climb up' to reach it. She allowed me to take 3 pictures of her. After I took the pictures she came up to be 'thanked' & then walked off to pasture to graze. Whoever said animals don't understand what we say obviously never talked to their animals.
Bennie preparing the "climb"
Bennie climbing
Recipes of the week:
With all the salad greens you've been getting I wanted to share these 2 recipes with you. The first one we had available at the market on Sat, I hope those of you that took romaine also took a recipe. Its a great salad. I made it for Easter one year, everyone in my family loved it, its been part of our Easter meal ever since.
"That Good Salad"
3/4 cup vegetable oil 1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
2 cloves garlic minced 1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper 2 bunches romaine, torn
2 cups chopped tomatoes 1 cup (4 oz.) shredded swiss cheese
2/3 cup slivered almonds, toasted 1/2 cup grated parmesan
1 cup Caesar salad croutons
- in a jar with a tight lid, combine oil, lemon juice, garlic & salt/pepper cover & shake well. chill
- in a bowl, toss romaine, tomatoes, swiss cheese, almonds, & parmesan cheese
- shake dressing & pour over salad, toss. Add crouton just before serving
- makes 14 servings
"Greens with Herb Dressing"
this dressing is great over the lettuce mix
6 T olive oil
2 tsp dijon mustard
1 tsp each fresh minced tarragon, & thyme or 2 tsp fresh herbs of your choice
2 cloves fresh minced garlic
2 T. cider or red wine vinegar
2 tsp. lemon or lime juice
1/4 tsp salt
8 cups lettuce mix
- in a jar with a lid combine first 8 ingredients, & shake well
- place greens in a bowl & drizzle witht he dressing & toss to coat.
- serve
After the last week of rain the crops look great. The lettuce doubled in size, peas have flowers, scapes are growing on the garlic. We've eaten a few baby carrots & beets from the field this past week & plan being to harvest them for the next pick up. Tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, cauliflower, brussel sprouts were planted this past week. Now its time for our second planting of lettuce to go in. We've added azomite to our field prepping this year, I can really see a difference in the health of the plants. Azomite is a natural mined rock from a specific volcanic deposit in central Utah marketed as a free-flowing, less than 200 mesh, tan to pink powder with a density of 48 lbs./cubic foot. No additives, synthetics or fillers. Mineralogically, Azomite is rhyolitic tuff breccia. Azomite has 67 major and trace elements, so its name means "A to Z Of Minerals Including Trace Elements."
Hope you've all been enjoying your shares.
News from the organic front:
I recently read the following in the 'Natural Farmer' publication from NOFA (northeast organic farming assoc.) for obvious reason I was greatly disturbed by this. Genetic engineered food is not the way we need to go to end world hunger. "The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation has awarded the Donald Danforth Plant Science Center in Monsanto's hometown of St. Louis Missouri, $5.4 million devoted to political & lobbying activities designed to break down regulatory resistance to genetically modified crops in Africa. The center hopes to secure the approval of African governments to allow field testing of nutrient-enhanced GM bananas, rice, sorghum, & cassava. So far, there have been no takers." source ACRES USA, March, 2009 On the other side, even the World Bank & the UN's Food & Agriculture Organization, having conducted their own study,concluded that industrial agriculture, including GM crops,does not adequately address world hunger problems & often exacerbates social & environmental harm. They recommended that policymakers should focus on things suchasagro-ecological techniques, building local economies, and protecting local control of seeds.
More News from ACRES:
GE Crops Don't Deliver - Despite 20 yrs of research & 13 yrs. of commercialization, genetic engineeering has failed to significantly increase American per-acre crops yeilds according to a report, " Failure to Yield" by the Union of Concerned Scientist, "In comparison, traditional breeding continues to deliver better results" said author David Gurian-Sherman. Over 10 yrs of field data are now available,a nd UCS has made use of them all. See the full report at www.ucsusa.org/food_and_agriculture
Germany has banned Monsanto's GE corn strain MON810, joining France, Austria, Hungary, & Greece, which have also imposed 'safeguard' bans on the variety. In March 2009 a European Commission porposal to force Austra and Hungary to lift their bans was defeated by EU environmental ministers. The 3 other countries will also be facing scruntiny by the commission, which seems tohave arrived at an impasse.
My question: why are American farmers still planting GMO crops & why doens't our government follow suit of all the other countries in the world that have banned GM crops.
Meet Bennie
Bennie has the honor of being the very first livestock to move here (with Cassie). She also started me on the road of cheese making. As farmers we have a very strong desire to produce as much of our own food as we can. The decision to get a goat was made purely for financial reason. When our children were younger we wanted to give them raw milk to drink, at the time we didn't know of any raw milk dairies in the area, buying a cow wasn't an option so we started searching out goat breeds. We had tried goat milk before but didnt' like the goaty flavor, neither did Maia or Jayden. We tried our first Nubian milk at Goat Rising in Charlemont & bought raw milk from him. The kids loved the milk, drank a lot of it. It quickly became apparent that it was cheaper to just buy a goat then to buy 2 gallons of goat milk a week.
We had no idea how to milk a goat & honestly the first few milkings were a disaster. Bennie was very patient with us & stood quietly while we fumbled with her teats. By the second week we finally had the milking rythem down. Maia & Jayden loved the sweet rich milk. We would take Bennie & Cassie for walks to graze which everyone loved.
Bennie loves to climb trees & she is very good at it. Last week while trying to take pictures of all the goats for our web site, Bennie exhibited her climbing ability for me. She was demanding alot of attention (something she loves to do) which prevented me from taking pictures of the other goats. To get her out of my hair I asked her to climb a tree for me. She looked at me & then walked to the tree found a branch she wanted to reach & proceeded to 'climb up' to reach it. She allowed me to take 3 pictures of her. After I took the pictures she came up to be 'thanked' & then walked off to pasture to graze. Whoever said animals don't understand what we say obviously never talked to their animals.
Bennie preparing the "climb"
Bennie climbingRecipes of the week:
With all the salad greens you've been getting I wanted to share these 2 recipes with you. The first one we had available at the market on Sat, I hope those of you that took romaine also took a recipe. Its a great salad. I made it for Easter one year, everyone in my family loved it, its been part of our Easter meal ever since.
"That Good Salad"
3/4 cup vegetable oil 1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
2 cloves garlic minced 1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper 2 bunches romaine, torn
2 cups chopped tomatoes 1 cup (4 oz.) shredded swiss cheese
2/3 cup slivered almonds, toasted 1/2 cup grated parmesan
1 cup Caesar salad croutons
- in a jar with a tight lid, combine oil, lemon juice, garlic & salt/pepper cover & shake well. chill
- in a bowl, toss romaine, tomatoes, swiss cheese, almonds, & parmesan cheese
- shake dressing & pour over salad, toss. Add crouton just before serving
- makes 14 servings
"Greens with Herb Dressing"
this dressing is great over the lettuce mix
6 T olive oil
2 tsp dijon mustard
1 tsp each fresh minced tarragon, & thyme or 2 tsp fresh herbs of your choice
2 cloves fresh minced garlic
2 T. cider or red wine vinegar
2 tsp. lemon or lime juice
1/4 tsp salt
8 cups lettuce mix
- in a jar with a lid combine first 8 ingredients, & shake well
- place greens in a bowl & drizzle witht he dressing & toss to coat.
- serve
posted by Maribeth Ritchie at
7:22 AM
