The California Right to Know Genetically Engineered Food Act Submitted to the California State Attorney General

I really hope that this ballot initiative passes in California so that we can have the freedom of informed choice in America. Many countries require labeling of their food if it is genetically modified. Companies could easily label now with little to no increased cost.

All companies would have to do is slap a sticker onto the package that says contains genetically modified ingredients like they often do for sales and specials as part of their marketing strategy. When companies routinely update their packaging information they could add a few words to the package or a symbol specifying that it contains genetically modified ingredients. The only reason companies don't label now is that they want to continue to sell their genetically modified food to unassuming consumers.

We lack the freedom to choose the food we want and are held hostage by the lack of information. In this information age it is amazing that something as simple as the information about the foreign genes in our food is kept secret. I hope that this ballot initiative passes and has little opposition.


Here is the press release.

You can read more about this ballot initiative at this website.

2012 California Ballot Initiative to Label GMOs

Amazing things are happening that will hopefully turn our food system for the better. A California Ballot Initiative to let voters decide whether they want their food labeled when they are genetically modified is gathering petitions and may be on the 2012 election ballot. Shouldn't we have the freedom to know what is in our food, apparently about 80% of Californians in a poll agreed. It makes sense, many countries label GMO foods, of course then they don't have nearly as many on their shelves as they would otherwise.

We are being held hostage by the corporate food industry and corporate chemical seed companies. We are the customers that buy the food they grow, yet we have very few choices in terms of GMO-free and have no idea what we are eating. It may as well be sewage sludge based on the information offered to the consumer. In deciding on which product to buy many that contain corn, canola, and soybeans are genetically modified with unknown and potentially negative health effects. Let's reject being human guinea pigs in this potentially disastrous experiment.

Here is the official website for the campaign to Label GMOs and here is their facebook page if you are into that. I don't use facebook.

No to GMOs.

A Cold Frame and Winter Gardening

I decided to make a temporary cold frame this winter to test the concept. I built a simple wood frame and used a staple gun to staple 6 mil plastic sheeting to the frame. I wanted to test the idea and work out the kinks, so that I will know the features to include in a more permanent cold frame. I am planning to someday make a more sturdy cold frame with wooden sides and sloped top either with clear glass or plastic. Here are some pictures of my first homemade cold frame and some of the vegetables that we have been eating from the cold frame. It pick from the cold frame about every other day, which is pretty amazing since it gets down below freezing every night. The frame keeps the frost off the plants and warms them to 75F or higher in the day, which initiates strong growth despite the cold night time temperatures. I planted several types of lettuce and a number of other greens.

 1. Lettuces:

• black seeded simpson
• paris island cos
• red sails
• freckles
• green and red oakleaf
• lolla rossa

2. Endive
3. Long Orange Improved Carrot
4. Monstrueux viro flay spinach
5. Fordhook giant swiss chard
6. Cherry belle radishes

I also have been doing a bit more reading and found that both carrots and parsnips are extremely cold tolerant. I recently planted some of the crop in the ground surrounding the cold frame as it gets warm enough in the day for them to sprout and grow.

Flavor Grenade an Amazing Pluot

My wife doesn't particularly like fruit. She is more of the meat and veggies type, but pluots are one fruit that she can't pass up. Yes pluots, you know those interspecific hybrids of apricots and plums. She actually doesn't like apricots or plums, but loves pluots for some reason. It gets me. Her all time favorite fruit (a pluot of course) is Flavor Grenade that was bred by the famous Zaiger's Genetics.

You can see what the trees will grow to look like at this video about the fruit.

The pluot is distributed through Dave Wilson Nursery. Just look up interspecific plums (pluots) and you can see where they supply the pluot in case you want to order one for your yard like I do. I am thinking that I will need to order it soon to get it this fall or maybe I'll wait a bit to order it for the spring. Maybe in a few years we'll have some delicious Flavor Grenades on a tree of our own.

Community Supported Agriculture (CSA)

I stopped by my local CSA/local produce store to see what they had to offer and the prices that they were charging. They stock locally grown food besides the CSA part of their business and they were interested in stocking and selling my seeds and vegetables at their store. I may have to plan to grow something extra to sell this winter. I was planning to make some cold frames and grow radishes, lettuce, peas, and onions for fresh salads all winter. If I make a few extra cold frames, then I can grow a lot more radishes and lettuce to supply the store. I was thinking that I could also start tomatoes in the spring and sell them through their store. I would love to start my own seed business, but now is not the right time in my life to start that venture due to multiple conflicting factors. Maybe in 10-15 years I can start up a real seed business. For now I may just have to build a local reputation and supply some seeds to the local CSA store. Anyway, it might be a good idea to sell through the CSA and make a bit more spending money for the garden.

The Best Freeze/Frost Tolerant Peach Variety

I recently found out about this peach variety called Intrepid that blooms late and has blossoms that are resistant to freezing temperatures. The tree's blossoms have survived freezing temperatures even at full bloom. That is pretty amazing and might make it worth growing peaches in areas prone to late spring frosts. It will survive in zones 4-8.

I found one place that sells this variety. I am sure that there are others.
Stark Bro's

Another variety that came up in my browsing was the Ranger peach. It also is a late bloomer and more winter hardy for northern climates than the Intrepid peach, but is probably not quite as frost resistant in terms of full bloom. It grows in zones 3-7.

I saw it listed here.
Sanhedrin Nursery

I am still interested in trying the White Heath Cling peach and the Indian Iowa White Freestone Peach. I just made peach pie today and boy was it delicious.

Using Dirt Instead of Potting Soil to Start Seeds

For quite some time I have been a bit disappointed with the traditional store bought potting soil. It presents a few problems when starting seeds.

1. One is that potting soil often contains a lot of shredded wood which invites fungus gnats to make their abode in your potting soil. The gnats also munch on nice little roots sometimes killing the seedlings. Dirt from outside is usually denser, has less wood particulate for the fungus and gnats to grow, and the dirt seems to deter the fungus gnats.
2. I have been concerned for some time about the difference in soil environment between the commercial seed starting soil and the real soil that the plants will be growing in the garden. The idea behind potting soil is that it provides the optimal conditions that will allow more seeds to sprout and is sterile so the seedlings will avoid soil borne diseases and be healthier. In the case like mine where I save and start my own seeds I am more concerned about them growing well in my soil. What if the potting soil encourages the growth of certain seedlings over others that may thrive better in my real soil? On occasions in the past where I used commercial seed, I have noticed that many commercial seeds that are typically started early in the season in potting soil don't sprout readily in the open garden soil. I am afraid that these seeds are bred and conditioned to only grow well in the cushy potting soil conditions and are not hardy enough or adapted well enough to grow and survive if planted directly in the ground. Why not plant the seeds in real dirt and let natural selection proceed eliminating the plants that are less tolerant of fusarium wilt and soil borne diseases? Over a few generations of seed saving, the plants should improve their ability to grow in your soil and adapt more perfectly to your real conditions. Starting seeds in sterile potting soil may confound the selection process.
3. Dirt is Free! Why spend lots of money on potting soil? This was the fundamental changing point for me. I got tired of the high prices for potting soil when similar and possibly better long-term generational results might be obtained with just plain old dirt from my yard.

Here are some pictures of onion starts that I planted last week in just plain dirt from my garden. They seemed to have started to sprout just fine. I expect more to continue to come up over the next week. I am hoping that the weak or poorly adapted seeds don't sprout as I would prefer to select for the hardy onions that are adapted to my soil. It just makes sense to me to start them in the soil that they will be exposed to in the garden.

Typically it is a good idea to chop onions back to an inch or two, like these below, until you harden them off and plant them outside in the garden.

Cold Hardy Grapes -40 to -50F

I remember as a kid in Idaho, that the grape vines never took in our marginal zone 3 climate. They always died each year that we tried. After a couple of years we gave up on growing grapes in such a cold windy climate.

If we had known about the more recent cold hardy grape selections, then we probably would have had no problem growing grapes back then. We originally tried concords and himrod grapes and planted them in somewhat sheltered spots.

Instead we should have planted something like Somerset Seedless, Bluebell, King of the North, Sabrevois, Prairie Star, Louise Swenson, or Valiant. These are hardy grapes that can take -40^oF to -50^oF weather. These northern hardy grapes are often hard to find, but are available at St. Lawrence Nurseries, which is a great place to find cold hardy fruit varieties. Now it is a bit late to plant grapes this year, but there is now plenty of time to plan for next spring's edible landscaping.

Frost Dates and Garden Planning

If you haven't gotten your garden in the ground and growing, then this is the perfect time in many parts of the country. The first week in June is after the last frost date in most locations and is ideal for planting corn, beans, and tomatoes, which are frost sensitive plants. Your peas, radishes, onions, lettuce, and carrots should all be growing readily.

When you are planning your spring, summer, and fall gardens you need to pay attention to timing to make sure that you miss the spring frost for your summer plants and get the sensitive ones finished up before the first fall frost. This will also give you an idea of when to plant your fall garden to start harvesting when the frosts start occurring. If you are not sure when your first and last frost dates look up the dates closest to you in your state with this Frost Date Selector from Victory Seeds.

Blackberry Seedlings

Here is a picture of the blackberry seedlings. This picture really doesn't do them justice. They look much better than the picture and have a reddish hue to their stems and petioles.

Update: Growing Fruit Trees from Seed

This is an update from a previous post. The tree seedlings are really starting to take off and here are a few pictures.

 

This is a picture of some almond seedlings.

I wasn't sure if the almonds would grow because I had heard so much about chemical treatments and irradiation of almonds for the "pasteurization" process required for U.S. almonds. All I did was take a few of the leftover almonds from Christmas, cracked the shells carefully to remove the kernels, placed them on a damp paper towel, sealed in a ziplock bag, and left them in the fridge until they started to germinate. I think the two look pretty good. There might be a third in a few days, we'll see.

Spitzenburg Apple Seedlings.

I started a few of these seedlings from one of my favorite apples. I'm hoping that they are at least decent tasting. If not I'll graft onto them.

Old Fashioned Red Delicious Seedlings.

These are seedlings, rather a lot of them from some 100+ year old red delicious trees. These trees have apples that are large and somewhat red, although not nearly as red and tasteless as the store-bought red delicious apples of today.

Bartlett Pear Seedlings.

These Bartlett Pear seedlings look rather haggard and mostly destroyed by fire blight and other seedling problems. I'm purposely allowing the disease to take over so that only the strong disease resistant/immune trees will survive for my orchard. I am a bit disappointed with these seedlings and am surprised since Bartlett has been used as a rootstock in the past. It doesn't look very hardy in the least.

Seckel Pear Seedlings.

I am much more impressed with the Seckel Pear Seedlings than with the Bartlett. These almost all look strong and vigorous. I've heard they can sometimes come nearly true from seed. I'll have to wait a few years to see if it is true. They look like they would make a better rootstock than Bartlett. I think I'll be planting out a number of Seckel seedlings.

Starkrimson Pear Seedlings.

Starkrimson is my favorite pear variety. I really like the taste, the thin skin, and the red color. These are somewhat damaged by blight and disease, a few have fallen over and are in the process of dying, but they are much less affected than Bartlett. Some of them look like they are going to make it, while many will not.

Red Bartlett Pear Seedlings.

These are Red Bartlett seedlings. They look pretty good so far, I'm guessing that they will be somewhat obliterated by fire blight due to the relationship to the Bartletts that already died. Maybe they have somewhat better genetics. They aren't as crowded. Maybe I'll have to induce some disease by touching them to the infected plant to kill off the weak ones and only keep the immune trees. I've done that with the others to make sure that they all were at least exposed to disease from the Bartletts.

That is the latest update on growing fruit trees from seeds. Oh, I almost forgot to mention the blackberry seedlings came up and look good. They are a little small so I haven't taken a picture of them yet. I'm pretty excited about the possibilities of some of these trees. Time will tell if they are any good.

Great Article about Elevita, Poverty, and Self-reliance

I recently read this great article about Elevita in the Mormon Times. Elevita is an organization that is working to help improve the lives of the poor in developing countries around the world by putting their crafts out in the global marketplace. They work to connect these often skilled artisans with the global marketplace to allow them to provide for their own needs and to help them provide for themselves. This is by far one of the best ideas that I have seen in recent years. Rather than just giving away money to the poor, this provide a way for the people to work for their own living. The organization just provides the medium of exchange or connection to the global market. This is amazing! My wife bought a beautiful tablecloth after I showed her the article and website Elevita where you can view the artisans goods.

What Are Your Favorite Apple Varieties?

I have been trying to decide what varieties of apples to plant in the next year or two. I know a few of my favorites, like Cortland and Northern Spy, but thought I'd try a few new varieties. Luckily the local health food store has a wide variety of apples to try. I've tried a number of apples and made a list of some of the ones that I like and don't like.

Like:
Cortland
Northern Spy
Esopus Spitzenberg or just Spitzenberg
Arkansas Black
Golden Delicious
Fameuse

Still Looking to Try These:
Ashmead's Kernel
Winesap
Duchess of Oldenberg
Ginger Gold
Black Limbertwig

Ambivalent:
Braeburn
Fuji
Yellow Transparent
Lodi
Dolgo Crab Apple
Rome Beauty
Jonathan
McIntosh

Dislike:
Gala
Pinova/Pinata
Red Delicious
Empire

There are lots of other apple varieties that I would like to try and may in the future. Tom Brown is a great conservator of rare and once thought to be lost apple varieties. He has found apples like Junaluska, Ten Ounce, Stump the World... You can see the list of the varieties he has found at the Apple Search website and can even order trees if you want to try something really unusual or nearly extinct. I think I just might.

Growing Ginger Root

I started this ginger plant about a month ago. It is a little lanky probably due to not being in a bright enough location. I started a ginger plant once before. I chopped it down when I moved and it regrew a number of stalks, but it eventually died when I left it outside during a freeze. I plan to keep this ginger and start a significant colony to harvest regularly. I might even plant some outside in the summer.

You can find ginger root at most grocery stores. Just look for one with a bud and plant it with the bud pointing up. I planted mine with the root shallow enough that it would photosynthesize until it grew a shoot, so the top of the root is a bit green with chlorophyll. I might add more dirt now that it has leaves. I decided to move it to a brighter location today. Hopefully brighter light will keep it a bit shorter. My last one was in a really sunny window, had four or five stalks that were about 18" tall and it even bloomed. Too bad that I don't have any pictures of that one in bloom. I am thinking about starting turmeric from the root as I have never tried that.

Ginger start

Growing Fruit Trees from Seed

I've had a habit of growing trees from seed for a number of years, but only recently about two years ago started growing fruit trees from seeds. I stratified the seeds from quite a number of pears of different varieties by putting them in a damp paper towel or napkin in a ziplock bag in the fridge for a couple of months. After a month or two many of them started sprouting in the fridge. I planted the seedlings that had their root just sprouting out of the seed in a small pot and kept planting them as they sprouted. Eventually every single spot was covered with pear seedlings. It looked like a little mini pear forest. Of course they were in a cold window sealed in a bag during the winter which lead to disease that ravaged the mini pear forest. A few survived unscathed and I kept them and planted them in a large pot. Now these pears are about a foot to two feet tall. They were immune to fireblight and other disease and survived harsh conditions.

I've started more pear seedlings this winter, following in my newly started tradition, and have been keeping better track of the varieties. I really like the taste and thin skin of the Starkrimson pear and am trying to grow some of those along with many others. Bartlett seedlings have in the past been used as rootstock, so if you don't like the fruit from the seedling just graft another variety onto the hardy tree you've grown. My decision to grow more fruit trees from seed was bolstered when I tasted wild dewberries and wild huckleberries. The wild plants were generally very productive. They all had different sizes, shapes, sweetness, and tart zingy tastes. I like them all and especially the small variations in taste from plant to plant. I think I enjoy the variety more than a monoculture of one variety. I enjoy getting a surprise. I'm trying to grow blackberries from seed to see if I can get a nice mix of flavors in my blackberry patch.

Anyway, here are some pictures of my recent pear sprouting project.

 Bartlett seeds in a damp paper towel in a ziplock bag in the fridge stratifying.

These are the Bartlett seedlings that I've transplanted from the fridge to this little pot. I'm just getting started and have a lot more to plant.

If you are interested in growing your own rootstock, then you might grow Bartlett, but I'm sure that other varieties would work well too. Seckel pear has been reported to come nearly true from seed and is said to often be better than the original in taste. I just bought a bunch of Seckel pears to eat and thought that I'd try some of them this year. If you want apple rootstock, then you might try Northern Spy. Northern Spy seedlings have been used as rootstock for apples quite a bit and it is the progenitor of the MM106 apple rootstock, which is a semi-dwarfing rootstock. In some markets in the U.S. you can find Northern Spy apples at the grocery store. You might try Whole Foods or a specialty market as they often have better old fashioned apple varieties. Northern Spy is one of my favorite apples, so if the tree you grow tastes good just grow it on its own roots without grafting it. Why not try it first? You will possibly have a stronger more resistant tree without a graft and who know you might grow the next Ashmead's Kernel.

Glyphosphate: A Common Weed Killer Sprayed on Your Food Linked to Severe Birth Defects

I recently read this journal article about glyphosphate based herbicides titled, "Glyphosate-Based Herbicides Produce Teratogenic Effects on Vertebrates by Impairing Retinoic Acid Signaling." It reports a link between the common crop weed killer used in conjunction with glyphosphate resistant GMO crops and severe cranial birth defects. It is an interesting read and may make you wonder about what you ate for lunch.

Great Article "Sprouting Evil: How Monsanto Endangers Heirlooms"

I read this great article titled "Sprouting Evil: How Monsanto Endangers Heirlooms" that pretty much sums up our awful situation in terms of the loss of the control over what we eat and who controls our food supply and livelihoods. You can also read about the atrocities committed against American families and their small family owned farms by corporate agriculture here at the Organic Consumers Association, Millions Against Monsanto link.