MAEAP Certification

 We finally got approval! Peacefield Farm is now MAEAP Certified!
                                What is MAEAP?
The Michigan Dept. of Agriculture has a program in which farmers can voluntarily sign up to be certified as environmentally safe operation. There are several criteria to meet and educational courses to take, plus each farm is inspected by State workers. The aim is to ensure that farm chemicals, etc are not polluting the ground water or the air we breath. Well, Peacefield Farm does not use polluting chemicals, of course. So, that part was easy to pass. However, we do have machinery that uses oil, gasoline and diesel fuel, so we must comply with requirements to ensure that we are not polluting the environment with those substances. As well, we had to comply with other MDA requirements to get our certificate.

After all, it's the right thing to do. Just another way to assure our customers that they are getting the very best produce delivered to them.

WEEDING TIME!

Lorrie and a volunteer take some time to weed one of the herb beds. "These weeds grow no matter what the weather," they both exclaim!

RAIN, RAIN.....& MORE RAIN

We got a GUSHER on Wednesday! About 2 inches came down in a matter of a few hours.

A hard lesson learned......
One result is this "gully washer" - rain came down so fast and so much that we lost some topsoil from one of our fields. This field was all ready for planting when the rain storm hit us, so the soil was loose and friable. This is an example of poor soil management, a mistake I'll only make once. The barn (up the hill from the field) is new this year and I didn't realize that it would shed a lot of water, which then runs down to the field. And through the field, wiping out a lot of our topsoil. Can't move the barn, so this area will be transformed to sod! Otherwise, it'll happen again...and again. A lesson learned.

April 18 Snowstorm!

                          That's RHUBARB under that snow!

We recieved about 2 inches of snow this afternoon & evening....along with thunder and lightning....and rain!
And the temperature has hung around the mid-30's all day. How's a farmer supposed to grow anything??

The hoophouses (yes, we have two) are producing very little for this time of year. Last year at this time, lettuce & greens were coming out to make room for tomato's, which I planted in the farm hoophouse on April 15! Not this year! So, I've got 50 tomato plants ready and in the greenhouse....with no place to go!

What's a farmer to do???

Arlo & Janis

It seems that Gene, Arlo & Janis' son, is going into farming. Not only is he following his father's long-time dream, Gene is doing so with his current girl-friend.  This is sooo...retro, it's funny! What makes the strip especially funny is Janis' reaction, which is supportive of her son, while she could not condone doing the farming thing when she and Arlo were young enough to do it. She became the typical suburban housewife and didn't allow her husband to follow his dream. (He is so "hen-pecked"!) But now that her son wants to be a farmer, she is all for it!
(If you have trouble seeing the strip, hit "ctrl" and the plus sign (+) on your keyboard at the same time to enlarge the view.)

Peacefield Farm is featured on Certified Naturally Grown

Our farm is now featured on the Certified Naturally Grown home page. Check it out here:  www.naturallygrown.org    Tell your friends!

Certified Naturally Grown farms and apiaries are committed to the highest ideals of sustainable agriculture.
Thanks for all that you do to help build a sustainable food system in our community.

Arlo & Janis

I follow Arlo & Janis regularly. He's funny and she's so practical...most of the time.

In this sketch, however, it is Arlo who is the practical one.
Shop at your LOCAL FARMER's MARKET!

ORGANIC FARMERS AND SEED SELLERS FILE SUIT AGAINST MONSANTO TO PROTECT THEMSELVES FROM PATENTS ON GENETICALLY MODIFIED SEED

NEW YORK – March 29, 2011 – On behalf of 60 family farmers, seed businesses and organic agricultural organizations, the Public Patent Foundation (PUBPAT) filed suit today  against Monsanto Company to challenge the chemical giant's patents on genetically modified seed.  The organic plaintiffs were forced to sue preemptively to protect themselves from being accused of patent infringement should they ever become contaminated by Monsanto's genetically modified seed, something Monsanto has done to others in the past.

The case, Organic Seed Growers & Trade Association, et al. v. Monsanto, was filed in federal district court in Manhattan and assigned to Judge Naomi Buchwald.  Plaintiffs in the suit represent a broad array of family farmers, small businesses and organizations from within the organic agriculture community who are increasingly threatened by genetically modified seed contamination despite using their best efforts to avoid it.  The plaintiff organizations have over 270,000 members, including thousands of certified organic family farmers.

“This case asks whether Monsanto has the right to sue organic farmers for patent infringement if Monsanto's transgenic seed should land on their property,” said Dan Ravicher, PUBPAT's Executive Director and Lecturer of Law at Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law in New York. “It seems quite perverse that an organic farmer contaminated by transgenic seed could be accused of patent infringement, but Monsanto has made such accusations before and is notorious for having sued hundreds of farmers for patent infringement, so we had to act to protect the interests of our clients.”

Once released into the environment, genetically modified seed contaminates and destroys organic seed for the same crop.  For example, soon after Monsanto introduced genetically modified seed for canola, organic canola became virtually extinct as a result of contamination. Organic corn, soybeans, cotton, sugar beets and alfalfa now face the same fate, as Monsanto has released genetically modified seed for each of those crops, too.  Monsanto is developing genetically modified seed for many other crops, thus putting the future of all food, and indeed all agriculture, at stake.

In the case, PUBPAT is asking Judge Buchwald to declare that if organic farmers are ever contaminated by Monsanto's genetically modified seed, they need not fear also being accused of patent infringement.  One reason justifying this result is that Monsanto's patents on genetically modified seed are invalid because they don't meet the “usefulness” requirement of patent law, according to PUBPAT's Ravicher, plaintiffs'
lead attorney in the case.  Evidence cited by PUBPAT in its opening filing today proves that genetically modified seed has negative economic and health effects, while the promised benefits of genetically modified seed – increased production and decreased herbicide use – are false.

“Some say transgenic seed can coexist with organic seed, but history tells us that's not possible, and it's actually in Monsanto's financial interest to eliminate organic seed so that they can have a total monopoly over our food supply,” said Ravicher.  “Monsanto is the same chemical company that previously brought us Agent Orange, DDT, PCB's and other toxins, which they said were safe, but we know are not.  Now Monsanto says transgenic seed is safe, but evidence clearly shows it is not.”

The plaintiffs in the suit represented by PUBPAT are: Organic Seed Growers and Trade Association; Organic Crop Improvement Association International, Inc.; OCIA Research and Education Inc.; The Cornucopia Institute; Demeter Association, Inc.; Navdanya International; Maine Organic Farmers and Gardeners Association; Northeast Organic Farming Association/Massachusetts Chapter, Inc.; Northeast Organic Farming Association of Vermont; Rural Vermont; Ohio Ecological Food & Farm Association; Southeast Iowa Organic Association; Northern Plains Sustainable Agriculture Society; Mendocino Organic Network; Northeast Organic Dairy Producers Alliance; Canadian Organic Growers; Family Farmer Seed Cooperative; Sustainable Living Systems; Global Organic Alliance; Food Democracy Now!; Family Farm Defenders Inc.; Farm-to-Consumer Legal Defense Fund; FEDCO Seeds Inc.; Adaptive Seeds, LLC; Sow True Seed; Southern Exposure Seed Exchange; Mumm's Sprouting Seeds; Baker Creek Heirloom Seed Co., LLC; Comstock, Ferre & Co., LLC; Seedkeepers, LLC; Siskiyou Seeds; Countryside Organics; Cuatro Puertas; Interlake Forage Seeds Ltd.; Alba Ranch; Wild Plum Farm; Gratitude Gardens; Richard Everett Farm, LLC; Philadelphia Community Farm, Inc; Genesis Farm; Chispas Farms LLC; Kirschenmann Family Farms Inc.; Midheaven Farms; Koskan Farms; California Cloverleaf Farms; North Outback Farm; Taylor Farms, Inc.; Jardin del Alma; Ron Gargasz Organic Farms; Abundant Acres; T & D Willey Farms; Quinella Ranch; Nature's Way Farm Ltd.; Levke and Peter Eggers Farm; Frey Vineyards, Ltd.; Bryce Stephens; Chuck Noble; LaRhea Pepper; Paul Romero; and, Donald Wright Patterson, Jr.

Many of the plaintiffs made statements upon filing of the suit today:

Mark Kastel, Senior Farm Policy Analyst for plaintiff The Cornucopia Institute said, “Family-scale farmers desperately need the judiciary branch of our government to balance the power Monsanto is able to wield in the marketplace and in the courts.  Monsanto, and the biotechnology industry, have made great investments in our executive and legislative branches through campaign contributions and powerful lobbyists in Washington.  We need to court system to offset this power and protect individual farmers from corporate tyranny.  Farmers have saved seeds since the beginning of agriculture by our species.  It is outrageous that one corporate entity, through the trespass of what they refer to as their 'technology,' can intimidate and run roughshod over family farmers in this country.  It should be the responsibility of Monsanto, and farmers licensing their technology, to ensure that genetically engineered DNA does not trespass onto neighboring farmland.  It is outrageous, that through no fault of their own, farmers are being intimidated into not saving seed for fear that they will be doggedly pursued through the court system and potentially bankrupted.”

ABOUT PUBPAT

The Public Patent Foundation (PUBPAT) is a not-for-profit legal services organization affiliated with the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law. PUBPAT protects freedom in the patent system by representing the public interest against undeserved patents and unsound patent policy.  More information about PUBPAT is available from www.pubpat.org.

CONTACT

Daniel B. Ravicher
Executive Director
PUBLIC PATENT FOUNDATION
Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law
+1-212-545-5337
press@pubpat.org

SPRINGHOUSE

In olden times......., so the story goes, well, not that long ago (i.e. when I was a boy) when dairy farmers milked a few cows and stored the milk in large cans on the farm (before the days of stainless bulk tanks), the large cans (I cannot remember what they were called, the cans, I mean) were stored in the "spring-house". The spring-house was typically adjacent to the milking parlor or the stanchions where the cows were milked and was the farm's primary source of well water. Ahh, well water! Nice 'n cool, especially on hot, humid summer days. Anyhow, the cans of milk were stored in tanks filled with the cool well water inside the spring-house in order to cool the milk prior to being picked up by the local dairy.

This is our SPRINGHOUSE......it's spring inside, especially on sunny days, when it typically 

reaches 75 - 80 degrees. Even on a day like the one pictured here. 

And we have to open the vents to cool it off for the lettuce's 'n spinach, lest they get too hot. 

In fact, we have cool well water inside our spring-house, too. We use it for irrigation, of course.

BABY! It's cold inside!

This is spring???!! After this week's snow/ice combo hit us, we took a look inside the hoophouse and saw just how dark it is inside when snow & ice covers the roof. Not a pretty picture. Besides that, it's cold!

Before winter returned this week, we had picked and sold several batches of spinach, now under insulating covers. But this cold has slowed everything down some. Including the little starts of lettuce, swiss chard and baby spinach that we had planted over the past several weeks. Our hope was to harvest in earnest beginning April 1st, but this cold March will put that off a few weeks.

Patience everyone....spring will come. It's in the forecast.

IT'S SPRING....IN THE HOOPHOUSE!

I can relate to those folks who have a swimming pool in their backyard: their summer's are COOL!

But Lorrie & I like the hoophouse 'cause we get SPRING SOONER than anyone else! (That's snow outside the hoophouse by Lorrie's right shoulder.)


Work has begun in the hoophouse. A couple of weeks ago we started planting lettuce seeds in the ground. Now that we have warmer days, we are expereinceing near 70d temperatures in the hoophouse. The ground is warming up - to 55d. So, spinach is starting to grow! We'll transplant swiss chard and lettuce seedlings at the end of the week.

We'll be harvesting some greens in a few weeks.