Re: FW: News Update From The Campaign to Label Genetically Engineered Foods
HI I AM NEW HERE. The following is a clipping from the USDA organic rules. "The National Organic Program Final Rule does not allow the use of Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs), including genetically engineered crops. Because of extensive trialing worldwide of about 2 dozen GMO crops, many scientists assert that no crop seed can now be guaranteed 100% GMO-free. Tolerance levels and acceptable testing methods have yet to be spelled out by the National Organic Program. Such determinations will presumably be finalized by October 20, 2002. Companies are already using various methods of testing (especially for grains and soy) and will provide this information to customers upon request." I know deep in my soul that the use of genetically engineered food degrades my connection to spirit and it upsets me greatly that the great beast Monsanto is about to unleash its brand of filth on another staple of our diet. The only way I can think of to get these people to stop doing what they are doing is for humans with higher functioning to infiltrate these companies and slowly change their direction. Otherwise I do not believe that they are going to wake up enough to stop what they are doing. Even with things like the Mississippi river dead zone, an area the size of New Jersey spreading out into the Gulf of Mexico that is devoid of life. Staring them right in the face. Thanks for reading thisPeace Eric On Wednesday, January 29, 2003, at 11:18 AM, Barry Carter wrote: Dear Friends, Thought that this might be of wide interest on this list: News Update From The Campaign to Label Genetically Engineered Foods -- Dear News Update Subscribers, Posted below are two articles of significant interest. The first article from Reuters is titled "U.S. wheat industry wrestles with GMO wheat issues." The wheat industry is meeting this week in their annual meeting and the issue of genetically engineered wheat is a major topic of discussion and debate. Monsanto is actively attempting to get approval of both the U.S. and Canadian governments to sell genetically engineered wheat. Monsanto claims that even if they get government approval, they are not going to begin selling the genetically engineered wheat until the wheat industry is ready for it to be introduced. But we only need to look at Monsanto's track record to know that their credibility and motives are highly suspect: http://www.thecampaign.org/monsantofiles.php Many U.S. and Canadian wheat growers do not want any genetically engineered wheat to be grown because they have seen what has happened to exports of corn and soy since the introduction of the biotech varieties. The 15 European Union nations and other countries around the world refuse to purchase North American corn and soy because of concerns about contamination from GMOs. The loss of exports has cost our farmers hundreds of millions of dollars. If genetically engineered wheat is permitted to be planted in the U.S. and Canada, it will inevitably contaminate the non-genetically engineered varieties. So if genetically engineered wheat begins to be commercially grown here, Europeans, Australians and consumers worldwide are likely to demand wheat from other sources. And speaking of exports to Europe, this leads us to the second article which is titled "EU calls for U.S. restraint over biotech complaint." The United States is considering filing a complaint with the World Trade Organization (WTO) in a effort to force our genetically engineered foods on European citizens. In the article below, David Byrne, European Commissioner for Health and Consumer Protection, states, "If consumers see that something is done to force a situation which they do not want, I think the effects would be adverse." A couple weeks ago, The Campaign to Label Genetically Engineered Foods issued an ACTION ALERT to President Bush, U.S. Trade Rep. Robert Zoellick, and Iowa Senator Charles Grassley asking them not to raise a WTO challenge on the European Union moratorium on genetically engineered foods. If you have not yet participated in our ACTION ALERT on this matter, you can do so at: http://www.thecampaign.org/alert-WTO.php Craig Winters Executive Director The Campaign to Label Genetically Engineered Foods The Campaign PO Box 55699 Seattle, WA 98155 Tel: 425-771-4049 Fax: 603-825-5841 E-mail: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Web Site: http://www.thecampaign.org Mission Statement: "To create a national grassroots consumer campaign for the purpose of lobbying Congress and the President to pass legislation that will require the labeling of genetically engineered foods in the United States." *** U.S. wheat industry wrestles with GMO wheat issues By Carey Gillam ALBUQUERQUE, N.M., Jan 27 (Reuters) - U.S. wheat industry meetings this week will be dominated by fierce debate over genetically modified
not to change the subject...
Just home from Harrisburg, PA where the Cornell Extension hosted their first Organic / biodynamic viticulture conference. Speakers on biodynamics included Gunther Hauk from the Pfeiffer Center, Alan York of Hopland California. Alan has extensive vineyard experience and has acheived Demeter Certification for Ceago and Benziger Vineyards in California. I brought my stirring machine and tea brewer and some preparations. Lots of interest and I will offer a hands on workshop in the Spring at a Vineyard in PA. This was attended by about two hundred vineyard owners and managers. Some of my neighbors on the south fork of LI attended. Another indication that BD is alive and well and growing, imagine that Cornell agents said the word biodynamics...sstorch
FW: Diane Harvey's Righteous Rant
Sometimes even the strongest language isn't enough... Juggernaut Rising: Part Four America the Hideous By Diane Harvey [EMAIL PROTECTED] The United States of America is about to murder, in cold blood, a large number of hungry, ragged and generally debilitated human beings. An enormous army of Techno-Goliaths is being launched halfway across the world to demolish a poverty-stricken population with a dazzling display of overwhelmingly inescapable death and destruction. The revolting new policy of instantaneous mass death is being referred to as Shock and Awe, but there is nothing new about it. Its called a Blitzkrieg and its pedigree is well known. And after as many mommies and daddies as possible are torn limb from limb, and their children set on fire, we will steal their last remaining natural resource. To prepare the way for outright theft, our courageous military is sallying forth to make short work of the lame, the halt, and the blind. We are about to cruelly torture and destroy innumerable lives already brought low by a coarse dictatorship, simply because we want what they have and we have the firepower to take it. Ultimately, it is the citizens of this nation who are collectively responsible for all of the unthinkable, unimaginable agonies about to unfold. In our name, and with our tacit consent, our nation is about to commit hideous atrocities so that We the People can continue thoughtlessly to waste, for a short while longer, more energy and resources than anyone else on earth ever has. It is easy to blame the disgusting criminals in power, but nevertheless, the majority of Americans has callously accepted this disastrous leadership. There was never anything theoretically in the way of half the country marching on Washington and demanding sanity Or Else. And yet there never really was the slightest chance that this, the first of the Lifestyle Wars, would be prevented. To deflect the American juggernaut on a downhill roll, a significant percentage of citizens of this nation would have had to show up bodily on the streets of Washington, and remove the wheels by hand. Sociopathic governments in search of sustenance can only be stopped by overwhelming numbers of awakened citizens who recognize the rankest form of brutalitarianism when it clubs them in the face. In our case however, even the astonishing act of setting fire to the Bill of Rights failed to register on the overall population. On the whole, Americans dont care about anything at all except being as comfortable as possible. We know this because if we did care, none of this would be allowed to happen. The raw greed and pathetically flimsy tissue of lies being offered as justification for all this leaves a rational person stunned, in another form of Shock and Awe. The architects of the new policy of Brutalitarian rule are counting on the fact that most Americans are not rational, and have no desire to think about the meaning of any of this. In this, the designers of this new and deliberately terrifying Monstrous America are correct, so far. As long as people sit in front of the perpetual hypnosis machines and choose to pretend they dont really know what is happening, then the Lifestyle Wars and state-sanctioned genocide in our behalf will continue. The future of our once-noble country is apparently to demand ever-larger piles of innocent human bodies to burn as fuel for our standard of living. We will manage the incredible feat of denial only by resolutely ignoring the obvious truth and willingly believing the transparent lies of our despicable leaders. Doesn't all this sound very familiar, historically speaking? Yes, in chilling Shock and Awe, one must understand that it certainly does.
Biodynamic Viticulure was Re: not to change the subject...
Steve's right. This was an incredible event. So good to see how pragmatism will overcome dogmatism in the right cricles! Alan York is a very well respected viticulturist. He gave an incredible presentation, which he entitled 'Holistic Estate Management.' York, as you probably know, has a very strong background in biodynamics and in landscape architecture. His vineyards work well and are beautiful! Of interest to this group: the one book that Gunther Hauk recommended on biodynamics to this entry group was the Statler book: Biodynamic Agriculture. This is a hardback, textbook-style publication that usually costs about $65. I think that Mr. Lovel has a few that he'd like to sell at cost, however. (Contact him in private.) Alan York made the statement 'Perhaps the only thing that we know for certain in biodynamics is that cows don't shit in horns,' meaning that we cannot undervalue the human envolvement in quality hortculture. Gunther pointed out how the decline of the planet through age would be reflected in the development and maintainance of our bodies unless we make certain that the foods we eat have been stimulated to bring in more of the substances that we really need. (The preps are those stimulants.) An incredible event, this one was. I'm looking forward to the Biodynamic Viticulture Conference down here in Loudoun County Nov 14 of this year. Steve Storch, Alan York, and Hugh Courtney will all be speaking, along with many others. If anyone is interested in hearing the Alan York tape, please contact me off-line. Thanks -Allan Just home from Harrisburg, PA where the Cornell Extension hosted their first Organic / biodynamic viticulture conference. Speakers on biodynamics included Gunther Hauk from the Pfeiffer Center, Alan York of Hopland California. Alan has extensive vineyard experience and has acheived Demeter Certification for Ceago and Benziger Vineyards in California. I brought my stirring machine and tea brewer and some preparations. Lots of interest and I will offer a hands on workshop in the Spring at a Vineyard in PA. This was attended by about two hundred vineyard owners and managers. Some of my neighbors on the south fork of LI attended. Another indication that BD is alive and well and growing, imagine that Cornell agents said the word biodynamics...sstorch
A brief p.s.
Hi Allan, I also need to ask you if you don't think the drop outs lurker problem might be connected to the rude way in which people who speak their mind are attacked on this list? You started a thread about lurkers and folks who don't speak up, creating a climate of fear and people are so quick to attack on this list, as I know from many years experience. Perhaps that is the real reason people don't speak up, for fear of being blasted. Just a thought, one which I've had for weeks, now. Blessings, Jane
Re: A brief p.s.
Perhaps that is the real reason people don't speak up, for fear of being blasted. I'd like to address this one final time. the 'lurkers' I'm referring to are people who have approached me at conferences and have told me that they do not contribute to BD Now! because they know they would speak their hearts to the list and they know that this information would be available in public archives. That's it, cut, dried, turned to dry on the other side, tested and stacked: When I spoke of 'lurkers,' I was referring to people feel inhibited because they feel they are agreeing to long term exposure of their values and intimate thoughts to a world of strange and strangers. I was neither judging nor criticizing these people, I was simply saying that are individual experiences here are the wealth we have to bring each other. We are missing full experience of our greatest resources if some of us do not feel comfortable publishing on BD Now! and sharing what we have learned, what we know, and, frankly, what we'd like to learn. -Allan
Thanks
Thursday: Thanks to prkerjake, moen creek and Gil for observations about the microcosm mirroring the macrocosm. Your gentle understanding helped me to forgive myself for my harsh reaction, yet recognize where it came from and deal with the cause in an effective, but gentle way with good result. I am very grateful. This is why I like this list so much. You all drive me to greater spiritual understanding. Thanks to all who made political posts about the GE Fish and wheat and the 1/2 cup of rice to Bush. I noticed. Steve, I forwarded your post on the Viticulture Conference to my brother who grows grapes and makes wine from western grapes with a wine group. He is just beginning to be interested in organic and has lots of pests in the South. I can't go after him too hard, but keep hoping he'll begin to understand. Herb is ecstatic about a book lent to him by an archeologist friend--1421-The Year China Discovered the World. This morning I got him to explain starting in the beginning with sky hooks about how the Chinese learned how to tell latitude and longitude by the stars long before westerners did without use of water clocks. A retired British submarine captain who had circumnavigated the world through his periscope went to 600 museums around the world to tell about the Chinese circumnavigations by 250 - 450 ft long junks in 1421, which not known because the Mandarins destroyed their information for political reasons, from mss., maps and artifacts they left all around their route. Just the right book for a historyboat junkie! He says its on a par with Darwin's The Origin of the Species. www.1421.tv This afternoon I am going to Moscow, Idaho, home of the U. of I for the Western Sustainable Agriculture Conference for the weekend. I was lucky enough to get a scholarship again and this makes it possible for me to attend. They are finally getting some political motivation, I hope. Historically, they have tried to stand on the fence. We will see. Benbrook is giving a talk on GMOs. You may have read the speech I sent the list that he gave in Asilomar. I am driving with Jill Davies and hope to learn a lot on the trip. See you again on Sunday night. Best, Merla
Perry's recnt posts
Hi, Perry, you gave some appreciated info in 2 recent posts... here's a couple followup questions: Perry Clutts [EMAIL PROTECTED] BD NOW!! subscribe/unsubscribe Date : Tue, 28 Jan 2003 07:56:01 -0500 The BDNOW E-mail list is open to all. Subscribing is easy: ... To unsubscribe from bdnow, simply ... ***Perry, is there an equally simple way to get a digest form of the list emails? This list is archived at: http://csf.colorado.edu/biodynamics/ However, I found this site that has a much better search http://www.mail-archive.com/bdnow%40envirolink.org/ Perry *** Excellent indeed, thank you! Perry Clutts [EMAIL PROTECTED] Re: NYT Article/Homemade Compost tea Machine Hi Merla, Check out this site. http://www.dep.state.pa.us/dep/deputate/airwaste/wm/recycle/Tea/tea1.htm It gives good instructions (w/ photos) on how to build a small tea machine... not really a machine, but a bucket bubbler. The instructions show a manifold and several hoses. I just use a long airstone that fits across the bottom of the 5 gallon bucket. *** What is an airstone? Thank you for this URL. Also, does anyone know of an online source for the gang valve (manifold), aquarium hose and pump called for? No aquarium shop anywhere near me. TIA :) _ Protect your PC - get McAfee.com VirusScan Online http://clinic.mcafee.com/clinic/ibuy/campaign.asp?cid=3963
Bad news for organic agriculture
News Update From The Campaign to Label Genetically Engineered Foods -- Dear News Update Subscribers, As we reported in our last News Update, the wheat industry is having their annual meeting this week. The news coming out of the wheat industry conference is not good for supporters of organic agriculture. It had previously appeared that the wheat industry was fairly united in opposing the introduction of genetically engineered wheat. Now that opposition seems to be eroding rapidly as the article posted below titled U.S. farmers to help win GM wheat acceptance will explain. If the U.S. government approves genetically engineered wheat and the wheat industry supports its introduction, there will soon be millions of acres of genetically engineered wheat planted in the United States. And if genetically engineered wheat gets approved, genetically engineered rice will likely be next. Although wheat and rice pollen does not travel as far as corn pollen, the potential for contamination of organic wheat and rice from the genetically engineered varieties is practically inevitable if millions of acres get planted. And make no mistake about it, there will be millions of acres of genetically engineered wheat and rice planted in the United States in this decade unless supporters of organic agriculture are successful in opposing it. When Jeremy Rifkin spoke about the threat of genetically engineered crops at the Natural Products Expo East meeting in Washington, DC last October, he stated, This is a life and death issue for your industry. He went on to say that if we don't stop it in the next five years, it will likely be to late to save organic agriculture. The Campaign to Label Genetically Engineered Foods hopes the organic and natural food industries are paying close attention to what is developing in the battle to bring genetically engineered wheat to market. As the article posted below states, While two years ago, the wheat farmers viewed Monsanto's GM wheat proposal with some suspicion and fear of losing markets, this week's annual gathering found firm support for Monsanto and eagerness to obtain the potential benefits the technology might offer. For further information on the threat genetically engineered crops pose to organic agriculture, you may want to read the book Saving Organic Rice by Alex Jack. It features a forward by Michael Potter, President of Eden Foods, and is available through The Campaign's online store at: http://www.thecampaign.org/store.php Craig Winters Executive Director The Campaign to Label Genetically Engineered Foods The Campaign PO Box 55699 Seattle, WA 98155 Tel: 425-771-4049 Fax: 603-825-5841 E-mail: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Web Site: http://www.thecampaign.org Mission Statement: To create a national grassroots consumer campaign for the purpose of lobbying Congress and the President to pass legislation that will require the labeling of genetically engineered foods in the United States. *** U.S. farmers to help win GM wheat acceptance By Carey Gillam ALBUQUERQUE, N.M., Jan 29 (Reuters) - U.S. wheat farmers were moving to help Monsanto Co. overcome customer apprehension to the world's first genetically modified wheat, which is moving closer to regulatory approval both in the U.S. and abroad. Consumers trust farmers, said Monsanto wheat industry affairs spokesman Michael Doane. We've been investing in this technology... now for probably a decade. We're entering a new part of the project and need industry help to educate decision makers. After spending more than a decade - and tens of millions of dollars - in development of a genetically modified wheat that allows farmers to more efficiently control weeds, Monsanto has hit a critical juncture, said Doane, who was spending this week at a meeting of key wheat industry players in Albuquerque. Doane said the company needs farmer groups to step up global educational efforts to overcome the fears of millers and bakers and food companies who have seen the food industry rocked by controversy over genetically modified crops. And the farmers are on board. While two years ago, the wheat farmers viewed Monsanto's GM wheat proposal with some suspicion and fear of losing markets, this week's annual gathering found firm support for Monsanto and eagerness to obtain the potential benefits the technology might offer. Rather than sitting on the sidelines hoping that it wins acceptance... we're trying to help out, said National Association of Wheat Growers (NAWG) CEO Darren Coppock. It is very much a partnership (with Monsanto). As one sign of the new market outreach underway by growers, NAWG is forming a group made up of players up and down the food chain, including leading fast food giant McDonald's Corp., to formulate a united front for GM wheat when it hits the market. The group hopes to have a strategy
COMPOST TEA was Re: Perry's recnt posts
Blame this one on me, folks, but one of the most astounding upshots of this week's conference was the chance to meet with experienced growers who have worked with compost tea and who have found teas to be much less effective than we have heard people proclaim them to be. Alan York asks people to ask the hard questions. He says a hard question right now is 'Do you know of a vineyard that has effectively controlled foliar disease with compost tea for three seasons.' He's willing to back this question down to one season. (The unusually dry summer this past year has eleviated foliar diseases across the board, tea or no tea.) Vicki Bess, who is a compost tea advocate who spoke at this conference, felt that the push to diversity and high counts is not a push towards teas that really work on the soils or even the leaves. She said, and Will Brinton concurred, that it is the feeds in the teas that select the final microbial mix and these microbes were not necessarily the ones that would do as good of works as ones commonly dominant in dry compost. Will Brinton stated that there is not need for pumped up populations of microbials. He feels that this is unfounded, unscientific hysteria. He went on to say that good compost tea has all the microbiology a person needs for controlling foliar disease - WITHOUT BREWING IT other than we do already!! Think about it folks: Even better: Compost tea and brewer sales people in Pennsylvania have received letters from the EPA telling them that they cannot sell their products as disease control products because there is NO SCIENTIFIC EVIDENCE THAT THEY ARE EFFECTIVE. Again - I'm sharing this info for your own evaluation. I've got egg on my face, of course. -Allan
Crystallization ???
I was hoping someone could expound on the period of crystallization that is occurring now. Whatfor and how. What changes are some of you doing now regarding prep applications now vs other times of the year. Would one want to alter application (let's say 501 on the soil in the evening), or just ramp up the schedule and apply as much as possible in the same fashion as the rest of the year. Is this period the same for both northern and southern Hemispheres. If so then it couldn't be related to the season of winter...no? Is it the earth's realtionship to the sun, or its position relative to the rest of the universe that might cause this period to happen now? Just looking for a better understanding... Ed PS Had some wonderful crystals around these parts (northern Florida) last weeklows in the upper teens (apologies to the rest of the world for the imperial bias) with more that 14 hours of subfreezing temps for two nights. Now we're in the 'warm zone', temps in the 70's, and they're calling for a seabreeze front to develop today (normally a late spring,early summer occurance). =:-0
Re: COMPOST TEA was Re: Perry's recnt posts
Alan, thanks for this post, I find it very interesting. I have been interested in compost teas for some time and have played with a brewer of my own creation. When Will Brinton said, good compost tea has all the microbiology a person needs for controlling foliar disease - WITHOUT BREWING IT other than we do already. does this meaning stirring or just letting compost soak in water? daniel - Original Message - From: Allan Balliett [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Thursday, January 30, 2003 10:20 AM Subject: COMPOST TEA was Re: Perry's recnt posts Blame this one on me, folks, but one of the most astounding upshots of this week's conference was the chance to meet with experienced growers who have worked with compost tea and who have found teas to be much less effective than we have heard people proclaim them to be. Alan York asks people to ask the hard questions. He says a hard question right now is 'Do you know of a vineyard that has effectively controlled foliar disease with compost tea for three seasons.' He's willing to back this question down to one season. (The unusually dry summer this past year has eleviated foliar diseases across the board, tea or no tea.) Vicki Bess, who is a compost tea advocate who spoke at this conference, felt that the push to diversity and high counts is not a push towards teas that really work on the soils or even the leaves. She said, and Will Brinton concurred, that it is the feeds in the teas that select the final microbial mix and these microbes were not necessarily the ones that would do as good of works as ones commonly dominant in dry compost. Will Brinton stated that there is not need for pumped up populations of microbials. He feels that this is unfounded, unscientific hysteria. He went on to say that good compost tea has all the microbiology a person needs for controlling foliar disease - WITHOUT BREWING IT other than we do already!! Think about it folks: Even better: Compost tea and brewer sales people in Pennsylvania have received letters from the EPA telling them that they cannot sell their products as disease control products because there is NO SCIENTIFIC EVIDENCE THAT THEY ARE EFFECTIVE. Again - I'm sharing this info for your own evaluation. I've got egg on my face, of course. -Allan
Re: COMPOST TEA was Re: Perry's recnt posts
good compost tea has all the microbiology a person needs for controlling foliar disease - WITHOUT BREWING IT other than we do already. does this meaning stirring or just letting compost soak in water? This is a 'typo,' buddy. Will was saying that good BARREL COMPOST (BC) has everything we need if we simply prepare it as directed (stir for 20 minutes) This was based on studies from his lab, not from conjecture. Thanks for drawing this out. -Allan
Re: Perry's recnt posts
Hi, ***Perry, is there an equally simple way to get a digest form of the list emails? Allan??? ... I don't know how digest works...*** What is an airstone? It a manmade porous stone for aerating aquariums or tanks. Check out www.aquaticeco.comthere'severything you can imagine to do with air and theydeliver. I made a manifold out of pvc "T"'s and reducers.cheap I'd start smalland only invest what you are willing to walk away from... That's how I began a few years ago... With a 5 gallon bucket like on that site. I'm doing it differently now, but with the same idea... of low cost. Perry
Re: COMPOST TEA was Re: Perry's recnt posts
Allan, did Will say what kinds of studies or testing ? thanks, daniel - Original Message - From: Allan Balliett [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Sent: Thursday, January 30, 2003 12:48 PM Subject: Re: COMPOST TEA was Re: Perry's recnt posts good compost tea has all the microbiology a person needs for controlling foliar disease - WITHOUT BREWING IT other than we do already. does this meaning stirring or just letting compost soak in water? This is a 'typo,' buddy. Will was saying that good BARREL COMPOST (BC) has everything we need if we simply prepare it as directed (stir for 20 minutes) This was based on studies from his lab, not from conjecture. Thanks for drawing this out. -Allan
Re: organic vit
Allan I wish I had gone to that conference but it was just a day after our own Guelph Organic Conference. We worked with Dr. Elaine Ingham and used Aerobic Compost tea all last season. I removed copper from our vineyard spray program entirely. For 20+ acres we used less than 50 pounds of sulphur all season. So what kept the mildew away ? this is Ontario not the arid west coast that Alan York it from. We have lots of powdery mildew AND we have something they don't in California - we have downey mildew. Laura Sabourin EcoVit Ecologically Sound Horticultural Products Tea-riffic Areobic Compost Tea and Acadian Seaplant Products RR # 1 St Catharines, Ontario L2R 6P7 http://www.ecovit.ca
Re: COMPOST TEA was Re: Perry's recnt posts
Allan, did Will say what kinds of studies or testing ? thanks, daniel will operates Woods End Lab, one of the oldest soil and microbiology labs in the country. Apparently he has published research on this topic in BIODYNAMICS. I'm searching for the article and will let you know more about it when I find it. -Allan
Re: organic vit
Laura - It was my understanding that downy mildew is the easiest to control with compost teas. The issue was whether compost tea would replace sulpher in an overall vineyard disease management program, not whether it could control downy mildew. The 3 seasons requirement of the original question was intended to eliminate variations in disease pressure from year to year. For example, due to the relatively low moisture of this past season, downy mildew was not the problem in this region this past growing season that it normally is. So what kept the mildew away ? Noone is challenging your experience. That's what York is looking for: vineyard managers who will say that compost tea has worked for them. -Allan Allan I wish I had gone to that conference but it was just a day after our own Guelph Organic Conference. We worked with Dr. Elaine Ingham and used Aerobic Compost tea all last season. I removed copper from our vineyard spray program entirely. For 20+ acres we used less than 50 pounds of sulphur all season. So what kept the mildew away ? this is Ontario not the arid west coast that Alan York it from. We have lots of powdery mildew AND we have something they don't in California - we have downey mildew. Laura Sabourin EcoVit Ecologically Sound Horticultural Products Tea-riffic Areobic Compost Tea and Acadian Seaplant Products RR # 1 St Catharines, Ontario L2R 6P7 http://www.ecovit.ca
Digest Mode: Re: Perry's recnt posts
Your friendly moderator says: With a digest-mode you lose the spontaeity of conversation and receive you message in bulk. This, I assume, doesn't matter if you are only reading your messages occasionally. Listproc's definition of 'digest': New messages are not sent to you as they arrive, but are accumulated into digests that are periodically sent to you. to set you mail to 'digest' mode, send a message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with set bdnow mail digest in the body of it. That should take care of it! Be forwarned that I have no idea of how to turn digest off! Later -Allan
digest mode - you'll hate it
Digest really becomes frusterating and extremely bulky when so few people will actually refrain from copying out entire emails to which they're responding. Eventually, some digests may contain ONE solid new piece of information along with re re re re (and BDNOW posts can be lengthy on their own.) My advice, don't try digest, especially as Allan says, it may not be easy to revert back to normal mail again. martha (still experiencing odd rages from people I'd least expect it, what gives? Even my mare crabbed at me. Planetary alignment? Can't be the weather, (Tx) experiencing cloud cover and 50 - 70* (F) range. really rather pleasant.)
Re: COMPOST TEA was Re: Perry's recnt posts
Its just a shame though that these stories, just like mine, of achieving frost tolerance in wheat via high brix, are anecdotal and dont count!! (sorry Laura and Bill I believe you just like you would probably believe my brix thing) Lloyd et al - For the purposes of AY's request, it's fine if the reports are anecdotal. In fact, for these purposes, if you are talking about your own experiences, we won't call that anecdotal. If you are talking about a third party's good fortune, we'll have to consider that to be anecdotal. York (AY) is simply stating that he's never met anyone who has had repeated good luck with teas. He does not find it to be a reliable approach to managing a potentially lucrative crop. As he says Let's face it, we're in business. I'm going with what works. In AY's mouth, though, this is never an excuse to grab the chem cans. He has a program of cultivation, fertilization, IPM and spraying that works for him. I'll just put this out here for comment: Alan York and Will Brinton both state that they have never seen or heard of claims of crops reliably produced (this means year after year, something that excludes many variables: repeatability) through the use of radionics, except by people who are involved in selling radionics on some level. First person ndorsements to the contrary are encouraged
AmaranthusAndQuinoa
Florianopolis, SC, Brasil January 30, 2003. Dear friends: I've searched our archives loking for the subject but found nothing. Amaranthus and quinoa has been introduced in Brasil some years ago. I've studied the plants with some search in the net and data gathered in Smartt Simmonds's Evolution of Crop Plants. Also I'm going to use Pelikan book. Here in southern Brasil we planted an experimental less-than-one-hectare area and I still need some more datails. (Seeds has been obtained from plants firstly introduced in 1998). So friends may I ask what else can you suggest? Thanks Nelson. - This mail sent through IMP: http://horde.org/imp/
Re: AmaranthusAndQuinoa
I saw quinoa growing in Bolivia at very high altitude a few years ago - maybe you should search the national herbarium there. Best of luck it seemed the most resiliant and nutritious plant ever. Nelson Jacomel Junior wrote: Florianopolis, SC, Brasil January 30, 2003. Dear friends: I've searched our archives loking for the subject but found nothing. Amaranthus and quinoa has been introduced in Brasil some years ago. I've studied the plants with some search in the net and data gathered in Smartt Simmonds's Evolution of Crop Plants. Also I'm going to use Pelikan book. Here in southern Brasil we planted an experimental less-than-one-hectare area and I still need some more datails. (Seeds has been obtained from plants firstly introduced in 1998). So friends may I ask what else can you suggest? Thanks Nelson. - This mail sent through IMP: http://horde.org/imp/
Alan York Presentation on line now
Friends - You can listen to the Alan York presentation from yesterday's PENN STATE Alternative Viticulture Conference in Middleburg, PA at the BD Now! pages now. The title of Mr. York's presentation is: The Role of Viticulture in Successful Organic/BioDynamic Production and Organizing Principles in BioDynamic Agriculture Mr York is the Holistic Estate Manager for Ceago and BonTerra Vineyards and consults on viticulture around the globe. He is the former garden manager of Alan Chadwick's Copulo Garden, the former President of the BDA and the former editor of the Biodynamic Journal. This lecture is over an hour long. Please be patient as it loads. If you have problems, contact me at [EMAIL PROTECTED] The url for this presentation is http://www.gardeningforthefuture.com (then go into the 'biodynamic' section (chose a button at the bottom of the screen) and click on the YORK banner. Enjoy this. It's a treasure of farming and gardening wisdom. -Allan
BD Brain Teasers
1. Did Steiner really intend BD502-507 to be used solely in compost manufacture? 2. Did he identify equisetum as BD508 or was it someone else? 3. Is there a 'missing' BD509? If so, what might it and its purpose be? * Someone told me once, or I have read it and forgotten where, that the preps are not numbered sequentially but that 502-508 actually fall between 500 and 501. That is, the 'sequence' could be 500, 502, 503, 504, 505, 506, 507, 508, 501. The plant growth cycle is divisible into nine stages - mature seed, cotyledons, buds, leaves, calyx, petals, pistils, fruit, immature seed. There are at least twelve major building blocks of life - eg calcium, magnesium, potassium, sulphur, nitrogen, carbon, hydrogen, phosphorus, silicon, sodium, chlorine, manganese. There are also trace elements and other minerals that life needs - eg copper, mercury, iron, silver, tin, zinc, lead, aluminium. Now if we look at the preps we find that some of these are represented and the plant stages fit conveniently as well. 500 - horn manure - calcium - (balances soil, encourages microbial life) 502 - yarrow - sulphur - copper - (seed) 503 - chamomile - oxygen - mercury - (cotyledons) 504 - nettle - nitrogen - iron - (bud) 505 - oak bark - carbon - silver - (leaves) 506 - dandelion - hydrogen - tin - (calyx) 507 - valerian - phosphorus - lead - (petals) 508 - equisetum - silica - (pistils, stamen) (509) - ?? - ?? - (fruit) 501 - horn silica - light energy - (seed) Given the exactitude of scientists it seems unlikely that Steiner numbered his preparations in the order they 'came off the shelf' but that he had a reason for assigning the numbers as he did. One attribute all the preps have in common is energy. Could it be that in some way he assessed the amount of energy held within each prep, aligned it with the appropriate stage of plant growth, and numbered it accordingly? Back in 1924 the soils of Europe held a natural fertility that isn't there any more. Germany and Austria had been saddled with a reparations bill for world war I which was virtually impossible to pay (no prizes for guessing which country was behind that). Farmers were under pressure to produce more with less, added to which commodity prices were falling and would not recover for at least ten years. Hence the use of artificial fertilisers which were adversely affecting soil fertility. Steiner produced his preparations to counter those effects and take the soil back to its original fertility. How did he do that? Indeed, how did he know what that 'fertility' state was? Let us now enter the realm of fantasy. Let us suppose Steiner had a device which enabled him to measure the amount of 'standing' energy held in things and that at some time pre-superphosphate era he had measured the soil and come up with an amount I shall call X enertrons. In 1924 he remeasured the soil and it had a reading of X minus 100 enertrons. In developing the preps, he conceived that: horn manure would restore the level to X, seed germination required an additional 200en, cotyledrons another 300en buds another 400 leaves another 500 calyx another 600 petals another 700 pistils another 800 fruit another 900 mature seed another 1000 His insights and experience led him to the development of matching preps and initially he numbered them to suit: 100, 200, 300, 400, 500, 600, 700, 800, 900, 1000. However he already had 499 homeopathic remedies. So he kept the capital figures, prefixed them with '50' and knocked off the remaining zeros, giving him 501, 502 . . . 509, 501. As he could not have two 501s, and did not have a 500 either, he took a further step and changed the first 501 to 500. As I said before, this is a fantasy. However, I do have a device which measures energy and this tells me that BD500 = 100, BD501 = 1000, and chamomile, nettle and dandelion = 200, 300 and 600 respectively. I can't measure the others because I don't have any but 5 out of 10 seems pretty good to me! So - what is BD509 and what does it do? roger
Re: AmaranthusAndQuinoa
Nelson Jacomel Junior wrote: Florianopolis, SC, Brasil January 30, 2003. Dear friends: I've searched our archives loking for the subject but found nothing. All I have on amaranthus is it's high in nitrogen, likes loose friable soils and dislikes some other cereal crops such as wheat and rye. also check out http://www.botany.com/amaranthus.html roger
Re: COMPOST TEA was Re: Perry's recnt posts
I've got my wires x-d again. Will things that compost just soaking in an ocassionally stirred barrel is good for curing foliar diseases. It is my impression that he thinks it is actually better, perhaps simply because it is easier and cheaper to make than the aerated variety. He also thinks that 'just stirred' BC makes very good a very good foliar application and did publish an article on this in Biodynamics. I hope this is helpful -Allan good compost tea has all the microbiology a person needs for controlling foliar disease - WITHOUT BREWING IT other than we do already. does this meaning stirring or just letting compost soak in water? This is a 'typo,' buddy. Will was saying that good BARREL COMPOST (BC) has everything we need if we simply prepare it as directed (stir for 20 minutes) This was based on studies from his lab, not from conjecture. Thanks for drawing this out. -Allan
Re: AmaranthusAndQuinoa
check with the people at Seeds of Change, also www.seedsofchange.com They have offered these seeds for years. -Allan
digest mode ...dust, and drought
Points well take, Martha and Friendly Moderator :), regarding digests vs. individual posts, but since i'm lucky if i can do email as much as once per 24 hrs, I don't think my conversation will lag much more with digests, and w/my slow modem, it saves time to open only one document than what lookslike 20-30/day. Regarding dust and drought, this shocking article: http://news.independent.co.uk/world/environment/story.jsp?story=372786 Huge dust cloud threatens Asia By Geoffrey Lean in Washington 26 January 2003 Gigantic dust clouds swirling over China are threatening the world's most populous country with the first-ever ecological meltdown, experts here warn. The clouds which stretch for thousands of miles over Asia and have even reached across the Pacific to North America are rising from a rapidly growing dust bowl in northern China that far outstrips the notorious one in the United States in the 1930s. It threatens to drive up the price of food and greatly increase starvation worldwide, and could lead to tens of millions of desperate Chinese environmental refugees. No country has ever faced a potential ecological catastrophe on the scale of the dust bowl now developing in China, says Lester Brown, president of the Earth Policy Institute, based in Washington. Merely grasping its dimensions and consequences poses a serious analytical challenge. Dust storms have been recorded in China for at least 2,700 years, but they are now increasing alarmingly both in size and in number. The Chinese Meteorological Agency says there were just five major storms in the country in the whole of the 1950s. This rose to 23 in the 1990s. But the first two years of this decade have almost equalled this figure already, with 20. The storms which peak in late winter and early spring can blot out daylight in Beijing and other cities, make it hard for millions of people to breathe and destroy hundreds of thousands of acres of crops. They have closed schools and airports in South Korea and Japan, and caused a Korean car factory to shrink-wrap its vehicles as soon as they come off the production line to stop them being spoiled. They have even occasionally crossed the Pacific: one in April 2001 covered the west of North America from Canada to Arizona with dust. The clouds sweep up millions of tons of precious topsoil from Chinese fields and pastures. Gone in a single day, the soil will take centuries to replace. But this is just the most dramatic symptom of the accelerating spread of deserts across the country, which is home to nearly one in every four people on the planet. Between 1994 and 1999, the country's Environmental Protection Agency reports, the Gobi Desert expanded by 20,240 square miles, to within just 150 miles of Beijing, New, smaller, areas of desert are erupting all over the country. In all, this desertification is affecting 40 per cent of the country's land. Partly as a result, harvests which more than quadrupled between 1950 and 1998 have fallen sharply, even as China's population and appetite grow. In Ganzu province alone, some 4,000 villages are facing being submerged by drifting sands, and the Earth Policy Institute believes that throughout the country tens of millions of people may be forced off their land, dwarfing the migrations of the Okies from the American dust bowl. The institute blames over-cultivation, overgrazing, over-cutting and over-pumping for the escalating catastrophe. Marginal land is being increasingly pressed into cultivation, but quickly turns to dust under the strain. The country's 290 million sheep and goats strip the vegetation off grazing lands. Cutting down forests removes the trees that bind soil to the ground. And excessive pumping of water from underground acquifers dramatically lowers water tables, drying out the earth. China is belatedly trying to get to grips with the crisis. It is planting 26 million acres a tenth of its grain-growing area with trees. But many die because the soil is already too thin; and, say critics, too many are being planted around Beijing so as to try to green the city and clean the air before the 2008 Olympics. As the crisis continues, Mr Brown predicts, the world will soon feel the pinch. So far China has compensated for its falling harvests by eating stocks, but soon it will have to buy massive amounts of grain on world markets. He warns: Grain prices could double impoverishing more people in a shorter period of time than any event in history. It would create a world food economy dominated by scarcity rather than by surpluses, as has been the case over most of the last half a century. 30
Re: Perry's recnt posts
Perry, Oustanding site: www.aquaticeco.com there's everything you can imagine to [snip] thank you! -- looks like I can put together the bubbler at the link you provided earlier(www.dep.state.pa.us/dep/deputate/airwaste/wm/recycle/Tea/tea1.htm) for a grand total of less than $US12.00 (not counting the 2 5-gallon pails, which I already have, s/h for the aquarium supplies, and $ for the molasses). That is: $6.95 for air pump part#TL2 2.45 for aquarium 3-way gang valve part #810333, and 1.75 for 5 feet of aquarium air tubing part #FT316 A sweet deal indeed for a compost tea maker! You wrote, I'm doing it differently now, but with the same idea... of low cost. -- diferent how if you'd care to detail? ---original message--- Perry Clutts [EMAIL PROTECTED] Re: Perry's recnt posts Thu, 30 Jan 2003 16:11:15 [snip] _ Help STOP SPAM with the new MSN 8 and get 2 months FREE* http://join.msn.com/?page=features/junkmail
Pluto-inflicted? (was: Re: to Jane Sherry)
From: Garuda [EMAIL PROTECTED] ... Date: Wed, 29 Jan 2003 10:02:46 +1300 Re: to Jane SherryYes Moon Venus Saturn Pluto is the next few days Power issues, control, emotional sensitivity, bottom lines are challenged all this week. Any persecutor, victim, saviour issues should be on display. Relationship hidden or delayed, cum denied matters all come to a head. Keep an eye on the MArs transit to follow around the 15th Feb. (Can georgey boy keep his finger off the trigger from then on?) Here is the rest of the worlds chance to keep the US back in some form of box. CAn we do it??? The perrennial question of Pluto inflicted people - how to manage the raging self obcessed psychopath that lives in the basement?. GA GA, Is our Resident Pluto-inflicted, then? I thought the problem was a combo of brainwashed-to-value-money-mongerers/grubbers-above-all-else (c.f. decimation of envt'l regs/elevating of corporate enrichment schemes) and a reported IQ of 88. Jane Parker wrote Is it possible we are acting out of the macrocosmic paradigm right now on this micorsosmic scale? Please we are brothers and sisters here, and I would urge and invite us to request of one another and ask of one another not point fingers or blame or sound condescending etc..in our communications with each and the other. _ Protect your PC - get McAfee.com VirusScan Online http://clinic.mcafee.com/clinic/ibuy/campaign.asp?cid=3963
