Starting over.

Howdy cats n' kittens!

As you know, the 'organic' potting soil I bought to start my seedling project sucked ass & I'm having to start again.  A friend who works at a marijuana dispensary is going to give me a bag of soil that sells for $16 a bag to try.  He guarantees my plants will thrive & I believe him.  Since pot growers pay top dollar for seed, they probably know better than anyone what works & what doesn't.  No, I'm not going to grow pot.  I'm legal to do so in CA, but where there's pot growing there's trouble & I don't need any trouble.

One of the snail flower vines finally sprouted.  I'm keeping my fingers crossed for the others.

The melons are sprouting.  Orangelo watermelon, golden midget, Sakata's sweet, Old Time Tennessee & Burrell's Jumbo are all making an appearance.  They won't be ready to sell for another few weeks, though.


The tomatoes are struggling.  My Gold Medal all died in the crappy soil.  It's a little early for them yet anyway.  They'd be further along if I had a cold frame & better dirt.  Live and learn.


The pole beans are doing the best of all the seedlings.  The purple pole beans & the blue lake pole beans are already 6" high.  Not all of them germinated though, so these ones will be kept for breeding.


One of the rare Pink Feathers Morning Glories sprouted.  I'm really excited about it.  Can't wait to see what they look like in real life.  I'm hoping they'll stop traffic & bring in customers.  


My new honeybees have settled in. I put on the full beekeeper getup for the first time & took a peak inside the hive to make sure they're doing okay. Lots of eggs, nectar, honey & comb.  They're doing better than expected.  I won't remove any honey until the end of next year's bee season, though.


Peace!

Seedlings are Coming Along. Exciting new varieties & old favorites. All grown organically.

The snails, lack of greenhouse, lack of experience, & poor potting soil have made for a rough start. I have decided to delay the first plant sale until May.  I'll have a better selection & more robust seedlings to offer.  I'd like to have everything available by my first sale, but it looks like certain varieties will be available sporadically this season.  A lot of what I'm doing this season is "field trials" & building up seed stock. 

Most of the seedlings are heirlooms grown from organic, un-treated, open-pollinated, non-GMO seed.  All are grown without chemicals.  Composting, precision watering, solar power, biocontrol (using beneficials for pest control), and maintaining pollinator habitat are examples of how I strive to keep my operation as eco-friendly as I can. 

Here is a list of all the plants I hope to offer.  The seeds have been sown, and some have sprouted.  Some haven't and may not.  Some are being offered as seedlings only. Some will be available as seeds only (or both). Some will be available as fresh produce when plants yield more than I can handle.  Some will be available as dried herbs.  Some won't be ready until 2012 (but ask if you're interested in them).  Another list with photos, growing instructions & other info is in the works.  I'm happy to email the catalog in progress.

Bananas:

Blood Banana (ornamental)

Pink Banana (edible/ornamental)

Beans:

Blue Lake Pole Bean

Ruby Moon Hyacinth Bean

Purple Peacock Pole Bean

Sunset Runner Pole Bean

Yellow Pole Wax Bean

 

Romanesco Broccoli

Purple Brussels Sprout

Carrots:

Cosmic Purple Carrot

Gold Mine Carrot

Little Finger Carrot

Corn: 

Japonica Striped Maize (corn)

Oaxacan Green Dent Corn

Tom Thumb Corn

Purple Cauliflower

Spacemaster Cucumber

Pingtung Long Eggplant

Early Purple Vienna Kohlrabi

Melons:

Banana Melon

Burrell's Jumbo Melon 

Golden Midget Melon

Moon & Stars Watermelon

Old Time Tennessee Melon 

Orangelo Watermelon 

Rich Sweetness 132 Melon

Sakata's Sweet Melon

Tigger Melon

 

Yellow Borettana Onion (aka: Cipollini) 

Peppers:

Anaheim Chili (mild)

Ancho Gigantea/Poblano Chili (mild)

Lemon Drop Pepper (hot)

Tequila Sunrise Pepper (mild)

Corne di Toro Rosso Pepper (sweet)

Tolli's Sweet Italian Pepper

Yolo Wonder Pepper (sweet)

Golden California Wonder Pepper (sweet)

Orange Sun Pepper (sweet)

Purple Beauty Pepper (sweet)

Yellow Wonder Wild Strawberry

Yellow Summer Squash

White Scallop Summer Squash

Purple Tomatillo

tomatoes:

Ananas Noire Tomato

Black Elephant Tomato

Brandywine Tomato (Red)

Copia Tomato

Costoluto Genovese Tomato

Coyote Tomato

Gold Medal Tomato

Hawaiian Currant Tomato 

Hillbilly Potato Leaf Tomato

Huan U Tomato

Iraqi Tomato from Basra
Ilini Gold Tomato

Isis Candy Tomato

Peacevine Cherry Tomato

Pierce's Pride Tomato

Purple Russian Tomato

Speckled Roman Tomato

HERBS/GREENS

Italian Arugula 

Rustic Arugula 

Bee Balm

Borage

Catnip 

Huacatay

Hyssop

Purple Dark Opal Basil

Purple Petra Basil

Sweet Green Basil

Black Pepper Vine (2011=field trials. May be available in 2012)

Cardamon Ginger (2011=field trials. May be available in 2012)

Garlic Chives

Cilantro 

Lemon Grass

Patchouli (2011=field trials. May be available in 2012)

Sweet Mace (aka: Mexican Tarragon)

FLOWERS

Aquilegia 'Double Pleat Blackberry'

Bee's Friend 

Bishop's Children Dahlia

Calico Flower (vine)

Color Fountains Cleome

Diablo Cosmos 

Four O'Clocks (hot pink)

Glory Lily (vine)

Munstead Lavender

Pink Baby's Breath

White Baby's Breath

Black Peony Poppy

Mailbox Mix Morning Glory

Pink Feathers Morning Glory 

Scarlet O'hara Morning Glory

Tall Purpea Morning Glory

Pride of Gibraltar

Tropical Fruit Moss Rose

Saltwater Taffy Swirls Sweet Pea 

Scarlet Runner Bean

Sensitive Plant

Snail Flower Vine

Mexican Torch Sunflower (orange/red)

Mexican Torch Sunflower (yellow)

Green Envy Zinnia

Nobody reads my blog.

I was encouraged to start this blog because I send too many emails to people about what's going on in the world.  I've had success on Twitter & Facebook, but no one reads my blog. 

Growing organic, heirloom/rare seedlings in my backyard has proven much more difficult than I had anticipated.  Dirt + seed + water = plant?  Sometimes.  Some of the more exotic plants haven't germinated yet & I fear the seeds are duds. Driving rain killed my Sensitive Plants. Too much rain killed the eggplant & tomato seedlings. Snails ate at least 30% of what sprouted despite attempts to stop them.  I even found a plant dug out & eaten by squirrels.  Last year, it was armies of earwigs. 

What hasn't been drowned or eaten by varmints is almost ready for my first sale.  I'm aiming for April 23rd, a week after I get my bees & a day before Easter.  Be there or be square!

- Nanda -

UC and CSU team up on new agriculture, environment and human sciences projects

February 14, 2011

CONTACT: John Stumbos, UC Davis College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, (530) 754-4979, jdstumbos@ucdavis.edu

Eight teams of researchers, educators and students from the University of California and California State University have received funding for projects to produce rapid results on topics as diverse as North Coast job development, improved irrigation practices for the San Joaquin Valley, and new technology to detect, monitor and treat mastitis in dairy cows.

The eight projects, selected from 44 proposals, address high-priority issues in agriculture, natural resources, and human sciences. They are also intended to foster collaboration among California's colleges and universities. Funding for the eight projects totaled $79,000 and is provided by UC's Division of Agriculture and Natural Resources.

"These projects reflect the collaborative spirit in the UC and CSU systems and the commitment the faculty share in addressing issues of importance to Californians," said Neal Van Alfen, dean of the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences at UC Davis. "We developed this competitive grants program to leverage scarce resources for innovative research and to provide hands-on educational experiences for our students."

The campuses involved are those with primary responsibility for agricultural and natural resources research and education in the state: UC Davis, UC Berkeley, UC Riverside, and California State University campuses at Chico, Fresno, Humboldt, Pomona, and San Luis Obispo. The grants program, now in its second year, was designed by deans and department chairs in 2009. The awarded projects, with principal investigators, are listed below:

• Assessing technology literacy skills of minority college students – Researchers from UC Riverside and Cal Poly, Pomona will assess the extent of an information technology "literacy gap" in Hispanic and other minority college students to improve student success in higher education. (Raheja , Senanayake)
• Giant sequoia growth response to disturbance intensity – Forestry scientists from UC Berkeley and Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo will measure growth response to low, medium and high levels of disturbance (e.g., fire) to better inform managers of giant sequoia groves and to provide a unique learning opportunity for UC and CSU students (York, Sink)
• Developing a collaborative environment and community research on California’s North Coast – Researchers from Humboldt State University, UC Davis, and UC Berkeley will hold a three-day workshop in Orleans, Calif. to formulate a strategic plan for natural resource management and job development with the involvement of tribes, community organizations, and schools. (Everett, Sherman, Baker, Ballard, Romm)
• Student research internship program in nutrition – Two faculty members and two undergraduate students from Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo will participate in a 10-week nutrition internship with faculty from the Western Human Nutrition Research Center at UC Davis in summer 2011 (Reaves, Loan)
• Comparing subsurface drip and overhead mechanized irrigation systems – Researchers from Fresno State University, UC Davis and the UC Kearney Agricultural Research & Extension Center in Parlier will compare water use efficiency, weed management, and profitability of flat-planted minimum tillage cropping systems using subsurface drip and overhead mechanized irrigation systems. (Shrestha, Mitchell)
• Fecundity of navel orangeworm reared from pistachio, walnut and almond hosts – Entomologists from Chico State University and UC Davis will document the reproduction of navel orangeworm ­ a severe insect pest of almonds, pistachios, and walnuts – in field and laboratory investigations to enhance integrated pest management recommendations for growers.  (Boyd, Zalom)
• New technologies for detection, monitoring and treatment of mastitis in dairy cows – Scientists and students from Cal Poly, Pomona will team with UC Cooperative Extension in San Bernardino County, and with an industry partner to investigate the use of infrared thermography for early detection and monitoring, and pulsed electromagnetic field therapy for treatment of mastitis in dairy cows. (Murinda, Peterson, Siegel)
• Factors influencing probiotic survival in ice cream – Food scientists at UC Davis and Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo will study factors affecting the shelf life of probiotics in full-fat ice cream and determine what factors affect probiotic survival in simulated gastric digestion. (Singh, Lammert)

Reports on project outcomes are expected in December 2011.

###

MEDIA CONTACT:
DeeDee Kitterman, UC Davis College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, (530) 752-9484, dmkitterman@ucdavis.edu

Here are a list of seed companies that are owned by Monsanto

* Territorial Seeds
* Totally Tomato
* Vermont Bean Seed Co.
* Burpee
* Cook’s Garden
* Johnny’s Seeds
* Earl May Seed
* Gardens Alive
* Lindenberg Seeds
* Mountain Valley Seed
* Park Seed
* T&T Seeds
* Tomato Growers Supply
* Willhite Seed Co.
* Nichol’s
* Rupp
* Osborne
* Snow
* Stokes
* Jungs
* R.H. Shumway
* The Vermont Bean Seed Company
* Seeds for the World
* Seymour’s Selected Seeds
* HPS
* Roots and Rhizomes
* McClure and Zimmerman Quality Bulb Brokers
* Spring Hill Nurseries
* Breck’s Bulbs
* Audubon Workshop
* Flower of the Month Club
* Wayside Gardens
* Park Bulbs
* Park’s Countryside Garden

Iraq: After the Army comes Monsanto

Order 81 mandates that Iraq’s commercial-scale farmers must now purchase "registered” seeds. These are available through agribusiness giants like Monsanto, Cargill Corporation and the World Wide Wheat Company, but Monsanto is far and away the most significant player in the registered seed market. 

Order 81, by first forcing Iraq’s farmers to use genetically modified  seeds, and then by declaring natural seeds an infringement on Monsanto technology, will result in the sorts of tragedies seen elsewhere in the developing world.  

Order 81, mandated under the dystopian title "Plant Variety Protection,” turns the agricultural world on its head by defining indigenous crops as invasive and GM crops as uniform and stable.

The American Academy of Environmental Medicine has called for an immediate moratorium on genetically modified food.  Multiple animal studies show significant immune dysregulation, including upregulation of cytokines associated with asthma, allergy, & inflammation. Animal studies also show altered structure and function of the liver, including altered lipid & carbohydrate metabolism as well as cellular changes that could lead to accelerated aging & possibly lead to the accumulation of reactive oxygen species. Changes in the kidney, pancreas & spleen have also been documented. http://www.aaemonline.org/gmopost.html

The widespread use of glyphosate (Monsanto's RoundUp) is causing negative impacts on soil & plants as well as possibly animal & human health. These are key findings of Don Huber, emeritus professor of plant pathology, Purdue University. “ignoring potential non-target detrimental side effects of any chemical, especially used as heavily as glyphosate, may have dire consequences for agriculture such as rendering soils infertile, crops non-productive, & plants less nutritious. To do otherwise might well compromise not only agricultural sustainability, but also the health & well-being of animals & humans.”  http://www.non-gmoreport.com/articles/may10/consequenceso_widespread_glyphosate_use.php

According to the British govt's chief scientific adviser, Prof Sir John Beddington, a new study provides compelling evidence for governments to act NOW or face global famine. The report is the culmination of a 2yr study, involving 400 experts from 35 countries.  The report emphasises changes to farming, to ensure that increasing yields does not come at the expense of sustainability & to provide incentives to the agricultural sector that address malnutrition.

"Monsanto should not have to vouch for the safety of biotech food. Our interest is in selling as much of it as possible. Assuring its safety is the FDA's job." -Phil Angell, Monsanto's director of corporate communications, quoted in the New York Times, October 25, 1998 

The FDA's Michael Taylor is a lawyer who began his revolving door adventures as counsel to FDA. He then moved to King & Spalding, a private-sector law firm representing Monsanto. In 1991 he returned to the FDA as Deputy Commissioner for Policy, where he was part of the team that issued the agency's decidedly industry-friendly policy on food biotechnology & that approved the use of Monsanto's genetically engineered rGBH in dairy cows. His questionable role in these decisions led to an investigation by the federal General Accounting Office, which eventually exonerated him of all conflict-of-interest charges. In 1994, Mr. Taylor moved to USDA to become administrator of its Food Safety & Inspection Service ... After another stint in private legal practice with King & Spalding, Mr. Taylor again joined Monsanto as Vice President for Public Policy in 1998.

Jerry Crawford, an Iowa lawyer & lobbyist w/deep ties to Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack, recently registered as the Washington representative for Monsanto. Sen. Kerry, Secretary of State Clinton & Secretary Vilsack are all tight with Crawford.

Vilsack (head of the USDA & ex-Monsanto exec) is an ardent support of corn & soy based biofuels, which use as much or more fossil energy to produce them as they generate, while driving up world food prices and literally starving the poor. "If you put a label on genetically engineered food you might as well put a skull and crossbones on it." -- Norman Braksick, president of Asgrow Seed Co., a subsidiary of Monsanto, quoted in the Kansas City Star, March 7, 1994

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Honey Made Near Monsanto GM Maize May Face EU Limits

By Stephanie Bodoni - Feb 9, 2011 7:54 AM PT Beekeepers with hives close to fields of Monsanto Co. genetically modified maize can’t sell their honey in the European Union without regulatory approval, an adviser to the EU’s highest court said. 

The unintentional presence in honey “even of a minute quantity of pollen” from the maize is sufficient reason to restrict its sale, Advocate General Yves Bot of the European Court of Justice said in a non-binding opinion today.

“Food containing material from a genetically modified plant, whether that material is included intentionally or not, must always be regarded as food produced” from modified plants, said Bot. The Luxembourg-based EU tribunal follows such advice most of the time. Rulings normally follow within six months of an opinion.
EU rules require prior authorization before genetically modified goods can be put on the market. The bloc’s 27 nations are split over the safety of food produced from genetically modified crops. This is slowing EU permission to grow them and has prompted complaints by the U.S. and other trade partners.
Beekeepers “have a real problem,” said Achim Willand, the lawyer for the group of producers that brought the case.

“It’s incomprehensible that the cultivation of such crops on unprotected fields is allowed,” Willand, of German law firm Gassner, Groth, Siederer & Coll, said in telephone interview.
Since the beekeepers aren’t allowed to sell their honey, their only option is to “seek damages and ask that safeguards are put in place” against the pollen from GM crops, he said.
 

Monsanto, the world’s largest seed company, received EU permission in 1998 to cultivate its MON 810 maize and the various products derived from the strain such as maize flour, starch and oil. The German State of Bavaria has a number of fields where the crop is grown for research.

Karl Heinz Bablok, one of a group of beekeepers that brought today’s case, detected traces of the crop in his honey and in the pollen he harvested from a field a few hundred meters behind his beehives.
The beekeepers have asked Bavaria to prohibit further planting close to their hives and for measures to prevent bees coming into contact with the crops.

A German court sought the EU tribunal’s guidance on the matter.

The case is C-442/09, Bablok and Others.
To contact the reporter on this story: Stephanie Bodoni in Luxembourg at sbodoni@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Anthony Aarons at aaarons@bloomberg.net