Learn about GM crops and the "ownership" of life

You can listen to Percy via your computer or podcast it... follow the link below.

MONSANTO VS. PERCY SCHMEISER
Report on the lawsuit that challenges the ownership of life by corporations by Percy Schmeiser and Ignacio Chapela.

Monsanto, the giant multinational agro-chemical company, sued Percy Schmeiser over the presence of their patented canola that had invaded the edges of Schmeiser's field from a neighbor's plot. The Schmeiser case has become one of the most watched and most important cases for organic farmers, seed savers, for the movement against the invasion of the biosphere by genetically modified plants, and against corporate ownership of life.

Part ONE: Schmeiser was recorded in Ukiah, CA, in November 2006. He gave a report of his multi-year legal battle to save his land and home, and his 50 year legacy as plant breeder from being seized by Monsanto over 12 pounds of invading seeds.

After two shattering losses in court he finally won a partial victory in the Canadian Supreme Court. However the court upheld Monsanto's patent rights - even when their genetically modified canola invades another field or cross pollinates with organic or pedigree canola or even their relatives.

Any invaded organism becomes the property of Monsanto as well.

Under globalization the patent rights may apply to the US as well.

Percy is a Canadian farmer from Bruno, Saskatchewan. He took over the family farm in 1947. He and his wife are known on the Prairies as seed savers. Over 50 years they developed a canola seed that was resistant to disease and lost their life's work by contamination from genetically modified canola.

In part TWO Percy Schmeiser shares the stage with Ignacio Chapela, from UC Berkeley. In October 2000 Chapela discovered the contamination of Mexican corn with Monsanto GMO corn.

For a broadcast quality .mp3 version of both parts of the broadcast, courtesy of TUC Radio, and more great programming, click here.

A Podcasting Herbalist

While looking for some information for our (GCHS) herb study about Echinacea, I ran across these podcasts by HerbEd, A.K.A. Ed Smith (link). You can download the .mp3s and listen to them, or download the podcasts. I subscribed to the podcasts (easy, free) and they download automatically.

Here are descriptions of some of the podcasts offered on the webpage.
Visit HerbalEd.org to download additional herbal lectures and interviews with Ed Smith.

Alteratives, Depuratives, and Blood Cleansers (Expo West) - Part 1
Posted: Thu, 20 Apr 2006
In this 2-part presentation at Natural Products Expo West in Anaheim, California, Ed Smith discusses alteratives, depuratives, and blood cleansers.
(41min 24sec)
MEDIA ENCLOSURE: http://www.herbaled.org/media/podcasts/lc14(a).mp3

Alteratives, Depuratives, and Blood Cleansers (Expo West) - Part 2
Posted: Thu, 20 Apr 2006
In this 2-part presentation at Natural Products Expo West in Anaheim, California, Ed Smith discusses alteratives, depuratives, and blood cleansers.
Total time: 41min 24sec [lc14(b)]
MEDIA ENCLOSURE: http://www.herbaled.org/media/podcasts/lc14(b).mp3

(Whilst these lectures are ostensibly the same presentation Ed delivered at the 16th Annual American Herbalist's Guild's Symposium in Portland, his approach to the material is varied, along with the list of the herbs discussed.)

Response To NEJM Echinacea Study
Posted: Fri, 26 Aug 2005
In this brief 10-minute discussion, Shayne Foley talks with Ed Smith about the negative Echinacea study, published in the July 28, 2005 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine (NEJM).
(10min 01sec)
MEDIA ENCLOSURE: http://www.herbaled.org/media/podcasts/ech_response.mp3

Echinacea Interview (Part 1)
Posted: Tue, 02 Aug 2005
In this hour long discussion, Shayne Foley talks with Ed Smith about Echinacea, its safe and effective use, how to evaluate the quality of an Echinacea extract, the value and limitations of alcohol-free Echinacea, and how to use specific Echinacea formulas.
(29min)
MEDIA ENCLOSURE: http://www.herbaled.org/media/podcasts/sp1v2(a).mp3

Echinacea Interview (Part 2)
Posted: Tue, 02 Aug 2005
In this hour long discussion, Shayne Foley talks with Ed Smith about Echinacea, its safe and effective use, how to evaluate the quality of an Echinacea extract, the value and limitations of alcohol-free Echinacea, and how to use specific Echinacea formulas.
(29min)
MEDIA ENCLOSURE: http://www.herbaled.org/media/podcasts/sp1v2(b).mp3

Internal And External Cosmetics For The Skin (Part 1)
Posted: Tue, 24 May 2005
The first commercial product Ed Smith created, was Herbal Eds Salve for the skin. Twenty five years later, at the 2004 Natural Products Expo in Washington, DC, he returns to his roots in this entertaining and informative presentation on using herbs for promoting healthy skin, first-aid support, and chronic skin disorders.
Psoriasis, eczema, acne, spider veins, aging and wrinkles, dermatitis, burns and wounds are all addressed by one of North America’s most respected herbalists.
(32min 15sec)
MEDIA ENCLOSURE: http://www.herbaled.org/media/podcasts/lc11(a).mp3

Internal And External Cosmetics For The Skin (Part 2)
Posted: Tue, 24 May 2005
The first commercial product Ed Smith created, was Herbal Eds Salve for the skin. Twenty five years later, at the 2004 Natural Products Expo in Washington, DC, he returns to his roots in this entertaining and informative presentation on using herbs for promoting healthy skin, first-aid support, and chronic skin disorders.
Psoriasis, eczema, acne, spider veins, aging and wrinkles, dermatitis, burns and wounds are all addressed by one of North America’s most respected herbalists.
(32min 28sec)
MEDIA ENCLOSURE: http://www.herbaled.org/media/podcasts/lc11(b).mp3

Herbal Extracts Interview (Part 1)
Posted: Wed, 13 Apr 2005
In this discussion, Shayne Foley talks with Ed Smith about the benefits of liquid herbal extracts, teas, capsules and tablets.
Issues such as bioavailability, dosage flexibility, alcohol content, standardization, taste, and extraction methodology will be discussed in depth. Don't miss this interesting review of how the form of a herbal medicine influences the outcome of its use.
(14min 12sec)
MEDIA ENCLOSURE: http://www.herbaled.org/media/podcasts/lc08(a).mp3

Herbal Extracts Interview (Part 2)
Posted: Wed, 13 Apr 2005
In this discussion, Shayne Foley talks with Ed Smith about the benefits of liquid herbal extracts, teas, capsules and tablets.
Issues such as bioavailability, dosage flexibility, alcohol content, standardization, taste, and extraction methodology will be discussed in depth. Don't miss this interesting review of how the form of a herbal medicine influences the outcome of its use.
(13min 44sec)
MEDIA ENCLOSURE: http://www.herbaled.org/media/podcasts/lc08(b).mp3

SLEEPER HERBS: Great Herbs That Are Not Well Known (Part 1)
Posted: Mon, 21 Mar 2005
Internationally known medical herbalist, Ed Smith, elaborates on various less-popular, slower-selling herbs that deserve more recognition and use as healing herbs.
Herbs discussed: Spilanthes, Culver's Root, Black Haw, Blue Flag, Wild Indigo, Cactus Grandiflorus, Fringe Tree, Jamaican Dogwood, Khella, Scotch Broom, Wood Betony, Yucca, and more.
Recorded March 18th, 2005 at Expo West.
(30min 30sec)
MEDIA ENCLOSURE: http://www.herbaled.org/media/podcasts/lc12(a).mp3

SLEEPER HERBS: Great Herbs That Are Not Well Known (Part 2)
Posted: Mon, 21 Mar 2005
Internationally known medical herbalist, Ed Smith, elaborates on various less-popular, slower-selling herbs that deserve more recognition and use as healing herbs.
Herbs discussed: Spilanthes, Culver's Root, Black Haw, Blue Flag, Wild Indigo, Cactus Grandiflorus, Fringe Tree, Jamaican Dogwood, Khella, Scotch Broom, Wood Betony, Yucca, and more.
Recorded March 18th, 2005 at Expo West.
29min 58sec)
MEDIA ENCLOSURE: http://www.herbaled.org/media/podcasts/lc12(b).mp3

"The most noteworthy thing about gardeners is that they are always optimistic, always enterprising, and never satisfied. They always look forward to doing something better than they have ever done before."
-- Vita Sackville-West

organic gardening tips

You don't think you can do everything listed below, and neither do I, but my idea behind posting this is to give both of us an ideal and perhaps an idea. Every step we can take toward organic gardening, by even adopting one method this year that we didn't do last year, every step accomplished or attempted... is one step closer to doing the right thing.

Brother Placid's Tips for Beginning Organic Gardeners
by Emily Gatch
Greenhouse Coordinator and Assistant Seed Cleaner
Seeds of Change

I finally have what I consider a suitable response to the good people who call us at the Research Farm and say, "I want to garden organically. Where do I start?" My response comes in a format that I hope will prove memorable to you: a glimpse into the life and garden of a masterly Master Gardener, Brother Placid of New Melleray Abbey.

I'd like you to take a look with me at an organic vegetable garden on the edge of the prairie in eastern Iowa. Brother Placid operates the twelve acre organic garden at New Melleray, a Trappist monastery and certified organic beef cattle farm near Dubuque, Iowa that was founded 150 years ago by monks from Mount Melleray, Ireland. Brother Placid's garden feeds not only his community of Cistercian monks of the Strict Observance but the year-round visitors to the monastery's guesthouse as well. His credentials and history as a gardener command rapt attention. He is one of fifteen children born to a Polish farming family in northern Minnesota. He had a reputation among his brothers and sisters as his mother's favorite, a status he attributes to his willingness to spend long hours helping her weed in the vegetable garden. At the age of eleven, during the height of the Great Depression, Brother Placid left home to work on the threshing crews that followed the grain harvest north along the Red River valley. He hopped freight trains out West and worked in the orchards of Washington state as an "apple knocker", dug potatoes in the Oregon's Klamath Valley, picked peaches and harvested vegetable crops in the Willamette Valley, and then moved down into California's central valley working the rice, cotton, and olive harvests. After serving in the army during World War II, he joined the monks at New Melleray and has been there ever since.

A brief look at Brother Placid's garden. He divides the twelve acres into three sections, rotated in the following manner:
One third of the garden is planted each year in alfalfa, which he mows three times over the summer and then turns under in the fall. The following spring, that section is planted in sweet corn, a nutrient-hungry crop that benefits from the 125 pounds of nitrogen fixed by the alfalfa. The remaining third is devoted to innumerable varieties of tomatoes, melons, squash, cucumbers, spinach, beets, turnips, potatoes, and his beloved grapes and berries.

Here are a few of Brother Placid's tips for beginning organic gardeners:

Feed the soil, not the plants. This is the dogmatic theology of organic agriculture. If you are just starting out with a barren plot of ground, devote one year to growing nothing but green manures: quick-growing clovers, oats, and annual grasses that are successively tilled into the soil. By planting and tilling under four different green manure crops and adding old chicken manure and rotting alfalfa bales, Brother Placid was able to increase the organic matter content of a plot of land from less than 1% to 18%. Brother Placid also adds fish emulsion and kelp meal to the furrow before planting to create a nutrient-rich environment for developing seedlings.

Vigilance is the best form of pest control. Be in your garden every day, and be watchful. Brother Placid controls Colorado potato beetles on his potatoes by beginning to scout when the plants reach 12 to 14 inches high, and simply picking the bugs off and squashing them by hand.

Learn the secrets of companion planting. The mutually beneficial relationships among certain crops can result in reduced pest problems and increased yields. Brother Placid interplants radishes with his melons, since radishes are known to deter cucumber beetles. He also recommends cosmos flowers for attracting pollinators to the garden.

Welcome the snow, and use it to your advantage. Snow (as well as collected rainwater) contains small amounts of dissolved nitrates and is "soft," unlike well or city water, which often contains dissolved salts and minerals that leave unwanted residues on plant surfaces. Brother Placid opens his cold frames to allow the snow in, and even shovels it into his greenhouse in the winter!

Compost, both the noun and the verb. Brother Placid is lucky to have plentiful raw ingredients for his compost pile in the green refuse that comes from the monastery and guesthouse's vegetarian kitchen, to which he adds oak leaves, pine needles, and old hay and straw. He typically adds about twelve tons of compost to his garden each year. He warns vehemently against using walnut leaves or chips as a compost ingredient or soil amendment, noting that a previous gardener once added walnut chips to his soil and he is still observing, many years later, some localized detrimental effects of the allelopathic compounds present in walnut trees.

Balanced mulching. While surface mulching generally helps to reduce weed pressure and lower disease incidence in the vegetable garden, Brother Placid has found that straw or chip-based mulches invite mice and voles to take up residence in his garden, so he limits his use of mulch to the one acre asparagus patch and to his berries. Evaluate your varmint situation and adjust your use of mulch accordingly, or experiment with less rodent-friendly mulches such as biodegradable landscape fabrics.

Water wisely. Drip irrigation is a much-preferred method of supplying water to plants, since the moisture left on leaves from overhead sprinkling can lead to foliar diseases.

Remember that gardening is hard work, but good work. Brother Placid likes to think of the story of Adam and Eve, and what they were told when they were expelled from the Garden of Eden: "With suffering you shall get your food from the soil, every day of your life… it shall yield you brambles and thistles, and you shall eat wild plants. With sweat on your brow shall you eat your bread, until you return to the soil, as you were taken from it." He smiles as he thinks of this Genesis passage in the heat of the Iowa summer, knowing that he is doing God's work.

I hope you also find in these words not a message of gloom but a glorious invitation to get out in the garden and get moving. Thank you, Brother Placid, for sharing your infectious enthusiasm and wisdom with me on this Sunday morning in March, and blessings to all you gardeners as you begin a new season.

Every gardener knows that under the cloak of winter lies a miracle - a seed waiting to sprout, a bulb opening to the light, a bud straining to unfurl. And the anticipation nurtures our dreams.
-- Barbara Winkler

CSI In My Garden

The January Herb Study at the GCHS was Echinacea.
To paraphrase an old television drama "There are a million stories in the" ...garden... "here is one of them..."

A few years ago I began to notice some significant problem with my purple coneflowers. What! Nothing bothers purple coneflowers! Right!?!

BUT, if something is gonna happen in way of a garden disaster large or small, it'll happen to me.

On closer inspection of my blighted flowers, all of the the ruined cones seemed to be damaged in the same way... blackened broken centers. I cut off the worst flowers and brought them indoors and dissected them on my kitchen counter. Eyuck, small wormy creatures had burrowed straight down from the tip of the seedhead right down into the stem. I took some photos with my first generation digital camera and went out to the garden and deadheaded all of my Echinacea. Dejectedly. I love purple coneflowers.


I couldn't find any clue in my books, or the books at the Extension, or
online, or by asking around. Closest I could figure was a hint from several online sources that certain flowers attract the European Corn Borer, the timing was right, and the damage was identical. It fit the profile of a native plant being decimated by an imported pest, especially because the pest was probably under pressure from all of the cornfields that have surrounded my neighborhood being bulldozed for new subdivisions. But I was still unsettled about it. The little larvae I
had didn't look right, I was seeing stripes and the ECB is spotted. I knew from my time working with the Diagnostic team that the distinction was important. All burrowing larvae are not the same.

I even asked flower experts at conferences. Apparently I didn't paint a grim enough portrait of the damage these flowers were suffering. No one knew or cared. Years passed. I deadheaded as needed, dejectedly.

January 2007, the Genesee County Herb Society's herb study will be Echinacea. It's January, time to read with a purpose! Looking through my coneflower photos from years past, the CSI photos sparked my interest in finding the name of that little grub.

I Googled around and came across a paragraph in a paper I downloaded from the Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station, entitled Perennial Medicinal Herb Trials 1996-1999. On page 7, under Echinacea purpurea L. Moench. is this sentence:

"Echinacea is a member of the aster family, and susceptible to the same insects. Sunflower moth larvae damaged more than 80% of blooms cut in late summer."

Googling furiously, I brought up: "Sunflower Moth" page 3 on a publication from the Maryland Cooperative Extension with a GREAT PHOTO!
Success!

Identification of a pest is the first step in IPM. I feel much better.
Now I have to figure out how to save my purple coneflowers from this particular larvae.

(previously posted in Betsy's Herb Garden)

Ya-hoo...

Today I'm setting up a moderated Yahoo Group webpage for use by Backyard Herb Garden volunteers. It'll have photos as I get them, a calendar, a database of the plants, a bulletin board, and more...

"To create a garden is to search for a better world. . . . Whether the result is a horticultural masterpiece or only a modest vegetable patch, it is based on the expectation of a glorious future. This hope for the future is at the heart of all gardening."
-- Marina Schinz (Swiss garden writer and photographer)

The Herb Gatherer

By Glenn Ward Dresbach
From Collected Poems, 1914-1948

When fragrant fires of autumn smoulder
By upland pastures for wind to blow
And grain shocks stand, row after row,
He throws a sack across his shoulder
And trudges away in the mellow glow
To gather herbs – though he is older
Than most of the old men I know.

He squints in the sun, and always follows
The spring brook where the calamus hides
And he nibbles it, and away he strides
For thyme and tansy in sunny hollows,
Then on to burdock. His faith abides
in it for bitters, in careful swallows,
When winter had chilled his old insides.

Sage and boneset – his eyes keep sighting
Out of profusion the things he would find.
Pennyroyal, horse mint – these he will bind
In neat little bundles, always righting
Some slight disorder . . . at least in his mind.
He will hang them on rafters, ready for fighting
The ills of age . . . with the years so kind!

His old cheeks flush with the autumn weather.
His old eyes shine when the quail wings sound.
A sack that smells of the air and the ground
With tang and mellowness there together
Over his shoulder! And all around
The breath of autumn! . . . I wonder whether
Gathering helps more than the herbs he found.