Healthy soil and sustainable growing

[willowridgefarm@iowatelecom.net]

>
This is the truest thing that anyone has ever said...we can continue to
push and push but if you don't educate the "general" public it isn't going
to do a bit of good.
I have many people that buy our eggs that have never even asked diet or
conditions that our girls are exposed to...but they are buying "Farm Fresh
Eggs" so they must be good for me!
I had a lady from the East coast (Long Island) contact wanting me to
overnight eggs to her...I live in Southern Iowa...she was having company
that weekend and was wanting eggs from the farm and never asking anything
about our girls just willing to pay almost $50 for 2 dozen eggs!! Scares
me to death.

Cherie
Willow Ridge Farms
http;//www.faktorwillowridge.com




 This is my local paper:o)  John used to be one of our clients when we had
> a
> custom digital lab.
>
> We have a huge well educated population and the stores - the ones in
> Ashland
> at least - are having to go this way to compete.  we also have a huge
> thriving farmers market that runs 3 times a week - once in Ashland, once
> in
> Medford and once in Jacksonville - as well as one in Grants Pass which is
> farther north in the valley.
>
> The really amazing part is that even in Ashland which is very educated and
> progressive, folks dont know the difference between organic and "natural"
> They think that the pork at ShopNKart is heathy because it says "natural"
> on
> the label.  My raw milk customers dont always even ask what I feed my
> animals - they dont even know what to ask.
>
> I figure that is part of my work - to help folks start to know what they
> need to know and to get them to grow a tomato plant and maybe some
> lettuce:o)  The trick is to impact the more conventional population that
> is
> still shopping at Safeway and Albertsons.
>
> Aliza
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: <yarrow@sfo.com>
> To: "Healthy soil and sustainable growing"
> <livingontheland@lists.ibiblio.org>
> Sent: Wednesday, February 27, 2008 10:17 PM
> Subject: [Livingontheland] avoiding GMOs
>
>
> http://www.mailtribune.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080226/LIFE
> 27/02/2008 10:46 AM
>
> Taking aim at GMOs
> Urged by customers who feel that genetically modified organisms have
> negative effects on food, some local grocers are
> taking items containing them off their shelves
> By JOHN DARLING
> for the Mail Tribune (Southern Oregon)
>
> February 26, 2008 6:00 AM
> Believing that genetically engineered foods are
> untested for health effects on humans, the
> Ashland Food Co-op has launched a program to get
> all such products off its shelves this year --
> and other area markets, including Shop N Kart and
> Food For Less, say they are steadily increasing
> offerings of GMO-free food.
>
> Most genetically modified organisms (GMOs) are
> found in corn, soy, canola, cottonseed products
> and Hawaiian papaya, which means they're in a
> huge array of foods -- estimates range up to 70
> percent in processed food ó says Co-op Outreach
> and Owner Services Manager Annie Hoy, who teaches
> classes on non-GMO shopping.
>
> "They're made in a lab in ways that nature
> doesn't operate. It's an imprecise science. It
> may look, act and taste like corn, but it isn't
> corn," says Hoy, noting that science recognizes
> no species barriers, and will combine genes from
> fish and strawberries in order to extract a
> trait, such as long shelf life, color or ability
> to resist pesticides.
>
> What most aggravates shoppers, she says, is that
> GMO foods are not required to be labeled as such,
> so it's difficult to screen them out of your
> diet. "I try to avoid GMO and I would feel a lot
> more secure if it were better labeled," says
> Kelly Cruser of Ashland, who is educated as a
> zoologist and has worked as an orthodontist.
> "It's in two-thirds of everything in grocery
> stores now and there are many important likely
> health consequences and very few studies to
> verify GMOs are safe."
>
> The ability to fine tune her shopping skills
> required study -- and Cruser has learned which
> corn and tomatoes have been genetically modified.
> She buys blue corn chips (only yellow corn has
> undergone GMO) and Roma tomatoes, which are not
> among the engineered species.
>
> On a walking tour of the Ashland Food Co-op, Hoy
> points out that, while GMO foods evade labeling,
> foods labeled non-GMO, such as milk from Umpqua
> Dairy in Roseburg, are required to carry a
> disclaimer saying the FDA has determined that "no
> test can distinguish" between the milk of treated
> and untreated cows.
>
> Many popular ice creams and yogurts, long
> considered healthful, will not make the cut at
> the co-op, because they don't meet the standard
> of being free from bovine growth hormone, which
> is genetically engineered, says Rainbo O'Connor,
> chairwoman of the store's Product Safety
> Committee.
>
> O'Connor had her management team read "Seeds of
> Deception; Exposing Industry and Government Lies
> About the Safety of the Genetically Engineered
> Foods You're Eating," by Jeffery M. Smith -- and
> recently pulled all canola oil out of the store's
> deli and substituted organic olive, grape seed
> and sunflower oil.
>
> Because crops aren't grown in plastic bubbles,
> but get their pollen blown around by the wind,
> "it's getting increasingly hard to say something
> has no GMOs, but a good yardstick is "shop
> organic," she says, adding that anything that is
> certified organic, by definition, means it's
> GMO-free.
>
> Terry Johnson, manager of Food For Less organic
> food department, Medford, says she's increasing
> her line of organic and non-GMO foods. "I wish
> they'd make them label the GMO," she says.
> Johnson says she doesn't like hearing that tomato
> and salmon-scale genes have been crossed to
> express stronger tomato skins.
>
> Ashland Shop N Kart manager Eric Chaddock says
> his "very vocal and informed customers," more and
> more are demanding organic and non-GMO foods and
> "just because the FDA says something is safe
> doesn't mean it's safe."
>
> Leading the charge against genetically modified
> food is Physicians for Social Responsibility,
> whose spokesman in Portland, Rick North, says,
> "GMOs have not been demonstrated safe for human
> health and the environment: " the more people
> know about genetically engineered food, the more
> they don't want them -- and they vote with their
> dollars."
>
> State-by-state laws requiring labeling of GMO
> foods is unlikely to work, so PSR and other
> groups are focusing on a federal labeling law,
> says North. A state ballot measure requiring GMO
> labeling was defeated in 2002.
>
> "It was a popular idea until Monsanto, which
> makes most of the genetically engineered foods,
> poured millions of dollars into Oregon to defeat
> it," North says.
>
> While proven impacts of GMO food remain a
> question mark, Hoy remains unequivocal in her
> opposition, saying, "Nothing that's been
> genetically manipulated has been shown to be good
> for the consumer, more nutritious or easier to
> digest. They're not doing it in the interest of
> the consumer."
>
> "There's no way to recall this genetic material,"
> says Hoy, who worries about the persistence of
> GMOs in the environment. "I probably have it in
> me. How does it make me feel? Not very happy.
> It's getting harder and harder to eat food
> without more and more worry."
>
> Foods most likely to contain GMOs
> Fresh corn
> Fresh papaya
> Cornbread mix
> Corn meal
> Soy flour
> Veggie sausages
> Tortilla chips
> Flavored tortilla chips
> Puffed corn snacks
> Meatballs, burgers with soy protein
> Soy-based protein drinks and powders
>
> Foods least likely to contain GMOs
> Organic anything
> If corn, try blue corn or sweet corn.
> Roma tomatoes
> Pop or candy with fruit or natural sweeteners, instead of high-fructose
> corn syrup.
> Potatoes are a good carbohydrate source, not GE as yet.
> Anything labeled GMO-free
> Food that's not processed
> Popcorn
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