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  • From: "Farmer John" <1toolquip AT westnet.com.au>
  • To: <market-farming AT lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: [Market-farming] , Vol 91, Issue 24 EGGS & Veggies Issues
  • Date: Tue, 17 Aug 2010 06:54:45 +0800

I farm organically for Farmers Markets and try to sell my own eggs in order to gain a better profit and customer base. Duck eggs sell well too. What my comment is on this issue of eggs is to grow your own corn, grow your own millet and seed crops to feed them. So much cheaper . I also find seconds certified organic wheat in 1 ton lots. If you find a mill that is not that far away you can order your mix design, go online and have a shipping transport co. deliver it to you., If you don't have a forklift on farm than make sure to pay the extra fee for tailgate drop off. Simple stuff. I order many things this way and it is not expensive to do if you do it in 1 ton lots.

Farmer John
WA


----- Original Message ----- From: <market-farming-request AT lists.ibiblio.org>
To: <market-farming AT lists.ibiblio.org>
Sent: Tuesday, August 17, 2010 12:27 AM
Subject: Market-farming Digest, Vol 91, Issue 24


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Today's Topics:

1. swan lake melon (Michael Franzese)
2. Re: Variety observations (clearviewfarm AT bluefrog.com)
3. Re: Soy-free, Corn-free Chicken Feed: Why?
(Wiener, Benjamin L MAJ NG NG NGB)
4. Re: Variety observations (Richard Robinson)
5. Re: Variety observations (Road's End Farm)
6. Re: Soy-free, Corn-free Chicken Feed: Why? (KAKerby AT aol.com)
7. Re: Soy-free, Corn-free Chicken Feed: Why? (Road's End Farm)


----------------------------------------------------------------------

Message: 1
Date: Sun, 15 Aug 2010 18:36:03 -0700 (PDT)
From: Michael Franzese <centerpoint2020 AT yahoo.com>
To: Market-farming AT lists.ibiblio.org
Subject: [Market-farming] swan lake melon
Message-ID: <748946.91007.qm AT web45005.mail.sp1.yahoo.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"

Hello,
?
I am trying to grow swan lake melon.? Last year I grew some and they had a?wonderful sweet flavor, a cross?of honey dew and cantalope. It was purely accidental.? This year I don't seem to be able?produce the same accident.? All the melons we've tried lean more towards a sour cantalope.? I'd like to know what I'm looking for.? My sugar baby water melon are doing great despite the burmuda grass.? I'm new to all this so any help would be wonderful
?
Thanks
Mike
Northern Sacramento valley.



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Message: 2
Date: Sun, 15 Aug 2010 19:27:37 -0700
From: <clearviewfarm AT bluefrog.com>
To: "Market Farming" <market-farming AT lists.ibiblio.org>
Subject: Re: [Market-farming] Variety observations
Message-ID: <20100815192737.68E0E139 AT resin07.mta.everyone.net>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="UTF-8"

I have been growing Cashflow zukes this year, mainly because of their open canopy, which makes it easier to find and harvest the fruit. I have also have good luck with them producing, except in places where they were flooded out by too much rain. I haven't been counting, but I'd say that I have had at least 5 per plant in the last 2 weeks (this is my second planting of zucchini this summer) and they still look healthy and productive.

Kurt Forman
Clearview Farm
Palmyra, NY 14522

--- lists AT rhomestead.com wrote:

From: "Beth Spaugh" <lists AT rhomestead.com>
To: "'Market Farming'" <market-farming AT lists.ibiblio.org>
Subject: Re: [Market-farming] Variety observations
Date: Sun, 15 Aug 2010 21:14:52 -0400

Not this year. This year the costatas are producing quite well, and if
selling by the pound, easily outproducing the hybrids since they are larger.
I am probably getting 8 or 10 fruits per costata plant. There have been
years when I thought I was only getting 4 or 5 fruits per costata plant, but
they are cranking them out this year. My hybrids - Partenon, Tigress, Plato
- only get two or three decent fruits before they go down with disease -
powdery mildew or viruses.

Beth Spaugh
Rehoboth Homestead, Peru, NY
Farm Fresh Food Club CSA - http://rhomestead.com
Become a Fan on Facebook

Garden fresh vegetables, organically grown, and pastured chicken, duck, and
geese

"How we eat determines, to a considerable extent, how the world is used." -
Wendell Berry

"Without power over our food, any notion of democracy is empty." - Frances
Moore Lappe

-----Original Message-----
From: market-farming-bounces AT lists.ibiblio.org
[mailto:market-farming-bounces AT lists.ibiblio.org] On Behalf Of Etienne Goyer
Sent: Sunday, August 15, 2010 4:57 PM
To: Market Farming
Subject: Re: [Market-farming] Variety observations

Beth Spaugh wrote:
Costata Romanesco is holding up much much better than the hybrid
zucchinis did. Standard zukes succumb to cuke beetles, squash bugs,
viruses
pretty quickly on my farm.

The Johnny's catalog says it produce only about half the yield of
hybrids. Is that correct in your experience?
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------------------------------

Message: 3
Date: Sun, 15 Aug 2010 22:04:52 -0500
From: "Wiener, Benjamin L MAJ NG NG NGB"
<benjamin.l.wiener AT us.army.mil>
To: Market Farming <market-farming AT lists.ibiblio.org>
Subject: Re: [Market-farming] Soy-free, Corn-free Chicken Feed: Why?
Message-ID: <f71fcef14b27.4c686484 AT us.army.mil>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii

so switch to oats and wheat and fish or alfalfa meal. there is a sheep and goat ration mixer I found off the internet that lists all sorts of feed stuffs and you can play with it until you get the ration you want. google it. Frankly I think you're nuts. if fewer than 5% of samples contained more than .1% GMO, then there is more mouse droppings in the feed than GMO crops. get over it!

Ben



----- Original Message -----
From: Chrys Ostrander <chrys AT thefutureisorganic.net>
Date: Sunday, August 15, 2010 20:22
Subject: Re: [Market-farming] Soy-free, Corn-free Chicken Feed: Why?
To: Market-farming AT lists.ibiblio.org


I had mentioned in my post about chicken feed that I am dealing
with
certified organic feed. Certified organic chicken feed that
contains
corn and soy is "supposed" to be GMO-free, however, contamination
of
/organic /soy and corn is increasing. In 2001, "...organic corn
and soy
products [were found to contain] GM material at 0.1 percent or
lower. In
a study analyzing organic soy products, Genetic ID [a private
testing
service] found fewer than 5 percent of samples contained more than
0.1
percent GM material."
http://naturalfoodsmerchandiser.com/tabId/110/itemId/869/pageId/11/Minimal-GMO-Contamination-Found-in-Organic-Product.aspx

However, in a more recent article from /The Organic and Non-GMO
Report/,
a spokesperson for an anonymous organic growers' organization is
paraphrased as saying "as many as one-third of organic corn loads
test
positive for GMOs at a low level. 'Ears of corn may have a handful
of
kernels that test positive. All we know is it's becoming an
increasingly
difficult issue' [he said] ".
http://www.organicconsumers.org/articles/article_20568.cfm

And in 2009, John Fagan, PhD, chairman and chief scientific
officer at
Genetic ID said ** "It is definitely more of a problem now. There
are
some sectors of the industry where you can find double-digit
levels of
contamination."
http://nutritionbusinessjournal.com/natural-organics/news/0324-
organic-seeds-increasingly-danger-gmo-contamination/

So, first off I want to defend organic growers, after all, we are
victims of genetic trespass, but it's worth mentioning that the
spokesperson quoted above did not want to be identified for fear
of
losing markets. Testing for GMO's is happening at many points in
the
organic supply chain. Sometimes contamination is identified and
the
product loses its organic status. Likely there are other times GMO
contamination is found, but nothing is said and the product moves
to the
next link in the chain.

The Organic Consumers Assoc. cites the following: "Consuming milk
and
meat from animals fed crops that are genetically engineered is
also
risky. In a survey of milk products sold in stores in Italy,
results
from the screening of 60 samples of 12 different milk brands
demonstrated the presence of GM maize sequences in 15 (25%) and of
GM
soybean sequences in 7 samples (11.7%)."
http://www.organicconsumers.org/articles/article_19992.cfm

So, as a preventative against ingesting GMO foods, one should
certainly
avoid soy and corn, /even if it's organic/. Hence one /major
reason/ to
use soy-free and corn-free chicken feed.

Chrys

*Chrys Ostrander, Director of Farming Programs
p.e.a.c.h. Community Farms and Gardens*
People for Environmental Action and Community Health

*p.e.a.c.h. Community Farm at Pine Meadow*
10425 S. Andrus Rd.
Cheney, Wa 99004
509-448-3066
chrys AT thefutureisorganic.net
www.peachlocal.com
/"Our Fresh Future for Spokane"/


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Market-farming AT lists.ibiblio.org
http://lists.ibiblio.org/mailman/listinfo/market-farming

Market Farming List Archives may be found here:
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Unsubscribe from the list here (you will need to login in with
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address and password):
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------------------------------

Message: 4
Date: Mon, 16 Aug 2010 08:55:11 -0400
From: Richard Robinson <rrobinson AT nasw.org>
To: Market Farming <market-farming AT lists.ibiblio.org>
Subject: Re: [Market-farming] Variety observations
Message-ID: <201081685511.822223@Zelda>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"

On Sun, 15 Aug 2010 16:56:52 -0400, Etienne Goyer wrote:
Beth Spaugh wrote:
Costata Romanesco is holding up much much better than the hybrid zucchinis
did. Standard zukes succumb to cuke beetles, squash bugs, viruses pretty
quickly on my farm.


The Johnny's catalog says it produce only about half the yield of hybrids.
Is that correct in your experience?

That was my experience the few years I grew them. But the catalog is also right about the taste--it is superior.

--
Richard Robinson
www.nasw.org/users/rrobinson/
Hopestill Farm
www.hopestill.com





------------------------------

Message: 5
Date: Mon, 16 Aug 2010 09:17:12 -0400
From: Road's End Farm <organic87 AT frontiernet.net>
To: Market Farming <market-farming AT lists.ibiblio.org>
Subject: Re: [Market-farming] Variety observations
Message-ID: <3D0DC892-8AF5-4566-841A-64E1D6948E32 AT frontiernet.net>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII; format=flowed; delsp=yes


On Aug 16, 2010, at 8:55 AM, Richard Robinson wrote:

On Sun, 15 Aug 2010 16:56:52 -0400, Etienne Goyer wrote:
Beth Spaugh wrote:
Costata Romanesco is holding up much much better than the hybrid
zucchinis
did. Standard zukes succumb to cuke beetles, squash bugs, viruses
pretty
quickly on my farm.


The Johnny's catalog says it produce only about half the yield of
hybrids.
Is that correct in your experience?

That was my experience the few years I grew them. But the catalog is
also right about the taste--it is superior.

--

We had problems with rot and weird appearance at the blossom end on
Costata Romanesco; and, for anyone interested in harvesting baby
zucchini with the flowers still attached, the flowers didn't seem to
hold at all; they disintegrated into gush very fast.

Anyone else have this problem with Costata?

We usually grow Cocozelle for an old variety with good flavor, and
Ambassador for a standard dark green zucchini; Ambassador is somewhat
hard to find seed for, but seems more disease resistant than most. I
have also had bad luck with Partenon, which died of disease faster
than anything else I had out there one year I tried it. Success PM did
not do all that well for me and got just as much powdery mildew as
anything else, Multipik does better here; and I second Zephyr which is
a nice reliable squash with good flavor and a distinctive look. I also
grow a little Yellow Crookneck which I think has best flavor but needs
to be picked very young or people won't buy it as the skins are bumpy
and look overripe before they are (Yellow Crookneck is a very old
variety.)

We also grow White Pattypan which is also called Early White Bush
Scallop, and White Bush cousa. The White Pattypan is also hard to find
but it has better flavor here than most other pattypans I've tried.

-- Rivka; Finger Lakes NY, Zone 5 mostly
Fresh-market organic produce, small scale





------------------------------

Message: 6
Date: Mon, 16 Aug 2010 11:17:42 -0400 (EDT)
From: KAKerby AT aol.com
To: market-farming AT lists.ibiblio.org
Subject: Re: [Market-farming] Soy-free, Corn-free Chicken Feed: Why?
Message-ID: <10101b.540059d3.399ab096 AT aol.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"

We also have gotten questions about whether we feed GMO-free crops at
market this year. While mouse droppings in grain isn't on the general public's
Top 10 list of concerns, GMO crops are starting to be. I can only applaud
that increased awareness even if there's still a need for some
reality-check education. We've been in the opposite situation of having to justify
why we're still using crops and feeds which may have been GMO contaminated,
rather than trying to "sell" people on the idea of why we should switch to
non-GMO. I've lost egg sales thanks to customers who are adamant that they
want non-GMO foods, who then go in favor of folks who advertise as such.
If we did a cold hard analysis of their feeds vs mine I suspect there would
be little difference. While we could argue over contamination percentages
and real vs perceived risk, those are still lost sales. We were already
looking for GMO alternatives for a variety of other reasons, and that just
cemented our commitment to find those alternatives.

That being said, I have not yet found a packaged feed that successfully
avoids the Big Three GMO crops - soy, corn and canola. While the latter
isn't a huge ingredient in poultry feed, it has been used a lot in conditioning
oils for hoofed stock and we buy feed for a dozen different livestock
species. So we've been looking a lot at custom mixes and/or mixing our own.
There is a mill in western OR that we would love to work with but they're
too far away to realistically ship product all the way up here cost
effectively. If you've found a local mill that can provide such feed at a
competitive basis, I strongly believe the market for those non-GMO meats is only
going to increase. In fact if I had ready access to such feeds, I'd include
that in my marketing. I suspect you'll find less and less need to explain
the "why", while others (like us) will have to justify the "why not". And
at the end of the day I think that's probably actually a positive
development.

Now, so far this doesn't really have a lot to do with market farming I
suppose, since it's not strictly veggies production. But our ultimate
solution has been and continues to be, to grow as much of our own feeds as we can.
Along with that, we'd be growing and possibly selling small grains to
human consumers, which puts this squarely into a niche market via either
farmer's markets or CSA. We feel like we've been babes in the woods for many
years on the topic of small scale, small grains production, with precious
little info or interest available. But just in the last few years there's
been a huge increase in interest, not only in raising but also buying such
small scale production. I've fielded more requests for such purchases from
potential buyers this year than all the previous years combined. So the
topics of GMO-free feeds, and possible new income streams for a small scale
farm, are not very far removed and could ultimately complement each other.

Thank you for raising this question. I think this interest in, and
pursuit of, GMO-free food and feed, will only increase in the future. Consider
yourself poised on the threshold of being able to make the most of that
trend. Not a bad place to be.
Kathryn Kerby
frogchorusfarm.com
Snohomish, WA


In a message dated 8/15/2010 8:14:39 P.M. Pacific Daylight Time,
benjamin.l.wiener AT us.army.mil writes:

so switch to oats and wheat and fish or alfalfa meal. there is a sheep
and goat ration mixer I found off the internet that lists all sorts of feed
stuffs and you can play with it until you get the ration you want. google
it. Frankly I think you're nuts. if fewer than 5% of samples contained more
than .1% GMO, then there is more mouse droppings in the feed than GMO
crops. get over it!

Ben



----- Original Message -----
From: Chrys Ostrander <chrys AT thefutureisorganic.net>
Date: Sunday, August 15, 2010 20:22
Subject: Re: [Market-farming] Soy-free, Corn-free Chicken Feed: Why?
To: Market-farming AT lists.ibiblio.org


I had mentioned in my post about chicken feed that I am dealing
with
certified organic feed. Certified organic chicken feed that
contains
corn and soy is "supposed" to be GMO-free, however, contamination
of
/organic /soy and corn is increasing. In 2001, "...organic corn
and soy
products [were found to contain] GM material at 0.1 percent or
lower. In
a study analyzing organic soy products, Genetic ID [a private
testing
service] found fewer than 5 percent of samples contained more than
0.1
percent GM material."

http://naturalfoodsmerchandiser.com/tabId/110/itemId/869/pageId/11/Minimal-GMO-Contamination-Found-in-Organic-Product.aspx

However, in a more recent article from /The Organic and Non-GMO
Report/,
a spokesperson for an anonymous organic growers' organization is
paraphrased as saying "as many as one-third of organic corn loads
test
positive for GMOs at a low level. 'Ears of corn may have a handful
of
kernels that test positive. All we know is it's becoming an
increasingly
difficult issue' [he said] ".
http://www.organicconsumers.org/articles/article_20568.cfm

And in 2009, John Fagan, PhD, chairman and chief scientific
officer at
Genetic ID said ** "It is definitely more of a problem now. There
are
some sectors of the industry where you can find double-digit
levels of
contamination."
http://nutritionbusinessjournal.com/natural-organics/news/0324-
organic-seeds-increasingly-danger-gmo-contamination/

So, first off I want to defend organic growers, after all, we are
victims of genetic trespass, but it's worth mentioning that the
spokesperson quoted above did not want to be identified for fear
of
losing markets. Testing for GMO's is happening at many points in
the
organic supply chain. Sometimes contamination is identified and
the
product loses its organic status. Likely there are other times GMO
contamination is found, but nothing is said and the product moves
to the
next link in the chain.

The Organic Consumers Assoc. cites the following: "Consuming milk
and
meat from animals fed crops that are genetically engineered is
also
risky. In a survey of milk products sold in stores in Italy,
results
from the screening of 60 samples of 12 different milk brands
demonstrated the presence of GM maize sequences in 15 (25%) and of
GM
soybean sequences in 7 samples (11.7%)."
http://www.organicconsumers.org/articles/article_19992.cfm

So, as a preventative against ingesting GMO foods, one should
certainly
avoid soy and corn, /even if it's organic/. Hence one /major
reason/ to
use soy-free and corn-free chicken feed.

Chrys

*Chrys Ostrander, Director of Farming Programs
p.e.a.c.h. Community Farms and Gardens*
People for Environmental Action and Community Health

*p.e.a.c.h. Community Farm at Pine Meadow*
10425 S. Andrus Rd.
Cheney, Wa 99004
509-448-3066
chrys AT thefutureisorganic.net
www.peachlocal.com
/"Our Fresh Future for Spokane"/


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Market Farming List Archives may be found here:
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Unsubscribe from the list here (you will need to login in with
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Message: 7
Date: Mon, 16 Aug 2010 12:27:02 -0400
From: Road's End Farm <organic87 AT frontiernet.net>
To: Market Farming <market-farming AT lists.ibiblio.org>
Subject: Re: [Market-farming] Soy-free, Corn-free Chicken Feed: Why?
Message-ID: <007A397A-DDAE-4E76-B9EA-811A2951E5EE AT frontiernet.net>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"; Format="flowed";
DelSp="yes"


On Aug 16, 2010, at 11:17 AM, KAKerby AT aol.com wrote:

so far this doesn't really have a lot to do with market farming I
suppose, since it's not strictly veggies production.

While our production is mostly veggies and we don't have any livestock
at the moment, I took "market farming" to mean "farming for direct-
market sales", and to include livestock, fruits, herbs, and even
flowers as well as veggies.

I don't know how others on the list define the term.



-- Rivka; Finger Lakes NY, Zone 5 mostly
Fresh-market organic produce, small scale



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**********************************************




  • [Market-farming] , Vol 91, Issue 24 EGGS & Veggies Issues, Farmer John, 08/16/2010

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