North American Fruit Explorers mailing list at ibiblio

[BRosholdt <rosholdt@erols.com>]

As an amateur, I joined NAFEX to learn and explore, as best I could, 
fruit.  If I set limits on that, I would never have found out about 
Persimmon pudding, or Mayhaw jam, or Green Gage plums.  The 
encouragement I receive on the listserve has been immense, even if not 
always directed at li'l ol me.  I don't have a heated glass greenhouse, 
but I am interested in what will grow where, and when a greenhouse might 
be appropriate.  Not everything is my cup of tea, but then - I am 
learning!  Exploring for me is learning.  I'm not much of a hiker and 
can't tell trees apart very well, but am working on it - maybe one day, 
I can walk through a woods and spot a rare American Chestnut, too!

I completely agree about moderation of the "polar" opinions expressed.  
For example, genetic studies may not be a bad thing and I am not against 
research, but haphazard release of relatively unstudied-for-safety 
genetically modified pollen in order to satisfy a corporate drive for 
monopolization is irresponsible in my opinion.  Especially if it ends up 
damaging our planetary environment, already struggling with modern era 
toxicity.  However, well researched and properly funded genetic science 
might even help us undo some of the toxic problems we have by learning 
more about what actually makes us tick - we might find a better way!  
Which one of us said, "Attributing motives to a person often is 
erroneous." - except he said it better...  I liked the discussion and 
found it extremely educational. It encouraged me to look up articles and 
find out what is the truth about GM:  What do they really know, and what 
is it really?

It is the tendency of our culture to take strong positions, and we 
should always remember that we don't know everything and thank goodness 
we don't have to!  We have all these other wonderful NAFEX people with 
tremendous resources to help our ignorance and challenge our assumptions.

Thanks for listening to the rant,

Barbara Rosholdt
Z7 Virginia