• Animal Tracks •                                Bald Eagle

I have always had an affinity for preying mantises. In the early 1970's my mother bought egg cases through the mail and we released the praying mantises for several years. They are very abundant now and it is really a treat for me every time I see one. I had to laugh yesterday when, while putting the plastic over the big greenhouse I almost stepped on a preying mantis that was just beginning to eat a monarch butterfly. The preying mantis took off and I retrieved the butterfly which I added to my collection. I have always been fascinated by the way that the mantises eat cicadas. They start with an eye and proceed through the head until there is just a shell left. Nature is amazing. I have managed to whittle the deer population down a bit and so the lettuce is growing without being eaten and the kale is rebounding although I am planting a new block for over winter due to the impact that the cows had on the crop early in the season. We also have a ground hog that moved into the open shed with the shale floor. It took me about a week and a half to excavate the earth out of the floor area and another week and a half to pick out the shale from the pit and shovel it into the shed floor. The ground hog is wreaking havoc with the floor now that it has decided to make this shed home. It is too big for my large havaheart trap so I'm going to have to revert to other means to evict it. I never cease to draw strength from observing animals' behavior. Day in and day out they do what they do without being discouraged. Once decided upon a course of action they simply persevere. It is a rare event when one gives up after having committed to a task.

Read More

Top

• Common Ground •              

Changes

“To forget how to dig the earth and to tend the soil is to forget ourselves." - Mohandas K. Gandhi

It is getting near our fall picnic. This is the event where members and friends of the farm are invited to join in a day of work, break bread together and relax in the enjoyment of each others company. Please make certain to mark your calendars and make plans to attend Sunday, October 12 here on farm. Some of the activities will include harvesting for the Sunday distribution shareholders, working in the fields and some building projects.  I am working towards a major group project and will announce here if we can move forward with that at the picnic. Regardless of the task, we convene in the morning, beginning at 7am and work until 1pm when lunch is served. AS usual the lunch is a pot luck with Upper Meadows Farm supplying surf and turf. More details will follow in the next newsletters.

AS a result of recent developments, Upper Meadows Farm has an URGENT need to restructure our finances to increase our cash flow over the next four months. We could use the advise of a professional financial planner or other qualified person. Please call Leonard at your earliest convenience at 570-228-8368.

If you are interested in volunteering on the farm, send Matt an email at volunteer@uppermeadowsfarm.com. I look forward to working alongside all of you, to better the farm and strengthen our Community by Supporting Agriculture.

Top

• On The Farm •       Welcome the Rabbit Hole Bakeshop!        

Thanks to Mahina and Hannah of The Rabbit Hole Bakeshop for the delicious cookies last week! Look for more great baked goods from the Rabbit Hole Bakeshop in our Thanksgiving baskets!

I first grew Black Spanish Radishes back in the 1970's. We didn't know much of what to expect and watched them grow to the size of softballs. You can imagine the discussions about what to do with a radish this size. After searching for and finding recipes we settled on grating the radish, salting it and letting it sit in vinegar for a day. We then tried it with our dinner. Talk about HOT! It was the most flavorful heat I had ever eaten. I don't think that anyone other than my mother was much interested in them after that first try. I have come to really enjoy hot things in my food. Hot peppers, hot horseradish, wasabi and so, after speaking with other members who expressed the same pleasure at the spicier side of our cuisine I thought to give it a try again, thirty years later. The greens added to soup or saute make a wonderful addition that livens a soup. Grated and salted, with or without the vinegar will add a bit of zip to any meal as a condiment. If you want, use a mandolin and slice the radish thinly and add the bulb to a pot of soup or stew. Slow cooked stews that I have made somehow make the radish disappear and the flavor comes through. All around a nice addition to our fall palate.

WE have been preparing for the cold weather and it is an early drop in temperature this year. Kind of dipping or crashing with the stock market it almost seems. From high eighties one day to below 40ºF the next. It looks like it will be an interesting fall to say the least.

We have some needs here in the office and some members suggested that I post a 'wish list' to see if members would like to donate some of their unused office equipment to relieve their clutter and help us be more efficient in our office. We can use a working fax machine, copier, scanner, wall shelves and floor lamp. If you have any of these items and wish to donate please let me know.

The volunteer days continue to be a great success and we are looking forward to one of the strongest fall seasons we have ever had in terms of volunteer help. Congratulations and thanks to all who have been able to step up! If you haven't bee able to make a volunteer day don't despair. There will be more. Look for announcements in coming newsletters. This weekend both Saturday and Sunday are volunteer days. IF you want to help harvest next week we can benefit from your help as well. Please call or email.

To contact The Rabbit Hole Bakeshop, please call (973) 207-1080, email info@therabbitholebakeshop.com or visit

The Rabbit Hole Bakeshop

Top

•This Week's Shares • 

Week 16

Cherry Tomatoes

Heirloom Tomatoes

Baby Lettuce Romaine

Purslane

Zucchini

Spanish Radishes

Dill

Kale

Basil

Extra: Flowers, Nasturtiums

Top

• In Good Health •

"All that mankind needs for good health and healing is provided by God in nature... the challenge to science is to find it." -Paracelsus

While the below article headline is somewhat inflammatory, it is worth reading if for no other reason than to stimulate discussion. I found it a more balanced article in general upon reading than it sounded at first.

Why Schools Should Remove GE-Tainted Foods from Their Cafeterias

Institute for Responsible Technology
Newsletter on GM Foods, Spilling the Beans
By Jeffrey M. Smith, author of Seeds of Deception

Before the Appleton Wisconsin high school replaced their cafeteria's processed foods with wholesome, nutritious food, the school was described as out-of-control. There were weapons violations, student disruptions, and a cop on duty full-time. After the change in school meals, the students were calm, focused, and orderly. There were no more weapons violations, and no suicides, expulsions, dropouts, or drug violations. The new diet and improved behavior has lasted for seven years, and now other schools are changing their meal programs with similar results.

Years ago, a science class at Appleton found support for their new diet by conducting a cruel and unusual experiment with three mice. They fed them the junk food that kids in other high schools eat everyday. The mice freaked out. Their behavior was totally different than the three mice in the neighboring cage. The neighboring mice had good karma; they were fed nutritious whole foods and behaved like mice. They slept during the day inside their cardboard tube, played with each other, and acted very mouse-like.

The junk food mice, on the other hand, destroyed their cardboard tube, were no longer nocturnal, stopped playing with each other, fought often, and two mice eventually killed the third and ate it. After the three month experiment, the students rehabilitated the two surviving junk food mice with a diet of whole foods. After about three weeks, the mice came around.

Sister Luigi Frigo repeats this experiment every year in her second grade class in Cudahy, Wisconsin, but mercifully, for only four days. Even on the first day of junk food, the mice's behavior "changes drastically." They become lazy, antisocial, and nervous. And it still takes the mice about two to three weeks on unprocessed foods to return to normal. One year, the second graders tried to do the experiment again a few months later with the same mice, but this time the animals refused to eat the junk food.

Across the ocean in Holland, a student fed one group of mice genetically modified (GM) corn and soy, and another group the non-GM variety. The GM mice stopped playing with each other and withdrew into their own parts of the cage. When the student tried to pick them up, unlike their well-behaved neighbors, the GM mice scampered around in apparent fear and tried to climb the walls. One mouse in the GM group was found dead at the end of the experiment.

It's interesting to note that the junk food fed to the mice in the Wisconsin experiments also contained genetically modified ingredients. And although the Appleton school lunch program did not specifically attempt to remove GM foods, it happened anyway. That's because GM foods such as soy and corn and their derivatives are largely found in processed foods. So when the school switched to unprocessed alternatives, almost all ingredients derived from GM crops were taken out automatically.

Does this mean that GM foods negatively affect the behavior of humans or animals? It would certainly be irresponsible to say so on the basis of a single student mice experiment and the results at Appleton. On the other hand, it is equally irresponsible to say that it doesn't.

We are just beginning to understand the influence of food on behavior. A study in Science in December 2002 concluded that "food molecules act like hormones, regulating body functioning and triggering cell division. The molecules can cause mental imbalances ranging from attention-deficit and hyperactivity disorder to serious mental illness." The problem is we do not know which food molecules have what effect.

The bigger problem is that the composition of GM foods can change radically without our knowledge. Genetically modified foods have genes inserted into their DNA. But genes are not Legos; they don't just snap into place. Gene insertion creates unpredicted, irreversible changes. In one study, for example, a gene chip monitored the DNA before and after a single foreign gene was inserted. As much as 5 percent of the DNA's genes changed the amount of protein they were producing. Not only is that huge in itself, but these changes can multiply through complex interactions down the line.

In spite of the potential for dramatic changes in the composition of GM foods, they are typically measured for only a small number of known nutrient levels. But even if we could identify all the changed compounds, at this point we wouldn't know which might be responsible for the antisocial nature of mice or humans. Likewise, we are only beginning to identify the medicinal compounds in food. We now know, for example, that the pigment in blueberries may revive the brain's neural communication system, and the antioxidant found in grape skins may fight cancer and reduce heart disease. But what about other valuable compounds we don't know about that might change or disappear in GM varieties?

Consider GM soy. In July 1999, years after it was on the market, independent researchers published a study showing that it contains 12-14 percent less cancer-fighting phytoestrogens. What else has changed that we don't know about? [Monsanto responded with its own study, which concluded that soy's phytoestrogen levels vary too much to even carry out a statistical analysis. They failed to disclose, however, that the laboratory that conducted Monsanto's experiment had been instructed to use an obsolete method to detect phytoestrogens results.]

In 1996, Monsanto published a paper in the Journal of Nutrition that concluded in the title, "The composition of glyphosate-tolerant soybean seeds is equivalent to that of conventional soybeans." The study only compared a small number of nutrients and a close look at their charts revealed significant differences in the fat, ash, and carbohydrate content. In addition, GM soy meal contained 27 percent more trypsin inhibitor, a well-known soy allergen. The study also used questionable methods. Nutrient comparisons are routinely conducted on plants grown in identical conditions so that variables such as weather and soil can be ruled out. Otherwise, differences in plant composition could be easily missed. In Monsanto's study, soybeans were planted in widely varying climates and geography.

Although one of their trials was a side-by-side comparison between GM and non-GM soy, for some reason the results were left out of the paper altogether. Years later, a medical writer found the missing data in the archives of the Journal of Nutrition and made them public. No wonder the scientists left them out. The GM soy showed significantly lower levels of protein, a fatty acid, and phenylalanine, an essential amino acid. Also, toasted GM soy meal contained nearly twice the amount of a lectin that may block the body's ability to assimilate other nutrients. Furthermore, the toasted GM soy contained as much as seven times the amount of trypsin inhibitor, indicating that the allergen may survive cooking more in the GM variety. (This might explain the 50 percent jump in soy allergies in the UK, just after GM soy was introduced.)

We don't know all the changes that occur with genetic engineering, but certainly GM crops are not the same. Ask the animals. Eyewitness reports from all over North America describe how several types of animals, when given a choice, avoided eating GM food. These included cows, pigs, elk, deer, raccoons, squirrels, rats, and mice. In fact, the Dutch student mentioned above first determined that his mice had a two-to-one preference for non-GM before forcing half of them to eat only the engineered variety.

Differences in GM food will likely have a much larger impact on children. They are three to four times more susceptible to allergies. Also, they convert more of the food into body-building material. Altered nutrients or added toxins can result in developmental problems. For this reason, animal nutrition studies are typically conducted on young, developing animals. After the feeding trial, organs are weighed and often studied under magnification. If scientists used mature animals instead of young ones, even severe nutritional problems might not be detected. The Monsanto study used mature animals instead of young ones.

They also diluted their GM soy with non-GM protein 10- or 12 fold before feeding the animals. And they never weighed the organs or examined them under a microscope. The study, which is the only major animal feeding study on GM soy ever published, is dismissed by critics as rigged to avoid finding problems.

Unfortunately, there is a much bigger experiment going on one which we are all a part of. We're being fed GM foods daily, without knowing the impact of these foods on our health, our behavior, or our children. Thousands of schools around the world, particularly in Europe, have decided not to let their kids be used as guinea pigs. They have banned GM foods.

The impact of changes in the composition of GM foods is only one of several reasons why these foods may be dangerous. Other reasons may be far worse (see http://www.seedsofdeception.com).

With the epidemic of obesity and diabetes and with the results in Appleton, parents and schools are waking up to the critical role that diet plays. When making changes in what kids eat, removing GM foods should be a priority.

Read More

Top

• Grist For The Mill •

"the genius of industrial capitalism ---(is) to take its failings and turn them into exciting new business opportunities." Michael Pollan"

"The soul of business is to inspire people to buy that which they neither want nor need." Louis L'Amour

"Legislation won't change the heart, but it will restrain the heartless." Martin Luther King Jr.

About Seeds of Deception

Is Your Food Safe?
What the biotech industry doesn't want you to know
The explosive exposé Seeds of Deception reveals how industry manipulation and political collusion-not sound science-allow dangerous genetically engineered food into your daily diet. Company research is rigged, alarming evidence of health dangers is covered up, and intense political pressure applied.
Chapters read like adventure stories:
Scientists were offered bribes or threatened. Evidence was stolen. Data was omitted or distorted.
Government employees who complained were harassed, stripped of responsibilities, or fired.
Laboratory rats fed a GM crop developed stomach lesions and seven of the 40 died within two weeks. The crop was approved without further tests.
When a top scientist tried to alert the public about his alarming discoveries, he lost his job and was silenced with threats of a lawsuit.
Read the actual internal memos by FDA scientists, warning of toxins, allergies, and new diseases-all ignored by their superiors, including a former attorney for Monsanto. Discover how industry studies are designed to avoid finding problems. Learn why the FDA withheld information from Congress after a genetically modified supplement killed nearly a hundred people and disabled thousands.
Eating such experimental food is gambling with your health. Find out how you can protect yourself and your family.
Jeffrey Smith is a master storyteller. His style captivates and charms, while his meticulously documented facts leave no doubt about a massive injustice.
Copyright © 2005, The Institute for Responsible Technology

Read More

Top

•Upcoming Events •

Announcing Thanksgiving Family Baskets! New this year, Upper Meadows Farm is collaborating with several area producers to bring you a complete Thanksgiving meal. WE will be offering a vegetarian option in addition to our premium turkey dinner. Order forms will be available by the next newsletter along with more details. STAY TUNED

The Jersey Seafood Link will make the next run on the 10th of October. Time to start planning for more delicious seafood direct from the Jersey shore.

One of our Hell's Kitchen members is on a RollerDerby team "The Brooklyn Bombshells".
OH NO! Ann Phetamine has a separated shoulder and won't be on skates, or at work for a few weeks. Hope you have a speedy and calm recovery!!

www.gothamgirlsrollerderby.com

And a flyer for the next upcoming game. http://i291.photobucket.com/albums/ll281/GGRDcreative/GGRD_0708_2.jpg

IF you would like an event posted please submit it and I'll gladly include it here.

Read More

Top

• Produce Profile •

Heirloom Tomatoes

An Heirloom is defined as a valuable object that has belonged to a family for several generations. Heirloom tomatoes are no different. These are the many different open pollinated tomato varieties that have been passed down from generation to generation. Hybridizing, or crossbreeding to produce a specific plant with specific characteristics that do not typically recur in the succeeding generations has been employed as a means to produce specific plant types. The Heirlooms reproduce 'true to type'. In other words, what variety you plant this year, is what variety you will get season after season if you continue to plant the seeds of the fruit produced each year. Selection is the process whereby you choose which fruit from the plants to keep for the successive years planting.

Read More

Top

• The Chef's Corner •

We at Upper Meadows Farm encourage all of our members to embrace the concept of the CSA and one of the fun aspects that makes it soo interesting is all of the new recipe ideas that people create when using their weekly shares. We allow all members to send recipes that may get posted to the newsletter for other members enjoyment if you choose to try them.

Stuffed Summer Squash

2 large summer squash (zucchini, white, yellow, patty pan)

1 can of beans rinsed

1/2 pint cherry tomatoes, chopped

small handful of lettuce

Garlic Powder

Salt

2 avocados

1 lemon

Halve and scoop the squash, just scoop the seeds.  Fill the squash with the beans and tomatoes then sprinkle garlic powder and salt to taste.  Top this with a healthy layer of baby lettuce leaves.  Mash the avocados with the juice of one lemon until its like a simple paste and spread over all of the lettuce.  Serve raw.

Read More

Top