April 7, 2008 by Jeff.

In the April 7, 2008 Concord Monitor there is a staff editorial on some of the benefits of eating locally. What caught my eye was this blurb at the end:

“Maine’s legislature is considering a bill to protect farmers from lawsuits by big seed companies seeking damages from growers whose crops are found to contain patented genes. It’s a tactic similar to the lawsuits filed by record companies over illegally downloaded music from the internet. Those genes from a hybrid plant don’t have to be downloaded illegally, however. They could have been in pollen blown by the wind or carried by insects, but that doesn’t matter. If the gene is found in the farmer’s crop, the seed company considers it a patent violation. The Maine law is an attempt to protect farmers whose crops are inadvertently contaminated with patented genes.

This season, gardeners can help protect thousands of un-patented, open-pollinated heirloom species grown by past generations. Some may not resist disease or drought as well. Others won’t tolerate the herbicides agribusiness uses instead of a hoe, or be of uniform shape or color. But almost all of them will taste better than their mass-produced relatives, and they tend to wear nametags that are apt for our times, such as the tomato varieties “Mortgage Lifter” and “Bloody Butcher.”

Good luck, and may your garden grow.”

For those of you familiar with the story of Percy Schmeiser, you know that farmers deserve protection fron pernicious agri-business giants. It was equally welcome to see the Concord Monitor encouraging gardeners and farmers to plant unpatented heirlooms that may not have the standardized look that many have come to expect.

Here’s the link to the editorial:

http://www.concordmonitor.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080407/OPINION/804070315

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April 5, 2008 by Jeff.

A fun sounding event is coming up at UNH if you’re so inclined…

“The University of New Hampshire’s Hospitality Management students and making their Spring 2008 Gourmet Dinner sustainable. Calling the event “Green Cuisine,” for a ticket of just $50 (you can even use Cat’s Cache!) you can enjoy an seven-course meal made from locally grown and harvested food from all over New England. Live entertainment and a cash bar will be available all night.
Green Cuisine Spring 2008 Gourmet Dinner
Friday, April 18th or Saturday, April 19th
6 PM cocktail reception followed by dinner
UNH New England Center

The full menu, ticket information, and more are available at www.unhgourmetdinners.com. You can also buy tickets by calling the UNH MUB ticket office at 603-862-2290.”

For more information about this and other sustainability minded events at UNH, visit the University Office of Sustainability’s new-ish blog, http://discoversustainability.org/

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April 4, 2008 by Sara Zoe.

an excerpt from the New York Times:

Since the 1980s, pesticide use has increased fivefold in Latin America as countries have expanded their production of nontraditional crops to fuel the demand for fresh produce during winter in North America and Europe. Rice farmers in the region use monocrotophos, methamidophos and carbofuran, all agricultural chemicals that are rated Class I toxins by the World Health Organization, are highly toxic to birds, and are either restricted or banned in the United States. In countries like Guatemala, Honduras and Ecuador, researchers have found that farmers spray their crops heavily and repeatedly with a chemical cocktail of dangerous pesticides.

In the mid-1990s, American biologists used satellite tracking to follow Swainson’s hawks to their wintering grounds in Argentina, where thousands of them were found dead from monocrotophos poisoning. Migratory songbirds like bobolinks, barn swallows and Eastern kingbirds are suffering mysterious population declines, and pesticides may well be to blame. A single application of a highly toxic pesticide to a field can kill seven to 25 songbirds per acre. About half the birds that researchers capture after such spraying are found to suffer from severely depressed neurological function.

Migratory birds, modern-day canaries in the coal mine, reveal an environmental problem hidden to consumers. Testing by the United States Food and Drug Administration shows that fruits and vegetables imported from Latin America are three times as likely to violate Environmental Protection Agency standards for pesticide residues as the same foods grown in the United States. Some but not all pesticide residues can be removed by washing or peeling produce, but tests by the Centers for Disease Control show that most Americans carry traces of pesticides in their blood.

What this means to me is that when I do buy the odd imported item, it is even more important to make sure it’s organic - not just for my health, or the health of the migratory birds, but also for the long and short term health of the people who have to live in that area. North American consumerism shouldn’t leave people in far away places cleaning up messes that we wouldn’t allow in our own backyards.

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April 2, 2008 by Sara Zoe.

I was googling something rather unrelated when I came across this Youtube video of our own local farmer Shawn Stimpson, who, along with his partner Sarah Anderson, farm at Nelsons Organics and use a used-veggie oil radiant heat system to have fresh organic greens almost all year round. Nelsons Organics will be one of the farmers at the April 19th Sustainability Fair in Portsmouth (10am - 4pm, Parrot Avenue near the middle school and library), selling their fresh and sustainably grown greens:

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April 1, 2008 by Sara Zoe.

Mary Salmon of the Piscataqua Sustainability Initiative is looking for volunteers - the day is sure to be phenomenal and is going to feature some local food vendors, including meat, greens, early gardening plants, maple syrup, and more.

“We are also looking for volunteers to help out at the Sustainability Fair on April 19. Volunteers need only work a half day or less. Please hit reply if you can help us out. Event volunteers will help set up, be zone captains for parts of the event, participate in the clean up crew and be on zero-waste teams to encourage recycling.”

If you’d like to help on April 19th, email msalmon@seacoastonline.com

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