Organic Gardening Info from Peaceful Valley

Now up on our Freshman Farmer website, applications for next year’s first year farms.

Check it out here, and spread the word if someone you know is interested!

This week from the Organic Consumers Association:

Quote of the Week

World Food Day - Organic Is the Answer to Food Security

“Organic agriculture puts the needs of rural people and the sustainable use of natural resources at the centre of the farming system. Locally adapted technologies create employment opportunities and income. Low external inputs minimize risk of indebtedness and intoxication of the environment. It increases harvests through practices that favor the optimization of biological processes and local resources over expensive, toxic and climate damaging agro-chemicals…in response to a frequently asked question: Yes, the world can be fed by the worldwide adoption of Organic agriculture. The slightly lower yields of Organic agriculture in favorable, temperate zones are compensated with approximately 10-20% higher yields in difficult environments such as arid areas.”

-International Federation of Organic Agriculture Movements World Food Day, October 12, 2009

• Quote of the Week: World Food Day - Organic Is the Answer to Food Security
• Alert of the Week: Get Genetically Engineered Vaccines Out of Organic!
• Victory of the Week: Kucinich Secures Funding for Organic Farming Research
• Alert Update of the Week: Obama’s Biotech & Chemically Dependent Friends
• Movie of the Week: Meet the Farmer TV
• Book of the Week: The Raw Milk Revolution
• Organic News of the Week: MOOMilk Is Local and Organic
• Little Bytes: Go Locavore and Cool the World
• Planting Peace and Grassroots Netroots News

Read the full newsletter on their website.

There is strong evidence that organic-farming systems, which are usually a mix of diverse-plant communities—the furthest thing from the plains of monocultures that are the mainstay of American agriculture—are both more resistant and more resilient than other types of planting systems.

Read the full article by Max Ajl, SolveClimate.com, September 22, 2009 on the Organic Consumers Association’s website.

Peaceful Valley and our very own Farmer Pricing Rep. Greg Lightfoot were recently sited in an article in the Monterey County Herald in an article about cover crops.  Take a gander an the article here.

Health, Justice and Sustainability News from the Organic Consumers Association

In This Issue

• Quote of the Week: Organic Can Save the World
• Victories of the Week: GMO Sugar & NOSB Appointments
• Alert Update of the Week: OCA Takes on Organic Fraud at Expo East
• Organic News of the Week: Online Calculator Measures Benefits of Organic Food
• Web Forum Posting of the Week: BPA Lies
• Little Bytes: Mandatory Vaccines, Garbage Becomes Compost, Saving the Bees
• Planting Peace and Grassroots Netroots News

Read full newsletter on their website.

Our Contest Winners, Jesse and Celeste Jackson.

Congratulations to our greenhouse winners Celeste & Jesse Jackson of Smartsville, CA! Of all the people who entered the contest online and all the customers who made purchases between July 1 - August 31, 2009, Celeste & Jesse were selected at random to win this fabulous 6′ x 8′ redwood greenhouse (they are pictured in the 8′ x 12′ model in our nursery). They will be sending us updates about their new greenhouse on our blog once they get it assembled. Congratulations!

From the Sacramento Bee:

“In the pilot project, the use of synthetic pesticides and fertilizers will be eliminated and weed-pulling and mulching will be used instead. In addition, grass will be allowed to grow higher before mowing so that weeds are choked out.”

Read the story on their website here.

From the Organic Consumers Association:

Alert of the Week

Send a Letter to the Editor: Organic Food IS More Nutritious

Wouldn’t it be nice if there was nothing wrong with our industrial agriculture and chemical food system? Wouldn’t it be a relief to learn that it doesn’t matter whether we buy organic or conventional food, because there isn’t really any difference in their nutritional value? Last week, the corporate media, responding to a biased article in the British press, slandered the now mass-based organic food and farming movement with headlines reading: “Organic Food No Better Than Conventional”.

Unfortunately, the articles are in reference to a new study which actually did show some nutritional benefits to organics. In addition, chemical and energy intensive industrial farming degrades the soil, pollutes the environment, and destabilizes the climate with CO2, methane and nitrous oxide greenhouse gas pollution. Food produced with agri-toxic chemicals loses its nutritional value, while organic farming replenishes the soil, sequesters climate destructive greenhouse gases, and produces food which is safer and far more nutritious. Forty years of field trials and research have clearly demonstrated the superiority of organics, but no doubt your local media outlets probably missed this point when reporting on the bogus “organics are no better” story which was planted in the UK media.

Learn more and take action

Alert Update of the Week

Food Safety Act Passes House

The US House of Representatives passed the Food Safety Enhancement Act, H.R. 2749, late last week. This was the second attempt to pass the bill. Representative Dingell’s willingness to address the concerns of organic and small producers was one of the factors that eased passage the second time around. It’s now up to the Senate to move similar legislation. The Organic Consumers Association will be organizing its members to contact the Senate to ensure that their version has stronger language to protect small producers from a regressive fee structure and burdensome tracking requirements, and organic producers from conflict with National Organic Program regulations designed conserve wildlife habitat.

Health, Justice and Sustainability News from the Organic Consumers Association

In This Issue

• Quote of the Week: New Study Reveals Major Health Problems Linked to Genetically Engineered Foods
• Alert of the Week: Support the OCA’s National Organic Standards Board Endorsements
• Alert Update of the Week: Tell Whole Foods and UNFI: Organic Means Respecting Workers’ Rights
• Survey of the Week: Consumers Think ‘Natural’ is Greener Than ‘Organic’
• Related Web Forum Posting of the Week: The Debate Over ‘Natural’ Versus Organic Products - Where Do You Stand On This Issue?
• Good News of the Week: Administration Seeks to Restrict Antibiotics in Livestock
• More Headlines of the Week

(more…)

In This Issue

• Alert of the Week: Monsanto’s Greenwashing Ads on NPR
• Graduation Quote of the Week: You Are Brilliant, and the Earth is Hiring
• Web Video of the Week: Understanding Peak Oil
• Sustainability Tool of the Week: Downloadable Curriculum Teaches Food Sovereignty
• Clarification of the Week: Silk Brand Soymilk’s Importation of Soybeans from China
• Headlines and Articles of the Week—
• Consumer Tip of the Week: Good Methods for Finding Local Food
• Environment News of the Week: Pollution Can Change Your DNA in 3 Days, Study Suggests

Read more from the Organic Consumers Association

Headlines and Articles of the Week

1) Health News of the Week: How Organic Food and Farming Can Reverse Trends in Obesity and Diabetes
Obesity and diabetes are collectively the nation’s number one public health problem. A new “Critical Issue Report” describes six ways that organic food and farming can contribute to reversing current trends in obesity and diabetes. But most important, the report explains why the conscious decision by individuals to purchase organic food marks a critical first step toward a healthier diet and lifestyle.
Learn more

2) Consumer Tip of the Week: Good Methods for Finding Local Food
Information on farmers markets and CSAs, as well as the Natural Resource Defense Council’s Local Food database. There you can type in your state and the month and pop up a list of produce that a shopper could reasonably expect to see harvested somewhere in that state at that time.
Learn more

3) Organic News of the Week: Owls Replace Pesticides
For years, toxic rodenticides have been used to kill crop-damaging pests. Endangered birds of prey are indirectly killed when they eat rodents that contain these poisonous chemicals sprayed on crop fields. Now government -funded programs in countries like Israel are helping farmers install nest boxes to encourage birds of prey to deal with pests instead of toxic chemicals.
Learn more

4) Big Brother News of the Week:
USDA’s National Animal Identification System Listening Tour Continues: Majority Of Speakers Opposed
“More consumers are stepping up to complain about the National Animal Identification System (NAIS) as the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) continues its national listening tour…”
Learn more

5) Environment News of the Week: Pollution Can Change Your DNA in 3 Days, Study Suggests
A new study finds particulate matter suspended in the air can reprogram human genes in as little as three days causing increased rates of cancer and other diseases.
Learn more