Sunday, February 20, 2011

Spring Has Sprung but Some Wintry Mix Back and Forth is On the Way


Posted by: Noël Jones


Here's the 10-day forecast for the greater Easton area--don't be blue if we get a little snow, it might be slippery for a day, but it won't stick--Spring is here--don't worry! Most of the next 10 days will be in the 40s, some sun, some rain...time to order seeds and get those starter plants going indoors!

3 comments:

Dennis R. Lieb said...

Actually, I'm not buying the "spring has sprung" deal quite yet. I foresee lots of hideous weather crapola still to come.

The link to the organic seed page reminded me; do people realize what hideous decisionmaking has taken place in the last few weeks regarding our developing organic agriculture movement and national food safety?

It's hard to believe, but our so-called progressive administration - via the USDA - just ruled on three genetically modified (GMO) crop seeds: alfalfa, sugar beets and non-food source corn (ethanol corn). Allowing these to be deregulated means that Monsanto's "Round-Up Ready" seeds* will be allowed to be planted anywhere without restriction and virtually assures contamination of organic farms everywhere.

(* Round-Up Ready seeds have no genetically superior qualities other than resistance to the pervasive, toxic weed killer Round-Up...a Monsanto product. What the public gets out of this is top soil destruction, airborne cross-contamination of non-GMO fields, more poisons in the ground, water and food chain and the happy notion that we are developing future super weeds with genetic resistance to weed killers. Oh yeah...if you happen to be a farmer who saves seeds year-to year and your field is contaminated with Monsanto product you will be sued by that company for copyright infringement. Saving seeds is now illegal and you must buy new ones every year, eventually resulting in reduction of the plant gene pool until most varieties disappear and we are left with what Monsanto gives us.)

This pretty much guarantees the destruction of the organic food movement as we know it; another example of corporate capture and control of every facet of the federal government. It doesn't matter what party you vote for. We will all suffer. When will we say enough is enough?

We are passively allowing the elimination of environmental standards, the public right to negotiate and contract for work, legally defined differences between corporations and real people and the ability to help the needy among us to survive in exchange for a "Horatio Alger" success mythology that never existed.


I'm looking at the working-class upheaval in Wisconsin right now over the Governor's decision to demonize state worker contracts and trump up sketchy deficit figures in order to un-democratize the governance of that state.

I know this post was just about the local weather and spring planting...but I'm looking around and wondering when we will start seeing blood in the streets of this country over the abuse of power. I think it starts when people can't afford to buy or have no access to food.

DRL

noel jones said...

Dennis--great comments--if there is Evil on Earth, Monsanto is Evil. One of the best ways people can rebel against this evil is to use heirloom seeds and save their own seeds year to year.

I spoke to a genetic engineer once who told me precisely what you are saying--that Monsanto looks around for farmers crops where their variety of seeds have strayed on the wind and grown, and then sues them for copyright infringement until the farm goes under and they can take their land.

This is a war on The People and a war on Nature.

tunsie said...

I was eating in early spring small dandelion in a salad with olive oil and garlic dressing....A lady said to me I have heard U speak...I know U R intelligent...Why R U eating WEEDS...I said I eat that all the time.she said where I come from we buy chemical and kill that...I let her taste my salad.she said I will never kill that ever again.....Tunsie