Compelling evidence against conventional thinking.

Do we need GMOs and chemical agriculture to feed the world ? NO! In fact, it is exactly that (gmo and chemical agriculture) that is REDUCING food around the world, leaving people hungry and dependent.

So how do we feed the world's growing population? Simple.... nature. The answer is always in duplicating nature.

Please take a moment to watch this video. I usually dont put much stock in TED talks, but this one in particular is extremely valuable.  This is not the first I have heard of this approach, but it is the most dramatic proof of success. Watch and you will be amazed also.

Remember, the secret is nature.

http://www.cattlenetwork.com/e-newsletters/drovers-daily/Commentary-Savory-changes-views-of-livestock-production-195375141.html

Lamb and Mutton for Sale!

We now have both Lamb and Mutton for sale from our heritage "jacob" sheep!  Jacob are a hearty sheep yielding small portions of tender mild meat, more mild than commonly used commercial breeds. There is limited availability this year, so hurry and reserve yours today!

The lamb will yield about 30 to 40 lbs of meat, and will be available late summer, early fall.  They are all under a year old. 

The mutton available is our male sheep from last year. Their meat will be noticeably stronger in flavor. and are between 1 and 2 years old. These are available now. 

The price is for the meat is paid directly to the farm, and there is an additional fee of about $100 for the kill, cut and wrap by the butcher. This is paid directly. You of course also have the option of picking one up live if you prefer. 

To order lamb or mutton just visit our online store  and look under "meats".

I will say by way of biased testimonial, these lambs yield the mildest tenderest meat I have ever tasted. Head and shoulder in taste above the other commercial breeds. IF you have avoided this biblically popular meat due to the strong flavor of most lamb, please consider giving this a try. You will likely be pleasantly surprised at this other red meat.

Here is a little cost comparison I found to help you compare the cost of buying a whole lamb to purchasing cuts in the store. Please keep in mind that our heritage lambs are roughly half this size!

Oregon Farm Bureau makes astonishing admission

Did that headline grab your attention? Well what I noticed this morning got mine. A seemingly small point, perhaps even a good one on the surface, but when I realized what it meant I was astonished.  What am I talking about?

This morning I was browsing some gmo - anti-gmo stuff and decided to reread the Oregon Farm Bureau Fact Sheet on GMO science (click to read it yourself) . Part of their justification for co-existence is  this paragraph:

The National Organic Standards were carefully crafted as process-based standards to protect farmers. The unintentional presence of biotech material through commingling or crosspollination does not cause a farmer to lose organic certification if they are following their stewardship plan. In fact, USDA has confirmed that:
While the National Organic Program Regulation (7 CFR Part 205 et seq.) excludes the use of products resulting from genetic modifications, USDA-AMS does not consider inadvertent trace presence in itself to be a violation. NOP regulations do not require withdrawal of crops or land in the case of inadvertent GE contamination, but some producers have reportedly done so voluntarily

They are saying that organic certified farms are not at risk from GMOs because unintended contamination will not cause loss of crop value nor loss of certification. The farmer can continue business as usual as long as he didnt intend to incorporate GMO seeds. 

Ok, so that's good right? Well not so fast. What they are really saying is this: (my paraphrase)

Even though cross contamination has happened, and is known to happen, the "organic" crop has not decreased in value

Add in the last sentence above :

NOP regulations do not require withdrawal of crops or land in the case of inadvertent GE contamination, but some producers have reportedly done so voluntarily

What I realized is this :

1. There is no doubt about cross contamination, it happens regularly enough to be dealt with in the official policies.
2. This contamination of GMO to organic does not decrease the value of the organic crop
1. For this to be true, the organic crop must still be sold as organic to get the higher value
2. To make this possible the crop must not be identified to the public as contaminated
3. The regulation allows this to continue, not based on amount of crop contaminated as much as intent.  there is no mention in the policy about how much has been contaminated. I hope the actual rules do, but I am unsure.

What is the bottom line and astounding revelation? That GMO FOODS ARE NO LONGER GUARANTEED TO BE GMO FREE! at least not in the state of oregon. If an organic farm is unintentionally contaminated by a neighboring GMO farm, the crop is harvested as usual, labeled organic, and sold at top value. (according to the government regulations).  This, is disturbing!

Instead of confining GMO contamination, the Farm Bureau sides with biotech to ensure that GMO is allowed to spread while the very definition of organic changes. Now the Organic Label doesnt mean "the absence of GMO ingredients" but rather "the absence of intentional GMO ingredients". This is a significant change. The battle is shifting from organic farms worried about loosing their certification through contamination to the public being fooled by the hidden change in meaning of the organic label . The public now pays the price for bio tech contamination. 

This also serves as proof that co-existence within a general area of reasonable size is simply impossible.  The allowance of unintentional GMO contamination into organic produce is evidence of this. Why lower the standard of the organic label if GMO crops can be contained? 

If this sort of hidden policy is allowed to continue  it is inevitable that within a few years, when all organic is contaminated to some degree, the organic label itself will be meaningless.  At some point people will realize this, and hte value or organic farming disappears as people look for the next healthy alternative.  This shift from dedicated customers from organic to some other solution , then destroys the value of organic crops. In truth, this small change in policy to protect organic farms ultimately destroys them completely.  So in the end both organic farms are destroyed and the public was secretly exposed to the big GMO science experiment without their knowledge or consent. Actually this exposure was through deceit because the public believes that organic means non-gmo. Purposefully changing this definition to deceive the public is plain wrong. 

I  do not take a stance on whether the people in charge of such things are evildoers with a selfish purpose of financial greed, or if they are just ignorantly following orders. I this not our place to judge the intent of others  But either way, this sort of nonsense has to stop. 

Choose your reason for supporting your local anti-gmo initiative (ours is GMO Free Jackson County ) from a long list of reasons:

1. Health issues associated with GMOs by several tests
2. Lack of official long term testing safety on any GMO foods
3. GMO farming's extensive use of poisons
4. Biotech firms attacking innocent small farms that get contaminated
5. Rising unexplained health issues plaguing nations that consume GMO foods
6. Loss of hardiness in GMO crops in times of drought, or extreme weather
7. Loss of soil fertility due to gmo chemical intensive farming practices
8. emergence of super weeds due to gmo allowed application levels of  herbicide
9. emergence of super bugs due to gmo toxin adaptabiliy of insects
10. disappearance of the bees possibly related to excessive use of chemicals on gmo crops
11. farms being consolidated into large industrial operations under the biotech approach jeopardizing the stability of our food system
12. increasing cost to farmers through increasing levels of  inputs to continue chemical biotech farming
13. increasing reliance on petro chemical and other sources for producing food, further destabilizing our food supply.
14. protection of the natural seed genetics from irreversible contamination
15. protection for organic farmers and their livelihood
16. "save the whales"  becomes "save the corn" today as natural corn goes extinct
17. Common Sense
18. add your own reason here

Free Eggs if you can guess what we are modeling!

Here's a fun contest....

We will give you a free dozen eggs to the first person that can guess what Kaelyn and I are modeling  on the living room floor......

The Fine Print: Only one dozen eggs to be given away, to the first person that emails or comments with the correct answer (based on our unbiased judgement). Anyone who has volunteered or worked on the farm is not eligible ! (that would be too easy).  Free eggs will be available for pickup from the farm only (no delivery unless you place an additional order).

How does one build four nesting boxes in a hurray?

Simple... take over the living room and make it a family affair!

Thats what we did. Our new "amish design" rollaway nesting boxes came in this last week and we decided just to dig in one evening and do them all at once! Hunter had his own (except for moments of holding Oliver when he cried). Levi helped the mystery man in the pics and Katelyn floated between the mystery man and mystery woman. I had one myself so I could figure out how they went together and provide a lead to follow. Even little Everett got in on the act with a screwdriver.

Just let me say... this was NOT easy! These things are made from good quality sheet metal, but no pieces marked. The instructions consist of a single sheet of paper with a hand drawing with an exploded view. Quite the puzzle!

But in the end, we are very happy! These nesting boxes are well made and should last forever! They keep the eggs clean and safe from predators, and are light enough to go in our self moving hoop coops.

Who are these mystery two? Well..... stay tuned! exciting announcements coming!

Almost done! Wall to Wall parts!

Hunter had to lay on the ground to get these screws in. Everett was actually a helper!

For the curious, these nesting boxes came from Cottage Craft Works and I highly recommend them!