Introduction to Permaculture at Peaceful Valley

I'm teaching an 'Intro to Permaculture' workshop at Peaceful Valley Farm Supply this coming Saturday 6/13 from 9:30am to 11:30am. Just $12. Please call 530-272-4769 ext.106 to reserve your spot!

Get your garden in now!

Barack Hussein Obama is now President of the United States of America.

Many now breathe a sigh of relief. Hopes are high. Our nation's challenges have been acknowledged. And the whole world is watching, waiting, praying that President Obama will be the messiah that we so badly need during these very troubling times.

Yet the global banking system is technically insolvent. Reputable economists who I have been tracking over the past several years now state that Britain is, like Iceland before it, on the verge of complete and utter collapse. The United States banking system is next to fail. Citigroup, Bank of America, even JP Morgan Chase -- it is only a matter of time before the complete unwinding of unsustainable debt takes its toll.

Do you have any idea what this means for our agriculture and food systems?

Think Russian bread lines during the height of the Cold War, magnified.

Every American needs to get a home vegetable garden in right now. I do not mean to overdramatize a situation in order to profit from it. My concern lies with out community's ability to function. Without food, everything is off the table: education, economy, jobs, healthcare, Obama's promises, you name it.

Take every step you can -- right now -- to ensure personal food security for your family. If you think the government will be there to save you, think again. Remember Katrina?

I'm not saying food will disappear from supermarket shelves in the next day, next week, or next month, but that time is coming. Some say it could be as soon as this summer (2009). If you do not start preparing now, when that time comes, it will be much too late. This is the season to get started.

Go to the library or your favorite bookstore and pick up any or all of the following books. All come highty recommended by me and will definitely be of use during the coming crisis:

How to Grow More Vegetables... by John Jeavons
The Vegetable Gardener's Bible by Edward C. Smith
All New Square Foot Gardening by Mel Bartholomew

All the above are excellent places to start. Free workshops through the County Master Gardener program are available and additional workshops can be had at Peaceful Valley Farm Supply.

If you need assistance in the design, installation, and/or maintenance of your personal vegetable garden, I can help. If your main soil type is red clay or decomposed granite, it doesn't matter. I can help you get up and growing in no time. For more details on how I can help, see my website Garden-Grown.com.

The most important thing to do is act! Winter is the perfect time to start building your garden beds for spring planting.

GM Crops Threaten Human Fertility & Health Safety

Austrian Government Study Confirms Genetically Modified (GM) Crops
Threaten Human Fertility and Health Safety

Advocates Call for Immediate Ban of All GM Foods and GM Crops

IMMEDIATE RELEASE (November 13, 2008)

(Los Angeles, CA.) - A long-term feeding study commissioned by the Austrian Agency for Health and Food Safety, managed by the Austrian Federal Ministry of Health, Family and Youth, and carried out by Veterinary University Vienna, confirms genetically modified (GM) corn seriously affects reproductive health in mice. Non-GMO advocates, who have warned about this infertility link along with other health risks, now seek an immediate ban of all GM foods and GM crops to protect the health of humankind and the fertility of women around the world.

Feeding mice with genetically modified corn developed by the US-based Monsanto Corporation led to lower fertility and body weight, according to the study conducted by the University of Veterinary Medicine in Vienna. Lead author of the study Professor Zentek said, there was a direct link between the decrease in fertility and the GM diet, and that mice fed with non-GE corn reproduced more efficiently.

In the study, Austrian scientists performed several long-term feeding trials over 20 weeks with laboratory mice fed a diet containing 33% of a GM variety (NK 603 x MON 810), or a closely related non-GE variety used in many countries. Statistically significant litter size and pup weight decreases were found in the third and fourth litters in the GM-fed mice, compared to the control group.

The corn is genetically modified with genes that produce a pesticidal toxin, as well as genes that allow it to survive applications of Monsanto’s herbicide Roundup.

A book by author Jeffrey M. Smith, Genetic Roulette, distributed to members of congress last year, documents 65 serious health risks of GM products, including similar fertility problems with GM soy and GM corn: Offspring of rats fed GM soy showed a five-fold increase in mortality, lower birth weights, and the inability to reproduce. Male mice fed GM soy had damaged young sperm cells. The embryo offspring of GM soy-fed mice had altered DNA functioning. Several US farmers reported sterility or fertility problems among pigs and cows fed on GM corn varieties. Additionally, over the last two months, investigators in India have documented fertility problems, abortions, premature births, and other serious health issues, including deaths, among buffaloes fed GM cottonseed products.

The principle GM crops are soy, corn, cottonseed and canola. GM sugar from sugar beets will also be introduced before year’s end.

Mr. Smith, who is also the Executive Director of the Institute for Responsible Technology says, “GM foods are likely responsible for several negative health trends in the US. The government must impose an immediate ban on these dangerous crops.” He says, “Consumers don’t need to wait for governmental action. They can download a free Non-GMO Shopping Guide at www.HealthierEating.org.”

Monsanto press offices in the UK and USA were unable to provide a comment on the findings for journalists yesterday.

The Institute for Responsible Technology’s Campaign for Healthier Eating in America mobilizes citizens, organizations, businesses, and the media, to achieve the tipping point of consumer rejection of genetically modified foods.

The Institute educates people about the documented health risks of GMOs and provides them with healthier non-GMO product choices.

The Institute also informs policy makers and the public around the world about the impacts of GMOs on health, environment, the economy, and agriculture, and the problems associated with current research, regulation, corporate practices, and reporting.

###

Institute For Responsible Technology
Media Contact: NJ Jaeger
Expert Contact: Jeffrey M. Smith
Email: njmail@cox.net
Phone: +1-310-377-0915

Austrian Agency for Health and Food Safety
Corporate Communication: Univ.-Doz. Ingrid Kiefer
Tel: +43 50 555-25000; E-Mail: ingrid.kiefer@ages.at

Links

Austrian Study: http://www.ages.at/ueber-uns/presse/pressemeldungen/klarstellung-zu-neuen-er
Institute for Responsible Technology: http://responsibletechnology.org
Non-GMO Shopping Guide: http://www.responsibletechnology.org/DocumentFiles/144.pdf
Genetic Roulette: http://www.geneticroulette.com

Hopeful, but not holding my breath

Numerous friends, associates, and family members have asked what I think of Barack Obama's historic win.

In case you're also wondering, I'll tell you.

This was indeed a historic moment for the United States of America. I always suspected that a person of color would be elected as President, but I never thought it would happen so soon. This simple fact is very encouraging and a hopeful sign that America has matured just a bit from its childish, racist past. The struggle for equal rights is not over, however.

No doubt, this election is also a major repudiation of BushCo and their disastrous policies of the past 8 years. America's voters have flushed the NeoCons into the toilet and are eagerly hoping for better, brighter leadership. Clearly, there is much from the recent past that needs to be undone.

But one nagging detail keeps bugging me...Wall Street's heavy involvement in assuring that Obama made it past the finish line.

If it's not clear to you, the corporate mainstream media (MSM) had a very active role in assuring an Obama victory. And who does the MSM represent? It represents the economic interests of Wall Street and the Elite Capitalist class.

Just look at the team behind Obama: Zbignew Brezinski, Warren Buffet, Rahm Emanuel, Robert Rubin, Paul Volcker and others. Rather than "Change" - a fresh set of faces with new ideas - Obama has chosen to recycle members of the Elite Good Ol' Boys club. If you're expecting change, don't count on this team to usher it in. Expect more of the same.

I'm not holding my breath for a progressive Obama administration. In fact, I will not consider it anywhere near progressive until:

- Habeus corpus is restored.
- The USA "Patriot" Act is repealed.
- The Gulag at Guantanamo Bay is shut down for good.
- The troops in Iraq and Afghanistan are returned to their based here in the USA.
- The US Troops actively on duty here in the USA (Georgia), in violation of the Posse Comitatus Act, are releived of duty.
- The Obama Administration comes clean to the American people about the dire ramifications of Peak Oil and implements a green, renewable energy policy on the scale of the Manhattan Project.
- The Obama Administration calls for a massive investment in a public works project to rebuild and expand rail transportation nationwide.
- War Crimes Tribunals are established for the prosecution of George W. Bush, Richard Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld, Paul Wolfowitz, Richard Perle, and others who are responsible for the torture and murder of thousands, possibly millions, of innocent people.
- Trials are established for those responsible for the current financial meltdown, including but not limited to Alan Greenspan, Ben Bernanke, Henry Paulson, Angelo Mozilo (Countrywide), and others who had a direct hand in creating the policies and instruments responsible for this economic 9/11.
- Trials of those who aided and abetted in the illegal spying on Americans including executives from AT&T, Verizon, and other corporate telecom companies.
- The military/defense budget is cut by 50% at minimum (sorry defense contractors, you need to be weaned off the government tit once and for all).
- An open and honest investigation of 9/11 and those responsible for it.

This is just the short list.

Yes, it sounds idealistic, but the fact of the matter is, IT NEEDS TO HAPPEN and it will not happen unless the American people keep up the pressure on the incoming Obama administration. The American people need to wake up and realize that the corporate government is NOT looking out for our best interests, that a major energy/food/water crisis which will eclipse the current economic crisis is just over the horizon, and that an intact USA is only possible through the CONTINUED VIGILANCE AND ACTIVISM OF AMERICAN CITIZENS.

Are you ready to be a part of this historic task?

I know that I am.

What can Brown do for you?

'Brown' is a movement that has Madison Avenue's ad men running scared. 'Brown', living a low-carbon lifestyle, pushes all the Greenwashing aside, favoring no products over green products. Now corporate America is hitting back, accusing "brownies" of being crazy, abusive, and delusional.

Here are some differences between greens and browns:

• You can wear Green proudly to parties.
• You take off Brown to shower before dinner.

• If it were underwear, Green is the new Victoria’s Secret in “Moon Hugging” organic fabric.
• Brown is the stuff you don’t hang out on your line, for fear that someone will see it.

• Green is a full-body tan.
• Brown is a “farmer tan” that stops at the tee-shirt sleeve.

• If it’s sleek, stylish, worn with pride or served on special occasions, it’s green.
• If it’s old, strung together, hidden away from company or not bought at a store, it’s brown.

• Green is whatever hip store you can think of…
• Brown is yard sales and used clothing stores.

• Green is hemp shower curtains.
• Brown is showering…if at all…in warm water, if you are lucky.

• Green is wearing socks made from organically raised cotton.
• Brown is wearing socks that don’t match.

• Green is optimistic, positive, can-do, thriving.
• Brown is getting by, biting your tongue, just doing it anyway, being “good enough.”

• Green is “community building” through “neighborhood committees.”
• Brown is being neighborly, fixing the tool that broke while you were borrowing it, having people over for dinner, being a reliable friend.

• Green is prosperous, and “saves the planet” as evidence of their beneficence.
• Brown lives a life of voluntary simplicity, and lives in keeping with deep convictions about their obligations to future generations.

Read Spreading Manure over Astroturf: Why Ad Men Hate ‘Brown’

A Very Frightening Picture of What's to Come

What do you expect will happen once all the lines on this chart converge?


Here's how the data pertains to the economy as outlined in New Scientist magazine's article 'How our economy is killing the Earth'

THE graphs climbing across these pages are a stark reminder of the crisis facing our planet. Consumption of resources is rising rapidly, biodiversity is plummeting and just about every measure shows humans affecting Earth on a vast scale. Most of us accept the need for a more sustainable way to live, by reducing carbon emissions, developing renewable technology and increasing energy efficiency.

But are these efforts to save the planet doomed? A growing band of experts are looking at figures like these and arguing that personal carbon virtue and collective environmentalism are futile as long as our economic system is built on the assumption of growth. The science tells us that if we are serious about saving Earth, we must reshape our economy.

Now, what's even scarier is how it applies to us in terms of the viability of the human species. See Survival Acre's take on that subject.

Bottom line: we need to begin preparing for our own sustainable futures pronto!

Why the $700 billion bailout is a colossal mistake

This is a must read. Truth is often too painful to accept, but finally, Americans are waking up from their corporate-media-induced stupor. Read on...



Bailout: The Crisis in Profiteering

Ravi Batra

September 29, 2008

It is an old habit of Wall-Street brokers and financiers first to generate
a crisis and then to profit from it's practice that may be called crisis
profiteering. Remember the great inflation of the 1970s. It was Wall Street
that urged then-Fed Chairman Arthur Burns to regularly print money and fight
the decade's recessions. Then inflation surged out of control and dragged
the United States into a steep downturn. The brokers found a champion in
President Ronald Reagan, who blamed the inflation not on money printing but
escalating budget deficits and curiously argued that deep cuts in income tax
rates will actually solve the deficit problem by unleashing the engine of
growth and generating vastly increased revenues. Most people thought of it
as voodoo economics but Wall Street embraced it with open arms. The
top-bracket income tax rate fell drastically first from 70% to 50% and then
all the way to 28% by 1986. The wealthy turned the inflation crisis to their
advantage by persuading politicians to slash their tax bills.

Not surprisingly the budget deficit ballooned, and turned into a
full-blooded deficit crisis, with the budget shortfall soaring to an
all-time high of 6% of GDP. Reagan responded by sharply raising payroll
taxes, especially the self-employment tax, which is actually a
small-business tax. The small business tax surged over 66%, and incidentally
John McCain, who now claims to be a pal of small businesses, voted for this
gargantuan tax rise in 1983. The Republicans turned out to be foes of the
self-employed. This way the tax burden was transformed from the rich on to
the backs of the poor and the middle class.

Then came the savings and loan crisis of 1987-1989. Many S&Ls then went
bankrupt and the government bailed them out with a $250 billion plan. Some
of these financial institutions turned healthy, and then Wall Street bankers
snapped them up at cheap prices and profited handsomely from the fiasco.

Now the United States is facing a terrible credit crisis, and the bankers
have done it again. They have engineered another bailout with the help of a
prominent financier Hank Paulson, the former CEO of Goldman Sachs. The $700
billion rescue plan is the biggest boondoggle of all time. The bankers will
come out smiling but the public has to foot the bill. It will not even solve
the economic problem, which stems from excessive deregulation that was once
championed by Goldman Sachs and Hank Paulson himself. So now he comes to the
rescue of his buddies.

The deregulation has spawned a culture of speculation. Once the dust settles
a bit, speculation will surge again; so oil could make a comeback and
scorch the economy. Secondly, the government will have to borrow a lot of
money; that will raise interest rates. Thus the bailout could sicken the
entire economy. The slump could then spread from financial institutions to
the rest of the nation. In any case, the bailout should be limited to
troubled banks, which are the lenders. Why should we bailout Wall Street
firms like Goldman Sachs or Morgan Stanley that are the borrowers? The
government wants to unfreeze the credit system; so then rescue the banks,
i.e. the lenders. Why rescue the reckless borrowers like Goldman Sachs and
others?

The government is going to use up a trillion dollars in its multi-faceted
rescues. What if we have a full-fledged recession with both employment and
output falling? Having used up and actually wasted a precious
trillion how will we then rescue the rest of the economy? This bailout is
a colossal mistake and I think will come back to haunt us.

What should we do? The current problem is not with banks and financial
institutions, but in the housing market. So the remedy should be applied
there and nowhere else. There should be a partial bailout of harried
homeowners who cannot pay their mortgages. They should be penalized somewhat
for their reckless borrowing but still rescued for the sake of the economy.
If homeowners are able to make timely payments for their home loans, the
banks will be paid and their loans will be secure. The banks will have a
healthy balance sheet and will not need any rescue. The housing-market will
also stabilize. If some banks still fail, then the FDIC will come to their
rescue. The total cost of the home-owner bailout will be less than $500
billion, a fraction of what the government has promised to spend on its
multifaceted bailouts of Bear Stearns, Freddie Mac, Fannie May, AIG and now
the entire financial sector.

Whenever a crisis appears, Wall Street jumps to the front row to profit from
it. America, wake up and say no to the worst plan yet devised for crisis
profiteering.