After 2 weeks in Europe Papabird and returned safely back to our nest. He brought home the best gift eve, Heirloom seeds that have been passed down 4 generations from one of our software developers in Bulgaria (a GMO free country). Unfortunately, it's too late in the season here to plant most of these plants from seeds without germinating them first. It just doesn't stay warm long enough here without starting these particular seeds indoors 6 weeks ahead. I defiantly do not want to waste any seeds this year and try but fail, well maybe I could try just a few seeds.
Papabird was sure that he was going to get stopped going through customs with seeds but they never batted an eye. He didn't list that as an item he was leaving the country with though, he was supposed too!
Monsanto seems to have their hand in everything so it's no wonder he was worried about carrying non GMO seeds from a GMO free country into our country.
Speaking of GMO and Monsanto........
Our family went to a local March Against Monsanto rally.
I loved this costume of a Monsanto farmer, she was a nice lady.
Here I am with one baby bird on my back and another next to me whining and wanting to leave. My other 2 were off holding signs and shouting at cars.
A group of other fellow protesters.
Falcom had to miss sparring class to go to this but given the choice he wanted to do this instead. He was very vocal and passionate about what he was doing out there, he really got the crowd going. I may have a little tree hugging activist on my hands!
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I had actually watched this movie the day before we marched, great histocial fiction.( Nothing to do with seeds or Monsanto though!)
Here is a paper Falcon just wrote about GMO's
GMOs: The Perfect Poison
Genetically Modified Organisms (or GMOs for short)
are, as you may have figured organisms that are modified genetically. A GMO can
be anything that has been genetically altered by human hands. Today almost all
the conventional meat, fruits, vegetables, and even farm-raised fish are GMOs.
GMOs are in almost everything you eat. But the question is, are GMOs good for
us?
Genetically modified
crops and livestock were initially introduced to US grocery stores around 1973,
and even after 39+years still going strong. The reason GMOs are so widespread
is because of convenience. The world today is all about speed, for instance
fifty years ago you didn’t have TV dinners or fast food places. Fifty years ago
you would be cooking at home following recipes passed down from generation, to
generation. Not throwing your cheap pre-packaged dinner in the microwave like a
lot of us do today.
With GMOs farmers can make plants easier to
harvest by inserting genes for faster plant growth. This way they have made
animal and plant products cheaper and easier to manage. With genetic
engineering (genetic engineering is the same thing as genetically modifying)
conventional farmers have created pest resistant plants that kill the bugs that
eat them. Conventional farmers have also modified crops to take up less space
and to be easier to harvest.
Most GMO products have
only a fraction of the nutrition that non GMO products have. Not to mention the
devastating effects that seemingly innocent GMOs cause to the environment. Even
though GMO corn is already pumped with chemicals to keep the bugs away, a lot
of times farmers will just spray even more of the chemicals onto the ground
just to be sure that the pests don’t come back. On top of that, when farmers
spray to much chemical onto their crops they create “super-bugs”. In the animal
kingdom, only the strongest survive, but in this case it is the most
chemical-resistant bug that survives the farmers incessant chemical spraying.
These “super-bugs” more often than not drive conventional farmers to spray even
more toxic pesticides on their crops. GMO pollen is also now becoming more and
more of an issue, because the GMO pollen that has been modified is fertilizing
other plants in nearby fields or meadows. making new species randomly. Gene
pollution can not be cleaned up.
GMO corn is now so
toxic for you it is now called by some people “Round Up ready corn.” (For those
of you that don’t know Round Up is a highly toxic weed killer).Round Up ready
corn is a GMO that is immune to the harsh chemicals used in Round Up. In most
cases farmers quite literally spray Round Up on their corn. Dr. Don Huber did a
study on GMOs that revealed that .97 ppm formaldehyde is toxic if ingested by
animals,http://www.globalresearch.ca states “GMO corn contains 200 times more
formaldehyde than this safety threshold.” Formaldehyde is the chemical that is
inserted into loved ones when they die so they don’t start to decompose right
away. Guess what the number one side-effect of GMO foods is? CANCER. Over 37
people have died and over 1000 people handicapped from GMO-like side-effects.
Every meal you and
others purchase are votes, and you get to vote three meals a day on how you
want food in the future to be like. If you eat McDonald’s or TV dinners all the time then you are
casting you vote for GMOs, and processed junk. If you eat fresh, healthy,
organic produce all the time, then you are casting your vote against GMOs and
for organic wholesome food. Now the question is, what will you eat?
Not a final draft yet, but wanted to include it in this post anyhow.
Speaking of seeds....
We live in the city with a HUGE oak in a back yard the size of a postage stamp. okay so I am exaggerating a bit here. It is a small city back yard though. I would grow fruits and veggies back there but my oak tree and 2 large dogs will not permit either of those things from happening. So my Grandfather- in -law has offered up some space in his yard for us to farm on. This is a great opportunity for us because he has been growing his own small farm ( enough to sustain his family) for over 30 years. We are excited to learn from all he knows while spending a lot of time out there working on our garden and helping with his.They have a complete canning kitchen in their garage that I am free to use as well. Now If I can just convince him to grow organic and heirloom varieties.
Falcon planting some melons. So far in the ground we have:
4 varieties of watermelon
carrots
Cherry tomatoes
Plum tomatoes
Purple Tomitillos ( I don't even know what they are, the description sounded good)
Broccoli
Leaf lettuce
Mammoth sunflowers
Cucumbers
We have a ton more to plant but ran out of room. We will need to create more space.
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