Read on Twitter
2nd annual #MothersDay 
twitter takeover by my mom. She's got a BIG announcement about our little farm:
"I am ending my egg business. Sadly, I've concluded my organic, free-range, heritage hens are no longer safe given the nearby GMO-chemical farms upstate NY.
twitter takeover by my mom. She's got a BIG announcement about our little farm:"I am ending my egg business. Sadly, I've concluded my organic, free-range, heritage hens are no longer safe given the nearby GMO-chemical farms upstate NY.
2 years ago, I moved from a hilltop to a hollow a few miles down the road. I am now downstream of corn fields. And my chickens have become less and less healthy – undersized eggs, young hens loosing feathers, unexplained illnesses. Same feed – different water, soil and air.
In this county, GMO corn and corn-fed cows are the norm. GMO corn kernels come coated with a fungicide and a neonic. Then, the corn can absorb sprayed-on herbicides (glyphosate, dicamba, and 2,4-d). See @GMOFreeUS @organicconsumer @USRTK. https://gmofreeusa.org/
Glyphosate is an antibiotic and an endocrine disruptor, and it blocks uptake of minerals needed for proteins and enzymes. It has been found in soil, water, rain, and air. http://DiseaseGlyphosateGMOs.info
One GMO corn kernel (coated with a neonic) can kill one songbird. (See @ABCbirds.) One teaspoonful of a neonic is enough to deliver a lethal dose to 1.25 billion honeybees. (See research by @DaveGoulson.) https://abcbirds.org/neonics
Soils of corn fields are bare and lifeless (except in the 3 month growing season using manure or synthetic fertilizer) and so have limited ability to hold water or recharge aquifers. Degraded soils are prone to erosion, drought and flood, and send water (with toxins) downstream.
When land is degraded, that changes the water cycle, which affects regional weather patterns. Living roots in the ground/healthy plants are needed to recharge aquifers, prevent oxidation of greenhouse gases (CO2, N2O and CH4) into atmosphere, and seed rain clouds.
Food is not really food (i.e., safe & nourishing) if ridden with synthetic chemicals. Climate cannot be rebalanced without returning to biology.
So what can we do? Climate Victory Gardens everywhere! Lawn-to-Garden makeovers! Kitchens for cooking! https://www.greenamerica.org/climate-victory-gardens
So what can we do? Climate Victory Gardens everywhere! Lawn-to-Garden makeovers! Kitchens for cooking! https://www.greenamerica.org/climate-victory-gardens
We can organize smart boycotts, beginning with all foods containing corn (unless known to be safe). Say NO to fossil-fuel-based pesticides and other poisons, highly processed & packaged food, sprayed flowers.
And say YES to planting flowers, the food of pollinating insects and birds. Find the many ways to support small biological farms and gardens. Become one! Urbanites, reverse migrate. Return to farm country, and become a good neighbor.
Read @DaveGoulson and Acadia Tucker for climate resilient gardens. Read @judithdschwartz books for global solutions to heal land and climate. https://www.chelseagreen.com/product/growing-perennial-foods/
So, that's the story of the end of my egg business. But certainly not the end of working to restore nature. What does that restoration look like and entail? Well, I wrote a prose poem about it:
*Notes from a Climate Victory Garden*
*Notes from a Climate Victory Garden*
