A Short Intermission from the GMO Story with an Update on Samson & Fam

February 10, 2010 by Mom

Busy as a bee

Samson was scheduled to do this week’s blog but he is up to his eyeballs in moving and getting settled. So, this is kind of an intermission. The intermission is a trailer for the award winning documentary Food, Inc. This comes with a warning. If you can’t stand the truth or you are not ready for the truth then do not watch this. “You will never look at your dinner in the same way again.”

I wondered about the old adage, “The truth hurts” and asked myself what does that mean? How can the truth be a bad thing? I pretty much decided that facts are about as close to the truth as you are going to get. Or perhaps the certainty of numbers are very close to an indisputable truth. I mean 1+1 for all intent and purposes is always going to = 2. So, who is hurt by the truth? I think honest persons can not be hurt by the truth.

Tell an honest person the truth and they will appreciate knowing it. However, tell a person who knows the truth and covers it up with an intent to deceive and you have someone who would be exposed for lying about the truth and that would hurt.

What is the truth? The truth is. What is a lie? A lie is a cover-up of the truth. The truth be told would expose a lie. So, only a liar could be hurt by the truth. And if that is the case then the old adage should really say, “The truth only hurts liars and that’s a good thing.”

I don’t have any idea of where all that came from. All I know is, that is what you get when someone says, We need something up and we need it up quick. So there’s quick.

Watch the trailer and tell me who you think is telling the truth and who you think is lying? And why.

http://www.foodincmovie.com/

Also if you want the latest GMO news this is it.

http://www.organicconsumers.org/articles/article_20188.cfm

The Good News

http://www.greenpeace.org/seasia/en/press/releases/us-court-ruling-on-gmo-rice-af

Even better news. How to Fight the Good Fight and win.

http://www.celdf.org/

http://www.celdf.org/Default.aspx?tabid=61

http://www.soyinfo.com/haz/gehaz.shtml great resource page for groups, blogs, organizations, political action groups

P.S. Added Feb. 10,2010: Huffington Post publishes the 12 most unethical companies in the WORLD. The worst of the worst. Too delicious. I am not an I told you so type person but I TOLD YOU SO!!!!!!

http://tinyurl.com/yhy36hc

P.S.S. Studies link GMOs with toxins, allergies, infertility, infant mortality, immune dysfunction, stunted growth, accelerated aging, and death. Whistleblowers were fired, threatened, and gagged. Warnings by FDA scientists were ignored. Expert Jeffrey M. Smith, author of the #1 GMO bestseller Seeds of Deception, and Genetic Roulette, presents SHOCKING evidence why these gene-spliced crops may lead to health and environmental catastrophes. Learn how to protect yourself and discover the Campaign for Healthier Eating in America—a brilliant plan to quickly end the genetic engineering of our food supply.

Gotta see it.

http://vimeo.com/6575475

We will continue our regularly scheduled blog next week. Ciao for now.

Posted in announcement, community, health & beauty, local businesses, money, nature, organic, organic gardening, politics, sustainability, sustainable lifestyle | Leave a Comment »

GMO Story: Attack of the Killer Tomatoes part 4 of 5

February 2, 2010 by Mom

Attack of the Killer Tomatoes

Attack of the Killer Tomatoes was a 1978 cult comedy science fiction horror B movie about a high-level government experiment gone terribly awry when a group of giant, mutated tomatoes roll through suburbia on a spree of mayhem and murder. The movie was full of satire and irony. The title was just perfect for this subject. Everyone has at least heard of the Attack of the Killer Tomatoes which always seems to get some sort of reaction, usual a head shake and smile as if to say, “that is so ridiculous it is funny.” Now that I have your attention I will show you the irony.

The plot thickens and a twist develops. Fourteen years after the Sci Fi movie in 1992 the Flavr Savr tomato was the first commercially grown genetically engineered food to be granted a license for human consumption. It was produced by the Californian company Calgene, and submitted to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in 1992. It was first sold in 1994, and was only available for a few years before production ceased. Calgene made history but mounting costs prevented it from becoming profitable, and it was eventually acquired by the profit-making Monsanto Company. Pig genes were first used in tomatoes in 1992. Do you eat or slaughter a Genetically Engineered Tomato? With a genetically engineered tomato pumped full of pig genes you would have a ready-made bacon lettuce and tomato sandwich if you had some lettuce. They are working on the lettuce. That will be the sequel. Attack of the Killer BLT.

Here is the twisted bit. Fictitious persons (an oxymoron) have taken little bits and pieces of real live people and plants and created a real live killing machine (living machine is another oxymoron). The name of the Fictitious person is Monsanto. I am going to cast this character as the F’en-men. The F’en-men are terrorizing Mom’s Plant and Animal kingdoms. By using rape and lethal injection the F’en-men have screwed Mother Nature and devised a Third Kingdom. I am calling this Third Kingdom the F’en Kingdom. F is for Fictitious and ironically Frankenstein which is another science fiction horror story which lends itself very nicely to the F theme.

The F’en-men Modified Mother Nature’s creation by co-mingling Her 2 separate and distinct Kingdoms which if you read the earlier post was hell-bent on procreation and propagating life. Diabolic in nature, the F’en men proceeded in taking parts of a pig and putting it in a tomato or parts of human being into a cow or grain of rice or a bull to make it produce human milk. Mom is not happy with these new development. It defies all the laws of Nature. And we all know for a fact if Mom ain’t happy ain’t nobody happy. Mom will get even. That is Her Nature.

Keeping this simple is getting a little harder and to add another twist to this already twisted saga on January 21, 2010, the United States Supreme Court granted the F’en-men personhood. Yea, lets hear it for the Supreme Court.It would seem everyone even our Supreme Court who is made up of real persons, well maybe, is wanting to give life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness to inanimate things like rocks, money and crap. So, we will use this latest development and ask the question

WHAT KIND OF PERSON IS MONSANTO?

This is Monsanto’s character references. Monsanto created, PCB’s, Agent Orange, DDT, Roundup, rBGH, Terminator seed and bought the rights to the killer tomato. Do you see a pattern here? Everything that Monsanto creates or lays claim to creating KILLS. Monsanto is a now a real live certifiable killing machine as so ordered by our US Supreme Court. This is wonderful news right?

Plants with human genes. Cannabilism?

Wonderful if you condone Rape, incest and lethal injections. Monsanto is mating human beings with plants and animals by forcible entry. In Mom’s world this is rape. In Mom’s world rape is the worst offense you can commit. This behavior is strictly against the laws of Nature and there is no doubt whatsoever that there will be consequences. Mating an animal gene with a plant gene is horrific enough but to mate a human gene with a plant is beyond belief. The gene pool is swimming in a toxic soup we have not seen since the beginning of time.

Now if you eat that tomato or bowl of rice injected with a human gene you could be eating a human embryo. I am not making this stuff up folks. This is happening as we speak. This new F’en mating process is called GMO. A Genetically Modified Organism. It is unnatural and we are consuming it everyday in every way and there will be consequences.

Our EPA and FDA are also key characters in this game of life. They are the crooked Referees that look the other way when someone on their team commits a foul. They didn’t insist on any long-term testing on GMO’s so 80% of our produce now in the grocery stores is GE. Europe has placed a ban on all GMO products because they don’t know what it is doing to the gene pool. No body knows. In Europe they are much more civilized and do not believe in using the general public as lab rats like we do here in America. Everything a GMO in Europe is labeled by law. Everything a GMO in America is not labeled by law. People in Europe look for the GMO label and avoid it. Europe will not buy our corn or soy products. They are all GMO’s. Japan will not buy our rice. GMO’s.

WHERE HAVE ALL THE GMO’S GONE?

They have gone to US corn flakes, corn syrup, pop corn, tortillas, soy milk and soy burgers, rice krispies, rice cakes,tomatoes, potatoes, baby food, dog food, bread. GMO Corn is feed to the cows that produce the dairy and meat products we eat and our kids eat. Milk, cheese, ice cream, hamburgers from MacDonald, Burger King and Tahoe Joes. GMO corn is feed to the chickens we roast and the eggs we eat. We have no labeling ban on GMO’s. GMO’s are everywhere and in everything. Potatoes have fish genes in them to keep them from freezing. Hersey uses GMO sugar beets to make Kisses. The Kiss of death only in America. Drugs, medicine, and vaccines for our kids all untested, unnatural, totally foreign red flag inducing genes running helter skelter through our blood streams making pig fat, fish scales, frog skin, boobs on boys, sterilizing sperm, and there is more.

GMO’s are Rape. No miracle or magic here like in the pollination and procreation process Mother Nature was so meticulous about. Just a cheap shot.

Cheap shot

FDA approved Corn Porn

And our friends at the FDA has legalized Rape and told Monsanto, the F’en-man now F has another meaning, go for it. It’s all good.

The animal gene injected into a plant that had strict orders from Mom to stay out of the plant’s room is now up to it’s eyeballs in uncharted territory. The plants may be a little confused as well. Something is growing inside of it that has never been there before. Normally under these circumstances there are guard cells that attack foreign or alien objects, beat them up and toss them out. The battle between the invading cells manifests itself as diseases, like cancer, autism, fibromyalgia, etc. It is natures way of defending itself. But there are no guard cells yet programmed to stop this F’en Kingdom invader. Nature will evolve and will create a counter attack to these invaders. What will then occur are new diseases to fight the foreign invaders.

F'en manporpoise

The next time you are driving through the bread basket of America and see Amber waves of grain,fruited plains and corn as high as an elephant’s eye beware. Chances are that these are the killing fields making toxic pollen killing all the pollinators the birds, bees and butterflies. The wind is carrying the Terminator seed pollen to contaminate and enter the gene pool of that organic red corn that once kept an entire culture healthy, wealthy and wise. Roundup kills everything it comes in contact with.

Roundup is Monsanto’s Pride and Joy, Cream of the Crop.

Roundup is sprayed in school yards where your kids play, Monsanto’s Roundup linked to deadly diseases and birth defects,

Posted at Hawthorn elementary School

and it runs off into the storm drains where fishes drink it and it ends up in our drinking water.

storm drain runoff @ Hawthorn elementary

I run my dog on this grass. My grand babies played soccer on this grass. Little league baseball is played here. There is a children’s garden with lettuce and tomatoes right next to the posted warning sign. City, county, state agency’s use deadly Roundup on all public lands to kill stuff. Landscaping services for shopping malls, open spaces, houses and apartment complexes spray Roundup regularly to kill stuff. I am starting to take this killing thing personally. We have devised a million and one ways to kill something and yet we do not know how to bring one single thing back to life.

I was wondering how I was going to end this. I read the last sentence to Cassie. This was her response. “That is really stupid. Everybody always tells you to make a copy on an external hard drive so if your computer crashes, you get the blue screen, error, abort, this file will self destruct in 10 seconds message then you can rest assured you have a copy. You will not lose everything. You can start over. Make a copy of your work, always backup is key.” This is perfect example. Monsanto has no backup. It kills stuff and its dead and there is no bringing it back ever, no how.

We have all experienced the absolutely devastating feeling of losing a file, records, pictures, reports, that cannot be duplicated. There is no command z in nature where you can undo the last action when you contaminate the gene pool, kill a species. Terminator seeds are the delete button in nature and there is no backup. Last night I feel asleep trying to finish this blog. Yup, I unconsciously hit the delete key. I have spent all day collecting the information from the original rough draft I saved. Thank you god. I am done. It is dark. I am hitting save and backing this up.

UPDATE ON ROUNDUP CAUSES BIRTH DEFECTS. JUNE 14, 2011 http://www.panna.org/blog/chemical-trespass-roundingup-birth-defects

Part 1 of the GMO story: Do Trees Sneeze?

Part 2 of the GMO Story: The Big Bang.

Part 3 of the GMO Story- They Kingdom Come Thy will be Done

Part 4 of the GMO Story: Attack of the Killer Tomato

Part 5 of the GMO Story: End of the Line for GMO’s

Update: June 18, 2010 on Monsanto’s Roundup.

Scientist warns of dire consequences with widespread use of glyphosate
By Ken Roseboro, ed.
The Organic and Non-GMO Report, Posted June 14, 2010

LATEST NEWS ON GMO’S FEBRUARY 28,2011

The following links are the latest very disturbing plans put into effect by our Food Czars.

Genetically modified corn for fuel production and that makes 3 GMO’s approved in one week. The other two were alfalfa and sugar beets – January 31, 2011

Yet another blow to organics: USDA approves Monsanto’s GMO sugar beets – February 6, 2011

Honey story out of Germany about GMO proteins in Honey, natures most perfect food –February 10,2011

World’s First Genetically Engineered Biofuels Corn Threatens Contamination Of Food-Grade Corn – February 11, 2011

Monsanto Shifts ALL Liability to Farmers –February 21,2011

Roundup, GMOs linked to emergence of deadly new pathogen causing spontaneous abortions among animals February 23, 2011

Posted in community | Tagged agriculture, Dow, FDA, Fictitious person, GE, GM, gmo, GMO Corn, GMO rice, GMO soy, jeffrey smith, killer tomato, Monsanto, Roundup, Roundup ready, US Supreme Court | 8 Comments »

A Brief Polemic and a Call to Action

January 23, 2010 by samsonblackwell

Okay, motivated by my mom’s articles and a recent deluge of GMO-related emails from organizations like Organic Consumers Association (OCA), I have taken action and thrown my considerable weight (insert laughter here) behind several petitions and campaigns to oppose the growing use of GMO products—despite the proven negative effects of previously approved products like maize and cotton—and the continued influence of former Monsanto executives on our agricultural philosophy and policy. So, as part of this weight throwing around stuff, I thought I’d lay out a very brief case against GMOs and the poster child of GMO infiltration, Monsanto.

I want to preface the rest of this polemic against Monsanto and its ilk by saying that I’m not against agricultural innovation, or even GMOs (sorry, mom), per se. What I am against is bad science, unethical (and illegal) business practices, and a blatant disregard for health and human rights. Study after study has proven the ineffectiveness of GMO products to date, the real and potential harm they cause to the environment and animals (including humans), and the real costs of additional pesticides, fuel, and labor required to use them—costs with no demonstrated returns.

It’s worth noting (and even emphasizing) that it’s not like there is lack of innovation in other modalities, specifically the field of organics. For instance, the Union of Concerned Scientists conducted a comparative study of crop yields and found that

Organic [my emphasis] and low-external-input methods (which use reduced amounts of fertilizer and pesticides compared to typical industrial crop production) generally produce yields comparable to those of conventional methods for growing corn or soybeans. For example, non-transgenic soybeans in recent low-external-input experiments produced yields 13 percent higher than for GE soybeans…. 1

This puts paid to the idea that we need GMOs to feed the world. What we need to do is utilize the most effective proven methods available. Those methods exclude GMOs. And Monsanto. And therein lies the rub. Monsanto needs to make money on its investment in GMO research, regardless of its efficacy.

It’s also worth noting that the coalition against GMOs cuts across political, cultural, and philosophical backgrounds. Some of the most vocal opponents of Monanto (and often the recipients of their lawsuits and mafioso tactics) are small farmers and seed companies. There are a multitude of examples. Here are a few from such varied sources as Democracy Underground, OCA, and the AP.

I could go on for many more paragraphs. But I’ll save you from the torture. Instead, I encourage you to follow the links below, sign the petitions, and get educated and involved. I can think of few other things as important as protecting one of the Big Three: food, water, shelter

Prevent a Monsanto lobbyist from getting appointed by Obama

Oppose the USDA’s approval of GMO alfalfa

Whew. All right, I’m climbing off my soapbox and walking away from Speaker’s Corner. For my next post I promise an optimistic and lighthearted topic!

Posted in organic | Tagged agribusiness, evidence, gmo, knowledge, money, Monsanto, nature, oca, organic gardening, science, small farmers, sustainability, ucs, usda | 2 Comments »

GMO Story Continued: Thy Kingdom Come Thy Will be done on earth… part 3 of 5

January 16, 2010 by Mom

A plant cell is different from an animal cell. Different because the genes in a plant cell are programmed to make roots, stems and leaves

not bones, tissues, organs. KISs.

Keeping it Simple simon. Simply, plant cells will separate just like the animal cells. That’s the organism part, but with very different results because of the genetic makeup.

What is the difference and Who cares?

The plant cells are coded differently than animal cells.

Plant cells have a cell wall for support and protection, and an animal cell does not. Plants make their own food by turning sunlight into energy. Don’t we wish we could do that? As it is animals, birds, people, lizards, snakes and fish consume food made by plants then break it down into usable parts in the body. Without plants we can’t make energy. Without energy we die.

There is not one single gene in a plant cell that would or could produce a nose, a molar or pinkie toe. There was genius in this creation. Mom, The Master Scientist, had a very good reason for keeping these two living organisms separate and distinct.

Can animals have sex with plants?

Co-mingling of kingdoms would be catastrophic of atomic proportions.

Remember how all this got started in the first place. Lots of atoms flying all over the place until they found their soul mates and stayed put.

Plants and animals have two separate and distinct operating systems that produce 2 separate and distinct kingdoms here on earth. Mom gave each kingdom their own room on Planet Earth. The Plant Kingdom in one room and the Animal Kingdom in another room. There are several serfdoms within the 2 kingdoms. They are mosses, bacteria, protista and mushrooms. They are living so they are organisms. Their reproduction is a little more complicated so we are not going to get into that here. GMO’s are all about the sex lives of plants and animals so we are sticking with these two for now.

The 2 kingdoms lived in harmony with each under the same roof and never once in a hundred, never in a million, never in a billion years did those little bundles of plant and animal genes ever sleep together.

I mean they never ever had sex where the genes from the plant family mated with the genes from the animal family. Because of their genetic makeup mating would be impossible anyway. That was the whole idea. They were never even attracted to each other. No chemistry going on here between the plant and animals genes.

Ever notice how close the words organism and orgasm are?

This is what plants genes do when they start carrying on with one another. They pollinate. Reproduce. Plant genes make trees, bushes, flowers, pine trees, and grasses.

This is what animal cells do when they procreate. They make jellyfish, starfish, sharks, whales, snakes, birds, cats, dogs and people.

So, in Her wonderfully whimsical fashion Mom patented these genes right at the atomic level where the cell difference between the 2 kingdoms occurred. This allowed each kingdom to evolve into many diverse and different families, genus, and species.

When we eat broccoli we are not eating broccoli genes. We are eating the sum and substance of the finished product after all the genes have finished the job.

When we eat pork chops we are not eating pork genes. We are eating the muscles and tissue of the pig after the genes have turned it into pig parts. A gene is an embryo.

The whole purpose plants turn into plants and animals turn into animals is to get to a point where reproduction can take place. Growing roots, leaves and stems is all about getting to the reproduction parts that is the seed to insure survival of the species. Monsanto has created a terminator seed. The plant makes a seed that can’t reproduce. What is the point here? This is not what nature intended.

The same holds true in the animal kingdom. We are all about making seeds for procreation. Then when you get to my age it is all about going to seed. But lets not go there just yet.

I don’t have room here to talk about all the sex and pollinating that goes on in plant kingdom. Just know this they self-pollinate, cross-pollinate, hybridize,lure and tease insects and animals like the bees, butterflies, and birds into transporting their sperm and depositing it within the clutches of some horny little females plants. Plants clump and run to stay alive as in bamboo and crabgrass. They go underground and come with potatoes, yams, daffodils and onions. Coconuts, dates and rose hips are all seeds. Plants are dead set on surviving. We are now at a very critical point in this story. It is key to understanding the difference between a man made GMO/GE/GM and Mom’s hybridizing and cross-breeding.

hybridizing – (genetics) the act of mixing different plant species or different animals species thus to produce hybrids. A grapefruit is a hybrid. It is a cross between a Jamaican sweet orange (Citrus sinensis);and the Indonesian pomelo (Citrus maxima). A cockapoo is a hybrid. It is a cross between a cocker spaniel and a poodle. Where the heck did a poodle come from? All dogs belong to the Canine Family. Chart upper left explains the order of things. Pay attention there will be a test.

Hybridizing is a matter of breeding. Dogs breed, horses breed, but not with each other. Hybridizing is a survival thing and Mother Nature has been doing it for eons. This is a very important fact to remember. Breeding and hybridizing are a natural thing. Breeding and hybridizing is not the same as modifing. Modifing genes is a man-made thing. Not natural.

The animal kingdom is the largest kingdom on earth. I think it is the largest because of those damn ants.

Animals adapted and evolved for exactly the same reasons the plants did, survival. This relationship between Mom and her kids has worked very well for the last 100 billion years or so.

Enter Man. Not just any man a Fictitious man. Fictitious man means; like a person but not really a person. Are Fictitious persons alive? Oh, these F-Men are something all together different and they changed Mom’s Master plan.

The F-Men created an F’en Kingdom

Mom is pissed. And we know when Mom ain’t happy ain’t nobody happy.

part 4 of the GMO story Attack of the Killer Tomatoes.

Part 1 of the GMO Story: Do trees Sneeze?

https://holeinthefence.net/2009/12/18/what-is-a-gmo-do-trees-sneeze-1-of-6/

Part 2 of the GMO Story: The Big Bang.

https://holeinthefence.net/2010/01/01/gmo-part-2-of-6-the-big-bang/

Part 3 of the GMO Story- They Kingdom Come Thy will be Done

https://holeinthefence.net/2010/01/16/gmo-story-continued-thy-kingdom-come-thy-will-be-done-on-earth-part-3-of-6/

Part 4 of the GMO Story: Attack of the Killer Tomato

https://holeinthefence.net/2010/02/02/gmo-story-part-4-attack-of-the-killer-tomatoes/

Part 5 of the GMO Story: End of the Line for GMO’s

https://holeinthefence.net/2010/03/07/gmos-end-of-the-line-part-5-of-5/

Posted in community, health & beauty, site updates, sustainability, sustainable lifestyle | Tagged animal kingdom, genes, genetics, GMO's., plant kingdom | 3 Comments »

Reconnecting the Threads, Part 2 of 2

January 11, 2010 by samsonblackwell

Austin

Two things made an immediate impression upon me on our first full day in Austin:

It is VERY humid
The city’s green roots run VERY deep

I should mention that our decision to move to Austin was based on three factors (this is quickly turning into a list post, isn’t it?):

Denette’s sister, Shawna, very graciously offered to house us while I searched for a job
Austin is one of the greenest cities in the US
The job market was still strong even in the midst of the recession

However, a funny thing happened on the way to Austin. (That sounds like a song title, doesn’t it?) Actually, even before we left California, I had gotten a call from Sherry, my former business partner, about a potential job with Providence Health & Services in Washington. Ironically, this was the company I had been consulting with for more than a year, a company I had come to have a deep respect and appreciation for. I jumped at the chance. Throughout our trip to Austin, I was receiving periodic updates about the possibility that the “chance” would become something more. Once we got to Austin a position had crystallized and we started working on details. Since I wasn’t diving right in to a job search upon arrival, we had an opportunity to explore Austin very thoroughly.

The city was all it was cracked up to be. Right off the bat we found two incredible coffee houses:

Progress

and Ruta Maya.

Progress is more traditional coffeehouse; Ruta Maya is an exceptional agglomeration of coffeehouse, bar, music venue, and occasional yoga studio—with a cigar shop thrown in purely to add to the eccentricity. As they have done in the past when I visit cities, these coffee houses formed the anchor of our exploratory trips: we would often start the day with a coffee (and lessons for the kids) before heading out to discover another corner of interest in the city.

One of these corners of interest was the Nature and Science Center, a place akin to Ruta Maya in its agglomeration of mostly related elements. There were exhibits on all the topics above, plus a natural artifact trade center and an entire section devoted to Green technology and living sustainably. We happened to go on Free Museum day, when there was not only free access but lots of additional displays and activities, including a carboard and tinfoil solar oven in which the kids made s’mores.

The heat and humidity of Austin would have taken some getting used to; the friendliness of the people, the eclectic quality of the town, the progressiveness of the city’s policies, and the overall focus on sustainability made us feel welcome and right at home.

Everett

But fate had something else in store for us. Instead of a southeasterly trending line, our move ended up taking on the shape of a very squiggly isosceles triangle. I accepted the position of Recruiting Manager with PH&S; I would be working at their Everett location, for Providence Regional Medical Center Everett, to be precise. On a plane I went.

This might seem like quite a change from our initial trajectory, and superficially it is—there aren’t many days in Austin that require an ice scraper—but in many ways there are strong similarities between Austin and many cities in Washington. It’s also a serendipitous one. While I loved many things about Austin, the natural environment didn’t speak to me in anything more than a conversational tone. And given the preponderance of poison oak, ivy, and even sumac, it would probably have always kept me at arms length.

Western Washington, on the other hand, sings to me. And we dance, oh, how we dance. The green, the cold, the rain, the ocean’s pungent tang, the Cascade’s dramatic skyline, and, above all, the trees, sing a beautiful rhythm that I can feel the moment I step off the pavement. This is the climate that creates in me an almost overwhelming sense of an earlier life. I feel connected, whole, energized, and preternaturally aware.

From what I’ve seen so far the city of Everett itself reminds me in many ways of the city of SLO: it’s smaller, with a recognizable downtown core of older homes and businesses; it’s surrounded by some ugly spots of sprawl; it has a small cadre of engaged and aware citizens; and it has a polity that is sometimes progressive, sometimes utterly backward. A wonderfully eclectic local coffeehouse, Zippy’s Java Lounge, will form the anchor (no surprise, right?) for our continuously deeper investigation of Everett and it’s conscientious movement towards sustainability and a green sensibility.

Good news! We found a house to rent and will be moving in February. One of the first things we plan on doing, of course, is finding a suitable place to place a couple of raised beds. The worms won’t be far behind. Followed, I suspect, by audio and video of events, people, and general goings-on. I can’t stand on the sidelines for too long…it’s not in my nature. But you already knew that. 🙂

Buckle up for more fun.

Posted in travel | Tagged austin, climate, coffeehouse, everett, family, kids, nature, photos, politics, san luis obispo, sustainability, travel | Leave a Comment »

GMO part 2 of 5 The Big Bang

January 1, 2010 by Mom

The Big Bang

ATP is the Big Bang that happens every single time and a cell is born.

The group that was hell-bent on taking over the world is the living group. Anything living is an Organism. Organisms are very special and unique in every way. They are Special because since that first group of atoms got together and made up the elements which formed a molecule which started life on this planet everything living now came from that single magic spark billions of years ago.

That spark created energy, E=mc2, and we can’t do it. Only Mom knows the secret ingredients and she isn’t telling anyone yet. It all started with an atom. We can split atoms. Join atoms. But we can’t create one from scratch. http://www.wimp.com/bigbang/ Every single time a cell reproduces the entire creation of life from the beginning of time happens in a split second. Now that is what you call a big bang.

We can collect seeds, exchange seeds, cross-pollinate mix and match them. We can freeze sperm but if something were to happen and all the trees and plants stopped producing seeds or the body stopped producing sperm and eggs we could not go into our laboratories or GSI super accelerators, nuclear power plants or mile long quasar tunnels and recreate that secret recipe Mom cooked up way back when those first molecules formed a cell and split in two and life began. You see we have devised a million and one ways to kill something but not one way to bring something back to life.

The population of the world is at 6,692,030,277. There are 350,000 extant species of plants. Zoologists have recorded 20,000 species of fish, 6,000 species of reptiles, 9,000 birds, 1,000 amphibians, and 15,000 species of mammals. And, although there are a million named species of insects, scientists estimate that there could be another million waiting to be discovered and named! About 1.8 Million have been given scientific names. The National Science Foundation’s “Tree of Life” project estimates that there could be anywhere from 5 million to 100 million species on the planet, but science has only identified about 2 million.

Currently we are destroying habitat and environments in the rain forests and Amazon faster than we can discover and ID species. So again we can kill something and once it is dead it is dead. We can not bring plants, animals, people or a single cell back to life. And it all started with a atom that formed the elements that formed the first molecule. This is a molecule. It consists of two or more atoms.

Amazing Molecule.

Molecules stick together. Not wanting to have to reinvent the wheel every time they got together Mom hardwired each molecule with the exact DNA sequences of its makeup. You know about this DNA stuff Deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA). Mom is all about being practical so hard wiring each molecule will save a lot of time and energy in the future. Some molecules joined up with other molecules and now they are living under the same roof called a cell.

All those hardwired molecules or encoded genes that make up cells is called genetics. That’s the G in GMO’s. Each of those genes has a little piece of something from the beginning of time like oxygen, sodium, magnesium, don’t forget the starlight, and carbon. Carbon is a biggie, it is in all living things and some non-living things like water but we are not going to talk about water here because that is astrophysics and I promised to keep it simple. Just know that we need carbon and it is part of the makeup of all living things. And remember also, too much of a good thing is too much. It is all about balance.

Because of their atomic makeup those little molecules had so much energy they were bouncing off the walls inside a cell. And before you knew it there was a big bang and that little bundle of energy split in two. And miracle of miracles it created more energy when it split. Now it is making more cells. The splitting caused a chain reaction making more energy, more splitting happening at lightning speed and it couldn’t stop splitting, making new cells, until you have every living, breathing thing here on earth. That’s an Organism and it is life. That is the O in GMO. Look around you. Everything living and breathing that started billions of years ago is still dividing, and multiplying and trying to take over the world.

For something to be alive it has to do these 6 things.

Reproduce, Grow, Breath, Change with the environment, Make energy, Die

Rocks, gold, silver, diamonds and the like don’t eat, breath, die or excrete, or get together and make more rocks, gold and silver or diamonds. That would be nice but these are non-living things. These have nothing to do with Organisms.

Life is just one continuous Bang after another.

This is a Single human cell. This was you and me a nanosecond before the big bang occurs and a little atomic reaction called nuclear fission goes off, bang, and the cell divides. Got a clone. Mother like daughter.

Mother=Daughter

Now you have two totally self-sufficient cells with encoded molecules that have everything they need to divide again. They work creating energy and divide again, bang, bang and in a blink of an eye a hundred trillion little bangs traveling at the speed of light form cells that form a person with ears, blue eyes, a nose, pinkie toes, left handed, brown hair, Nervous system, Circulatory system, Endocrine system, Muscular system, Reproductive system, Respiratory system, Skeletal system, Excretory system. It’s a freaking miracle don’t you know.

The original cell is mom and the split cell an exact duplicate is the daughter. This is genetics and eventually after all the banging is over you get born. This is the end result of a single cell with noses in its DNA.

Just a little side note here. The question may arise. Why don’t we all look exactly alike if we all start out as a clone of the original cell? Now we are getting into astrophysics. But it is suffice to say that the odds of every atom hooking up with exactly the same encoded molecules that determine hair and eye color, size, shape, etc is astronomical. In lay terms, the odds are a little greater than winning the lottery. And because we can not recreate time, ah ha, there’s the rub that time thing, duplication at the time of creation is, lets just say for all intensive purposes impossible. And that is the reason why every single living thing on earth is absolutely unique. That is to say also, you are an original.

Plants cells do the Big Bang too.

Now we get to the part that explains why trees don’t have noses. This is a plant cell.

It is different from an animal cell. Different because the genes in the plant cell are programmed to make roots, stems and leaves, not bones, tissues and organs. It is a wonder. And this concludes part 2.

Part three is about two extraordinary developments. The Plant and Animal Kingdoms and the beginning of the F’en Wars. Stay tune.

Part 1 of the GMO story: Do Trees Sneeze?

https://holeinthefence.net/2009/12/18/what-is-a-gmo-do-trees-sneeze-1-of-6/

Part 2 of the GMO Story: The Big Bang.

https://holeinthefence.net/2010/01/01/gmo-part-2-of-6-the-big-bang/

Part 3 of the GMO Story- They Kingdom Come Thy will be Done

https://holeinthefence.net/2010/01/16/gmo-story-continued-thy-kingdom-come-thy-will-be-done-on-earth-part-3-of-6/

Part 4 of the GMO Story: Attack of the Killer Tomato

https://holeinthefence.net/2010/02/02/gmo-story-part-4-attack-of-the-killer-tomatoes/

Part 5 of the GMO Story: End of the Line for GMO’s

https://holeinthefence.net/2010/03/07/gmos-end-of-the-line-part-5-of-5/

Posted in community | Tagged ATP, Big Bang, cells, DNA, genetics, gmo, molecules | 4 Comments »

Reconnecting the Threads, Part 1 of 2

December 28, 2009 by samsonblackwell

I’m sure you’ve probably noticed: the past five months have been tumultuous for us. In September our family left San Luis Obispo, our home for 10 years, bound for Austin, TX, with fingers crossed that I’d have better luck finding a job in a bigger city. How we ended up in Everett, WA is a very interesting story that bears telling. As does the story of how my continuing love affair with the natural world was only made stronger by driving across four states.

I was thinking recently about our general disconnectedness as a culture, and how the threads of our existence are only tenuously attached to others, even to our family. This is not surprising, given that I just spent Christmas in a new town without extended family.

One of the reasons for this tenuous connection has to do with the vagabond nature of our existence: a move always tugs at the threads–even if it’s just down the street or across town. Turn that move into a 1,766 mile odyssey to a place you’ve never visited and many of the threads will snap, some permanently.

Other threads are almost infinitely elastic. I found two that—as they were stretched—actually seemed to grow thicker and stronger: my connection to my family and my connection to the natural world.

The move was predicated on my need for work. I had been holding out for more recruitment consulting work, but after five straight months of nothing our funds were running low and we had to make a decision: find some menial work and pray for the economy to recover or take a deep breath and dive into the unknown. After applying to several of the aforementioned menial jobs and getting no response or a rejection, our second option quickly turned into our only option. (I actually did a couple of really cool green landscaping projects while I was waiting for my consulting to pick up. I’ll write about those in upcoming posts).

We packed the cars, threw most of our stuff into storage (literally threw: our storage is a disaster), craiglisted or freecycled the rest, and made for Austin, where Denette’s sister lived at the time.

California

Our last stop in California was a fittingly idyllic setting: the beachside bungalows of Crystal Cove, where we stayed with one of my friends from college. Despite all the upheaval of the past few months, a few minutes in Jessi’s house and the stress evaporated, leaving me instantly lighter, happier, and less scattered. Later that afternoon in Jessi’s livingroom, watching the waves roll in from the endless expanse of blue and gray, my visceral connection to the water welled up in me. I wanted to spend the rest of my life on the beach and in the water. I settled for a few hours on the beach, fresh fish tacos, and a wonderful night listening to the surf and breathing in the salt tang.

Nevada

Our only non-nature-centered stop was in Las Vegas. And it was Las Vegas that cemented my desire to be outdoors and to experience natural as opposed to man-made wonders. Not really a fan.

Arizona

Our main destination was the Grand Canyon. It is every bit as breathtaking as I had heard, and equally as frustrating to capture on film. But I tried. Oh, how I tried.

It’s scale demands your presence. And the sheer variety of each unique formation invites you to explore the landscape in minute detail. I was sorely tempted to plunge down the Bright Angel Trail for a day of total immersion. It beckons to me even now. The Granite Gorge Metamorphic Suite at the floor of the canyon—those rocks most recently exposed by the sandpaper action of the Colorado–are around 2 billion years old. The latent dynamism of the canyon is intoxicating. Despite the relative sparseness of plants, life is everywhere, even in the rocks.

But the best part by far was the uninterrupted time I spent with Denette and the kids. No electronic disturbances; everything within bicycle distance; the fresh, cool, pine-scented air; the open fire and the aroma of woodsmoke; the ravens barnstorming between the trees with only the flash of black and the whooshing of air between their pinfeathers to mark their presence. I don’t think it’s a coincidence that as my connection to nature grew more powerful, so did my connection to my family.

As a quick aside, I want to mention that I recently watched Ken Burns’ series, National Parks: America’s Best Idea. Seeing the fistfight for control between greedy and destructive “capitalists” (more like thieves masquerading as businessmen) and those men genuinely interested in preserving the Grand Canyon’s natural beauty for future generations, I felt a new pride that we as a country were able to rally and to create such an inspirational and farsighted system as the national parks.

Our next stop was an unplanned one: signs on the road announced Meteor Crater. With a name like that, we had to stop. I’m so glad we did.

Kaia was particularly taken with the mock reentry vehicle the Apollo astronauts used when they trained at the crater—a crater blasted into existence by a 150-foot wide iron/nickel meteorite.

Logan was taken with the program that allowed you to blow up a computer-generated earth with a comet the size of the moon. You probably won’t be surprised that I left the exhibit a little rattled and thinking about the precariousness of our existence.

This noticeable scar outside of Winslow, AZ made our celestial connection very real. Here was 2.4 miles of circular evidence that we live in an active, chaotic universe, and that things don’t always happen in geologic time. Which made me all the more cognizant of the beauty of each and every day.

If this story seems to be mostly about rocks that’s because it is. I’m not sure if that has to do with the path of our travel or my preferences. And we’re not done yet. Our final destination of note is about entirely about rocks. Tons of rocks.

New Mexico

The most overwhelming stop was our last. Carlsbad Caverns is, quite simply, mind blowing: a completely alien world made of things we see every day. Beneath 750 feet of solid rock, an admixture of minerals form the most impossibly exquisite designs I have ever seen.

My love for our natural world, already piqued by my experiences over the past week, became a belonging that cannot be put into words.

And if I was in awe, then the kids were overwhelmed. The were fascinated with the colors and textures, and the fact that we were beneath 750 feet of solid rock, something Logan continuously and gleefully reminded Denette about. (Denette was NOT excited about this fact).

The kids’ excitement only increased my own. There are over 110 caves in the Carlsbad system, some of them accessible through guided tours, and I plan to return for more.

Texas

By the time we reached Texas we were focused on our destination, the city of Austin, one of the greenest cities in the country. And, as I’ll write about in my next post, being green was something they celebrated in a big way. The Texas way.

Posted in travel | Tagged carlsbad cavern, challenges, connections, family, grand canyon, kids, meteor crater, nature, photos, tapestry, travel | Leave a Comment »

What is a GMO? Do Trees Sneeze? 1 of 5

December 18, 2009 by Mom

Bless you

Trees don’t sneeze. People sneeze.

Bless you

Dogs sneeze Lioness sneeze

gesundheit

AAACHOOOOO

But trees don’t sneeze ‘cause they don’t have any noses, or nasal passages or lungs like people and animals.

So what does sneezing trees have to do with GMO’s? Surprisingly just about everything and I do mean everything. Why trees don’t sneeze and people do all happened about 100 billion years ago when Mother Nature got bored and decided to have some fun. Her fun and games is the reason we have noses and trees don’t.

GMO=Genetically Modified Organism

GMO=Genetically Modified Organism. Sometimes it is called GM (not General Motors) =Genetically Modified or GE (not General Electric)=Genetically Engineered. They all mean the same thing, Genetically Modified Organisms. When we talk about genes and organisms we are talking about something that is living and able to reproduce itself. We are talking about sex here and the difference between non-living things like rocks that do not have sex with each other to make more rocks, and living things like plants and animals that do have sex but not with each other well, not until now which is the Modified part and M in GMO. You have to understand the gene thing before you can understand modified. This is rocket science but…

Keeping It Simple simon. KISs

I am no scientist so I will keep it simple. And because I am a mom we are going to be looking at this sex thing from a mom’s point of view.

First: Lets break down GMO. G stands for genetic. Genetics has to do with genes. Genes come from a combination of elements. Elements are made up of Atoms. And that takes us to…. In the Beginning….. In the Beginning there was Mother Nature. Mom to me and you. Mom just finished cooking up some universes and galaxies far far away and wanted something to take her mind off of work. She took a handful of Atoms that were just laying around from her last job and a little pinch of starlight, rolled it up into a big ball and said, “Go for it.”

www.dpchallenge.com/image.php?IMAGE_ID=613117

In the Beginning

What do you get when you put all this stuff together? You get great balls of swirling atoms falling all over themselves trying to get organized.

Falling all over themselves.

There was a lot of jockeying for positions during this start up stage. Atoms with negative charges fighting with the positive charges hooking up with each other making new stuff. Great balls of cosmic energy. They put on quite a show.

Great

Mom was amused but warned them to stop all the bickering and start working together. Next thing She knew all those little atoms came back to her so proud of themselves and said, “Look what we did Mom.”

http://tinyurl.com/yca8r2m

Yup, that’s the periodic table with all the elements, Carbon, Nitrogen, Oxygen, Sodium, Magnesium, Phosphorus, Sulfur, gold and sliver and so on. This is the game plan the atoms came up with when they all started to play nice with each other. The simplified version in lay terms is Fire, Water, Air and Earth. “This is good,” Mom said. “What else can you do?” I’ll be back in an hour to check on you. Mom came back in about an hour Her time, a billion years our time , and was delighted to see everyone getting along. One group was just laying around doing nothing. They were done playing a long time ago. We are going to call this group the inorganic non-living, couch potato group. Non-living as in rocks, diamonds, gold, stuff just lying around waiting for someone to discovery them. Eureka. They have nothing to do with our GMO story.

Blip. Blip, Blip. We interrupt this blog to bring you a news flash. Orders from headquarters, that would be Samson the blog master is, I have to hold these blogs down to 500 words. I’m at 654 and we know who is counting. Because Samson is such a stickler about the numbers and we are just getting started this is going to be a 6 part series. Keeping it Simple is very complicated. Not really. Well, just a little. Next time we are going to talk astrophysics and what happened that started a chain reaction of living organisms that are hell bent on taking over the world. Really.

In the meantime Samson will be here next Friday talking about something really cool no doubt.

Part 2 of the GMO Story: The Big Bang.

https://holeinthefence.net/2010/01/01/gmo-part-2-of-6-the-big-bang/

Part 3 of the GMO Story- They Kingdom Come Thy will be Done

https://holeinthefence.net/2010/01/16/gmo-story-continued-thy-kingdom-come-thy-will-be-done-on-earth-part-3-of-6/

Part 4 of the GMO Story: Attack of the Killer Tomato

https://holeinthefence.net/2010/02/02/gmo-story-part-4-attack-of-the-killer-tomatoes/

Part 5 of the GMO Story: End of the Line for GMO’s

https://holeinthefence.net/2010/03/07/gmos-end-of-the-line-part-5-of-5/

Posted in community, health & beauty | Tagged atoms, cells, elements, GE, genes, Genetically Engineered, Genetically Modified, Genetically Modified Organism, GM, gmo | 3 Comments »

Ramping Up Again!

December 13, 2009 by samsonblackwell

I suppose it isn’t the best sign that I’m recommitting to this blog on Saturday—after I promised my mom I’d post it on Friday. We talked last week and agreed we would post a new article every Friday to get back on track as I settle in to my new job and begin to find time to refocus on this project.

Because I have lots of ideas. There are some wonderful things we can do from two different cities. Everett is a wonderful place with a very robust green movement; it would be fun to compare, contrast, and even compete. May the greenest city win!

And I still have miles of footage from our shooting in SLO that I want to develop. Once I get all of my equipment up here from Cali in the next month and I once I get settled in to a workspace (my iMac is currently sitting on a dresser in our short-stay apartment) I can again dive into that great footage and put together some segments.

In short, we’re still here, and soon we’ll be back in full (or better) force—exploring, learning, teaching, and inspiring. And we hope you’ll join us.

Look for a new and insightful post from either me or my mom every Friday. It’s a promise from us. Well, for me it’s more of a commitment. We’ll call it a guideline.

Cheers and thanks for sticking around!

Posted in announcement | Tagged filmmaking, ideas, knowledge, learning, teaching, update | Leave a Comment »

Winterizing the Garden

November 29, 2009 by Mom

Getting the yard and the house set up with Christmas lights is a great time to think about winterizing the garden. You can put a string of Christmas lights around sensitive plants like the aloes and citrus. When there is a frost warning I take a cotton sheet (with a Hawaiian print) and cover the plants. The little bit of heat from the lights and the cotton cover creates a nice, cozy environment for the tender ones. Sometimes I have my Christmas lights up through January because it is a long cold winter but I can live with that. No plastic covering on plants. Plastic conducts cold.

I re-potted my black bamboo and other plants that go dormant. This is what my potted bamboo looked like. Yikes.

I had to take a hammer to the roots to separate them. It was nasty. I should have done this 3 years ago. But I got about 25 new black bamboo plants. They are sitting in dirt in a plastic bag for the time being. I need more pots and dirt. Repotting is good to do also before a nice rain to give the roots a reassuring boost and encourage them to set up housekeeping in their new home. I gave them all a hot toddy (a drink of worm tea) in case they were experiencing post uprooting shock. This was not a fertilizing treatment. It is never good to fertilizer in the winter. It encourages growth and they are putting out shoots in the dead of winter. Ouch. So, no fertilizing just yet. If you are having a dry fall and winter make sure and check your watering schedule. If the roots of any plant or tree dries out it will die. Pay close attention to potted plants. North winds are particularly brutal, they seem to suck every ounce of moisture out of the air. So, check your plants after a windy day.

Grrrrrr

Weed. And put the weeds in a bag not on the compost pile or come spring you will have a weed pile for a compost pile. Everything else that will not reseed itself put on the compost pile. I did a major cut back on deciduous plants like the pear, apple, roses, jasmine, honeysuckle, wisteria, purple basil, and ginger. I learned from the California Rare Fruit Growers just recently that the best time to cut back fruit trees is in the summer. Less chance of diseases setting in and wintering over. Just have to be careful that you do not cut back next years fruit bearing branches. Will do a section on pruning which is a whole thing into itself.

Munching is always good especially when it starts to get cold. It protects the roots and discourages weed seeds from germinating by blocking out the light when the ground starts to warm up in the spring. Try to put at least 2″ of mulch in the garden and move it away from the tree trunks and stems of plants. You don’t want anything that is going to harbor constant wet and moist conditions touching your trunk and stems. That kind of environment just invites the nasties like mold, fungus and diseases.

If you have bare spots in your yard where flowers once grew plant a winter garden. So easy to throw some lettuce seeds, carrots, spinach maybe a radish or two in that spot. Plant continuously every two weeks so you never run out. Also check with your local nurseries for winter garden plants. They will carry starts of whatever grows well in your area and time of year. Fresh greens in the winter is a real treat. My parsley is re-seeding itself and has taken over the pot. The purple basil which is a perennial is still blooming and no matter how much I cut it back it just keeps growing. I also took all the pieces I cut off and stuck them in a pot and now they are all growing. We have a lot of great fixings for spaghetti.

Which reminds me. This is a great time to plant bulbs like garlic. Put your garlic in a perennial garden or permanent pot somewhere in the sun. If you don’t harvest it all the first year it just keeps growing and multiplying. It also likes parsley and you can put it anywhere in your garden as a bug deterrent. Just make sure it has good drainage. You can buy any organic garlic and it will grow. Break a clove off a bulb and plant the fat side down and leave a little of the tip showing and that is all there is to it. Mother Nature does the rest.

If you have empty pots around make sure and turn them over so they will not collect water. Mosquitos love to lay their eggs in standing water.

Don’t forget the birds. Take the hummingbird feeder down when the temperature starts to get cold at night. Most hummingbirds are migratory. They need to get out-of-town and winter in warm places and the feeder keeps them around perhaps a little longer than they should stay. Check your local area for birds that home and feed accordingly.

This is the first year I am hosting a couple of worm bins. I know they don’t like it too cold either so will cover them up when there is frost in the air. They are going to stay outdoors and I am looking forward to the worm tea I will get from the rain water.