Dear Kimberly,
I edited a version of this for a blog
on Hartke on Line.
I hope this works.
Your Enchanted Gardener
Leslie
FOR A MORE EXTENSIVE VERSION OF
THIS PLEASE READ THIS PLANT YOUR DREAM BLOG
http://plantyourdream.net/?p=2541
THiS INTRO TOUCHES
MY HEART!
Kimberly Hartke wrote it
Leslie Goldman is a California real food activist. They say all good things start in California and head east, which is why Leslie’s voice is so illuminating on the subject of food and farming. His playful Keep the Beet campaign speaks even to the youngest child about the beauty and sanctity of nature.
http://hartkeisonline.com/?s=Leslie+goldman
Joe Rodriguez Jr, of the fifth generation
Rodriguez farming family and JR Organics,
holds up one of his micro-nutrient rich
local organic lettuces that are sold
healthyfully to thousands of shoppers
at the Hillcrest Farmers' Market and other
FM in San Diego. He and other San Diego local growers
such as Sage Mountain Farm, and Suzie's Farm
welcome all in Washington, the FDA, and
USDA to come out and learn how to grow
healthy Leafy Greens without the need
for further arm shackling red tape,
or going into more unholy
alliances with Big Ag National Leafy Green Management Agreement
agendas. I want the USDA to hear the point of view
I am expressing here.
Now is the time for 20,000 of us
to speak our minds on this issue before.
The official dealline is 5 pm
July 28, 2011, EST.
I would suggest making contact
with the links below in any case.
We need to let the USDA, FDA,
USDA Codex Alimentarius office,
and the President know we are here
and wanting to communicate with them.
INTRO
20,000 Signatures are Needed Now to
Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack.
Make input before 5 pm, July 28, 2011
EST if you want to be considered within
the time frame of official input.
ANTOINETTE.CARTER RECEIVES
INPUT ON THE NATIONAL LEAFY GREEN MANAGEMENT AGREEMENT
Antoinette.carter@AMS.USDA.gov
202.720.2491
THANKS TO TODD ATKINSON OF THE USDA
FOR SENDING ME THIS LINK TO THE DOCUMENT
AND FOR POINTING ME IN THE RIGHT DIRECTION
http://www.ams.usda.gov/AMSv1.0/getfile?dDocName=STELPRDC5090647
Cc your input to Michael R. Taylor, our Commissioner of Foods,
and our Respected President Barack Obama.
July 29, 2009 is the day that Michael R. Taylor,
our Commissioner of Foods
spoke out to bring Leafy Greens and other
small farm produce into alignment with the
international Codex Alimentarius Food Laws
that prefer big Ag approaches to food growing.
On the contrary, today is the day to turn our beat around with nature.
Now is the day for each of us to be an Organic Uprising
Standing Up for Nature's Original Technology.
1000's and 1000's are called now to grow our own food,
support microfarms, urban metro farms, small organic
farms, and midsize organic farms; organic practices bring us healthy
Food Safety that result in Leafy Greens pure in spirit and
grown in healthy compost.
Read assured, the Leafy Green Management Agreement
is not about Food Safety. It is about ensuring Big Agriculture
dominance over Nature's Original Technology and
sustainable living on a healthy planet.
Released: July 26, 2011
TEAM, RIGHT NOW
AND CALL NOW!
O.K. Team, All together now.
"Lettuce" Grow Together.
Can you hear the calling out, Two Leggeds?
Heathy organically grown Lettuce is talking loud and clear to us today.
It refuses to lose this battle. There is a battle.
Contact our USDA Secretary of
Ag Tom Vilsack, the man who said
"Know Your Farmer. Know Your Food."
Remind Mr. Vilsack:
We already have a perfect technology for
growing leafy greens and lettuce of all kinds;
it is Nature's Original Technology
applied by caring growers who are more interested
in nutrition per acre than profit per acre.
USDA BY MAIL
Headquartered in Washington, D.C., USDA's Postal Service mailing address is:
U.S. Department of Agriculture
1400 Independence Ave., S.W.
Washington, DC 20250
#1
SIGN THE FOOD DEMOCRACY PETITION
TODAY
Circulate this immediately.
We have less than 48 hours to get this job done.
Keep calling, even after July 28 to make sure
you are being heard!
http://action.fooddemocracynow.org/sign/leafygreens/?akid=350.183604.p29q-h&r...
Now is the day for an Organic Uprising.
We the People, please speak up!
We will not allow healthy lettuce, a basic tossed
salad ingredient we love, to be tossed out
of our lives by shackling small and midsize organic
farmers with One Size Fits All draconian regulations
coming from places so high that they may even
be beyond our borders. These forces
reflected in our own USDA, our FDA Office of food,
our USDA Codex Alimentarius Office; and from
the White House itself through the will of
our respected President Barack Obama, are
attempting to shove onto our plates
severe unneeded red tape, that many
are concerned will harm and hamper
diversity of farms and healthy organic
growing practices. Our local organic farmers
already have enough red tape. They do not need more!
We, all of us, together today, respectfully say
no to unwieldy E. coli producing BIg Ag that wants now
to further dictate how we, as believer's in
America The Beautiful, will grow our
lettuce seeds and our "Amber Waves of Grain"
PROCLAMATION
FOR ALL WHO LOVE OUR EARTH
AND A HEALTHY ECONOMIC
FOUNDATION BASED ON SANE
SPENDING AND SANE HEALTH PRACTICES:
"ORGANIC RULES ARE THE FOOD RULES
FOR A HEALTHY PLANET!"
Organic yesterday, today, and tomorrow.
The future belongs to all our kids and you,
dear Big Ag, are requested now to join us
in remaking a true healthy earth-based American Dream.
Please reinvest in American ideals.
WHAT IS SO SPECIAL ABOUT JULY 29?
THE FDA POETRY OF MICHAEL R. TAYLOR
OUR COMMISSION OF FOODS, FDA,
ON JULY 29, 2009
I find it poetic that the last day
to give official input on this falls
on July 28. It was July 29, 2009
that Michael R. Taylor spoke the
following quote.
QUOTE FROM MICHAEL R. TAYLOR
JULY 29, 2009 BEFORE THE DENNIS KUCINICH
HEARING THAT DISCUSSED LEAFY GREENS
"In addition, FDA is leading an effort
through the Codex Alimentarius Commission,
the international food safety standards body,
with support of the Food and Agriculture
Organization/World Health Organization,
to develop commodity-
specific annexes to the Codex hygienic code
for fresh fruit and vegetable production,
starting with an annex for fresh leafy
vegetables and herbs."
--Mr Michael R. Taylor
Our Food Czar for the FDA
Senior Adviser to the Commissioner on food issues
The above quote is from the written testimony
of MICHAEL TAYLOR July 29 at the
Rep Dennis Kucinich
Subcommittee on Domestic Policy
Committee on Oversight
and Government Reform
U.S. House of Representatives.
The Subcommittee Hearing was titled:
"Ready to Eat or Not? It examined
the Impact of Leafy Green Marketing Agreements.
You can read Michael Taylor's complete
testimony at this link:
http://groc.edgeboss.net/download/groc/domesticpolicy/testimony.of.mr.michael...
CAROLYN LOCKHEAD ARTICLE
RELATED TO THE LEAFY GREEN MANAGEMENT AGREEMENT
FROM THE SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE
July 13, 2009
"In the verdant farmland surrounding Monterey Bay, a national marine sanctuary and one of the world's biological jewels, scorched-earth strategies are being imposed on hundreds of thousands of acres in the quest for an antiseptic field of greens. And the scheme is about to go national."
Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/07/12/MN0218DVJ8.DTL#ix...
LESLIE GOLDMAN
YOUR ENCHANTED GARDENER
FROM THE HUFFINGTON POST
October 7, 2010
For authentic food safety, we need more food growers,
more gardeners and farmers, not less.
We are being called to be a nation of gardeners.
This is essential if we want to return to true food safety.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/lesliex/chewing-on-food-safety-a-_b_750967.html
FROM FOOD DEMOCRACY NOW
http://action.fooddemocracynow.org/sign/leafygreens/?akid=350.183604.p29q-h&r...
DAVE MURPHY OF FOOD DEMOCRACY NOW
WRITES IN THIS PETITION CALLING FOR 20,000
SIGNATURES BY JULY 28, 2011
FROM FOOD DEMOCRACY NOW
Today the USDA and Big Ag are conspiring to implement a set of rules that favor giant industrial growers while placing small, diversified farms at risk. Known as the National Leafy Green Marketing Agreement, this set of rules was designed by industrial growers to protect their market share while harming their main competition, the growing local and organic food movement. The Leafy Green agreement, drafted by the largest vegetable growers’ lobbyists in an effort to whitewash their growing food safety problems, would implement draconian practices that saddle farmers with one-size-fits-all rules and would drive local and organic farmers out of business with expensive regulations.
ACTION STEPS
WHERE TO WRITE AND WHO TO CALL
#1
SIGN THE FOOD DEMOCRACY PETITION
TODAY.
Circulate this immediately.
We have less than 48 hours to get this job done.
Keep calling, even after July 28 to make sure
you are being heard!
http://action.fooddemocracynow.org/sign/leafygreens/?akid=350.183604.p29q-h&r...
USDA ON FACEBOOK
MAKE A COMMENT HERE
http://www.facebook.com/USDA
#2
LET OUR COMMISSION OF FOODS,
ONE OF THE MOST SIGNIFICANT
VOICES IN MODERN FOOD STRATEGY
KNOW HOW WE WOULD LIKE HIM
AND HIS ALLIES TO WORK TOGETHER
WITH US
QUOTES
FROM THE OFFICE OF FOODS
Overview and Mission
"We need to work together to build a unified FDA Foods Program
that can best achieve the agency’s public health mission."
--FDA Foods Program Executive Leadership Team
FDA Foods Program
FDA ON FACEBOOK
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Food-and-Drug-Administration-Office-of-Foods/14...
11,000 or more "Likes."
10:38 am
as of July 26, 2011
OFFICE OF FOODS,
SEC OF HEALTH MARGARET HAMBURG,
ON FACEBOOK
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Food-and-Drug-Administration-Office-of-Foods/14...
FDA OFFICE OF FOOD PHONES
AND ADDRESSES
Contact Us
Office of Foods
Phone 301-796-4500
Fax 301-847-3535
Food and Drug Administration
Office of Foods
10903 New Hampshire Ave
White Oak Building 1
Silver Spring, MD 20993
http://www.fda.gov/AboutFDA/CentersOffices/OC/OfficeofFoods/default.htm
Call these FDA phones and write.
Let's request Michael R. Taylor interact
with us and give us a fair listening.
(No info yet...
as of July 26, 2011
10:37 am)
#3
The Michael R. Taylor, and Monsanto Corp school of thought
feeding in alignment with Risk Assessment Science, and
allies in the Codex Alimentarius Commission are in the school
of thought that it is better for business that people no longer
practice Food as Medicine. Hippocrites, the Father of Medicine,
would likely be arrested today for teaching that food heals.
The Farmers' Market system are the last vistages where
they freedom to do medicine without a license reign free
in the bellies of healthy pregnant mothers, delightful
little kids being exposed to organic locally grown organic strawberries,
and got Forbid, tomatoes so luscious they could not
possibly fit into a Big Ag system of warehouses
and centralized controlled Ag.
I agree with Michael R. Taylor and all those
in Big Ag who fear the success of the Farmers' Market
system that is eating away at their margin of Food Safety
that is bringing our nation down.
Rise up, beloved, America.
Return to the values of America the Beautiful
and these lyrics in the original song:
O beautiful for patriot dream
That sees beyond the years
Thine alabaster cities gleam
Undimmed by human tears!
America! America!
God shed his grace on thee
And crown thy good with brotherhood
From sea to shining sea!
O beautiful for glory-tale
Of liberating strife
When once and twice,
for man's avail
Men lavished precious life!
America! America!
God shed his grace on thee
Till selfish gain no longer stain
The banner of the free!
O beautiful for patriot dream
That sees beyond the years
Thine alabaster cities gleam
Undimmed by human tears!
America! America!
God shed his grace on thee
Till nobler men keep once again
Thy whiter jubilee!
PLEASE REVIEW THE LYRICS
TO THE SONG AMERICA THE BEAUTIFUL HERE
http://www.scoutsongs.com/lyrics/americathebeautiful.html
ACTION STEP
#3
Reach out and touch
the USDA Office of the Codex Alimentarius
Commission.
Let them know your opinion.
"I am not against the Codex Alimentarius
Commission or Food Rules. I just want to
help dictate them." --
Keep The Beet Media Star,
The World's First Talking Beet Plant
FOR AN INTRODUCTION
TO THE CODEX ALIMENTARIUS COMMISSION
THAT MAKES UP OUR INTERNATIONAL
FOOD RULES NOW IN VOGUE
PLEASE READ SCOTT TIPS,
ATTORNEY, ON THE NATIONAL HEALTH FEDERATION
SITE
http://www.thenhf.com/page.php?id=197
QUOTE FROM
Why is Codex seeking to restrict the quality and potency
of vitamins and minerals?
Why is Codex restricting health claims
for nutritious foods and supplements?
Why is Codex applying a toxicological regulatory
model to foods that have been a part of the human diet
for millennia?
As you will see, there is an agenda here and Codex
is the vehicle that has been 'carjacked' by special interests.
This is something that should highly concern you
as it directly and profoundly affects your personal health
and the health of your loved ones.
http://www.avll.co.uk/viewpage.php?page_id=22
USDA CODEX ALIMENTARIUS OFFICE
FROM
USDA announces public meeting
for Codex Committee on Fresh Fruits and Vegetables
FROM THE STORY
Members of the public may access the meeting agenda, submit written comments electronically, or request copies of documents by contacting Kenneth Lowery, U.S. Codex Office, by mail, phone, or e-mail per the following:
Kenneth Lowery,
1400 Independence Ave.,
Room 4861,
Washington, DC 20250;
202-690-7760;
kenneth.lowery@fsis.usda.gov.
http://www.ift.org/food-technology/daily-news/2011/march/29/usda-announces-pu...
#4
"The last shall be first,
and the first, last."
Matthew 20:16
WITH ALL DUE RESPECT:
CONTACT THE WHITE HOUSE
http://www.whitehouse.gov/contact
You can also call or write to the President:
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW
Washington, DC 20500
Please include your e-mail address
Phone Numbers
Comments: 202-456-1111
Switchboard: 202-456-1414
FAX: 202-456-2461
HOW TO REACH THE WHITE HOUSE
ON FACEBOOK
http://www.facebook.com/WhiteHouse
1,108,275
people like this on Facebook
RELATED LINKS TO STUDY
FOR SHOW ME THE MOVEMENT UPDATE
ON THE NEW PLANT YOUR DREAM BLOG
http://plantyourdream.net/?p=1686
Spring, April 2011
MORE BACKGROUND
BACKGROUND
I got word from my ally Dave Murphy a day or two
ago that the proposed Leafy Green Management Agreement
sponsored by Big Ag.
I have been following this Leafy Green Management Agreement
here on the Plant Your Dream Blog
since 2009 when Food Safety Modernization
began to be dictated from the international
Codex, and influenctial multi-national corporations
through the US Legislators.
Many legislators were sincere in their desire
to implement better food safety; however,
the underlying infrastructure behind Food Safety
Laws now on the goods is ensuring safety
for a dying mode of agriculture that cannot
sustain itself in our emerging world
of return to sustainable living practices.
RELATED PLANT YOUR DREAM BLOG
COMTEMPTIBLE LEAFY GREEN MANAGEMENT AGREEMENT
NEEDS TO BE PUSHED BACK TODAY!
Deadline is July 28, 2011!!!!
http://curezone.com/blogs/fm.asp?i=1839202
CAROLYN LOCKHEAD ARTICLE
RELATED TO THE LEAFY GREEN MANAGEMENT AGREEMENT
FROM THE SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE
July 13, 2009
In the verdant farmland surrounding Monterey Bay, a national marine sanctuary and one of the world's biological jewels, scorched-earth strategies are being imposed on hundreds of thousands of acres in the quest for an antiseptic field of greens. And the scheme is about to go national.
Invisible to a public that sees only the headlines of the latest food-safety scare - spinach, peppers and now cookie dough - ponds are being poisoned and bulldozed. Vegetation harboring pollinators and filtering storm runoff is being cleared. Fences and poison baits line wildlife corridors. Birds, frogs, mice and deer - and anything that shelters them - are caught in a raging battle in the Salinas Valley against E. coli O157:H7, a lethal, food-borne bacteria.
In pending legislation and in proposed federal regulations, the push for food safety butts up against the movement toward biologically diverse farming methods, while evidence suggests that industrial agriculture may be the bigger culprit.
Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/07/12/MN0218DVJ8.DTL#ix...
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/07/12/MN0218DVJ8.DTL
LISTENING TO BARRY LOGAN
MICROFARMER WHO WAS SUCCESSFULLY
DRIVEN OUT OF MICROFARMING IN
AUGUST 2009
Hear him call on Big Ag and Food Safety
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8XvF3SKLxM8&feature=player_embedded
Small Farmer Warns “HR2749 Will Put Me Out of Business”
By Kimberly Hartke | Published: July 24, 2009
NOTE
THE JOHN TESTER AMENDMENT
TO S 510, THE FOOD SAFTY MODERNIZATION ACT,
HELPED A BIT, BUT WE ARE STILL IN A FOOD EMERGENCY
REGARDING THE FUTURE OF SMALL FARMERS
IF THE USDA, FDA, AND WHITE HOUSE
CONTINUE THEIR CURRENT STANCE
OF GE DEREGULATION, AND GMO FAVORED
AGRICULTURE
7:50 PM
July 30, 09
I first heard these words HAACP
a few days ago for the first time
in this article:
HR2749 (The Food Safety Enhancement Act of 2009) which is currently making its way rapidly through the House of Representative will put us out of business.
HR2749 calls for:
a yearly registration with the FDA with a $500 fee
full HACCP plan for every type of produce sold or processed, for us that mean one plan for the dairy, one one for cheese making, one for transporting and retailing at the market, one for the fruits and vegetables, and another one for the nuts
FDA approved methods by which crops are raised and harvested. The most likely outcome will be along the lines of the leafy green ordinance, scorched earth and exclusion of any wildlife.
http://hartkeisonline.com/2009/07/24/small-farmer-warns-hr2749-will-put-me-ou...
JOIN THE DIALOGUE ON SCIENCE,
ETHICS, AND FOOD ON FACEBOOK
http://www.facebook.com/groups/348831351129
JOIN THE BEET KEEPER HERE
TO SUPPORT OUR WORK
http://plantyourdream.net/?page_id=552
What????
Read this about Barry Logan of La Milpa
Organica Farm, a small farmer no longer
farming now.
EXCERPT FROM
THE HUFFINGTON POST BLOG
CHEWING ON FOOD SAFETY
October 6, 2010
What Washington knows about food has no ground from a beet's point of view. The cornerstone of authentic food safety is first of all, growing some of your own food, and second, having a personal relationship with the farmers growing the rest of your food. This is an ideal. How many of us live in places like San Diego where we can grow food 12 months of the year and get to know more than 100 local farmers by name?
At the bottom end of the scale of food growers are the micro farmers -- small food growers -- and everywhere now, from New York City to the West, people are returning to food growing. Micro farmers, in a truly healthy food safe economy need to be encouraged, yet currently they are falling between the cracks. For authentic food safety, we need more food growers, more gardeners and farmers, not less. We are being called to be a nation of gardeners. This is essential if we want to return to true food safety.
Micro farmers and gardeners growing on less than a few acres live by other codes. They grow food that is labor intensive. The 15% of people who still micro-farm are part of that tradition. Modern conventional food and its PR are ensuring a growing climate in America that is not good for small growers.
Take as an example the case of Barry Logan, who had a final harvest celebration September 18, 2010. Barry Logan, with the help of his live-in community, served San Diego for seven years with fresh food. I am talking about food that can turn health around. He sold food at three farmers' markets. His customers were his regulators. He had been running La Milpa Organica Farm as a social experiment, as an open university. He farmed on a small field, organically. His workers were from around the world. His customers became friends and he would invite them to the farm for potlucks and pizza each month. That life does not exist any more on that land.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/lesliex/chewing-on-food-safety-a-_b_750967.html
MORE BACKGROUND
AND INFO ABOUT KEEP THE BEET MEDIA STAR
THE WORLD'S FIRST TALKING BEET PLANT,
THE US CZARINA OF FOODS
She would like a position in the Office of Foods,
working for the new FDA and its revised
upcoming USDA Codex Alimentarius Commission
office.
MORE HERE
LATEST INFORMATION
3:29 pm
I called the USDA today.
I was please with the conversation.
ANTOINETTE.CARTER RECEIVES
INPUT ON THE LEAFY GREEN MANAGEMENT AGREEMENT
Antoinette.carter@AMS.USDA.gov
202.720.2491
THANKS TO TODD ATKINSON OF THE USDA
FOR SENDING ME THIS LINK TO THE DOCUMENT
AND FOR POINTING ME IN THE RIGHT DIRECTION
http://www.ams.usda.gov/AMSv1.0/getfile?dDocName=STELPRDC5090647
This conversation further showed me that we all live in
our own worlds and need real dialogue on Science, Ethics, and Food.
THIS IS MY OWN LETTER I WROTE TO THE USDA
ON THE FOOD DEMOCRACY NOW PETITION
UPDATE
3:22 pm
I CALLED AND SPOKE TO SOME
EMPLOYEES OF THE USDA TODAY
They were very helpful.
I do not believe the FDA is the enemy
or that Washington is the enemy.
This is the note I wrote
on the Petition site for
Food Democracy Now
I spent the day writing about this unexpectedly. This is a very important issue. I am sorry I just heard that this was coming up in the last few days. I have been studying and writing about this for a number of years.
I am in support of the USDA, and FDA working with us to protect local organic farmers. This is the basis of a strong agricultural and economic future for our nation.
As a consumer and a popular internet writer, I strongly oppose the National Leafy Green Marketing Agreement.
I do agree that this agreement, that I have read about for two years is not the way to handle food safety. It is contrary to the laws of nature.
That is why we are having problems with Food Safety in the first place.
You can read my Plant Your Dream Blog here:
http://plantyourdream.net/?p=2541
I called the USDA today and I appreciate that I was able to speak
to some helpful employees, one who guided me to the Original Document in the Federal Register.
I feel we all live in different worlds.
If we can sit down and enter into a authentic Dialogue on Science,
Ethics, and Food. We will get somewhere.
Get up the good job of wanting to do the right thing.
Let's talk more.
Here is the initial Blog I wrote today.
I appreciate many things that USDA does.
Leslie Goldman
Your Enchanted Gardener
PLANT YOUR DREAM BLOG
http://plantyourdream.net/?p=2541
I do believe that this is flawed
and we need to sit down and talk.
I stand by what I wrote here.
Leslie Goldman
Your Enchanted Gardener
3:32 pm
July 26, 2011
USDA
Information Hotline: (202) 720-2791
AND CALL NOW!
JULY 29, 2009 BEFORE THE DENNIS KUCINICH
HEARING THAT DISCUSSED LEAFY GREENS
WHERE TO WRITE AND WHO TO CALL