2 Corinthians 12: 9 And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness. Most gladly therefore will I rather glory in my infirmities, that the powers of Christ may rest upon me.
Wow, May 1st??? Happy May Ya'll!
Well it has certainly been a while since I have posted, wow, I didn't realize it has been so long. We stay so busy. I manage Amazon, Etsy, eBay and Facebook orders, I am an artist, baker and farmerette. Since my last posting I have made many sculptures, paintings and baked a thousand cookies and loaves of bread. Ron and I have both planted thousands of seeds, plants and pulled six trillion weeds. We have hatch a few hundred chicks and have sold hundreds of dozens of chicken and duck eggs. We have harvested fruit, vegetables, herbs and flowers for ourselves and our customers, as I type this my fingers are purple from picking about four pounds of mulberries this evening. Mulberry syrup coming soon folks! We have taken many hundred photographs and numerous videos that we'll be posting. Most will be unedited and even some will be mistakenly vertical (portrait instead of landscape... hint - Seminole Squash video).
I am here now to spend some time with you and let you know what's been going on at our Little Eden. So happy you are here. I WILL post more often as I have so many recipes, videos, photographs to share. Oh and we also set up our Farm Stand each week, weather permitting, in Panacea, Florida every Friday and Sunday afternoons from around 1-2 p.m. until 5 p.m.
I am actually creating a bit of time each week, usually on Friday and Sunday afternoons to bring my sketch pad and paints and enjoy creating a sketch or work on a painting. Super excited to get back into my love of drawing and painting. I have a Society6 site: https://society6.com/product/friends-tall-or-small-baby-elephant-sunflower-butterflies-art_printand here's my Etsy art site: https://www.etsy.com/shop/CountrySquirrelsRUS and hopefully a Fine Art Pixels site soon. Ron is getting back into leather working and I am super excited about sharing his work with you here. I stayed up until 3 a.m. this morning baking bread orders so I will sign off for today go check on baby goslings that are pipping out of their shells, go in the office/studio and prep a bit for tomorrow's orders, shower and off to bed, hopefully before midnight.....
May the Lord bless you and keep you safe.
I'll leave you with a video of Ron enjoying the afternoon a bit in the shade, playing musical cats - Happy Birthday to You song.
Ron and Annette Layton and the Gang Little Eden Heirloom Farm
Wake up America. Monsanto, Bayer, and others with their Roundup,
Atrazine and other deadly herbicides. Too much politics and money is
involved, the U.S. government is not
going to remove these from the store shelves but we can educate
ourselves and care enough to not use them. The same stores sell weed
eaters and lawn mowers, these just take a bit more effort on our part.
Is this dying man your brother, uncle, father, best friend? Is he you?
Why wait until death knocks close to home before we start to care?
Below is the link to the original post followed up with a copy and paste of the article.
Plaintiff Dewayne Johnson reacts after hearing the verdict to his case against Monsanto - AFP
A
jury has ordered the chemical giant Monsanto to pay a terminally ill
school groundskeeper $289 million (£226 million) in damages in the first
trial over claims that its Roundup weedkiller causes cancer.
Lee
Johnson, whose doctors didn’t think he’d live long enough to learn the
verdict, prevailed Friday in San Francisco state court after jurors
deliberated for three days.
The
trial was an important test of the evidence against Monsanto and will
serve as a template for litigating thousands of other claims over the
herbicide.
The
company immediately said it would appeal against the decision and tried
to reassure consumers - including those using Roundup in Britain - that
its weedkiller was safe.
Mr
Johnson was seeking $412 million in damages. Jurors awarded him $39
million for his losses and $250 million to punish the company after
finding it liable for a design defect and failing to warn of Roundup’s
risks. Monsanto said it will appeal.
Bottles of Roundup herbicide, a product of Monsanto Credit: Jeff Roberson/AP
Monsanto
vice president Scott Partridge told the Press Association: "Roundup has
been safe for four decades and will continue to be safe. There is no
credible scientific evidence that demonstrates otherwise.
"It
is completely and totally safe and the public should not be concerned
about this verdict... We will work through the legal process to see if
we can get the right result. The science is crystal clear."
If
the litigation generates large verdicts against Monsanto, it could have
a material impact on Bayer’s bottom line, said Chris Perrella, an
analyst for Bloomberg Intelligence.
Since
Roundup is ubiquitous in modern farming, there’s a “huge potential
liability,” though it’s very uncertain it will materialise, he said.
Bayer investors might not be aware of the risks because many analysts covering the company focus on pharmaceuticals, Mr Perrella said.
Glyphosate, the main ingredient in Roundup, was first approved for use in Monsanto’s weedkiller in 1974.
While
becoming the world’s most popular and widely used herbicide, the
question of whether it causes cancer has been hotly debated by
environmentalists, regulators, researchers and lawyers - even
as Monsanto has insisted for decades that it’s perfectly safe.
Monsanto Vice President Scott Partridge speaks during a press conference after the ruling Credit: JOSH EDELSON/AFP
Working
for a school district in Benicia, California, about 40 miles east of
San Francisco, Mr Johnson mixed and sprayed hundreds of gallons of
Roundup.
He
was diagnosed with cancer in 2014, and in July 2017, after chemotherapy
and other treatments, his oncologist gave him six months to live.
Mr
Johnson’s lawyers, relying on his testimony and expert witnesses,
argued that his exposure, including accidents that got him soaked from
head to toe in Roundup, caused his non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma.
Monsanto scientists
knew of the cancer risk posed by Roundup as far back as the 1970s, but
failed to inform the public and instead engaged in a "deliberate effort
to distort the truth” as the weedkiller generated hefty returns, Mr
Johnson’s lawyer, Brent Wisner, told the jury in closing arguments on
Tuesday.
“Monsanto made
a choice to not put a cancer warning on the label,” Mr Wisner said.
“That is a choice that shows their reckless disregard for human health,
and today is their day of reckoning.”
DeWayne Johnson hugs one of his lawyers after hearing the verdict Credit: JOSH EDELSON/AFP
Monsanto argued
that the type of cancer contracted by Mr Johnson takes many years to
form. The short period between his first exposure in 2012 and his
diagnosis in 2014 made any connection between his contact and the
disease impossible, according to the company.
Monsanto lawyer
George Lombardi insisted that science had found no connection between
Roundup and non-Hodgkin lymphoma. He noted that the US Environmental
Protection Agency continued to assert - after repeated assessments -
that Roundup was safe.
In fact, Mr Lombardi told the jury, no one had yet figured out what causes the disease.
“We
don’t know why people get mycosis fungoides,” he said, using the name
of the specific form of cancer Mr Johnson has. "It would be nice if we
could tell people why they get it, but we can’t.”
Thank you to our fallen heroes for helping keep this land of ours free, may we not take it for granted.
Today's Alberto brings back memories of another Alberto:
Tropical Storm Alberto, July 1994
Landfall near Destin, Florida
I
lived in a small farming community in the middle of Georgia,
Oglethorpe, Georgia, about 160 miles, which is 3 1/2 hours from
Crawfordville give or take following a few tractors and/or poultry
trucks. When rushing rain waters flooded the Flint River and northern
area waterways making creeks and streams into raging rushing waters, a
neighboring town, Montezuma, just 8 or so short miles away was
flooded to rooftop levels in a time span of one hour when a dam broke
to the north. A few hundred yards from my home was a small creek not
more than three feet wide and about three feet deep could be heard
roaring, creating new paths through the trees cutting gullies in farm land and under commercial
poultry houses, drowning thousands of chickens.
Hundreds
of thousands in the larger cities were without running water due to
their water supply being contaminated. The breach of Lake Blackshear Dam
drained the lake sending even more water toward Albany, Georgia, where
more than 400 caskets were washed out of Oakview Cemetery.
Millions
of dollars were poured into the state. The National Guard took up
residence in Montezuma for a long time, helping rebuild the devastated
town. Some never rebuilt.
Dozens of lives were reported lost in Georgia and Alabama due to that Alberto.
Today
is another Alberto. Rain and wind but as far as the current reports,
a much less life changing Alberto, we are thankful.
Thanks
so much for supporting our Little Eden, giving us the opportunity to
do what we love. On the Farm front, we're busy pulling weeds, the
softer ground is making it a bit easier along with staking and tying
tomatoes, peppers, squash, cucumbers, melons, etc., keeping them off the
ground. All in all, they're loving this cooler weather.
Our Shiitake logs are enjoying this weather so we're harvesting extra mushrooms this week. You can order by sending us a Personal Message on Facebook, calling or texting us at 850/274-7690 or sending us an email at littleedenheirloomfarm@zoho.com.
Pick up here at the Farm at 1067 Lower Bridge Road. Order $20 or more and we'll deliver to the Crawfordville area (Closed Saturdays. Unavailable for Crawfordville delivery on Wednesdays.) The $20 minimum can also include various fruit, vegetables, herbs, baked goods, preserves, etc., send us an email and we'll respond with our current Fresh List.
Payment can be when delivered/picked up or if you want us to send you an invoice to pay with a credit/debit card. You can also send payment via PayPal using the Send Money to Friends and Family option.
Shiitake Mushrooms - 1/2 lb. bag - $7
If you have family or friends that may want to purchase, please send them this information. They can also pick up at Lake Ella Wednesday afternoons on the northwest side of the lake under the oak trees at the Organic Growers Market from 1ish p.m. - 5ish p.m. at 229 Lake Ella Drive, Tallahassee.
Thanks so much for supporting our Little Eden, giving us the opportunity to do what we love.
This
week's Farm photo sharing is a group of snapshots featuring a bit of
what goes into the feeding of our chickens to make them lay the tastiest
healthiest eggs. We take pride in the health and well being of our
birds; depending on their personalities, some even have names. Each is
part of the family, we spend hours each day caring for, tending,
feeding, cleaning their night pen, nest boxes, etc.
This set of
photographs shows details of our fodder growing system. Fodder is a
term used for growing microgreens for animal food. Along with the many
bugs, grubs and plants that gain their infamous fame of being called
weeds by growing in our gardens, we also grow a non gmo no corn
microgreen mix. If these seeds were only wheatgrass, people who juice
appreciate its healthfulness. Our mixture contains pea seeds, grain
seeds and flax seed making a healthier Omega-3 egg. All seeds are soaked
and grown with organic kelp meal, absorbing the many minerals and
nutrients kelp provides. Feeding livestock seeds that are either
sprouted or grown a little longer into a microgreen increases the
nutrient content of the feed. The increase will vary from grain to grain, increasing the
natural proteins, vitamins, mineral, enzymatic activity, omega 3’s,
amino acids, etc., stimulating the immune system of the animal.
Healthier
feed the organic, natural way makes for a happier hen and healthier
egg. We have a sign on our Farmers' Market table that says "Healthy
eggs from Happy Hens!" Folks seem to like the sign and a comment is
often made that they would like to buy "Happy Hen" eggs.
The last photograph shows two of our miniature chickens (Old English bantams) enjoying some of their fodder.
I have been playing around with a photograph collage program (gotta
love those free phone apps). Since it is more than seven photographs,
it's not a photograph per day per se but I love sharing some of the
things currently happening around our Little Eden. Each photograph is
numbered with details following. We are planning to keep this up so
you can take a peak around the Farm each week. Ron and I
both enjoy the art of photography so there is a lot to share, hope you
enjoy!
