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What's Happening?We're very sorry but we are full for the 2008 Season. Flower shares are still available here. If you want to be put on a waiting list for the 2009 season click here._____________________________________________ Stearns Farm CSA $20 Flower Bouquet gift certificateFor the 2008 season, we are pleased to be offering pick-your-own gift certificates for purchase. We are selling a package of three bouquets for $20. It includes an attractive gift card with 3 coupons. Each coupon entitles the user to pick a bouquet of 24 stems from July 15th until September 15th. They can insert the coupon in the tin can at the flower kiosk after they pick.This is a wonderful, beautiful and unique gift for many occasions such as the holidays, birthdays, anniversaries, as a thank you or just because. Consider it for your friends and family and help out Stearns Farm too. Click here for the Order Form. Don't delay. We have only 100 gift cards available. Global News'Dead Zones' Appear In Waters Worldwide — New Study Estimates More Than 400Fri 15 Aug 2008 7:55am By Joel Achenbach, Washington Post, August 15, 2008. "In the latest sign of trouble in the planet's chemistry, the number of oxygen-starved "dead zones" in coastal waters around the world has roughly doubled every decade since the 1960s, killing fish, crabs and massive amounts of marine life at the base of the food chain, according to a study released yesterday ... Low oxygen, known as hypoxia, is in significant measure a downstream effect of chemical fertilizers used in agriculture. Air pollution, including smog from automobiles, is another factor. The nitrogen from the fertilizer and the pollution feeds the growth of algae in coastal waters, particularly during summer." more here . . . Is Your Organic Food Really Organic? Thu 7 Aug 2008 9:59am By Jill Richardson, AlterNet. Aug 7, 2008. - Half of federally accredited organic certifiers recently audited were put on probation after foods were found with unacceptable pesticide levels. "... the USDA just announced Monday it was putting 15 out of 30 federally accredited organic certifiers they audited on probation, allowing them 12 months to make corrections or lose their accreditation. At the heart of the audit for several certifiers were imported foods and ingredients from other countries, including China." more here . . . More dairies go raw Mon 21 Jul 2008 10:14pm By Darry Madden, Boston Globe, February 23, 2008 - "Jill Ebbott, a holistic health counselor in Brookline, buys 8 gallons of unpasteurized milk a week for her household of three people, and she pours a splash in the bowls that her three dogs eat from. She says a year of drinking raw milk has cleared up her husband's allergies." "Massachusetts is among 28 states in which raw milk can be sold for human consumption, and in the past two years the number of dairies licensed to sell it here has gone from 12 to 23. Dairies are selling more raw milk than they were five years ago, according to the Northeast Organic Farming Association, which says it receives calls weekly from consumers trying to find it." more here . . . Why Our Food Waste May Be Our Greatest Asset Fri 18 Jul 2008 10:47am By Ruben Anderson, The Tyee. Posted July 17, 2008. "Composting is key to reducing waste costs, cutting global warming emissions, and increasing urban food security." http://www.alternet.org/environment/91732 more here . . . Cutting Out the Middlemen, Shoppers Buy Slices of Farms Fri 11 Jul 2008 8:20pm By SUSAN SAULNY, NY Times. "A growing numbers of people are skipping out on grocery stores and instead going right to the source by buying shares of farms — in essence hiring personal farmers, CSA farms." "[In the USA] there were fewer than 100 C. S. A. farms in the early 1990s, but in the last several years the numbers have grown to close to 1,500, according to academic experts who have followed the trend." — One of those 100 in 1990 was Stearns Organic Farm CSA. more here . . . Zapped! Irradiation and the Death of Food Wed 25 Jun 2008 6:24pm By Wenonah Hauter, Alternet, June 13, 2008. "In violation of their own safety protocols, including the 100-fold safety factor, the FDA has approved many foods for irradiation. Scientists have observed serious health problems in lab animals fed irradiated foods. Those include premature death, cancer, tumors, stillbirths, mutations, organ damage, immune system failure and stunted growth." http://alternet.org/environment/87713 more here . . . |  Farm NewsReaping dividends - Boston Globe article on local CSAsFri 15 Aug 2008 9:01am By Christina Pazzanese, Boston Globe, August 14, 2008. "Across the state, CSA programs appear to be thriving, said David Webber, farmers market coordinator for the state's Department of Agricultural Resources. 'What we've been seeing this year, the CSAs have sold out and most have a waiting list,' ... there are 68 CSAs listed with the state, and he estimates there could be as many as 91 in Massachusetts. 'We're seeing a lot of farms that were doing farmers markets are now doing CSAs,' he said, noting one of the first CSA farms in the country was launched in 1985 in Western Massachusetts, at Indian Line Farm in Great Barrington." more here . . . A Wild Ramble — learning about wild edible plants Wed 9 Jul 2008 9:42am Tuesday July 22nd, the Stearns Farm community will have the opportunity to experience something quite original. The Sudbury River Valley is home to over 100 species of edible wild plants, many of which are even more nutritious than their cultivated counterparts. Russ Cohen, expert forager and author of Wild Plants I Have Known...and Eaten, will be taking us on a two hour ramble through Stearns Farm and the adjacent woodlands to learn about more than two dozen species of edible wild plants. Pending favorable weather conditions, several edible mushroom species may be encountered as well. Keys to identifying each species will be provided, along with information on edible portions, seasons of availability and preparation methods. Russ will also give us general guidelines for safe and environmentally-responsible foraging. more here . . . The Harvest Festival Sunday, Sept 30th Sun 7 Oct 2007 12:00am A collage of photos from our 2007 Harvest Festival.Photos thanks to Claudia Gustafson. more here . . . sptest0  stearnsfarmcsa.org |
Revision 14. Last edited Sun 13 Jul 2008 11:26pm by TomYelton