On this last day of 2008.......

Caption: My Real=Whatever my mind will!

"The Greater Good" and "The Lesser Evil" are fundamentally one and the same.

As I look through the eyes of my reality, "my real", at the situations ongoing in our world, I see Palestine and Israel are once again at the edge of oblivion and here stands the U.S. and other countries around the world fundamentally taking sides.

Humans are Humans, only politics, religion, money, and power can coral us like cattle.

Taking sides is unnecessary and unethical in this situation. Please pray for all of our brothers and sister involved in this age old conflict, pray that they will realize that their Gods are one and the same and can not be defined by the pages in a book, F-16 fighter planes, or home made rockets.


I look at the world of agriculture and science and I see folks everywhere manipulating nature in wholly unnatural ways. I hear the argument that everything that man does to nature is manipulation, but that's not true, it's only nature. Gene guns, genetic modification, cloning, and other "advances" in science are not naturally programed modifications, more importantly if you can't see the danger of these actions at this point your either an idiot or a corporate or otherwise power obsessed shill, or an all out and full on "demon" in the fullest of metaphorical senses. If you honestly believe that we can't see through your lies and manipulation, you are only lying to yourself, we have 10,000 years of history on our side, you have perverted delusion on yours, we will be happy to wipe clean your dreams from the fundamental chalkboards of the world. Since I know my buddies at Monsanto are reading (yeah, we can see your IP), I'd like to send out a jolly Fuck You for New Years!

I look at our imploding world and U.S. economy and the behind the scenes power brokers and I see just that much more clearly just how "Evil" these puppeteers are. All I can say is that you will not win! 20,000 U.S. troops could never stand up to the calls for true "Change" that are coming, you will not tread on us, your plans are insufficiently proportioned compared to the population of revolutionaries which is growing and gaining momentum at this moment in time, particularly those revolutionaries hiding in the midst of the very organizations you will use to try and control "We the people"! We didn't fall for your corporate shill named Obama and his furthering of your agendas, even with his shiny packaging, industrial waste is still industrial waste. Your pushing of racial agendas in order to instill a sense of 1950's-60's type "race wars" has not divided us as humans and will not divide those of us who see our forever intertwined spiritual evolution.

In closing, my New Years Resolution is to continue to be the self sufficient, passionate, loving, revolutionary, Hillbilly, Redneck, Humanist that I am. I vow to continue to evolve in all facets of spiritual departmentalism, I vow to continue to stand up to the corporate powers that control our world and destroy our people and peace. I vow to never be tread upon by any circumstance or being! I vow to never be afraid of standing up for my belief systems and fighting for the natural evolution of man!

I vow to live "the real"!

Don't just espouse being a revolutionary, live it. Sometimes revolution isn't a choice, it is a necessity!

If you read this and it offends you, perhaps it's time to take a look in the mirror and wipe away the mental haze that obscures your view, you might find what you are looking for.

What comes around goes around and all will be set straight in the end.

In the words of Travis Meeks: I will not die born!

Edit: I forgot to add this earlier and after seeing my friends comments below, I thought I needed to add a Happy New Year to all my brothers and sisters! You guys are awesome!

Homegrown Goodness Messageboard News: Major anouncement from Tim Peters of Peters Seed Research

On January 1'st we will be announcing a major project involving Tim Peters of Peters Seed Research and his much lauded perennial grain projects. Tim has spent years on perinnializing grains of various types for use in sustainable agricultural practices and which could lead to many new revolutions and revelations in the future of feeding the world! Stay tuned to The Homegrown Goodness Message Board for more information!

Here is an article by the Seed Ambassadors about Tim, be sure to check it out!

Getting in touch with my inner Dionysis: Christmas Alchemy 2008

Kim and I have made our first steps into the world of mead making! Being as Christmas is all about alchemy, in all of its interpretations, we figured that Christmas day would make an excellent time to try our hand at fermenting some honey in order to make the age old beverage Mead.

We didn't get any pictures made of us making mead because we were covered in friggin' honey, we are messy kids after all, so the pictures of our homegrown fermenting vessels complete with airlocks will have to do.



We made the vessels out of some food grade buckets that we bought from the local bakery, we used a 13/16 size paddle bit to drill the hole for the drilled rubber stopper in the lid and for the hole at the bottom which fits the spigots (bought at the hardware store, replacements for Coleman water coolers) perfectly. Straightforward and cheap, the way we like things!

Our first batch of mead was made with 11 lbs of local honey (Timber and Wildflower) and a pound and a half of local pure maple syrup. We used yeast nutrient to speed up the process and a bit of acid blend as well. The yeast was KV-1116. The second batch was pure mead, 12 lbs of honey, same yeast and nutrients. They have been bubbling away since just a couple hours after we made them and are still going. The mead will set in the primary containers for two weeks and then will be moved over to a secondary set of buckets, with only stoppers and airlocks and no spigot where they will set for a further two weeks to complete fermentation, once the bubbling in the airlocks stops, the mead will be racked into a third set of buckets which only have spigots where they will age to maturity, bottling won't be a necessity as we will simply place the buckets in the spare fridge on the porch where we can chill them for later serving.

As this is our first attempt at brewing, we aren't to sure what to expect, but none the less are excited and really enjoyed ourselves making up this brew. I'm going to try to come across another gallon of honey and break up the next batch into five separate one gallon containers in order to experiment with fruit flavors (Melomel) and different yeasts so as to gain a better understanding of this brewing process.

I also placed another order for several more spigots, airlocks, stoppers, yeast nutrient, acid blend, and several yeasts, because if all goes well, we all know how I am and I'll be trying to ferment everything I can get my hands on. We were thinking about ordering some concentrates to play with as well, this will make for good practice at honing our new craft, time will tell. Of course in the future I want to make sure that where possible all of our ingredients can be sourced locally, particularly since at the moment the next few years will see us planting a small vineyard, an orchard and lots and lots of berries.

If nothing else, I think now is the time to be playing with this ancient art form as the future remains uncertain and the value of such a product in an underground economy and in bartering will become sky high in an uncertain economy and environment.

That is one big pile of shit!

By:Alan Reed Bishop
Bishop's Homegrown/Homegrown Goodness/Hip-Gnosis Seed Development





Ok, fair enough, to some the title might have been inappropriate, but since I spend so much time making sure to cultivate the freedom of my mind in a completely unhindered way, anyone who might be offended would just have to forgive me, besides, it's just a quote from one of the greatest movies/books of all time, Jurassic Park (have I ever mentioned that this was one of our first warnings about the danger of GMO's, Cloning, and in general tampering with nature).



Anyhow, Paul brought the next two bins for "The Wyrm" on Saturday, I was very glad to get those in and set up and ready to go in the next month, but I was getting concerned about obtaining feed stocks for the worms that would also make terrific fertilizer, fortunately the neighbors arrived right behind Paul with a dump truck full of cow manure! Paul and I went over and helped finish cleaning out the barn for about an hour which resulted in a second dump truck load of manure. It's now laid out in a windrow where it will compost for about a month before being fed (in any large quantity) to the worm heard. I'll also be adding more green compostable material to the heap to help fortify the nutrients and keep it limed pretty well to balance the pH.




I was going to try to find that particular still from Jurassic Park and spoof the pic with myself but I couldn't find it anywhere, so instead Paul and I took some picks, I made the comment that we should make the pics look like they aren't conceited (my mind works in mysterious ways) so we grabbed a pitch fork and threw some manure around, as it turned out, those probably looked goofier than just standing there with a big grin on our face, I thought I'd post them anyhow. I sent Paul home with three big soy bean seed bags full of manure for his herd as well.

http://www.caduceus.org/

For those like me who have an intense interest in the cultivation of not only food including vegetables and fruits in the garden but those that grow in orchards and vineyards as well and the wonderful spirits produced from these products, you would be well served to check out this new project by Maynard James Keenan.

I love it when my former life in creating music crosses over into my more recent endeavors in agriculture. A prime example is Caduceus cellars and Merkin vineyards owned by Maynard James Keenan (the lead singer of popular bands Tool and A Perfect Circle). Back when I was playing music (more often) Maynards two bands were hugely inspirational to me, so it is highly ironic that now that I have set foot into the world of agriculture in advanced systems, so too has Maynard (we did so at the same time as well it appears).

Though I myself have yet to try anything from Cadeuceus's catalog and do not yet have a vineyard planted, I do have an intense interest in planting a vineyard in the future and am very engaged in researching and preparing to make my own brews, be them wine, mead, or beer.

Weather you are an experienced brewer or a newbie, I am sure you will enjoy reading Maynard's blog on the Caduceus web site (It's Labeled Journal). If nothing else it bears looking at for the beautiful pictures of Merkin West.

Maynard seems to have an intense interest in several forms of agriculture as he recently branched out and purchased a small farmers market out in Cornville Arizona, I really wish we had more folks like this who could bring further attention to small bio-regions, intensive cultivation, and alternative means and methods.

A great blog dealing with the overthrow of modern agriculture by big ag!

If you enjoy the musings of Agrarian Grrl's Muse then be sure to check out the Daily Kos Diaries. Both of these blogs are terrific for keeping up with the ongoing war against small farmers and our revolution against our would be overlords. Check 'em out guys!

In the interest of self sufficient farmers, Independent thinkers, and fighters for true freedom and intellectualism I propose.....

That we the people of the soil reinterpret and represent in the truest sense of the phrase.....The Yeomen Farmer.





Now, before someone jumps the gun and pulls the trigger on their moral pistol, let me point out that yes, indeed, Thomas Jefferson was a conflicted man. Yes, Mr. Jefferson's idea of the Yeomen was a tiny bit convoluted, but you can not blame a man for the times in which he lived and the passion ("all men are created equal", the arguments over weather slavery would be legal or not) which he did attempt to pass into the declaration which consecrated and concreted this country. While Jefferson did indeed keep slaves and probably did little to work the land himself (at least in the capacity of working the entirety of his estates), he did have a good grasp on what would make our country great and did once make our country great, and I personally find myself identifying and agreeing with his doctrines more than those of any other founding father. Mr. Jefferson's United States of America would have been another animal completely from the concrete jungle and material obsessed land of mediocrity we now live in, that is of course if there weren't so many politicians so obsessed with the very material idealism of "power".

Of course in today's world of left and right, red and blue, and "special interest" groups it is popular to decry Thomas Jefferson and vilify him while singing the praises of Washington and then latter Jackson (our nation is obsessed with war after all and who better to personify this total lack of morality and respect than Mr. Jackson) and Lincoln. Nay, say those who would have you think of Jefferson as a less than stellar president for he greatly expanded the power of the president by purchasing the Louisiana Territory and ignored relations with the outside world in trade and barter. Aha, says I who realizes he did what he had to do to keep us out of a conflict between Britain and France that would surely destroy our young and "in debt" country, by purchasing the Louisiana territory he assured that we would have the assets we needed to produce everything we needed without any outside inputs while having an excess in order to trade for our wants! That my friends signifies three things, a man concerned with self sufficiency, a man convinced that each nation can and should take care of itself and communities and run an independent economy not reliant on outside inputs while also avoiding war and trading for wanted items at our leisure, and probably most importantly that this man should have been walking around with a wheelbarrow to hold his two incredibly large and proud testicles.

OK, so I digress, the Yeoman in my eyes has little to do with only the United States and instead should encompass the entirety of the global self sustainable farming movement. It is we who feed the world, we who tend the soil, we who save the seeds and ensure genetic diversity, we who are last to let go of the pockets of diversity and culture that we represent and who keep these delicate and time honored traditions alive, teach them to others, and pass them on, it is also we who are disconnected from and yet ever the more aware of the failings of our society and governments as a whole.

As we all are working towards the same goals, let us all take on the same name, regardless of nationality, political persuasion, skin color, or other polarizing and yet insignificant differences.

We are all the Yeomen, but we must redefine it's meaning and before we can do that we need to define what Yeomen has meant in days gone by, the best examples we can disertain are from Jefferson himself, regardless of whether we agree with his points or disagree we must first look at what he and those of his ilk believed about agriculture so as to re-imagine those ideas in the spirit of what we represent, as such here are some quotes in that spirit, here we go!

The Virtues of Agriculture

"Agriculture... is our wisest pursuit, because it will in the end contribute most to real wealth, good morals and happiness." --Thomas Jefferson to George Washington, 1787. ME 6:277

"The cultivators of the earth are the most virtuous citizens, and possess most of the amor patriae. Merchants are the least virtuous, and possess the least of the amor patriae." --Thomas Jefferson: Answers to de Meusnier Questions, 1786. ME 17:116

"Cultivators of the earth are the most valuable citizens. They are the most vigorous, the most independent, the most virtuous, and they are tied to their country and wedded to its liberty and interests by the most lasting bonds. As long, therefore, as they can find employment in this line, I would not convert them into mariners, artisans, or anything else." --Thomas Jefferson to John Jay, 1785. ME 5:94, Papers 8:426

"The pursuits of agriculture [are] the surest road to affluence and best preservative of morals." --Thomas Jefferson to John Blair, 1787. ME 6:272

"Those who labor in the earth are the chosen people of God, if ever He had a chosen people, whose breasts He has made his peculiar deposit for substantial and genuine virtue. It is the focus in which he keeps alive that sacred fire which otherwise might escape from the face of the earth. Corruption of morals in the mass of cultivators is a phenomenon of which no age nor nation has furnished an example." --Thomas Jefferson: Notes on Virginia Q.XIX, 1782. ME 2:229

"An industrious farmer occupies a more dignified place in the scale of beings, whether moral or political, than a lazy lounger, valuing himself on his family, too proud to work, and drawing out a miserable existence by eating on that surplus of other men's labor which is the sacred fund of the helpless poor." --Thomas Jefferson: Answers to de Meusnier Questions, 1786. ME 17:91

"Agriculture... is the first in utility, and ought to be the first in respect." --Thomas Jefferson to David Williams, 1803. ME 10:429

Advantages of Agriculture

"The wealth acquired by speculation and plunder, is fugacious in its nature, and fills society with the spirit of gambling. The moderate and sure income of husbandry begets permanent improvement, quiet life and orderly conduct, both public and private." --Thomas Jefferson to George Washington, 1787. ME 6:277

"Were I to indulge my own theory [on the expediency of encouraging our states to be commercial], I should wish them to practice neither commerce nor navigation, but to stand with respect to Europe precisely on the footing of China. We should thus avoid wars and all our citizens would be husbandmen. Whenever, indeed, our numbers should so increase as that our produce would overstock the markets of those nations who should come to seek it, the farmers must either employ the surplus of their time in manufactures, or the surplus of our hands must be employed in manufactures or in navigation. But that day would, I think, be distant, and we should long keep our workmen in Europe, while Europe should be drawing rough materials, and even subsistence from America. But this is theory only, and a theory which the servants of America are not at liberty to follow." --Thomas Jefferson to G. K. van Hogendorp, 1785. ME 5:183, Papers 8:633

"To remove as much as possible the occasions of making war, it might be better for us to abandon the ocean altogether, that being the element whereon we shall be principally exposed to jostle with other nations; to leave to others to bring what we shall want and to carry what we can spare. This would make us invulnerable to Europe by offering none of our property to their prize, and would turn all our citizens to the cultivation of the earth... It might be time enough to seek employment for them at sea when the land no longer offers it." --Thomas Jefferson: Notes on Virginia Q.XXII, 1782. ME 2:241

"It is essentially interesting to us to have shipping and seamen enough to carry our surplus produce to market; but beyond that, I do not think we are bound to give it encouragement by drawbacks or other premiums." --Thomas Jefferson to Benjamin Stoddart, 1809. ME 12:250

"The United States... will be more virtuous, more free and more happy employed in agriculture than as carriers or manufacturers. It is a truth, and a precious one for them, if they could be persuaded of it." --Thomas Jefferson to M. de Warville, 1786. ME 5:402

"With honesty and self-government for her portion, agriculture may abandon contentedly to others the fruits of commerce and corruption." --Thomas Jefferson to Henry Middleton, 1813. ME 13:203

"I think our governments will remain virtuous for many centuries as long as they are chiefly agricultural; and this will be as long as there shall be vacant lands in any part of America. When they get piled upon one another in large cities as in Europe, they will become corrupt as in Europe." --Thomas Jefferson to James Madison, 1787. Papers 12:442

"A prosperity built on the basis of agriculture is that which is most desirable to us, because to the efforts of labor it adds the efforts of a greater proportion of soil." --Thomas Jefferson: Circular to Consuls, 1792. ME 8:352

Ok, now that's out of the way, let us discuss what a Yeomen farmer should be?

I'd love to read your comments, and don't think that your excluded if you aren't from or living in the U.S., I only used Thomas Jefferson as an example because he was the easiest supporter of the Yeomen to find quotes by, don't think of this as a a nationalist idea as the Yeomen extends much beyond that and spans many continents and centuries worth of history.

Thus far here are my criteria:
-Self sufficient, producing more than you need, trading for your wants and or needs
-Any cultivator of the soil using self sufficient methods regardless of the size of allotment and or weather you actually own the allotment
-A creator of ones own destiny and reality
-Keeper of the culture and traditions of your people and region and lifestyle
-Seperate from and yet aware and interactive to a degree with society at large.

Please leave comments.

The Buckeye Institute Defends the Manna Storehouse

http://www.buckeyeinstitute.org/article/1284

Ran Across this after hearing an update today on the Alex Jones show and thought I would update everyone.

Columbus - The Buckeye Institute's 1851 Center for Constitutional Law today took legal action against the Ohio Department of Agriculture (ODA) and the Lorain County Health Department for violating the constitutional rights of John and Jacqueline Stowers of LaGrange, Ohio. The Stowers operate an organic food cooperative called Manna Storehouse. ODA and Lorain County Health Department agents forcefully raided their home and unlawfully seized the family's personal food supply, cell phones and personal computers. The legal center seeks to halt future similar raids. The complaint was filed in Lorain County Court of Common Pleas.

"The use of these police state tactics on a peaceful family is simply unacceptable," Buckeye Institute President David Hansen said. "Officers rushed into the Stowers' home with guns drawn and held the family - including ten young children - captive for six hours. This outrageous case of bureaucratic overreach must be addressed."

The Buckeye Institute argues the right to buy food directly from local farmers; distribute locally-grown food to neighbors; and pool resources to purchase food in bulk are rights that do not require a license. In addition, the right of peaceful citizens to be free from paramilitary police raids, searches and seizures is guaranteed under the Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution and Section 14, Article 1 of the Ohio Constitution.

"The Stowers' constitutional rights were violated over grass-fed cattle, pastured chickens and pesticide-free produce," Buckeye Institute 1851 Center of Constitutional Law Director Maurice Thompson said. "Ohioans do not need a government permission slip to run a family farm and co-op, and should not be subjected to raids when they do not have one. This legal action will ensure the ODA understands and respects Ohioans' rights."

On the morning of December 1, 2008, law enforcement officers forcefully entered the Stowers' residence, without first announcing they were police or stating the purpose of the visit. With guns drawn, officers swiftly and immediately moved to the upstairs of the home, finding ten children in the middle of a home-schooling lesson. Officers then moved Jacqueline Stowers and her children to their living room where they were held for more than six hours.

Such are raids are beyond the scope of the purely administrative authority delegated to ODA and county health departments. In enforcing licensure laws, these agencies are only permitted to contract for routine enforcement services. Forceful raids and sweeping searches and seizures are not routine, and exceed the authority granted to ODA and county health departments.

The Buckeye Institute seeks an injunction against similar future raids, and a declaration that such licensure laws are unconstitutional as applied the Stowers and individuals like them.

There has never been a complaint filed against Manna Storehouse or the Stowers related to the quality or healthfulness of the food distributed through the co-op. The Buckeye Institute's legal center will defend the Stowers from any criminal charges related to the raid.

A copy of the complaint is available at http://www.buckeyeinstitute.org/stowers.pdf. A video of the Stowers describing the raid is available here.

The Buckeye Institute for Public Policy Solutions, together with its 1851 Center for Constitutional Law, is a nonpartisan research and educational institute devoted to individual liberty, economic freedom, personal responsibility and limited government in Ohio.

-30-
Here is a video update by the owners themselves

Seeds will be available again January 1'st

I momentarily took down the Hip-Gnosis Seed Development offer due to the holidays and the incredible amount of mail traffic circulating around this time of the year. Don't fear, I'll have seed available again come the first of the year, this time there won't be a Pay-Pal option and I want people to know that they do not have to feel obliged to donate for shipping and or packaging costs/research fees, the seeds are more important than that.

For those who have not taken a look at our seed list for the year, here you go, just remember that no seed will be shipped until after January fist.




Hip-Gnosis Seed Development List of Available Seed 2009
First a quick introduction to the Hip-Gnosis Seed Development Project:
Hip-Gnosis is a continuing endeavor to re-introduce old Open Pollinated food and flower crops as well as all new unique cultivars and seed mixes to the gardening public. Hip-Gnosis started out as an offshoot of our produce business called “Bishop’s Homegrown” and it is through “Bishop’s Homegrown” that we have introduced many of these new and old and unique crops to our farmer’s market customers with great success and acclaim. We continuously select (year round) for new adaptations, unique colors, and higher nutritional content as well as taste and performance in our seed crops. Many of our seeds are unique breeding lines that will allow the home gardener to select for what they like and need in their own unique micro-climate conditions as well as in taste and color. Hip-Gnosis Seed Development operates now as a unique collective of seed growers and plant breeders working and trading together on the homegrown goodness message board (http://alanbishop.proboards60.com) where many of our varieties can be traded and bartered for (both from us and from other members). As always, all of our seed is public domain property and as such should be traded and allowed to continue its regional expansions into new territories for new selections and strains. We openly encourage everyone to share these special seeds far and wide. Many of the genes present in our crosses have been selected and preserved for hundreds and sometimes thousands of years buy enterprising gardeners, farming cultures, and unique people all over the world. We hope to continue that trend with these seeds. These seeds are not for the taking by multi-national seed and bio-tech companies which we fight tooth and nail. More information on what we do can be found on our blog site at http://homegrowngoodness.blogspot.com along with links to more of our products, you can also check out and edit (after growing of course), the individual pages for our crops over at http://hipgnosisseed.wikispaces.com/ (still undergoing construction). Don’t be afraid to contact us for trades as we love to trade seeds and other natural goods! You can contact us at any time at:
Alan Bishop
5604 S. State Rd. 60
Pekin IN 47165
1-812-967-2073
bishopshomegrown@gmail.com
The short list.
This list of available cultivars encapsulates most of what we will be offering for fall 2008 and spring 2009. The list is a bit shorter this year than last years list due to the strange weather patterns and hardships of 2008. All seed has been grown “Eco-Logically” (read organic without certification) on our farm without the use of inorganic sprays or pesticides and for the most part using resources found within only 5 miles of our farm including compost, worm castings, and other natural fertilizers.
It is important to note that we do not sale seeds as our seeds do not necessarily meet the requirements of our state or national seed laws. Many of our seeds are made up of mixes, are segregating hybrid populations, or are otherwise intended for home garden use and experimentation. Packets may be requested for a $2.00 shiping cost per packet of seed or $20 for 13 listings. As such you are paying a small donation for our packaging and shipping costs and the seeds are simply a free gift. The co-operator seeds may only be ordered by registered members of the Homegrown Goodness message board unless otherwise noted (http://alanbishop.proboards60.com) for $3.00. Of course as always we love to trade, so contact us with your trades if you’re interested. We are particularly on the lookout this year for grains of all types including; wheat, rice, hull less oats, millet, quinoa, and amaranth.
Seeds can be ordered by mail with a check or well secured cash (and list of what you want) mailed to:
Alan Bishop
5604 S. State Rd. 60
Pekin IN 47165
If you have a pay pal account you can also pay pal us and send us a list of your wants at:
bishopshomegrown@gmail.com
You can also order through pay pal button at the bottom of this list using your credit card! We hope to hear from you and work with you in the near future!
Now on with the list!

Have You Got It Yet Tomato Seed Mix- All original mix of 5 “saladette” type tomatoes bred by Alan Bishop. 3-5 ounces. Including Red-Mer De Noms, Black-La Mer Noir, Black and Green Striped-La Luna, Yellow-Le Soliel, and a new Orange cultivar that is as of yet unnamed. Some are still segregating. All are delicious. Great for Farmers Markets and children. Collection named after a legendary song by Syd Barrett.

Astronomy Domine (F-3) breeding stock Sweet Corn- Continuing with work on the original Astronomy Domine project. A multicolored composite cross of over 55 sweet corn varieties. Very high in Anthocyanins. Red, Purple, White, Pink, Yellow, Orange, Chinmarked, and Speckled corn kernels. Early - mid season, good cold soil tolerance. Small and large ears. Lots of variations. Select for what you like the best! Named after an early Pink Floyd song.

Taggette Marigold Mix- A large mix of tall type marigolds of yesteryear, Terrific Fragrance, tall long stems, beautiful yellow, orange, and red/purple colors. Terrific for a small hedge in the garden. Nine varieties in one package.

Absinthe Tomato - Our unique green when ripe tomato is back for a second year. From a stabilized cross of Aunt Ruby’s German Green X Emerald Evergreen. Named after the famous drink favored by artists such as Picasso.

Ooompa Loompa Micro Tom mix- A mix of small/dwarf and highly rugouse tomatoes in yellow/orange and red. Some shaped like a roma. Most like standard small cherry tomatoes. Like a bonsai tomato. Great for balconies, ornamentals and hanging baskets.

Jeffersonian White/Yellow alpine strawberry mix-An interbreeding mix of white and yellow alpine strawberries. So much better than your average garden strawberries. Very sweet, beautiful, but small, about the size of a U.S. quarter. A crop that could be specialty marketed. Does great in field or in pots. White color isn’t as noticeable to bird pests. Highly recommended. Named after Thomas Jefferson who wrote of growing Alpine strawberries but was vexed by their small size.

Jack White Tomato - Another of our unique new OP tomatoes. Jack white is a stabilized cross between White Beauty and White Tomesol, gaining the love of white tomato haters everywhere for it’s unique and delicious taste when compared to other white tomatoes. Named after Jack White, lead singer of the White Stripes band.

Absinthe Green Fleshed Musk Melon Mix - A mass cross of 9 distinct green fleshed muskmelon types. Great taste, good looks, better than orange fleshed melons. A big hit at the farmers market! A favorite breakfast item here at Bishop’s Homegrown!

Yellow/Orange/Red/White Watermelon Mass Cross - A mass cross of mostly yellow, orange, and white watermelons. Too many varieties to name were planted in the field (close to 100). We saved seeds from the best in color, taste, and use! Check this out if you love watermelons!

Paste Tomato Mix - A mix of white, yellow, orange, pink, red, green when ripe, and purple paste (roma type) tomatoes. Great for farmers market. Create unique sauces and salsas. If you love canning tomatoes or fresh pasta sauce give these a go, you will not be disappointed but you will be surprised.

Robert Johnson Mississippi Delta Burley Tobacco- After wintersown.org helped us distribute these seeds last year we thought we would offer another chance at them this year. Even if you don’t smoke tobacco or use the leaves to make nicotine tea to protect your plants from pests you will love this plants growth habbit and profusion of beautiful pink, petunia like flowers. Give this a go in a flower bed or make a hedge out of it. Of course it’s great for smoking as well. Makes an excellent pipe or cigarette tobacco after curing. Named after the Mississippi blues man Robert Johnson.

The Pink Floyd Tomato-A segregating Selection of Brandy Boy hybrid in the F-6. Selecting for large (one lb or more) great tasting, non cracking fruit without green shoulders and with better production than Brandywine. This is a good start, give it a try if you love Brandywine but would like to improve on it!

High Voltage Hot Pepper Mix - A mix of some of the hottest peppers on earth. Habanera, Chilies, long frying types, poblanos and many more make up this unique mix. Great for pepper lovers the world over!

Easter Everywhere Sweet Pepper Mix-Frying and bell pepper types, a number of colors. Something for everyone. 15 varieties in one simple mix!

Rollercoaster Cherry Tomato Mix-Like cherry Tomatoes, then this mix is for you! 60 varieties in the mix. Different colors including white, yellow, orange, bi-color, green when ripe, red, black/purple. Pear and currants, wild types, lots of rarities! Plenty for everyone to enjoy!

Hoskins Pink/Yellow tomato mix-a segregating mix of two tomatoes and their hybrids grown by my great grandparents for years, saved together and allowed to cross for years. Lots of diversity, would be great to make selections from. Large 12-16 ounce tomatoes, some potato leaved others regular, all delicious.

Truckers Favorite Dent/sweet corn-Used for a roasting ear in the olden times. Quite good on the grill with butter and a pinch of sugar. Great for animal feed. Large white kernals, very large plants that make good fodder.

Rutgeurs Tomato (bishop's strain)- One of the many seed accessions given to me by my paternal grandmother who owned the farm that is now Bishop's Homegrown. Grown for years and selected by my grandmother and grandfather, Father and Mother, and now myself.

Co-Operator Seed Only: Co-operator seed is reserved for those who wish to grow out and return a portion of seed to Hip-Gnosis seed development at the end of the next season. These varieties are usually highly endangered or need to be multiplied before being offered to the general public

Kculli Corn - The most ancient of domesticated corns. Deep violet purple kernels. Hard to classify. Not a dent, not a flint, closer to a wax type. Traditionally farmed in the Peruvian coastal areas over the past 8,000 years. Used to make Chicha Marada, a refreshing drink (and sometimes beer). Great for Chicha and for cornbread, also great for an animal feed. Very high anti-oxidant levels. Must be a registered Homegrown Goodness member to apply.

Le Fee Verde and October Rust Colored Cottons - A mass cross of 9 unique varieties of colored cottons ranging the gamut from pastel to olive green and bronze to near red brown. Ancient Peruvian cottons, southern slave heirlooms, Native American selections, Egyptian cottons. Beautiful hibiscus type flowers in a rainbow of colors. Great for ornamental growth. Must be a registered Homegrown Goodness member to apply.

We do accept money orders, checks and well concealed cash as well sent to
Alan Bishop
5604 S. State Rd. 60
Pekin IN 47165

Vilsack to be Obama's Secretary of Agriculture!

Sometimes Change is not Change at all, in this case I've been proven right about my feelings towards Obama and his administration. I was going to write a long article about this guy but Agrarian girl has beaten me to it and done so with more class than I possibly can muster, please check it out here.

April Gallup: 9/11 victim moves forward with legal action.

Finally a victim of 9/11 is moving forward with conspiracy/complacency charges against the people who very well know they were at fault in this incident.

Retired army officer April Gallup is suing Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld and former US Air Force General Richard Myers who was head of the Joint Chiefs at the time of the 9/11 attacks along with ten John Does who were alledgedly connected to the attacks.

I urge you to check out this article, do some research, and please help keep this in the limelight on the internet as we know that no major media is going to cover this story, if this case can keep from being dismissed and moves to the dicovery stage the totalitarian government that we are living under will no longer be able to scare us and rape us of rights and liberties because the U.S. people will for the first time as a majority stand up against these tyrants and begin questioning all of their policies, including the current economic collapse.

Please keep this in the limelight for the safety of this woman and our country, it is not entirely impossible that she has just risked her own life, do not let what happened to Gary Webb happen to her.

The next piece of the puzzle falls into place, prepare for what is coming my friends.

I've been reading with much interest over the past few months about the interweaving of Millitary Authority with that of public law enforcement. Most recently NorthCom made the mistake of revealing that for the first time since the civil war that there would be active millitary on U.S. soil with access to both lethal and non-lethal weapons which will be used int he event of a "terrorist" attack, natural disaster, and to quell civil disorder, yeah, that's right, weapons and millitary authority used on U.S. Citizens.

The first reports mentioned one brigade, but more recently 20,000 troops have been announced as a pressence in the U.S. by the year 2011. Yesterday California saw the first of these troops hit the streets in a "Training Excersize" with the California Highway Patrol, complete with military law enforcement officers and vehicles stationed at so called "check points".

Today a new article appeared on the Army Study Institutes web-site detailing this military presence. You can read that article Here or go Here to get the gist of what is being said.

There is a reason that The Posse Comitatus Act exists , this is why.

I am telling you America, something big is coming, we have watched our rights be eroded long enough, we have seen our economy sunk by the same big business men who want control and run our government, and we have been scared into beccoming docile little sheep by way of "terrorism".

Please pass this around the net, get it out in the open, there is so much happening right now, we need to stand up to this, to fight for what our founding fathers stood for.

Welcome to New Amerika.

World Wide Garden Seeds.....American Gardener from The Homegrown Goodness Message Board is onto something big!

One last post for the day can never hurt anything.

Perhaps you have been following the posts by American Gardener over at The Homegrown Goodness Messageboard detailing the start up of his future business and his current seed trade list. What can one say other than that Dave is a pretty amazing guy and has an excellent collection of seeds that he loves to share with the world, the next best thing that could happen to a great guy like Dave........Have him run a seed company for gardeners and by gardeners.

Recently Dave started a blog about this project at World Wide Garden Seeds where he details what he is working towards as well as how he plans to accomplish his goals, he asks for critique from other bloggers and commenters out there and I'm sure he would love to hear from you. I plan to get more involved in his project shortly myself and wanted to help to spread the word to others out there regarding what my buddy is up to.

Be sure and check it out!

Apparently I'm an "Evildoer"!

I love it when folks make ill-informed and irrational comments on the internet that only open them up for the dissection of the blogging community at large.

The jist of this post is that I've been away from the blog for a few days and as such have not done the normal and required amount of reading and commenting on other blogs around the net and as such had no idea that such a commotion had been made about the Seed Growers Network that Patrick has blogged about here in recent weeks.

When I first announced that I was trading seeds for the year and/or accepting donations for research and postage the Agricultural Biodiversity Weblog chronicled our work and promoted us at this location , promotion and encouragement which I greatly appreciated and I thought could help us build upon our work of spreading bio-diversity.

Anyhow, imagine my suprise when I went web-surfing today and came across this at the Agricultural Biodiversity web log.

Apparently after doing a bit of research Cassandra was replying to that same bit of promotion Agricultural Biodiversity gave my organization and the Seed Growers Network a little while back and as such this is the reason that the word "HOMEGROWN" was particularly singled out and implicitely laid out as though it was some kind of a terrorist organization.


Below is the full text of Cassandra's post in bold letters:

Cassandra 12.12.08 at 1:09 am

I take the time to read many, many articles on Internet Seed Sales. In most cases I am disgusted with peoples lack of knowledge as to what happens when you go searching for seeds in the “HOME GROWN” category.

There are several internet garden club forums that encourage the members to sell or “trade” their seeds to each others. In my opinion these people should be put in prison. There are no limitations on these sites as to what or to where these seeds can be sold or “traded”.

If I could bring myself to be an “evil” person I would offer tons of my “HOMEGROWN” seeds to them and even ship them for free. That way I could get even with all the idiots that are happily transporting their “noxious” weed seeds along with their lovely and so prized Pansy seeds.

It’s time for the United States Dept of Agriculture to step up to the bat and start fining these idiots that are polluting the earth with weeds, among other things.

How about the lady that bought four trees off of a seller on that four “****” letter internet auction site, lovely trees they were. Nice full rootball with plenty of dirt still attached. Little did she know that she was also buying an entire family of “Fire Ants” . Have you ever tried to rid your property of “Fire Ants”?

In consideration of the fact that I live in a county that has ONE THOUSAND, (1000) Napweed seeds per square inch of land I would never consider sharing seeds and or plants with anyone .

I have my doubts that my state is the only one with infestations of noxious weeds and absolutely know that ignorant people are spreading their noxious weeds from state to state through the mail.

So if your truly interested in some “AWESOME” Dahlia seeds, they have been in my family for generations please just ask me for them. Be prepared to have your request denied. I don’t even know you and care more about the wellness of your state and property than you do.

Anyhow, being one of many keepers of the flame of Bio-Diversity, the seed saving and seed trading movement, an independent plant breeder, a lover of the natural world and a patriot, I decided it would be time to fight fire with fire and made the following remark:



What cassandra fails to realize is that the USDA is more responsible for contaimination of food and animal crops by unwanted pests and consequences than any single one of us many seed traders, home gardeners, and plant breeders out there. Surely Cassandra does not realize the importance of the work that we do in trading these seeds back and forth between one another and increasing the dwindling bio-diversity left on this planet.

The issue at hand that she brings up is the movement of weed seeds and pests such as fire ants from place to place, but this is by no means the exclusive fault of seed traders, such movement of species has happened all across the globe since the dawn of time when the first man realized that he had something that might be of value to someone down the road. Plants, Animals, and Disease are all adaptable in some form or another and all lend to bio-diversity which is why many can adapt to adverse environments, however, as an example, fire ants will not be finding themselves living in northern latitudes at any point in the near future (excluding global warming which would bring them here without any help anyhow) due to the biology of their organism. It’s rather interesting how nature creates barriers and tends to be able to intricately balance her systems.

This plea for help to the USDA that Cassandra makes is completely misinformed and reeks of propaganda by big ag and/or GMO advocates who use the USDA as their lapdog. Sure it’s OK to put GMO pollutants into pollen which flows freely, but invasive weeds? I mean, to me that’s a dead give away of her uninformed stance on the state of seed trade and her implied view that the word “HOMEGROWN’ has some kind of evil intent; perhaps she is trying to make the case that we are Bio-Terrorists? We are preventers of bio-terror if we are anything, we are keeping the food supply clean, the environment catered to, and the hopes and dreams of humanity alive and well, as Willie Wonka said “We are the music makers, we are the dreamers of the dreams!”.

Granted, sure your going to get some noxious weeds sent in a seed trade from time to time and yes there is a such thing as the White list which labels invasive species which are not to cross into or out of the USA, but in all truth, in all honesty let us take a look at our situation.

In agriculture (keep in mind this is not wildcrafting or hunter-gatherer society we are speaking of here) there is not a single plant growing in your garden that is not in some way either foreign and or invasive. Agriculture in and of itself, even sustainable agriculture, is an invasive operation regardless of how it is looked at and how much stewardship and biodiversity is involved, it’s just a matter of dampening just how invasive the operation is, one could argue even that humans are an invasive species, but I doubt that anyone wants or needs to have that argument since it is almost as irelevent as Casandra’s case above is. In the United States for example, everyone has a lawn growing in domestic grass, the problem is, this in and of itself is an invasive species, a noxious and chemical loving, health endangering weed if you will, most of our native grasses and prarie grasses have been killed out by way of such varieties, but I am willing to bet that Cassandra has a lawn and isn’t any time soon going to take the pro-active approach of hand weeding the lawn of all of that useless grass in order to replace is with native species, this makes Cassandra a hypocrite. How many tomato seedlings do you have pop up in your garden every year? How many of those produce fruit which is actually of use and or any meritable quality? I don’t like tomatoes, the foliage is poison, they are highly invasive, to me that makes them a noxious weed. Perhaps Cassandra would like us to stop growing anything that self replicates where it either A is not wanted and or B is not expected, this list would include nearly all garden plants, what then shall we eat. How many weeds do you have in your garden that you do not see in the surrounding un-tampered area? All of which are invasive. Perhaps Cassandra likes blackberries, if so, then once again she will be proving my point, the Burbank blackberry is one of the most invasive species alive on earth today and yet it’s population is both reviled by land owners and praised by wildlife enthusiasts, if the Burbank blackberry did not exist there would be little shelter left in the forests across the country due to the over abundance of logging operations and inability of decidious forrests to quickly regrow, surely leading to a demise in many creatures who’s very existence depends on the berries in some form or another.

Maybe Cassandra should lobby the USDA to put strict controls on migrating birds which spread seed via excrement all accros the globe? Surely those birds are doing more harm than we are. Perhaps Cassandra would like to have a limit on the number of deer and other mammals moving these foreign seeds across the globe.

The truth is, it was going on long before us evildoer seed traders came along to help increase bio-diversity and keep people like Cassandra well fed, and it will go on long after we are gone. Nature has this amazing ability to regulate itself. If you don’t believe me then please, for your own sake open your eyes and look at the natural world, maybe you should take a moment to read about the chaos theory.

Now if you do want to talk about what is dangerous in seed trading, then yes the conversation can be had, but that conversation is based more on seed that is commercialized and treated with any number of toxic substances, tainted with GMO’s, and generally disproportionately bred for big ag compared to those concerned with self sustainability and the feeding of ones family and community.

In closing, I would like to state to Cassandra, that I am openly challenging her to defeat me in this argument, a task which she is incapable of doing and a challenge I fell worthy of commitment too.

Cassandra, it is time for you to educate yourself on just exactly what truly is Evil, your attack upon my orginization is unfounded and completely unfounded and I will not stand for it.





Jail for seed trading? How ridiculous is that statement alone.
Perhaps Cassandra would like to reply, if so, here is her opporotunity.

LOL, Pigs We Get What Pigs Deserve!

By now you have already heard of this. I'm not going to say much other than that I find it truly hillarious. As Trent Reznor once said; "Pigs we get what pigs deserve."

The Kusa Seed Society

Thanks for the heads up to CanadaMike over at The Homegrown Goodness Message Board. I recently posted about my interest in open pollinated grains and the experiments that we would be attempting in the growing of these precious nutritional crops. Mike recently informed me of the existence of this seed society and their seed offers. It seems like a terrific organization though I have not had much time to check out the site for myself lately, I'll be making some time later this week and be ordering for sure.

Check them out here:

http://www.ancientcerealgrains.org

The Wym: Alchemical Response To Soil Fertility!

For those of you who have been following my work on the new Vermicomposting facility we are erecting here at Bishop's Homegrown I thought I would do a quick progress/explanation update complete with some new pictures.

I didn't post to much here or at the Homegrown Goodness Message Board last week because I was pretty busy getting everything put together in "The Wrym" by retrofitting the greenhouse with a tarp, the boxes with their appropriate equipment, and moving the old equipment and worms from their previous building. Now I'm getting closer to caught up and thought it would be good to share what has been accomplished thus far.



The boxes were first and foremost on the list of things to be done as they are the container which will hold most of the life force and fertility of the farm and The Wyrm itself. The boxes have been lined with plastic and each box leans slightly to one corner where there is a well made of perimeter drain pipe from which we can extract the "juice" from the bins using a plastic container with holes drilled in the bottom and a wire handle along with a long "plunger", the liquid fertilizer is then stored in five gallon buckets with air tight lids for use later or for further fortification.





I came across this method via my friend and co-conspirator in the project Paul Shellenberger who uses a similar method in his worm bins. I picked up on it for several reasons, one of which of course is the recirculation or re-use of water resources but a second was due to our agenda of building "The Wyrm" in a way that could take advantage of as many "Eco-Logical" fertility solutions as we could and since it seemed a waste to let this fortified water go to waste instead of putting it to use as a liquid fertilizer the logical solution was to find a way to harvest it. As I was telling Paul, this method of vermiculture actually has a lot in common with Japanese Bokashi composting. Several uses for the liquid immediately come to mind, two of which that incorporate further soil fertility Alchemy. The fist and most obvious is to use it in conjunction with green composting as a microbial inoculate and since the green compost is later used to feed worms, everything feeds back into the system with little to no loss and tons of gain in the form of soil fertility. The second use of course is fairly obvious; as either a pure or diluted liquid fertilizer, the solution would probably benefit from being filtered through a bucket (with some small holes in it for drainage) of dolomite lime to bring the pH further into balance. Third is the method that I am most interested in however as it once again combines another method of creating soil fertility with the Thermophilic/Vermiculture/Bokashi composting mentioned above. This method centers around a topic I've recently been throwing around here on this blog with much excitement; the much lauded Terra Preta/Bio-Char. The basic premise being to soak the Char that we make in the stoves (which heat The Wyrm house with wood that has been downed by storms on our property, completely self sustainable) in this nutrient solution for a period of time before adding the char material to the ground. Here is the much lauded nutrient solution (one of them anyhow) that I have been discussing in my theoretical approach to creating Terra Pretta! See, I told you this was Majik and Alchemy (turning one thing of little value into something of great value! Bokachar???)





Of course, such a method can only be truly sustainable if one is practicing water catchment, fortunately we foresaw the need for such a system and are hard at work on that at the moment with both myself and Paul on the hunt for plastic rain barrels. We have a lot of ideas about how to link the barrels together and create the water pressure that will be needed to move the water from the main bank of ten barrels that will be located at the back of The Wyrm (underneath a rain shed built from cedar posts and used pallets and gutters)to the inside of the worm where it can be stored in and extracted from a number of barrels with the lids cut out of them. This is a work in progress and much more will be posted on it later....






Now we turn to yet another element of The Wyrm.......Aquaculture, Aqua phonics, Vaquaculture, and yet again Bio-Char/Terra Pretta.

Thus far we have located two fish tanks. One a fifty gallon and another a ten, both of which will be put to good use, but a few more will be necessary to create the amount of amonia rich water we need to make this experiment worthwhile and a good demonstration of how this type of system can be used to create food fertility as well as protein via fish. For the time being the fish used will be gold fish, the system will run on a single pump pulling water out of the tank, dropping it through a bucket of Bio-Char and then circulating back into the tank. The bucket of char will basically function as a medium for beneficial bacterial growth to clean the water for the fish as well as turn the ammonia into nitrogen which will become bound to the char, the char will later be used to create soil fertility in our attempt to re-create Terra Preta.





We are still several bins, fish tanks, and barrels short of our needed amount to finish the project, but between Paul and I scrounging around it will only be a matter of time before we are where we need to be. Of course there is more to the floor plan of The Wyrm than what I have mentioned above, one can't forget the Thermophilic composting bins that we built this past summer or underplay their importance in this project and in their ability to create consumable material for the composting worms, we will have a small mixing and green composting area located out front of The Wyrm and inside of The Wyrm as well, along with a sorting area, and a wash basin made from a barrel and an old fish tank stand.


As you can tell already there are many facets to this project and we still have a lot of work to do. I anticipate that the project will be 100% finished up come March or so in regards to creating soil fertility, there are however additional ideas I would like to implement in coming years which I will detail later.

Of course the Homegrown Worm Harvester, which we detailed in an earlier post, made the trip too and has been improved by removing the inside piece of 1/4" mesh and replacing the nearly worn out piece of 1/8" of mesh hardware cloth with a new piece.





As Paul often says:

With "Worm" Regards,
Alan Reed Bishop

Playing Santa Clause!

One thing that I look forward to every year is the opportunity to portray Santa Claus for the town of New Pekin (my hometown) and for the Pierce Polk Vol Fire Dept. Once again this year (the fourth year) I have dawned that jolly red suit, wig and beard and delivered presents to the children of the town. Sunday night was the fire dept. Christmas party and Kim and I had visitors come along with us in the form of Kim's two cousins Marry and Kati (6 and 10 years old respectively), I really enjoyed getting to play Santa for them and for the other children at the department, so much so I wanted to upload a couple photos of doing so! Thursday night I will don the suit once more and visit the parking lot of the post office in town where a crowd of a couple of hundred children will wait their chance to see Santa in person, we will hand out bags of candy, peanuts, apples, oranges and so forth and will proceed with the leftovers to the senior citizens apartments on the other side of town where we will (the fire dept. and Santa of course!) distribute the leftovers to the elderly folks who really seem to love the chance to see Santa bringing them a gift! I'll make sure and upload some photos from that night as well!

Fall/Winter 2009 Tomato Crop Greenhouse Number 1.

Last night I finished picking all the tomatoes from Greenhouse number one (the larger of the two) including the green ones because they were at breaker stage and we were having some issues with our heating equipment. The wheelbarrow here was heaped up as of this morning but we sold close to 25 lbs today and I sent Kim's family quite a few for an early Christmas present. The other greenhouse should be finished out by the end of this week, our yield this year was astounding and I am very proud.

Not in our name by Saul Williams

Saul Williams is a constant source of inspiration to myself and Kim as well, recently I discovered this video on Youtube and thought I would share it with all.









Tomorrow is going to be a big day, were selling tomatoes like crazy and "The Wyrm" is coming along well, we will post some updates tomorrow!

The Wyrm: Metamorphosis (help me find fishtanks!)

LOL, there probably has never been a stranger blog post title. Anyhow, today I visited Paul's place once again, I had meant to take pictures but walked out and forgot my camera so that will have to wait until the next visit which probably won't be long from now. I am realizing that Paul is really good at engineering new ideas particularly concerning self sustainable soil production and so on, I am still impressed by his humble but efficient set up and some of the processes he has implemented. Today we discussed some new ideas regarding the fifty gallon water catchment barrels and how we can use a gravity feed to fill the barrels and move the water to where we want it at. Paul even had the foresight to make a very nice schematic of how the system might work, he is much more organized than I am.

Anyhow, I brought back the fifty gallon and ten gallon tank Paul was able to find for me for the Aquaphonics/Aqua-Char experiments and I got them into the greenhouse and set in their proper places for future work. This week I should be finishing up the tomatoes in the greenhouse so if you live local and want to try some really terrific orange tomatoes that are organically grown and delicious then give us a call 1-812-967-2073 or checkout Crossroads general store at the corner of Voles and Mann road in Pekin Indiana), once those tomatoes are out of the house then the worms will be moving in. I ordered two more lbs of worms which should arrive later this week.

I'll have to install the tarp, fill the bins with new bedding/food, move the worms from the old bin in the old worm house and get everything set into place, tomorrow I will add some further shelving to the building for storage/work materials and also to accommodate more fish tanks.

I also had a chance to stop by my friend Jeeps little general store "Crossroads" where we have been selling our produce the past few months. Jeep and a friend of his had just gotten back from a trip out to Nevada and showed me some cool pictures of the desert out there, very impressive stuff. Anyhow, Jeep had some news for me on the possibility of obtaining a new greenhouse which I would use as a cold frame, very exciting to say the least!

If you live locally, do you know of anyone with some used fish tanks to get rid of for cheap or free to a good home? Any help would be appreciated and I would gladly trade you produce during growing season for your help or a fish tank. Give me a call or e-mail: bishopshomegrown@gmail.com

Obama's Genetically Modified Cabinet

Over at Patrick's Bifurcated Carrots Blog Patrick recently posted the following:

Obama Set for Major GMO Promotion
December 4, 2008 · Filed Under Environment, Food and Drink, Getting Political, Seeds · 3 Comments

Jeffrey Smith (a well known opponent of GMOs in food) recently wrote this article for the Huffington Post, detailing recent appointments of GMO supporters on the Obama team.

All is not gloom and doom however. Obama has said he wants “stringent tests for environmental and health effects” and “stronger regulatory oversight guided by the best available scientific advice.” He also said he supports mandatory labelling of GMOs.

If Obama can transform the GM industry into one that sells products regulated and tested in a meaningful way with respect to their safety and environmental impact, and consumers can make informed decisions about what they buy and have the possibility to choose non-GMO products if they want, he will have my full support.

Now our task as consumers and bloggers will be to hold the Obama adminstration accountable to implementing these ideas in a meaningful way.

Now, I have to point out my issues with such support by the Obama team of any GMO acceptance and testing.

If this were the case (and I'm sure it is, take a look and do some research on members of his cabinet) just who exactly will provide the stringent testing of such GMO material? Is it going to be the companies involved in producing the material, will it be a GMO advocate? What exactly will they test for? The problem with testing GMO material is what exactly are we looking for specifically when we have no idea whatsoever of how two different sets of DNA may interact in an unnatrual environment.

My secondary issue. Let's pretend for a moment that we do live in a perfect world where we could do such specific testing and get an idea of what to expect, what then about the patenting of such technology in crops which are out crossers and could diffuse their genetic material into our open pollinated crops, giving the chem. companies all they need in order to obtain and own our crops. My opinion is the push for GMO material often has a lot more to do with this pirating of OP seed crops than it really has to do with any humanitarian act of good will towards the world. The very first seed coup d'etat on behalf of the big corporations and their owners.

So this is what it has come to.

So this is what it has come to?
A commentary about the recent food raid in Ohio.
Written By: Alan Reed Bishop of Hip-Gnosis Seed Development/Bishop's Homegrown

By now you have clearly probably already learned of the recent SWAT team invasion of a food coop in Ohio. If not then you really need to check out This Link . Now let me take a moment to express my feelings on this issue.

The times we live in are scary, really scary. Often times I am labeled a conspiracy theorist for not accepting the prevalent popular disinformation that mass media and governments spoon feed to us on a daily basis, as such I am sometimes considered a heretic, someone who does not accept the truth as it is ever apparent to those in society with a better grasp (in their mind) of what reality really is.

You know what; it's probably the truth that I am viewed in that light and I am fine with that, more importantly I am proud of that.

If you can really read mainstream news articles every day, watch the big three news reports, and believe a single word of what any war mongering American or European politician feeds to you, I truly feel sorry for you. If you believe for one second that the new sitting president is any different from the previous cluster fuck, I feel sorry for you. It is true to some extent that the greatest trick the devil ever pulled was convincing man he did not exist.

We live in a world undergoing rapid change. There is a force in this world that 95% of Americans and Europeans do not believe exists and that force is slowly eroding our human experience, we are in effect surfs and cattle, and I for one will not stand for it any longer.

Every day more and more people wake up to "The Real" that surrounds them and they shake off the diluted "American Dream" that we are drugged up to believe is real, everyday the elite moves closer to end game, and every day I come one step closer to ultimate truth, I'll let you decide what that truth is, this is our journey and each individual must choose his willingness to participate in these matters.

All one really needs to know is as follows:
There is very real evil in this world. Every coincidental moment you see or hear in the media is related. There are people in this world that own you and your family and are now trying to redeem the value. And most importantly, now is the time to stop this bullshit and take back what is ours. Revolution or enslavement? You make the choice. Stop the GMO's, Stop False Flag events, Stop the rape and pillage of our economies and governments, and stop the oncoming onslaught of fascism and totalitarianism. It is only you who can decide how to contribute to this growing contingency of society, a society that operates much like the one that Thomas Jefferson once dreamed of instead of the society of consumerism and complacency that prevails in America and Europe and all around the world today. Stop forcing your religion, stop forcing your bias, stop forcing your will, stop your racism, stop your bigotry, and look around at your world and tell me, come look me in the eyes, and tell me that there isn't something way bigger than you and I and our differences inhibiting our ability to live healthy and productive and meaningful lives. Bill Hicks once said "Life is a dream and we are an illusion of ourselves." To me, no words have ever rang truer.

Now, I know what some of you are thinking; "This makes a lot of sense, now I understand what he is all about, he is a crack pot conspiracy theorist." and that is fine by me. Like it our loathe it I don't really care. I am a strange breed of human that doesn't see the lines that divide countries, the colors that divide humans, the religions that divide people, the national pride the prevents each and every man, woman, and child from enjoying the whole of the human experience. I am a humanist, I am a spiritual being. I care. I have made a decision long ago to stand my ground against incidents like what we see above. I have made a decision to fight the war for the complete freedom of mankind from those very same kings and overlords who professed ownership over mankind throughout all of human history. I AM.

Now, food security can be an issue, but in a society where GMO corn openly is allowed to cross pollinate with my seed, in a world where a corporation can profess ownership over living beings (are you aware that people have already placed intellectual copyrights on human genes) and where presidents of industrial weapons companies can set in political office dictating policy while murdering liars can be presidential advisers, in a world where people live in fear of terrorist events set into place by governments decades ago and covered by plausible deniability,in a world where processed food and unnatural carcinogenic preservatives are feed to us daily, in a world where tap water is quickly becoming more dangerous than smoking, in a world where a sitting government can ignore the suffering of an entire city for days on end during a natural disaster, I don't believe for a second that the government has the right to interfere with a private farmer and his organization in a manner that is the equivalent of shutting down a Meth lab, and I will be damned if this country is going to let food go the way of the war on drugs( drugs are good for you as long as we can tax and control them) We will not have a food system based on this preposterous idea, we won't have a government based on tyranny, and we will stand up and fight for what is right in our world.

The truth is that I stand up for what I believe in. I speak my mind. I think for myself and question authority and no one will take that from me. If you don't stand up for these people, for the treatment they were given, you could be next and who will stand for you. The war is coming to your home, it is time to prepare. The economic collapse is the catalyst for what is coming, hold on to something, the shit is coming down and if you think your pocket book hurts now, wait and see how your ass feels in a year.

This will not end until we end it.

Your Friend in The Food Revolution and Human Evolution,
Alan Reed Bishop
Welcome to new AMERIKA!

Hip-Gnosis Seed Devlopment Grain Trials for 2009

One of the many areas that I think most market farmers and home gardeners miss out on is in growing grains. Often I think that people believe that grains can and should only be grown in giant acreage of mono-crop fields, but this is most certainly not the case, but the question becomes in all reality, how much space is required to produce a sufficient amount of grain for a small family, an individual, or even for possible sales at a farmers market. As with all crops it is risk versus reward. The trick is to find the easiest crops and varieties to bring to fruit with the least amount of worry in an organic system while also balancing the weight of yield and nutrition.

I know there are others already working on these crops, but as witnessed by the general lack of conversation of such crops on the Homegrown Goodness Message board, they are few and far between. Sure, everybody grows some kind of corn in their home or market garden, but how many grow Wheat, Spelt, Oats, Millet, Amaranth, and Quinoa.

If we want to be truly self sufficient we should be seriously considering these crops and the nutrition that they can and should provide us. Some of them in and of themselves are a complete source of nutrition. Value added grains if you will, those with complete sets of needed food values, such as Quinoa, which are also seldom seen as cash crops by the Chemical Companies who own the Seed Companies and as such represent little risk for GMO contamination or patent gene drift, should be a particularly good crop to further domesticate in the further Northern and Southern latitudes of our globe. These are the grains that shall help provide nutrition in states where malnutrition are the norm, including here in the US. In a time of economic instability around the globe these are the grains that should be in all of our gardens.

Further we can not overlook the importance of grains like wheat, how nice would it be to bake your own bread from your own wheat stock? How about hulless oats, easy to thresh, high nutrition quality, a multitude of uses. For those of us maintaining farm animals let us not pass up the importance of feeding locally, particularly from our own stock of grains, avoiding any and all contamination by synthetic pesticides, fungicides, and fertilizers. Millet should make a great addition to a poultry or game foul mix of your own.

What about rice? Can we grow rice in Indiana? If so what is a good variety, what culture should be used to bring it to fruit?

In 2009 I plan to work with a number of these important grains. As I said above, the question is what is the bare minimum amount of space to be devoted in a bio-intensive farming setting to mixed grain production in order to feed a family of three, livestock, and also allow some amount for sale and some seed for replanting. I have not in the past been nearly vigilant enough about writing down the results of my experiments and seed breeding, however this blog has brought me into the sphere of realizing my work is no longer only important to myself but to others as well, by realizing such a thing, I have inspired a new way of thinking, wherein I will better document my future experiments by utilizing the individual space I have here and on the message board for such projects and their documentation.

The Wyrm: Full Swing Project

As of Saturday my friend Paul will have delivered to me two further bins, between the five bins that he has delivered and the two I can make of cinder blocks I will have accumulated seven bins in total out of the fifteen that will be needed to finish the project. The tarp which will block the sun from the worm bins and keep the heat at a minimum has been delivered as well and is ready for installation into "The Wyrm" along with two 50 gallon barrels for water storage/catchment and another 50 gallon barrel that Paul picked up for us along with a couple of small fish tanks to be used for Aqua-Char experimentation, yes I just made up a word, Aqua-Char, remember it, it may be important.

Wednesday should mark the final day for Tomato production in the two greenhouses (we will have tomatoes through December, but production will be finished up by Wed.) and Thursday will be spent installing the tarp and moving the existing worms to the new bins along with the two lbs of worms I recently ordered from some new friends in Kentucky and installing the first two water catchment barrels, by this time I also plan to have acquired a further six barrels for water catchment. We have also purchased the plastic and the PVC to line the bins with for compost tea recirculation and to also be used as a compost inoculate and fertilizer ingredient in Bio-Char.

All in all, things are moving along nicely. The fish will come in a bit later, big updates on all of this to come soon.

-Alan Reed Bishop/Bishop's Homegrown/Hip-Gnosis Seed Development

A Short Bio-Char Video

Here is a short Bio-Char video I found on youtube. It is interesting but not particularly informative in any way that may be useful. Two things in the video that I should point out. 1. It really seems that people are having a hard time realizing that char in and of itself is not at all a fertilizer, that fertilizer has to be applied to the ground or to the char so that the char can absorb and slow release it. 2. One of the speakers mentions something about growing bio-mass in order to make bio-char, I completely disagree with this idea in every way possible, it is akin to growing and using land that could be used for food production for bio-fuels. Now if you want to use agricultural residue, that is fine, but growing bio-mass just for bio-char seems to defeat the purpose in my opinion. Sometimes folks have to realize that they can't have their cake and eat it too.

The Wyrm, Aquaphonics, Aquaculture, Terra Preta

A lot of my thinking over the past couple of days has been based on inspiration I have gathered from a visit to my friend Paul Shellenburgers wormery and also viewing the Growing Power documentaries and reading about aquaphonics. When I was in high school we did some aquaphonics experiments and decided that the technology was best used for crops that require high amounts of nitrogen and little of other nutrients, however integrating verticle room in the greenhouse and the Wyrm and utilizing shelving and plastic as well as pvc pipe and a air pump I can make room for aquaphonics and the growth of high value, highly nutritive winter and spring greens, of course the fish will provide needed protein to my diet and the diet of my family.

Before I can reach this point I must first accumulate the capitol and resources to invest and to also finish up the ongoing "Wyrm" project and further work required for the chicken coop. However, while visiting Paul and seeing his vermicomposting setup, I noticed that he was using some fishtanks and utilizing gold fish and gravity fed water to bind the amonia/nitrate to pulp paper which would be fed to the worms and as such would up the nitrogen content of the castings themselves. I plan on doing the same in my system, but I also plan to integrate this technology into my Terra Preta hypothesis by setting up what would normaly be known as a aquaphonics system (utilizing plastic drums, pumps and pvc pipe, along with gold fish) but instead of growing plants I will be growing micro-organisms and soil fertility in charcoal. Once I finish the project I'll post pictures which will better explain my system.

Another project high on the list is water cachment, I recently found a great resource for used 50 gallon plastic drums which once contained carwash soap. The barrels are a resonably cheap price and will make excellent cachment containers for the greenhouse, the wyrm, chickens, and outside crops. More to come on this soon.