Canopy Roads of South Georgia

Peas @ Okra Paradise Farms 2012-04-15

Pick 'em and shell 'em:

Picture by Gretchen Quarterman for Okra Paradise Farms. Lowndes County, Georgia, 14 April 2012.

Picture by Gretchen Quarterman for Okra Paradise Farms, Lowndes County, Georgia, 15 April 2012.

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Planting Pickles

Does the jar grow around them?

Here's the video:

Planting Pickles
Video by John S. Quarterman of Gretchen Quarterman planting cucumbers
at Okra Paradise Farms, Lowndes County, Georgia, 16 April 2012.

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Planting taters at Okra Paradise Farms 2012 02 19

Terry Davis and Gretchen Quarterman cutting taters in half before planting. (Yes, that's my thumb.)

Here's a slideshow:

Both Roundup-Ready corn and Roundup are toxic to humans: scientific evidence

Professor Gilles-Eric Séralini put out a press release yesterday, NEW STUDY: Genetically Modified Corn Toxic to Humans,

“We were very much surprised by our findings. Until now, it has been thought almost impossible for Bt proteins to be toxic to human cells. Now further investigations have to be conducted to find out how these toxins impact the cells and if combinatorial effects with other compounds in the food and feed chain have to be taken into account,” says Gilles-Eric Séralini from the University of Caen, who supervised the experiments. “In conclusion, these experiments show that the risks of Bt toxins and of Roundup have been underestimated.”

The toxicity of the corn itself may have been a surprise, but not that of Roundup:

These findings are in accordance with several other investigations highlighting unexpected health risks associated with glyphosate preparations.

Previous studies, including ones by Dr. Séralini, already showed exposure to glysophate (the active ingredient in Roundup) to be "a risk factor for developing Non-Hodgkin lymphoma", and to be toxic to human umbilical, placental, and placental cells with a that "is far below agricultural recommendations and corresponds to low levels of residues in food or feed." In Argentina, Prof. Andrés Carrasco has demonstrated birth defects in amphibians and there is increasing evidence of human birth defects.

Regarding Monsanto's GM corn itself, we already knew it causes liver and kidney damage in rats (later reverified using Monsanto's own data), and chickens fed feed including Monsanto corn show abnormal gene expression.

Now we have even more hard evidence of the toxicity of Monsanto's GM corn and of Monsanto's Roundup. The journal article is available through Wiley online.

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Beautyberry flowers

Tiny white purplish flowers in a bunch:

Beautyberry (Callicarpa americana) at Okra Paradise Farms
by John S. Quarterman, Lowndes County, Georgia, 4 June 2008.

Growing along the stems of a green-smelling bush:

Broccoli, 17 November 2011

It's in there:

Broccoli and gardener:

Gretchen and the winter garden at Okra Paradise Farms

Gretchen explains it all at Okra Paradise Farms:

Gretchen Quarterman explains gardening at Okra Paradise Farms, 6 October 2011.
Video and pictures by John S. Quarterman.

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Banking sweet potatoes

Why would we want a doorway to a dirt pile?

Terry Davis and John S. Quarterman banking sweet potatoes at Okra Paradise Farms.
Pictures by John S. Quarterman, Lowndes County, Georgia, 25 August 2011.

Watch the slideshow and see:

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Peppers yellow, green, and red

Ready to make pepper jelly.

Picture by Gretchen Quarterman, Okra Paradise Farms, Lowndes County, Georgia, 7 August 2011.

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Sweet potato gnocchi and pie

What do you do with a sweet potato as big as your head?

Cook it into gnocchi: