The working name of HRDA

The Newsletter of Leicestershire Organic GroupMarch 2008

THE ORGANIC DEBATEby Carol Klein

THE optimists among us may havethought we were well on the wayto winning the organic battle. But re-cent events have re-ignited the debate.The Case Of The Tainted Manurebrought home just how dangerous theuse of chemicals can be, and howeasily the food chain can be contami-nated, even when the final link in thatchain is home-grown produce. Lastsummer, gardeners around the countrywere puzzled when they discovereddeformities in their vegetable crops,and then shocked to discover that thecontamination was traceable to thecow manure they had applied to en-courage growth. Working backwardsfrom the stacked manure, through thecows' guts and on to their bedding andgrazing, the culprit was identified asaminopyralid, a hormonal weedkillerfor grassland. The chemical could stayactive for two years or more, and thereis no antidote to put it right - this geniecould not be put back in the bottle.How ironic that an attempt to improvesoil quality brought with it such un-foreseen consequences.Such events underline that growingorganically means embracing a systemand brooks no compromises. It relies

on building up communities of fungi,flora and fauna in the soil, and anyinterruption or chemical interventionsets it back. It's not a question of beinghardcore; it's about having faith innature and natural processes.There were also challenges to the effi-cacy of organic growing from garden-ing experts last year, often couched interms of moving in with the chemicalsin a pre-emptive strike. We've beentold that if new gardeners are discour-aged by the lack of immediate successwith organic methods, it is better forthem to use chemicals than to give upaltogether. Again, it's all about doingbattle to keep disease and pests at bayby clouting them chemically; and ifthat means unforeseen damage isdone, well, as Donald Rumsfeld said,"stuff happens".Why can we not encourage each otherto have faith in Mother Earth? Puttingup with a few holes in your lettuce isinfinitely preferable to running therisk of consuming synthetic chemi-cals, however safe they are declared tobe by those who sell them.

The Guardian Weekend - January 2009Item supplied by Tony Clarke

TO US organic enthusiasts, andindeed to the majority of peo-ple in the developed world,“organic” implies wholesomefood, produced without the use ofchemicals, and as nature intended. Unfortunately, the word“organic” has a totally differentmeaning, and one which wasaround long before we hijacked it.To a chemist, organic refers tochemicals based on carbon. Infact, almost all chemicals contain-ing carbon, except for elementalcarbon, carbon dioxide and mon-oxide, and simple molecules suchas carbonates and bicarbonates,are classified as organic. From sug-ars to proteins, enzymes to vita-mins, drugs to agrochemicals, thevast majority are organic. In thechemical sense, all food is organicexcept for two essential ingredi-ents - water and salt. Almost allgarden and agricultural chemicalsexcept sodium chlorate weed-kill-er and lime are organic. Whether a chemical such as asugar or amino acid is extractedfrom a plant or synthesised fromelemental or artificial sources, it is

still an organic chemical. For rea-sons of “stereoisomerism” theymay be unnatural, for example,some molecules can exist in mir-ror-image variants, and the left-handed molecule from a plantmay be biologically active or havenutritional value, while the syn-thetic right-handed form may not.Yet they are still both organic. Water is chemically about asinorganic as you can get, contain-ing only hydrogen and oxygen.Ironically, natural spring waters,which tend to have a healthier im-age, differ from chemically purewater only by containing smallamounts or inorganic compoundssuch as minerals. The soil in which we grow ourfood, in the case of a good garden-er anyway, naturally contains or-ganic matter, but the bulk of it(nearly all in intensive agriculture)is inorganic. Even the vital miner-als and trace elements are inor-ganic. So perhaps we ought to becalling our philosophy somethingdifferent to organic. Any sugges-tions?

WHAT’S IN A WORD?by David Bozon

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EVERY HOME SHOULD HAVE ONEby Carol Homa

I am about to embark on a newventure for the garden... Some ofyou may have already got one ofthese but I will tell you about mineand by next issue I hope to be ableto tell you how I have got on (andmeantime if anyone has one pleasetell me how you are getting on!) I have purchased for£10 from Blackwall’s, aBokashi kitchen com-poster system which Ithink is intended to bekept indoors For many years I havehad a compost in vary-ing containers at the bot-tom of the garden(currently the big blackplastic “daleks” as thefoxes kept digging upthe carpet coveredmound and strewing half rotted veground the garden) but although wedon’t eat much meat or fish it hasalways seemed a shame not to beable to put that on the compost.And this is what the literature sug-gests I can do with this new com-poster. It consist of 2 rectangular plasticlidded buckets about 18 incheshigh with a dividing holey layerabove a small reservoir to which Ifit a tap. I am to put my leftovers in

the bin and then sprinkle on the“Bokashi” a Japanese term mean-ing “fermented organic matter”which is a bran based material thathas been fermented with EM(friendly bacteria) and dried forstorage, and supplied in a thickbrown paper bag. I have to press

down firmly the mushwith the enclosed plastic“squasher which lookslike a plasterer’s trowelto extract air and keepthe lid shut at all times.There will apparently beliquid produced which Ishould drain off and usediluted to water plantsas it is brimming withbeneficial microbes orundiluted put down mydrains to prevent algae

build-up and control odours… When the bucket is full I am toleave it 2 weeks to allow the fer-mentation process to start and startfilling the second bucket. At theend of the 2-week fermentation Ican either add the contents to mycompost or spread it 1 inch deep ina trench in the garden but not toonear plant and tree roots as it isquite acidic at first. So thus instructed I start tomor-row!

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May 10th Visit to RyecroftFarm, Barrow on Soar. FromLeicester, take the A6 toLoughborough. Ignore thering-road and head for thetown-centre. Turn right ontothe A60 towards Nottingham,then after crossing the RiverSoar, take the B676 to Melton.Take the 1st right to Barrow,and Ryecroft farm is on theright after about a mile. Meetat 1.00pm.To get to Shepshed Watermill, retrace your route to the A6 in Loughboroughand turn right. Go through the town centre on the A6 towards Derby. 2 milesfrom the edge of the town at Hathern, turn left at the traffic lights to Shepshedand go for about 2 miles. Immediately before the M1 bridge, the Watermill is onthe right. Refreshments are available at the Watermill.July 18th Visit to Doddington Hall gardens. Doddington Hall is five milesWest of Lincoln on the B1190. It is signposted from the A46 Newark toLincoln Road. It is also signposted from the A57 between the A1 andLincoln. For those with sat-navs, the postcode is LN6 4RU. Doddington Hallis a much loved family home and has never been sold since it was built in1595 by Robert Smythson, one of England’s foremost Elizabethan archi-tects. The mellow brick exterior with its walled courtyards has barelychanged while the interior was redecorated in Georgian times in a light andelegant style. The original walled courtyards now enclose fabulous formalgardens whilst beyond the walls you will discover romantic wild gardens andnature walks. Over 400 years of unbroken family occupation has resulted infascinating collections of furniture, paintings, ceramics, textiles, porcelain,household objects along with a wealth of amusing stories. A visit to Dodding-ton offers a unique insight into family life through the ages and the challeng-es of looking after such a house in the 21st Century. Meet 11.00am atDoddington.Evening Walk, Friday June 19th at 7.15 for prompt 7.30 start. This willstart from the house of Arthur and Val Needham in Anstey, and will includeCropston Reservoir and the edge of Bradgate Park. Meet at 131 CropstonRoad, Anstey. Approaching Anstey from Leicester via Anstey Lane, turnright at the roundabout in the village centre onto Cropston Road. No 131 ison the right, 2 doors before Brookside Nursery. Park in Link Road opposite,as Cropston Road is quite busy. Arthur and Val extend an invitation tomembers to arrive a little earlier and visit their garden. Light refreshmentswill be provided afterwards.

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TECHThe Newsletter is prepared using Serif PagePlus X3 software. Articles and other itemsmay be submitted as word processor files, preferably MS-Word, in RTF format if youuse another word processor, or as .pdf files if layout is to be preserved, on floppy disc,CD-R, or by e-mail to david.bozon@ntlworld.com. Photographs or illustrations maybe sent as JPEGs or any other popular format, but high-resolution files are notnecessary for the printing processes used. If you don’t have the technology, items ongood old-fashioned paper are just as welcome.Mail to David Bozon, 18 Ploughman’s Drive, Shepshed, Loughborough, Leics.LE12 9SG. Tel. 01509 827156.

HIDDEN EDENGardeners generally enjoy wandering around the garden centre,choosing plants and seeing the latest must-have gardening gadg-ets. How-ever, if you prefer to do your garden shopping at homevia your trusty computer, you should perhaps visit the website ofHidden Eden. This web-based mail-order company offers a widerange of plant, tools, outdoor leisure and bird-watching items, allconveniently delivered to your door.There is information from down-loadable fact-sheets, suggestionsfor jobs for the month, and various tips from the experts, and allorders over £100 have free delivery. Check outwww.hiddeneden.comInformation supplied by LOG member Wendy Harris

Osbaston Park,Sat. Aug 8th at2.00pm. HallLane, off theA447, in Osbas-ton. BetweenMarket Bosworthand NewboldVerdon. Map ref.SK425044.

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From the potting shed...As usual, we have arranged a varied Summer programme for you, with visitslocal and not so local, plus the traditional evening walk. The walk is in Junethis year, so there is no risk of running out of daylight! Organisers Arthur andVal Needham have included an invitation to arrive at their house a little earlierand see their garden. Following the very interesting talk in December onDexter cattle, speaker Mark Bowles is giving us the opportunity to see hisherd at Barrow on Soar, and this is combined with a visit to ShepshedWatermill. This was extensively restored a few years ago, and is open to thepublic about six days each year. We hope to see you at one or preferably bothof these venues. Osbaston Hall’s walled gardens are run by LOG memberFlic Rhodes, who will be giving us a guided tour. Doddington Hall is a littlefurther afield, so a bit of car-sharing would be a good idea.After a cold winter and two poor summers, let us hope we have some betterweather this year to enjoy our gardens, and the LOG visits.David Bozon - Editor

NEWS FROM GARDEN ORGANIC2009 ENDANGERED SEEDS APPEALGarden Organic is inviting donations to its appeal to save obscure varieties.“The British Isles has one of the richest garden heritages in the world. For years,scores of gardeners and small-holders have nurtured thousands of uniquevegetable varieties. In the last hundred years most of these varieties have allbut disappeared. Thousands more are under threat from climate change, lossof habitat, invasive alien species and the desire for ‘perfect’ vegetables. But wecan’t safeguard our nation’s traditional vegetables for future generations withoutadditional financial support – which is why we are asking you to make a donationtoday.”

Garden Organic at the Real Food Festival8-10 May, Earls Court 1, London.“Join us at the Real Food Festival for a food (and drink) extravaganza unlikeanything else. Come prepared to taste such delights as freshly baked breadsand real meat from animals reared outdoors by the highest welfare standards. Meet the producers who nurture andcreate their wonderful products specifically for your enjoyment.Bring your children to The Sheep Show and meet some other friendly livestock.Watch our chefs, including Raymond Blanc, Thomasina Miers and Ollie Rowein the Chefs’ Theatre; join Barny Haughton in the Cookery Workshops for handson advice about cooking real food on a budget. And, most importantly, leavewith your bags bursting with real food to enjoy at home.”Buy your tickets now at www.realfoodfestival.co.uk or call 0844 412 4642

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A FOUR-LETTER WORDby David Bozon

WHAT, in the eyes of most organic en-thusiasts, is the rudest word in theEnglish language with more than four let-ters? Probably MONSANTO! But how muchdo you really know about this much-ma-ligned company? Monsanto was founded in St. Louis, Mis-souri, US in 1901, by John Francis Queeny.Monsanto was his wife’s maiden name. Hisorigins were in the pharmaceutical indus-try, but the company started out with foodadditives, producing saccharin, caffeine andvanillin for Coca-Cola. In 1919 it expandedinto Europe to produce salicylic acid, aspirinand rubber in Wales, then in the 1920sbecame a major producer of basic industrialchemicals. The company was taken over byQueeny’s son Edgar Monsanto Queeny in1928, and in the 1940s became a leadingproducer of plastics and synthetic fibres. After this, they moved into more contro-versial fields, producing DDT, 2,4,5-T andAgent Orange, aspartame and bovinegrowth hormones. They were also connect-ed with the Manhattan Project – the devel-opment of the atomic bomb. Theycontinued as a major producer of plasticsand synthetic fibres, taking over AmericanViscose from Courtaulds, and partneringwith German giant Bayer. In the 1960s and1970s they were the main producer onAgent Orange for the US military. In 1982 Monsanto pioneered geneticmodification of plants, and five years later

carried out the first field trials of GM crops.In the later years of the twentieth centurythe company moved from chemical giant tobiotechnology giant. In recent years theyhave aggressively promoted GM crops, fil-ing a number of lawsuits for patent infringe-ment against farmers who either sold seedsor used harvested seeds containing patent-ed genes. In some cases this was becausethey “allowed” wind-blown seed to grow onneighbouring farms! In recent years they have acquired, ormerged with, many leading chemical, phar-maceutical and agrochemical companies tobecome one of the world’s largest and mostpowerful companies. Over the years they have been involved incountless legal action for pollution, includ-ing the dumping of tons of PCBs, dioxinsand other toxic materials in a Welsh land-fillsite in the 1970s, resulting in major contam-ination of groundwater. The company has been involved in manycontroversial ventures, including the Termi-nator Gene issue in 2007, in which plantsproduce sterile seeds, so that growers haveto buy new seeds every year from Monsan-to. This had the potential to seriously affectthird world countries whose farmers reliedon their own harvested seeds, should theterminator gene spread into the wild.Further information fromhttp://en.wikipedia.org

Microsoft and Monsanto - a Marriage made in Heaven?Bill Gates (founder of Microsoft) and his wife, Melinda, hate controversy, but theworld's top philanthropists do seem to be moving ever deeper into politicallobbying, They've just given the Danforth plant science centre in St Louis $5.4m(£3.8m) to help them persuade African and other poor countries to "overcomeregulatory hurdles" and allow the field testing of bio-fortified GM crops, So what isDanforth? Just a "charity" set up and funded by Monsanto.The Guardian /January 2009

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Leicestershire Organic Group is a joint local group ofThe Soil Association and The Henry Doubleday

Research AssociationLOG has two main aims: To encourage the use of methods of gardening and farming that do not use artificial

fertilisers and pesticides. To promote a fuller understanding of the vital relationship between soil, plants,

animals and mankind.Our members include organic farmers, small-holders, allotment holders and window-boxgardeners, but most of our members are “every-day” gardeners who have found the value ofusing organic methods.· We meet monthly from September to April at 7.30 on the second Friday of the month at

Knighton Parish Rooms, Brinsmead Road, off Welford Road, Knighton, Leicester. Wehave a full and varied programme of speakers and events, plus visits and outdoor events inthe summer months.

Further details about the Leicestershire Organic Group can be obtained from the Secretary,Dr Bob Haskins (Tel. 01509 842 449) or the Publicity Officer, Leon Marvell (Tel. 0116 2694978).For membership enquiries contact Robin Stevenson on 0116 2895648, or emailrobin@kairos-press.co.uk

PROGRAMME OF EVENTSWinter events take place at the Knighton Parish Hall, Brinsmead Road, on thesecond Friday of each month from September to April. During the summermonths a programme of visits, walks, etc., is arranged. You are always wel-come to bring friends along to winter meetings at a cost of £1, or better still,encourage them to join. Meetings are on the second Friday of each month fromSeptember to April.Friday, March 13th Home produced event featuring the DVD “One Man,One Cow, One Planet” .Friday, April 17th Talk on Organic Gardening by LOG Secretary BobHaskins. Please note that this meeting is on April 17th, not 10th as previous-ly advertised, since April 10th is Good Friday.Sunday, May 10th Visit to Ryecroft Farm, Barrow on Soar, to see the Dextercattle herd of December speaker Mark Bowles, followed by a visit to ShepshedWatermill. Meet 1.00pm at Barrow. (Map and details on page 4)Friday, June 19th Evening walk. (Details on page 4)Saturday, July 18th Visit to Doddington Hall, near Lincoln. Meet there at11.00am. (Details on page 4)Sunday, August 8th Visit to the walled gardens of Osbaston Hall, nearMarket Bosworth, run by LOG member Flic Rhodes.(Map and details on page5)Friday, September 11th AGM plus a talk to be arranged.Friday, October 9th Wholefood Supper.