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Wisconsin: No Right to Produce or Eat Food NONAIS.org Tuesday, September 27, 2011 In scary legal news a Wisconsin judge had gone completely loopy declaring that citizens have no right to produce or eat the foods of their own choice. In response to a request from the Farm-to-Consumer Legal Defense Fund, the judge issued a clarification of his decision last week regarding his assessment of the constitutionality of food rights. The judge expanded on his original statement that such constitutional issues are “wholly without merit.” He explained that the FTCLDF arguments were “extremely underdeveloped.” As an example, he said the plaintiffs’ use of the Roe v Wade abortion rights case as a precedent does “not explain why a woman’s right to have an abortion translates to a right to consume unpasteurized milk…This court is unwilling to declare that there is a fundamental right to consume the food of one’s choice without first being presented with significantly more developed arguments on both sides of the issue.” Gee, I thought they both had to do with the right to decide what to do with your own body. As if to show how pissed he was at being questioned, he said his decision translates further that “no, Plaintiffs to not have a fundamental right to own and use a dairy cow or a dairy herd; “no, Plaintiffs do not have a fundamental right to consume the milk from their own cow;” And in a kind of exclamation point, he added this to his list of no-nos: “no, Plaintiffs do not have a fundamental right to produce and consume the foods of their choice…” You have to wonder if maybe even the regulators are getting a tad uncomfortable with the rulings coming from the nation’s judiciary on food rights. Many of these individuals, biased as they are against raw milk, dabble in farming to some extent, or grew up on farms. This judge has gone way beyond what many of them have come to assume–that everyone has the right to own a cow and consume its milk Even in places that ban raw milk sales, there’s nearly always a provision in state law that anyone who owns a cow has the right to consume its milk. It seems Judge Fiedler is saying it’s not a “fundamental right,” but rather a right granted us by the state.
–The Complete Patient The original judgement can be seen here. To quote from the main points: 1) no, Plaintiffs do not have a fundamental right to own and use a dairy cow or a dairy herd; 2) no, Plaintiffs do not have a fundamental right to consume the milk from their own cow; 3) no, Plaintiffs do not have a fundamental right to board their cow at the farm of a farmer; 4) no, the Zinniker Plaintiffs’ private contract does not fall outside the scope of the State’s police power; 5) no, Plaintiffs do not have a fundamental right to produce and consume foods of their choice A FOOD CHAIN RADIO RELEASE FROM METROFARM.COM Across the nation armed government SWAT teams arrest private citizens for buying and selling fresh whole foods from each other. This leads us to ask… Will feeding ourselves be the crime of the century? This Saturday at 9am Pacific, the Food Chain Radio show with Michael Olson hosts Mali McGee from the Milk Mama Goat Farm for a conversation about private food clubs. Topics include how private citizens are organizing to feed each other; why government is raiding these private food systems with armed SWAT teams; and how Mali’s milch goats inspired one county to recognize the right of people to grow and eat their own food. Listen on your radio, computer or IPOD: Food Chain Radio

The UNCE Orchard is taking orders for fruit trees to be delivered in January. These will be bare root fruit trees selected from our list of recommended fruit trees for our valley. Please email me at [email protected] for more information. Fruit trees will include peaches, plums, apples, pears, almonds, pluots, and others. We will only be ordering from our list of recommended trees due to ordering restrictions that varieties must be ordered in multiples of fives. All trees will be shipped from Dave Wilson Nursery.

Q. I am in the process of ordering a couple fruit trees online. What are the chill hours for Sun City Anthem in Henderson?  I thought it was 300 hours or less. A couple of apricot trees you have recommended have been 400 and 500 hours (Blenheim and Royal Rosa) and I am wondering if that is too many chill hours of my area. Apricots grown at the UNCE Orchard A. Chill hours are the number of hours at low temperatures during our winters so that the tree “recognizes” that winter has arrived. It can be important in commercial production but in home orchards it seems to be less important on some types of fruit trees.             On peaches and apricots in particular we have not seen a big impact from a lack of chill hours in our area. We have varieties in the 800 to 900 hour range that have done well.             I would be most concerned with how the fruit develops in our climate. The recommendations on my list have all proven themselves for a decade at the orchard. I do not release names of those varieties that have a track record of only a couple of years. They remain under test even if they show extremely good potential.             One variety of peach has been recommended by volunteers at the orchard because of some good qualities in the first year of production. This is way too soon to tell. I prefer at least five years of good production. I hope this helps.

Q. I am writing because of a problem I have with my 20 year old, long needled pine (I forgot the name). The needles are 6-7 inches long and fluffy. Long needles of chir pine             When I converted my lawn to drip, the pine began to turn brown in several areas.  I added more and more drippers. After four years, this poor pine, once a beautiful, fluffy tree, is now in serious trouble. Dieback of large tree after converting lawn to desert landscaping             Many small branches and a few medium sized ones have died back. Every spring, it has rallied and I think it will be okay but, by the end of the summer, it looks very sad. Is there anything more I can do to save this tree? A. I am guessing you have Chir pine. This pine is beautiful and does very well here provided it gets enough water and at the right times. When they are growing in a lawn their roots can extend long distances from the trunk and in home yards typically close to the soil surface.             If they were growing in a turfgrass landscape converted to desert (drip) they frequently do not get enough water after the conversion. They first suffer needle drop resulting in a thinned canopy, needle tips brown, growth slows and then limb dieback begins. I think this is what is happening to your tree all due to the conversion resulting in the big trees not getting enough water.             The water previously supplied by watering the lawn is frequently substituted with six to eight drip emitters placed fairly close to the trunk. You will need to provide more water to the tree and in many more locations to compensate.             These are big trees and big trees require lots of water even if they are considered lower in their water use than perhaps other large trees. There is no research to tell us how much water this tree will require during an irrigation but I would assume it would probably be in the 100 gallon range or more per irrigation, evenly distributed over its root system.             I personally don’t think trees that get over 20 feet tall should be on drip but on bubblers with a basin (depression or moat) surrounding the trunk. This depression should be large enough to hold enough water to keep the tree in good health and penetrate to a depth of 24 inches after an irrigation.             Some people have suggested using inline drip irrigation in concentric rings around the trunk. Perhaps. But devices do not apply water, people do and people must make the decision about how much to apply and where to apply it. Drip irrigation can be deceiving because it takes hours to irrigate instead of the minutes we are used to when we water a lawn.             Another possible approach would be to plant other plants heavily under the dripline of the tree for additional water. No one likes to do this because you have to fight with tree roots to plant.             To save the tree you need to be proactive now. Apply water under the canopy to a depth of about 24 inches during each irrigation. Couple this with an application of fertilizer next February. You will not see improvement at this time of year from applying more water as most trees are going into dormancy. With properly placed, deep irrigations you should see a change next year during the growing season. You should see a big change in 2013.             As it sounds to me, if you do not change your irrigation system and how you are watering you will lose the tree. We have lost MANY trees in this valley when landscapes are converted to desert landscapes principally because the irrigation system supplied to established large trees is under engineered. Most do not understand this or will not do it right because it is “too expensive”.

  Q. I enclosed pictures of a little sapling from North Carolina I bought on line March 2010 several months ago all the leaves turned brown on their edges only. Now the complete tree is burned to a crisp all over. It’s not too much water/or not enough. We live in Sun City Summerlin. A. Thank you for knowing and remembering what plant bought and its name.  This helps me a lot in tracking and learning about this plant before I responded.  Autumn Blaze maple was hybridized by an Illinois nursery in the 1980s.  In the Midwest or other suitable climates such as the east coast or Pacific Northwest, it will grow to a height of 60 feet and 40 feet wide.  It is called Autumn Blaze caused of its splendid red and orange fall colors that can be seen in those parts of the country and I’m sure this is why you selected it.  This is a case where you have chosen a tree which is just not suitable for our soils or our climate.  This particular maple tree is a hybrid between silver maple and red maple, both of which struggle in our alkaline, saline soils and extremely high temperatures.  A tree with these two parents in its lineage doesn’t have much of a fighting chance in our desert environment.  The pictures you sent me show that it is already struggling here which is evidenced by its scorching leaves.  You might be able to give it a fighting chance for a couple of years by heavily amending the soil at planting time with compost and leaching the soil water making sure that the soil drains easily.  You would secondly mulch around the tree with wood mulch, not bark mulch and of course no rock mulch. With adequate amounts of water and organic amendments you might get a tree that is healthy enough to withstand our environment for a few years.  Readers Autumn Blaze mape tree planted in Las Vegas Both parents of this tree are highly susceptible to iron chlorosis and would need treatment for this problem even if you could get it healthy.  I’m sorry to give you the bad news but this is a tree which should not be grown here.

Pictures from reader concerning the brown patches in her lawn Q. I have some brown patches in the grass in my yard.  The sprinklers are working fine and the recent rains haven’t made any difference.  This area was nice and green until about three weeks ago.  I’m hoping you may have some idea what is causing this and what I might do to resolve the problem.  The rest of the yard is fine. A. Your lawn has, from the pictures you sent, what appears to be summer patch disease. This disease used to be called Fusarium patch in the old days. Some management techniques that you can try include mowing the lawn a bit shorter during the heat of the summer.              If you fertilize your lawn during the summer make sure you use half the amount recommended on the bag or less. Fertilize in the early morning hours only and make sure it is watered in immediately after the application. Foliar applications would be even better.             Avoid watering the lawn anytime between late afternoon and early evening and about 2:00 AM. You can water any time after 2:00 AM but try to get it done before sunrise.             Otherwise you will need to apply fungicides to your lawn that have been approved for controlling summer patch or Fusarium diseases. You can find this out by reading the label. Fungicides are best in preventing diseases from spreading not curing them after the disease has ravaged the lawn. Mark your calendar for next year and apply a fungicide anytime you see summer monsoons predicted.

Picture of grape demon from reader Q. These critters have devastated one of my grape vines. Here is a picture. Thousands of little sucking holes ruin the leaves and thus the vine. They are about 1/4th inch long and may also fly. What are they and how can I defend against them for next year? Grape leafhopper damage see the yellow speckling from feeding damage and black poop spots A. The picture was a bit blurry but appears to be grape leafhopper. However the description of the damage sounds like grape flea beetle. If leafhoppers the insects are small, maybe ¼ inch long. In their mature stage they can jump short distances. There can literally be thousands of them on a grapevine many of them jumping when you walk by the vine landing on your face and clothes. Very irritating. Grape fleabeetle damage leaves holes in the leaves             They can be curtailed by applying an organic biological control of Spinosad in early May and again mid-May when the nymphs or immature forms are present. It will control the nymphs but does not do much to the adults. If you get it applied early enough this will reduce the population when the adults mature. Make sure you spray the underside of the leaves as well as the tops.             If these are grape flea beetles then they should be gone in about two weeks and a pesticide is usually not necessary as the damage is not long term.

Pictures of carpet juniper with needle drop from reader Q. Please advise and diagnose how to resolve a problem I have with my juniper bushes. I hope my pictures help. A. From your pictures the juniper appears to be one of the very low-growing carpet junipers, not sure which one but perhaps green carpet juniper. These carpet junipers can be confusing and can be from several species. Which juniper is important as some junipers are more heat tolerant than others.             J. horizontalis has among its cultivars probably one of the better heat tolerant rug-type junipers.  Regardless, junipers will do better in this climate if not put into extremely hot environments and surrounded by rock. They usually can handle some of the poorer soils that you can develop in rock landscapes at least for a few years if not more.             Probably the biggest problems will include not enough water or not watering frequently enough, salt problems and spider mite infestations. Watering too frequently (daily) can cause root rot and death of the plant.             Make sure there is at least one day between deep waterings during the heat of the summer. One plant will probably require around five to ten gallons per watering. You can determine this by checking your drip emitters for the gallonage per hour and adjusting this amount through the number of emitters per plants multiplied by the fraction of the hour that it remains on during one irrigation.             Spider mites are a problem on junipers. They are not insects but are more closely related to spiders. They are very small and not seen easily with the naked eye. Their feeding results in speckling or yellow spots on needles. Some needles may turn brown and drop off. Two-spotted spider mite             With heavy infestations, fine webbing may be seen on the plant. If not controlled, spider mites can kill junipers. Most spider mites increase in numbers during hot, dry weather.             Naturally occurring enemies of mites will usually suppress mite populations. Since insecticide use kills these enemies as well as mites, insecticides should be avoided unless absolutely necessary. Miticides, labeled specifically for mite control, are less harmful to these natural enemies. Mites can be removed with a strong spray of soap and water, if applied on a regular basis.  Webbing due to spider mites             To determine how many mites are present hold a white sheet of paper under a branch and slap it on the paper. The mites knocked off on to the paper will be seen crawling around as tiny spots the size of this period. If dozens of mites are seen crawling on the paper it is time to do something.             Pesticides labeled for homeowner use against spider mites include insecticidal soaps like Safer Insecticidal Soap or Ortho’s Systemic Insect Killer. As with any pesticide, read and follow all label directions and precautions before using.

Picture of weed from reader which I could not identify Q.  Can you identify and tell us how to kill forever a noxious weed that is single stem, upright, red thorns every few inches. I hope the picture I sent is good enough. Roots are woody and thick to 1 inch in diameter.  Roots run across and under my son’s entire lawn and fairly deep.  Suckers keep coming up.  I would love to kill it forever without digging up the whole lawn.  A. I couldn’t tell from the picture. The description doesn’t sound familiar but it sounds like a woody plant that suckers from the roots. I am assuming they are coming from a woody plant close by, a neighbor’s yard perhaps.             Any lawn weed killer that has dicamba or Banvel in the ingredients will work. This can be applied directly to the lawn without hurting the grass but will damage or kill woody plants and weeds that are not grasses. This will require multiple applications to keep killing new sprouts as they appear.             You will see more suckers as you use this product and it may seem like it stimulated their growth but it has not. It has caused them to sucker more below ground due to the death of the existing suckers above ground.             Repeat applications will exhaust the reserve of woody growth under the lawn until they finally stop coming up. But you must stay on top of them with this weed killer for at least one season.