I read the article and am glad someone did the digging for me on who they guy was who wrote it, it actually made the article make sense as in it didn't make sense, not to me anyway (by the way the OP one not the later one) high rice prices for export, increased hunger, to paraphrase, maybe instead of increased production, maybe what is needed is the profit from those crops to be paid to the farmers not the middlemen and Western sellers, I saw this in Kenya where large companies try to smash co-operatives of small farmers who in can due to collective bargaining, get a better price for their produce than if they each have to negotiate separately. he aslo use organic's as the argument, apples and pears, the average gardener in America will possibly have more in common with a Kenyan Farmer than an organic grower in the US would, Kenyan Farms are in the main fairly small and plant intensively, they are small, just an acre sometimes they will, have a couple of cows (more normally a couple of goats), some chickens, one farm which was part of a community project of about 20 with some government help, took self sufficiency to a new level, all waste from the 2 cows and the chickens was in a pit, as was the human waste, methane collected to run the household light's and for cooking, they had 2 of these pits and when one was full the next was started once the methane was waning, the well rotted manure was used along with compost to feed the land, (like to point out Kenyan are not totally vegetarian, but meat is a luxury, few can afford, except when a chicken stops laying or your goat has a boy) which is packed the idea is to feed the family and then have a little left over for other needs in life. Water is collected in the rainy season and even when I stayed on vast ranches occupied by white farmers, all the water was collected this way, the well water was strictly for Human and animal consumption, so even though I could have a bath/shower the water was brown. most of Africa poverty has been due to western greed, poor management of the land in search of profit and wars, the people best served at helping the African's in my book are the African's not some other money grabbing western company, if you could see the Kenyian agricultural research stations I saw in 1995, you would realise how forward thinking they are, my fear is that since that time the Monsanto's of this world will have, offered aid and "help" since that time and made another country dependent. that said reading that I did go onto the Ministry of Ag website for Kenya today, and they have rolled out a program over the passed 4 years for poor farmers giving free or "orphan" seeds as they can then, my reading is that they are heirlooms as it talks about Farmer's becoming self sufficient in their seed needs, which points against GM. Okay this is 15 years out of date my info from when i was with the Kenyan Min of Ag, but African's are not like you see in the movies, they are free thinking and intelligent (corruption is another matter! but even there they are trying) Africa is a huge continent and no to countries are alike but that was my experience and why I get so cross at articles like that, you notice he didn't mention GM? I also had a Friend who's Farm in the UK in the 1990's donated out land for research on GM crops to the Local University, they pulled the plug as they where asked by the researchers if they could take samples from their crops, they where pretty open as they where a university research group, not a company, that they had found cross pollination and the company funding was interested in the idea of DNA marking due to this, so, even a farmer who doesn't buy in to the crops if they seed save and the DNA turns up in their crops...and we all now how the end to that...and if you don't watch, King Corn, descent, honest, hard working Americans ruined, bankrupt, by greedy business, I liked film as the politician who started the ball rolling in the US was interviewed for the film just before his death, and I had sympathy for his views, he remembered the depression, and wanted a better future unfortunately, the law of unforeseen circumstances, came into play, and for the life of me, I can't remember his name?? Scarletdaisy the potato famine was because the potatoes got late blight and due to monoculture and mild winters, no crop rotation, so the main crop of Ireland failed and failed again, year after year, the English did nothing as A/ the minority where extremely rich, B/ mostly in poverty. European Union, fine? didn't get your comment on that? for instance culturally the British hate the French, France hate Germany, Germany saw England as it's natural allies, at the run up to WW2, Scot hate the English but love the French, the rule in Europe is you hate the bigger nearest country to you, and love the next Biggest, like everyone in a smaller country except Luxembourg, we all hate them! :-) but these are actually jokes, in the main, you get the odd person who doesn't get it in every country, but I love the French, used to do my grocery shopping there when i lived in the UK once a month, Germans are the most lovely people, I married to a Scot and I am English, the easist way I can describe it is we are the smae as America, each state has it's own laws and then has common laws amongst you all, there are silly rivalries, between states which mean nothing but are fun to engage in, here in CT I suppose it it the NY Yankees and the Boston?? whatevers?? Patriots?? I am in soooo much trouble forgetting that! whoops!

Finally, a chance to return. Thank you all for your comments. They really do help. In a nutshell, it doesn't matter where exactly the story takes place, plotwise. In my mind, the time and pace feel like Alabama in the 60's with major medical centers several hours away by car. I want it to be anywhere. The only geographical reference I make is to the mother in law, who is from "up north, outside of Atlanta." I write because I love to. The story is a novella, about 40 pages long, maybe a few less. It is the story of a misfit girl, a box turtle, a homeschooled boy with medical challenges and a friendship that is forever changed by two deaths (the turtle and the boy). I always considered myself a weekend gardener, but not on the same level as many of you. That is why I came here for accuracy. Here is what I have, which I know is off... I have the mother pore over the catalog in Jan, order seeds, and plant in early March. The turtle gets in the garden in early April and lays eggs. I imagine there would be seedlings by that time. I have the turtle dig the hole where the chicory is planted. The eggs have to hatch by early June (fact, not opinion). Later, the baby turtle will eat lettuce, slugs, wild strawberries, some from gardens some from the wild.(the strawberries, that is). In late October, the mother will go out to the garden with a colandar to gather something. By this time, the turtle has died and she sees that someone has left wild strawberries on its grave. She adds something to it from the colandar. what would grow then? Second harvest? Eventually, the boy dies and the girl's mom is planning her garden. Not planting chicory again as it was too bitter for their tastes. Asks her daughter (age 11) what she wants to plant in their place. The girl (who is strange,in a friendless way) looks through the catalog and points eventually to strawberries. Big red ones which I describe as a "wanton shade of red". She wants the strawberries because her friend, the boy who died, always brought strawberries for the turtle. Is there a name of strawberries that sounds hussyish? In general, everything the mom plants is useful and intended for canning or the table. Strawberries are frivoulous, and somewhat of a waste of space, considering there are wild ones in the yards (are there?) But she does it to make her odd child smile again. this story sounds so lame here, but I'd like to think it is much more poignant than I've described. Jo

hey, I've had people disagree with me here over and over again for years. I don't take a single thing personally anymore. I believe what I believe and I'm not going to let anyone stop me from posting here. I do believe there is a right way and a wrong way to let someone know what they've read in an email, or what a friend of a friend of a friend heard someone say. I usually try to grin and bear(bare?) it, as you can see in my post above. Things don't have to be in an email to be a hoax.......... There was a similar story going around years ago about McDonalds chicken burgers. To this day, even though I know it's not true, I can't bring myself to try a McChicken sandwich! LOL Oh, and btw, it must be true! It happened to my youngest son's ex-girlfriend! When she told me the story about how she bit into a chicken burger and tasted mayo, and threw the burger in the backseat of her car, I thought the story was familiar. Then a few hours after eating that burger she just happened to end up in the ER and the doctor asked her if she had a McChicken sandwich. And she just happened to have it in the backseat of her car! And there just happened to be a cyst in the meat. ALL FALSE! LOL I knew right there and then, this girl had to go........ Thank goodness she did! LOL

I almost never post anything negative about a company unless it’s something egregious. Well, I had an absolutely awful experience with Semihandmade and strongly encourage anyone to stay away from them. We had ordered cabinet doors in a specific color. After delivery, we scheduled kitchen installers to come and install our kitchen. When they arrived, they noticed that one of the main pieces was sent in the wrong color. I contacted Semihandmade and they stated they would not start the process to manufacture the piece in the correct color until they received pictures verifying they sent us the wrong color. I explained, that due to an extenuating circumstance (even told the person what that circumstance was) I wouldn’t be able to go to the house for a number of days but to please start the process. Despite knowing this, they refused to even start the process of making the piece in the correct color. That one single piece took something close to 5 weeks +/- to make and ship out to us. My husband and I incurred a pretty significant loss due to our renovation coming to a halt, expenses, etc. The main thing that disappointed us is their unwillingness to budge with their policy despite being informed of the life-changing extenuating circumstance. I wish I never knew about Semihandmade. It’s an awful company