Dear Gardening Friends,

Here is your new catalog that we have been working on night and day to get out on time. This year we are printing 150,000 copies of this new 124 page catalog. I hope you enjoy our new, larger format and all the new photos we have added, not to mention all the new seed varieties we are carrying this season. The diversity out there amazes me each and every day, and I feel so thankful to have one of the best jobs and hobbies on earth. It is so amazing to walk into your garden and harvest vegetables grown by the likes of Thomas Jefferson or Luther Burbank, or to be able to harvest produce in a rainbow of antioxidant and vitamin-rich colors! There is just no comparison to heirloom vegetables, and people are really starting to wake up to local and heirloom food. It is becoming a real revolution for natural, local and home grown produce! People are tired of all the commercial food on the grocery store shelves, full of their gene-altering, irradiation, dyes, pesticides, hormones and artificial everything... It is a new day for America when mainstream media is proclaiming the virtues of local, green and heritage food! Let’s all keep working to support our small farms. They are the backbone of this country, although a weakened backbone, because of attempts by Monsanto and other corporations to patent and gene-alter almost every living thing on the planet. It is time to all fight back for the American farmer, gardener and eater. We deserve to know our food is safe!

Speaking of food safety and genetic purity, Baker Creek Seed Company has been doing major and expensive GMO testing on all of our corn varieties, and we only carry corn seeds that test GMO-free! Our tests have shown that many, if not most varieties of heirloom corn are now contaminated with these GMO “Franken” genes. These are artificially-modified genes that have been shown to cause tumors, allergies and even death in lab rats--genes that can come from toxic insects, bacteria, fish or even humans! It is sad that many of our tests on corn have come back positive for genetically-engineered organisms, especially since much of the corn we have tested has come from non corn-growing areas. This shows that GMO pollen can travel many miles on a strong wind, only to wreak havoc on organic and heirloom farms. This problem is costing us and our growers thousands of dollars each year, and is only getting worse. We must totally boycott the companies that sell these foods, seeds and fertilizers. Let’s do it for ourselves, our children and the earth. Let’s make the new president and congress know that America values food safety and the right to pure food, health and happiness. It’s a new day, and it’s time for a culinary revolt. Let it begin with dinner!

Here at Baker Creek Farm and Bakersville, we have been really busy this last season working on many new projects, including an old-time grist mill and bakery, a blacksmith shop, a timber frame barn and log cabin, and our ongoing project: a 4,000 square foot, historic restaurant that will feature local, fresh produce. It is set to open this spring, during our big Spring Planting Festival, held May 3 & 4, 2009. New additions to Bakersville are happening almost monthly, and currently we’re also working on developing historic displays on poultry and farm animals, with multiple kinds of heritage chickens, ducks, geese, pheasants, pigeons, turkeys, plus a few rare sheep, rabbits and swans. Our goal is to educate people about our rural heritage, to teach about our crops and gardens, about cooking and food preservation, about traditional animals, craftsmanship and music. We invite you to come learn and celebrate an American heritage with us at each of our monthly Heritage Day events. Speaking of festivals, here at Bakersville our May event is planned to be our biggest and best yet, with many of America’s top garden speakers, folk musicians and craftsmen... Not to mention the 100 vendors who sell the best selection of heritage plants on the planet, plus thousands of other natural and local products. Although this is our largest event, the Heritage Day Festivals are now growing to an average attendance of 500 at each monthly event, which are now held the first Sunday of each month, year-round. We hope we will meet many of you on the grounds of our “new” pioneer village and farm that is a continuous work in progress.

Our family has been doing well and have had a very busy year. We were able to travel and visit some farmers, markets and old friends. In July, we traveled to beautiful North Carolina and enjoyed the mountains, the farmer’s markets and all the local fresh food in the state that’s a leader in the local and organic movement. Then in August, it was off to the Independent Garden Center Show in Chicago, where we introduced our new line of full-colored packets to the nursery trade. We had incredible interest at this event, and we are planning to have our seeds for sale in many cities. Then we traveled to Seed Savers Exchange, and had a great time with the friendly folks at their Heritage Farm in Northern Iowa. From Iowa, we traveled to Minneapolis just in time to set up at Rep. Ron Paul’s “Rally for the Republic” in early September. While in the Twin Cities, we attended the huge peace rally nearby the RNC, where it was great to see that America’s spirit for liberty, free speech and justice is still alive and well. We also attended the amazing Minnesota State Fair, which has to be the most incredible fair in America–lots of produce, animals, historic and natural exhibits and educational displays. The month of October we setup a three-week-long produce exhibit at Silver Dollar City in Branson, Missouri, where about 100,000 visitors walked through our exhibit. So, it has been a busy summer, and we have been enjoying every minute of it!

We want to thank each and every one of you for making our family business of seed preservation a success, helping us swim against the river of modern agriculture, and continue to work for the farmer, the gardener and most of all each and every eater! We love getting your letters, which have been mostly supportive, but we also want to encourage those of differing views or that offer suggestions! Whatever your thoughts, we would love to know them!

Wishing you a peaceful and bountiful growing season!

God Bless,
Jere, Emilee & Sasha Gettle

PS, Check out my site www.gettle.org with info about my heirloom produce and ethnic food photography and more on the history of our seed company.

Garden writers: We have a large library of photos, historical information and variety descriptions: contact us with your needs.