Happy Thanksgiving from your VVBGA President. As we reflect on this  
growing season, we have much to be grateful for.  Even with the bad  
economy, local support for fresh produce is growing.  Most of us  
escaped Late Blight this year, and that is a good sign for the future.

As forwarded by ewetopia, S.501, the food safety bill, is going to be  
discussed and possibly voted on by the Senate November 29.  As I  
understand it, it will include the Tester amendment, excluding farms  
grossing under 500k.  Please contact your Senators and Representatives.

Jane and I attended the Nov. Gaps workshop in Burlington.  We were  
overwhelmed by the amount of time and expense needed to comply. We  
thought we were doing a good job keeping things clean on our farm, but  
in order to qualify, we would need to change some our practices, and  
invest in new infrastructure.  I will say this, since we went to the  
workshop, I am viewing our farm in a more critical way.  I never  
focused in food safety as such, and it has opened my eyes to some  
practices we use which really need to be changed, regardless of  
whether we intend to go forward with GAPS compliance or not. I am  
really glad that we went.  In other words, if GAPS is the gold  
standard, then it is something to strive for, even if we have to take  
small steps to get there. We all want to produce safe food.  There is  
another GAPS workshop  DEC 10 in White River. you can contact Ginger  
Nickerson at [log in to unmask]   If you go it will open your  
eyes.

I am looking forward to the winter meetings.  Thanks,  Bob Pomykala