Cautionary Tale

[Deleted]

Feb 25, 2014 22:01:39 GMT -5 MikeH said:

Get a load of fresh manure, preferably still steaming. Tell her the seeds are planted under that.

In case the soil sample (with or without the proper seeds) does turn out to be contaminated, it should be noted that it came from a very large pile of fill dirt, from a Mc Mansion development. It was a much smaller pile, about a year ago. This would have come from underneath the high density housing units, now nearing completion. The organic material was from their plantings, a rich source of mulch.

A couple of gag items will be bought from the account, and dedicated to my admirer with particular initials.

Their policies have long since resulted in the destruction of local orchards. They have outsourced water rights, silage, labor, and production. But, I still assume they mean the best for us, so will cooperate in good faith.

[billw]

Sorry to hear that you're getting hassled, degzing. I had the same thing last year:

wettingthebeds.cultivariable.com/2013/10/a-visit-from-usda.html

eBay is clearly a bad place to buy anything from foreign sources.

[jondear]

So do you suppose the USDA is looking at pms for seed trades in places other than eBay?

[oxbowfarm]

The government clearly has that capability. I question if the USDA has the manpower or funding to go chasing down every pm about a seed exchange. Ebay is pretty easy to monitor, then they can selectively enforce to scare people into compliance.

[billw]

I suspect that they have an agreement with eBay to pull records for certain classes of items (in other words, eBay basically does the work for them). I doubt they are going to go after anything that isn't easy. I would just avoid sharing too much info in public spaces, because other people have reportedly gotten visits as a result of forum posts.

[jondear]

I would be bummed out if I had do dig up most anything I had nurtured for any amount of time.

[Joseph Lofthouse]

I received a report a couple days ago that a non-usa member of our forum was raided due to mentioning here that ne had imported a species. Another member reported receipt of a threatening anti-smuggling letter from the USDA for purchasing a packet of seeds on eBay. I suppose that it cost the USDA hundreds of dollars to send that letter.

A word of advice if I may... If you want to share seeds internationally, you might want to make arrangements via private message instead of in the public forums.

I am able to encrypt/decrypt email messages and have exchanged encrypted messages with members of this forum. I have found GnuPG easy to use. If you send me a copy of your public key I will encrypt all future email messages to you.

[MikeH]

Even new forums are probably monitored. If someone announces here that there is a new forum, many of us will check it out. I would expect The Watchers to do likewise. There are PGP (Pretty Good Privacy) addons for webmail and offline mail readers - encrypted.google.com/search?q=pgp+addon

Maybe this thread should be stickied so that it stays at the top of the messages..........

[12540dumont]

Joseph, tell me how to find my public key and I'll send you a snail mail.

[12540dumont]

I have also just received word from an international friend that their post office is refusing to accept outgoing shipments to certain countries. And none of them are on the embargo list.

I suspect things are tightening up all over.

[richardw]

Ive downloaded that GunPG and have been trying to nut it all out,there's a bit to understand,ive got so far as to try the import certificates stage but the settings on my computer are stopping them.

[richardw]

Apr 2, 2014 11:27:01 GMT -5 12540dumont said:

I have also just received word from an international friend that their post office is refusing to accept outgoing shipments to certain countries. And none of them are on the embargo list.

I suspect things are tightening up all over.

If there name and address is not no the back of the letter how would they know,do that recognize that person,surely they cant be blocking all mail to that country

[billw]

It's tricky. As I understand it (and given our Byzantine bureaucracy, I don't recommend that you take my word for it), it is legal to send any sort of plant material anywhere in the world from the US. It may not be legal for the person on the other end to receive it. What is illegal is for me to misrepresent the contents of the package on the customs form. I have had the post office check to see whether or not they can send a package containing plant materials to some countries. So, there is some sort of list that they can check in the US, although they rarely seem to bother with it. But, as the world gets smaller, it wouldn't surprise me if governments network to get each other to do the first level of policing contents of packages.

Since everything is computerized, government can increasingly demand that agencies and businesses just run them a report and then go harvest the low-hanging fruit.

[12540dumont]

pe.usps.com/text/imm/ab_toc.htm In the US you can go here and see if you can ship seeds, plants, etc. Note, that in the receiving country, anything goes. Even if it's not on the list of prohibited or restricted.


The International person wrote to me to say that the when he filled out the customs document in his country to send seeds to the U.S. or Australia...the post office refused to take the shipment.




The above list always has something interesting. For example, when you click on the link for Italy, you cannot send any of the following items:

Albums of any kind (of photographs, postcards, postage stamps, etc.).

Arms and weapons.

Articles of platinum or gold; jewelry; and other valuable articles unless sent as insured Priority Mail International parcels.

Artificial flowers and fruits and accessories for them.

Bells and other musical instruments and parts thereof.

Cartridge caps; cartridges.

Clocks and supplies for clocks.

Compound medicaments and medicines.

Coral mounted in any way.

Ether and chloroform.

Exposed photographic and cinematographic films.

Footwear of any kind.

Haberdashery and sewn articles of any kind, including trimmings and lace; handkerchiefs; scarves; shawls, needlework including stockings and gloves; bonnets, caps, and hats of any kind.

Hair and articles made of hair.

Human remains.

Leather goods.

Lighters and their parts, including lighter flints.

Lithium cells and batteries — including items containing lithium cells and batteries under 135.6.

Live bees, leeches, and silkworms.

Live plants and animals.

Nutmeg, vanilla; sea salt, rock salt; saffron.

Parasites and predators of harmful insects.

Perfumery goods of all kinds (except soap).

Playing cards of any kind.

Postage stamps in sealed or unsealed First-Class Mail International or First-Class Package International Service shipments.

Radioactive materials.

Ribbons for typewriters.

Roasted or ground coffee and its substitutes; roasted chicory.

Saccharine and all products containing saccharine.

Salted, smoked or otherwise prepared meats; fats; and lard.

Tobacco.

Toys not made wholly of wood.

Treated skins and furs.

Weapons of any kind and spare parts for them.



Now, some of these things make perfect sense...some for safety, some to protect their own industries...but when I want to send my friends photos of their visit here, I have to lump them in a box, I can't put them in an album... Now, nowhere on this list does it say seeds. Yet, time and time again on the Italian side of the pond, whoever is holding the package decides if it can be delivered or not.



And the latest in sending something to NZ? The post office clerk asked me if I wanted the package returned to me if it was unacceptable to NZ Customs, at my expense or destroyed there?

[raymondo]

Apr 2, 2014 11:25:50 GMT -5 12540dumont said:

Joseph, tell me how to find my public key and I'll send you a snail mail.

When you set up your GnuPG keys, you create your own public and private keys. For you to send a message to Joseph, you need his public key. For him to send a message to you, he would need your public key.