This page is obviously for educational purposes only :)
I've never gardened at night, but it does seem to have it's advantages,
with the ozone depletion, you would be far less likely to get skin cancer for one!!
Greetings. The following guide was put together for the WTO gathering
in the hopes that people from all over the continent would find this informational
useful and inspiring. The corporate biotechnology onslaught embodies the
New World Order perhaps better than any other issue. Johnna Appleseed of
Reclaim the Seeds, one of several nighttime gardening groups, describes
it well: "If you care about wildlife and think the natural world is fine
without mutant genes, you should resist genetic engineering. If you care
about social justice and don't want to poison farm workers with pesticides
and herbicides, you should resist genetic engineering. If you care about
biological and cultural diversity as opposed to a global corporate monoculture,
you should resist genetic engineering. If you care about laboratory animals
and don't want researchers creating hybrid genetic monsters, you should
resist genetic engineering. If you eat food, you should resist genetic
engineering. If not you, then who? If not now, when? Resistance to genetic
engineering is as transnational as capital." 
A section on computer security will be released with a future draft
of this guide. Please make sure and check it out. There are numerous benefits
of encryption technology and anonymous web-surfing. Also, a read-through
of the essential book Ecodefense will be most helpful, in particular the
"Security" chapter.
These GE plants are held captive as biotech slaves. By harvesting them
early, we free them from the bonds of corporate servitude. Remember this
while gardening because sometimes it feels strange to garden in this manner.
Life is sacred, which is why we garden at night in the first place. May
nighttime gardening flourish here as it has in Europe and other lands around
the globe.
-This guide shall be continuously updated. Please give us your input at: nighttimegardeners@angelfire.com
Gardening is a very dirty job. For the least hassle it is recommended
to wear a complete set of old clothes that can easily be discarded in dumpsters
after gardening. Dont be cheap. It's really necessary, even if like us,
you hate wasting anything. Black evening attire is the most appropriate
for shy gardeners. You may get very wet and cold, so wear appropriate cold-weather
and rain gear. Have some comfortable clean clothes and shoes to change
into before you get home.
A forensic scientist can tell roughly where you've been from the composition
of the dirt and soil that you will have picked up on your travels. Say,
for instance, you've been gardening at a Monsanto test site of GE corn,
then traces of earth will be upon you, as will traces of plant life, such
as pollen that you may have brushed against.
These traces are used to put you at a certain place, and in some instances,
at a certain time. Once again, it is best to dispose of any gardening clothing.
i.e. give up your attachment to your clothes! And before you leave for
the action, empty your pockets and don't bring along anything (even to
leave in a vehicle) you don't need and wouldn't want to see in court.
On soft surfaces, such as mud, earth, dog shit, etc., shoe impressions
will be left behind. From these marks identification can be made. The only
sensible thing to do is to wear old shoes and to throw them a long way
away immediately afterwards. Shoes (and clothes) will also carry traces
away with them, such as oil, gas, glass splinters and other such gardening
giveaways. Don't wear them in your vehicle or in your home. When gardening
in urban areas, consider the impact that you may have on a passer-by wearing
all black from head to toe. Wearing inconspicuous clothes such as dark
pants and a hooded sweatshirt may serve the purpose.
Make sure you don't have activist bumper stickers on your action vehicle.
A "Smash The State" sticker may narrow down the pool of suspects.
Gardening just after a spraying of RoundUp, Liberty or other toxic herbicides may pose a grave threat to the health-conscious gardener Gore-Tex or rubber rain gear (cheaply purchased or easily stolen from Wal-Mart) as well as medical masks, and chemical-protective gloves (Home Depot, etc.) are necessary. It is possible to find out from county extension offices whether or not there is a particular timing for spraying of certain local crops. Particularly sensitive gardeners may want to hit BT or other pest-resistant crops rather than Roundup-Ready/Liberty Link (herbicide tolerant) crops. It is more likely that commercial GE. crops (those grown for market) will be sprayed. Be careful!
The tools you use for gardening will vary, but for some crops you won't
need any at all. Your hands in good work gloves (for fingerprint guard
and protection) will do just fine. Gardening without tools is great when
the crops are easy enough to rip up by hand because you'll have less weight
to carry, and less gear to accidentally leave at the site or get nabbed
with. Night gardeners have had success with rolling their bodies over the
crops as well, but this may only bend certain crops at certain ages, instead
of damaging them beyond repair.
However, some GE crops (older trees, for example) are nearly impossible
to take out without tools. Some people like to use saws, scythes, machetes,
hoes, shears, or other gardening tools, but it's really a personal preference.
Think simple and streamlined. Ever try to carry a machete over barbed wire?
Not easy! They can sometimes be too much trouble, too time consuming, or
difficult to part with after gardening. One group reported that a long
metal pole pushed across one or two rows of corn (dubbed the California
Corn Cutter") worked well for quick, convenient, and energy-efficient gardening.
Be creative. Practice beforehand if you are using any fancy methods.
Bolt cutters are good for getting through locked gates or into greenhouses.
Another technique for gaining access into glass greenhouses is to duck
tape a square one could crawl through, and then punch it in. The tape will
muffle sound by absorbing the blow and keeping the glass from scattering
all over the ground. There are also hand-held, manual, spring-loaded punches
which paramedics use to break glass on car windows that work very well.
Corrugated plastic greenhouses can be cut into with a sharp knife as well.
Another tool for rows of some crops is a strong board with holes in
both ends through which a rope is strung. The board is placed on the ground,
and then the gardener puts a foot on top of it and lifts up the rope to
a comfortable waist height. Then, the gardener can go step by step stomping
down the crops, and avoid stooping or kneeling on the ground, which can
easily get very tiring.
Lots of tactics have been created since the need for nighttime gardening
came about to survive in this modern (biotech) world. If not properly handled,
some tools can also be a serious safety issue.
If you do use any tools, make sure they are cleaned of all fingerprints
before taken on site. A good way to clear up those pesky fingerprints is
with warm, soapy water. In a time-crunch, extensive rubbing with cloth
can be satisfactory. Be thorough: even the batteries inside a flashlight
have been touched, and you wouldn't want to drop anything while you were
out and about!
On the subject of dropping things, it's easy to lose things such as
jewelry and glasses when working hard in the garden, so take them off beforehand
or make sure they are secure. If something is dropped (especially a hat
with hair stuck to it) it might be a good idea to go back and get it if
it's not too sketch.
Entry and exit of the site is often the most risky aspect of nighttime
excursions. If you need to use a vehicle, it's worth parking away from
your gardening and walking in, as tires leave those horrible distinctive
marks and can accumulate soils that are easily identified. Leave someone
with your vehicle, as there can be unexpected people about, and make sure
the driver has a reason to be where s/he is. A pair of people making out
can be a good excuse, or a problem getting the car started. Better yet,
have a driver who can quickly pick you up when done gardening. The driver
might need to come around at several different times before the final pick-up
in order to make sure the gardening is going well. Set up an interval of
time (such as 15 minutes) for the driver to wait and come around again
if nobody's at the pick-up site. This way if you're running late, you don't
miss your only chance for a pick-up.
If the site is located in a residential neighborhood, a drop-off may
look suspicious. Therefore, it may be appropriate to have two different
pick-up and drop-off points, and possibly alternate sites as well if access
is cut off in one place. It is also essential to plan an emergency pick-up
time/place where a crew can run to and hide all night if they are detected
and the cops are crawling around the neighborhood.
When you're waiting by the road for a car, you can't make out what kind
of vehicle it is until the last second because of the headlight glare.
One technique is to leave some distinctive marker, such as a bag of trash
(not yours) or a can at certain place by the road. When the driver comes
by, if the marker is no longer there, s/he knows to pull over and pick
up the crew. Another method is for the driver to flash a turn signal during
the approach if there is clearly no place a regular vehicle would be turning,
and that way the crew can identify their ride to safety. Lastly and best
of all, get radios (see below).
Remember when you get home to vacuum and clean the whole car. Oh, and
get rid of your directions, too!
For a smooth night of gardening it is best to bring along a reliable
set of radios and a scanner. Remove all serial numbers on the radios, and
make sure you purchase them discreetly and with cash. Ear pieces work best
while gardening because they free up your hands. Check everything thoroughly
before you leave, wipe them down, and have extra batteries. You can then
be in communication with your driver (and other gardeners) and they can
alert you to any possible disturbances. 
The best gardening time for the shy gardener is obviously at night.
And at the new moon is better than when it is full. You have two main choices:
early a.m. is quite dead, but remember how long the job will take, starting
earlier in the evening will give you more of an excuse to be out and about.
Try and start at a time that provides you with enough time to garden thoroughly
for the specific site and have a buffer for the drop-offs/pick-ups if they
take longer than expected, which is common. Agricultural areas or neighborhood
garden plots can be a busy place as farmers usually get an early start
on the day, sometimes before dawn. At this time a flash-beam or light of
any sort will draw attention. Cover flashlights with blue or red saran
wrap, tinted tape, or a gel to filter the stark white light into something
more subtle.
It is worth bearing in mind that when it's raining hard it will wash
away most traces and provide visual and audio cover. You'll often get drenched
from the dew alone. It is a good idea to scout your site of interest at
many different times throughout the day/night to get a clear idea of what
the scene is like.
An all-night recon is a really good idea to make sure the garden is right for you. There may be cameras at university test sites/greenhouses or biotech corporation labs/sites/greenhouses. For the main part, these cameras serve to deter potential "gardeners," and instill a healthy sense of paranoia. Paranoia, Nah! Those who are careful stay free!
Firstly, the timing of your harvest is important if you want to actually
sabotage their research and cause economic damage. Too early could let
them replant, and too late could harvest their crop for them! Just before
flowering obviously prevents the mutant genes from escaping through the
plant's pollen, and if you can't get it by then, you can cut down the plant
before the seeds are fully developed. Don't just harvest the beans or corncob
either, harvest the whole plant from the stalk/stems, or better yet, pull
it right up out of the ground. A slick trick would be to bag up some of
the offending matter and leave it on the doorstep of the facility, or on
your local USDA or State Ag. Dept.'s doorstep!
It's important to research WHAT you are targeting and WHO. Considering
how pervasive commercial GE crops are, it's a good idea to target research,
both at universities and corporate facilities (is there really any difference??).
Industry links up with local farmers as "co-operators" to grow seed and
test varieties in their fields, often in return for advertising their more
impressive trials with big signs advertising the company and the variety.
Oftentimes you may see signs for a certain company's seed trials in a field
that is obviously belonging to a small farmer (there may be a house and
driveway and family-type items around the yard). Targeting these types
of sites will likely bring into question the intentions of night gardeners
and may confuse the message of opposing the Ag-Biotech industry by targeting
already desperate farmers.
On occasion you may be able to identify a commercial crop that is being
grown specifically for a company, or on Agribusiness farmland where no
family is present. You can sometimes find these type of sites by checking
out property maps ("Plats") at the County tax assessor's office in the
County Building closest to your target crop (or the local library, but
they often don't have current maps), or through the LEXUS property records
database at your local library.
This is also a good process for locating corporate facilities not listed
in the phone book (or on www.yellowpages.net). If you know the address
of a facility or a plot of fields, a quick search on the county assessor's
web site will tell you the value of the property, the acreage, and possibly
the types of structures on the site.
The basic reality is that commercial GE crops cover 20 million acres
of American farmland, and attacking random commercial fields is simply
not strategic, especially when there are so many better research targets.
If a research project is "nipped in the bud," so to speak, it may never
make it to the commercial market!
For example, the same colorful signs that hug the backroads are often
posted in the same fashion in front of rows of research crops at corporate
facilities, often boasting the "Roundup Ready" or "YIELDGUARD" trait, depending
on the company. Bt crops are often listed on signs by a certain variety
number ending in Bt. Corn and Soybeans are the most common GE crops, both
commercially and in research. But at universities, one might also see a
wide variety of GE crops including sunflowers, alfalfa, and wheat.
A helpful, but not infallible, tool for zeroing in on your target crop is the U.S. government database Field Trials listed through the USDA/APHIS web site. You can request searches of current trial notifications and permits as well as registered trials by state, crop, institution or phenotype (GE trait). The results will tell you the states these trials are being performed in, the acreage of the trial, and a contact person, usually a company researcher, for information.
Obviously the number of people you need will depend on the size of the
GE site. Most sites can be done quite happily with 2-4 gardeners. The actual
work could be 1 hour, or it could be all night. For larger sites you may
need many gardeners, but it's harder to avoid detection in larger numbers.
Again, make sure you're suitably dressed and scout out the site extensively,
including in/out routes and an emergency escape plan/meeting place if things
go awry. The group should decide what to do if confronted with an angry
farmer. Instead of everyone scattering on their own, we strongly recommend
sticking together as a group, at least at first, and then making a call
to scatter if necessary.
Remember, a well-placed sheet over a camera can have a rather numbing
effect on their security. A well-placed kick or spray paint shot over the
lens can do the same.
The goal is to destroy the plants: you will either have to snap them
off at the stem, or when uprooted pull them apart at times. At a release
site in East Anglia (England), sugar beet was uprooted and left lying on
the site. It was later replanted by the farmer (and later still, dug up
by concerned gardeners and removed from the site). In 1987, the Strawberry
Liberation Front in the U.S. pulled up a crop of strawberries that were
to be sprayed with ice-minus bacteria. For the photo opportunity the next
day, the scientist placed the strawberries back in the holes from which
theyd been pulled.
Remember, the test sites are experiments (with our future). If your
aim is to disrupt this misguided experiment then you may not need to destroy
all of the crop. Destroying 50-75% of the research plants will call into
question any data collected. It will also disrupt the experiment if all
the markers and identification tags are scattered around or taken, but
be safe. Dont stick them in your closet. Make the garden messy, and it
is less likely to be considered salvageable. Scattering bags and bags of
organic or non/GE seeds can also ruin a test site and spread a little bit
of consciousness as well. A good idea is to scatter seed in the beginning
of the season and not issue a communique about it until a month later.
By that time, your seeds have wreaked havoc on the GE varieties.
Don't forget to target irrigation equipment, greenhouses, solar thermometers and the like. Groups such as Reclaim The Seeds and the Future Farmers have sabotaged thousands of dollars of this sort of equipment in different actions. It is suggested that computers, data files, clipboards with research information, and other documentation should be removed for our own research, or quietly destroyed.
Canola (Oilseed Rape)
There are two different breeds of canola that you might be gardening,
winter and spring. The spring crop is sown mid March and April, and harvested
late September to mid October. The winter crop is sown late August to mid
September, flowering during May and is harvested mid July - mid August.
The plant has erect branching stems up to three feet high bearing deep-lobed,
grass green, bristly lower leaves and lobed blue upper leaves, with distinctive
yellow flowers. It may be harvested early by breaking the stalk of the
plant. This can be achieved by holding a large disposable stick outstretched
and falling onto a row of the crop. The California Corn Cutter is used
the same way. Corn (Maize)
Corn is usually sown in late March early April and is harvested from
July onward, depending on the region. It has a single main stem with irregular
long thin drooping leaves. It can be harvested in the same way as canola.
A good snap is enough to finish off the corn plant. Tomatoes
This crop is usually sown in seedbeds at the end of winter and then
transplanted to the test fields between late March and early April. It
is then harvested between mid-July and early September. They have a main
stem with branches. Each branch produces a green fruit that turn red with
ripening. To harvest early, pull or dig up the plant and snap the main
stem. Wheat
Winter wheat is sown between late September and early October. Summer
wheat is sown in early March and harvested in August or September. When
young it is difficult to distinguish from barley, both of which look like
large-leafed grasses, but as they grow you can see that wheat has a much
larger head. To harvest when young, pull up, if older use a "grass hook"
(a type of crescent shaped knife). Barley
Spring barley is sown February to March and harvested mid-May to mid-August.
The winter crop is sown September to October and harvested July to August.
Garden the same as wheat. Sugar Beet
This crop is sown in seedbeds in late February and then transplanted
to the fields between late March and late April, and is then harvested
in early November.
It has a whitish conical root that produces a lot of stems each with
a single irregular green, lobed leaf as well as a garland of flowers. It
can be harvested early by pulling or digging up the crop and removing the
root bit from the leaves and scattering in opposite directions. Potato
There are lots of varieties of GE potatoes grown in North Amerika, many
of which would be appropriate to garden. The description and the growing
times of the plants will depend on the variety, but generally potato plants
look like straggly tomato plants with either small yellow flowers or small
green flowers. To harvest early, pull or dig up the plant and snap the
main stem and pull apart or smash the root. GE Forestry
Weyerhaeuser, International Paper, Westvaco, and Boise Cascade, among
others, are working in conjunction with the oil industry ($hell) and universities
to create GE trees for herbicide tolerance, higher growth rates, improved
fiber yield/uniformity, salt tolerance, and much much more! Douglas fir,
eucalyptus, banana, papaya, walnut, radiata pine, loblolly pine, Amerikan
sweetgum, poplar, European larch, white spruce, orange, kiwifruit, cottonwood,
alder and elm are all being genetically mutated and mutilated.
GE trees take a lot more energy, time, tools and research. For nighttime
forestry it is important to have the right tools. Saws, hand saws, loppers,
pruning tools, and ring-barking/girdling equipment are essential. Sometimes
just good old brute force can bring down a small sapling. Or you can just
snap it in two with your gloved hands. For small seedlings, cutting and
pulling work together to make sure they not only are out of the earth,
but cannot be put back in. Apparently, our distant cousins in England used
a tool to "ring-bark" trees, which involves cutting a ring into the bark
in a complete circle, which will end the tree's life. They also used knives
to cut away the bark. The benefits of this silent method hold great potential.
Some GE tree sites are absolutely enormous and you can easily get lost
in them. Others are small plots that wont take much time. Research sites
generally have various sizes of trees, so come prepared accordingly. Frankentrees
will most likely be out in the fields year round and are part of long-term
research. Years of research have gone into them, so be meticulous in your
work. Nighttime forestry works because the potency of economic sabotage
is strongly felt at the frankenforest institution.
GE trees are also likely to be in pots in greenhouses at the research sites. Greenhouses can be spray painted, stink-bombed, broken, and have every pot within them emptied.
A) Genetically engineered organisms that have been released in the environment in the form of field tests by the USDA/APHIS.
| Alfalfa
Amelanchier Laevis Anthurium andreanum Apple Arab. Thaliana Arabidopsis Aspergillus flavus Barley Beet Belledonna Brassica oleracea Carrot Cephalosporium gramineum Chrysantheum Cichorium intybus Clavibacter Calvibacter xyli Coffee Corn Cotton Cranberry Creeping bentgrass Cryphonectria parsitica Cucumber Cucurbita texana E.Coli Eggplant Fetsuca Fusarium graminearum Fusarium moniliforme Fusarium sporotrichiodes |
Gladiolus
Grape Grapefruit Heterorhabditis bactriophora Kentucky bluegrass Lettuce Melon Metaseilus occidentalis Oat Onion Papaya Pea Peanut Pear Pelargonium Pepper Persimmon Petunia Pine Pineapple Pink bollworm Plum Poplar Populus deltoides Potato Pseudomonas Pseudomonas putida Pseudomonas syringae Rapeseed Rhizobium Rhizobium etli |
Rhizobium fredii
Rhizobium leguminosarum Rhizobium melioti Rice Rubus idaeus Soybean Spruce Squash Strawberry Sugrabean Sunflower Sweet Potato Sweetgum TEV TMV Tobacco Tomato Walnut Watermelon Wheat Xanthomonas Xanthomonas campestris |
U.S.
Dept. of Agriculture/Animal Plant and Health Inspection Service (APHIS).
Database of GE organisms released.
Bioengineering Action Network
links to more research, action news, etc.
--Genetix Alert
Receives anonymous communiques from nighttime gardeners and communicates
with the press.
GenetX Alert Press Office
Genetic Engineering
Network (UK)
Mapquest.
Print out a map and driving directions to your site.
Yellowpages.
Run a statewide or local search for an institution in your area.
--There are so many resources on the internet for locating sites and researchers that space does not allow for further information. But it's all out there for you to learn!