"Save Our Food. Free the Seed." : New York Times

These are a few excerpts from an article that spells out why we need to save our local seeds.

"The type of seed also dictates the fertilizer, pesticide and fungicide regimen, sold by the same company as part of the package, requiring a particular planter and sprayer (40 feet and 140 feet wide, respectively) and producing a per-acre yield that is startling, and startlingly easy to predict.
 

It is as if the seed is a toy that comes with a mile-long list of component parts you’re required to purchase to make it function properly.

We think that the behemoths of agribusiness known as Big Food control the food system from up high — distribution, processing and the marketplace muscling everything into position. But really it is the seed that determines the system, not the other way around."

"The seeds in my palm optimized the farm for large-scale machinery and chemical regimens; they reduced the need for labor; they elbowed out the competition (formally known as biodiversity). In other words, seeds are a blueprint for how we eat."

.......  

"We should be alarmed by the current architects.

Just 50 years ago, some 1,000 small and family-owned seed companies were producing and distributing seeds in the United States; by 2009, there were fewer than 100. Thanks to a series of mergers and acquisitions over the last few years, four multinational agrochemical firms — Corteva, ChemChina, Bayer and BASF — now control over 60 percent of global seed sales."

.......

"According to a report published by the Organic Seed Alliance, most large-scale organic crop acreage is planted with conventional seed. Despite a recent uptick in the production of organic seed, there isn’t enough to go around. “Not if you want to plant 200 acres,” one midsize organic farmer told me. “Not even if you want to plant 50 acres.”

 

Farmers find themselves hobbled by weak plants that were designed to be weaned on chemicals.

It’s not hard to see why organic food is expensive. Farmers have to price the organic carrots to reflect the cost of production in a world designed for them to fail. In the checkout aisle, we wince. A consensus is reached: Organic carrots are a noble idea but not a practical one to feed our growing population."

Read The NYT article

Greenpatch Organic Seeds open day

Organic herb seedlings

Three carloads of us carpooled down to near Taree in time for the advertised start time of 10am. Only to be told that the day had been cancelled at the last minute due to the carpark ground being too soft. However, we were hardly the only ones who didn't get the memo in time, and within half an hour, approximately 50 people had gathered in expectation of the days offerings.

 

They decided to run the day after all.

We were all led around the property for a farm tour. 

 
Greenpatch have been growing organic seeds for edible plants for 25 years from this little 5? acre plot. 
 Plantings are dense, crops are rotated, they have their irrigation system and mulching figured out. To prevent unwanted cross pollination within plant families they use fruit fly netting. This covers the other crops in the family to exclude pollinators while the first one, the most ready to set seed, is left uncovered. They do this on a grand scale.

Their seed cleaning equipment is not much more sophisticated than ours. Their sieves are larger and they use a fan on a gentle setting for winnowing. For some seeds there is a sifting machine - a barrel shaped sieve run by a motor.

We were also given a seed sowing and propagation demonstration, and a talk on native stingless bees.

In between, we feasted on an impromptu morning tea and lunch that was magnificent.

Greenpatch have a huge variety of open pollinated heritage organic seeds for sale, as well as useful gardening bits and bobs including their fruit fly netting.
https://www.greenpatchseeds.com.au/

Thanks to Jeff for all our photos.

Public Libraries Are Giving Out Seeds In The Name Of Sustainability

“ 'It’s great if we have all this sustainability, but unless we have access to seeds, all the other aspects of sustainable agriculture really don’t mean anything,” Newburn told Atlas Obscura.

Labelling the Seeds Working Bee March 7

Always a great opportunity to share news.

Ready for the Bellingen Autumn Plant Fair March 11, 2017

Whole Earth Summit: [FREE & ONLINE] March 11-13; 4-10pm EST

Whole Earth Summit: [FREE & ONLINE] March 11-13; 4-10pm EST

 Remember: This event is free and online, so you can join from anywhere. Feel free to invite friends and family by sharing this link > www.WholeEarthSummit.org.

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Schedule

TUESDAY, MARCH 11TH (EST)

4:00 - 5:00pm - HOSTS Janell Kapoor & Stacey Murphy: Vision, Inspiration, Collaboration & Action
5:00 - 5:15pm - Vandana Shiva: Seed & Food Sovereignty
5:15 - 6:15pm - Raj Patel & Nikki Silvestri: Love, Purpose & the Food Movement
6:15 - 6:30pm - Cantave Jean-Baptiste: Haitian Seedbanks & Community Security
6:30 - 7:30pm - Brad Lancaster & Geoff Lawton: Regenerative Action & Abundance
7:30 - 7:45pm - Marla Spivak: Honeybee Allies
7:45 - 8:45pm - Joel Salatin & Peter Bane: Growing Sovereignty
8:45 - 9:00pm - Mark Lakeman: Activating City & Planet Repair
9:00 - 10:00pm - Jason McLennan & David McConville: Desiging Living Buildings & Systems

WEDNESDAY, MARCH 12TH (EST)
4:00 - 5:00pm - Bill McKibben & Hunter Lovins: Energy & Capital 
5:00 - 5:15pm - Majora Carter: 
5:15 - 6:15pm - Lonny Grafman & Rob Avis: Appropriate Technology & Community
6:15 - 6:30pm - Johnny Weiss: Solar & Renewable Energy
6:30 - 7:30pm - Sepp Holzer & Dr. Dieter Duhm: Healing Water, Healing Love
7:30 - 7:45pm - Allan Savory: Holistic Land Management
7:45 - 8:45pm - Jacquie Berger & Anna Lappe: Food Systems: Global to Local
8:45 - 9:00pm - Karen Washington: Urban Farming Movement
9:00 - 10:00pm - Charles Eisenstein & Vicki Robin: Transformational Leadership

THURSDAY, MARCH 13TH (EST)
4:00 - 5:00pm - Grandmothers Mona, Rita, & Flordemayo: Vision & Action for a Healed Earth
5:00 - 5:15pm - Bill Twist: Awakening the Dreamer
5:15 - 6:15pm - Starhawk & Rob Hopkins: Practical Action for the Commons
6:15 - 6:30pm - Sacha Stone: Human Sovereignty Movement
6:30 - 7:30pm - Nina Simons & Terry Tempest Williams: The Art of Engagement
7:30 - 7:45pm - Susun Weed: Wild Food as Medicine 
7:45 - 8:45pm - Gemma Bulos & Osprey Orielle Lake: Women, Water & Climate Change
8:45 - 9:00pm - Rachel Parent: Kid’s Right to Know 
9:00 - 10:00pm - Ryan Eliason & Ocean Robbins: Food Revolution & Social Entrepreneurship

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This FREE & ONLINE summit is dedicated to you, your community, and life on earth for generations to come. If you have any questions at all, please contact our support team at Support@WholeEarthSummit.org.

Our Seed Savers Working Bee - Making seed labels

Barbara is concentrating.

 Producing seeds for the two Bellingen Plant Fairs (and members) involves not just collecting the seeds that thrive in our local area. We have recently applied more finesse to our seed packaging. Volunteers are always welcome.

Irene watches Carol. Jeff works away in the background.

Visit to Kaths Farm

It was perfect weather for collecting seed at Kath's farm. Click to enlarge the pic.

Seed Savers Visit to Bellingen North Bank Community Garden in August

Midday temperatures hovered around 20 degrees centigrade as we enjoyed another perfect late winter day on our visit to the North Bank Community Garden. This garden has four directors and operates on a voluntary basis. Volunteers help grow the vegetables and fruit and also share the produce. This community garden also hosts a 'for profit' seedling supply business. The garden has planted public gardens and fruit trees around Bellingen and is involved with the sharing of locally grown food. It is auspicing another community garden at Valla and another proposed garden at Brierfield.

 (Click on any photo to enlarge.)


Kohl Rabi is being harvested in the garden. This plant will soon be ready for harvesting.

 This bed of lettuces is waiting to be thinned.

A plentiful harvest of bottle gourds is drying in the open.

New beds are being carved into the rich soil. Loads of stable manure are being trucked in. Many of the gardens are designed in this free flowing design.

A huge tatsoi awaiting harvest.

One of the last cauliflowers is almost ready for picking.

The seedling production area is supplying local businesses as far west as Dorrigo. It therefore grows a range of seedlings, some suited to frosty areas and some suited to the lowland heat and humidity.

 Jess (left) is one of the directors and operates the seedling supply business.

New solar panels, courtesy of Bellingen Solar, have been erected in the ever-growing garden. The garden has plans to landscape the riverbank and extend the orchard.

 Is this a bed of leeks?

Members were able to collect rooted sections of Lemon Grass. Some of us had been sold Citronella Grass by nurseries. The Citronella grass is unsuitable for eating and can become weedy.

The community pizza oven and barbecue is well used.

 An arch of split and bound bamboo frames the view.

Mustard has self seeded around the garden, here growing under the ginger. The 'chooks' welcome the green feed produced by the garden.

The 'seed savers' gather to share seeds, ideas and food.  We shared many seeds. New seeds added to the seed collection included Thai Egg Tomato, climbing beans, Pie Melon and Linseed. We also shared seedlings of Irene's Bok Choy and Drumstick Tree (Moringa oleifera) cuttings.

Carol enjoys a local pecan nut. The platter has Carambola and citrus grown by David.

Bellingen Seed Savers Visit David's Delightful Garden

David suggested we visit his small acreage to advise him on garden plantings and layout. As we suspected David had little need for our advice but we thoroughly enjoyed his sustainable plantings that are rapidly meeting his goal of developing a small but productive Eden.








David's productive garden commences at the top of his gently sloping block

David has made great use of bamboo and drapes bird netting over his 'chook pen'.
Unfortunately the hawks have been active.

His 'chook pen' serves as a trellis for his recently planted broad beans His hens have a magnificent view of the escarpment. While the south of the NSW suffered from snow and wind storms on this day, the Gleniffer Valley near Bellingen had a clear blue sky and 19 degree Celsius temperatures

Irene calls us to order and we share our Seed savers philosophy with jounalist visitor Uta. We endeavour to grow seeds and then to ensure they are distributed throughout our membership. Heritage seeds from acclimatised vegetables and fruits will always be growing somewhere in our district. If seed companies attempt to patent the seeds of common food plants and to introduce genetically modified plants we will still have seed stock available to share. Of course, our acclimatised plants grow best in our district.

Ute's photograph of our happy group appeared in the Coffs Coast Advocate

Our seed table is a treasury of locally grown seed, some grown for many generations in this district. The very hot rocoto tree chilis in the bags were taken for chili jams, seeds and to be dried for chili powder. The powder is used in cooking and for medicinal capsules to relieve arthritis. Great idea Jeff.

Jicama (Yam Bean) is new to most of us but Nell says to harvest the tuber as soon as the flowers fade. The tuber or root has more of a mild bean taste. This plant was left to grow for seed and the tuber was huge. These Jicama dipping sticks were the result. Nell says she uses her Jicama and her Yacon to provide the crunch in stir fries as an alternative to 'hard to peel' water chestnuts.


Beryl's lemon butter tarts, made only from organic ingredients (lemons, sugar, butter) were popular at afternoon tea along with Jicama sticks, mandarin cake, banana cake and various slices made from local ingredients. Despite appearances, however, we gather not for the food but to share our seeds, our values and friendship. It works for us. Come along to the next meeting if you live locally and share your seeds or plants.

Seed Savers' Network Aims

Our Aims

The Seed Savers' Network was established in Australia in 1986 with these charitable and educational purposes in its deeds:-

To develop and promote:

• Educational programmes for the preservation of open-pollinated (non-hybrid) seeds and the genetic diversity of plant varieties;
• Non-profit seed exchange programmes;
• Agricultural and horticultural programmes with particular emphasis on the propagation of open-pollinated plant varieties;
• Preservation gardens for open-pollinated plant varieties;
• Seed banks for non-hybrid plant varieties;
• Scientific research relating to the above matters, either alone or in conjunction with a public university or other institution.

To Provide:

• Financial and educational assistance to community development projects - local and overseas;
• Open-pollinated seed stock to individuals, groups and communities.

from the  Seed Savers Network

Bellingen Seed Savers gather to share seeds, July 2011