Seed Savers Update

News from Michel and Jude, the people behind the 24 year old Seed Savers’ Network based in Byron Bay, Australia. We are now on a working sabbatical in Malaysia, after two months in Rajasthan, India, and some weeks on a speaking tour in Japan.
Love food gardens? See our perceptions of food plant diversity and food issues, as short pieces, pictures and film clips at www.seedsavers.net We continue to take footage for a third documentary, after the success of “Our Seeds”(have you seen the trailer on our website?).

Left Michel with women and their local varieity of corn

A second, “Our Roots”, was shot in Vanuatu for French CIRAD, is now in post-production and due out in March this year.
The Seed Savers Foundation is a registered charity that fosters fruit and vegetable seed exchanges in twenty countries. It manages eighty local seed networks around Australia - see Google map at www.seedsaver.net.
We would be tickled pink to receive emails from Seed Savers' friends, fans and supporters and be part of your dreams and realisations. This month you will receive news from wherever we travel, now in the equatorial forests of the Cameron Highlands Malaysia, the home of a cornucopia of fruits and, importantly, the Orang Asli, the original forest people. The highlands are the vegetable basket for Singapore and lowland Malaysia, even Japan.
All the best for 2010.

Our Dates for 2010

2010 We are Looking for hosts & suggestions so please let me know if you are willing to host a meeting. or have any requests for workshops/visits

Sunday Feb 7th 1:30 - Community Garden, Violet Town - seed cleaning, recording, packing. We are going to join up with Violet Towns first meeting and have a look at what they have achieved at the local community garden meet in Shepparton at 12:45

Feb 28th - Propogating Day sharing of herbs and other woody shrubs / roots and plants
March 28th - Seedy Sunday Summer Seeds Collection
April 25th -
May 30th -
June 27th - Seedy Sunday seed bank sorting, recording & packaging
July 25th -
Aug 29th -
Sept 26th - Seedy Sunday Regional Seed Swap
Oct 31st
Nov 28th

SOS save our seeds

Seeds are critical to our success as gardeners and farmers. They are compact packages of genetic information and stored food reserves, just waiting for the conditions found in warm, moist soil in order to germinate and create tomatoes, carrots, beans and thousands of other delights out of sunshine, air, water and soil. For most of the last ten thousand years of human history, seed-saving was something nearly everyone practiced, because in order to eat and therefore to survive, it was necessary. The grains and beans which formed the basis of most diets were both seed and food. Grown in large quantities, the best were saved for planting and the rest were eaten. Our ancestors did this each year, generation after generation through the centuries. Variations in climate, soil and techniques from garden to garden and community to community, accumulated through the years, creating the incredible diversity which existed over much of our planet well into this century. These local seeds were integral to life and culture everywhere. Unfortunately, the vast majority of these varieties have disappeared.”
From Bill Duesing - Living on the Earth 1999

Some Statistics

According to FAO estimates 75% of the genetic diversity of crop plants was lost in the last century. A survey by RAFI found that approximately 97% of U.S. Department of Agriculture lists have been lost in the last 80 years

Before the 1940's very few pesticides were used on crops. Now 800 million pounds of pesticides alone are used on US farmlands each year and yet crop losses from pests are on the increase. The big producers of agro-chemicals have bought control of seed companies in order to produce seeds that require doses of their chemicals.

Seeds companies are being bought up at an alarming rate by Monstanto. Their most recent purchase was Seminis. It is estimated that Seminis controls 40 percent of the U.S. vegetable seed market and 20 percent of the world market

Almost all these cultivars have been replaced by 4 or 5 supermarket varieties because, as one grower stated, the supermarket buyer is not interested in buying any apples or peaches with less than a 4-month shelf life. This is the reason why 90% of all fruit and vegetable varieties have disappeared.

Our food is so altered that the supermarket hybrid tomato has become both the box and its contents

Preventing farm saved seed
An estimated 1.4 billion of the world's poorest people now depend for their survival on farm saved seed. Hybrid seeds and their required fertilisers, pesticides and irrigation systems have trapped many of the world's poorest farmers into a cycle of debt.

Terminator technology sterilises a seed as it develops in a plant. This means farmers can’t store or replant seed from season to season as many now do. Instead, they must buy new seed and pay a technology fee. If Terminator were commercialised, farmers would be prevented from using the ancient practices of harvesting, saving and replanting seed. Farmers rely on these processes to adapt their local varieties to unique environmental, soil and management conditions. As climates change globally this will become even more crucial. As the plant’s pollen remains fertile, Terminator genes can be transferred to other plants. This would sterilise them, too, wreaking environmental havoc and threatening food security

In India hundreds of farmers have committed suicide due to debt. Monsanto pushes their pesticide-producing Bt cotton, “there was no non-BT hybrid seed available in the market,” says agronomist Kiran Sakhari.

Farmers had to borrow heavily to pay four times the price for the GM varieties, along with the chemicals needed to grow them. In spite of glowing promises of higher yields by Monsanto’s ads, Bt cotton often performs poorly. Tragically, tens of thousands of indebted desperate farmers have resorted to suicide, often drinking unused pesticides. In one region, more than three Bt cotton farmers take their own lives each day.

In the US Monsanto are vigorously pursuing their proprietary rights. Using investigators to identify farmers suspected of saving their seed, Monsanto threaten criminal charges and damages in excess of $1 million. The company requires farmers to sign a contract that they will not save and replant GM seeds from their harvest

Conclusion
Commercial interests currently dictate the path of research and development of new crop varieties. There is a chronic shortage of research looking at the adverse effects of, and the alternatives to, the chemical paradigm. Scientists are discouraged from co-operation and publishing their work by the secrecy required for patenting.

It is a myth that large, intensive farms growing modern high response seed are efficient. Such measures of efficiency exclude social and environmental costs. Numerous studies indicate that utilising practices such as mixed cropping; small farms practising alternatives to chemical agriculture can produce greater yields

We can all help on a grass roots level by

Refrain from purchasing seed varieties controlled or purchasing chemicals by Monsanto

Grow your own food and save seeds from each crop and share them with others

Support local seed banks

Purchase organic, heirloom or open pollinated from independent seed companies who’s mission are to save seed diversity.

JANUARY IN THE PATCH

Its hot, the winds are drying and we all can't be bothered after the excess of Christmas, (or ConsumerMass as I heard it put recently) Unfortunately January is an important planting time, time for things to get going to make the most of the Autumn flush. Things you plant now will feed you from autumn to spring, I always seem to forget this and by the time I plant later in Autumn they don't have enough time to mature.

Sow some winter crops like cauliflowers, cabbage, broccoli etc keeping them moist and shaded at all times and pot them on in containers such as this htpp://scarecrowsgarden.blogspot.com/2007/11/growing-on-pots.html and tuck them up safely in a shade house, they should be planted out in garden mid Feb.

Rocket or Arugula: This is my favorite salad green, and my favorite weed. It loves our conditions here and naturalizes happily around my patch. Throw some seeds in and let them self seed.
Plant some more beans as soon as each new lot start flowering. Plant another 6-10 plants, after pre-sprouting them and a little deeper than usual to promote deeper roots,

Corn when last lot about ankle high, mix a good amount of potash into the soil when sowing to encourage good flowering. Keep the water up to the plants because they will quickly grow.

Zucchini and cucumbers, take the older ones out when mildew starts showing. Water new ones with milk solution to discourage mildew spreading using a mix of one part full cream milk to five parts rainwater. Repeat after heavy rain or irrigation or every 10 days.
Some more capsicums and chili they will fruit right up until May- June or longer if protected from frost.
Continue sowing regular crops of beetroot, coriander, carrot, parsnips, radishes, silverbeet, kale, mustard greens.
Sunflower use established seedlings - Sun King Helianthus annuus this will provide some welcome shade and bee fodder.

Colin Campbell said a good tip for propagating hard to germinate seeds during hotter months or in general is; “If a small amount of Epsom salts is added to water, when applied to the soil the magnesium in it will help the plant to activate the enzymes that breaks down the food supply in the seed. A light misting is adequate. Too much water will rot the seeds." Found in the Gardening Australia Fact sheet here:

Plant some lettuce greens or asian greens, but make sure they are well shaded otherwise they are tough bitter and will bolt to seed. For lettuces that are a bit tricky to germinate if soil temperatures are over 25 c“ Jackie French suggests to try putting the seed between two damp paper towels in the fridge for three days before sowing. (from Earth Garden summer # 146)


Other Garden chores include;

Continue foliar feeding crops once a fortnight with seaweed and or compost teas to help developing fruit/veg and strengthening plant cell walls.

Don't prune off any dead or burnt growth leave it as it provides valuable shade for both the roots and bark of trees and shrubs and vegetables. I left my spent peas and corn in place to shade more tender crops such as lettuce and spinach. If you absolutely need to prune mulch and water well immediately after pruning.

Clean up any diseased or spoiled fruit which may be a source of re-infection fruits and place in well sealed plastic bag in hot sun for a couple of days or bury at least half a metre deep, and this breaks the cycle. We have a responsibility to be vigilant in our region, for pest and diseases, if in doubt call the Dept of Primary Industries they are more than happy to have a chat and will even come and collect suspect samples from your house for identification. Enquires should be directed to the DPI Customer Service Centre on 136 186.

Happy Gardening - and wear sunscreen!

CarriageWorks Kitchen Garden Workshop - #3

This Seed saving workshop was held in Sydned in Dec and is worth a look