Homestead mailing list

[Gene GeRue <genegerue AT ruralize.com>]

On Dec 17, 2008, at 7:06 AM, Clansgian AT wmconnect.com wrote:

> Is the chicken hickory stump hardy and canny enough to evade foxes
> and hawks?

Please decipher hickory stump meaning here.

> Never say never, and distain no tool in the box, but overall it  
> seems that
> the mindset of hybridization goes hand in hand with monocropping and
> agribusiness.

That is clearly true for commercial crops, perhaps most notably corn,  
but it seems to me that seed produced for and sold to gardeners is  
designed for home growers of small plots. The value of hybrid veggies  
for me is not only their reliable taste and size qualities but their  
resistance to disease. Think fusarium wilt in tomatoes.

That said, I will continue to work toward a sustainable food  
production design using open-pollinated varieties that is independent  
of commercial seed companies.