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Subject: Healthy soil and sustainable growing
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- From: "Douglas Willhite" <drwillhite@earthlink.net>
- To: <livingontheland@lists.ibiblio.org>
- Subject: [Livingontheland] Saving the Seeds
- Date: Sun, 15 Jun 2008 10:07:51 -0700
Saving the Seeds
Until the early part of this century, most produce
was locally grown. Vegetables and flowers were primarily selected for their
flavor, ability to perform well in a specific environment and
for local adaptability. It was also important for crops to ripen over a
long season so harvests could be extended. Many people grew their own produce,
saved the seeds for the next season and put up much of the harvest for
winter.
Industrial areas in cities were supplied with produce from
the outlying areas. Vegetables were all open pollinated. End users that
purchased vegetables generally had a relationship with the growers with perhaps
only a corner store in between. The goal of a grower was quality first and
foremost because her/his livelihood depended on this relationship
continuing.
During World War II, the United Stated made a concerted
effort to ship large quantities of produce to devastated Europe. After the war
was over, for the first time there was the infrastructure in place to ship food
over long distances. The commercial sector began to use this structure to raise
produce where it could be done most cheaply and get it to markets world
wide.
Today, if you go into your local supermarket to buy
produce, you will find primarily produce grown far away from you unless you live
in a vegetable belt (California or Florida). Much of this produce is raised in
near laboratory conditions. This set of growing methods brings a severely
different set of selection criteria than did vegetable production pre WWII. Now,
most vegetable varieties are selected for their mechanical harvesting and
shipping ability, uniform ripeness, and ability to perform well in a chemical
environment. Flavor and health enrichment are often secondary. Most seeds now
used are hybrid.
About
Seeds
* Hybrids: First generation hybrids (F1
hybrids), have been artificially-pollinated, and are patented, often sterile,
genetically identical within food types, and sold from multi-national seed
companies.
* GMO: A second kind of seed are genetically engineered or
modified organisms. Bioengineered seeds are fast contaminating the global seed
supply on a wholesale level, and threatening the purity of seeds everywhere. In
a GMO seed, the DNA of the plant has been changed. A cold water fish
gene for example was spliced into a tomato to make the plant more
resistant to frost.
*Heirloom: A third kind of seed are called heirloom or
open-pollinated seeds. These are genetically diverse seeds that have
been passed on from generation to generation. For example, with heirloom seeds
there are 10,000 varieties of apples, compared to the very few F1 hybrid apple
types.
Here are some sources for finding heirloom seeds
from seed saving organizations. These organizations
represent a movement of several thousand backyard gardeners who are searching
the countryside for endangered vegetables, fruits and grains and maintaining
their integrity.
The Seed Savers
Exchange
The Seed Savers Exchange (SSE), is a nonprofit tax-exempt organization that is saving old-time food crops from extinction. Kent and Diane Whealy founded SSE in 1975 after an elderly
relative bestowed three kinds of garden seeds brought from Bavaria four
generations earlier.
The Whealys began searching for other "heirloom varieties"
(seeds passed down from generation to generation) and soon discovered a vast,
little-known genetic treasure.
SSE's members are maintaining thousands of heirloom
varieties, traditional Indian crops, garden varieties of the Mennonite and
Amish, vegetables dropped from all seed catalogs and outstanding foreign
varieties. Each year hundreds of members use SSE's publications to distribute
such seeds to ensure their survival.
Each winter SSE publishes a 304-page Seed Savers Yearbook
which contains names and addresses of 900 members and 6,000 listings of rare
vegetable and fruit varieties that they are offering to other gardeners. Seeds
are obtained by writing directly to the members who are listing those
varieties.
Native American Seeds
Native seeds/SEARCH (NS/S) is a nonprofit seed
conservation organization working to preserve the traditional native crops of
the U.S. Southwest and Northwest Mexico. For centuries Native American farmers
have grown corn, squash, beans and other crops under a variety of growing
conditions.
The NS/S Seedbank houses, for future generations, the
seeds of crops and wild plants traditionally used as food, fiber and dyes by
prehistoric and more recent cultures inhabiting the arid southwestern U.S. and
northwestern Mexico.
NS/S encourages the continued use of these plants in their
native habitats, and also distributes them widely to home gardeners, researchers
and free of charge to Native American farmers. Wild relatives of crops - such as
wild beans, chiles, gourds and cotton - are included in Native Seeds/SEARCH's
conservation efforts.
NS/S's informative annual seed catalog lists more than 200
varieties for sale. Each crop listing includes seed saving information as well
as culture and folklore.
Southern Exposure Seed Exchange Southern Exposure Seed Exchange is a wonderful source for
heirloom seeds and other open-pollinated (non-hybrid) seeds with an emphasis on
vegetables, flowers, and herbs that grow well in the Mid-Atlantic region.
They support seed saving and traditional seed
breeding and do extensive germination and purity testing of seeds and
nursery stock to ensure the highest quality seed
possible.
Browse their mail-order site to find heirloom tomatoes, peppers, ginseng, potato onions, okra, naturally colored cotton, southern-style greens, and much more. Brothers and Sisters, support seed
saving organizations. Visit their web sites and order
their catologes. In these times, you must know how to grow your own food, save
seeds and can fruits and vegatables. It does not matter how small of a garden
you have. Become a member of an heirloom seed exchange. It is up to YOU to
save the seeds.
--------------------------------
Peace be with you, The Nazarene Way Jesus said, "A farmer took a handful (of seeds), and scattered them about. Some seeds fell on hard soil and the birds came and ate them. Others seeds fell on rock, did not take root, and did not produce. And others fell on thorns; they choked the seed(s) and worms ate them. But some seeds fell on the good soil and produced enough food to feed an entire nation. Jesus, The Gospel of Thomas Thus saith the LORD; Stand ye at the crossroads and look, and ask for
the ancient Ways, where the path is good, and walk therein, and ye shall find
rest for your souls. Jeremiah 6:16 __._,_.___ Help keep the Nazarene Way on line: http://www.thenazareneway.com/donations_tithing.htm Join the Nazarene Way Communions at: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Communions Visit The Nazarene Way of Essenic Studies main site: http://www.thenazareneway.com Add your thoughts, words and blessings to our Guest Archive at: http://www.thenazareneway.com/guestbook/guestbook.html |
- [Livingontheland] Saving the Seeds, Douglas Willhite, 06/15/2008
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