permaculture

[YankeePerm@aol.com]

In a message dated 10/30/97 12:28:06 PM, you wrote:

>Good point about not over-selecting, Dan. Near the center of where corn
>(Zea mays) was originally selected from teosinte (Zea mexicana)
>populations, Mexican farmers still let a few wild teosinte plants grow
>among their corn, claiming that it invigorates the corn in succeeding
>generations. And Gary Nabhan tells a wonderful story (Enduring Seeds?)
>about watching an elderly Mexicana collect a few seeds for her next year's
>crop from among each ear of corn, even the smaller or 'mis-shapen' ones.
>She replied that to be too selective was disrespectful of this gift from
>the gods, and that if this happened the corn would lose vigor and suffer in
>later years. Corn populations, as it turns out, are especially-susceptible
>to damage due to excessive narrowing of the genetic base by over-selection.
>
>As far as obtaining seeds, the Seed Exchange is a membership organization
>whose members offer their seeds directly, paying each other $1.50 per
>sample. I'll send our seed list to any who ask, and then can give
>directions for obtaining them. We have some really good, tough heirloom
>corns, okras, cowpeas and other veggies, an heirloom cane sorghum, Mat Bean
>(an interesting, low-growing Vigna (V. aconitifolia... Vigna is the cowpea,
>mung bean genus) with good potential as a living mulch... about 321
>varieties of veggie or native plant at present.
>
>Another good idea would be for people to join the Permaculture Seed
>Exchange (3020 Whiteoak Creek Road, Burnsville, NC 28714 USA; phone
>(704)-675-5664; membership $7/year), and in the spring I should have most
>of these low-input seeds offered through there. I'm trying to get the
>drought-adapted Tahitian squash seed made available next spring, it's a
>great producer and very low-care.
>
>Jack


Thanks Jack

We are already members of SSE and Joe Hollis's exchange in NC.  It looks as
though we should try your group and see if your varieties suit our hot, often
effectively arid conditions. We also belong to North American Fruit Explorers
(NAFES), the Northern Nut Growers Assn. (NNGA), the SouthEast chapter of the
American Bamboo soc., the Southern Pear Group, and the California Rare Fruit
Group.  It is invaluable to me both in our own design, as we are not natives
to this ecosystem, and in design work for others to be in touch with people
who may spend their entire lives exploring, for example, the selection,
cultivation and benefits of mayhaws.  This kind of lateral intergration is
what permaculture requires to put its roots into the soil already developed
by many, many compatible spirits.  I've not been much of a meeting person,
but finally I have found time to do a permaculture columen for the NAFEX
quarterly, POMONA, as a way to pay back for some of the expertise.  Of coruse
there are also a number of on-line groups.   It is great to know just where
to get info on a species or variety when considering its use somewhere.  I
encourage everyone interested in permaculture to join at least one seed
savers or tree-crops group.  Saving seeds becomes part of one's lifestyle
very quickly.  I find that by saving seed we get adapted strains.   I don't
worry about a little cross pollination, for reasons Jack brings out.  We have
a rainbow sweet corn that I developed in Massachusetts and have been
gradually adapting now to the south.  I keep throwing in a few kernals of
this variety or that to get desired traits and then select out for them.  It
is fun and it is a kind of security that has no subsitute.  Mainly, it just
becomes part of the way one lives life--involvement in one more vital way
with the cycles of giving and receiving that keep us functioning in the
Universe.

For Mother Earth, Dan Hemenway, Yankee Permaculture Publications (since
1982), Elfin Permaculture workshops, lectures, Permaculture Design Courses,
consulting and permaculture designs (since 1981), and now correspondence
courses via email.  Next live training:  Paraguay, Sept. 1998. Internships
available. Copyright, 1997, Dan & Cynthia Hemenway, P.O. Box 52, Sparr FL
32192 USA  YankeePerm@aol.com  

We don't have time to rush.