permaculture

[Jason Gerhardt <jasongerhardt@gmail.com>]

Seeds of Change has always had problems of one sort or another.  As a former
grower who frequently bought seeds from them and grew seeds for them, I can
honestly say that their operation was always on the edge.  SoC has brilliant
marketing and obvious cash to put into it, but they never quite managed
fulfillment and their seed growers that well.  The best part of SoC has
always been its growers network.  Though the front line SoC company may go
in a different direction (good, bad who can tell) the growers are still out
there doing their good work.  What is happening in the seed world is a
re-bioregionalization as I see it, and that is a really good thing.  A goal
should be to get to a place where we don't need front line companies like
Seeds of Change, but instead can buy seeds that are grown regionally and
locally with all the benefits of climatic adaptation.

Many SoC growers and breeders have their own seed companies up and running
in their specific bioregions and on the net.  Whenever possible I buy from
them first.  Check it out:  Wild Garden Seeds, Oregon; Siskiyou Seeds,
Southern Oregon; Uprising Seeds, Washington; Abbo-Regional Seeds, Colorado;
Arid Lands Seed Cache, New Mexico; etc.  The Eastern half of the country has
its own seed network of which I am less familiar.

The only way to fight against the industrialization and corporate take over
of our seeds is to grow them ourselves and develop local/regional seed
growers networks.

The safest place for our seeds is in our own hands and lands!

Jason