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seedkeepers - Re: [Seed Keepers] Fort Knox- get over it

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  • From: Pumpkin Lady <pumpkin@xanadoo.com>
  • To: Seed Keepers <seedkeepers@lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [Seed Keepers] Fort Knox- get over it
  • Date: Fri, 29 Feb 2008 13:56:26 -0600

LINDA who I am not picking on, but she gave me a jumping off point wrote:

IMHO we should all be doing that anyway. The farmers know how to keep their seed alive- How much can vault staffers know?

Well, unless the seed vault staff are supposed to also grow out the seed, how much about growing seed do they NEED to know? What the staffers need to know is how to keep seeds at the optimum conditions to keep it viable for as long as possible, and how to access these supposed files of growing and usage tips and hand them out to the people who need them.

Besides, how do you know the staffers DON'T know more than you? There's this whole perceived "knowledge" about how certain people are that the media has given us. Academians are all bookish and timid and not much use. Scientists are all either evil and mad or brilliant and useless. People want to pull out examples and hold them high of "we" are better than "they" are, and that's normal, but not really useful. Most of the FARMERS I know buy GM seed and use lots of petroleum based power and fertilizer to grow it. I doubt many of them have a clue about how to save seed or keep it in good condition any more.

But really, this whole "because X" is on the funding list it's all going to be crap it kind of silly. NO ONE is going to be able to know for DECADES what good or bad is going to come of this, and I heartily wish the list would MOVE ON. There is nothing "we" can do good OR bad about this. It is already a done deal. Those who think it is good, great. Those who think it is bad, so sorry.

Do we really need to go round and round about it? If there was some news "we" could benefit from (say, they wanted people to grow out seed), or help with (like, they wanted volunteers to help with something) I could see that being of interest and conversation worthy, but there isn't. News like "X agri-giant appropriated all the seeds" would also be topical and useful, so would "the bank helped save and culture these seeds back into their native habitat". But all of that will come years down the line, if ever.

I keep thinking this is the most angry and negative garden list I have EVER seen. I sure hope it mellows out soon.

Morgan




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