Reclaim the Seeds
Local seed and food organization Aseed is sponsoring a seed swap and local food fair. Bifurcated Carrots will be there with a stand on Saturday.
If you’re in the area, please come by! Entrance is free.
If you’re able to sponsor a stand or presentation on either day, please get in touch! You can either contact me, and I will put you in touch with the right person, or you can contact them directly via their websites. There is no cost to sponsor a stand. You can either give seeds and plants away at no cost, or you can sell them. You can also run an information only stand.
Australian Seedsavers Portuguese Tour
Margarida of the Portuguese Seed Savers recently sent an email to a mailing list I’m on, telling everyone about the visit to their country by the founders of the Australian Seedsavers. One of the coordinators of the Australian organization is Kate, known to some of you because she has a blog and visited some of us in Europe too.
Anyway, the Australian Seedsavers met more than 400 people in Portugal. They visited food gardens at several locations and taught workshops on collecting and saving seeds, traditional plant varieties, edible seeds, permaculture, activism and kitchen gardens in schools.
You can read more about this in Portuguese here, or in English here.
Purple of Sicily Cauliflower
I first wrote about this cauliflower 6 years ago. Bayu who lives in Indonesia left a comment asking if I had any spare seeds I would send for free, but I don’t have these any more. Does anyone have some seeds, or would like to buy some seeds, and send them to Indonesia for free? If so, please let me know and I’ll forward the email address.
These are pretty ordinary seeds. If you live in the US, they are available for example at Baker Creek. There are similar varieties with different names, so if you have something that looks the same it probably is.
Another World is Plantable – Community Gardening in South Africa
I was looking around for other films made by Ella von der Haide, the same person who made Resilient Seed the film about our Brussels action last spring, and I came across this. What a find! This is a really interesting look into Community Gardens in South Africa, and the sorts of problems they face.
Dan Jason and Owen Bridge on Seed Saving in Canada
Thanks to Mike who mentioned these videos in a comment on my last post. These videos are of Dan Jason of Salt Spring Seeds and The Plant Sanctuary for Canada, and Owen Bridge of Annapolis Valley Seeds, representing Canada’s two coasts at a Seedy Sunday event from earlier this year.
It’s really a great example on how in different parts of the world we have slightly different battles and laws, but in the end our overall problems and goals are the same. Here is Europe we are fighting the battle of legalizing seed saving, but in North America they’re not only fighting to keep seed saving legal, but also facing the real prospect of aggressive police action if they are unsuccessful.
Recently some laws were changed in Canada and other parts of the world like Europe to protect the pharmaceutical industry from the competition of natural foods and herbal remedies. This resulted in raids in Canada where unlicensed vitamins were confiscated by swat teams at gunpoint. It’s very possible heirloom seed companies will one day see their stocks of seeds confiscated in the same way.
We all need to act locally and think globally. We should grow seeds in our own gardens that are locally obtained and suitable for our local climate, but we shouldn’t forget seeds can be obtained elsewhere if necessary. In the same way, we should be fighting our own battles locally, but not forgetting there’s a whole world out there with other people fighting the same battle.
