There is a new link on the top of the main page of this blog to a list of seeds I have available for sale or trade. The list is not 100% final yet, and it’s possible there may be a few last minute changes in the coming days.
The Omnivore’s Dilemma
I know I’m months behind other blogs talking about this book, but I just finished reading it the other day. This book, by Michael Pollan, is a must read for people interested in things this blog discusses.
I will never think the same way about what I eat again. Like some other blogs have said, where do you start to talk about it. There is so much information, and so many juicy facts, assertions and conclusions that it’s hard to know which are really my favorites.
First of all the book is primarily about food production in the US, but many parallels can be drawn no matter where you live, for example:
“Yet the potential boon of falling raw material prices — which should allow you to sell a lot more of your product at a lower price — can’t be realized in the case of food because of the special nature of your consumer, who can only eat so much food, no matter how cheap it gets.”
And then:
“What this means for the food industry is that the natural rate of growth is somewhere around 1 percent per year — 1 percent being the annual growth rate of the American population. The problem is 1 percent will never satisfy Wall Street, which demands at the very least a 10 percent return on it’s capital.
This leaves companies like General Mills and McDonald’s with two options if they hope to grow faster than the population: figure out how to get people to spend more money for the same three-quarters of a ton of food, or entice them to actually eat more than that. The two strategies are not mutually exclusive, of course, and the food industry energetically pursues them both at the same time.”
Add to this the current farming and farm subsidy policies that have created a massive surplus of all types of food, but particularly grains like corn, and low and behold we all start getting fat.
The book explains how the surplus of corn came about in a similar way to what happened with coffee that I posted about before. Before WWII there was a sustainable and environmentally friendly system of crop rotation where farmers could save and replant their own seeds. Along came seed companies that first created F1 hybrid and later GM varieties both with higher yields. The trade off is you have to purchase these seeds from the seed companies every year instead of saving and replanting your seed. and use more pesticides and fertilizers that also had to be purchased every year from the same seed companies. At first this seemed like a good deal, because the profits from the higher yields more than offset the additional costs, but then the market became flooded with the excess corn, driving prices down to rock bottom levels meaning it was impossible to get a return on your investment.
It is a sad reality that after taking into account all government subsidies and monies paid for their crops, it costs Iowa corn farmers more to grow their crops than they receive. For those who choose to continue farming, they must simply make up the difference by taking a loan or working a second job. All they can do is try to grow a little bit more to try to minimize their losses, which of course floods the market further. The only ones that profit are the seed companies, who sell the seed and chemicals, and the food companies. Of course there is no way any farmer can make any money by returning to growing the older varieties of corn, even though that’s what many people would prefer to eat.
So what happens to this mountain of surplus corn that is grown every year in the US? In recent years technologies have been developed to process corn into an amazing number of foods and food additives, which are familiar to most of us: vegetable oil, high fructose corn syrup, citric and lactic acid, glucose, fructose, maltodextrin, ethanol (for beverages as well as cars), sorbitol, mannitol, xanthan gum, modified and unmodified starches, dextrins, cyclodextrins and MSG. These are just a few and there are others. So many additives in fact, that it is almost impossible to find any processed food in the US that doesn’t have some corn in it. In addition to all of this better living through chemistry, almost all meat production in the US is based on corn. They have even developed a GM strain of salmon that can be raised on corn.
Corn is also made into many consumer products like automotive fuel and plastics.
The processing of corn is not without environmental costs. There are huge pollution problems caused by excessive antibiotic, pesticide and fertilizer use, the ‘manure lagoons’ and antibiotic resistant superbug infections generated by factory animal farms and where crops are grown topsoil is being depleted at an unsustainable rate. Above all, this whole system of processing grain is enormously energy and water intensive, and most of the energy comes from petroleum products. The US food industry consumes more fossil fuels than automobiles do every year. Fertilizers are made from natural gas. Huge amounts of energy are spent powering tractors and transporting all of these products around. Distribution is centralized, so products often travel large distances unnecessarily. Huge amounts of water are consumed by crops, livestock and all of the various processing plants.
As we were discussing on another blog recently, ethanol produced for automobiles in the US takes almost twice as much energy to produce than what is contained in the final product and running vehicals on ethanol is known to reduce air quality.
On the economic side of things, the key to getting us to pay more for food is usually to processes or improve it. If grain is turned into meat, as consumers we pay more for the original grain this way. The same is of course true if a fast food restaurant prepares the food for us, we would all expect to pay more. The phasing out of old foods, and introduction of new ‘improved’ ones is something we are all familiar with. There is also an increasing trend to get us to pay for certification like ‘Fair Trade’ or ‘Organic’.
What about getting us to eat more? This is a much trickier proposition, but the food companies have it figured out. One of the most important is the secret of supersized portions. It’s a fact that people eat about 30% more food if it’s in front of them and available to eat. When, for example, McDonalds offers us an extra large portion of fries (or maybe a large drink) for just a few cents more than we would pay for a normal size, McDonalds gets a little more money out of us and we end up eating more fries than we would otherwise eat. This principle is used by almost anyone who sells food, from supermarkets to restaurants.
Another trick to get us to eat more is substituting one product for another. For example since the 1980s soft drinks in the US have been made with high fructose corn syrup instead of normal sugar. You would think this would just be a direct replacement of one sweetener for another, but in fact that’s not the case. Since the 1980s consumption of normal sugar in the US has actually increased slightly, not decreased. That means people in the US are not only eating all the sugar they used to, they are eating all of this high fructose corn syrup on top of that!
Of course the food industry loves it when there is a new food craze; Atkin’s diet, Holywood diet, low fat, low calorie, whatever it is. It gives them a chance to make new and exciting foods, so we will eat more of them. Of course the food industry has it’s hand in what we are taught as well. For example, the constantly being rewritten food pyramid in the US.
In Europe we now have the eat more fruit and vegetable campaign. Never are we advised to eat less food, only more of the ‘right’ foods. This by the way is not in the book, but I thought it was relavent.
Some facts revealed by the book:
- 19%, or almost 1 in 5, meals in the US are eaten in the car.
- 1 in 3 children eat fast food every day in the US
- 1 in 3 children born today will develop type II diabetes in their lifetime
- It takes 38 different ingredients to make a McDonalds chicken McNugget, at least 13 of which are made from corn
- McDonalds french fries are made from 40% corn.
- For every $1 spent on food in the US, the middlemen, processors and supermarkets get 93 cents. The farmer only gets 7 cents.
We’ve all heard the stories about what livestock gets fed, everything from sewage to meat and bone meal from the same species. We all know it matters what animals eat. What has come out recently in different studies, is that in fact animals raised on corn and other grains may also produce meat that is very unhealthy for us. The Union of Concerned Scientists recently issued a press release saying how much healthier grass fed beef and dairy products were to eat, not just for the animals but for us too.
Much of the remainder of the book is devoted to discussing the hijacking of the term ‘Organic’ by the food industry, as well as discussing several different systems for raising foods in a more natural way, including grass fed animals, with an emphasis on local distribution systems. He discusses how biologically we all have certain instincts for what is good to eat and what isn’t, how food companies have very effectively learned to manipulate these, and how this is probably contributing to the disintegration of eating customs like families sitting down and eating together and a multitude of other eating disorders. All of this is just as interesting as the earlier chapters, but writing about them is just too much for one blog post, and less relevant to the general subject matter of this blog. I am going to let you read about them yourself.
Dry Beans
On the left are Appalossa beans. and on the right Dog beans. Dog beans by the way are a variety of Jacob’s Cattle bean, and look nearly identical. I am growing some more varieties, and will post more pictures later after I harvest them.
I think many gardeners forget about beans, especially dry beans. I have to travel to my garden, and because I am not there regularly enough, green beans are not really an option for me.
I am really a fan of bush dry beans. They don’t require poles or other support. You usually have to do one or two rounds of weeding after planting the seeds, but after that the foliage usually covers the ground and smothers the weeds. As far as things you can grow in your garden, they are fairly prolific. A 15ft (4.5m) row will normally yield at least a pound (500g) of dry beans, and sometimes 2-3 times that. Beans don’t need rich soil, and will fix nitrogen and improve any soil they are grown in. They are normally ready for harvest in 90 days, making them suitable for almost any climate and even fairly short growing seasons. This is of course all assuming you have the proper nitrogen fixing bacteria in the ground.
The variety of beans available is astonishing, I guess hundreds or maybe even thousands. If you grow several kinds they will sit in jars on your shelf and you will get to know them like bottles of fine wine. Each with it’s own special taste.
In terms of preserving your harvest, nothing could be easier. Just let them air dry throughly, before putting them in an airtight container. It is a very good idea to ‘Pasturize’ your harvest by putting it in the deep freeze for a few days. As long as the beans are dry this won’t hurt them, and it will kill the eggs of any insect pests that might remain after harvest. If you are afraid they might not be dry enough, freeze a few of them first, and see if it goes okay. If you are saving them for seed, you may wish to germination test the seeds from your freeze test.
There is a world of difference in taste between what you grow at home and what you buy in the store. Store bought beans are frequently years old, and always totally and throughly dried out. So dry, you need to soak them overnight before using them, then usually you have to cook them for more than an hour to make them eatable. They are also unlikely to grow if you try planting them.
What you grow yourself usually doesn’t need any more than a few hours soaking, and less than a half hour cooking. The taste is fresh like you have never had before. The seeds are the same as what you eat, just set some aside and plant them.
How the Seed Savers Exchange Works
There has been a lot of discussion on garden blogs lately about seed exchanges, so I thought it would be a good time to post about how the Seed Saver Exchange (SSE) works.
It’s worth pointing out that what you see on the SSE Internet website is something different from the seed exchange. The website is a commercial operation designed to raise money for the SSE activities. On their website they sell seeds they themselves grow, and not what their members grow for the seed exchange. By all means, buy seeds from their website, they are a worthy organization, but don’t draw any conclusions from their limited selection or order policies.
I think there are two main reasons why a post like this should be interesting. First is the SSE has been around since the mid 70s, are experts on seed exchanges and we bloggers probably have a thing or two to learn from them. The other reason is I think not many people join the SSE is because they don’t really understand what it is or how it works. Hopefully if I explain something about it, it will seem more interesting to more people as an organization worth joining and participating in.
By the way, there are many things besides seeds on offer via the SSE, but for simplicity I am going to refer to them all collectively as ‘seeds’ in this post. There is fruit trees, garlic, jerusalem artichokes, horseradish, potatoes and multiplier onions just to name a few things besides seeds.
First, and perhaps most importantly, all seed exchanges are done on a cash basis (unless you come to another mutual agreement). This means, for most of the seeds offered, anyone can have them by simply buying them. There is no other obligation beyond paying for them. If what you are looking for is interesting seeds, and don’t want to offer anything in return, it is an option to simply buy the seeds. Among other things, everyone has to start somewhere, so you have to make it possible for people to get seeds in the first place.
The Domestic Prices in 2006 (in US$) for members who are currently offer seeds for trade:
Small Seeds $2
Large seeds and biennials $3
Potatoes, garlic and other non-seeds $4
Prices for members not currently offering seeds are $1 higher. International prices are $2 higher still, except that no price is given for potatoes and garlic because their shipment internationally is often not allowed. For example the price of a package of bean seeds sent internationally to someone not currently offering seeds would be $6.
There is no minimum order. All orders are placed directly with SSE members, so if you want 25 different seeds that different SSE members are offering, you must send 25 different orders. You are not allowed to place a ‘double order’ or an order for 2 of exactly the same thing, and quantities of seed are normally small. It’s normal to expect to have to grow the small initial sample first and save the seeds, before you will have enough seeds for a large planting.
It’s worth noting that some varieties are set aside for people who are either members offering seeds or for people who promise to grow the seeds out and reoffer them to the SSE the following year. Most varieties however are available to everyone for purchase.
If you never offer any of your own seeds via the SSE, you would be defeating the purpose of the SSE, but not it’s rules. I think it fair to say that most people who order seeds from the SSE also offer some of what they grow back.
So what are the advantages or disadvantages to ordering seeds from the SSE? The most important advantage is the number of plant varieties available. In 2006 there were a stunning 12,284 unique varieties offered by 756 members! It is truly a jaw dropping experience to read through their yearbook and realize everything you have to choose from. The main disadvantage is you are not placing your order with one place, but many, with some extra costs as a result and if there are any issues to sort out with your orders you have to do it with several different people. However frustrating dealing with many different people can be sometimes, they are (almost) all really wonderful people. They are not in it for the money and mostly they are there to help out if you have problems with your order. I have made several friends placing orders via the SSE.
People living outside the US need to realize this is a US based organization, needs a little extra patience and you need to play by their rules. Most importantly, all payments are in US$ and generally in cash. The idea is that you too will offer seeds, and get US$ from other people, that you can then use to purchase seeds from other people. Think of the US$ as a sort of coupon or trading stamp. In any event, you will need some small denomination US$ notes to get started with. I might be able to help with this, and perhaps some other bloggers can as well. Feel free to send me an email.
They do not currently have an electronic version of their seed listings, so international members in particular are confronted with very high membership fees, that go almost exclusively to sending you printed material.
Anyone placing orders with them should realize many SSE members are country folk, many of them are aging and for international members they often don’t have a lot of experience dealing with foreigners. For some reason seed saving and technology often don’t go hand and hand, and many of them do not have email addresses. Some of them that do have email addresses don’t have a lot of experience with computers and some of them don’t check their email regularly. For many of them the phone is the best bet.
Finally one of the most important reasons for joining the SSE is it needs your help. I mentioned above they had 756 members in 2006, but in 1995 they had 1031 members. Where are all the members going? A lot of them are aging and dying, and there simply aren’t enough younger members to take their place. There has been a steady decline since 1995. In 2005 there were 801 members, so that’s a loss of almost 50 members in the last year alone. It would really make a big difference if 20 or 30 of us bloggers became active participating members.
Free Seeds, Free Software and Free Beer
Many things in life come to us for free. A free packet of seeds with an order or from a friend. A free sample in the mail. Maybe someone pays for your meal at a restaurant. These things are all free because we don’t have to pay for them. This kind of free is often referred to as ‘free as in beer’, because if someone gives you a free beer the only logical thing to do is drink it down, pee it out and it’s all over.
What other kind of free is there? For those of us who grow heirloom plants, we know another kind of free. Since by definition, these plants are free from intellectual property rights and free from modern breeding and genetic technologies, you are free to do what you want with them. You are free to replicate the plants by saving seeds or other means, trade them, give them away, grow your own food and if your local laws allow you are even free to make money by selling the seeds or other plant materials without having to pay anyone else any royalties. If you are dissatisfied for some reason with the plants you have, you are even free to create new ones that have all the freedoms as the original plants.
With heirloom plant varieties come information on history, lineage, other gardeners experiences, disease resistance and the knowledge the plants are free from GM or other technologies that you may not want to eat. This information is critical to being able to make the best decisions, and making full use of the genetic materials available, when creating your own new varieties. This information is usually not available for commercial varieties of plants.
Heirloom seeds are truly ‘free seeds’.
In recent years there have been some biodiversity treaties that have established ownership over heirloom plant varieties, but these are more to provide a mechanism to preserve these varieties, and are unlikely to effect you as a home gardener or small commercial operation.
So what does all of this have to do with software? As heirloom gardeners, we are a dwindling breed faced with not very much organization or group resources. On the other hand there is a very organized and large group of people that make up the free software movement. Free software is based on exactly the same principles. Freedom from intellectual property rights; freedom to copy, trade, sell or give away without paying royalties; freedom to modify or create derivative works; full access to source code and documentation. The flagship product of the free software movement is Linux, which is a complete operating system and replacement for Windows.
There are always changes in the organization of Linux, but at the moment the best option available is called Ubuntu. You can even ask for a free (as in beer) installation disk.
If you have an old computer, unsuitable for the latest version of Windows, this is a great opportunity to install Linux. The Linux people go to great lengths to make sure that even very old computer hardware is still supported in current releases. Even a computer 10 years old will probably run Linux with few problems and with reasonable performance. Newer hardware can be more of a problem. Before buying a new computer to run Linux on, make sure to carefully research all of it’s components to ensure they are all supported by Linux. When installing Linux, it’s best to have an Internet connection because it will download all of it’s updates and additional software.
Linux is not without some bugs, but most users agree there are far fewer problems than with Windows. Linux is virtually free of viruses, spyware and other malicious software. In recent years a considerable amount of effort has gone into making Linux ‘just work’. If you’ve tried it in the past and were unhappy with it, it might be time to try again. Best of all, nearly all the components, plugins and extra software needed are free. Both free as in beer and free as in free software.
Maybe most important of all is we as heirloom gardeners need to find a way to work together with the free software people. We need to find a way to take advantage of their organization and resources. We need to find a way to work together with them towards a common goal — freedom from oppressive intellectual property rights. Linux has established itself as a viable alternative to Windows and now we as heirloom gardeners need to work to establish what we grow as a viable alternative to what is sold in the supermarket.
