Videos

First, this is ‘The World According to Monsanto’, a French made (English language) documentary over the activities of Monsanto since 1964.  This goes along well with the post I made a few days ago about the Indian farmer suicides and the associated discussion.  Apparently this has not been shown on US TV, even though efforts have been made to find a network who would accept it.  The only way people in the US can watch it is if they buy the DVD or watch it on the Internet.

Another video I have on DVD is ‘The Future of Food‘.  A reader sent me this DVD and suggested I should share it with others after watching it myself.  This features some of the same people interviewed in the video above, and tells a slightly different story that’s not really Monsanto specific.

If anyone out there is interested in being the next receipient of this DVD, send me an email.  If more than one person is interested I will give priority to people I know, live nearby and/or have left comment(s) on posts here in the past.  Hopefully, whoever gets it will pass it on to someone else when they are finished.

Update: I forgot to mention this DVD is region encoded for North America. This means if you don’t live in NA, you need to have a region free player.

Root Mash Soup

From a variety of sources on the Internet, we put together this simple soup last night from garden roots/tubers, and it was delicious!  I understand this is a traditional French soup.

Take roughly equal amounts of the following:

Celeriac (Celery Root)

Jerusalem Artichoke

Potatoes

Peel the celery root, and optionally the others as well.  We left the peels on, but  the Jerusalem Artichoke skin was a little too tough so we removed it at the end.

Since these all have different cooking times, cook them in separate pots of boiling water until they are soft enough to mash (test with a fork).  Add about 1 teaspoon vinegar or lemon juice to the cooking water of the Jerusalem Artichoke to prevent browning.  Drain, reserving some of the potato water.

Mash the cooked roots together with a potato masher.  It’s okay if it’s a little lumpy, but remove large pieces of tough skins that might remain.  Add a little of the reserved potato water until it’s the consistency of thick soup.

Serve in bowls with a pat of butter on top.  Add salt and pepper to taste.  Yum!

Obama — Dutch/Fries?

There’s a rumor floating around here, that has yet to be confirmed, but did make the newspapers on Thursday (article in Dutch).

Apparently a Fries business man, who is behind a large peppermint company called King, with the family name Obbema, settled in Africa many years ago.  He is apparently an ancestor of Obama’s, and his children took on the name Obama.

Some research into this lead to the family coat of arms (of which I have not seen a picture), and apparently along the bottom it says in old Fries ‘Ja, wy kinne’, which translates into modern English as ‘Yes we can’!

It’s important to mention historically the region of Friesland was much different than it is now, so even if a Fries connection is proved, it doesn’t necessarily mean a Dutch connection.

New Seed Network Additions

I’ve been too busy to post about them until now, but there have been some very exciting additions to the Blogger’s Seed Network recently.

I posted before about Bishop’s Homegrown.  For any gardener having access to a plant breeder is a really exciting thing.  It gives you a chance to try new things that no one anywhere near you will have in their gardens.  If you’re a little more adventurous, it also gives you the chance to try some things that ‘aren’t quite ready yet’, a fantastic opportunity to get an insight into what’s behind plant breeding and to selectively save your own seeds and create a special breed custom made for your own garden with most of the work already done for you.

Mike of Braamekraal Farm in South Africa hasn’t had a chance to update his seed list for this year, so you may have to contact him for more information as to what he has available. He’s also in the southern hemisphere, meaning his growing season is 6 months out of sync of those of us in the northern hemisphere, so he will almost certainly be posting updates to his seed lists accordingly. Mike has a great blog too!  Mike mentioned he is working on seed trading software, that will maintain lists of wanted and offered seeds and attempt to match them.  It will be open source, and anyone interested in helping out should get in touch with him for more details.

Urban Food Gardening in Ireland is a blogger who is offering several different seeds from her garden.

David of Worldwide Seed Trader is working on a very interesting concept for a seed company, almost a cooperative by the sounds of it.  It sounds like he has a number of the same goals that I do in setting up this seed network.  He is very interested is people who will grow and give him feedback on the seeds he offers.  Anyone with a blog who is willing to write a post about their experiences should certainly get in touch with him, but his seeds are available to anyone with or without a blog.  I think it’s fair to say he has the largest collection of seeds and is offering more varieties to this seed network than anyone else so far.

Grunt and Grungy’s Garden located in Canada near the US state of Idaho, with more than a century of gardening experience between them, is building a their own seed bank for future generations.  They are both interested in contributions to their effort, as well as offering their seeds to others.  They are really wonderful and friendly people, and welcome gardening related questions and correspondence.

The Seed Ambassadors, who travelled through Europe recently, blogging about their experiences as well as collecting and distributing seeds, have also agreed to make their seeds available via the Bloggers Seed Network.  At the time of this writing they have not published their 2009 offerings, but I think it’s coming soon.

We now have 18 participants in 10 countries.  There are likely thousands of varieties of seeds available for the asking.  What are you waiting for?  Make some friends, ask for some seeds!

If you have any questions or comments on the seed network, be sure to let me know.  To be clear, this is a network intended to serve the people offering and growing the seeds, and improving it is a lot easier if you let me know what you think about it.  All feedback gratefully accepted!

If you have seeds you want to offer in this way let me know.  If you don’t have a blog, it’s no problem, I will post your offerings here on my blog.

Homegrown Goodness

This probably isn’t of interest if you’re a very beginning gardener, but if you’re a little more advanced and interested in growing some more adventurous things as well as rubbing shoulders with some plant breeders from North America and elsewhere, you might have a look at the following discussion forum:  Homegrown Goodness

Like I said, it’s probably not the place to ask beginning gardening questions, but anyone is welcome.  You might find some discussions on interesting plant varieties, and a number of people are offering seeds to share.  You might make a friend or two, who knows…