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Oxford 2009 Updates

A lot of things changed since I sent out and posted the recent announcement and schedule for Oxford 2009, so I thought I should bring everyone up to date.

Everyone is Welcome

Lots of people ask about this.

The event is open to anyone who wants to come.  It’s not an invitation only affair.  You are welcome to bring guests.  I only ask you let me know in advance who’s coming, and be aware we may run out of spaces and have to turn people away near the end.

For the moment, it looks like we have space for everyone.

Around 30 people have at least expressed some interest, but several have not confirmed, and we have space for 40 people.

Half Hour Earlier

Until now the plan has been to start the presentations at 10am, but I think enough people are giving presentations it’s best if we start a half hour earlier.  This will give us more flexibility to take a few breaks in the middle.  Please try to arrive between 9:00-9:30, but I understand a number of you have to travel a long distance and it may not be possible to make it on time.

No Visit to Elder Stubbs Allotments

I mentioned this first as a confirmed part of the event, then later announcements said it was a possibility, but now we are no longer planning to do this.

There was some confusion on my part about where the event would take place.  Julieanne, who is helping me organize things, mentioned Restore where we have the room booked is related to the allotments.  She then told me we would have access to the gardens.  I incorrectly assumed the gardens and allotments were the same, when in fact the allotments are some distance away.  While arranging a visit to the allotments would be possible, it would take more time than we have.  It’s looking like a busy day.

We’ll still have access to the Restore gardens.

Email Announcements

Last year it seemed like the whole world was starting their own garden blog, and what was being organized was primarily a blogging event.  It’s true most of us have blogs, but it’s clear lots of other people involved or attending do not have or are particularly interested in reading blogs.

For this reason, while I will still post announcements on my blog, but the primary way of communicating will be email so we don’t leave anyone out.  If there is any reason you don’t want to get emails from me, let me know, and I’ll count on you to follow my blog instead.

Sunday Breeding Workshop

For anyone who is interested, a second day has now been planned.  The purpose of this day will be to spend time with Tom Wagner for an intensive potato and tomato breeding workshop.  Ben of Real Seeds will attend this as a participant, but he is also an accomplished plant breeder himself and will likely have insight to offer.  There will be extra costs for this, which will depend on how many people attend, probably about 20-30 pounds each.  Please let me know if you’re interested.

We don’t have a room booked for this yet.  If there is anyone in the area who could help with this (maybe offer us living room or kitchen space in your home?), please let me know.  If closer to the time we still haven’t found anything, we’ll probably go to a pub or restaurant.

At a guess, I’m expecting a maximum of 6 people to attend this workshop, so it will be small and cosy.

Looking for AV Equipment

While we have some options in this regard, it includes carrying electronics from Amsterdam and having to sort out a UK power adapter.

We are currently looking for something like a projector or large screen TV. Ideally we are also a device with a remote control that would play media files directly on a TV, without having to boot Windows first and select everything with a mouse.

If you can help with any of this, please let me know.

Speakers and Scheduling

There has been some confusion and concern about this, so let me try to clarify things.  I understand some of you making presentations don’t have public speaking experience and/or are nervous about the amount of time allocated to you.

There needs to be a little planning in advance, or we will all arrive Saturday morning and not have any idea what’s going on.  Everyone should consider the planning to be more of an ordered list of who is going to speak first, rather than a strict time line.  The entire day will not be booked, so we will just move things around on the schedule as we need to when the time comes.

It’s not the intention to put any of the speakers under time pressure, and everyone is welcome to talk for as short or long as they want, provided it’s within reason.  We’re a friendly bunch, so don’ t worry about upsetting anyone.

It was probably a mistake on my part to publish a schedule with times on it, I will try to figure out a way to change the schedule to reflect this.

If you do plan to talk for 30 minutes or more, please make sure I know this, as we will take a little more care scheduling this in.

The day is looking full, so I’m not actively looking for more speakers, but will try to fit in anyone else who might still be interested.

So far, the following speakers are scheduled (let me know if I’ve forgotten you):

Emma Cooper (Fluffius Muppetus Blog/Alternative Kitchen Garden Podcast)

VP (Veg Plotting Blog)

Julieanne Porter (International Network for the Availability of
Scientific Publications/World Development Movement)

Vicki Cooke (Heritage Seed Library)

Dr. Simon J. Platten ( http://www.kent.ac.uk/anthropology/department/research/environmental/homegardens.html )

Tom Wagner (Potato and Tomato Breeder)

Small Updates

Violating all good blogging practices, I will try to keep the original announcement post up to date.

While major updates and announcements will be made by email, please check back often at the original post for smaller updates.

Above all don’t be afraid to get in touch if you have questions, comments or notice I missed something here!

Participants

Please help me out here everyone.   Have a look for your own name on this list, and make sure everything is right.  Let me know if there are any corrections.  A * means you are tentative.  A number next to your name means there’s more than one of you coming.  For links, see the bottom of this post.

Robert Brenchley (This and That)

Julieanne Porter (Oxford World Development Movement Group)

John Curtin (*) (Spadework)

Simon Kirby (*) (The Plot Thickens)

missfuggles (A Blog Called Fuggles)

Soilman (Soilman’s Allotment)

Ben (1 + 1*) (Real Seeds)

VP (Veg Plotting)

Emma (Alternative Kitchen Garden)

Jane Perrone (Horticulture, Guardian Gardening Blog)

Liz (Organic Allotment)

Matron (*) (Down on the Allotment)

Cat (2) (Manor Stables Vegetable Plot)

Emma Townshend (The Independent – Baklava Shed Coalition)

Pat ‘n Steph (2) (Bifurcated Carrots)

MissHathorn (2) (Mustardplaster)

Vicki Cooke (Heritage Seed Library)

Dr. Simon J. Platten (University of Kent)

Tom Wagner (Tater-Mater)

Allotment Blogger (*) (Allotment Blog)

Isabel (*)  (Fennel and Fern)

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Japanese Trifele Orange Tomato

jap_tri_org

I made a post last year about various colored Japanese Trifele tomatoes I grew, and this year I grew the missing orange colored variety you see in the picture above.

These were quite a bit larger than the other I grew before, the one in the left of this picture weighing in at about 125g and about 7cm wide.

This tomato too has the same slightly green and slow to ripen shoulders, that isn’t obvious in this picture but showed up on most of the fruits.  I wonder why this seems to be a trait sought after by the breeder?  Anyway, I didn’t find it a plus point.

The flavor wasn’t as complex as the black version, but the taste of this tomato was very good!

The seeds for this tomato came from Andrey Baranovski of Minsk, Belarus, a seed saving gardener.

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Oxford 2009

This post is being updated regularly, check back often!

Oxford 2009 — Seed Saving and Plant Breeding

Date:                                 Saturday, October 24th, 2009
Time:                                9am to 5pm
Venue:                              Restore Cafe (Elder Stubbs Allotments), Oxford
Cost:                                 £15 per person
Information/Reservations: oxford2009@patnsteph.net
Blog:                                 http://bifurcatedcarrots.eu
Mobile Telephone:            +31 6 40109417

Following the success of last year’s meeting at the Oxford Botanic Gardens, readers of the weblog Bifurcated Carrots and other interested people will meet for a social event.  The day will include presentations, picnic lunch (indoors if necessary), seed exchange, informal conversation and walk around the Restore garden.

This year we have more space, probably enough for everyone, but please confirm your attendance in advance!  We may have to turn people away if demand exceeds expectations.  Make sure I have your current email address, as any last minute information will be sent this way.

Seed Swap

Everyone offering seeds can set their own terms and conditions, but mostly a seed swap is a time where gardeners simply offer their seeds to others without expectations or conditions.  While perhaps some priority will be given for others offering their own seeds, there are always plenty of seeds for everyone regardless if you offer seeds to others.

Come expecting to get free seeds from others, but please bring any self saved or Open Pollinated seeds you’d like to share with others too.

This seed swap is only for OP/heirloom plant varieties or self made crosses, and not for purchased commercial seeds.  If you have any questions about this, please ask!

Presentations Currently Scheduled

Please see http://bifurcatedcarrots.eu for latest schedule

Tom Wagner – Well known American plant breeder specializing in potatoes and tomatoes will discuss his work and introduce us to potato breeding. Most significantly Tom has developed potato varieties totally resistant to Late Blight, the most important and devastating potato disease in the world right now as well as being the disease behind the Irish Potato Famine.

Emma Cooper – Author, blogger and voice behind The Alternative Kitchen Garden podcast will introduce her new book.

VP – Author of Veg Plotting blog will discuss her Air-pot trial.

Julieanne Porter – Works for International Network for the Availability of
Scientific Publications (INASP www.inasp.info) and campaigns (volunteer) for World Development Movement (WDM) and will talk about her work and campaigning in international development.

There’s still space for more presentations, let me know if you’re interested.

Tentative Schedule

9:00 – 9:30  Coffee and tea.  Please arrive at this time and spend time chatting with everyone.

9:30 – 9:45      Introduction and welcome

9:45 – 11:15  Short Presentaions (~10-30 minutes) Emma Cooper, VP, Julieanne Porter, Vicki Cooke

11:15 – 11:30 Break

11:30 – 12:30  Dr. Simon J. Platten

12:30 – 1:00  Seed Swap

1:00 – 1:45  Lunch

1:45 – ?  Tom Wagner (15 minute break around 3pm)

Afterwords walk around the gardens or chat indoors.  We have the room booked until 5pm.

What to Bring

Lunch, possibly to share with others, and something to sit on for an outdoor picnic (weather permitting).

Home saved seeds for seed swap

Feedback

Your comments are always welcome!

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Garlic Harvest

bulbil_plants

This years garlic is all in.  The last was harvested yesterday, and I finished hanging the plants up to dry today.  This was a great year, and I have lots of large and healthy looking bulbs.

As well as regular garlic, this year I grew some bulbils.  Some I got from a fellow garlic grower, and some collected from my own plants.  It was interesting to see the differences in them, and you can see three different varieties in the picture above.  On top the two balls are Estonian Red, the middle a new variety simply called ‘Russian’, and the bottom a variety screaming for a new name called ‘W6 16275’.

You can see the largest plants are about 70-75cm long, about 1/2 that of a full sized plant and formed true but small bulbs with distinct cloves.  The other bulbils formed what you see on top, and resemble a single clove garlic bulb you sometimes see in speciality stores.

Some of the bulbils were so small, and the resulting plants no bigger than a blade of grass, that browned and died off very early.  These mostly got lost in my garden, and so will stay where they are and I’m sure they will come up next year.

In all, the bulbils were a lot more trouble than the rest of the garlic.  I couldn’t put as much straw on them as I did the rest of the garlic because the plants were too small.  This meant I had a lot more weeds, and pulling the weeds tended to disturb the plants.  I’m expecting to end up with full sized bulbs of garlic within a few years.

According to my notes, I harvested the following varieties of full sized garlic:

Antonnik*
Bai Pi Suan
Bogatyr*
Burgundy
Chilean Silver
Creole Red
Cuban Purple
Dauvaga*
Dominics
Elephant
Estonian Red
Finnish
Gazebo Grande
Georgia Fire
Georgian Crystal
German Porcelain
Germinador
GSF #65
Gypsy Red
Hungarian
Irkutsk*
Kallaves*
Krasnodar Red
Londerdel
Martin’s Heirloom
Maxi Top*
Metechi
Music
New Siberian*
Oosterdel
Oregon Blue
Persian Star
Pskem
Purple Glazer
Purple Haze
Purple Italian*
Pyong Vang
Red Toch
Rosewood
Russian Softneck
Shantung Purple
Siberian*
Silver Rose
Sprint*
Susan Delafield
Sweet Haven
Tuscan
Uzbek Turban
Vekak Czech
Vigor*
Vilnius
Wonha
Xian

Those marked with a * are my first year growing the variety, so I probably don’t have enough to share with others except by special request.  As far as the others go, I have some extras I could share if anyone is interested growing it.  Just send me an email and we’ll sort out the details.

For most people I would like you to pay for postage and packaging costs.  Within the Netherlands this is about €9.  Within Europe about €15 and outside of Europe about €25.  I accept payment in US Dollars, Euros and UK Pounds, maybe other currencies with prior agreement,  For a few of the varieties I have some bulbils available, which could be sent at much lower cost.  We can also discuss my only sending a few cloves or only one bulb, that may be at a lower cost.

Shipping is possible to the US as far as I know at the moment, but of course the risk of it not arriving is yours.  Honestly there is so much great garlic available in the US, please try to get it locally unless I have a very special variety you would like to have.  Shipping within Europe is certainly possible.  Other places depend on your local laws.

You can choose the varieties you want from the list above, but what most people do is give me an idea of how many different varieties they would like and I choose the best ones I have available.

If you’re planning to come to the Oxford meeting near the end of October, please get the garlic from me then, I will have several varieties with me and we can arrange any special requests in advance.

It really took a lot of time last year sending out garlic, so this year I will probably limit what I send in several ways.  First, I will probably only send out about 10 requests, first come first served.  Second, I will not accept any new orders after September 1st.  Third, for most people there is a limit of 5 varieties, but if you have special needs let me know.

If you get garlic from me, it would be very much appreciated if you grow it and share with others, especially if you have a blog and could offer it there.  It would save me a lot of trouble if other people helped send it to others.  If you have some to offer now, but don’t have a blog, please let me know and I’ll mention it here.

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Kent Whealy’s Latest Letter to SSE Members

Update: PDF of the letter is available here.

I seem to be one of the first few to receive Kent Whealy’s latest letter to members of the Seed Savers Exchange.  I don’t see a lot of discussion about it on the Internet yet.  In the past he didn’t send his letters to overseas members of the SSE, and this time international postal delivery seemed to have worked in my favor and I got it here in Amsterdam before people in North America.

Anyhow, I thought I would be one of the first to write some thoughts about it.  In short it’s a 14 page letter (breaking his previous record of 8 pages), detailing his grievances with the SSE and in particular with Amy Goldman and the other board members.

I think it’s pretty fitting while we get this letter the leader of Honduras is trying to regain control of his country he lost under similar circumstances.  Even though many people have problems with President Manuel Zelaya personally, he has wide spread support around the world because the coup that ousted him breaches international laws and norms.  This isn’t the right way to oust a leader you don’t like.

The same applies to Kent Whealy, you don’t just cast the founder of an organization out on the street and tell him to shut up.

I am particularly repulsed at the way the SSE has attempted to silence it’s critics.  If you try to discuss Kent on their Internet forum, you will surely be banned.  There was at least one person I know of who was banned from the forum a few days ago, apparently in a pre-emptive strike, but in fairness he was reinstated after it was determined to be a mistake.

Kent himself has been harassed by lawyers from the SSE, a situation he compared with Monsanto suing the roughly 450 farmers who have had their crops contaminated with GM genes, then silencing them with non-disclosure agreements.  When the SSE isn’t threatening him with legal action, they are offering him huge amounts of money to shut up.

The SSE shows many symptoms of an organization losing control of their objectives and purpose.  Many members have commented they seem to be out of touch with what their members want.  Above all else, I call on the SSE to stop trying to control what people say or think.  The days are past where people appreciate this.

If there are members of the SSE management who can’t stand up to their critics, it’s time for them to step down.  There isn’t anyone in the SSE’s management who is simply ‘entitled’ to be in the position they are in. If anyone exposed their own weaknesses in the course of terminating Kent Whealy’s employment, it’s time for them to leave too.