I was recently approached by someone working on a PhD, who is looking for any information on Cape Gooseberry cultivation in Europe. Does anyone have any historical information? Is anyone aware of any farmers growing it now in Europe? He’s looking for any sort of leads or contacts on the subject.
Arche Noah: English Pages, Open Letter and Workshop
Arche Noah (German for ‘Noah’s Ark’) is the Austrian organization I am working with most closely in lobbying for the new European seed laws. In the last few months they have put up an English language section on their website, and included in this is their open letter (German, English and French) concerning the seed law changes, signed by a number of other well known European seed organizations.
Tomorrow I fly to Vienna again for a weekend workshop that follows from the one a few months ago.
Blessed With Soil
I came across another new blog the other day, Blessed with Soil. His own bio says it all:
Nick Campbell
San Jose, California, United States
I’m a teenager gardener in a Zone 9 garden in the Bay Area. I have loved being in dirt as long as I can remember, and have a passion for history that flows into a passion for heritage varieties and their preservation.
All I can say is I’m really happy to see Nick in the world of blogging, and I wish him all the best! I’m looking forward to following along in his garden.
I also lived in the east Bay Area in my late teens and early 20s as a student, in Concord and Berkeley.
Looking for Volunteers, Dutch Seed Savers, Netherlands/Belgium
I’m trying to find enough people interested in getting together and starting a Dutch Seed Saving organization. At the moment, nothing exists like this. If you’re in the Netherlands (or maybe Belgium), and would like to help with this, please get in touch as soon as possible. I think it’s nice to get as many diverse people as possible, so I’m really interested in talking with anyone and everyone.
Vision
It depends a lot on the group of people who come together, and their interests, but in principle it would be an organization that charges a yearly amount, about €25, compiles a trading list of seeds each year, and organizes an annual meeting and members events.
In principle, in order to form an organization, at the very least we need a chairman (voorzitter), treasurer (penningmeester), secretary — and a name! Finding these is the highest priority, but for example a web designer or other IT specialists would be great, and gardeners, seed savers and others generally interested in seed saving are all welcome to volunteer.
I’m assuming board positions will initially be just for a year or two, until we can hold proper elections to elect longer term replacements, but how this is exactly structured depends on the group who come together.
I’m in Amsterdam, and it might be convenient if you live within travel distance, but it can also be good to get people from different parts of the country. If necessary we can work over the phone and Internet, and get together once a year in a central place like Utrecht.
If a number of people in Belgium or Luxembourg come forward, then we can form a Benelux organization.
Paquebot 2013 Tomato List
You can find an updated list of Paquebot’s seeds here.
