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Agricultural Apartheid

The latest issue of Seedling magazine has an article describing the latest developments with ‘agricultural apartheid’ as it exists in Europe with regards to plant varieties and rights to save seeds. The term agricultural apartheid was introduced last year in an editorial.

In the quest to protect the rights of patent holders, varieties of plants not on official seed lists are not allowed to be sold for food production in Europe, and it is technically illegal (under EU law, but not necessarily all national laws) for gardeners to save their own seeds and share them with other gardeners. Many farmers are not even allowed to save and replant their own seeds.

In case anyone besides me noticed that most of the produce available in Europe is uninteresting and bland, and has never heard of this, now you know one of the root causes.

Seed saving is not the only issue on the agenda. This article also discusses the current state of opposition to GM crops in Europe.

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Reminder: Saving Tomato Seeds

Since many people reading this blog are now harvesting tomatoes (I know I am), I thought I would remind all of you of a post I made in January about Saving Tomato Seeds. If you are growing tomatoes that are not F1 hybrid varieties, you can save your own seeds for future years or to trade with other people. If you don’t know if you are growing are hybrids are not, you can use a search engine to search the Internet for more information about them. You can also send me an email and I will tell you if I know anything about them.

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Celeriac (Celery Root) and Bean Soup

This is adapted from a recipe found in Madhur Jaffrey’s World of the East Vegetarian Cooking cookbook. Madhur Jaffrey by the way, is one of my favorite cookbook authors.

I like this recipe because while I don’t usually have everything growing in my garden all at the same time, I grow most of the ingredients myself. I make a big batch of this every year for the freezer, as it freezes well.

  • 2 cups (1/2 liter) dry white beans (navy, cannellini or similar)
  • 1 celeriac peeled and cut into bite sized pieces
  • 8 medium sized tomatoes or 2 small cans, chopped
  • 2 onions, chopped
  • 6 cloves garlic, pressed
  • 1 cup chopped parsley
  • 1/2 tsp each rosemary and thyme
  • 2 tsp salt
  • pepper to taste
  • 3 tablespoons lemon juice or white vinegar
  • 4 tablespoons olive oil

Pick over the beans, clean and rinse. Soak overnight covered in water. Drain, rinse and put in a large pot together with 8 cups (2 liters) of water. Bring to a boil and simmer 45 minutes. Add celeriac, tomatoes, onion, garlic, parsley, rosemary and thyme. Return to a boil, and simmer for 20 more minutes. Add remaining ingredients and cook uncovered for about 15 more minutes, while mashing some of the soup against the side of the pan with the stirring spoon. Add more water, as necessary.

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Garlic Planting Stock

I still haven’t inventoried all of my garlic harvest yet, so I’m not sure exactly what I have, but it seems likely I will have at least a few extra bulbs of the following varieties:

  • German Extra Hardy
  • Inchelium Red
  • Chesnok Red
  • Kaskaskia Red
  • Red Toch
  • Music
  • Polish White
  • Loiacono
  • German Porcelain

Do you have something to trade? I would be very pleased to trade any of these for other interesting garlic varieties or seeds.

If you don’t have anything to trade, you can also purchase them for 3 euros per bulb plus shipping charges. Shipping within Holland is about 7 euros regardless of the size of the order. For the rest of Europe, it is about 4 euros for 1-2 bulbs or 6 euros for 3-5 bulbs.

Supplies are limited. If necessary, I will limit orders to 2 bulbs per person, to make sure more people get a chance to have some. If you want more than 2, let me know and I will send them if I have them.

Sorry, but I can’t send any garlic to the US, it’s import is prohibited. I also won’t send it anywhere else if I know it is prohibited. Please don’t order any if it’s not allowed in your country to import garlic. Since garlic is very perishable when packaged for shipping, I think this is really best suited for people living in Europe.

I’m sorry, I don’t know a lot about the different kinds of garlic, this is my first year growing most of these and I haven’t tasted them yet. Try using an Internet search engine (google, yahoo, etc) to search on the different names. Send me an email, if you need more information. If you would like to grow something interesting, but don’t care which variety you get, let me know and I will select it for you. I will choose the nicest bulb or bulbs that I have available.

For purposes of this, the definition of ‘bulb’ is about 90-100 grams or one complete bulb, which ever is greater. Some varieties like Polish White or Chesnok Red have smaller bulbs, so I will send two of these. I will only send full size, good quality bulbs.

Payment is in cash. I will gladly accept Euros, Sterling and US dollars. Maybe other currencies, let me know what you have.

If you are interested, send me an email.  Please tell me which kind(s) you want, your mailing address as well as the currency you want to pay in. I will confirm that I have enough stock, calculate postage costs and give you my address for sending payment. I will send out orders the first half of September.

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Chard Flakes

Swiss Chard Flakes

Okay, maybe it doesn’t make the most spectacular of pictures, but it’s a really good way of preserving Swiss Chard. This is just Swiss Chard that has been dried out in a dehydrator. No pre-treatment is necessary, just clean, chop and dehydrate. After it’s dried it can be packed into glass jars or other containers for long term storage.

It rehydrates almost instantly when it comes into contact with hot water, so it’s great for adding to things like instant soup, oven dishes or even just by itself. Because you don’t need to cook it before you dry it, like you would if you freeze it, it rehydrates tasting much fresher.

Spinach works the same way when you dehydrate it. I haven’t had much luck with cabbage this way, because the leaves tend to brown when they dry.