Mary, formally of CityGarden, has a new blog name and URL. She’s now Gaia’s Hope. Located in Thessaloniki, Greece with a plot outside of the city where she grows most things. If you have any links to her old blog, be sure to update them. If you don’t know her, be sure to stop by!
Brown Envelope Seeds
I recently came across this interview with Madeline McKeever of Brown Envelope Seeds. And of course be sure to have a look at their blog.
Even though I’ve been in touch with Madeline off and on for a few years now, I learned quite a few things from this interview. I think it’s really great she was able to not only take on the task of promoting heritage seeds, but turn it into a functioning independent seed company.
Independent European seed companies are becoming rare these days, especially those that grow all or a portion of their own seeds. With the uncertain future ahead for Kokopelli Seeds, Brown Envelope Seeds looks set to become one of the most important seed companies for the home gardener in Europe.
Especially if you’re in Ireland, but also anywhere within travelling distance, consider coming to one of their open days and seed swaps. Participants are welcome to camp on their farm.
Salt Spring Seeds, Canada
I get an email from time to time from Dan Jason or someone else working on his website, asking for help getting the word out about both his seed company and seed exchange organization. I’m only too happy to oblige!
If you live in Canada and are interested in heritage seeds, be sure to visit:
Salt Spring Seeds: Sustainable Canadian seed company selling rare and unusual seeds. Online catalogue includes heirloom tomatoes, quinoa, amaranth, seed garlic and a new zero mile diet kit.
and
Seed and Plant Sanctuary for Canada: We are a charitable organization dedicated to the health and vitality of the earth through the preservation and promotion of heritage seeds.
Blogs to Watch
My recent post on Monsanto stirred up quite a commotion! I was having a look at some of the people who commented and followed the links back to their blogs, and I discovered a couple of new ones I hadn’t seen before, that deserved special attention.
Matt of The Scientist Gardener is studying the unintended side-effects and safety of plant genetic engineering. Now here’s a field that’s going to be in the spotlight! Even if he and I may not choose to grow the same things in our gardens, I’m really looking forward to following his blog and staying in touch.
Raymondo of New from Old is someone I know from elsewhere on the Internet, and he has a new blog. An amateur plant breeder in Australia, getting started on some really interesting looking projects.
Monsanto in Cyberspace
Monsanto is Here
A number of posts have been made in recent weeks on different blogs about Monsanto buying nearly all commercial seed companies, everywhere. There was a particularly good one on the Agricultural Biodiversity Weblog.
It’s pretty clear in the aftermath of all this consolidation, the next frontier for Monsanto is the Internet.
This blog has received quite a number of requests for Monsanto seed companies to be added to my list of recommended sources of seeds in recent weeks, and comments challenging old posts I’ve made critical of Monsanto are also starting to come in. Note the one here dated Jan 26th from ‘Rick’.
A discussion forum I frequently participate on also just had some visitors from Monsanto. At least one of these visitors had actually been around for months, and out of the blue just started spewing nonsense about how good Monsanto’s seed companies were. He did this together with someone else, so it sort of looked somehow like a legitimate conversation was taking place.
He started by giving a list of his favorite seed companies, including some many well known and trusted places like Baker Creek, Sandhill and Seed Savers Exchange, then went on to include some relatively unknown Monsanto seed companies and started promoting them.
Common Theme
Until now, all of these visits have had a common theme. Monsanto is ‘normal’. Each one has in some way tried to promote Monsanto as a normal seed company, and people who don’t want to grow seeds from Monsanto are somehow extreme.
These visits have included marketing slogans like ‘Most experienced gardeners trust Johnny’s.’ In particular, the theme that Johnny’s is somehow a trusted place to buy seeds seems to reoccur. Any blog or other place on the Internet that recommends Johnny’s Seeds is suspect as advertising for Monsanto.
The Truth
The real truth is that us bloggers have been tremendously successful at proving commercial seeds, in particular from Monsanto, have very little legitimacy in a home garden.
When you grow commercial seeds, you can’t re-save them for sharing or replanting. In general your chance of success is often lower, and you usually don’t end up with something worth taking a picture of and posting on your blog. There are very few serious and successful blogs out there about gardens growing commercial seeds, because they just aren’t interesting.
Of course I don’t mean to suggest gardeners who grow a few commercial hybrid seeds are doing something wrong, but these plants don’t usually end up being the ones they post and rave about.
What to Do
I’m afraid more is likely to come! Even if we have a wave of this nonsense and it passes, it’s reasonable to assume Monsanto will keep trying.
In the short run, keep an eye out for it on your blogs and discussion forums. I don’t do Facebook or Twitter, but those of you who do or visit similar places on the Internet, keep an eye on it there too.
If you see someone who seems to be promoting commercial seed companies in the wrong place, be sure to say something. Be sure to mention Monsanto, and don’t accept being told that growing seeds from Monsanto is somehow normal! If they persist, ask them about who they are and what they are doing there. Make sure you are very clear that you think what they are saying is wrong and just nonsense.
Be sure and talk about your experiences other places on the Internet, so the rest of us can be prepared to cope with the same thing. By all means, please use this post as a place to leave comments on this.
