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Jane Perrone in New Blogging Project

Jane Perrone is one of maybe 4 or 5 garden bloggers I know who have been around longer than me, beating me out by almost 2 years!  We can all become jealous now because she’s also one of the small number of garden bloggers who are actually paid to write a blog.

Her new team blog at the Guardian newspaper can be found here, and her introduction of it together with hint of her future plans can be found here.

I hope everyone will join me in wishing her the best of luck, and don’t forget to follow along.

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Looking Back

Kenny of Veggie Gardening Tips recently posted a few links to previous articles here, including the second post I ever wrote more than 3 years ago about Heirloom Gardening.  I don’t know about any of you, but I don’t spend a lot of time looking at old posts, after they have scrolled of the front page they are usually just old news.  When Kenny pointed this out it was a bit startling.

The world has come a long way in 3 years, and lots of things have changed.  I probably could have counted the number of readers back then with the fingers on one hand, and now there are a truly huge number of you.  I hope all of you can see in yourselves just how far you’ve come and how much you’ve accomplished, even those who have only been around a short time.  I hope you’ll stick around for the next 3 years as we all strive to accomplish just as much again.  There’s a lot of work still to be done!

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Couple of Things

A few newsworthy things have come up in the last few days.

The Seed Ambassadors have made what looks like a big update to their seed network seed list!  They have lots of interesting looking varieties.  In an email they mentioned a number of the varieties listed are only available via our seed network and are not being offered via the Seed Savers Exchange.  I forgot to mention this in the Seed Network News post of a few days ago.

Alan Reed Bishop of Homegrown Goodness interviewed famous plant breeder Alan Kapuler.  Fascinating reading!  We’ve been promised more interviews with interesting people, but I don’t know how he’s going to top that one.

Kokopelli seeds in France is in trouble again!  They have been evicted from an important historical vegetable garden, which is a serious blow to their work.

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6th London Charity Potato Fair and Seed Exchange

Press Release from the Organizers

6TH LONDON CHARITY POTATO FAIR AND SEED EXCHANGE

Sunday 25 January, 10am – 4pm
Harris Girls Academy,
Homestall Road, London SE22 0NR.

The countdown’s on for the 6th London Charity Potato Fair. Once something of a starchy event with the slightest whiff of green anorak, six years on it’s become one of the highlights of the London horticultural calendar.

Last year 750 people came to choose from the 100 + varieties of potato, swap seeds and ideas and pick up tips on how to grow the perfect crop. This time, organiser Lindsay Wright expects more than 1000, such is the enthusiasm for growing your own. “We have a real cross section, from people who can’t tell a potato from a cabbage to those who have been growing veg since they could walk,” he explains. “And they travel from far and wide. Northern Ireland is the furthest anyone has come from in person but I have also sent pots to Finland.”

Part of the attraction is the sheer exuberance of the event and the opportunity to buy individual tubers, giving people the chance to be adventurous with what they grow. The seed exchange is another draw, particularly in these times of waste not want not. “It’s not rocket science,” says Lindsay. “Bring some seeds and swap them for something else and if you haven’t got seeds, a donation to Hope and Homes for Children will do the trick.”

Volunteers from local gardening clubs and organisations including Shogg, Lambeth Horticultural Society and Roots & Shoots will be on hand to give advice and answer questions, “I am proud to say that so far no question hasn’t been answered satisfactorily,” says Lindsay.

Snappy garden accessories from wellies to plant pots, unusual and heritage seeds, including older varieties of fruit and vegetables, mushroom spawn and plants will be on sale from specialist suppliers Thomas Etty, Pennard Plants, Alleyn Park Garden Centre, Dulwich Pot & Plant Centre and the Rustic Mushroom Company.

The sixth Charity Potato Fair and Seedy Sunday takes place on Sunday 25 January 2009 from 10.00am – 4.00pm at Harris Girls Academy, Homestall Road, London SE22 0NR.

All profits from the fair will go to the Hope and Homes for Children charity, which works in 13 countries in Eastern Europe and Africa. The work varies from country to country, from closing orphanages in Romania to supporting AIDS orphans in Africa. More details on www.hopeandhomes.org .

Entrance is £1.50; free for under 16s. Gardeners, with or without seeds to swap and non-gardeners are all very welcome. Teas and refreshments are available. For further information visit www.potatofair.org.

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The Other Side of the Fence

The log files of my blog showed this incoming link to my recent post on Agriculture is Single Most Important Contributer to Climate Change.  I think it’s a really interesting look at how many farmers feel about agriculture and climate change — and me!

More than once I’ve found myself in a field or farm somewhere chatting with a farmer and thinking we just really didn’t have anything in common.  Often looking at the food they were growing and thinking I really wouldn’t want to eat that after seeing all the chemicals they were spraying on it.

I suppose what I said in the earlier post could have been considered an attack on farmers themselves, but I really didn’t mean it that way.

In fact I’m very pleased farmers of all kinds may be reading this blog, and even if we seem to be living in different worlds, I would very much like to hear what you think.  If you’re a farmer, I hope you will feel free to leave comments you like here, or post them elsewhere on the Internet.  Whatever your opinions are on what I write here, as long as they are kept reasonably civil, will be welcome and eagerly read by me.  I think others would be interested in hearing from you too.

If you have something to say to me, that’s private or not directly related to a post here, I hope you’ll send me a private email.  I’d like to hear from you personally too.  See the contact link on the front page of this blog for my email address.