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Developing a Seeds for the Needy Program.

Category: Seeds for the Needy Project | Posted: Mon Feb 18, 2008 2:47 am

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As I mentioned in another blog, I am developing a plan to procure seeds in quantity for people/communities/villages in need. I plant to start with the Appalachian Seed Project here in the USA. Then, I hope to make contacts outside the USA through the Heifer Project initially.

Gardeners are generous folks, and I am sure there will be plenty who wish to help. We can collect quantities of seed in a central location, write up growing instructions, and fill packs and send them out. That is an extremely over-simplified version of what I'd like to do, but basically, that is it.

I want to keep it as simple as possible. I could even get the Girl Scouts to fill packs for charity so to speak. I know there are ways of doing it, and I do not expect to save the world, just help some folks who need it. I am not in a position to be philanthropic and send money, but I do not believe that prevents me from helping in some way. Surely, I can save seed from all my pumpkins instead of just one or two for example.

My first tasks will be to come up with a name, sign up some gardeners, write growing instructions, make contacts and then move on to the practical aspects of making it happen.

I will keep it to vegetables first. if we are limited, it will be the most nutritious veggies first. Then a wider variety of veggies moving into herb seeds possibly. The idea is to feed people.

I will have to check into the logistics of such a thing as sending bulk seeds to another country, but I am sure we can figure it out. Good veggies do not tend to be invasive! I have also received seeds from other countries. I'll look into that.

At this planning stage I am open to suggestions and so forth. Keeping it simple is paramount; people tend not to volunteer for things that are too complicated.

Thanks!
Robin

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Losing Control... Gaining Control

Category: Losing Control of Our Food Supply | Posted: Mon Feb 18, 2008 2:19 am

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After being reminded to avoid political dialogs, I have been concerned about writing another blog on this topic. I was unsure if it was my comment in response to someone about our politics--which I removed--or this whole blog subject. I hope it was the brief comment about the election. That is easy to avoid. I have no problem with the reminder or not discussing candidates or whatever, my remark was general, and I don't care for politics anyway.

As for losing control of our food supply and who is behind the food takeover, I hope I can write about this problem and leave politics out of it. People can make that part of the connection themselves. I feel very moved to write about this topic so that gardeners know how important they are in maintaining some individual rights and control. The movement to "Own rights to plant & animal genes, then patent them" should be a concern of not just gardeners, but anyone who eats.

I am very interested in seed preservation & the keeping of old strains. This goes against the current movement of food takeover by big corporations whose whole interest up until recently has been chemicals and their dispersion in spite of any consequences. We have a duty, I believe, to those who have maintained and given us our great genetic diversity in gardening. Many, many strains have been lost already.

I also have a desire to start a charity seed project where seeds will be collected by generous gardeners and sent to the indigent, desperate, or needy in this area. I would like to recruit writers to create documents with growing information. This goal is still in the planning stage, but I hope it will help keep control of the food supply in the hands of the people who eat it--open to all without patent restrictions, royalties, or penalties. I plan to send them in the USA, and to other countries as well.

I hope that I may continue writing on this blog topic. If it is not in the spirit of this forum, please tell me. I will gladly stop. I like everyone I have met here very much and wish to be a part of garden stew. I can talk about this on another site, but I doubt I'll find one as nice as this.

Thanks,
Robin

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Edible Landscaping--Edibles on Memory Lane

Category: Gardening for Food | Posted: Wed Feb 13, 2008 4:55 am

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I lived on Cape Cod, Massachusetts (USA) for most of my life. The flora is a bit different than most of the rest of Massachusetts (MA). Some alpine type plants are there: short, low, hardy. The Cape is a sandy place so soil is poor in many places. The pines and oaks are mostly scrub-type, and some places are not very green at all. Amidst this landscape of sand and scrub you will find beautiful pink Lady Slipper orchids growing under the rough and rugged looking trees.

I used to take walks with my older sister when I was a pre-teen child. We would walk through the woods and find "Checkerberry" (Gaulthera procumbens), and taste the minty leaves and comment on how it tasted just like a gum that was out at the time: Teaberry. You could also buy Checkerberry Popcorn at an ice-cream stand at the beach. The popped corn had a glaze over it with that delightful sweetly mint (not "hot" at all) flavor on it. That was my grandmothers (Ma) favorite. We would go there when my grandparents came and stayed for a few days every other weekend.

My sister and I would walk in the scrub woods near our home, and along the edges and in clearings were patches of blueberries. We picked what was ripe and returned home to give them to my mother who would put them in pancakes and muffins for my Grandfather (Papa). There were also a few raspberry/blackberry plants around. They were prostrate & trailing an were themselves rather rough with their spines and imperfect fruit. Papa still loved them. I loved picking them, the smell of the woods while I was there, and the smile on Papa's face when we brought them home.

I believe Papa really enjoyed the idea of us going out and gathering in such a way. That is a lost art around here now. Housing developments have replaced many of these places, and others have been paved over with highways. Papa used to tell us stories of growing things when he was younger. We were 2 generations farther away from the dirt, but this brought things back. My Grandfather and an elderly neighbor taught me how to garden starting when I was 8. When I harvested, Ma would snap the peas or beans for dinner while she sat on a chez lounge in the sun.

One of the great things about life on Cape Cod was abundant seafood. When I was 12 I used to go fishing by myself and sometimes with a friend at the bay. I brought home at various times squid, snapper blues, crabs, and clams. Although not landscaping, edible nonetheless.

I miss those days. Recently, while trying to pass on the joy of a ramble through the woods to my kids, the harsh reality of its dangers hit us. In 2006, my daughter and I got Lyme Disease--it was awful. Luckily, we caught it quick, and after treatment are both recovered. The thing is we caught it on the edge of our own property! Certainly the woods would have more ticks! I have ventured out around here when things are colder (October for "Autumn Olive" picking), but I have picked up a tick on a February walk. We are no longer on the Cape, and this location is closer to the epicenter of Lyme disease.

I think this Spring (early) I will go back to the Cape for some walks in the dunes on the beach. Maybe we can spot some whales while we are there. I hope my kids get as much out of walking and browsing the landscape for food as I did.

Robin

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Losing Control... Getting Started with Information

Category: Losing Control of Our Food Supply | Posted: Sun Feb 10, 2008 4:57 pm

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OK, first the disclaimer: I know we are not supposed to sell anything and so forth. I am not selling anything. I am going to give the titles of some books I have read; you may do as you like. I do not wish to be controversial. I do believe people should know where their food comes from (not in the store under plastic). I am not a reactionary, I view myself as a realist, so I try to get as much information as possible before I solidify my opinion.

Survival first is the inherent push in organisms. For people, money can get you past survival into REAL LIVING: living it up, the high life, whatever you call it. Money has become a god to many. Personally, I do not like to be that far away from dirt. I do like to stay grounded and close to the beginnings of things. I have a mind that likes to know how everything works. Yes, I am female and can fix my own car (my husband can't). I am not an idealistic teen, I am 43, and have had a great deal of struggle in my life, and frankly I am better for it. Struggle, in my opinion is a character builder. In America, SOME of us do not struggle enough and the characters of many are lost, I think. There are MANY good people here who are so busy struggling, working, and focusing on families that they do not need to be as loud, flashy, and in the public eye as those who could use come character improvement. I started college at 30 with a science-math focus, but had to switch to a course without labs because I had a sickly child. I got more classes than was necessary for my degree, but as I said, I want to know how everything works.

OK, that is an over simplified view of some of my thinking. Everyone's opinions and thoughts come from somewhere, so better I state it flat out in front, and then people reading this blog will know where I am coming from in my thinking.

There, now let us begin with reading.

These are some of the books I have read:

The Last Harvest: The Genetic Gamble That Threatens to Destroy American Agriculture by Paul Raeburn

Enduring Seeds: Native American Agriculture and Wild Plant Conservation by Gary Paul Nabhan. Foreword By Wendell Berry

Against the Grain: Biotechnology and the Corporate Takeover of Your Food by Marc Lappe and Britt Bailey

Although I can only say what I see here in the USA, this thing is happening globally.

Here is are websites that are along this line.

Organic Consumer's Association, Millions Against Monsanto
http://www.organicconsumers.org/monlink.cfm

If you go to this website, on the right there is a blurb titled "Monsanto Takes Ownership of Public Water Resources"

Monsanto Tries to Patent the Pig
http://www.greenpeace.org/international/news/monsanto-pig-patent-111

Global Research-Center for Research on Globalization
http://globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=2480

On cotton farmers in India committing suicide because of defaulting on loans for GMO cotton seed)
India Farmers Accuse Monsanto of Pushing Cotton "Seeds of Death"
http://www.organicconsumers.org/ge/indiacotton012406.cfm
Daily News & Analysis
http://www.dnaindia.com/report.asp?NewsID=1049554
India Daily
http://www.indiadaily.com/editorial/18983.asp
New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/19/world/asia/19india.html

Monsanto Seizes Bank Account of French Farmers Association, Confederation Paysanne
http://www.organicconsumers.org/ge/conpay121905.cfm

Our own farmers are in trouble:
For this one, I am just putting up the Google search since there are just so many.
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&client=firefox-a&rls=org.mozilla%3Aen-US%3Aofficial&hs=KqZ&q=monsanto+sues+american+farmer&btnG=Search

Basically, what is happening will boil down to us gardeners having to pay royalties for seeds we grow our food with including seed we keep ourselves. We could be charged with theft and fined. It sounds crazy, but that is what is being pushed.

If you do not save your own seed soon, you may have to buy new every time as some chemical companies are buying up seed houses and working on a terminator gene so that the plants will not provide the grower with more seed.

Well, food will become so expensive I can only imagine where that will lead. It costs good money to eat well. The cheap food in America is crap or "Junk Food", and although easily accessible and cheap these are the very things that lead to disease such as heart disease, diabetes, and others as a result of obesity or bad nutrition. We have a big problem with this here in America. Plenty of people are in good shape and eat well, but that will increasingly become only those with good amounts of money.

For me, I do not run up and down the street like good old American poet Walt Whitman shouting at the crowds, but I do believe people should know where their food comes from, should have some independence in the acquisition of food, and should be informed as much as possible.

All I can do is my part: I garden organically (as much food as I can possible provide for my family), I save seed, and I try to share what I have learned. I share it with an attitude of "to each his/her own", meaning I share the info and let go. If someone is moved by it and does something, great, if not, that's OK because now that person knows and can make decisions with that knowledge in hand--so to speak.

I hope to continue writing on this subject, which is rather challenging. Although this was more of an information blog to look at other reading sources, I hope to move into more of my own commentary and the effects that I have seen personally.

Thanks for reading,
Robin

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Edible Landscaping--Cranberry Bog

Category: Gardening for Food | Posted: Sun Feb 10, 2008 3:51 pm

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Some interest has arisen about my cranberry bog, so I will post what I did here.

We moved here about 4 years ago. The first year I had a veggie garden and a "watch and see" for the rest of the yard. Well, I noticed a portion of our yard held water when it rained a lot. It was wet, I thought, because the ground was still frozen underneath.

The following year, my daughter (7 at the time) was rescuing worms from the flooded area. These worms told me it had nothing to do with frozen ground. The poor things were trying to escape because the soil was wet all the way down. The worms weren't there the time before, but this was definitely a clue. I was pretty excited--unlike most people I would imagine--to have an opportunity there. My daughter and I saved literally about 4000 earthworms! She was so adorable saying, "Help! We have to save them!" We put them all in gardens on higher ground.

The next year, I started to prep the area. My son was helpful, thank goodness. I chose the lowest spot, turned over the nice black dirt. I made a drainage hole next to it (where we pulled out a stump) because cranberries like to be raised up above the moisture. They can be soaked for a period of time in cool/cold weather, but not during growing.

On top, I mixed peat moss and sand--with a little garden solid for nutrition (not much at all). I also had to dig a trench at the other end of my field because road run-off would get into the yard and work its way across to the bog area. That worked out pretty well.

We also made a rock wall (one row of big rocks) behind the bog and planted azaleas there. I put violets around the bottom of the flowering shrubs.

My brother worked for a cranberry growing company, and I was hoping to get some vines from him. He procrastinated and then moved to Florida! Well, I had decided earlier to start cranberry from seed.

Cranberry germination: I cut open fresh cranberries, put them on a damp paper towel, and put them in the fridge. They were there for over 30 days, but I do not recall exactly how long). Then I brought the paper towel baggie out, and started watching the seeds. Each day, I would unwrap, and return them to the moist (now warm) place in the plastic bag. Then, I saw sprouts, and planted them in flats. Since it was an experiment and I hoped to get vines from my brother, I had but a few. They did quite well.

You do not need a bog to grow cranberries!

I wanted a bog for other reasons too. I have a Jack-in-the-pulpit to one side of the bog, and am studying about other plants that like that sort of situation.

Well, my brother moved back last year, and got me a big bag of vines. He told me to plant them, and not to be concerned if they drop all their leaves and look dead. This is what happens when you cut the vine and it has no roots. The moisture in the bog keeps the stem from dying. Well, I decided to toss a little rooting hormone down before I laid the vines everywhere and sprinkled sand all over. I could see parts of the vines, and if any ends were sticking out or showing, I tucked them into the dirt. Well, things looked bad as he said it would, and then after a long time, I saw little green cranberry sprouts!

The worst part of it last year was to weed it without pulling out the delicate little plants. We also have chickens, and a couple are good at getting out. Now, where did you think they wanted to go and play? The bog of course--but only those nice soft-soil weeded areas! So, I decided to leave the rest of the weeds to protect the little plants from the chicken scratching and see what I had this year. Maybe by the time things get going again, I will have a stronger vine when the weeds are removed, and they can fend better for themselves.

We will be building a special chicken coop for Houdini chickens.

Cranberries need a little sand on them now and again to produce more roots as the vines grow up and old are replaced by new. I do not think much fertilizer is needed. I am organic here anyway, but I think they do well in nature in fairly poor soil anyway. I will check, and post about that in the future.

Near where I used to live, there was a swath of wild cranberries growing amidst a big blueberry patch. The whole thing was above an aquifer (underground water). The ground actually had a bounce to it. It was dry on top and and it is hard to describe: not squishy, just bouncy as if you were on something fairly solid, but that it was on top of something not. Well, when we picked blueberries one year, we got about 3 gallons in an hour or so. The cranberries there produce too, but not much, and at a different time. The following year, the town put in a water-pumping station, and the blueberries were never quite the same. I never saw any after that. After the birds got the few that were there, I never saw another blueberry. Fortunately, I saved a couple of the bushes, and I have them growing in my yard now.

Feel free to ask questions, if I do not know the answer myself, I will ask my brother. I do hope I get some berries this year; I would like to make sauce for Thanksgiving dinner from my own cranberries!
Robin

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Introduction: Losing Control of Our Food Supply

Category: Losing Control of Our Food Supply | Posted: Sat Feb 09, 2008 5:25 am

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Over the last 2 years, I have really developed a driving interest in what is happening to the world's food supply and who is gaining control over it. I have read a number of interesting books and articles on the subject.

In America, where our grocery stores are flowing over with food-laden shelves, it hardly appears necessary to have a concern about the food supply. However, the stuffed stores belie what is really going on behind the scenes: a fight for control over everything from seed to fruit--an even the water supply in some places.

I hope to write some good, cogent articles on this topic. I look forward to hearing from others about it as well.
Robin

Last edited: Wed Feb 13, 2008 4:58 am

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Edible Landscaping

Category: Gardening for Food | Posted: Sat Feb 09, 2008 5:11 am

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Last year I began to plant perennial food plants. I have been a veggie gardener since I was 8 years old. Now that I am just "older" I need to put in plants that won't have to be replanted year after year.

Last year, I put in a cranberry bog. My brother works for a local cranberry company, an he got me some nice vines that I believe were making a break for it.

I also planted low-growing plants such as Usa-Urvi, Salal, Gaulthera procumbens, Michella repans, blue berry (I had planted some in previous years too), and some others. I hope to add to this list.

I have an Amish pen-pal that swapped with me and sent some very nice Rubus: wineberry, dewberry, tayberry. He also sent some nice Saskatoon, JuJube, and some seed. We also swapped eggs, an he sent some eggs for Guinea fowl. They are interesting birds, but are not as good for company as chickens. Since we have ticks & deer here with Lyme disease (and my dauhter and I had it in '06), I wanted the Guineas for the ticks. Supposedly, they eat them.

Since this is my first blog, I am not sure what to write about.
Robin

Last edited: Sat Feb 09, 2008 4:36 pm

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