[Seedgeeks] bioregional seed stewardship meeting report

[Nick Routledge]

Hello, everyone. I dropped the following missive on Frank Morton earlier
this week. He had requested a report on last Sunday's workshop session. If
you have any further questions, or insights to share, please feel free to
drop me a line.

And a quick request my end. I'm picking up on reports of major seed crop
losses hereabouts with the arrival of the winter rains so far ahead of
schedule. Premature as it may seem, I'd like to begin penning the briefest
of snippets on the lay of the land, and the potential implications
thereof. I anticipate circulating the result, informally, among seedgeeks.

Would you be so kind as to drop me any intel/thoughts you may have around
this topic, however brief. Of course, I'm well aware of sensitivities
around this topic, so please rest assured I will respect all and any
privacy concerns you have. I'm interested not only in a specific anecdote
or two from the fields, but also any sense you may have of the larger
impact on the 2005 seed supply. Just how seed-significant is our
bioregion?

Yrs, n the dirt,

n.

--

...

Yes, word from the fields is that the seed collectors are harvesting like
mad just now. An old seed hand told me yesterday that the 5 week dry spell
we can typically count on this time of year is history.

> This is the 2nd seed gathering I've had to miss (the other at OSA) due 
> to poor timing...Who thinks it a good time to gather seedpeople? This 
> is when real seedpeople are really bizzy gathering seedheads! 

Yes, we're well aware and my apols once again. In truth, if the
rendez-vous had stood alone, we would have chosen a different date, but
the permaculture gathering provided us with a free venue, great food,
music, access to one of the more sophisticated sustainable living tribes
in the country, and lots of newbie potential for the Cause - hence an opp
we thought we should jump on. In essence, attendees represent the
constituency who are ripest for conversion to the seedsaving meme.
Preaching to the new choir.

> I would be interested in what you folks talk about, what issues are on 
> your minds, what organizations you are looking toward for leadership on 
> seed issues, and what pisses you off. Where do you see organic seed 
> production headed? Let me know what you hear. Thanks for tuning me in.

Nothing out of the ordinary to report, I sense. The usual issues
surfaced...The realpolitik of Mammon, as always, a defining personal
concern of the commercial growers. I was trained as an investment banker
and spent a good few years lurking around the deeper reaches of the
international capital scene, so I need no education in moolah: and you
know better than I what economics has done and continues to do to the seed
archetype and seed community. There was definitely creative tension
between the commerical and non-commercial hands, but it was oh so very
clearly gentle, respectful, acknowledged. Unusually so, I thought.
Refreshing. 

It is clear that the experienced commerical growers have a very great deal
to offer in terms of knowledge and expertise, where the non-commerical
gardeners have _Freedom_ to grow the types of crops, and in the types of
styles, and in the quantities, that simply make no economic sense.

There were a buncha neophyte faces at the discussion, so we steered away
from breeding micro-particulars and stayed pretty broad around the notion
of crop stewardship. Alerting people to whassups and then opening the
circle up and letting conversation flower. Grassroots insight was that we
could do with co-ordination for growing and distribution. Nothing
exceptionally newsworthy there for moi or toi, but I think the event was
significant in that the "solutions" the experienced hands have been
mooting were spontaneously volunteered by the backyard gardeners without
prompting. The seeds are planted. There was clearly demand for more local
support for seedsavers both in terms of teaching and co-ordinating. So,
we're pulling together a seedsaving workshop within the next couple of
weeks (Saturday 25th?) to try and catch the end of this season, with more
ideas to follow.

On that note, the hottest worshop of the interdisciplinary mishmash we
offered at the gathering was, very surprisingly to me, a session on winter
gardening. Packed and _charged_, it woz, and you coulda cut the air with a
butter knife. One of the more worldly attendees said she couldn't remember
such an atmosphere around a crowd of any sorts, in a long, long time. Who
woulda thought winter gardening would be the sexy session of the
gathering? There was palpable hunger for gnosis. We've decided to parlay
the interest into an advanced organic gardening workshop series we're
kicking off in the next fortnight. 

...

Later,

n.


	
		
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