[Scpg] International Seed Saving Day Sowing the Future by VIRGINIA HAYES Independent

[Wesley Roe and Santa Barbara Permaculture Network]

tp://www.independent.com/news/2009/jan/29/international-seed-saving-day/
  International Seed Saving Day
Sowing the Future

Thursday, January 29, 2009
by VIRGINIA HAYES

In the past few years, I've learned some lessons in my garden. Two of 
them had to do with saving seed. Since January 31 is International 
Seed Saving Day, I thought I'd share them with you. In 2000, I wrote 
about saving my arugula and pole bean seed. Here is what I said: "I 
had already let my arugula go to seed and stuffed the remaining dry 
pods in a paper bag to open and release their tiny seeds. I haven't 
bought new arugula seed in four years now. One other crop that sort 
of got away from me this year was the pole beans. I picked them at 
least twice a week when I was home and had a friend come by and pick 
them when I had to be out of town, and we still missed some that 
became fat, lumpy, inedible pods before we had noticed. So I finally 
gave up. The flowering had more or less stopped, so I knew the end 
was in sight. I let the last batch hang on to mature into dry beans. 
I will save a few for next year and have one meal out of the rest 
after soaking and cooking them as you would any other dry bean. I'm 
not sure what I'll get out of the seeds I saved since I don't know if 
the ones I planted this spring were from hybrid plants or not, but it 
will be fun to see."

Both of these stories have interesting endings. Those arugula plants 
I had been letting flower and collecting seed from were the ones that 
began blooming earliest. I let them go and continued to cut greens 
from the remaining plants. Unwittingly, I actually was selecting seed 
from earlier and earlier-blooming plants. The result? Almost all my 
arugula plants bolted before I had much chance to eat the tasty 
leaves. It was time to start with new seed and reform my ways.


Lesson number two was from that first collection of bean seeds. It 
lasted for a number of years and I just pulled it out every year and 
planted my bamboo tipi from that stash. This year, however, I got 
miserable germination (only about half the seeds I sowed) and 
realized that it was time to replenish my stock with fresh seed for 
next year. I let the last of the crop hang on the vines and now have 
enough for one planting. I'll remember to do this every year from now 
on.

There are some champions of saving seed who we can all learn from. In 
1975, the Whealy family began Seed Savers Exchange after realizing 
they were the last in their family to grow an unusual flower and a 
favorite vegetable variety that their Grandpa Ott had brought from 
Bavaria when he emigrated to the U.S. Their organization has grown to 
8,000 members and maintains a seed bank with more than 18,000 
varieties of seeds in modern storage facilities at controlled 
temperatures and humidity. About 10 percent of this stock is grown 
out each year, multiplying the number of seeds to make them available 
to more growers and maintaining a fresh, strong source for future 
generations. Focusing on seeds of indigenous North American people 
and those strains that were brought to these shores by immigrants, 
they collaborate with many other groups.

Life-Sustaining Seed Saving
Other institutions around the world are engaged in similar endeavors 
for their own seed stocks, but political instability, weather 
disasters, and other possible traumas can wipe out centuries of 
selection and cultivation in a very short time. In many parts of the 
world, however, saving seed is a necessary part of life. Farmers in 
these countries rely entirely on their own saved seed for next year's 
crop. Prolonged drought, civil war, and forced relocations can have 
devastating effects on the well-being of individual farms and entire 
villages. With little or no cash income and no access to replacement 
seed, the pathway to hunger is short when even one crop is lost. 
International relief organizations like Oxfam recognize this need and 
distribute seed throughout the developing world. But can this really 
replace what has been lost? Through generations of growing and 
selecting the plants that produce the most prolifically, whose fruits 
have better flavor or keeping qualities, come to maturity the 
fastest, or tolerate the particular soil and water conditions of 
their land, farmers have always been instrumental in improving the 
strains they perpetuate. These invariably are better suited to the 
particular microclimate in which they have been grown than the 
commercially produced substitutes. This diversity of genetic stocks 
is irreplaceable.
Farmers in the developed world also are facing challenges to their 
old way of cultivation. With more and more of the seed for our major 
food crops being developed and sold by fewer and larger companies, 
the loss of diversity is just as troublesome here. Periodic massive 
crop failures are a tragic part of our farming history and directly 
follow from the practice of planting monocultures of hybrid seed. 
Maintaining a diverse source of food assures that no one event can 
disrupt the supply.

In support of local seed saving, International Seed Saving Day is 
coming to Santa Barbara on January 31. From 10 a.m.-3 p.m., there 
will be a seed savers exchange and festival at Alameda Park. Bring 
your own saved seeds to share and take away some for your next 
garden. The event is hosted by Santa Barbara Food Not Lawns, the 
Santa Barbara Permaculture Network, and others. Check their Web sites 
(See Box) for more information.

On the evening of January 30, there will be a lavishly illustrated 
lecture called Humanity's Ancient Relationship with Edible Seed 
Crops. Presented by Lorenz Schaller, a long-time "gardener and 
landscapist" who has pursued an intense interest in ancient 
seed-saving traditions, he will demonstrate the big picture of how 
seed crops supplied most of the world with nutritious food. The 
lecture will be held at the Santa Barbara Public Library's Faulkner 
Gallery from 7-9 p.m. Attendance is $5. For more information, call 
962-2571 or email margie at sbpermaculture.org.

Event Sponsors
Santa Barbara Permaculture Network (sbpermaculture.org)
Food Not Lawns/S.B. Chapter (sbfoodnotlawns.org)
Santa Barbara Seed Exchange (sbseeds.blogspot.com)
Fairview Gardens (fairviewgardens.org)
SBCC Center for Sustainability (sustainability.sbcc.edu)
Healing Grounds Nursery (healinggrounds.org)
S.B. Info Shop (sbinfoshop.org)
The Green Academy (thegreenacademy.com)
Island Seed & Feed (islandseed.com)
Sustainable World Radio (sustainableworldradio.com)
Santa Barbara Organics Club (lbsaltzman at aol.com) Edible Seeds



Virginia Hayes, curator of Ganna Walska Lotusland, will answer your 
gardening questions. Address them to Gardens, The Independent, 122 W. 
Figueroa St., S.B., CA 93101. Send email to vahayes at lotusland.org.
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