Good Link: Janisse Ray’s New Book!
You bet I’ll be posting a [glowing] review of this book soon. Since the gift-giving season is soon upon us though, wanted to put this out there and say if you have a someone on your list who loves gardens, real food, and heirloom seeds then this book will be a total hit under the tree! Text from the publisher is below. You can get your copy from the publisher or from your favorite local bookstore. Enjoy!
“This is an unmatched treasure trove of information… The Seed Underground is an excellent choice for readers seeking a depiction of the current critical situation in farming all in one, easy-to-read book.”
—Gene Logsdon, author of A Sanctuary of Trees and Holy Shit
“If you haven’t heard what’s happening with seeds, let me tell you. They’re disappearing, about like every damn thing else. . . . But I’m not going to talk about anything that’s going to make us feel hopeless, or despairing, because there’s no despair in a seed.”
— from The Seed Underground
Across the country, a renaissance of local food, farming, and place-based culinary traditions is taking hold. And yet something small, critically important, and profoundly at risk is being overlooked in this local food resurgence: seeds. We are losing our seeds. Of the thousands of seed varieties available at the turn of the 20th century, 94 percent have been lost — forever.
With a signature lyricism that once prompted a New York Times writer to proclaim her the Rachel Carson of the south, Ray (Ecology of a Cracker Childhood) brings us the inspiring stories of ordinary gardeners whose aim is to save time-honored open-pollinated varieties like Old Time Tennessee muskmelon and Long County Longhorn okra—varieties that will be lost if people don’t grow, save, and swap the seeds.
From rural Maine to Oregon’s Palouse, Ray introduces readers to dozens of seed savers like the eccentric sociology professor she dubs “Tomato Man” and Maine farmer Will Bonsall, the “Noah” of seed saving who juggles hundreds of seeds, many grown by him, and him alone. And Ray tells her own story—of watching her grandmamma save squash seed; of her own first tiny garden at the edge of a junkyard; of falling in love with heirloom and local varieties as a young woman; and the one seed—Conch cowpea—that got away from her.
With a quiet urgency The Seed Underground reminds us that while our underlying health, food security, and sovereignty may be at stake as seeds disappear, so, too, are the stories, heritage, and history that passes between people as seeds are passed from hand to hand.
P.S. So you know: I love to review books here at the blog, but I only write reviews if I really enjoy the book. So if you see it here, you know I liked it. Sometimes publishers send me free copies of books, but most times—ike this time—I’m writing about my own personal copy of the book. And I love my personal copy of this book! However, if Chelsea Green wants to send me a copy...I’m happy to give one away here! 🙂
P.P.S. This just in! “Our holiday sale continues! From now until the end of the year you can save 35% on any purchase at chelseagreen.com when you use the code CGFL12 at checkout. Plus, during the sale you’ll get free shipping on any orders over $100.”
Read MoreGood Link: How to store all that stuff you grew
You can always rely on writer Barbara Pleasant to share excellent info in Mother Earth News. This article on how to store crops is no exception. You too can have a farmstand under your bed! (But then where will I put all those boxes of heirloom seeds??) Here’s to good eating all winter to all of you.
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Good Link: Winter Keeper Apples
Enjoyed this post on winter keeper apples from Rood Remarks. He includes Arkansas Black and Enterprise, two apple I have planted here at Larrapin. They are still small yet. If I could wish for something in a future farm, it would be the chance to plant more apple trees…and not just for the bees!
Read MoreGood Link: How To Build a Worm Tower
Here’s a link to a great how-to and handout for building a worm tower from our friends at Midwest Permaculture. This is a way to do worm composting of food scraps directly in your garden. Enjoy!
http://midwestpermaculture.com/2012/11/how-to-build-a-worm-tower/
Read MoreGot in All Our Garden
Back in late August I spent a week exploring in Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine. Those folks and places (and many others) have been on my mind while listening to all the wind, damage and flooding from Hurricane Sandy this week. I was lucky enough to be in New England during exquisite warm fall weather and I hope to share some of the trip with you over the next several posts. I’ll begin though, at the end.
Flying home out of the Burlington International airport I was mesmerized by the art near my departure gate. Tiny wooden blocks fixed like rows of mosaic tiles were printed with words from two women, one writing in her diary in the mid-1800’s and one writing poems (like the one above) that brought tears to my eyes. This despite standing in an airport hallway among busy travelers reading their so-called smartphones and walking forward without looking ahead at all for navigational cues like other people, etc. Don’t get me started on that! Back to the artwork.
I love it that these two women so enmeshed in their relationship with the land are featured in the most manmade of places, an airport. I love it that the Burlington airport features art and poetry. Vermont is a mecca for in-love-with-the-land worldview. There is a huge emphasis on local farms, food and farmers everywhere you go, not just the usual foodie hangouts. There are farmers markets—all locally grown and overwhelmingly organic—in every city and most tiny villages. The one I attended on a Thursday in Waterbury was like a town celebration with whole families picnicking with hot food and treats purchased from vendors. If not for the winters and property values, Vermont would no doubt be overwhelmed with those of us who love the land crowding in to be near others who understand this feeling.
What struck me about the diary from the mid-1800s was how similar it might be to notes in my own in 2012, with the notable exception of “washed the sheep.” The diarist noted comets and geese passing overhead, fair weather, harvest dates. My favorite was from October 1858, “Got in all our garden.” Oh sister, the joy. That’s exactly what has been happening at Larrapin in October. Fall finally arrived with cool days, crisp air and endless blue skies. After an early hot June, severe drought that burned till Mid-August, then unusual and oppressive humidity till September, FINALLY the fall garden season is back. I feel resurrected.
In this frenetic world, so overfilled with busyness that barely looks up from the screen, much less look around at the green world, there is a sense of connection, even relief, to read a woman’s words from a century and a half ago. I can easily imagine a conversation with her that we would both understand. I understand the bittersweet beauty of watching the geese fly over in the Fall. I understand relishing bright weather and apple harvests. I would ask her about why sheep need washing, and I bet I’d understand her answer. There is such joy in being a part of the lineage of soil, not just by virtue of living in a biological body that is built of and will return to soil, but in sharing it with others. Today, lucky enough to be standing in a day of perfect Autumn, I’m sending out a thought to a woman working her farm in 1858. And I’m going out to get in all our garden.
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