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Seeds, Bees and Rwanda

February 17, 2009 – 10:07 am

We received this email today and wanted to address Molly’s question for all of our readers.  First here is the email….

“Hello,
I came to your site via the beecharmers site which I loved!

Your seed project also sounds amazing. I am living in Rwanda and one of the
things I am talking about with some folks is starting a national seed saving
program. There are NO seed saving skills here among farmers and most of the
seeds that you can buy in town are single generation monsanto seeds. It is
such a shame, and the audacity of a company to sell single seeds to people
who cannot afford to buy them every year. Ugh.

Anyway, I am contacting you because I am working with some beekeeping
associations (who work with beautiful tree-trunk hives around one of the
national parks) to get some of their honey into a national market so they
can generate some income and keep their beekeeping tradition alive. Though I
am not sure we will ever pursue organic certification, we would like to have
our trainings include organic methods and record keeping.  Where can I find
organic standards for apiaries if there aren’t really any organic standards?
What standards do you use? And for record keeping, are there some good
samples of record keeping for organic hive management. Currently there are
no records being kept and so we are starting from scratch. I would really
appreciate anything you can pass along.  I hope when I come back to the
states I can visit  you. It sounds like you have some amazing and important
stuff going on!”
Many thanks,
Molly

First off, thanks so much for writing us Molly!!  It is good to hear the perspective from some who is in Africa.  I was reading a new book on seed last month written by woman in Africa who was championing Monsanto for bringing Genetically Modified seed to her country.  She thought their seed would be an answer to the starving she has seen throughout her life.  She went on to validate all of Monsanto’s rhetoric in her book.  I was beginning to wonder if Monsanto didn’t pay for this book to be published as it is a know fact that most GMO seed has in fact produced less yields instead of more.  This woman was extremely well educated holding multiple degrees and yet she saw Monsanto as some sort of knight in shining armor.  At first I found the book interesting from another person’s perspective, but then I just got so sick to my stomach that I was physically ill.   I literally through the book down in utter disgust.

I’m so sad to hear that people there are not saving seed.  Even when people do save seed it is threatened by contamination from GMO pollen.  I remember a teacher here in California growing corn for the Hopi Indians of the South West part of North America.  When we asked him why he said their homeland was being contaminated with GMO pollen.  The corn they had grown for thousands of lifetimes was no longer growing the way that it had in the past.  Strange mutations were occurring and crop losses were causing corn shortages.  The Hopi people had sent some of the last uncontaminated seed to our teacher who was growing it here in an isolated region and then sending it back to them yearly so that they could have clean seed stock from which to grow their food.

The sad truth is there is no where safe anymore we have learned.  A couple of months ago we had a picnic with a dear friend.  She had invited a friend of hers who used to be a climatologist in England to the gathering.  This lady laughed at our ideas of growing seed in isolated areas.  She said they had conducted extensive weather samples on the coast of North America looking for pollutants that travel across the ocean from China’s coal factories.  They found plenty of pollution, but the one thing that stunned them was the amount of GMO pollen that was in those samples.  China is one of the world’s largest growers of GMO plant material.  They even have entire genetically modified forest of trees for their lumber industry.  Now here was proof that Gentically Modified pollen was traveling the trade winds to be dumped on our “isolated” gardens here on the West Coast of North America!

If we can do anything to help the people of Rwanda let us know.  We can start a seed saving campaign on our seed company website.  We could send you seed from open pollinated heirloom seeds gathered by anyone who wants to participate.  We could form a network of seed savers in fact just for this purpose.  I feel an idea hatching!  Perhaps, each year we can send seed to a different group of people throughout the world.   Incredibly important would be teaching people how to save seed.  One of the best books I know of is Suzanne Ashworth’s Seed to Seed.  I’m having lunch with her on the 19th, perhaps we can talk about publishing her book in different languages.  Maybe she already has.  Wouldn’t it be wonderful to send seeds and information on how to save them to people who’s only choice now is Monsanto?  What do you think?  Would you be willing to start this on your end?

As for the bees….

I would love to see pictures of the hives you describe there!  Can you send us photos to share?  Sadly, there is not a standard here for “organic” honey production.  However, there is a source called International Quality Assurance. If you click on that link it will give you some excellent guidelines to consider when trying to produce “organic” honey.  Also, I’m sure you have heard of Makana Meadery in South Africa, but in case you haven’t they have some excellent ideas we have used ourselves.  So many people here in North America rely on buying the bee keeping supplies they need never giving a thought of how to create the things they need themselves like our grandfathers did.  Makana gives excellent “how to” manuels of making your own foundations for exmaple.  I would get in touch with them if you already haven’t as they seem to be an excellent source of information.

Let us here from you please!  I would love to post your response here.  Lets get this program up and going.  I will put an announcement on our seed company website.  I will talk to Suzanne about her book.  Let’s see if we can change the world one seed at a time!  Farmer John

By Farmer John | Also posted in Food Security | Comments (0)

The Creation of a Seed Company!

February 6, 2009 – 3:59 pm

Ok, so we have been quiet and nothing has been posted here in a while.  That normally means we are up to something!

In this case it is the creation of an heirloom open pollinated seed company….Sustainable Seed Company

The web is not totally finished as we have not got all the pictures, descriptions and seeds in yet.  AND we haven’t gotten all the bugs, spelling mistakes and grammar issues out!  But it is up for the the world to see because we didn’t want anyone ordering their spring seeds and not knowing we started a seed company!

You will have to read the web to find out the reason for all this….

By Farmer John | Also posted in Food Security | Comments (0)

It’s not about fear, it’s simple economics!

November 17, 2008 – 1:39 pm

Table of contents for Act Now

  1. It’s not about fear, it’s simple economics!

I was talking with a friend this morning about the changes that are occurring in our world – such as the scarcity of food, rising fuel costs, farmland losses due to topsoil erosion, freshwater availability – and I was asking him how he was planning for the future – how was he going to mitigate any major changes that could cause “modern society” to come to a grinding halt.

I was speaking of course about becoming more self-sufficient, how did he plan to (as Farmer John says) “disentangle” himself from being only a tiny cog in the huge economic and agricultural machine that is todays world.  Did he have a garden?  What about a few chickens for his eggs?  How about planting some fruit trees so he could at least have fresh fruit for a few weeks a year?  Was he off the grid?  Did he have compact florescent as his light bulbs?  How about keeping his tires inflated or oil topped off so he used less gasoline?

These are all relatively harmless things that are becoming mainstream.  Not a huge leap.  It’s still allows a comfortable way of living.  However, he’s still in the middle of a big city, still buys 95% of his own food, 100% of his own fuel (car and electricity).  In a word, he’s still “dependent” on that giant machine called the global market!

I asked him to think back to this summer and how dangerously close we, as a country, came to loosing our food security.  We were down to less than a month of grain reserves.  That was the lowest we came as a nation in over 20 years to not meeting our own food needs!  That doesn’t count the additional cost we as a nation have to pay to transport and ship that food since we aren’t a local food producing economy.

If oil goes up, if food supplies go down, if costs of production rise (since fertilizer comes from natural gas, it will) what happens then?  What happens when supplies get slim and demand keeps up or raises (if the population goes up)?  You have runs on things.  Remember the articles about Costco and Sam’s clubs rationing wheat and rice sales to one bag per customer?

Well to be blunt, people begin to get desperate and buying up stuff which makes things MUCH more expensive!  If you believe in Peak Oil, if you believe that a higher demand coupled with a decreased supply equals worldwide problems, if you believe that honey bees are in trouble and having a harder and harder time doing their job, if you believe this is a throw-away society, then it’s not about fear!

It’s about being prepared for when things happen that are out of our control.  Buy seeds today – not in two years when they’re skyrocketing costs are prohibitive.  Buy those garden tools today – not when your worried about cutbacks at work and how you’re going to put food on the table.  Buy (or help to buy) land today – not when you’re 200 miles away sitting at a desk pushing papers – those papers will be there in two years, but the fertile land that has been worked for two years and produces beautifully will only be a dream.

Things take time to develop and grow.  Gardens take time to become fertile, water systems need time and several seasons to be prooven, housing takes time to construct, people need time to adjust to new ways of living.

If you’re not prepared today to move from the city and become a farmer, I understand!  There are those of us who are further along that path than you.  Let us pave that road for you.  You don’t have to do it now, but someone does!  If things aren’t prepared NOW, when things shift and change, they’ll be too expensive, or worse, simply NOT AVAILABLE!

As I said in the title, it’s not about fear – it’s about economics…what you put in today is an investment in the future.  Buy low today so that higher prices tomorrow won’t limit your choices.

By theobill | Also posted in Community, Food Security, Land for Communities, Permaculture | Comments (0)

Your Future Well Being Depends on Your Actions Now

November 16, 2008 – 8:51 am

Table of contents for Act Now

  1. Your Future Well Being Depends on Your Actions Now

I get so frustrated with people I know and love who bury their heads in the sand of unconsciousness.  We all have our gifts, something we do better than others.  Mine has been feeling the pulse of humanity years before things would actually happen.  For years I’ve tried to find the courage to tell people what I felt was on the horizon for humanity and the United States in general.  Like others, I felt it was past time for a radical change in how we live our lives.  Most people listened politely, but thought I was nuts despite the fact I was not alone in my thoughts. Now as things come to pass (like our failing economy, global warming, etc…) those same people I wish I could say were realizing what is happening in the world and acting, but they are not.  They have simply taken a look outside their shells long enough to realize what they are “aware” of scares the hell out of them and they feel power less to do anything.  Most believe it is out of their hands anyway and the new president will fix everything.  The troubles our world faces is beyond the scope of one newly elected president no matter how well intentioned.

What should you do then? Disentangle yourself from non essential affairs that are not enhancing your chances of survival. Yes, I said survival!  This includes emotional, physical and financial attachments. Your new vehicle is not going to ’save’ you, it’s usefulness is limited and it’s future is already determined, it has a very short lifespan. That home you love is the same, if it’s not sustainable (for example: Do you control your water supply?  Where does your food come from…can you grow it?) and is located in an area that is not sustainable or saamerofe, then this emotional and financial attachment will wind up killing you. Sell it while you still can before the bank takes it from you or it becomes worthless and you can’t even give it away.

The global economic crash that is happening now will affect everyone.  Can you really afford to wait for housing prices to continue to fall before you make your relocation move? Use any monetary assets you have now to invest with others that have the same goals.  Find land or communities to buy into.  The “AMERO” (our new currency to be representing US, Canada and Mexico) will be hitting the market as soon as the U.S. cannot afford to pay the interest on it’s debt any longer.  Which is projected by some to happen as early as February 2009!  At that point your dollar will be worth whatever the government decides it will be.  Some say the buy back could be as low as two pennies on the “AMERO”.  I know, almost does not sound real, but google it and see for yourself.  Educate yourself!

crackedearth1Wake up to the present situation and circumstances. Stop kidding yourself. Assess your own dependency upon the entire system – it’s what’s keeping you alive right now. Without it, you would die. Learn to live without it’s support if you can. Disentangle yourself more and more, working on it constantly so that you become self-reliant and self-sufficient and capable of dealing with a world in chaos. Dependency is also a one way street and has created a world full of incapable humans who really cannot take care of themselves. They lack even the basic skills to survive. The future won’t permit that, so do something about it.

Get educated, get trained, put real skills into daily experience and learn how to take care of your own needs.  Learn practical skills in self-sufficiency, gardening, animal husbandry, mechanical repair, including bicycles,  seed saving and alternative construction. Raising food is going to be essential for localized citizens and how to do it. Food storage, preservation and preparation will be essential skills. Start learning how to do this now while mistakes are easy and survivable. Seasonal crops are an easy way to try out your green thumb. Learning to grow things isn’t hard, but it does take time to learn from your mistakes, so get started now.

This is what we have done and why we have joined FOSL.  We have liquidated everything of value and invested in supplies, heirloom seeds, farm animals, fruit trees, tools, sustainable technologies and information.  We have allied ourselves with people that have the necessary skills and know how for our continued existence.  We attend workshops with the folks to continue our knowledge and most importantly we are laying the foundation of community.  FOSL currently has one property that when finished may sustain 15 people.  This property has been slated for retirees desiring to be close to health care facilities.

However, there is a larger group of us who are searching for the right piece of land to build another community on.  One that would sustain many more people and would be much more rural in its location.  FOSL is a non-profit land trust.  FOSL needs land for communities. One of its many missions is to protect farmland and help create community based agriculture.  Community farms not only produce food, but involve as many people as possible in that production and distribution.  Since FOSL is a land trust, a not for profit organization, part of FOSL’s mission is to educate.  FOSL seeks to involve communities in social issues associated with agriculture and care of the land.

Our future survival and well being depends on agricultural land.  It depends on community.  Community is people coming together for a common good or cause.  Your future depends on your ability to act now.  Please, bring your knowledge, will to create a brighter future, physical resources, monetary resources, whatever you have and join us now.  Time is running out.  If you are reading this article you all ready know this on some level or you wouldn’t be here.  Trust your feelings.  This is not about fear, I see it as an opportunity to enrich our lives with community. A type of community that our grandparents knew, but with a new awareness.  It is a challenge and we will have to change the way we live on this earth if we are going to survive.  If our children are to survive and prosper.  I’m not asking you to change the world, but start with something you can change…yourself.  Open your mind and heart to an awareness of what is happening around you in the world.  Decide that you do want to change and join us in making that change.  We need you and we need your help.   Will you help us?  Will you help yourself?  The choice is ultimately yours…

If you have land you would like to discuss placing in a land trust please contact us.  If you are interested in joining FOSL or have questions contact us immediatly.

By Farmer John | Also posted in Community, Land for Communities, Safety | Tagged , , | Comments (0)

Seed Saving Principles

November 5, 2008 – 6:18 am

The mission of the Foundation of Sustainable Living is the education and research about, and practice of, living sustainably both technically and socially.  We propose to invest skill sets and knowledge in individuals, and to promulgate such knowledge via the internet, multimedia publications, workshops, and a speaker’s bureau.

However, without access and control over the germ plasma of appropriate, reproducible food, fiber, fuel, and medicinal plants nothing else we do will matter.  Non-Hybridized seed saving, production, distribution and the ability to grow our own plant derived needs is the base line of the entire agrarian part of what FOSL proposes. Control of our own plant needs is the only possible basis for long term regional localization of food production – the non-negotiable heart of the survival of the human race.

Quote from the Zend-Avesta

“He who sows the ground with care and diligence acquires a greater stock of religious merit than he could gain by the repetition of ten thousand prayers.”

Some of the other areas defining the importance of seed saving include:

  • If there is an interruption in the distribution system, we may no longer have access to sources of seed that we take for granted now.  We need to start accumulating seed NOW for the crops we will need in the future for food, fuel, fiber, and medicine. Local growing and saving seed as a routine practice is the highest priority for sustainable living so that local communities have broad enough genetic diversity in the future to deal with the changes in climate and/economies that are coming.
  • Food security is being independent of corporate seed sellers by growing our own seed, and preserving diversity in the face of adversity:  global warming will cause imbalances in pest/predator relationships, and diseases and pests will have new ranges, potentially challenging or even wiping out common commercial varieties.
  • The nature of the globalization process and the perceived economics imperatives practiced by the increasingly larger Corporations are expressed by those who control seed worldwide as no interest in preserving regional varieties. If we are to survive in the future it is incumbent on local growers to preserve and increase biodiversity by using plants’ natural sexual reproduction, rather than cloning or breeding hybrids that will be infertile or will not grow true.
  • Developing varieties that are well adapted to the climates and soils of each particular region by repeatedly selecting vigorous seed over several years has a 12,000 year history and is the highest expression of man’s backbreaking work and genius.
By Parker | Also posted in Food Security | Tagged | Comments (0)

Concerned Yet? Transition to Community

October 27, 2008 – 9:02 pm

Concerned About the Future Yet?

Explore Transitioning to a Sustainable Life

By Hina Pendle, PhD, Facilitator, Community Organizer

October 2008

The fact that we are on a descent is no longer in question, but how we land is. As I write, we are living in a financial crisis, which will soon mean diminishing resources for most of us. This is the tip of the iceberg by many accounts including Paul Krugman, winner of the Nobel Prize for Economics this past week. The world is also facing a massively disturbed climate and environment, in an oil-dependent world, with an increasing world population creating rising demand for food, water, and shelter. And our national leadership has been busily dumbing-down education on issues and public education for our youth — while grabbing tighter control on power.

Changing the way we live in our modern societies is no longer optional. How we make the change is. Those of us with foresight can seize the opportunity today to use the resources we still have to build a sustainable tomorrow—if we act smart and quickly. New technology and a “Green Deal” cannot be the panacea people hope for. There are no magic wands. We are not going to invent our way out of this mess. Green strategies can certainly help stem the slide but, we have to realize how deep our society’s need for fossil fuels is. Almost everything we use and do every day depends on oil.

We don’t know what the future looks like. What we are witnessing is the breakdown of all the old ways that not longer serve us. It doesn’t have to be scary or scarce. The transition into a new era is being born out of the rubble and lessons of the old. Yes, it can be unnerving to watch the breakdowns. But we can’t afford to let fear to zap our power to design and birth our future. We were impregnated with the vision of love, peace and environmental sanity in the sixties. That baby has been gestating, wising up and now becoming our reality. Just like adolescents, we are emerging from our cultural evolution to question and rethink everything. Let’s reconsider together what we value from agriculture to health care, from economic systems to building community, from science to spirituality, from low to no carbon building to useful, green retirement. David Korten, businessman and writer and Joanna Macy, environmentalist and Buddhist, call this the time of “The Great Turning.” David says we’re evolving from empire to earth community. Our fears can help to propel us forward faster.

The Foundation of Sustainable Living (FOSL) www.thefosl.org has been ushering in this transition for several years. We are preparing for self-reliant, resilient communities. That means we are planning to be able to provide all of our basic and comfort needs within our local community. In modern society, living isolated many of us have lost critical contact with each other and with nature’s bounty. FOSL’s vision is to have many multi-generational, multi-racial, multi-cultural communities sharing resources and talent. Resilient communities are based on principles that support life. We respect nature, learning how natural systems have solve problems for ages. We will teach what we know and learn what we don’t, according to Parker, FOSL’s primary founder. The future may not be crystal clear but our values for the journey forward are.

George Soros speaking with Bill Moyers said, that for humanity to survive the calamity of our ways, we have to learn how to govern ourselves. To FOSL that means building caring, smart communities now. Together we can transition through the perfect storm and global chaos by designing a better future. FOSL is calling for more people of all ages who are interested in creating a vibrant, abundant future guided by our wisdom, intelligence, heart and fun to join in. We still have the time and resources to transition into a comfortable, sensible future for ourselves, our children and prepare for “green” retirement. The time is now.

Check out a great inspiring resource “The Transition Handbook: From Oil Dependency To Local Resilience” by Rob Hopkins. It tells of towns in England, Japan and around the world that are transitioning, each in their own way. FOSL is now building its first transition community. How we do it is up to us.

Hina Pendle, PhD is a facilitator, community and organizational evolutionary, and on the Leadership Council of the Foundation of Sustainable Living. hina@thefosl.org, 831.662.2232.

By Hina | Comments (0)

Are You Prepared? What You Need to Survive an Emergency or Depression.

October 22, 2008 – 7:35 am

DCrisis Preparedness Handbook: A Complete Guide to Home Storage and Physical Survivalo you have enough drinking water and food should you lose power for a few days?  How about something a little more longer like an earthquake or hurricane?  Still even more urgent, will you be able to feed yourself or your family in the trying times to come?

We maintain a pretty good list here on this web, but it is always growing.  The real purpose of today’s blog is to get people to participate in forming this list as well as their own. Most of us don’t have unlimited resources so we really need to think about what is important to stockpile in case of an emergency or long depression.  I’m inviting people from many different Yahoo groups today to participate in what they would consider is the top 20 things they would have on hand.

I would like you to think past the three day preparedness kit.  I think most of us know what we would need to survive for three days.  I want us to imagine having to be self-reliant for weeks or longer.  What would you want?  What would you need to live?

Please post your list under the comment section (below) for all to see or email me and I will post the result tomorrow.

Emergency Food Storage & Survival Handbook: Everything You Need to Know to Keep Your Family Safe in a Crisis US Army Survival Manual: FM 21-76

By Farmer John | Also posted in Safety | Tagged , , | Comments (0)

What’s valuable to you?

October 19, 2008 – 9:58 pm

In today’s world, there are many things that are called “valuable.” Some people call their stock portfolio valuable, some their TV. Others may say that their house or car is truly valuable. But what most people find value in lies in what others think is valuable. In other words, if society deems it of value, then so do they!

Click to continue reading “What’s valuable to you?”

By theobill | Also posted in Random Thoughts | Comments (0)

Chores, chores, and MORE chores!

October 19, 2008 – 9:56 am

It’s not easy farming, which I’m slowly learning! The garden needs cleaning out. The chicken coop needs to be cleaned and new bedding put in. The eggs need to be collected. The rabbits have to be fed, watered, and their cages cleaned. The bees need checked or going on a swam call (yay!). The apples need picked, cleaned, cut, cooked and canned. The list goes on and on!

Click to continue reading “Chores, chores, and MORE chores!”

By theobill | Also posted in Food Security | Comments (0)

We are ready to move…

October 17, 2008 – 10:23 am

farm2As wonderful as this small piece of land has been we are currently at, we have out grown it (picture is not our place, but places are what we are looking for).  We have learned a great deal about living near the coast and living on the north side of a mountain and are thankful for the experience.  BUT….

We are ready to move on and continue growing.  The community land seems to be trying to manifest in a few places with land owners, lawyers and community members doing their best.  However, there is not a place to call home yet and we need a place to live where we can be more self-sustaining…more sustainable!  We need to continue growing Open Pollinated vegetables and grafting heirloom fruit trees, but on a bit large scale than the 1/4 acre we currently have.  The need to continue breeding the perfect dual purpose chicken who lays well, but makes a tasty meal. More land so that we may grow our own chicken food and not have to buy GMO contaminated farm3feed from the feed store.

We need an old barn to hang seed to dry, corn for the winter and a place for the new dairy goat we having been dying to get.  We want to try our hands at goat cheese and share the bounty with our friends.  Our heritage turkeys need a place for new babies (sure to come next spring) to graze on green pastures.  Our honey bees need fields of wildflowers to gather nectar in for that liquid gold they make. Land is needed for us to raise enough fresh food for us and our neighbors in the challenging times ahead.

We are asking everyone we know!  Maybe you know of someone who has old farm land sitting fallow.  Some great sunny space populated with old barns that are crying out for new life.  A farmer ready to retire or someone who just inherited such a place and doesn’t know what to do with it, but knows we don’t need anymore track housing.   I just read a book of such a retiring organic grower in Maine.  He was complaining about no new blood to take over in his footsteps and what he wouldn’t give to see his life’s work not go fallow.  I would love to partner with someone like this, but I don’t want to move to Maine!  No, I would like to farmstay here in California if ya don’t mind!

So I’m putting it out here!  I learned long ago I can’t get what I want if I don’t ask for it.  So I’m asking.  If ya don’t mind the crow of a rooster waking you in the morning, the taste of fresh eggs for breakfast or the taste of homegrown honey on your bisquits let us know!  We don’t mind sharing in the hard work or the good times.  In fact some of the best times I remember were making sure my grandparents had enough wood to last them for the winter.  Yeah, it was hard work, but it was from my grandfather that I learned how to use an axe.  At a young age I was instilled with love, knowledge and the confidence that I could take care of not only myself, but others.  We have trying times ahead and during these times I know with a lot of hard work, love and paitients we will be just fine.  However, in order to take care of all the above mentioned we need land.  So, if ya know of a little old farmstead for lease let us know!  You’ll be glad ya did!

By Farmer John | Also posted in Land for Communities | Tagged , | Comments (1)