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| Dear Gardeners, |
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In the months to come, we'll visit with some interesting people in the sustainable agriculture movement, profile some of our favorite plants and outline some fundamental gardening know-how. We'll also review current gardening books and let you know about exciting new products for your garden, Most importantly, we'll be working with our Research Farm staff to keep you informed of their vital and interesting investigations, which have great relevance for organic gardeners and farmers alike. In addition, we'll be sharing information from our new Seeds of Change test plot here in Maine. Last year we grew over150 of our varieties in our new gardens and were able to provide the research team with some valuable information. This year we hope to expand our growout, test new products, and use our new northeast location to provide a different perspective.
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Beginning with this issue, I'll be taking over as editor from Dave Smith. Dave has done a great job in making our eNewsletter both informative and fun. He's moving on to new and exciting projects and we look forward to working with him down the road. Thanks Dave!
| Farm Report: Seeds of Change Participates in Eco-Farm 2001 Conference |
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The highlight for us this year at "Eco-Farm" was participating in a workshop along with Susan Ashworth from Seed Savers Exchange, and Paul Muller from Full Belly Farm. The national organic standards ruling released this year mandates that by 2004, organic growers must use organic seed in order to maintain their certification. Our workshop was an open discussion with farmers and others about where that seed will come from and what we would like to see available. Until now, most organic growers have purchased conventionally grown seed rather than organic, in part because that is what has been largely available in commercial quantities. The question we posed was: What crops, and more specifically, what kinds of varieties do growers want to see available in organic seed. Both Seeds of Change and the Seed Savers Exchange have proposed conducting on-farm variety trials to look at which open-pollinated varieties have commercial potential compared to hybrid varieties commonly being grown. Many growers in the workshop expressed excitement at the potential for development of varieties bred for performance in organic growing conditions, such as disease and insect resistance and adaptability to slow release organic forms of fertilizer. Seeds of Change is working hard to steadily increase our bulk seed supply to be ready to supply commercial organic growers with the seeds they need. Prior to the Eco-Farm Conference, we attended the first meeting of the Scientific Congress on Organic Agricultural Research (SCOAR), hosted by the Organic Farming Research Foundation (OFRF). OFRF is a non-profit organization dedicated to the promotion of scientific research in organic farming systems. SCOAR was the first of a series of gatherings of farmers and agricultural researchers to develop a research agenda to serve the needs of organic farmers. Organic farming systems are inherently different from conventional systems in many ways, including different fertilizer inputs and needs, insect communities and key pests, weed complexes, and target markets. The vast majority of research currently conducted in public institutions is in conventional agricultural systems and serving the needs of conventional growers. Although there is some overlap and much basic science which is applicable to organic systems, overall the needs of organic growers have not been met. OFRF has been a leader in the movement to allocate public and private grants for the explicit purpose of organic agricultural research. The goal of the SCOAR meeting was to set a national research agenda to direct funding toward programs and projects that serve the needs of organic producers and others in the organic food industry. There were about 60 attendants including farmers from across the country along with many representatives from land grant universities, government organizations including the EPA, non-profit organizations and USDA researchers. We spent the first day brainstorming a list of subject areas where organic research is needed. Then this extensive list was broken down into 10 broad categories and we broke out into smaller groups to discuss what the main agendas are within each of those areas. Our group focused on issues related to seeds and plant breeding. The key research needs we identified were breeding varieties adapted to organic systems, breeding for superior nutritional quality, collecting and maintaining a diversity of wild plants, and securing good seed stock including non-GMO contaminated seed. Other research areas identified were: issues of soil quality and health, methodologies for organic "whole systems research", the role of livestock and manure in organic production, cropping systems design (rotations), environmental consequences of organic agriculture, and prevention of GMO contamination. For a more complete report of the SCOAR conference see the OFRF website at www.ofrf.org After returning from Eco-farm and SCOAR the winter conference series continued back home. Several of our Seeds of Change staff members attended the New Mexico Organics Conference and enjoyed meeting with our local organic community. This year Kent Whealy from Seed Savers Exchange www.seedsavers.org and Francis Moore Lappe, author of Diet for a Small Planet, were the key note speakers. What follows is a brief report from Lee Gearhart of his experience at the conference.
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Spring is near at Rancho la Paz and the staff of the Seeds of Change Research Farm is busy preparing for its arrival. Our poppy variety trials are already planted in the field and this week we are starting seedlings in the greenhouse and finishing up planning our research agenda for 2001. We will again conduct extensive variety trials, looking for exciting new plants from around the world and comparing our lines of seed to others out on the market. As always, we will grow out our own varieties to ensure they are still vigorous and growing true to type. In addition, this year we plan to work on some breeding projects on the farm to improve varieties we already have and develop some new lines for the future. Of course our staff anticipates, as always, keeping busy collecting seed and sharing our experience in seed saving with all of you.
| Research Farm announces tour schedule for 2001 |
Are you interested in visiting the Seeds of Change Research Farm this year? Our Farm Manager, Micaela Colley will be leading 3 tours this August on the 11th,18th, and 25th.. They will start at 9am, and last for around two hours. The Farm is located about 45 minutes north of Santa Fe, New Mexico along the Rio Grande.
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| Growing Healthy Seedlings Indoors |
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While growing one's own tomato, pepper, or broccoli seedlings might seem a little daunting at first, following a few simple guidelines can increase your chances of success. Besides a great selection of seeds, all you'll need to get started is a flat surface with plenty of light and a little warmth, some containers, a potting mix, and some water and organic fertilizer. Foremost though, is starting with good seeds. Seeds of Change offers almost 600 varieties of certified organic flower, vegetable and herb seeds, all of which have been developed and selected specifically for organic gardening and have passed rigorous germination testing.
Timing is Everything
Prepare the Potting Mix
* A note about peat moss: We are aware that peat is not a sustainably harvested material. We are presently researching other alternatives for our seed starting mixes. We hope to offer our own eco-friendly organic mix in the future.
Gather Some Containers
Keep Them Moist and Warm
For surface sown seeds you might need to cover your flats or containers with glass or clear plastic to hold moisture while allowing light to penetrate. Be careful not to "bake" the seeds in direct sun. Once your seedlings emerge, allow the surface of the soil to dry out between waterings to avoid over watering which can lead to problems such as damping off.
Plants Need Light
Feed Your Seedlings
Hardening Off
Before you know it, you'll have more healthy seedlings than you know what to do with. Your friends should appreciate that! In our next eNewsletter we'll talk about direct seeding to the garden and transplanting your starts.
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Getting our hands in the soil and growing a garden can be a deeply rewarding experience. Growing it from seeds can be even more so. Not only is it more economical than buying seedlings, starting from seed also expands the diversity of cultivars available to us and gives us a deeper connection to the plants we grow.
For most seeds you'll need to provide a minimum soil temperature of at least 65 degrees Fahrenheit (18 Celcius.) Again, your packs will have specific information. If you find it difficult or impractical to keep the whole area warm enough, you might want to consider a seedling heat mat to maintain sufficient soil warmth. If the temperature in your propagation area varies too much, a thermostat for the heat mat can be helpful too.
| Garden Story: Trying to catch the "Now!" of Spring. By Karel Capek |
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Today, on the 30th of March, at ten o'clock in the morning, the first tiny blossom of forsythia opened. For three days I have been watching its largest bud, a tiny golden pod, so as not to miss this historic moment; it happened while I was looking at the sky to see whether it would rain. Tomorrow the twigs of forsythia will be sprinkled all over with golden stars. You simply cannot hold it back. Of course, most of all the lilacs have hurried up; before you noticed it, they have made fragile and slender little leaves; you can never watch a lilac. Ribes aureum also opens its ribbed and pleated frills; but the other bushes and trees are still waiting for some imperative "Now!" which will breathe from the earth or from the sky; in that moment all buds will, and it will be here. Germination belongs to the phenomena which men call a natural process; it is, however, a real march. Decay is also a natural process; but it does not remind one of a march; I should not like to compose a tempo di marcia for the process of decay. But if I were a musician I should compose a "march of buds;" first in a light movement lilac battalions would run and scatter; then the columns of red berries would follow; a heavier formation of apple and pear buds would break in, while the young grass would twang and chirrup on every single string. And to this orchestral accompaniment the regiments of disciplined buds would march, running breathlessly forward "in a splendid formation" as one says of military parades. Left, right; left, right: heavens, what a march!
So! While I was writing this, the mysterious "Now!" must have come: the buds which in the morning were still swaddled in tough bands have put forth fragile tips, sprigs of forsythia have begun to shine with golden starts, the swollen pear buds have unrolled a little and on the points of some other buds gold-green eyes are sparkling. Out of resinous scales young green leaves are shooting, fat buds have burst, and a filigree of ribs and folds is emerging. Don't be shy, blushing little leaf; open, folded little fan; awake, downy sleeper, the order to start has already been given. Strike up fanfares of the unwritten march! Glisten and roll, pipe and sing, you golden brass, drums, flutes, and innumerable violins; for the silent brown and green little garden has set out on its victorious march. Copyright © 1966. (Madison: The University of Wisconsin Press.) A Czechoslovakian playwright and science fiction writer (he invented the word "robot"), Karel Capek would not seem a likely person to write a classic of gardening prose. But his little tome, The Gardener's Year, is a unique gem. Every page bursts with poetry, gentle humor, and the insatiable zest of a truly passionate gardener. Although written in 1929, The Gardener's Year (delightfully illustrated by Karel's brother, Josef) remains as fresh as a new spring.
Green Prints Magazine, The Weeder's Digest, is published and edited by Pat Stone, and his family in Fairview, North Carolina Copyright © Green Prints. All Rights Reserved.
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One says that in spring Nature turns green: it is not quite true, for it also becomes red with pink and crimson buds. There are buds deep scarlet and rosy with cold; others are brown and sticky like resin; others are whitish like the felt on the belly of a rabbit; they are also violet, or blond, or dark like old leather. Out of some pointed lace protrudes; others are like fingers or tongues, and others again like warts. Some swell like flesh, overgrown with down, and plump like puppies; others are laced into a tough and lean prong; others open with puffed and fragile little plumes. I tell you, buds are strange and varied as leaves and flowers. There will be no end to your discoveries. But you must choose a small piece of earth. If I ran as far as Benesov, I should see less of the spring than if I sat in my little garden. You must stand still; and then you will see open lips and furtive glances, tender fingers, and raised arms, the fragility of a baby, and the rebellious outburst of the will to live; and then you will hear the infinite march of buds faintly roaring.
| New Products Available on Our Website |
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To help you get started this year, we're offering some exciting new products to make your spring planting, more enjoyable, and ecologically friendly. |
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Make Your Own Paper Pots
With our Pot maker, it's easy and fun to create an endless supply of 2 1/2 inch starter pots from old newspapers. An eco-concious alternative to plastic or peat, they can be put right in the ground at transplanting time. We easily made over a hundred in an hour. |
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Plant Like the Pros!
The Professional seed handler is the best way we've found to plant seeds of all shapes and sizes, right down to the finest flower or herb seed. Simply pop on the correct color coded tip, squeeze the comfortable rubber grip and accurately sow one seed at a time. Save time, conserve your precious seeds, and spend less time thinning. Made in England by one of the world's leading suppliers for professional growers, this is an essential item for any serious seed sower. |
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Tired of plastic?
Check out our new Eco-Flats made from recycled cardboard. All have generous drain holes and won't crack like plastic. When they wear out just toss them in the compost. Trays are 11" x 21" x 2 1/4" deep and come divided into six 5"x 7" flats or ten 4"x 5" flats which are easily separated. Package of six trays. Our 4" Wooden Plant Markers are the perfect compliment to Eco Flats for keeping track of your diversity of seedlings. |
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A Gentle Mist for a Healthy Start
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| Amaranth in the Northeast? |
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While the corn and beans had a rough time with the coldest, dampest June anyone could remember, the Amaranths seemed unfazed. As our neighbors dropped by (it seems that pretty much everyone here loves to talk gardening) the big patch of multicolored leaves always raised interest. What's that? they'd ask. Inevitably, when I told them it was Amaranth they'd comment. "Never heard of it?" or, "that won't flower here will it?" or, "I thought that only grew out west at high altitude." or, "Doesn't that need a long season with a lot of heat." or, "Oh yea, I had a friend who tried that once."
The plants grew steadily and we could barely keep them thinned out. They hardly seemed to mind the cool start, but when the heat of July hit they really took off. By this time we had harvested many meals of the nutritious greens which we started steaming as they got larger. By the end of August our experiment had reached head high and formed a lovely tunnel with the sunflowers on the other side of the path. The gorgeous gold, green, and especially the brilliant, deep red blooms of the Burgundy, Hopi Red Dye, and Warihio, became the highlights of the garden. We kept thinning and filled out dozens of oversized bouquets with the hundreds of sunflowers we had growing everywhere.
Even with our shortened season we managed to get a little seed in the end which we let fall. We're curious to see what grows out there this year and hope to select out a variety from which we can harvest enough seed to enhance our baking and hot cereals for next winter. We'll start some indoors as well, to see if we can get some mature seedheads. I expect to see a few of the colorful towering plumes around the neighborhood as well. S.V.
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Well, we began to wonder ourselves. Even though we were enjoying the young greens in our salads as we thinned out our way too densely planted beds, we had no idea what to expect. The last time I had gardened in Maine, over ten years ago, I, like many of my neighbors had never heard of Amaranth.
| Book Review: The Sustainable Vegetable Garden |
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| Photo Tips for Gardeners: Study the light |
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Have you ever been out to your garden on a beautiful, bright sunny afternoon when everything's in bloom and thought "Wow, I've got to get a picture of this." Then, after running back to the house for the camera and carefully composing shot after fabulous shot, the pictures aren't what you envisioned. The shadows are black and uninviting or the highlights are devoid of the lush colors of the garden. Chances are, the culprit is the light, or should I say, the combination of light and film.
| Letters to the editor |
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MASTER GARDENERS RESPOND
Dear Mr. Smith, I was discouraged to read the answer that you had to a reader regarding the Master Gardener program. I am employed as an "Educator" (a new title for the very familiar Ag Agent) with Cornell Cooperative Extension. Over the past decade, our consumer horticulture recommendations are all cultural in nature. We do offer pesticide advice if the client insists that they have tried everything else, but in no way do we promote gardening techniques using chemicals. The Master Gardener volunteers spend hundreds of hours each season trying to explain to average gardeners why they do not need to rely on lawn chemicals or systemic rose pesticides etc., etc.. We make field trips to organic farms, we help teach sustainable agriculture courses at the local community college, we write local garden columns and talk to many, many garden clubs with the main emphasis being reducing the amount of chemicals applied. Perhaps that is your beef. Because we are not 100% on the organic bandwagon, is the message of reducing chemical load illegitimate? Your response to your reader shows that you have done what I warn "conventional" farmers against - [You've] closed your mind to change. Respectfully, Laura McDermott ................................ To Dave Smith, Editor and Don Dunklee, Certified Organic Grower I have read with great interest your last issue of the seeds of change eNewsletter and am quite discouraged by the disparaging comments about Master Gardeners and their training having a "bent" toward using chemicals vs. organic methods of gardening. I am a South Carolina Master Gardener trained through the Clemson University Cooperative Extension Service and your assumption is completely incorrect that "the thrust in most MG classes is to learn how to grow chemically" This is not the case in South Carolina. When a home gardener goes into lawn and garden section of his local store, the synthetic chemicals cover the shelves. When a Master Gardener is answering questions from a private gardener it is the MG's responsibility to give educated answers and suggestions on this topic. So, yes, we were taught about synthetic pest products with a huge emphasis on their extreme dangers to people, pets and especially the long term effects on the environment. We were also given very strict and narrow instructions about recommending their use. Educating yourself about something does not mean you agree with its use - it means that you will have more knowledge to intelligently discuss and emphasize the importance of using alternative methods. Conversely, we were also taught extensively about organic, chemical-free alternative methods of gardening and pest control Master Gardeners are volunteers and very few people would devote their time and effort to the education of other gardeners if they did not have a love for their bit of earth. Mr. Dunklee wrote, "Sometimes the facts of life...when you look behind the scene...sure stink." Perhaps he should make an effort to educate himself and take a look inside a Master Gardener training manual or maybe even speak with his own University Extension Agent before making "broad-spectrum" negative comments about the Master Gardener Program. I realize that everyone is entitled to his own opinion, however since this column is in your newsletter, am I to assume that these are also the opinions of the staff of Seeds of Change? Sincerely, Michelle J. Clark, Master Gardener and proud of it! ................................ Dear Laura and Michelle, The comments you are responding to were from an exchange that took place on our eGroup and definitely do not represent the opinions of the staff at Seeds of Change. In defense of Dave Smith, he did include other comments that were more favorable to Master Gardening Programs. To see the full discussion that took place and get involved in a forum about organic gardening, please check out our eGroup by going to http://www.seedsofchange.com and click on garden help forum. For the record, Seeds of Change does not endorse any type of agriculture or gardening that is not 100% organic but we appreciate all efforts to move in that direction. Editor, Seeds of Change ................................ To the editor, I would like to comment on the Master Gardener issue within each state. As an instructor prior to becoming an organic gardener, I have since stopped teaching and volunteering within the master gardener program for Michigan. I have also written letters to the coordinator for our state master gardener program and outlined for them the reasons behind my decision. If more gardeners chose to do so it might put some more push into the program to stop enforcing chemicals and at least offer the organic alternative. Brenda L. Miller, Upper Peninsula, Michigan ................................ To the editor, I write in response to the article, Organic Food is a Bargain, in Seeds of Change eNewsletter #17. To me, the question that needs answering is not "Why does organic food have to be more expensive?," but "What is required to make organic food competitive in the marketplace?" The article states that "organic prices are fair because they give farmers a chance to make a living without jeopardizing the environment or the health of farm workers and their families." These reasons do not make organic prices fair. Rather, these reasons imply justification for the higher price for organic food. Until organic farmers achieve competitve market pricing, lower income people will be forced to buy food which costs less. I think it is the responsibility of organic farmers and organic food purchasers to prioritize becoming competitive in the marketplace. Otherwise, organic farmers are in effect working for the members of our nation who can afford the higher price. The article states that organic farming is more sustainable "economically." The article does not, yet should, address how this translates ultimately into prices that allow sustenance to even the poorest of our people. I would like to see an article that addresses this dilemma. The article in eNewsletter #17, as written, is a feel good piece that doesn't take into account the human condition. I encourage you to lend credibility any such future articles by tackling the hard problem of how to make organic food affordable to all people, not just to the economically successful population. The article offered is a breeze where a stong wind is needed. Mike Donnally, Fairfield, CT ................................ Dear Mike, You raise a very important quandary regarding the ability of those with less resources to be able to purchase organic food. We believe that conventionally produced foods are too cheap... too cheap because conventional agriculture does not charge the consumer for the loss of topsoil it incurs, the destruction of soil fertility, the pollution of aquifers and waterways, the destruction of coral reefs from run off, the death of beneficial insects, the clean up of the factories that produced the chemicals in the first place, the impact of drift which can travel thousands of miles from where it was originally sprayed, and so on. Should conventional food be more expensive? Our answer is no... instead organic farmers and their methods should be subsidized in the way that conventional agriculture is today. For instance, the funding of organic agricultural research is less than 3% of the USDA's budget, and yet, as far back as 1989, sustainable organic methods were endorsed by the National Academy of Sciences as the future of farming. The research done to date has been performed by a committed group of individuals and organizations who have actively sought the funds or funded it themselves... groups like the Rodale Institute and the Organic Farming Research Foundation, (http://www.ofrf.org). As a 100% Certified Organic seed and food company, we are acutely aware of the difficulties producing high quality organic food for those with a limited budget. In large part, that is why, with our seed business, we seek to provide gardeners with open pollinated seeds (which can be saved) as well as the information, tools, and know-how to grow organic food in their yards, vacant urban lots, rooftops, balconies, and any other place where the sun shines. Please don't think I believe I have resolved this dilemma with my answer. However, I do feel it is important that you understand it is our goal that organic food and seeds become affordable to people of all incomes. Best regards, Stephen Badger, President, Seeds of Change ................................ Please send letters regarding this eNewsletter to editor@seedsofchange.com. Letters should include your full name and location and may be edited for purposes of clarity and space. Contents | Seeds of Change Homepage Copyright © 2001 Seeds of Change. All rights reserved. 1-888-762-7333 |