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eNewsletter #22, August 2001
In this issue...

• Dear Organic Gardeners
• Farm Report: Visits With Our Growers
• Grow Great Garlic This Year
• Jerzy Boyz: Apples and Pears!
• New Garden Products
• Classic Kitchen Products
• Book Reviews: Botany of Desire and
  The Complete Italian Vegetarian Cookbook
• Stop Bt Crops Now!
• Soil Fertility Basics #3: Interpreting Soil Tests
• Green Prints: Naked in the Garden
• Gardeners Unite to Feed the Hungry
• Photo Tips for Gardeners: A Good Soak
• Letters to the Editor

We've just returned from visiting many of the organic farmers who grow our seed. Thanks to their skill and dedication, it looks like we'll have plenty of great seed for next year despite the drought that has affected much of the country this summer. In our Farm Report, Micaela Colley discusses the importance of these visits to our mission of providing the best open-pollinated seeds possible. One highlight of our trip was seeing the beautiful crops of seed garlic drying in preparation for shipment to our warehouse. If you haven't ordered your organic fall planting garlic yet, don't wait much longer, as many varieties will sell out.

In our own gardens, the harvest has begun in earnest as we dig new potatoes and savor the ever-expanding diversity of fresh food and flowers. If you're blessed with an over abundance of fresh produce this year, we've included a link to Plant a Row for the Hungry to help you find a good home for the excess. Another link from this newsletter is to the Organic Consumers Association. Please join their campaign to stop the use of genetically modified, Bt crops.

Have you ever thought about testing your soil? Steve Peters, in his continuing series on soil, gives us some insight into the benefits and complexities of soil analysis. Also this month, we are excited to work with the great folks at Jerzy Boyz Organic Orchards to offer you and your friends some of the finest pears and apples available anywhere. Send a gift box to someone you care about and treat yourself to one too! New varieties will be available as the season progresses.

With fall approaching, don't forget to check out our excellent new cold frames or make one of your own, to keep those veggies coming long into the season. In many climates, now is also the time to sow salad greens, spinach, and kale for fall harvesting or wintering over to get the earliest harvest in the spring. It's an exciting and bountiful time in the garden.

Enjoy!
Scott Vlaun, Editor
editor@seedsofchange.com

Contents | Seeds of Change Homepage

At Seeds of Change our network of dedicated organic growers produce all the seed we sell. They are the roots of our company. Each year we visit as many of these growers as possible. We walk the fields together, examine the crops, and discuss seed saving techniques and countless other issues.

We just returned from this year's visits, and once again are invigorated and inspired by these passionate and intelligent farmers. We believe that this direct connection to where and how our seed is grown sets us apart from most other seed companies. Unlike companies that buy from a middleman, we can trace our seed lines back to the fields where they were grown. Growing our seed on healthy, organic, family farms not only produces vigorous, long-lasting organic seed, but also plays an important role in supporting small-scale, organic agriculture across the country.

Our seed growers are our eyes in the field. Each year, as they grow our seed crops they take care to ensure that our varieties are growing vigorously and true to type. All the seeds we offer are open-pollinated (OP) varieties, which means they freely cross-pollinate in the field. A particular variety's traits are maintained by continually selecting the plants with the desired characteristics. Unlike hybrid seed, OP seed may be saved from year to year and it will reproduce true to type as long as it has not been crossed with another variety of the same species. We offer OP varieties because we believe that seed saving and exchange is important to conserving genetic diversity and preserving our food crops for future generations. Offering OP varieties also avoids dependence on "professionals" to provide us with their selection of seed each year and allows us to adapt varieties to our own conditions.

As Carol Deppe, author of Breed Your Own Vegetable Varieties, says, "every time you save seed you are doing plant breeding." She means that by saving seed we select, and nature selects, which plants our seed comes from, and therefore which genes remain in the gene pool. We can intentionally select plants with the most desirable characteristics, whether that is a particular color of zinnia, earliness of a tomato, or vigor of a broccoli.

We select to produce desired qualities, both by selecting the plants with desirable genes and by removing plants with unwanted characteristics. In this regard, our growers are plant breeders in the field. With careful attention to detail and an element of intuition, they practice selection each year to maintain our varieties. For example, this year, one of our growers is watching our Seashell Cosmos to remove, or "rogue out," any flat petaled flowers, thereby maintaining the trait of curled "seashell-like" petals, which give this variety its special look. Another grower is working with us to develop an earlier blooming Yellow Garden Cosmos; the current variety, although well worth the wait, takes a longer season than most cosmos to bloom. By marking the plants that flower earliest and saving their seed, we hope to offer an earlier blooming selection in the future.

Many root crops such as onions and carrots are biennial. The root is grown the first year, then dug up and replanted for seed production in the second year. With these crops much of the selection work is done when replanting the roots. A grower we just visited was selecting Torpedo Red Bottle Onions for the characteristic torpedo shaped bulb. He replanted only the onions with the proper shape and gave the rest to his daughter to fix for dinner.

In addition to selection work and variety maintenance, some of our growers enjoy developing new varieties by cross breeding different varieties within a species. Frank Morton has been producing lettuces and other greens for mesclun salad mixes for years. His fascination has been with all the novel lettuce types he can produce by crossing different varieties. He crosses lettuces on his farm by interplanting different varieties and introducing pollen from one plant to another. Because lettuces don't readily cross unless planted right next to each other, he can perform several projects in a small area by separating each block of interplanted lettuce from the next by only a few feet. He has found the possibilities limitless, and surprises often emerge, such as interesting textures and colors, unique leaf shapes, or increased resistance to bolting or tolerance to cold.

Frank has also worked with new broccoli and kale crosses in search of uniquely ornamental broccolis that are tender and sweet. We looked at a field in which several varieties of Brassicas had been encouraged to freely cross-pollinate. The diversity was remarkable; Frank noted that in a field of around 600 plants it was difficult to find any two alike.

Farmers are the original plant breeders. Those who continue this legacy through working to produce new varieties, inspire us immensely. After talking with our growers in the field, it is clear that their work is born out of passion. It takes care and dedication to walk a field every morning to observe hundreds or even thousands of plants and remove those with undesirable traits, before they have a chance to flower and degrade the variety. And, it takes patience and time to develop a new variety--cross pollinating, selecting and re-selecting until it is truly a unique and stable variety.

Growing seed is unlike growing other crops. It requires heightened awareness and care. At Seeds of Change, our high quality organic seed is made possible through our relationship with an inspiring group of talented organic farmers.

We extend many thanks and praise to our growers,
Micaela Colley
Research Farm Manager, Seeds of Change

Click here to join our Garden Help Forum. Seeds of Change eGroup

A native of Central Asia, garlic has been cherished since antiquity for its distinctive culinary properties and contributions to sound health. From ancient Egypt and classical Greece, to the present day, people have understood the extraordinary value of this potent plant. Besides being an essential ingredient for many cuisines, garlic has been used medicinally for everything from fighting colds and infections to treating high blood pressure, and as an aphrodisiac. It is even thought to help prevent cancer. It is rich in Vitamins A, B1 and C, as well as various minerals, amino acids, and sulfur compounds.

There are literally hundreds of garlic varieties. We offer eleven of our favorites. You'll find each one unique in form and flavor. After experimenting with different varieties, you'll discover your own favorites that not only suit your specific growing conditions, but appeal to your unique palate as well. Keep in mind though, performance and taste of garlic can vary greatly depending on soil, climate, and growing methods, further adding to the intrigue of this fascinating gardening endeavor.

Garlic (Allium sativum) originated in Western and Central Asia. All our domesticated varieties fall into one of the two distinct sub-species described below:

HARDNECK (subspecies Ophioscorodon)
These garlics produce a flower spike and have large, easy-peeling cloves with a rich, aromatic flavor that is not too spicy. Hardnecks are the preferred garlics for northern climates and can be stored for 3 to 6 months. They typically contain 6 to 11 cloves per bulb, around a central, woody stem.

SOFTNECK (subspecies Sativum)
Softneck varieties, sometimes referred to as braiding garlic, do not usually produce a flower spike and are often easier to grow than hardneck varieties. They are also more productive and adaptable than the hardneck type and generally have a spicier flavor. Typically, softneck garlic is grown in southern California and near the Gulf of Mexico. They can be stored for up to a year under proper conditions. Softnecks generally have 12 to 20 cloves per bulb, sometimes as many as 40, often producing small, interior cloves.

Click here for ordering information and to learn about all of our garlic varieties.

Click here for information on how to grow garlic.

Check out Ron Engeland's definitive guide: Growing Great Garlic.

For even more information including dozens of mouthwatering recipes (including a dessert!) see Chester Aaron's "The Great Garlic Book". Click here to purchase it now from Amazon.com.

To get a flavor of the obsession that growing garlic can become for many gardeners, Mr. Aaron's "Garlic is Life" is a wonderfully witty, entertaining, and informative book with recipes, growing and harvesting tips, and general garlic lore. Click here to purchase it now from Amazon.com.

Photo (top): Research farm staff collects data on garlic varieties.

As a recent article in the journal Nature* clearly articulates, conventional, chemical intensive apple production lacks sustainability for numerous reasons including environmental contamination, soil degradation, reduced biodiversity, heavy reliance on non renewable resources, health risks to farm workers, and chemical residues on the fruit. Their study, conducted from 1994 - 1999, showed that organic production systems, when compared to conventional and integrated systems, not only ranked first in environmental and economic sustainability, but also produced the sweetest, best tasting fruit.

To celebrate this groundbreaking study which confirms what many of us have known for years, this fall we're teaming up with the great folks at Jerzy Boyz Organic Orchards to bring you and your friends some of the finest apples and pears available anywhere. After visiting their gorgeous and bountiful organic orchards in the heart of Washington's apple growing country, it's hard to imagine eating fruit produced any other way. Not only do they conform to strict organic standards set out by the Washington State Department of Agriculture, they also manage their orchard in the most sustainable way possible.

Diverse cover crops of clovers, vetch, buckwheat, cilantro, dill, yarrow, and coreopsis build healthy, living soil and provide a balanced habitat for beneficial insects. Snakes and coyotes control the rodent population. Custom compost, seaweed, and mineral fertilizers further nourish the soil. Careful hand thinning and pruning provides each piece of fruit with adequate light and nutrition to reach its full potential of flavor and color. Multiple selective harvests mean that only the ripest, sweetest fruit is ever picked. And finally, by hand packing in their own facility, the Jerzy Boyz assure that every apple or pear that makes it into a Seeds of Change gift box is as beautiful as it is flavorful and nutritious.

* See "Sustainability of Three Apple Production Systems" Nature, April 19th, by John P. Reganold, Jerry D. Glover, Preston K. Andrews and Herbert Hinman

Photo top: The great folks at Jerzy boy. (Left to Right) Deb, Smokey, Carmela, Jim, Scotty, Wynne, and Yari.
Photo bottom: Jim Cook training young trees at the Jery Boyz orchard.

Jerzy Boyz Apples & Pears!
Gift Box of 12 Select "Red Clapp" Organic Pears $27.55
Gift Box of 12 Select Organic "Ginger Gold" Apples $19.00
20 Pound Box of "Ginger Gold" Organic Apples, Juicing Grade $37.05
20 Pound Box of "Ginger Gold" Organic Apples, Premium Grade $51.30

Whether tending a few containers of flowers and herbs, a half acre of vegetables, or a thousand acres of corn, any caretaker of plants will at some point find themselves pondering their relationship to those plants. Those of us who save seeds may ponder this relationship even more deeply, as we decide not only which varieties to grow and how to do it, but also from which plants of those varieties to save our seed. Ultimately, all of these decisions are based on our desires. We ask ourselves, "What is it that we desire from these plants, and which plants come the closest to fulfilling those desires?"

With "The Botany of Desire," Michael Pollan turns the tables and ponders this relationship from the plant's perspective. He convincingly reveals our role in nature as much more than selecting what species or traits to grow or preserve. Instead, Pollan portrays us as somewhat unwitting players, much like the honeybee, working in service of the plants as the plants, adapt to fulfill our innate longings.

To make his case, Pollan examines our role in propagating four species that have transformed our culture in various ways, by playing to some of our deepest desires. He begins with the apple, the archetypal fruit, which, by appealing to our desire for sweetness (and hard cider) played an important role in our westward expansion across the continent. Through his image-rich recounting of Johnny Appleseed's story, Pollan demonstrates how a lowly fruit can seduce an entire culture. He continues on with the Tulip, focusing on the "tulipomania" that overtook Holland in the 1630's, at first fueled by the desire for novel beauty, then exacerbated by wanton greed. Pollan then delves into the ever-sensitive subject of marijuana, and how this plant, in satisfying our desire for intoxication (a term he struggles eloquently to define as it pertains to this specific plant) has transformed itself and proliferated throughout the world against all odds. Finally, and perhaps most alarming in scope, is his essay on the genetically engineered (GE) "new leaf" potato. Pollan poignantly discusses how this and other GE crops are leading to an entirely new brand of mono-crop agriculture, by seductively placating our desire for control over nature.

Besides being a sensual and engaging read, Michael Pollan's "The Botany of Desire" offers us deep insight into the natural world and our role in it. And, not incidentally, woven through these pages is a compelling case for the preservation of biodiversity by gardeners throughout the world.    S.V.

It's time for a new cookbook at our house. My husband's parents are here for the week so we have willing taste testers. My father-in-law, a self-described "meat and potatoes man" will be a true test for The Complete Italian Vegetarian Cookbook by Jack Bishop.

Along with the spaghetti, we created "Steamed Green Beans with Tarragon" and "Mixed Greens with Tomatoes, Yellow Pepper, and Fennel." The pasta sauce featured the light sweet flavor of fresh tomato and the wonderful spice of wilted arugula, complemented by ample garlic, olive oil, salt, and fresh ground pepper. The green beans, lightly steamed, drizzled with olive oil, and salted and peppered were greatly enhanced by the almost anise-like flavor of the tarragon. The tarragon transitioned nicely into the salad, with its thinly sliced fennel, yellow pepper, and tomatoes tossed with mesclun. Olive oil whisked with balsamic and red wine vinegars provided a simple dressing.

I've never made macaroons before, but Bishop's "Pine Nut Macaroons" were testament to the clarity and simplicity of his writing. Sprinkled with a little powdered sugar after they came out of the oven, they were beautiful - maybe even elegant.

Dinner was a great success and my father in law soon forgot about "what wasn't there." This cookbook expands what I think of as Italian, emphasizing what's fresh and in season, in lieu of heavy cheeses and long cooked sauces. I could use it every day and not tire of the variety and the flavor combinations that Mr. Bishop offers.  C.P.

Carrie Plymire is the Systems Coordinator in our Santa Fe Office.

Genetically Modified "Bt" crops pose a serious threat to organic agriculture, both by rendering organic controls ineffective, and by potentially cross-pollinating with organically grown, open-pollinated crops. We have until August 31 to make our voices heard on this critical issue.

The following is excerpted from the BioDemocracy News #35,
Action Alert on Bt Crops, August 15, 2001
By Ronnie Cummins, Organic Consumers Association
www.organicconsumers.org

Please contact the EPA today and tell the agency to end the registrations for all Bt crops!

Despite public opposition from consumers and mounting criticism from scientists, the Bush Administration's Environmental Protection Agency is about to make the decision within the next two weeks to "re-register" or to continue allowing untested and unlabeled genetically engineered Bt crops to be grown on millions of acres across the USA. Genetically engineered Bt corn, cotton, and potatoes have been spliced with bacterial DNA (Bacillus thuringiensis) to produce proteins that are toxic to some insect pests and butterflies. But as mounting evidence indicates Bt crops pose a serious threat to the environment, public health, and organic agriculture and should be taken off the market.

The Organic Consumers Association and two national coalitions of which we are a member, Genetically Engineered Food Alert (www.gefoodalert.org) and the National Campaign for Sustainable Agriculture, urge you to send comments to EPA before August 31, 2001.

To date, all commercialized genetically engineered insecticidal plants produce a type of Bt toxin, one of a family of related molecules produced by a soil bacterium, Bacillus thuringiensis (Bt). To develop what are known as Bt crops, a company clones the insecticidal gene from the bacterium and inserts it into a crop plant. The plant then produces the toxin in most, if not all, parts of the plant through all, or most, of a growing season. We have set up a web page with sample letters and ready to send emails to make it as easy as possible for you to comment directly.
www.organicconsumers.org/patent/btalertAug01.cfm

The 30 day deadline for comments to the EPA ends August 31, so please send in your comments today.

Passionate gardeners strive to understand the quality of their soil, for balanced, fertile soil is essential for producing healthy, nutritious plants. Physical characteristics of the soil such as texture, color, and smell are all significant indicators of soil quality that can be directly observed. Plant growth and the health of animals eating these plants are the most important indirect indicators of soil quality. Another very useful tool is the soil test, however, we need to understand what a soil test actually means and what its limitations are.

A soil test gives us clues about our soil. It is not an exact science but can indicate trends and general nutrient ratios. It tells us whether a specific nutrient is abundant or is lacking and helps us take corrective action. As soil stewards we are trying to balance our essential soil nutrients. The soil test helps us achieve this goal.

Soil tests are generally performed by professional soils laboratories. Perhaps the greatest value of these labs is their interpretation of the test results. As an alternative to the professional soil-testing lab, we offer the Lamotteä soil test (pH, nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium) which, while perhaps not as precise as a professional test, is more convenient and allows you to test frequently. Frequent testing combined with good record keeping means you can detect trends early and act accordingly. Complementing the Lamotte kit, we also offer the Solvita Garden Care test kit. This kit measures CO 2 respiration, which indicates a soil's biological activity. Results will indicate whether additional soil amendments, such as compost, are required. Because biological activity fluctuates over the season, it's a good idea to perform this test regularly.

Taking Soil Samples. For your soil sample to yield meaningful test results, it should represent your entire field or garden site. From each of 10 - 20 locations throughout the garden, avoiding unusual spots such as wet areas or shaly knobs, take trowel full of soil from the top 6 Ð 8 inches. Place these in a clean plastic bucket. Mix the sample thoroughly with a plastic or wooden tool. Avoid touching the soil with your hands or an iron tool. Take your sample for testing from this. For a laboratory test you'll need about one pound. Soil tests are most useful if we can observe test results from the same field over several years. Sampling during the same time of year and using the same lab or testing methods will assure the most consistent results.

Below are actual test results from two different soil samples, followed by a discussion of what this means for the gardener. Soil # 1 is from our research farm in northern New Mexico, within the Rio Grande floodplain. Soil #2 is from our northeast trial garden, which is in a forest clearing in southern Maine that was pasture over 80 years ago but had since grown back to pine forest (before being logged).

Everybody knows Paradise was naked. Least I knew Eve was naked, because there was a picture of her in the all-together in the vestibule Bible in the liberty Corners kirk. Twenty-nine pounds of hide-bound, bulletproof Bible sitting on a book stand. First thing you see in church. So was the picture of Eve. Plucked-chicken naked. Peeled-grape naked. Skinned-knuckle naked. Naked was Eve in the Garden and not a sin in sight. I was intrigued by the idea of nakedness when I was a kid, though I can't honestly say why. Maybe because the way the Bible described it, naked seemed such a happy condition. Adults had a tendency to muffle happiness, squash it out of existence with clothes, chores, and compulsory arithmetic. There off in the distance, though, was Eve, jay-bird naked in the Garden of Eden, and the God of the universe saying it was nice. Darn nice. The only time we ever went hog-wallow naked was at the irrigation pit after a day of haying.

The Bible has the story right: Nothing is so transfixing, so remedying as a whole immersion into a deep, unblinking pool of water. Nothing throws off oppression, early death, abuse, slave labor, bleeding fingers, hay itch, and muggy July better than a buck-naked dunk in water. I have no idea why the same measure of water does not feel equally joyous in a bathing suit. A single layer of cloth shouldn't render the fluid so different or the cure so ineffectual, but it does. Something about being naked is immaculate. Biblical scholars haven't worked this out. A fig leaf is not all that far off from stark reeking naked, but there they are in the vestibule, Adam and Eve looking most unhappy in a fig leaf. Never mind that they're better dressed than before. Sorrowful are they, sorrowful as can be, because they aren't naked anymore. Didn't take a German theologian to understand what the Book was getting at: Eden was transformed when they put clothes on it. Few ideas have so transfixed the West as paradise, and the idea of a final reward awaiting the faithful somewhere in the cumulus. The Persian word was paradeiza, which means garden-that's it, just garden. Not a theological construct, not a three-credit seminary course, not a midden heap for saints.

Paradise was a garden, nothing more, nothing less. The word began in that region of Persia known now as Iraq, where climate and terrain are unpleasant: cold, hot, sandy, dry, windy-such a place where a sandbur looks succulent. Seems the ancients of this region built enclosed oasis gardens; these they watered and tended. Merchants of that time well understood how rotten was this region, for it blocked the Silk Road to the Orient. Terrible country. Cruel. Pitiless. Damnation dirt if ever there was any. So local sheiks and entrepreneurs developed these fortified oases to house the weary journeyers, who swapped for lodging their silk, herbs, spices, shrubs, and flowers. Thus the gardens of these inns became more extravagant with each passing traveler. Herbs perfumed the air, rare birds sang in the trees, lilacs from Tibet bloomed beside Formosan teas and Chinese asparagus. The supper lamb greeted the hungry with strange new flavors, and the bath was lavender-scented. Those who had crossed this desolate, good-for-nothing wilderness spoke of paradise, of gardens, of heaven found on the way through the terrible desert.

Our farm garden was also a paradise, an Eden place. From the first radishes and May lettuce to an endless supply of green beans, tomatoes, and sweet corn, the family thrived by the garden. Beside every farmhouse stood its garden, an acre devoted to cauliflower and Brussels sprouts, strawberries, raspberries, rhubarb, onions, garlic, and spinach. There were hollyhocks, roses, apple trees, plum and currant, cucumbers, summer squash, celery, and carrots. The hedge had cherry and Asian apricot, there was an arbor of wild grapes, another of hops-never mind the morning glories and tangled bittersweet. Every right-thinking bird had its nest near this farmhouse garden.

After swimming till dark at the irrigation pit, we walked home across the field with our clothes tucked under our arms. To wear anything after such a worshipful experience would have soiled the effect. We did, however, walk home the long way; our lack of attire on the town road might have entertained more than we wished. It was so good to feel naked in the open air-how on those summer nights we felt like deer! An exultant wildness fixed our hearts and we leaped across the rows of potatoes, prancing like new colts, to come home in the dark by way of the garden, by way of my mama's paradise.

In the dark we grazed, plucking strawberries on our knees, climbing into the apple trees for early greenings, munching rhubarb that twisted in our stomachs. Digging up new potatoes, we popped them whole into our mouths, along with cauliflower, crisp cucumbers and radishes, followed after by a fine, sweet layer of raspberries.

An ordinary garden would not have survived such depredations, but this was a farm garden, long as a barn and as ample. This the garden that fed the barn-raising and threshing crew, filled them till they fell asleep behind the potato shed, stuffed to the point of respiratory arrest with mashed potatoes and corn and pickles, coleslaw and apple pie.

Mama, when she did go to town, required only token items from the grocer: flour, salt, pepper, bay leaves-never canned corn, never pie filling, never carrots or radishes, romaine or endive. The garden provided all and, in collusion with the mason jar and root cellar, continued throughout the winter and spring to do the same. Our larder was filled with pumpkin pie filling, canned beef, Irish potatoes, jams, jellies, grape juice. The garden filled us, hid us, clothed us without resort to garment and thread.

We were once a people wild in the way of paradise, in a naked and happy time. When the price of milk fell, Mama's paradise abided. When war came, the farmhouse felt it only distantly; the dinner table never slipped or failed to provide. No celebration ever went unadorned, no visitor left unfilled.

Seasons, prices, drought, hardly mattered: The mason jars lined the cellar in swollen ranks. Distant cousins stayed and spoke of never going home. Popcorn perfumed the long nights, stored in jars of exact moisture. Our paradise never faltered, never blinked, never whimpered. Now I realize how naked we were, how unclothed was the farm, how many years its income did not surpass the poverty line. Yet we were as princes fed, our lives tended by an abiding paradise. Naked in the garden.

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. Used With Permission by GreenPrints.

Launched in 1995, Plant a Row for the Hungry (PAR) is a public service campaign of the Garden Writers Association of America (GWAA). Its goal is to help to feed the hungry by establishing PAR networks in every state and province in North America. In 1999, Home & Garden Television (HGTV) joined with GWAA as the national media sponsor of PAR. PAR has recorded over 1,800,000 pounds in donations.

For more information go to Garden Writers Association of America.

While visiting some of our growers this year, I noticed that when they want their fields to look the best, they irrigate the day before. So as you scout your garden this year, waiting for those perfect times to record its ever-changing beauty, remember to give it a good soaking the day before you plan to photograph. Not only will the plants look their best - having had a chance to dry off, absorb moisture, and perk up - but also the soil will appear darker and richer, providing a nice background for the lushness of the plants. The wet soil will also make it easier to pull out any stray weeds that invade your carefully composed frame.   S.V.

Yo, Good Folks at Seeds of Change Newsletter,
I am not trying to be a pain in the butt. I take the time to write to you because you guys are one of the few leaders in the movement to get America to straighten out the way it deals with plants and yard care. Rodale certainly has dropped the ball in that area, in my modest view.

Therefore, I again raise a respectful point about your coverage of beneficial insects in your newsletter. What is a problem for me is that you, along with most other communications about beneficial insects in this last 25 years, completely avoid any discussion of the three most important beneficial insect groups in the garden and yard - ants, spiders, and beetles of all kinds. Compared to those guys, the lady bugs, the green lacewings, the hover flies, and those other bugs with great pr are secondary players in most cases. Ants, spiders and beetles get overlooked because they are not part of IPM (integrated pest management). They are not specific to any pest. They eat everything including themselves. On the other hand, they probably contribute more to a well balanced ecosystem if they are allowed to populate a home landscape. They work the trees. They work the shrubs, and most important they work the lawn. Having recently moved to the Central Michigan boonies, I am really impressed with the fact that maybe only 10% of these folks use mulch on their vegetable gardens and I have yet to see a raised bed system among the hundreds of gardens I've seen. In my view, the most important role of organic mulch in a garden is to serve as food for earthworms and microbes.The second most important role is to serve as cover for ants, spiders, and beetles.

Yes, I plant the flowers that attract the cute beneficials. I've even been known to release bene bugs into my garden. But mostly, after 20 years of studying this stuff, have settled on the belief that if I make my ecosystem attractive to ants, spiders, and beetles, everything else will fall into place. Of course I will have lady bugs, and of course they will take care of their fair share of aphids. But in the end, it's the blue collar guys - the ants, the spiders, and the beetles that I count on to keep any major pest insect infestation from hitting my garden or yard. Enough pontification for one day. Great newsletter!!!

Jeff Ball
Attica, Michigan

Seeds of Change Responds:

Jeff,
I agree that many ground dwelling beneficial insects, such as beetles and spiders, are important biological control agents that are often overlooked. In my article in our July eNewsletter, I recommend many practices such as reduced tillage and keeping good ground cover to encourage this important group. I'm a major mulcher too. The packages we sell are based, as you noted, on what insects are rearable and work into an organic gardening program. I feel that they too are important along with our ground dwelling friends. Many thanks for the feedback.
Take care and keep on gardening,
Micaela Colley

Dear Seeds of Change,
Steve Peter's article on "Essential Nutrients" was first rate, well done! I have three questions that Steve might wish to address in subsequent editions of your newsletter: 1. Is it possible that there are more essential plant nutrients than the universities and Steve's article suggest? It seems to me, that if selenium, germanium, and several other minerals are essential for human health, then they might also be essential for plant health - in ways that science hasn't yet fathomed. After all, our source for minerals is plants. 2. What is the best way to get rid of excess minerals? My concern is potassium where an excess is, I'm sure, adding to the weed pressure in my garden since calcium, phosphorus, and magnesium are all in line. 3. My own experience doesn't support the notion that sufficient trace minerals can be provided by compost. I apply 1/2 inch of compost every fall, but both boron and manganese are deficient. Are there other ways to keep trace minerals in balance?
Yours sincerely,
Peter Bray

Seeds of Change Responds:

Seeds of Change,
As a new subscriber to the newsletter as of #21, I did not see the references on compost use in home gardens in #20, to which Jeff Ball responded in his letter. I just know that, as suburban gardeners on an average sized lot, we produce a bounty of beautiful compost, primarily from the leaves of several mature oaks supplemented by haphazard additions of vegetable trimmings and grass clippings from the small patch of lawn remaining on our lot. We have a 2-sided bin where we keep 2 stages of compost material: one side is the end-result organic humus, the other is partially decomposed material that works well as the top mulch layer. I would recommend planting trees where one finds insufficient material with which to produce compost. The newsletter is a welcome source of valuable information and inspiration.
Thanks!
Margaret Waring Louisiana

Seeds,
I know that the composting we have done has dramatically increased the quality of soil in our garden. We bury our kitchen garbage each day. There are only two of us, so we don't have much but each time I dig into a spot I used two or three weeks before, all I find is beautiful, fat and sassy WORMS, and gradually this sterile soil is improving.
Margaret Lowery,
Ojai, CA

Response to "A Clean Slate, in Memory of my Mother"

Dear Seeds of Change,
Emily Skelton's tribute to her mother, in last month's newsletter, immediately moved me to go outside and garden. I was compelled by her description of her mother's dying days woven with memories of her mother growing trees for her children to climb, jasmine to smell, vegetables to eat. I not only turned-over the lettuce beds to enrich the soil, but also to enrich myself--all the while Emily's words watered me. My children (ages five and two) danced around the mammoth Russian sunflowers and made mud flow. They ate peas on the vines leaving the tops attached with bite marks below. I only hope that Skyler and Maxy will harvest memories of gardening together, and mother the earth with their care, long after I am gone. The mixed crop of Emily's essay and Rumi's poetry pull with me at the hoe, dig with me at the shovel, rake meaning as I move as a mother being mothered among the furrows.
your life.
Ali O. Lee, Arcata, California

Dear Seeds of Change,
Through tears, I write to thank you for the look you gave us into the passing of your mother. I have recently lost a loved one in a very similar manner. My husband's mom lived with us in her last days. Hospice nurses came and went, for a very short time. Her breathing had become labored even with her oxygen tank. Morphine ran in a constant drip. The tumor in her lung pressing against the breastbone, which had so lovingly held and nurtured her family. She passed over with grace and dignity. My own children, aged 10 and 8, were nearby. Her other son and his family of young ones (all four) were close at hand as well. The summer light outside, dancing through the trees , rejoiced and received her essence as we wept at losing such a precious gift. We drank a toast and applauded a great lady. The house feels empty sometimes. I remember she is close by watching over us, listening to us, laughing with us. Rejoicing in life. All our best wishes to you, Emily, as you embark on this new facet of your life.
In the garden, in love,
Susan Mc Donald

Dear Seeds of Change,
Emily Skelton's writing struck a deep cord with me. Though I wasn't able to spend the last few days with my mother as I would have wished (I have often played scenarios over and over in my head, as the real circumstances of her death are quite painful), I have some wonderful memories of our final days being together. The last activity we participated in was handing out food to the homeless at a shelter located in Cincinnati, Ohio (my hometown) on Christmas Day 1999. Thankfully, my husband Johannes and my mom's best friend, Ann, were there also. The day after, my mom invited us over for dinner, making one of her famous home cooked meals; the kind I remember from my childhood. Talk about nourishment! Not only for the body, but with whole event -- from the selection, preparation and cooking of the food, to the discussion and laughter during, and the pride with which she placed it all on the table -- FOR THE SOUL. She died New Year's Eve, 5 days later.

I have had much difficulty accepting the reality that, like Emily, my son and future children won't know their grandmother. Nor will they physically be able to receive the nourishment and nurturing she so willingly and effortlessly gave to me and my brother. Though I know she is with us in spirit, every day is a challenge. Many words from "A Clean Slate, In Memory of My Mother" graciously touched me and gave me a newer, positive perspective, especially the quote from Rumi and in the final paragraph " ... she gave me yet another gift. The gift of myself as mother. She passed on the responsibility to me. Now I am the one to carry on. I am so grateful to her for these gifts. As I look out on the clean slate of my own garden this spring, the bare earth, the tiny seedlings, I am more acutely aware of what I am beginning all over again, the vulnerable life I must protect, fertilize, water, weed, receive from and then finally, let go." I am sure I will read this tribute over and over again.

Thank you for including "A Clean Slate, In Memory of My Mother" in your newsletter. And thank you Emily, for writing such a beautiful passage.
Kindest Regards,
Catrina Couch Kolshorn, Chicago, IL
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