"...we may yet fashion a truly self-sustaining, self-perpetuating system of sustainability..." Wade Collins, Seed Cleaning Coordinator from "The Promise of Terra Preta," eNewsletter #66

Dear Organic Gardeners,

By all accounts, these are uncertain times. From unstable financial markets and mortgage crises, to global warming and peak oil, calamity seems to be just around the corner. Maybe it’s the election cycle? Maybe it’s the warmer than average temperatures and the accompanying record snowfalls in many areas of North America? For better or worse, change is in the air.

Here in Maine, we have four feet of snow on the ground and more in the forecast. My greenhouse is so buried that there is no place left for the snow to slide and it’s become a bit gloomy in there. The tops of a few tomato stakes protruding from the snow are all there is to remind us of the garden that will soon be bursting forth in vibrant shades of green. A few potatoes and onions in the root cellar are all there is of the garden that was. In spite of the profound beauty of all that snow, and the excellent skiing, it can be a little tough on people in the north country this time of year. It’s been a long winter.

Everyone I run into these days is talking about planting seeds and waxing hopefully about the coming gardening season. There is little that is more hopeful than a seed. It seems like in stressful times people turn to the garden for some reassurance and a way to control their own destiny. We have a sense that investing in an organic garden is a way to proactively bring about the change we’d like to see in our lives and our planet: better nutrition, more exercise, tastier food, smaller carbon footprint, healthier ecosystems. I could go on, but you get the idea.

I recently had the pleasure of attending the Organic Seed Alliance’s 5th Biennial Seed Growers Conference and presenting extended versions of the farmer profiles that you might have seen in recent Seeds of Change catalogs and eNewletters. We were honored by the last minute addition of Fred Kirschenmann, former director of the Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture, as a speaker on the first morning of the conference. (I include a conference summary later in the newsletter.) Mr. Kirschenmann succinctly and eloquently pointed out the challenges that agriculture will face in a future of diminishing petroleum resources, a surging population, and an unstable climate. In his enlightened mind, the seed growers and plant breeders sitting in the room on that day will be essential to our imperative transition to a truly sustainable agriculture, capable of feeding the planet.

	Terra Preta Ancient Amazonian soil holds promise for the future... Read More >
	Chicken Power An internship project brings the many benefits of chickens to the Farm... Read More >
	Farm Report Seed cleaning continues, planning for spring, inviting interns... Read More >

Mr. Kirschenmann referred to Richard Heinberg’s now seminal “50 Million Farmers” lecture to the Schumacher Society in 2006, in which Heinberg calls for a resurgent, regionally-based agriculture employing 50 million farmers, working on all scales and relying primarily on human labor, to feed the US alone. 50 million! That’s one for every six of us, although by the time this transition could ever take place it will be more like one-to-eight. Obviously he is not talking about the tractor and combine driven, industrial-scale, petroleum-based agriculture of the present day, but of richly cultured communities of farmers, full- and part-time, working small to medium plots of land in biodiverse cropping systems. People like us, working together to feed ourselves and our neighborhoods.

This new brand of agriculture will of course rely on robust varieties, easily adapted to varied conditions, much like the varieties that Seeds of Change, its network of seed growers, and countless other “seed people” have been working so hard to preserve and improve. There is hope in a seed.

There is hope elsewhere too: in new developments in cropping systems, and a return to ancient ones. An example of each is discussed in this issue of The Cutting Edge. Wade Collins explores the ancient practice of farming with terra preta, which is rapidly gaining a new following as a way to not only dramatically improve long-term soil production, but for its ability to sequester carbon. On a more modern front, sort of, Seeds of Change intern Evan Snow discusses his project of integrating chicken power into the cropping systems of the Seeds of Change Research Farm. And of course we have a report from the Research Farm, this time by Field Manager Kelle Carter, just returned from a winter hiatus, and a chock full news and views section.

Scott Vlaun
Editor

Printable PDF Version:
eNewsletter #65
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