News & Views

May 12th, Hairston Creek Far, Burnet, Texas
Seeds of Change to Host Field Tours and Workshop for Chefs and Farmers

Seeds of Change invites Austin area chefs to retreat from their kitchens and wants growers to leave their farm chores behind on Monday, May 12th, to take part in a half-day field tour and seed evaluation at Hairston Creek Farm, located at 4300 Co Rd. 335, in Burnet, Texas. Participants will walk this 17-acre seed trial farm with farmer-owners Gary and Sarah Rowland, where they will learn about, taste and rate more than 80 varieties of vegetables being tested for Seeds of Change.

Morning and afternoon tours will be offered, beginning at 9:30 a.m. and 1 p.m. Each three-hour tour will sow knowledge about the philosophy and benefits of organic seeds, the history of heirloom varieties, the agronomic characteristics and flavor ratings. Come ready to nibble beans, beets, celeriac, carrots, chard, leeks, cucumbers, radishes, onions, squash and a variety of herbs. For reservations, contact localfoodsource@gmail.com or call 503-349-0354.

As a treat for Austin’s community of backyard gardeners, Seeds of Change will give away seed packets at the Austin Farmers Market on Monday, May 10th. 

August 10th and September 14th, New Mexico
Seeds of Change Research Farm to Host Farm Tours, Permaculture Classes

If you’ve ever been inspired by photographs of our Research Farm in it's mid-season vitality, make plans to attend a 2008 Farm Tour now. We are happy to announce that we will again be hosting two tours this year, the first on August 10th, and the second on September 14th. While late summer/early fall may seem a long way off now, it’s never too early to put together your plans to join us for a walk through our fields, greenhouses, orchard, and seed-cleaning facility. Each year we grow approximately 1,000 varieties, making the Farm's peak season quite a sight to behold. To sign up for a tour, please go to our Contact Us page and select "Farm Tour Inquiry" as your inquiry type. Be sure to put "Farm Tour 2008" in the subject of your message, and then please tell us how many people are in your group, as space is limited. We'll sign you up and send you an email with directions.

Following the success of last year’s “Permaculture for Sustainable Farming and Gardening” course at our Farm, we are excited and honored to welcome the Permaculture Institute back to teach a series of five-day workshops throughout the summer. The workshops consist of field-based classes that offer plenty of opportunities for learning outdoors. Each workshop can be taken in series or separately. Completion of the entire series awards you with a Permaculture Design Certificate.

Class One: Intro to Sustainable Design Principles
May 17th–May 21st, 2008 with Toby Hemenway & Scott Pittman
Includes: Hands-on exercises in observation, reading the landscape, soil preparation (mulching, compost use, inoculation with beneficial organisms), spring planting (vegetables, annual and perennial flowers, herbs), farm biodiversity, planting for pollinators and more

Class Two: Natural and Constructed Ecosystems
July 12th–July 16th, 2008 with Scott Pittman & Brad Lancaster
(confirmation pending)
Includes: Hands-on exercises in understanding the role and management of weeds, introduction to native pollinators & honey bees to farms, orchards and home gardens, soil management in drylands on broadscale, tracking water on the landscape, and learning to design rainwater harvesting systems

Class Three: Sustainable Home and Community
August 23–August 27th, 2008 with Scott Pittman & guests
Includes: Hands-on exercises in food processing and storage, seed saving, building with natural materials, and learning to work with farm animals for soil and farm management

Please visit the Permaculture Institute for more information and to register for classes. Our May workshop is almost full and interested parties are encouraged to contact us soon.

National Organic Standards Board (NOSB) Issues New Guidelines on Organic Seeds

On April 3rd the NOSB’s Joint Crops and Compliance, Certification, and Accreditation Committee issued a 5 page statement entitled “Further Guidance on Commercial Availability of Organic Seed.” This statement addresses the issue that most certified organically grown food is not currently grown from certified organic seeds. The document is meant to further define the process by which growers are required to search for “equivalent” organic seed varieties to any conventional varieties that they are currently growing. It also will help certifying agencies to better enforce the existing rule, by delineating protocols for indentifying organic seeds, and documenting attempts to source and trial organic seeds. Read the entire statement.

U.N. Sponsored Scientists Urge Adoption of Sustainable Agriculture

A new report by a group of over 400 scientists backed by the United Nations encourages a switch to agricultural practices that increase production while preserving resources and biodiversity.

For three years, an organization known as the International Assessment of Agricultural Science and Technology for Development (IAASTD), and backed by the U.N.’s Food and Agriculture Organization, Environment Programme, World Health Organization, and the World Bank have worked on the report, which was unveiled at an Intergovernmental Plenary Session on April 7th in Johannesburg, South Africa. As described on the website of the Rodale Institute, the report was commissioned following an inquiry put to the World Bank from a number of biotech companies regarding the Bank’s perspective on the role of biotechnology in the agriculture of developing nations.

Transgenics receive little attention in the report, which, according to the U.N. News Centre, recommends that “agricultural science place greater emphasis on safeguarding natural resources and on ‘agro-ecological’ practices, including the use of natural fertilizers, traditional seeds and intensified natural practices, and reducing the distance between production and the consumer.” Concerns about how biotechnology has been underplayed in the report appear to be its major obstacle in securing endorsement from the United States and Australia, among other nations.

The complete report is available from the IAASTD website. 

Lawsuit Challenges EPA Approval of Pesticides

On Friday, April 4th, a group of organizations representing farmworkers and the environment filed a suit against the Environmental Protection Agency, alleging that the agency is allowing the continued use of several organophosphates—powerful pesticides that are derived from nerve gas developed in the second World War.

Attorney Patti Goldman is representing Earthjustice, Farmworker Justice, Pesticide Action Network, and Beyond Pesticides in the case, which is pursuing a court order that would force the EPA to re-evaluate the chemicals. She maintains that the agency has already evaluated the four pesticides, ethoprop, methidathion, methamidophos and oxydemeton-methyl, and determined them to represent a risk to human health that is outweighed by the financial benefits offered to growers that use them. The suit charges that the chemicals, variously linked to fish and bird kills, and birth defects, have not been properly evaluated in the risk they pose to wildlife and humans, specifically to children and farmworkers. In a San Francisco Chronicle article, Goldman notes “These four pesticides put thousands of farmworkers and their families at risk of serious illness every year.

PERMACULTURE COURSES AROUND THE COUNTRY

Urban Permaculture Course
Dates: June 7–August 10, 2008  (6 Weekends)
Location: Randall Museum, San Francisco, California
www.urbanpermacultureguild.org/sf/

Learn how to design from within nature and to create sustainable living systems in this Permaculture Design Certification course.

Presenters include Urban Permaculture Guild's Kevin Bayuk, Fred Bove & Kat Steele, Occidental Arts and Ecology Center's Brock Dolman, civil engineer and biofuel guru Ben Jordan, and author and ecologist Robert Kourik. Other special guests presenters to be announced.

Open to all levels of experience. Participants completing the course and group design project will receive a certificate.

“The Big One” Permaculture Symposium
Dates: June 21–22 2008
Location: Golden Gate Park, San Francisco, California
www.beautifulcommunities.org

The Big One is named after a movement and also a collaborative project being designed by a collection of San Francisco Bay Area non-profit organizations and community members. The project peaks every year in June as a two-day non-commercial event in Golden Gate Park focusing on solutions-oriented community building and networking towards positive social change and sustainability. The event will have a “Village of Solutions” in Golden Gate Park, where non-profits from around the Bay Area will assemble in large themed tents offering resources and solutions.

5th Bay Area Regional Permaculture Convergence
Dates: July 26–27, 2008 
Location: Green Valley Village, West Sonoma County, California www.greenvalleyvillage.com/ 

This gathering is geared specifically towards allowing permaculture designers and professionals to strategically meet about the permaculture movement in California and its connection to the greater Pacific region and the international community.

Permaculture Design Apprenticeships
Dates: May 26–August 24 (accepting applications through May 16)
Location: Cayuga Nature Center, Ithaca, New York
www.FingerLakesPermaculture.org

The Finger Lakes Permaculture Institute (FLPCI) offers an opportunity to explore permaculture in exchange for 10–20 hours of work each week. Help organize events and work on farm, forestry and garden projects on the Cayuga Nature Center's (CNC) 130 acres. Apprentices have the opportunity to attend all permaculture events
without charge, including the Permaculture Design Certification Course,
held August 8–24.

Current projects include maintenance of several acres of gardens, installation of ponds and other water features, restoration of the trail system, and ecosystem restoration of an agroforestry site through the cultivation of edible and medicinal plants and mushrooms.

The apprentice program is heavily rooted in self-directed learning and FLCPI facilitates apprentices to define their own goals, set milestones, and produce measurable results. Facilitators, instructors, and staff members will assist and provide feedback for personal learning plans

Residential participants have access to several pristine sites for camping and to
the main lodge facilities including kitchen and showers. Food will be the responsibility of the individual, but apprentices will have access to produce harvested from the gardens.

Permaculture Design Course
Dates: August 16–29, 2008 
Location: Sivananda Ashram Yoga Ranch, Woodbourne, New York
www.green-phoenix.org/08-08-pdc.html

Green Phoenix Permaculture and Sivananda Ashram Yoga Ranch present a certificate course for urban and rural residents, planners, land managers and design professionals. This training covers the fundamentals of ecological design, given by two of the country's most experienced permaculture instructors, Toby Hemenway and Larry Santoyo, and many local guests. Upon completion, course attendees will receive a Permaculture Design Trainee Certificate from the Permaculture Institute.

The curriculum includes inspiring examples of sustainable land use and human ingenuity from around the world, based on a common pattern understanding. The core curriculum is based on Bill Mollison's book, Permaculture: A Designers' Manual.

The hands-on learning focus of the course will be on participants' design team exercises and projects, and potential learning projects at the site. The course is taught via lecture, images and videos, group discussion, exercises, and other methods that suit a wide variety of learning styles.