Seed Saving & Monsanto

Tonight, Food Not Lawns Cleveland got together for a seed saving workshop & potluck organized by Mari Keating in Cleveland Heights.  It was a nice gathering, and Mari did a great job of demonstrating how accessible and necessary it is to save your own seeds- humans have only been doing it for thousands of years, of course!

A few seed-saving resources:
-Seed Savers International (ISSI)  http://www.seedsave.org/issi/issi_904.html
-How to Save Seeds Handbook 
http://howtosaveseeds.com/
-Seed Savers Exchange
http://www.seedsavers.org/Content.aspx?src=sseresources.htm

Not only was the session informational and useful to jump start into seed saving- something that (silly enough) has felt somewhat intimidating.  Mostly because I felt, though it may be simple, because I hadn't done any research on it or been shown how, I wasn't going to waste my time trying to save seeds when if I did it wrong they wouldn't grow.  Now, I feel much more confident.  But other than the workshop contributing to that confidence I needed to become a seed-saver, it reminded me of some necessary elements and political reasons why we all need to save our own seeds.

#1 Reason is that Monsanto, the great GMO corporation that has patents on several varieties of seeds (patents on life), and continues to sue and win against organic farmers trying to keep to nature's way, is a huge owner of several varieties of seeds.  There is no labeling on the Burpee or whatever-is-in-the-garden-store seed packets, so you won't know that by buying a certain seed you are supporting Monsanto, but you may be.

So, here's a list of all the varieties that Monsanto currently has patents on, and if you buy any of these seeds in the store, you are supporting Monsanto.

Beans: Aliconte, Brio, Bronco, Cadillac, Ebro, Etna, Eureka, Festina, Gina, Goldmine, Goldenchild, Labrador, Lynx, Magnum, Matador, Spartacus, Storm, Strike, Stringless Blue Lake 7, Tapia, Tema

Broccoli: Coronado Crown, Major, Packman

Cabbage: Atlantis, Golden Acre, Headstart, Platinum Dynasty, Red Dynasty

Carrot: Bilbo, Envy, Forto, Juliana, Karina, Koroda PS, Royal Chantenay, Sweetness III

Cauliflower: Cheddar, Minuteman

Cucumber: Babylon, Cool Breeze Imp., Dasher II, Emporator, Eureka, Fanfare HG, Marketmore 76, Mathilde, Moctezuma, Orient Express II, Peal, Poinsett 76, Salad Bush, Sweet Slice, Sweet Success PS, Talladega

Eggplant: Black Beauty, Fairytale, Gretel, Hansel, Lavender Touch, Twinkle, White Lightening

Hot Pepper: Anaheim TMR 23, Ancho Saint Martin, Big Bomb, Big Chile brand of Sahuaro, Caribbean Red, Cayenne Large Red Thick, Chichen Itza, Chichimeca, Corcel, Garden Salsa SG, Habanero, Holy Mole brand of Salvatierro, Hungarian Yellow Wax Hot, Ixtapa X3R, Lapid, Mariachi brand of Rio de Oro, Mesilla, Milta, Mucho Nacho brand of Grande, Nainari, Serrano del Sol brand of Tuxtlas, Super Chile, Tam Vera Cruz

Lettuce: Braveheart, Conquistador

Melon: Early Dew, Sante Fe, Saturno

Onion: Candy, Cannonball, Century, Red Zeppelin, Savannah Sweet, Sierra Blanca, Sterling, Vision

Pumpkin: Applachian, Harvest Moon, Jamboree HG, Orange Smoothie, Phantom, Prize Winner, Rumbo, Snackface, Spirit, Spooktacular, Trickster

Spinach: Hellcat

Squash: Ambassador, Canesi, Clarita, Commander, Dixie, Early Butternut, Gold Rush, Grey Zucchini, Greyzini, Lolita, Papaya Pear, Peter Pan, Portofino, President, Richgreen Hybrid Zucchini, Storr’s Green, Sungreen, Sunny Delight, Taybelle PM

Sweet Corn: Devotion, Fantasia, Merit, Obession, Passion, Temptation

Sweet Pepper: Baron, Bell Boy, Big Bertha PS, Biscayne, Blushing Beauty, Bounty, California Wonder 300, Camelot, Capistrano, Cherry Pick, Chocolate Beauty, Corno Verde, Cubanelle W, Dumpling brand of Pritavit, Early Sunsation, Flexum, Fooled You brand of Dulce, Giant Marconi, Gypsy, Jumper, Key West, King Arthur, North Star, Orange Blaze, Pimiento Elite, Red Knight, Satsuma, Socrates, Super Heavyweight, Sweet Spot

Tomato: Amsterdam, Beefmaster, Betterboy, Big Beef, Burpee’s Big Boy, Caramba, Celebrity, Cupid, Early Girl, Granny Smith, Health Kick, Husky Cherry Red, Jetsetter brand of Jack, Lemon Boy, Margharita, Margo, Marmande VF PS, Marmara, Patio, Phoenix, Poseidon 43, Roma VF, Royesta, Sun Sugar, Super Marzano, Sweet Baby Girl, Tiffany, Tye-Dye, Viva Italia, Yaqui

Watermelon: Apollo, Charleston Grey, Crimson Glory, Crimson Sweet, Eureka, Jade Star, Mickylee, Olympia

Note: Not all of the veggie varieties in the above list are Monsanto/Seminis exclusives. Consequently if you spot some of these varieties in the catalog of an heirloom seed-seller,  just check with the seller to make sure the seeds were not purchased from  Seminis/Monsanto. But if you find these seeds on a rack at a big-box garden center, you have every right to suspect they were purchased from Monsanto.

*One essential way to keep your money from supporting Monsanto and still be able to avoid memorizing this lengthy list is by growing HEIRLOOM varieties, and second way is to, of course, SAVE YOUR OWN SEEDS.*

KEEP MONSANTO OUT OF YOUR GARDEN!

(If you aren't aware of why people oppose Monsanto's practices, two movie The Future of Food is helpful.  thefutureoffood.com)

Photos of the Garden, early August 2012

 I realize that when I began blogging I didn't have a digital camera set-up yet.  So, all of the images I was using were photos that I had taken with my manual "old school" camera, that were then developed, then I took the photo disk they gave me, and loaded it onto the computer.  It was a longer process from shot taken to up on the computer then the current direct load of the digital camera.  That being said, I never got around to posting photos of the garden!  Which for those of you who have not biked your way over here, or had pizza in the brick oven, or been able to drive by- you do not know what the heck Possibilitarian Garden really looks like!  Of course, a photo doesn't give you the full experience of being in space, but this will have to do.

Here is Possibilitarian Garden mid-August 2012:

First the Pumpkin Patch, 

which is a new bed located at the front of the lot, street side, next to our house 

& in front of the greenhouse:

The view from the Back of the Lot looking out towards the street.  Our house is on the right, where the greenhouse is attached:

The View from the Street (half of it):

the view from above with Mexican Sunflower in center:

The Backyard Garden:

the compost with cat

The chickens in the backyard:

 cucumbers growing up the side of the chicken coop with sunflowers and elderberry at the left

A View from Inside the House:

A closer look at what's growing in the beds (in the backyard & side lot garden beds):

 tomatoes and basil

                                             red cabbage & collards

 cabbage, zinnia, broccoli, & nasturtiums

 nasturtiums and beets

 the top view of the aquaponics greenhouse

 the new bathtub with greens, beets, onions, and carrots

the front garden bed with the sedum, and lamb's ear from my neighbor

 in the backyard - 

sweet woodruff, lungwort and horseradish

the wild tomato village (a few different varieties) with basil, peppers, nettles and beans.

dry black beans growing in the backyard beds (mostly for nitrogen fixing needs)

glorious borage, red cabbage, sage, bee balm and lavender.  

A real jungle currently in the backyard beds.

AND THAT'S IT FOR NOW!

COME AND VISIT to see what's happening now!

Ode to the Maypop!

I have allowed the Maypop to take over much of the spaces where I initially planted last year (a thank you weed from Gather Round Farm, a large permaculture-based garden built atop a parking lot on the west side of Cleveland).  This native herbacious perennial, the true soulmate of the Bumble Bee (about three bumble bees can rub in its pollen at once), loaded with a stop-you-in-your-tracks fragrance, all of its parts can be used to make a delicious tea soothing to the nervine system, with an edible fruit - Maypop deserves a prize for most charming plant ever!  Maypop is a wild one indeed, and a well named one, at that, considering the way it spreads, I have been saying it just "may pop" up anywhere (and everywhere)!  Hurray for Maypop Passionflower!

The mysterious and alluring fruit of the exotic-seeming-native Maypop Passionflower.

Rain Harvesting in Vermont

This past summer gardens in Vermont got much more water than our little garden did in the Midwest world of Cleveland, OH.  Rain harvesting continuously shows itself to be a vital element in gardening and farming, as the weather is growing more and more variable and less reliable.  So, when I saw this rain harvesting system at my friends’ place up in Vermont, I thought I’d document it.  Though much of this particular system is used for indoor kitchen and bathroom sink systems, it shows an ingenious way to collect and use the precious water resource come down from the heavens!

  

a smart and simple homemade filter made from a sock to keep leaves and any other debris from getting into the rain barrels.

The Outdoor Dish-Washing Sink

The set up of the raised rain barrels from back.

 
The plumbing set-up for the rain barrels, though well thought-out, were incredibly simple.  With plumbing to connect the water use for doing dishes outside, there was also pipes that went inside to make for doing dishes possible indoors as well.

Rosemary ready to do the dishes!

Vacating

Returning home from vacation can arguably be just as good as being on vacation.  That satisfaction of being back at home base.  Looking forward to routine and familiarity.

Well, living in Buckeye, in Cleveland, OH, does not necessarily provide that same scenario.  On second thought, maybe it does, but the familiarity and routine that one can rest upon is the routine of constant change.  Things are so very much in flux here.  The scene of people can be radically different, the feel on the street, what the activity level is like- all as variable as the weather these days & moderately as unpredictable.

Upon returning home this time, we discovered that the neighbors at the back of the lot, the ones I had written about on the "which path are you on" post, the family, had been evicted from their house.  But not only had they been evicted, but their landlord must have decided that it was cheaper to take all of their possessions- including their mattresses, dressers, clothing, shoes, trash, furniture- and drag it out of the house, through their backyard, through the opening in the fence, and dump it all in the back of the lot & behind the abandoned house.

Perhaps it was the compost bins that we had recently set up that were the most striking.  Here was a place that has intention to collect the waste and recycle it back into something useful for society.  In many ways, the compost bins filled with our neighbors clothes and trash from their kitchen, showed the real waste with which our society is dealing.
 Yes, this compost will eventually hold food scraps and grass clippings and cut-up leaves - even old newspapers; but at this moment it is filled with the remnants of, what seems to be what some consider, a disposable population.  It is shocking to see the extent of brutality and violence that is so common place in the lives of people here.  That this sort of way of treating each other is almost acceptable and perhaps even expected, because no one is held accountable, is unfathomable where I am from (what I hadn't realized before about where I am from was that though this sort of violence happening in Buckeye- though I never witnessed before, was a violence necessary to happen in order to keep the "peace" I experienced growing up in a white suburb.)  Maybe I am naive to think another way is possible.  Despite how nonchalant and even-keel the kids, the former residents of the house, seem when I see them on the street and ask them about what happened, I feel in my gut that part of them must wish that things were different.  It is too sad to imagine otherwise.

Whatever the case, The compost bin isn't for trashing things- aka dumping and burying in the earth as a giant pile - hiding your waste while it leaks toxic substances.  The compost bin is for repurposing, recycling, and transformation.  In that same vein, I don't plan to trash my neighbors' old possessions, cover where it had been with a layer of dirt and bury away the experience of witnessing such violence in my mind.  I plan to take this experience and recycle it in my mind.  Transform it into a greater vision.    With this garden lot there will always be an understanding that to be an urban gardener here in Cleveland, OH is to constantly encounter the brutalities and realities of the current society and capitalist system.  Hopefully, one day this image too will be transformed into disposing of resources and instead creating ones for the community.  With that hope, goodnight.

Away in Vermont

It has been over two weeks, and I have been away from the computer and the internet, immersing myself in the observation of an incredibly biodiverse ecosystem that I can only dream of recreating in this lot next door.  I was in my former homeland, the countryside of Vermont.  Being there was a reminder to myself of where I take much of my gardening inspiration.  I stayed with a friend who lives up a top a mountain with a breathtaking view and a huge garden, orchard, chickens, vineyard, and in the past there's been sheep and pigs.  It was not only the gardening way of her and her partner that was interesting to me, but the incredible insect metropolis that ran the land with its wild field of goldenrod and milkweed and joe pye weed.  It brought me such joy to watch the fields and observe the many layers of flying beings.  Crickets, and grasshoppers, beetles and ladybugs.  Dragonflies, hummingbirds, bumble bees, hornets, butterflies.  Ravens, heron, woodpeckers, roosters.  (not to mention the pack of coyotes howling nearby at night.)  It was all so reviving.  It made me think about the ecosystem in the lot next door.  Where I had lamented cucumber beetles, I now saw cucumber beetles as part a million more bugs I couldn't identify.  It made me realize how few bugs there are in the lot.  That being said, it was such a nice greeting when I returned to the garden here and was met by the constant visiting Monarch who seems to love the mexican sunflower that sits center in the garden!  I feel one major goal has been accomplished - create a giant welcome mat for monarchs and other butterflies.  (more on that later)

As of now, I feel I need to play a little "catch up" with entries, and get up and posted many of the things I saw and the issues I have been mulling over.  So, stay "posted" for the latest.

2011 Garden Book

Nothing replaces the feel and experience of holding a book, but this will do!  

One more way to share a little of this place's history.

This is a scanned copy of the hardcopy book made in Spring 2012.  Photos were taken in 2011.