Blogs to Watch
My recent post on Monsanto stirred up quite a commotion! I was having a look at some of the people who commented and followed the links back to their blogs, and I discovered a couple of new ones I hadn’t seen before, that deserved special attention.
Matt of The Scientist Gardener is studying the unintended side-effects and safety of plant genetic engineering. Now here’s a field that’s going to be in the spotlight! Even if he and I may not choose to grow the same things in our gardens, I’m really looking forward to following his blog and staying in touch.
Raymondo of New from Old is someone I know from elsewhere on the Internet, and he has a new blog. An amateur plant breeder in Australia, getting started on some really interesting looking projects.
Monsanto in Cyberspace
Monsanto is Here
A number of posts have been made in recent weeks on different blogs about Monsanto buying nearly all commercial seed companies, everywhere. There was a particularly good one on the Agricultural Biodiversity Weblog.
It’s pretty clear in the aftermath of all this consolidation, the next frontier for Monsanto is the Internet.
This blog has received quite a number of requests for Monsanto seed companies to be added to my list of recommended sources of seeds in recent weeks, and comments challenging old posts I’ve made critical of Monsanto are also starting to come in. Note the one here dated Jan 26th from ‘Rick’.
A discussion forum I frequently participate on also just had some visitors from Monsanto. At least one of these visitors had actually been around for months, and out of the blue just started spewing nonsense about how good Monsanto’s seed companies were. He did this together with someone else, so it sort of looked somehow like a legitimate conversation was taking place.
He started by giving a list of his favorite seed companies, including some many well known and trusted places like Baker Creek, Sandhill and Seed Savers Exchange, then went on to include some relatively unknown Monsanto seed companies and started promoting them.
Common Theme
Until now, all of these visits have had a common theme. Monsanto is ‘normal’. Each one has in some way tried to promote Monsanto as a normal seed company, and people who don’t want to grow seeds from Monsanto are somehow extreme.
These visits have included marketing slogans like ‘Most experienced gardeners trust Johnny’s.’ In particular, the theme that Johnny’s is somehow a trusted place to buy seeds seems to reoccur. Any blog or other place on the Internet that recommends Johnny’s Seeds is suspect as advertising for Monsanto.
The Truth
The real truth is that us bloggers have been tremendously successful at proving commercial seeds, in particular from Monsanto, have very little legitimacy in a home garden.
When you grow commercial seeds, you can’t re-save them for sharing or replanting. In general your chance of success is often lower, and you usually don’t end up with something worth taking a picture of and posting on your blog. There are very few serious and successful blogs out there about gardens growing commercial seeds, because they just aren’t interesting.
Of course I don’t mean to suggest gardeners who grow a few commercial hybrid seeds are doing something wrong, but these plants don’t usually end up being the ones they post and rave about.
What to Do
I’m afraid more is likely to come! Even if we have a wave of this nonsense and it passes, it’s reasonable to assume Monsanto will keep trying.
In the short run, keep an eye out for it on your blogs and discussion forums. I don’t do Facebook or Twitter, but those of you who do or visit similar places on the Internet, keep an eye on it there too.
If you see someone who seems to be promoting commercial seed companies in the wrong place, be sure to say something. Be sure to mention Monsanto, and don’t accept being told that growing seeds from Monsanto is somehow normal! If they persist, ask them about who they are and what they are doing there. Make sure you are very clear that you think what they are saying is wrong and just nonsense.
Be sure and talk about your experiences other places on the Internet, so the rest of us can be prepared to cope with the same thing. By all means, please use this post as a place to leave comments on this.
Kokopelli in New Conflict
Kokopelli Seeds of France, who last year was fined more than €17.000 for selling ‘illegal’ seeds, is involved in a new legal conflict. Baumaux, the same company that instigated the previous legal action against Kokopelli Seeds has now registered the ownership of the name Kokopelli and is selling a new variety of tomato with it.
Baumaux is not stopping there however, they are also demanding Kokopelli Seed cease and desist in their use of the name Kokopelli and all business activities associated with it. They are also demanding a payment of €100.000 in compensation for use of the name to date.
The original French language story is here, and a Google translated version here.
Interesting Links
Soilmix
If you save your own seeds, make your own compost and recycle and reuse in your garden, many people don’t need to buy anything except some lime if they have acid soil and starting mix in order to start plants indoors.
A lot of people ask me about making your own seed starting mix, so they can avoid buying anything for their garden. What’s particularly troubling for many is nearly all seed starting mixes are based on either peat, which is often harvested in unsustainable ways, or coir, which is a waste product of the less than ethical coconut industry, and gets transported long distances. Starting mixes not based on peat or coir need to be sterilized, usually requiring fossil fuels or chemicals such as household bleach.
I don’t know if this is truly a recipe for everyone. Perhaps not everyone raises bats for guano? Anyway, Alan just posted a great recipe for starting mix, he makes nearly completely with waste or other products from his farm. I think this is a great starting point for many people to think about making something similar with sustainable things you may have available locally.
Yakraut
And Owen on Radix4Roots posted this great looking recipe for fermented yacón root! Something guaranteed to keep your digestive system in motion.
Island Blog
From a working 400 acre farm on Manitoulin Island in northern Ontario, this is a blog of someone I know from elsewhere on the Internet. DirtSunRain
Big Jerusalem Artichokes
This garden belongs to one of my fellow community garden gardeners. As a person, he’s a really great guy. As gardeners however, we are polar opposites. He buys everything from a garden center, his gardening techniques are chemical intensive and does not see the value in organic gardening. He also grows mostly flowers, which are very much a side activity for me.
He does however like to trade plants, and our gardening interests came together when I stopped by and offered him some of my Jerusalem Artichokes. I thought he might eat them, but he doesn’t like healthy food like that. Instead he decided to plant them, something that prompted an excited outburst of warnings from me that went completely unheeded. He said he liked the flowers, and had been looking for some to plant for a long time now.
So he planted them and, like he always does, doused them in chemical fertilizer. You can see the nearly 4 meter high plants, on the right side of his garden in front of the electricity pylon.
I went by in the fall while he was busy digging up the tubers in the ground, and warned him he better get as many out now as he could find, before spring came. I reminded him I warned him not to plant them. He pointed to another garden down the way, and said that gardener had asked for some, so next year they’ll be growing there too.
