It All Starts From Seeds

I knew nothing about seeds until I worked with Ellen, the Golden Rule Mini Farm manager. She was the first person to show me why seeds were important. One of her jobs at the farm was to test germination for seed companies. She explained to me that saved some of her seeds from the farm for her garden and also sold some of her seeds.

 

Last November I attended Ecology Action’s Grow Biointensive 3- day workshop. John Jeavons, a workshop presenter, gave a training and expressed how important it is to save our own seeds. He argued that when we save our seeds, these seeds will eventually be adopted into our specific growing regions and provide us with delicious and healthy crops for years and centuries to come. Today his words echo in my ears. So I started to pay more attention to seeds like how to buy quality seeds and how to replicate them in Taiwan.

 

At the Ecofarm conference, I mentioned to a MESA staff person, how much I wanted to buy seeds. She said, “Sue-jen, you don’t need to buy seeds, just go to the seed swap tonight and trade some seeds with others who have some of the unique seeds you are looking for. That night I followed her advice and I went to the seed exchange. Not only did I get a handful of seeds, but I also got tons of different kinds from all kinds of growers. For how much money, you guess? Absolutely free!

 

With my new fascination with seeds, I decided to attend another conference that only focused on seeds, The 2016 Organic Seed Alliance Conference in Corvallis, Oregon. I felt lucky to meet and talk to the best seed savers, growers and breeders from the US and Canada. They gave me tons of advice and of course I got plenty of free seeds as well. I listened with earnest how these seed growers shared their experiences and could sense how proud they were of their seed babies. After that conference, I decided to save my own seeds when I returned home to Taiwan. Even though I am not an expert, many encouraged me and told that I didn’t need to be. I can start easily with lettuce, beans, and tomatoes, then see what happens. According her book, Breed Your Own Vegetable Varieties, Carol Deppe said that the US has developed so many variations of seeds because many amateur gardeners and farmers saved and exchanged their own seeds. Bill McDorman also gave a workshop and encouraged participants to start saving their own seeds, and to not be afraid to make mistakes. He explained that he still makes mistakes even though he is an experienced seed grower for many years. I can’t express enough how so inspired I was by both of these workshops.

 

Seeds produce gardens, gardens produce food but nothing gets started with seeds. Dear friends, let’s start to save our seeds so later we can have our own seed libraries and exchange our seeds with each other. What do you think? Please share your ideas and/or love of seeds in the comments below.
 Happy Planting !

The important Grain: Barley



Keynote address: Cary Flower / 8th Organic Seed Growers Conference

We were so happy to attend OSGC 2016!

How to clean beans!

 

The 2016 EcoFarm Conference Rocked!

Educational, inspiring and fun! As a MESA steward from Taiwan, those three words describe how I feel about the 2016 EcoFarmConference. After three days of learning new things, meeting great people and having so much fun in the process, I definitely can say that I will be back next year if I can.

 

This year’s EcoFarm Conference provided many workshops and plenaries so people had plenty of options of where they wanted to go or what they wanted to learn. One of the best plenaries I attended was Dr. Daphne Miller’s session. She talked about how “Food Is Medicine” and also shared her farming experiences. Her words were like gospel to my ears because before I worked as a kidney dialysis nurse. In Taiwan, where I am from, I witnessed many people who never cooked and ate out all the time suffer from kidney failure. Like Daphne Miller, I too believe that food is medicine. But many people believe that if you buy your own food and cook then that’s enough. It’s not true. She explained that only good quality, organic, non-GMO food is the solution to cure disease.

 

I also attended a Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) workshop. This workshop helped me develop a business plan on how I will operate CSA in my community when I come back to Taiwan. I learned that this is the best way to gain support from my family, friends and neighbors but also teach them the benefits of organic, locally harvested food. Now I can picture myself happy to provide fresh produce that I grew with love and joy to all my family and friends when I return.

 

Because of EcoFarm, I met many interesting farmers from all over the US. We talked, shared and exchanged our thoughts and seeds. Some already planted their seeds for many years, others just started to plant their seeds like myself, a beginner famer. So no matter how much farming experience we had, all kinds of farmers gathered together at the 2016 EcoFarm Conference to share our love for people, our soil and our land.

 

When I headed back to my host place, Golden Rule Farm, my pocket was full of business cards from the people I met. Those business cards will serve as my farming library network. They will serve as my cheerleaders, who are only a short email or Skype chat away from providing me with advice on how to start my farm when I come back to Taiwan.

 

The 2016 EcoFarm Conference was educational and full of networking opportunities, but it was also full a lot of fun. The conference planners made sure they arranged fun events for the attendees from morning until night. When my brain couldn’t take any more learning, I went to have a beer and sampled cheeses to refresh my thoughts. Even in the evening, I was extremely busy running around like a honey bee from one social event to the next. One evening I spent seed swapping and finding those special seeds that I was dying to get my hands on. The best part of the experience of course was mingling with the seed growers and learning from them. The final night, I swung to the EcoFarm dance party to celebrate love and peace until midnight. It was so much fun. The 2016 EcoFarm Conference rocked! I gained a ton of farming knowledge, made new friends and had an amazing time. Thank you MESA for awarding me this great opportunity.



With MESA staff, Lauren and Michelle and MESA steward, Carloncho from Peru and Mayra from Mexico.
Photo provided by MESA
 

Participated Dr.Daphne Miller's plenary.
Photo provided by Mayra Mstinez Mota

Seed swap event was so fun!
Photo provided by MESA

Love MESA booth and help sell MESA's new t-shirt.
Photo provided by MESA