Subject: Re: Seeds

From: Marilyn Borchardt <[email-masked]>
Date: Sat, 1 Nov 1997 16:39:22 -0800 (PST)

Dan what's the address for Calif Rare Fruit Group?

Marilyn Borchardt
At 03:31 PM 10/31/97 -0500, [email-masked] wrote:
>
>In a message dated 10/30/97 12:28:06 PM, you wrote:
>
>>Good point about not over-selecting, Dan. Near the center of where corn
>>(Zea mays) was originally selected from teosinte (Zea mexicana)
>>populations, Mexican farmers still let a few wild teosinte plants grow
>>among their corn, claiming that it invigorates the corn in succeeding
>>generations. And Gary Nabhan tells a wonderful story (Enduring Seeds?)
>>about watching an elderly Mexicana collect a few seeds for her next year's
>>crop from among each ear of corn, even the smaller or 'mis-shapen' ones.
>>She replied that to be too selective was disrespectful of this gift from
>>the gods, and that if this happened the corn would lose vigor and suffer in
>>later years. Corn populations, as it turns out, are especially-susceptible
>>to damage due to excessive narrowing of the genetic base by over-selection.
>>
>>As far as obtaining seeds, the Seed Exchange is a membership organization
>>whose members offer their seeds directly, paying each other $1.50 per
>>sample. I'll send our seed list to any who ask, and then can give
>>directions for obtaining them. We have some really good, tough heirloom
>>corns, okras, cowpeas and other veggies, an heirloom cane sorghum, Mat Bean
>>(an interesting, low-growing Vigna (V. aconitifolia... Vigna is the cowpea,
>>mung bean genus) with good potential as a living mulch... about 321
>>varieties of veggie or native plant at present.
>>
>>Another good idea would be for people to join the Permaculture Seed
>>Exchange (3020 Whiteoak Creek Road, Burnsville, NC 28714 USA; phone
>>(704)-675-5664; membership $7/year), and in the spring I should have most
>>of these low-input seeds offered through there. I'm trying to get the
>>drought-adapted Tahitian squash seed made available next spring, it's a
>>great producer and very low-care.
>>
>>Jack
>
>
>Thanks Jack
>
>We are already members of SSE and Joe Hollis's exchange in NC.  It looks as
>though we should try your group and see if your varieties suit our hot, often
>effectively arid conditions. We also belong to North American Fruit Explorers
>(NAFES), the Northern Nut Growers Assn. (NNGA), the SouthEast chapter of the
>American Bamboo soc., the Southern Pear Group, and the California Rare Fruit
>Group.  It is invaluable to me both in our own design, as we are not natives
>to this ecosystem, and in design work for others to be in touch with people
>who may spend their entire lives exploring, for example, the selection,
>cultivation and benefits of mayhaws.  This kind of lateral intergration is
>what permaculture requires to put its roots into the soil already developed
>by many, many compatible spirits.  I've not been much of a meeting person,
>but finally I have found time to do a permaculture columen for the NAFEX
>quarterly, POMONA, as a way to pay back for some of the expertise.  Of coruse
>there are also a number of on-line groups.   It is great to know just where
>to get info on a species or variety when considering its use somewhere.  I
>encourage everyone interested in permaculture to join at least one seed
>savers or tree-crops group.  Saving seeds becomes part of one's lifestyle
>very quickly.  I find that by saving seed we get adapted strains.   I don't
>worry about a little cross pollination, for reasons Jack brings out.  We have
>a rainbow sweet corn that I developed in Massachusetts and have been
>gradually adapting now to the south.  I keep throwing in a few kernals of
>this variety or that to get desired traits and then select out for them.  It
>is fun and it is a kind of security that has no subsitute.  Mainly, it just
>becomes part of the way one lives life--involvement in one more vital way
>with the cycles of giving and receiving that keep us functioning in the
>Universe.
>
>For Mother Earth, Dan Hemenway, Yankee Permaculture Publications (since
>1982), Elfin Permaculture workshops, lectures, Permaculture Design Courses,
>consulting and permaculture designs (since 1981), and now correspondence
>courses via email.  Next live training:  Paraguay, Sept. 1998. Internships
>available. Copyright, 1997, Dan & Cynthia Hemenway, P.O. Box 52, Sparr FL
>32192 USA  [email-masked]  
>
>We don't have time to rush.
>
>
Marilyn Borchardt