WE ARE ALL ONE, IN LIFE

Sometimes I read or hear or watch something so beautiful that it brings along with it emotions that are hard to put into words. So many of us spend time battling our way through all the things we are trying so hard to change. Sometimes it is just nice to let a story, told with simple words and in a gentle voice, wash over us and renew our spirit.

 

"Everybody should be their own leader".... in other words, we must each take responsibility for our actions - all of them - and lead ourselves to being at peace with the earth. At one.

I found this video on Indian Earth.... a blog about a small family's journey to where they belong.

CELEBRATING LOCAL FOODS AT URRBRAE MARKET

It took me all of 7 minutes to get to the Urrbrae Agricultural High School's produce market this morning. Situated only 10 minutes from the Adelaide city centre, this substantial piece of land is home to hundreds of chickens, both egg-laying and meat hens, dozens of sheep and goats, several cows, pigs and alpacas and no doubt some other animals too. It also has orchards, olive groves, a vineyard and vegetable growing areas. Not only is this a working farm, it also has facilities for wine making, olive pressing,wool spinning, jam making and too many others to name.

Here, school students learn to become farmers, agricultural researchers, water use specialists ..... everything and anything to do with the land. What's more, they learn the business skills to help them succeed and they take part in their very own monthly market, selling vegetables, meat, wines, value-added things like jams, oils, pickles as well as manures and compost. Some entrepreneurs have their own stalls too, selling produce from home such as herbs, vegetables, pies and tarts.

 

Today Maggie and I could not resist Daniel's sausage rolls. Sadly I have no photos.... as soon as they arrived, hot from the oven, they were snapped up. Luckily he saved us some and I am pleased to say they were the very best sausage rolls I have ever eaten. At the next trestle was another lad whose name I do not know, but I bought one of his lemon tarts, after testing a sample piece.... where do these kids learn to cook like this??  On Wednesday you will meet Daniel, as he is coming on our seedsavers day out!

 

 

Maggie and I both bought a frozen chicken, I bought some Sundowner apples which are one of my favourites.... 3 for only 50c....and some marinated goats fetta, and Maggie bought some goat sausages. The fact that all this was grown and made only 7 minutes from my home and less from Maggie's as she lives opposite the school, and it is teaching thousands of teenagers to do it too, bang in the centre of the suburbs, is a credit to someone somewhere in our dim dark history. Actually anyone can have a stall there.... so if you have some herbs or produce you'd like to sell, give them a call and ask for Maxine.

You can wander around and see a lot of the farm and school and so on and when the school is open, there are tours you can go on too. During school hours you can buy produce from the canteen.... I have lined up at recess time and bought some eggs and vegetables, and the kids don't bat an eyelid.

On the way back to Maggie's for a coffee, a rainbow showed the way and I swear it was ending right at her front door.... and you know what? Maggie and Bob are the best pots of gold I would want to find at the end of any rainbow.

This is all you are going to see of Bob today but their garden is THE best vegetable and herb garden I know, anywhere in the world ..... and I should know.... I've been around.... and around.... and soon to go again..... for good.

 

But that's another story. There are lots more photos here.

DEADLY SERIOUS BUSINESS

India

Monsanto is trying to introduce genetically modified eggplant seed into India. Here is a letter I received recently. Please read it and do what you can. This is NOT someone else's problem, it is the responsibility of every human on this planet, including you and me.

Dear friends and colleagues,

This letter is to request you to sign a petition to the Prime Minister of India, Manmohan Singh, seeking to ban the entry of GM foods and seeds into the country.

The Anti-GM Food campaign (www.indiagminfo.org) has been active  for a couple of years, and has thousands of farmers and urban consumers backing it in India. The protest recently got a reprieve when the newly appointed Union Minister for Environment and Forests, Mr. Jairam Ramesh, made a statement saying he would not allow the entry of GM foods into India. We now need international support to make sure that there is enough pressure on the goverment to take sane decisions regarding the future of our nation.

Many of you may be aware that Monsanto is ready for the release and commercial sale of  Bt Brinjal (eggplant) seeds in India. Eggplant is an an ironic choice of vegetable, since it is a well known fact that India has hundreds of local, native eggplant varieties, that continue to be cultivated even today, in fields and home gardens.

Earlier, the Indian government allowed  large scale field trials of Bt Brinjal without biosafety protocol being cleared. Some of you may also have seen Monsanto's  advertisements in leading newspapers and magazines in the US, about biotechnology saving the world, using Climate Change as a platform for their argument.

All you need to do is go to  www.iamnolabrat.com  and sign the petition. It will go directly to the Prime Minister's office (PMO). Every voice counts. This is a global concern we are talking about here, not just India.

I would like to mention here that India and the US  Bush administration had signed an agreement - the Indo-US Knowledge Initiative on Agriculture (KIA)  with a great emphasis on and large plans for transgenics,  using state of the art infrastructure in India as tools for  multi-national seed companies. It is interesting to note that Monsanto is one of the members of the KIA board, along with WalMart!

The Indian government  had also come up with a Biotechnology  Development Strategy (a policy framework) for the country with huge financial outlays for modern biotechnology, despite great opposition from hundreds of civil society groups at each stage  - right from the draft to the regional consultations.

I am sending this mail out to all of you whom I have met, or been in touch with on email or phone during my time in the US over the last four months. I have mentioned the Bt Brinjal campaign to many of you, and I feel confident that you will respond to this alert. Please also take a few minutes to send it out to your network so this gets wider publicity.

The campaign may also request you for future help, in case things reach a stage where phone-ins on designated dates are needed. We would deeply appreciate it if those of you who can do so, respond to this request as well. What seemed like a lost case then, has reached this stage with public pressure and participation, and with our collective effort, we may be able to get the government to take an appropriate decision. 

Many, many thanks in advance and all good luck with your own work.

Warm regards,

Sunita Rao

--
Sunita Rao
Adjunct  Fellow, Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and the Environment (ATREE), Bangalore, India (www.atree.org)
Member, Kalpavriksh, Pune, India (www.kalpavriksh.org)
Founder Trustee, VANASTREE, Sirsi, India (www.vanastree.org)

_______________________________________________________________________________________________-

And something equally as serious re Tasmania

Twenty leading banks and pulp companies from around the world have committed to not fund Gunns’ pulp mill. Now Gunns is trying to get the Federal government to save the ill-conceived project.

If Gunns succeeds, then for decades to come Tasmania's magnificent forest ecosystems will be locked into industrial-scale logging along the lines of what takes place in Brazil and Indonesia.

http://www.wilderness.org.au/?utm_source=phplist&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=june_09_wildnews

Better Late Than Never Musical Gnome

The Mad Gnomes have a great mad give away, today is the last day.

Check out Friday the 12th of June too see some really cute gnomes.

My Musical gnome has just arrived home from being on the road playing at all sorts of gigs around the country.

So here is my entry, I would love a copy of The Silver Spoon book or an Italian cookbook or some seeds to give away or Kiva gift.

I don’t know why more gnomes have not shown up, but maybe they are all over at Gavin’s with his clucky chicken shed gnome making cheese or beer!

Happy last day of June from Mad Maggie.

SEEDS BELONG YU, MI

It was a fun evening meeting Jude and Michel Fanton, who started the Seedsavers Foundation in 1986, and watching the film they have made for the future survival of food and seeds in Polynesia, Melanesia and Papua New Guinea.

It was a delight to learn that they see seed saving a little differently these days, after experiencing such a diversity of cultures. In these villages scattered around hundreds of small islands, people don't fuss with names for different vegetable varieties and rarely try to keep seeds pure. If they happen across a different variety of something from another island, they are happy to try it out, let it cross  and evolve in a small area and see what happens. After all is said and done, these people are growing food because there is no choice for them. All they need is a range of foods to grow and if they produce well, are resilient and tasty then who cares what its name is or where it came from?

This is the way we have tended to do things in our seedsavers group, mostly because we are not purists and often we forget the names for things and have tended to say "here is some seed from the cos lettuce I got from Joy"...... and this soon becomes "Joy's cos lettuce" and everyone knows what we are talking about in our group. I have containers of seeds labelled in this way, such as  Kath's broccoli, Deb's carrots, Barb's snake beans, Cath's yellow capsicums and so on. If they cross a bit it introduces more genetic diversity and this may or may not be good.

My version of Kath's broccoli crossed with my own cavolo nero (kale) and the result is that some grows as kale and some as sprouting broccoli, but I have lost the good broccoli heads so I will have to hope someone else has that seed still and try to stop that happening next time. Or do as I do with Joy's cos lettuce and that is just get fresh seed from Joy, as she always saves plenty.

So, within a group of people it is possible to have unique names circulating, things crossing and evolving for better and worse and at the same time, some pure varieties becoming more and more adapted to our own conditions, like with Deb's carrots. I have never been much good with carrots until Deb gave me some seeds from a variety she has been growing for 20 years. Since that is now the only one I grow, and I always have success with it, I am set for carrots. But I would like to mix my seeds in with hers now and again to maintain the genetic diversity to keep them robust.

 

People of these Pacific islands are often naive about western ways and think it must be better to follow these persuasive salesmen who seem to be offering them a better life. This research of Jude and Michel's, culminating in this film, shows the pitfalls of losing their traditional methods and the dangers involved in changing to chemical agribusiness. It gently encourages them by showing the joy and community involvement in their current lives compared to the solitary and dangerous existence of broad acre crops, based on chemicals and hybrids and GM seeds. Thanks , Jude and Michel, for giving so much of your time and your stories to all those who came on Friday night.

 

See more photos of the evening here. 

 

 

 

 

The film makes me want to spread the word not of any god but of the spirit of the seed knowing that as long as we have biodiversity, we have everything we need for a healthy and spiritual life. It really is that simple.

http://www.seedsavers.net/

THE CREATIVE CROOK

My friend Kathy sent me this story......

An old Italian lived alone in New Jersey .  He wanted to plant his annual tomato garden, but it was very difficult work, as the ground was hard.   His only son, Vincent, who used to help him, was in prison. The old man wrote a letter to his son and described his predicament: Dear Vincent, I am feeling pretty sad, because it looks like I won't be able to plant my tomato garden this year. I'm just getting too old to be digging up a garden plot. I know if you were here my troubles would be over..  I know you would be happy to dig the plot for me, like in the old days. Love, Papa A few days later he received a letter from his son. Dear Pop, Don't dig up that garden. That's where the bodies are buried. Love, Vinnie

At 4 a.m. the next morning, FBI agents and local police arrived and dug up the entire area without finding any bodies. They apologized to the old man and left. That same day the old man received another letter from his son. Dear Pop, Go ahead and plant the tomatoes now. That's the best I could do under the circumstances. Love you, Vinnie

A WINTER'S DAY IN WONDERLAND

There is something special about the Botanic Gardens in Adelaide. Or maybe it is all Botanic Gardens; I don't know. Being in the city centre probably makes it seem more of a sanctuary that if it were elsewhere and this is the essence of it perhaps.  I arrive by car, and the moment I turn into Planetree Drive and cruise slowly down the one way lane, I am immediately transported to a world of big, old, shady trees and an era when things moved a little more slowly and gracefully than today's hurly burly existence.

For once I was early to one of our regular get togethers so I had time to wander, absorbing the peace, and of course taking some photos.This first photo could be almost anywhere remote and serene, with the shadows hiding the banks and the winter sun just catching the bend in the river..... but it is only a few paces from the centre of the city.

 

 

 

Did I get lost and end up in the elephant's enclosure at the zoo, with an eye peering at my lens? No, this is the cork tree.... They do a fantastic job with making micro-climates in these gardens because one moment I am looking at a grove of banana palms, complete with ripening bananas and around the next corner is a scene reminiscent of Monet's garden.....followed by plants suited to the the hot, dry Mediterranean gardens of the world.

 

 

It is all so beautiful, especially now we have had some rain and everything is looking so lush. The cycads are producing huge, weird looking fruits, many of the Australian shrubs and trees are flowering and there are some curious signs such as this one in the Mediterranean garden....  about what I have always thought was a very attractive native South Australian tree!

 

There is the magnificent and quite awe-inspiring Schlomberg Pavilion,below, which is made entirely of glass and is a Victorian example of total extravagance .... something sadly lacking in our economic rationalist world today.

 

 

 

 

Everywhere were reflections and sometimes, like in the Amazon Lily house, it was hard to tell which way was up!

 

 

This beautiful, old shade house, below, is made of brush from south eastern Australia and caught my breath as I walked towards it because I grew up with brush houses in my father's nursery but have not seen one for years. The thing about this one is that when the trees grow taller than the roof, they just grow right through.

But to see a photo of that and oh so many more photos you will have to click on the web album here.

You see, we did not go to the Botanic Gardens to see all this though. We went to see the Harvest Exhibition and the newly renovated hall in which it is held. But now you will have to wait until I have written about that to see what we saw. In the meantime, check out what Christie and Mary brought for us to have with coffee...the lemon slice was the best I have ever had..... and see us enjoying the sun after the recent rain.