International Seed Saving Day Sowing the Future by VIRGINI

In the past few years, I've learned some lessons in my garden. Two of them had to do with saving seed. Since January 31 is International Seed Saving Day, I thought I'd share them with you. In 2000, I wrote about saving my arugula and pole bean seed. Here is what I said: "I had already let my arugula go to seed and stuffed the remaining dry pods in a paper bag to open and release their tiny seeds. I haven't bought new arugula seed in four years now. One other crop that sort of got away from me this year was the pole beans. I picked them at least twice a week when I was home and had a friend come by and pick them when I had to be out of town, and we still missed some that became fat, lumpy, inedible pods before we had noticed. So I finally gave up. The flowering had more or less stopped, so I knew the end was in sight. I let the last batch hang on to mature into dry beans. I will save a few for next year and have one meal out of the rest after soaking and cooking them as you would any other dry bean. I'm not sure what I'll get out of the seeds I saved since I don't know if the ones I planted this spring were from hybrid plants or not, but it will be fun to see."

Both of these stories have interesting endings. Those arugula plants I had been letting flower and collecting seed from were the ones that began blooming earliest. I let them go and continued to cut greens from the remaining plants. Unwittingly, I actually was selecting seed from earlier and earlier-blooming plants. The result? Almost all my arugula plants bolted before I had much chance to eat the tasty leaves. It was time to start with new seed and reform my ways.

Lesson number two was from that first collection of bean seeds. It lasted for a number of years and I just pulled it out every year and planted my bamboo tipi from that stash. This year, however, I got miserable germination (only about half the seeds I sowed) and realized that it was time to replenish my stock with fresh seed for next year. I let the last of the crop hang on the vines and now have enough for one planting. I'll remember to do this every year from now on.

There are some champions of saving seed who we can all learn from. In 1975, the Whealy family began Seed Savers Exchange after realizing they were the last in their family to grow an unusual flower and a favorite vegetable variety that their Grandpa Ott had brought from Bavaria when he emigrated to the U.S. Their organization has grown to 8,000 members and maintains a seed bank with more than 18,000 varieties of seeds in modern storage facilities at controlled temperatures and humidity. About 10 percent of this stock is grown out each year, multiplying the number of seeds to make them available to more growers and maintaining a fresh, strong source for future generations. Focusing on seeds of indigenous North American people and those strains that were brought to these shores by immigrants, they collaborate with many other groups.

Life-Sustaining Seed Saving
Other institutions around the world are engaged in similar endeavors for their own seed stocks, but political instability, weather disasters, and other possible traumas can wipe out centuries of selection and cultivation in a very short time. In many parts of the world, however, saving seed is a necessary part of life. Farmers in these countries rely entirely on their own saved seed for next year's crop. Prolonged drought, civil war, and forced relocations can have devastating effects on the well-being of individual farms and entire villages. With little or no cash income and no access to replacement seed, the pathway to hunger is short when even one crop is lost. International relief organizations like Oxfam recognize this need and distribute seed throughout the developing world. But can this really replace what has been lost? Through generations of growing and selecting the plants that produce the most prolifically, whose fruits have better flavor or keeping qualities, come to maturity the fastest, or tolerate the particular soil and water conditions of their land, farmers have always been instrumental in improving the strains they perpetuate. These invariably are better suited to the particular microclimate in which they have been grown than the commercially produced substitutes. This diversity of genetic stocks is irreplaceable.

Farmers in the developed world also are facing challenges to their old way of cultivation. With more and more of the seed for our major food crops being developed and sold by fewer and larger companies, the loss of diversity is just as troublesome here. Periodic massive crop failures are a tragic part of our farming history and directly follow from the practice of planting monocultures of hybrid seed. Maintaining a diverse source of food assures that no one event can disrupt the supply.

In support of local seed saving, International Seed Saving Day is coming to Santa Barbara on January 31. From 10 a.m.-3 p.m., there will be a seed savers exchange and festival at Alameda Park. Bring your own saved seeds to share and take away some for your next garden. The event is hosted by Santa Barbara Food Not Lawns, the Santa Barbara Permaculture Network, and others. Check their Web sites (See Box) for more information.

On the evening of January 30, there will be a lavishly illustrated lecture called Humanity's Ancient Relationship with Edible Seed Crops. Presented by Lorenz Schaller, a long-time "gardener and landscapist" who has pursued an intense interest in ancient seed-saving traditions, he will demonstrate the big picture of how seed crops supplied most of the world with nutritious food. The lecture will be held at the Santa Barbara Public Library's Faulkner Gallery from 7-9 p.m. Attendance is $5. For more information, call 962-2571 or email margie@sbpermaculture.org.

Event Sponsors
Santa Barbara Permaculture Network (sbpermaculture.org)
Food Not Lawns/S.B. Chapter (sbfoodnotlawns.org)
Santa Barbara Seed Exchange (sbseeds.blogspot.com)
Fairview Gardens (fairviewgardens.org)
SBCC Center for Sustainability (sustainability.sbcc.edu)
Healing Grounds Nursery (healinggrounds.org)
S.B. Info Shop (sbinfoshop.org)
The Green Academy (thegreenacademy.com)
Island Seed & Feed (islandseed.com)
Sustainable World Radio (sustainableworldradio.com)