Seed Library At Venice High School!

When we first moved to the west side of Los Angeles about 15 years ago, Venice High School looked like a prison. The whole place was run down and falling apart - in the front of the school, there was a wrought iron cage surrounding a statue of alumni Myrna Loy to keep her from being vandalized, and there were bars on all the windows. The tennis courts had giant cracks in the asphalt. God knows what the classrooms were like inside.

But our story begins with the 60,000 square foot, fallow, weedy, filled-with-trash area on the western edge of the school, where, in March of 2001, a group of amazing people had had enough, and The Learning Garden was established. It has since become one of the country's largest and most successful school gardens. The Learning Garden boasts organic produce grown by students, a culinary program, tai chi and quigong classes, a large medicinal plant section in conjunction with Yo San University of Chinese Medicine, a California Native Plant and Cacti garden, and a community garden. Last December, they embarked on a very exciting project - The Seed Library of Los Angeles. For a $10 membership fee, gardeners can "borrow" the seeds of specific edibles. Each borrower commits that part of the resulting crop be allowed to go to flower and seed, allowing the borrower to return the seed stock to the library. There are occasional seed saving workshops, open to the public, which you can find out about by going to their blog (HERE).

Also, be sure and visit The Learning Garden on April 30, when Mar Vista hosts it's annual Green Garden Showcase.

I have to say that in recent years, the school has flourished. The cage around Myrna has been removed, everything is freshly painted, and albeit there is a definite police presence that remains due to gangs, it is a wholly different place. Perhaps it was something to do with the garden. Perhaps not. Either way, songbirds and bees and growing things can't hurt, can it?

XOXO
Yvette

Freedom Seeds

Freedom Seeds is Path To Freedom's newest venture. Their tiny family farm is in Pasadena, California, and yields about 6,000 pounds of produce a year on 1/5 of an acre. AND the property is gorgeous. I plan to shop with them to help support their incredible project, as well as insure the purity of the seeds we plant in the garden!

Here is info about their mission, and their products:

“We have neglected to preserve the diversity of our food. Today, we have more brands of shoes than we have of carrots or broccoli.”
—Jules Dervaes

There’s no question that the diversity of our food sources has suffered a drastic reduction that is unprecedented in human history. As consumers are losing the freedom to choose what they will buy and grow, thousands of varieties of garden seed are walking the plank, straight into the abyss of extinction.

In 1981 there were approximately 5,000 vegetable seed varieties available in U.S. catalogs. Today there are less than 500, a 90 percent reduction.

Freedom Seeds is on the front lines of the battle to preserve open pollinated seeds. With an initial launch of 75 vegetable seeds from arugula and beans to kale, peas, turnips and much more, gardeners can be confident that the seeds they buy from Freedom Seeds have been carefully screened for genetic manipulation. The worth of these seeds has been proven by compatibility with their environment, instead of being made tougher and more durable by genetic engineering. They possess the nutritive properties of old and locally developed strains, based on eatability instead of portability.

Food You Can Depend On—Right Outside Your Door.

With this access to unaltered, unpatented seeds, Freedom Seeds gives you the power to create your own gardens—and research the crops that will grow in your specific environments. With different terrains come different abilities, regional tendencies, local food, and local challenges. In partnership with FreedomGardens.org, Freedom Seeds points you towards the information, resources, and research access you need to plan your gardens. It empowers you to research your options, and shows you the way to make the most of your growing season.

The Latest Information On The State Of Our Seeds

By following our Blog and Campaign links on the Freedom Seeds site, you’ll have access to the latest information the “Gene Giant” seed industries such as Monsanto, their influence in political lobbies, on scientific research, and on the food you eat. You’ll also get information on safe seeds, healthy food, and resources you can trust in the fight for sustainable, healthful, and real food.

To all of you, from all of us at Freedom Seeds. Happy planting!

Jules Dervaes & Family


XXO
Yvette

Tangled Up In Blue

It's time to start ordering fall and winter seeds! Last year, we planted a bunch of sweet peas on a bamboo trellis. We ordered the seeds from The Fragrant Garden, which has the most incredible colors of sweet peas to choose from. They are easy to grow - the seeds should be soaked for 24 hours by floating them in a little dish of water or wrapping in a wet paper towel before planting as they have a tough skin that must be broken through to germinate. Follow the planting instructions on the packets, and you'll be in bouquets all winter. Sweet peas thrive in colder weather, so for us in So Cal, it's a winter flower. For really cold places, it's a fall - spring plant. The flowers should be cut daily, as the plants are quick to start producing seeds and die if they're not picked often. Cutting will inspire tons and tons of flowers to be produced!

Another great favorite to order now are onions and garlic. We get our garlic from The Garlic Store. They have really interesting varieties, as well as "packages" that contain 4-5 different kinds, all with great growing instructions, and excellent customer service for weird questions (I've asked!)!!! Garlic and onions are easy but glacial to grow, so be PATIENT. The garlic and onions we grew last year took about nine months from planting to harvest...


One more blue thing, just cause it's so pretty and getting lots of attention from the bees and hummingbirds as well, our beloved butterfly bush (Buddleia davidii 'Black Knight').






XOXO
Yvette

Endings and Beginnings

So begins the mid summer challenge. As much produce as we are gaining (tons of tomatoes, cucumbers, basil, beans, and peppers mostly), we are losing plants every day. Lettuce is bolting, as is the last of the broccoli. The onions are finished growing and need to be picked and cured. Everything that was vibrant in the spring and early summer is making its seeds for the coming year. There are bald spots in what used to be, just a few weeks ago, filled with life.

Over the weekend we sowed the beginnings of our fall garden: Gourmet Blend Beets, Watermelon Radishes, and Purple Haze and King Midas Carrots. We planted some extra winter squash seeds (Delicata Honey Boat), and some more Sakata's Sweet Melon, which so far has been a failure, but try and try again! This week we will plant some new onions, snap peas, more pole beans, and a round of lettuce, which will get covered from the August heat with a burlap tent. I am going to plant successive rows of lettuce this time around. The method I am going to use is to plant two rows of lettuce at a time (the rows will be about 3' long, and when the seedlings are about 1.5"s tall, it's time to plant two more rows).

Albeit so exciting to plant anything, it is bittersweet. I am already feeling the end of summer. We even have a beautiful orange baby pumpkin already. I am anticipating that chill in the air, leaves falling, saying goodbye to another year...


XXX
Yvette

PS. Thank you to my dear dear friend Suzi Varin for the beautiful photo!!!!!!

More Thoughts On Saving Seeds...

This tomato plant came from seeds that Fred saved from last year's tomatoes by cutting a tomato in half, squirting the seeds onto a paper towel, letting it dry out, and then storing it in the garage (cool and dark), in a bag. So simple. Now we have a half a dozen Purple Cherokee plants! This practice is not only efficient and simple, but it has a deep hand in protecting the diversity of edible plant life on the planet. If you think this is waxing too poetic, just read the following article in Vanity Fair this month about Monsanto's Harvest Of Fear, which already un-feeds the world with its genetically modified terminator seeds (these are seeds that are manufactured to produce a sterile crop, thereby disallowing farmers to save seeds for the following year, thus forcing them to buy more seeds), toxic pesticides (buy any Roundup lately? If so, you're killing the fish!) and then tell me if small acts like this aren't of supreme importance! We've already started to see signs of impending mass-starvation due to farmers turning away from staples and onto corn for bio-fuels, raising the prices of rice and wheat so high that rural, third world folks will no longer be able to buy food. Now they're after milk as well.

If you're reading this and you want to know more, a new documentary was aired in March on French television (ARTE – French-German cultural tv channel) by French journalist and filmmaker Marie-Monique Robin, The World According To Monsanto, a documentary that most Americans won’t ever see. The gigantic biotech corporation is threatening to destroy the agricultural biodiversity which has served mankind for thousands of years. Please watch it. You'll be rushing to plant some tomatoes.

XXO
Yvette

BoDeeToes

My dear friend and forever pal Annick turned me onto the incredible non-profit organization, Seed Savers Exchange. We've been ordering their fantastic heirloom seeds, and using their planting guides, which are a must!

Last weekend, we planted potatoes with the help of this LINK!
I can't wait to dig them up and cook them!




Exploring the Seed Savers site has really peaked my interest in the idea and importance of preserving the diversity of the foods we eat. It becomes extremely political, especially if one takes into account the race to corporatize the very essence of farming by GMO'ing as many crops as possible. This was a huge impetus to start this garden, as neither Fred nor myself wishes to put the Mind of Monsanto into our mouths. This year, Fred is growing Purple Cherokee tomatoes from seeds he saved from last year's plants. It is incredibly satisfying, and truly completes elegance of the plant-eat-compost circle.

The whole subject of saving seeds borders on the apocalyptic, if you really research and consider what is going on with our food supply. It is such a huge issue that the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) and the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR) have created an organization called The Global Crop Diversity Trust, which is basically a giant seed vault in the Arctic, designed to protect the world's seed supplies in the event of global catastrophe.

To find out more about the The Global Crop Diversity Trust's Arctic Seed Vault, watch the 60 Minutes story on their homepage.

XXO
Yvette