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Mar/Apr 2008: Water, Water...
Jan/Feb 2008: Keeping the Fire Going
Sep/Dec 2007: A Look Back, and Moving On
Jul/Oct 2007: The Truth: An Irate Editorial
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Jul-Oct 2006: Say No to NAIS
May/Jun 2006: Planning Ahead
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Sep/Oct 2005: A Farm by any Other Name...
Jul/Aug 2005: Poor Planning: Patenting Life and Preemptive Laws
May/Jun 2005: The Best Show in the Country
Mar/Apr 2005: Our Connection to the Earth
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Nov/Dec 2004: Better Than Ever
Sep/Oct 2004: A Risky Business
Jul/Aug 2004: Sustainable Ag in Danger in Missouri
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Mar/Apr 2004: A Mostly Happy Anniversary to Us
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Nov/Dec 2003: Ramblings From the Ridge
Sep/Oct 2003: Some Risks You Have to Take
Jul/Aug 2003: Problems with the Farm Problem—Technology is Not the Answer
May/Jun 2003: Planning for the Show
Mar/Apr 2003: Old Breeds and Old Seeds
Jan/Feb 2003: A New Year, A New Cycle
Dec 2002: Start Planning Now! The New Year Brings New Opportunities!
Sep/Oct/Nov 2002: The Show is Here! Ten Years and Still Growing!
Jul/Aug 2002: Saving Seeds Makes Your Farm More Sustainable
May/Jun 2002: 10,000 for the 10th Show
Mar/Apr 2002: Biotechnology is NOT Saving the World
Jan/Feb 2002: Farm Numbers Dwindling? They Don't Have To.
Nov/Dec 2001: The Farm Program. Yes or No? or Why?
Sep/Oct 2001: Nothing is Inevitable
Jul/Aug 2001: A Problem With Soybeans
May/Jun 2001: Changes in Current Farming (and an apology)
Mar/Apr 2001: Trade Show Talk
Jan/Feb 2001: Changing Our Thinking
Nov/Dec 2000: Good Life, Good Money
Sep/Oct 2000: The GM Blues
Jul/Aug 2000: Eurofarming
May/Jun 2000: Doom and Gloom and Optimism
Mar/Apr 2000: Opportunity Knocks
Jan/Feb 2000: 2000 and Beyond
Oct/Nov/Dec 1999: Choosing the Right Solutions
Aug/Sep 1999: Attitude for Success
Jun/Jul 1999: Sex in the Field–and in the Laboratory
Apr/May 1999: The More Things Change...
Feb/Mar 1999: Protecting the Future
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Protecting the Future
Editorial from the February/March 1999 issue of Small Farm Today® magazine.
Spring is coming, and it is time to start planning the planting. While I was thinking about this last Friday, a copy of The State of the World 1999 arrived in the mail. One chapter, "Appreciating the Benefits of Plant Biodiversity," by John Tuxill, had some interesting facts and ideas which I would like to comment on.
"Plant biodiversity, in particular, is arguably the single greatest resource that humankind has garnered from nature during our long cultural development," writes Tuxill. He is worried about the increasing disappearance of diversity from our planet. He notes that the natural rate of extinction is about 1-10 species per year, but that "scientists estimate that extinction rates have accelerated this century to at least 1,000 species per year."
Tuxill notes that about a third of all plant species have edible parts–"fruits, tubers, nuts, seeds, leaves, roots, or stems." One-quarter of the prescription drugs marketed contain active ingredients derived from plants. Future sources of drugs and food, and genes to defend against pests and diseases are being lost as our biodiversity decreases. (This is also true of animal biodiversity, and my statements about the importance of heirloom plants saving apply equally to rare breeds of livestock.)
There are three things that are important to preserving plant diversity. First, there must be protected areas to house populations of wild cousins to modern plants. This allows returning to find disease-resistant varieties and breeding stock. These areas can be managed by local communities–it does not have to be another government project.
Second, seeds from a wide variety of heirloom plants should be saved. The seeds must be grown out on a regular basis to maintain germination and viability. Storage does no good if the plants are never grown.
Third, farmers should grow rare and heirloom varieties on their land. This is where you can be of the most help. Seed saving on a year-to-year basis is a fun and interesting project, and also saves money by eliminating seed buying. Seed saving also allows you to develop a unique strain that is particular to your farm and management practices.
If you haven't done it before, seed saving is easy. Order a heirloom variety from a seed catalog, or talk to neighbors or farmers at your Farmer's Market about obtaining seed. Once you have planted and grown it, harvest the mature fruit. For most vegetables and gourds, you simply remove the seeds, let them dry on a flat surface for two to four weeks, then store them in your freezer until next planting season. Tomato seeds must be fermented in water for three to four days (stir daily) before drying. For tubers such as potatoes, just spread the tubers on a rack in a cool, dry, dark environment, until next season, then cut them into quarters and plant.
Seeds you save to preserve our genetic heritage are living antiques, history books of times gone by. I raise about 14 different kinds of open-pollinated dent corn, and have created some strains of my own. One kind in particular, though, has been raised by the same family for 150 years. Every time I plant it, I think of all their hopes and dreams, the rains and droughts they endured, and the births and deaths that occurred around the seed that provided subsidence and sustenance for them and others.
If we all raise at least one or two heirloom varieties, we will be making a large contribution towards keeping a living genetic seed bank for the future–plus have the fun of saving seed and eating delicious heirloom fruits.
So, as you leaf through your seed catalogs, stop at an heirloom variety or two, and add them to your order. I already did.
Chuck DeCourley left the University of Missouri and came to work for Small Farm Today magazine in 1992. Their loss–the magazine's gain.
Chuck has been our Show Director for the past six years, and has done an excellent job in both planning and organization, culminating in the largest-yet 1998 National Small Farm Trade Show and Conference. I told the attendees at that Conference that I dreamed of 10,000 small farmers at the Conference with everybody agreeing on something–just to prove we could. When we reach that point, it will be partly due to the efforts of Chuck, who helped start the Show and kept it going.
At the end of 1998, Chuck left the magazine to pursue farming, which has been his dream for a long time. Our loss–the farming community's gain.
Chuck plans to work with vegetables, small fruits, and emus at Courley's Garden farm. He will still be coming to the Show–in fact, he and Rob Ghio will have two booths at the 1999 Show, selling emu meat, oils and lotions, and carved eggs. Thank you, Chuck, for all you've done, and I hope you fulfill all your dreams.
Happy and Profitable Farming,
Ron Macher
Publisher/Farmer