- National Geographic video on how growing acai is changing lives in Brazil.
- “When farmers and activists get together, food culture ferments like delicious sauerkraut.”
- Botswanans eat more millet and sorghum if it is easier. Alert the press.
- Mayor wants Londoners to grow local. Jeremy asks: are they hiring?
- It’s six foot, seven foot, eight foot, BUNCH!
- Breeding pheasants in captivity.
- African Herbal Pharmacopoeia.
Nibbles: Vege-juice, Urban livestock, Seeds, Slow Food
- Drink vegetable diversity for better nutrition. Jeremy sez: “Too salty”. And asks: “Who paid?”
- “So why isn’t everyone living this locavore dream of having organic, free-range eggs for nearly nothing, right from their own backyard? Well, for one thing, it’s illegal.”
- Blogger Seed Network. Explained. Make it grow.
- Terra Madre, more notes from the Gristmill.
Nibbles: Bank, Pest, Urban Ag, Ireland, Beans
- Tangled Bank 116. Where I discovered that Differential Grasshoppers prefer damaged sunflowers.
- Urban Farmer wins MacArthur “Genius Grant”.
- Irish Forum on Genetic Resources, 19 November. Who will report for us?
- New bean varieties boost incomes and food supply in Uganda.
Nibbles: Link, Mango, Chickens, Apples, Urban, Aquaculture, More chickens
- Our latest link. Mas du Diable in France.
- The history of mango in Florida discussed.
- Historic poultry publication.
- Did I hear somebody say English apples are not very interesting? Via.
- A wheat crop grows in Manhattan.
- Hands-on aquaculture.
- Animal farm.
Promoting civil disobedience one seed at a time
Luigi nibbled the World Food Garden a day or two back, but I think it merits a bit more of a chew. ((Admittedly he did also point to the link where he found it, which certainly does go into detail.)) At first sight it looks like a typically busy, typically overburdened site, with a very crowded map of all the gardeners who have already signed up. But if it delivers on what it promises, it could be a great resource. The thing that interests me most is a “Seed swap”. Alas, click on that and all you see is “Coming Soon!”. Well, I hope it is, and I hope it works, and works well.
I’ve been mulling a very similar idea here for a long time, and I even have it all figured out as far as wire-frames and flow diagrams and all that stuff goes. But I don’t speak Ruby ((Hint, hint: if you do, and want to collaborate, let me know.)) and right now I don’t have time to learn.
The need for an exchange mechanism is far, far greater in Europe than anywhere else in the world. To be honest, almost everything World Food Garden offers or is planning to offer already exists, especially in the US. All power to them, though for pulling it all together. Gardeners and small farmers can obtain the seeds of any variety they want, if it is available. European gardeners do not have the luxury of choice. A rational, effective seed swap system would cut the pointless European legislation off at the knees.
Which is exactly what it needs.
In the meantime, if you have or want seeds of something interesting, try Pat ‘n’ Steph.