To Save or Not To Save (the Seeds) That is The Question.....The Politics of the Garden and The Farm and Food and Seeds

It's been a wintry fallow time in the garden.  Not much going on.  My indoor geraniums are flourishing, but not much else greenery section.  A few aloe vera's dot my indoor garden, I planted Marigold's in a small pot of dirt yesterday, from handpicked dead headed seeds from last year's Garden...we'll see how they come up (or don't).....



The grizzled look of the new Marlboro Man
aka Farmer Man of America complete with
Flannel Shirt and Carhart Suspenders.

 Which leads me to this blog post called the FOOD POLITICS. Apparently Monsanto has undertaken a new PR to change the image of the American Farmer. It's called the grizzled flannel shirt farmer man. I guess it's suposed to take the place of the Marlboro Man as the real man image of the American Farmer. The author of the blog FOOD POLITICS, Marion Nestle who also wrote the book, Safe Food: The Politics of Food points out to us, the consuming public of Monsanto Products that Monsanto is trying to make people believe that this is not about who gets to control the food sources, AND it is.  Seeds are reason why, or more importantly not being able to save the seeds is the reason why.

Face it. We have two agricultural systems in this country, both claiming to be good for farmers and both claiming to be sustainable. One focuses on local, seasonal, organic, and sustainable in the sense of replenishing what gets taken out of the soil. The other is Monsanto, for which sustainable means selling seeds (and not letting farmers save them), patented traits developed through biotechnology, and crop protection chemicals.

So there you have it the two America's of food production.  One saves seeds, one does not.  One  half believes in the garden and saving the seeds and for producing more next year, one doesn't.

I'm a Seed Saver myself.

Save Your Seeds Peeps.... and

Piss off a Monsanto Creep.

The Progress of Tomato Plants and Zuchinni I Grew From Seeds.....Celebrate Your Own Garden, Not Somebody Else's !!!

One thing I've learned as a Home Gardener is to never compare your garden to your neighbors, or anybody  else's on the inter-net for that matter.  Your progress or lack thereof can never be measured by what somebody else did.  This includes Barbra Kingsolver (whom I admire) and who actually journalized and wrote a book about her families year of growing, harvesting and canning their own food. It was an instant success.  As other people around the internet chroniclize their gardens, it doesn't make much sense comparing.  The fact that the home garden  is catching on is reason enough to celebrate everybodies gardens.