Wanna hear/meet me in person? I'm shorter than you think.
I'll be speaking about the adventure of my Front Yard Vegetable Garden in Niagara Falls on Sunday, February 9th at the Seedy Saturday event. More on that in a minute. But first ...
One of the first posts I did on the Art of Doing Stuff was a post on how to grind your own ground beef. It was a reaction to the movie Food Inc. And doingies. Those things in meat that go "doi-nngggg" in your mouth sometimes. Or crunch. Or simply won't chew away no matter how long you try.
The focus of the movie is the business of food. Hence the clever title, Food Inc. One of the main focuses of the film is seeds. Or the lack of them due in part to the government and believe it or not, one seed company. Monsanto.
Monsanto is most well known for their genetically modified corn seed. It produces corn with a flavourful punch of sweetness and pesticide! The company has created corn that has pesticides bred into every cell of every kernel. So if certain bugs happen to try to eat the corn, they will die. Because the plant itself is a pesticide.
Now, normally this sort of thing wouldn't bother me. Honestly. I'm aware of what I eat and actually eat really well. But I'm not a zealot. Do what you can, when you can. That's my motto. So, with regard to the frankencorn I'd figure, well ... I don't eat that much corn. If that uncooked pork hamburger I ate in Antigua in 1990 didn't kill me, this corn sure isn't.
But then came the bees.
My friend Russell is a beekeeper. One who keeps bees. Last spring he got 2 colonies of bees and brought them out to his fields. One colony did fine. They thrived. The other colony ... did not. Tiny little bees, alive, but unable to do what they do. Gather pollen and make honey. There was something wrong with them.
photo stolen from Jesse Senko's website Homemade Crackers. Profile of Russell.
When Russell contacted the guy he bought the colony from he was told that particular colony of bees had been drinking from puddles in a corn field. A corn field that was planted with pesticide infused corn seed. After rain, the pesticide within the cells of the corn, leached into the dirt and therefore the puddles on top of the dirt.
All the bees that came to one of those puddles to drink, became very sick in a very weird way. Stammering. Shaking. Stumbling. The man who sold Russell the colony of bees suggested he burn them and come back for a new colony.
Russell didn't have it in him. He took the bees home to his backyard to try to nurse them back to health. They didn't make it. They didn't die directly from the puddle water. They just failed to thrive. They didn't reproduce, lay eggs or get strong. They couldn't protect themselves. They were overrun by ants. They were weak and didn't reproduce.
Eventually, Russell had no choice but to kill them. They were sick and miserable.
All because of genetically modified corn.
And it's not an easy fix. For one thing very few seeds are allowed to be sold legally for commercial sale. Very few. It's costly and a long process to get any new seed onto the list. It's big business and the small farmer just doesn't have the money or the clout. So they're forced to grow food they may not necessarily want to grow.
Because of this, heirloom or heritage seeds have been lost at a rapid rate. They are the seeds of plants that have been around for generations. But they've been pushed away and in some cases lost forever in favour of commercial seeds. Vegetables that grocery stores want to buy are perfectly uniform, picture perfect, unmarked food. Someone decided a tomato should be perfectly round, bright red and have the ability to travel thousands of miles without bruising. So ... that's what we have to choose from at the grocery store. Oddly, not a whole lot of thought seems to be given to how it will taste. Presumably because we shop with our eyes not our mouths. Unless you're me in the grape aisle.
Where was I going with all this?
Ah yes. Seedy Saturday.
Seedy Saturday is an event held by different organizations and people all across Canada for the sole purpose of selling and exchanging open-pollinated and heritage seeds.
The very first was organized in 1990 by Sharon Rempel in Vancouver, British Columbia and it's spread across Canada and into parts of the UK since then.
Most events have seeds and gardening related stuff for sale as well as a big table where you can drop off the seeds you've saved and pick up a packet of someone else's seeds for free. Along with the seeds, there are vendors and workshops and speakers.
As I mentioned at the beginning of this post, I am one of the featured speakers at the Niagara Falls Seedy Saturday Event this year. I'll be giving a photo presentation of last year's project of ripping out my front yard and putting in a vegetable garden. I'll cover how I did it, how many plants I grew, which ones I'd grow again and how to grow a few of the less familiar vegetables like Sweet Potatoes and peanuts. I also have a small Art of Doing Stuff gift for everyone who shows up.
If you plan to come you might wanna show up wearing a tee shirt with your Twitter handle or Gravatar picture on it so I know who the hell you are.
Not in Southern Ontario? Check here for a Seedy Saturday event coming up in your area.
Have a good weekend!
So Karen - I loved this post, but it seems strange to me that 'Round Up Corn' would be advertising on your site.... "one-pass weed control in a convenient, small package". Just sayin'.
LOL. Well isn't that interesting. I actually have no control over the ads. Not so specifically anyway. I can say "no porn ads", "no religion ads", but not No Weed Control for Corn ads. I'm not bothered by it. I think the ironic ad actually gives my post an even longer lasting impression. ~ karen
I don't care about spots on my apples - Leave me the birds and the bees. Please.
Great post, Karen. I saw "Food, Inc." last year and it really opened my eyes to a lot of things I didn't know about the in food industry. However I've been yelling about problems with our food supply in general to anyone who will listen, for years! It literally IS a case of taking the natural good stuff out and putting the bad/GMO/altered stuff in (and then SUING anyone who dares to try and grow non-GMO crops outside of what is dictated to them!? That's a definition of insanity, IMO). It really is no wonder we are all tired, sick, overweight, malnourished, can't think, we're full of diseases, cancers and the like...everything we eat and drink has been so radically modified and chemicalized it doesn't resemble anything in the natural world any more.
And now the bees. Without those busy little bees, we really are done for...! :(
Great info that everone should hear. I adhere to the "do what you can, when you can" mindset as well.
I'm imagining you with a slide projector & pointing stick. Or did you get all tech-y with Power Point?
Spread the word!
Thank-you, Karen.
Thank you for this post Karen, I'm glad you are opening a few more eyes to the world of Monsanto! I lived and raised my kids in the country for 15 years on a 2 acre lot, in one of the original farmhouses in the area, surrounded by 98 acres of mostly hay fields. In the field next to our house was an ancient apple orchard with 6 different types of apples. We were also surrounded by raspberry and thimble berry bushes, red currants and Concord grapes. The kids, our golden retriever (he enjoyed the raspberries) and I spent lots of time hanging out having dessert off the bushes and trees. I also made some wicked grape jelly from the grapes. Well, a "farmer" bought the 98 acres surrounding us and plowed and scraped and tore out all the trees, bushes,grasses and BURNED black walnut trees that were a hundred years old!!!(idiot could have sold those trees and made a lot of money, but that's another story). He did this to plant GMO corn. The birds disappeared, so did the bees that used to swarm looking for a winter home. At least my kids were able to experience nature in all her fabulous glory, the baby porcupine that came to visit, ma and pa pheasant, red foxes, coyotes, ugly vultures, wild turkeys, various birds. Our little paradise was gone to GMO corn and we got the hell out. They don't just affect the bees, it's ALL wildlife and they make the land sterile so nothing grows....
I'm sorry I will miss your talk, but I do plan to plant a veggie garden in pots this year on my back deck with heritage seeds!
But what are you supposed to do if you don't WANT to grow your own food and raise your own chickens?!? I mean, I think it's GREAT that people want to, but I get annoyed at the constant care that one 12 pound dog and 2 beta fish seem to require. I don't think I'm cut out for farming, animal husbandry and chicken hatchery!
Farmers markets. Or organic produce section. (I just browse the organic section to see what's on sale or priced similarly to the reg. stuff and buy that) ~ karen!
i haven't had the courage to watch Food Inc. yet, but i am well aware of Monsanto & some of its practices. They are the devil. Thanks for the info. I only discovered your blog a week ago, but i gotta say you are awesome!
Thx.! ~ karen
great reading..so many points of view and information. good luck at seedy sat karen but i know yu wont need it.
Really appreciate your post! You presented the issue so well.
My goodness! That's why I love to visit your blog, Karen. I learn something new every time. Congratulation on your speech.
Thank you, Karen! I care so much about these things, too, but it isn't always easy to know where to start. Your funny and beautiful posts about your chickens and their coop was one of the two main things that helped me make the leap to get my own chickens. Next, I hope to start growing some of the chickens' food right here on the property. More animals, more food / less plowing, less pesticides ... pretty soon it will be an old-school farm again. Thank you for being an inspiration.
Wow. Well, you're welcome. ~ karen
My hives have been struggling. Corn is grown all over, not just the mid-west, and the little valley I live in here in the northwest has lots of corn. My poor little bees keep dying, and my pocketbook is struggling, too.
What you didn't mention is that Bayer bought out Beelogics, one of the largest independent bee research centers. So now Monsanto/Bayer owns the research that was being used against them, and controls what new studies will be conducted. I wonder how soon it will bee before Monsanto begins selling Roundup Ready bees? How soon until they start suing anyone whose queen mates with one of their drones?
This is seriously scary stuff.
I'm so happy you wrote this post. It's very important information that everyone should be aware of. Bees pollinate more than 1/3 of our food supply. Without them, we're screwed.
And, I agree with Beth - Monsanto is the Devil and I've read the same thing about them suing small farmers who end up with their corn seed (despite them not even wanting it) from cross pollination.
I started saving my own seeds on a serious level about 3-4 years ago. But that doesn't offer me the opportunity to try new things so I must also purchase seeds and plants every year. I'm proud to say that all the seeds I bought online this week (from 3 different sources) are heirloom varieties & grown organically. I feel like then I can better perpetuate the concept; get more varieties, save the seeds. Plant some and share some. My neighbor, a very serious gardener, just put up a greenhouse and will be starting some plants for me too. I did make one concession and bought some hybrid purple and white striped potatoes. AND I've been thinking for a year or two about beekeeping myself, so I appreciate the timeliness of this post!
Fantastic post... Monsanto is the devil, and from what I've read they are currently suing the farmers near them if they find their corn seed ( from cross pollination) growing in the farmers fields. No one can control the wind... So Scary.
Just shared your sad bee story on Facebook. Sad. So sad. My sister's zucchini failed to produce last summer outside Atlanta, Georgia. She started asking around. The bees there are struggling or leaving.
Thank you for this post, Karen.
You put it so well (and that ain't the half of it).
I have been following the evil Montsanto (and a few other companies) for years now and do hold them majorly responsible for bee colony colapse all over the world. And its not just about honey, its about the many foods that result from bee pollination.
Break a leg on Seedy Saturday. Wow 'em with your bad self!
I have had "Food Inc" of my list of movies to rent next for a while now. I want my husband to watch it with me so he can be as vigilant about what goes into his mouth as I am. Consumers are the answer to the problem I suppose. If we demand better food and are willing to pay a higher price for it then we could make a difference. Unfortunately everyone does not do this nor can they. It's really crazy.
Definitely food for thought! No pun intended. This is so scary. I am going to email a link to all my friends and hope they read it. I wish I could hear you speak in person. Now, where can I buy seeds that are safe?
FYI - We had a bee hive in one of our birdhouses. A huge one! Hubby wanted to kill them but I said no. I paid a bee keeper to come and take the whole thing away. He was taking them to a rural area to give them a new home. I hope they were happy that I did this, I now I was.