June Newsletter - Plant it again, and it will adapt
"Plant this. It might not look great the first time, but plant it again, and it will adapt."
This is a quote from Rodrigo Haro Tapia, quoting farmers in Mexico sharing seeds. Julia Dakin was fortunate enough to speak with Rodrigo while in Antibes, France, about his work with indigenous Mexican farmers in Chiapas, Mexico.
I find these words to be true for most of the crops I have grown. In their first season or two, the harvests were small, the bugs got to them, and they were puny plants, barely clinging to life as they threw out their last energy to produce a few seeds for next year. And yet, in the following years, those few seeds grow into a sea of abundance of barley heading in early spring or a forest of tall corn in high summer.
This year was the first year my family planted sweet corn. We planted the GTS mix, which grew and flowered well, and we were rewarded with many wonderful ears and some ears that were sparsely pollinated. Cobs that were left on the stalks for seed or were later to mature were eaten by squirrels and showed heavy scarring damage from stink bugs. Overall, we were gifted a bounty of yummy sweet corn to eat and many times more seeds to plant next year.
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| Sweet corn cobs saved for seed. Some cobs were chewed on by squirrels, and many kernels are scarred by stink bugs and mold damage. |
While the cobs above may not look great, I know that in years to come, their future generations will produce beautiful ears of corn because of their diversity and desire to thrive.
If you would like to read an edited version of the inspiring conversation between Rodrigo and Julia, click here.
Seed Savers Exchange Celebrates its 50th Anniversary
The Seed Savers Exchange is celebrating 50 years of preserving America’s diverse and endangered garden and crop legacy. The events will take place at Heritage Farm in Decorah, Iowa, from August 8-9 and will feature speakers, farm tours, a seed swap, and many other activities. Some of us from Going to Seed will be attending, and we hope to see you there. More information can be found here.
Community Posts
Add your voice: Local Seeds Coalition is gathering stories
The Local Seeds team has been busy behind the scenes organizing a volunteer crew of interviewers, and they’re ready to talk with you. Whether you're involved in a seed project, community effort, or local food work, they need help gathering insights into what's needed most to support an evolving local seed movement. There's also a form if you prefer written responses. View Julia's post here.
Reading Return to Resistance
Interested in joining Spencer Suffling in reading Raoul Robinson’s Return to Resistance this winter? Spencer will be posting small reports on the community discussion here. If you have not heard about Return to Resistance or Raoul Robinson’s work, it is highly recommended. His work is essential to Adaptation Agriculture and will help the reader understand horizontal resistance and biometric plant breeding.
Looking for Summer Reading?
Looking to read something inspiring about food sovereignty movements, farming, seeds, and other great topics related to gardening and growing your own food and medicine? Check out the book list recommendations in this thread here. If you have some recommendations to share, please post them!
In the troubles of our days, I hope you can plant some seeds in this Earth and share in their being alive under the sun.
Lowell + GTS
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