Seed Saving Hacked Webinar Part 1-Why Seed Saving Is So Important.

If you ever wanted to know how to save your own seeds, why saving is so important and how come more people are not doing it? Take a look at this webinar; Seed Saving Hacked hosted by Greg Peterson: http://InstantTeleseminar.com/?eventid=63542964 as of today you can still access the link but I’m not sure for how long. The webinar is presented by Bill McDorman and Belle Starr, who are co-founders and co-directors of Rocky Mountain Seed Alliance, http://seedsave.org/ and http://www.seedsave.org/index.php/learn/seed-school-online Bill McDorman has 30+ years of experience with seed saving. He started a nonprofit called Down Home Project to have more diversity and varieties. Belle Starr was in radio and marketing. She was a co-producer of Soul Fest, and environmental show in the early 90's. They have developed a Seed Saving School online to teach how to save seeds and also create teachers, to teach seed saving. Here are some interesting facts that were presented in the webinar, along with a brief summary on what was covered.

Who is seed saving for? Seed saving is for anyone and everyone interested in sustainable agriculture. Whether you’re a farmer, home gardener or a family you can reap the benefits of seed saving. Let’s face it buying organic is expensive so keeping the food local down to the seed can decrease food expense. Seed saving has attracted community leaders, activists and policymakers to join in the “Seed Justice Movement”. Seed school training courses are great for students and teachers, also survivalists and Preppers that are seeking security for future food sources.

So why is seed saving so important? First of all seed saving is important because crop diversity has experienced a 96% loss since the beginning of times. In the beginning, all food came from wild plants; now check out the statistics from the webinar:

Here's a little chart I put together with some statistics shared during webinar.

Of the 12 Modern Day plants which make up 75% of our food, there are 3 plants that provide over ½ of the world’s food. Those 3 plants are; wheat, rice and corn. As a side note, 28-40% of the world’s calories come from corn/corn syrup. You can see why it is so important to bring our plant diversity back.

How did we lose ownership of our seeds and the history behind it? Here is a fitting quote by Jefferson, "the greatest service which can be rendered any country is to add an useful plant to it's culture”. When Thomas Jefferson was president he brought back 100 varieties of rice. In 1862, Lincoln signed the Morrill Act which included land grants to help us be more self-reliant. There was emphasis put on higher learning in agricultural which put local extensions in place to assist.  1.1 billion packs of seeds were distributed in 1897 by the USDA Distribution Program for FREE to promote self-reliance. Big companies decided to tap into that market. By 1924, a company called American Seed Trade Association or ASTA lobbied until Congress cut the program so that they could sell seeds for profit.

Here is a slide image from Seed Saving Hacked Webinar

Wow, they (lobbyists) took away OUR self-reliance and replaced it with genetics and biotechnology. An important side note to make in regards to the 1986-Coordinated Framework for Regulation of Biotechnology was mentioned in the webinar is that, "90% of corn is biotech and no regulations have been passed to regulate it". I can stop right there, this makes me want to start saving seeds and growing my own food immediately.

Here we are modern day, and we are full of myths on why we can’t save our seeds. Myth’s such as it’s too difficult and time-consuming. Another myth is we might make a mistake and mess up the purity of the seed. There are several manuals out there that scare people off because they are complicated, breaking down plant families in Latin terms leaving growers with the misconception that you need to be an expert to save seeds. According to the webinar, 238 generations have been saving seeds; you don’t have to be an expert. Seed saving started with farm’s ritually saving their seeds year after year. An example was given with the tomato, you get hundreds of seeds out of one tomato and one seed can produce enough tomatoes for 10 years. Another important point made by Bill McDorman about the purity of seeds was, “purity is only relevant in large-scale commercial farms”.  So don’t be afraid, experiment and have fun. You CAN save seeds.

Seed Saving Hacked was a webinar packed with so much information. I hope had you will have the time to listen to the link and look into seed saving for yourself.  Check out Bill and Belle at http://rockymountainseeds.org/connect and  http://seedsave.org/ .

Look for my upcoming blog, Seed Saving Hacked Webinar Part 2 where I share more from the webinar about; seed libraries, two simple things we can do, the three easiest vegetables to save seeds from and how to save them.

                                                                                                        ~Blessings & Love~