Saving Seeds for our Future

The following was posted in the June 1 edition of the "Bozone":

When I was a kid growing my first gardens, I would lie on the ground, cheek to the dirt, watching plants grow.  Once I caught a bean seedling erupting from the ground!  Another time, mesmerized by a dewdrop on a tomato flower tip, it popped open right before my eyes! 

Plants are magic.  This spring I have been eating lots of sprouts.  I watch them grow and listen to them bursting open in their jars.  The potential contained in each seed is profound.  Two halves of a shell spread open into leaves, journeying into another cycle.   When we eat them, we take that energy inside our bodies.

Humans have cultivated plants for ages.  Our entire bounty of thousands of diverse foods is due to our ancestors favoring plants - and saving seeds.  Studying sustainable agriculture in college, we wandered across the southwest desert over ancient farm fields.  Nomadic people covered agave plants with rock piles for water containment and then left them for years until harvesting and roasting them in pits.  Many of our first plants were cultivated ever so roughly, and eventually we developed complex farming systems.   

For many reasons – feeding our huge human population, greed, power, etc – agriculture has turned into an unsustainable, toxic beast.  We are losing much of our diversity of species by dangerously favoring only very few.   Worse, the terminator gene is out there in both plant and animal worlds; offspring of these genetically modified oranisms (gmo’s) will no longer reproduce.  We have to deal with many unnatural gmo’s, chemicals used in plant production, water issues, and high energy use in the transportation of food. 

What can we do?  Along with supporting our local organic farmers and becoming more informed, most of us can grow a garden.  Even if it is a small lettuce box or herbs in a pot, it is a step in the right direction.  Maybe we can venture into larger plots or community gardens.   This year I am trying lentils, kamut, fava beans, soybeans, and quinoia – cold-hardy, nutritious crops that do not need to be watered after they germinate! 

Once we grow our bounty, saving seeds is vital.  We are just building our produce base here in southwest Montana.  You may notice each year in the market new and exciting crops our farmers are experimenting with.  This is how it has always been done.  We are creating our own legacy in this bioregion.   When we save the seeds from plants with desirable qualities, we create a wealth of food sources to pass down and fine-tune for generations.  Many of us know that our indigenous cousins, the Native Americans, made decisions based on a 7-generation rule.  If it will benefit 7 generations into the future, it is good.   Though we are living in the midst of many bad decisions made before us and by us, we can change direction and create a sustainable situation on the planet.  Just plant – and save - some seeds.

Jenny LePage is a massage therapist and owner of Bozeman Massage Therapy LLC, an eco-friendly business downtown.  She can be reached via www.bozemanmassagetherapy.com