SOUTHLAND SEED SAVERS
It has been a busy season for the seed savers. In July we were gifted the care of the Otago seed savers collection and the two regions our now working together to preserve, keep fresh and bulk up the seeds that do well in our shared ‘bio-region’. Members of both the Otago Organic Growers and Riverton Organic growers adopted seeds for multiplying and we look forward to receiving these back soon for packaging and storing.\\
In our garden we have bulked up ‘Bulls blood’ beetroot, 10 varieties of peas and 8 varieties of pre-European potatoes, as well as rainbow chard, parsley, amber carrots and many herbs. The only thing is we had less room to grow food crops for the house so we have now doubled our vege garden for next year!
We also got in for sale Koanga Gardens seeds and next spring hope to stock eco seeds and organic/heritage Kings seeds.
Most seeds available in shops, apart from the companies mentioned above, are from overseas- some are multinational companies who are gaining a monopoly on these seeds. They could say $10 a packet in the future and we would have to pay this if they were the only source. One small grower in USA was ordered not to sell a particular seed as the big company had patented them! In England it is now somehow illegal to grow un-commercial heritage seeds.
Scary times could be ahead if we aren’t careful so lets spread them around widely now! The more local growers who use and save these seeds the better as then we will have a ready supply in the future for our Southern NZ needs. Seeds saved from the best plants of other climate zones don’t do as well as hardy ‘Southland grown’ ones. Seeds that sit unplanted lose their fertility and a variety can be lost.
If everyone who reads this coastline adopts, grows and saves just one variety of vege seed- every seed in our collection will be able to be kept alive- go to the seed savers page on our web site now and choose which seed you would like to adopt. If you don’t know how to save seeds yet we have a workshop coming up at the end of this month.
If you haven’t time to do it yourself you can sponsor a variety by donating $30 to Southland Seed Savers. Choose the one you like the most and you will be it’s official sponsor…we can then pay a local grower to focus on saving that variety.
Ideally we can one day have our own Southern NZ Seed Company and sell these local heritage seeds cheaply. We are presently researching some funding ideas for this enterprise.
GARDENER WANTED
Wanted someone who lives near Otautau / Wreys bush to help with an exciting new organic market garden / seed saving project. A couple of hours a week, initially voluntary, with training in bio-intensive gardening/seed saving under the guidance of Adam Guyton. He is managing the enterprise but is unable to be there all the time. We soon hope to create a couple of part time jobs if one of our ‘seed saving’ funding applications are successful.
RIVERTON ORGANIC FOOD CO-OP NEWS
The good news is we are flat out, we are sure we are selling double what we did this time last year! The food we sell is all organic- mostly certified. This means it is grown and produced in sustainable ways free of chemicals and additives. Every week the shelves empty out and large orders are now placed weekly rather than monthly.
It is great that more people are choosing to buy organic food and that is no wonder as more and more stories are appearing in the news and health magazines outlining the dangers of this chemical or that additive. The obvious best choice is organic whole foods and consumers are changing fast. Soon non-organic food stuffs will not be able to be given away as no-one will want to take the risk…and organic farming methods will be the norm.
That reminds us of a quote we had on our very first co-op price list, back in 1991 ‘May it come to pass that organically grown food is available cheaply at all supermarkets and people who want to buy chemically grown food will have to form a co-op in order to afford it”
So we are lucky here in Riverton with our Food Co-op brimming with our biggest range ever of healthy organic produce at the cheapest possible prices… and if you help out with the co-op work you can earn a discount on the food you buy. Let us know if you have a couple of free hours each month or each week.
The bad news is everyone else in NZ and the world is after organic food and we can’t always get what we want now. Please don’t
complain to our volunteers as we cannot do anything about it until more growers shift to organic methods- the demand is exceeding the supply. Instead complain to the farmers and growers you know and tell them to make the switch to organics!
So now and then there will be no lemons, cheese, butter, bread, eggs or whatever and the prices will no doubt creep up under such demand.
Having more local food is the answer and how lucky we are here in Riverton.
Honey (2 Sources), eggs (4 sources), vegetables (4 sources), fruit (2 sources)
milk, meat, icecream all grown/produced within half an hours drive and delivered fresh sometimes daily. But we need more- can you contribute?
Riverton Organic Food Co-op
has the best range of organic fruit and veges in Southland as well as a great selection of dried foods and other produce at the cheapest prices possible.
Why are so many people switching to organic food?
It’s better for your health
It’s better for the planet
and it tastes better!
Make the change today and shop at the Riverton Organic Food Co-op
Open 10-4.30 6 days and Sunday afternoons 154 Palmerston St
(Our Riverton Radio add over summer)
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