Soggy Srping Beauties

     Winter can be depressing, especially if it's cloudy and days are dark, like they have been recently, and it rains a lot. Ironically, it can be equally depressing if it's not rainy this time of year. Our whole environment here is based on a rainy winters and when the sky is zipped up, it can be scary. Last winter was especially so.
     Of course, it's nice to have sunny, dry days to get out and garden, hike, bike, or just be outdoosr as bonus days in winter. But it's also nice to have enough water that native grasses, plants and trees aren't stressed, ratcheting up fire danger. Wells dry up and rivers shrink, affecting fish, wildlife,  farmers, ranchers, recreation and the economies built around them.
     So, I swore I'd never complain about the rain again - and so far I haven't. Even when our wet-

Wet-weather stream

weather stream flowed over our driveway. We can handle that. The trees the stream flowed through - and even flooded - got a boost to root strength. I hope they're banking moisture for the upcoming dry period.  (OK, the weeds developed better roots too, but we can probably handle them if we get after them at the right time.)


Gifts of Color
     Mother Nature gives us sure signs of spring, no matter where we live. I've seen two already: turtles in the pond at the end of the road (a very full pond, I might add!), and the first wildflowers.  I'm often surprised at how early both arrive. The parade of colorful blooms always starts with what my former neighbor called Spring Beauties. And they are just that. They're tiny, seemingly delicate little purple flowers. In reality, they're pretty doggone hardy because they're stepped on by humans and wildlife. Once you notice the first one, you'll see lots and lots of others that either just magically appeared in that very moment - or went unnoticed. For how long? How could I not notice them?
     Am also seeing signs of flag iris that will appear in another month or so. The bulbs are pushing erect leaves and stems up through the muddy soil, mainly on the south sides of hills. The blossoms will eventually arch with their own weight and bloom in such beautiful purple and blue hues that it will be impossible to resist picking gazillions of bouquets of them.
    People in town are already enjoying spring bulb colors. We're just high enough in the hills that such displays are delayed by weeks. That's just fine; it extends the season since we're in town regularly so enjoy them there first. Besides, there aren't as many wildflowers in town and we'll have a veritable symphony of color (iris, columbines, tiger lilies, Shasta daisies and much more) once they get started.

 Mosses and Lichens

Winds this winter flung lots of mosses and lichens to the ground and I've always found them fascinating. Robin Wall Kemmerer, a professor from the east coast, wrote a beautiful book of essays called Gathering Moss: a natural history of mosses (Oregon State University Press; 2003). I highly recommend it.

  

Our old fruit trees are in their "golden years" and we fear each is their last. But they're hardy! Some branches succumb each year, but even in death there is beauty as lichens and mosses take hold. Birds seem to love them too when they stop by the suet baskets - whether for bugs or nest material, or just to revel in their sensuous "fluff" - who knows? 

Seedy Characters

     I just spent two fascinating days transplanted into another world - one filled with "seedy" people. Really, these folks are passionate about seeds. They're bona fide seed geeks, whether they work in farm fields, home gardens or research labs. Before you roll your eyes, remember that if it weren't for them, you and I wouldn't eat. Even if you're a carnivore, whatever animal you eat relies on plants to survive.
     Best of all, these folks focus on organically-grown seeds.
    This was the 8th biennial conference presented by the   Organic Seed Alliance. Five hundred people came from across the country and around the world.. Another 500 signed up to watch the recorded workshops online. This is especially heartening since there were only about 60 people at their first conference. There were folks of all ages, levels of experience and probably as many women as men.

Many participants are also authors

    Why would they let someone in who has only casually saved a few dill or cilantro seeds (which require no more talent than to shake them into your hand)? I could easily have felt like an interloper, but was never made to feel such. While there were plenty of technical workshops, other topics we are (should) all be interested in: GMOs, seed security, how communities can grow their own seed and food, seed banks, how climate change is affecting our food supply, how can we adapt to change. If you do no more than simply eat food, all of this should concern you.



Frozen
     The keynote speaker, Cary Fowler, known as the "father" of the Svalbard Global Seed Vault sent shivers through the room not with photos of the frigid mountain into which this seed bank is carved, but the precariousness of the seedbanks around the world. Most are quite unsophisticated with little temperature control, cataloging or proper maintenance, putting the world's seed heritage at risk. Risk isn't just from natural disasters, but from human ones. Only one nation has withdrawn seeds from

GrassRoots Books had the last 38 copies of Folwer's first book

safekeeping at Svalbard. That was Syria. Fowler said they had managed to get their collection samples in Svalbard just before chaos hit Aleppo and when those who work with them got to another safe country, they asked for them back to start their research and production again. They will, of course, make another deposit to Svalbard. Most of us may not understand the urgency of saving seeds grown in a given place. We assume we can just send them some of ours and all will be fine. It won't. Our seeds won't work everywhere and besides, ours may well have been adapted from seeds that originated in that country. Most of us have no clue as to the critical interdependence of seeds. Seed "geeks" are responsible for not just our survivability, but our basic health. We owe them far more that we'll ever realize.
Patented Greed
     What most struck me was the fact not once did anyone utter the arrogant phrase "feed the world." That's a catch-phrase commonly used by the likes of  Monsanto and Syngenta to justify their patenting  as much heritage seed as possible in order to control the supply and "improve" it by making it resistant to their herbicides and pesticides. That all boils down to money. Lots of money since no one can survive without food.  I've never been to one of their conferences but can only imagine there is a lot more secrecy, fancy suits, and lawyers. At the Organic Seed Alliance there was just one suit (on an older panelist from Boston), lots of backpacks with juice jars poking out of them and hints of dirt under some fingernails. That's not shameful in this crowd. In fact, it's a tribal badge, it shows you understand and respect where food comes from. Fancy manicures would draw suspicion as much as patented seeds or patent leather shoes.
     Rather than make me feel like an interloper our outlier, this crowd left me with awe and gratitude. They also gave me a feast of food for thought which will feed my writing for years to come.

Cultivating Knowledge and Cohorts

     People may think farmers prop their stockinged feet up by the woodstove in winter, enjoying novels or video games and big bowls of potato chips all day, with nothing to do while it's cold and wet outside. After all, you can't plow mud, and tomatoes don't grow on cold, cloudy days.
     Well, actually tomatoes do grow in winter, but not outside. Farmers and hyper-gardeners have myriad starts under grow-lights in warm spaces or on heated mats already.
     Winter is when farmers are prepping for early planting. They know they've got to have your favorite summer produce--things you might well grow in your own garden--ready when your taste-buds crave them fresh and you just have to have the first local zucchini or tomato - you simply can't wait 'til yours are ready. By late summer when you're sated and are sneaking them on neighbors' porches, they're not gonna' be selling many. And especially if everyone is getting them free from gardening neighbors.
     This is also the time of year that farmers gather with their cohorts at conferences 'cuz they sure can't do it in any other season. Their families barely see them the rest of the year, unless they're working the fields too, which most probably are. One spouse often has a job in town, though.
     Speaking of spouses. When you hear the word farmer, you probably think of a guy, no? Me, too, more often than not, I confess, even though I know numerous women who farm, either on their own, or as part of a family farm. The latest issue of Oregon Tilth magazine, In Good Tilth, is devoted to women farmers and food leaders -  and not just locally. I highly recommend finding a copy (in Corvallis at First Alternative Co-ops, by the produce section. It's free!), or you can read it online.
A Novel Idea
     A decade ago, a group of folks from non-profits that dealt with food recognized the difficulty of food producers and food consumers making critical contact, especially as the local food movement was gaining traction. So, they organized a gathering where farmers, orchardists,  ranchers, processors, grocers, restaurants, schools and others could meet, share concerns and ideas, and exchange business cards. They named it the Local Food Connection.  Not every farm or food producer had a website back then, nor were search engines all that efficient. The idea worked and has grown. Each year, about half the folks attending are there for the first time. It's inspiring to see young people connecting not just with potential customers, but to meet mentors in their own fields (no pun intended).
     One of the highlights is the always-amazing lunch. Ingredients are generously provided by food producers attending and the Lane Community College's culinary arts students prepare an awesome lunch. Even the continental breakfast was excellent: blueberry coffee cake made with local grains and berries, locally-crafted herbal teas, smoothies, keifer, milks, granola, yogurt, hummus, nuts, dried fruit, etc. It's a world away from typical conference fare of glazed donuts and coffee with artificial creamers. (Bleh!)
     While I learned a lot at the workshop featuring chefs with their own farms supplying ingredients (Excelsior Inn & Ristorante of Eugene, .Gathering Together Farm, Philomath, and Agrarian Ales, Coburg), I had a most interesting conversation with a fellow from SnoTemp, a local company that stores and ships so many of the local and regional products that end up at my local food co-op, grocery stores and restaurants. I really hadn't thought much about where businesses stored their foods off season or how they keep them at the best temperatures, be it frozen, cool or warm and dry. "But what happens if the power goes off?" I asked. The manager I talked with said they would be fine for several days if doors weren't opened much because the building is so well-insulated. Interesting!
Seeds of Security
     Monday was spent with farmers and buyers. Friday and Saturday will be spent learning about and from the folks who, literally, are at the very source of it all: seeds. We are truly blessed to have some of the best seed professionals in the world right here in "Cascadia" (northern California to southern British Columbia, Idaho and parts of Montana. Even right here in the Willamette Valley. Stay tuned.