Archives

Seeds of revolution

Seeds: they are amazing. That these tiny things hold within themselves the complete potential for an enormous tree, beautiful flower or delicious vegetable is a wonder of nature and evolution. That anyone can harvest a seed, plant it, and grow plants to feed themselves is an extraordinarily beautiful thing. Seeds are part of our heritage, our culture, our civilisation. Without the ability to cultivate plants from seed we’d never have formed agricultural… Read More

Category: Farming & food systems, Industry & agriculture, Politics & society, Rants & raves, Science, Technology Tags: ag science, agri-business, agricultural science, agriculture, Bayer, crop diversity, EU plant reproductive materials act, genetic engineering, genetically modified seeds, GM, GMO, human rights, Monsanto, occupy Monsanto, plant genetics, pseudo-food, science, seed legislation

Anti-holidays and sustainability

When is a holiday not a holiday? When it involves working and studying and throwing yourself head-first into a foreign culture and totally different economic reality. People keep asking me how my ‘holiday’ in Peru went, and look confused when I answer that it was difficult, challenging and one of the hardest things I’ve ever done. ‘But surely it was amazing?’ they ask, and it was but it was also very confronting and exhausting and… Read More

Category: Adventures, Anecdotes, Education, Ethics, Institutions & infrastructure, Politics & society, Travel Tags: agriculture, developing world, entitlement culture, environmental awareness, environmentalism, food and nutrition, learning, personal growth, peru, political systems, pollution, poverty, social justice, south america, sustainability, sustainable development, trying to change the world, volunteering, working in other cultures

I grew this

These last couple of weeks I’ve been feeling a little low. This time of year does it to me: I get over-scheduled, over-committed, under-slept, and with most folk getting busy with family commitments sometimes I feel pretty alone. I’m tired, and some days it can feel like a bit of a struggle to keep going, but then the little things come along that lift me. This afternoon I took myself on a… Read More

Category: Community, Ethics, Farming & food systems, Food & cooking, Gardening, Industry & agriculture, Lifestyle, Rants & raves Tags: agriculture, backyard farming, bartering, community, food security, food systems, Gardening, grow your own food, in my garden, independence from supermarkets, seasonal eating, sustainable food

The biodiverse gardener

Over the weekend I spent a bit of time in the garden, weeding, composting and mulching. I’m preparing beds for the month ahead, keeping myself motivated through the hard graft (the gardens here are seriously neglected) by daydreaming about the harvests to come. As well as thinking about what will do well in my garden and what I like to eat I’ve been giving a bit of thought to biological and genetic… Read More

Category: Climate & greenhouse, Farming & food systems, Gardening, Industry & agriculture, Rants & raves Tags: agriculture, biodiveristy, crop diversity, food plants, food security, garden planning, Gardening, genetic strains, genetics, heirloom vegetables, in my garden, plants, rare breeds, seed banks, seed saving

The shape of things to come

A brighter future for people and planet

The shape of things to come

A brighter future for people and planet

Archives

Seeds of revolution

I grew this

The biodiverse gardener

Follow Blog via Email

Archives

Categories

Other places to find me