Local farmers join movement to save seeds, protect agriculture

Tag : natural food color

Carved into a wall of solid rock and permafrost in a remote cornerof Norway, a man-made fortress stands between us and starvation. Itsounds like a teaser to a Hollywood blockbuster, but the SvalbardGlobal Seed Vault is a real answer to very real threats to ournatural food supply.
Hundreds of feet inside a frozen mountain, billions of seeds fromall over the planet are being stored in the hope of protecting ourprecious biodiversity from war, environmental disasters and badagricultural practices. If the crops we depend on are ever wipedout, we will have the means for a new beginning.
"The great thing about food production is that wherever there isground and water, you can grow food," said Josie Erskine, co-ownerof Peaceful Belly Farm in Boise. "We have the ability to have asolution to a food crisis when it comes - as long as we have seed."
There are those who think the food crisis is already happening.Much of modern agriculture depends on chemicals and geneticmodifications to ensure people have mammoth strawberries all yearlong, but Erskine said the consequences of messing with nature arecoming home to roost.
She said heirloom varieties of everything from corn to wheat aredisappearing as genetically modified organisms (GMOs) contaminatesurrounding crops. Her husband and business partner, Clay Erskine,added that commercial seed companies are conglomerating andselecting for only a few staples, making our food sources more andmore limited and fragile.
"The modern breeding process chooses traits that are desirable forthe shipping industry," he said. "They are selected to be durable,not flavorful."
"Seed saving is a grass-roots effort to take back the seedindustry," his wife added, "to have power over our own food."
LIVING CURRENCY
In the wake of the 9/11 terrorist attacks in 2001, the Erskineswere consumed by a single thought.
"Our first instinct was seed, that we needed to start saving seedsinstead of money," Josie Erskine said. That year, they foundedPeaceful Belly, an organic farm that includes two small plots inBoise (one off of Castle Drive and another in the Dry Creek area)that feed a 150-member community-supported agriculture (CSA) co-op;local restaurants including Red Feather Lounge and BittercreekAlehouse; and shoppers at Downtown Boise's Capital City PublicMarket.
Fruits, vegetables, herbs and chickens with brilliant red combscoexist at Peaceful Belly, and every weekday, they nourish theErskines' crew. Lunch is prepared with whatever is fresh, andgardeners enjoy the bounty of the land under a canopy of plum andtrumpet vines. It is a time to connect, not only with each otherbut also with the food on their plates - "true food," as JosieErskine calls it.
Because the Peaceful Belly family spends so much time cultivating,cooking and eating together, they are able to slow down andcelebrate the process. Many Americans aren't so lucky. A lot of thefood they buy is packaged and tastes as bland as its back story."Fresh" produce is part of the typical diet, but often it is pickedtoo early and stimulated with natural gas before hitting grocerystore shelves.
"Every tomato in the store was picked rock hard and green as allget out - not a blush on them," Clay Erskine said. "They get pickedand packed and fumigated for color, but they don't have a chance todevelop flavor."
Peaceful Belly grows about 150 kinds of heirloom tomatoes, only 70percent of which successfully produce in a given year.
"Everything about the tomato is so worth the risk, even just to getthree from a plant for the whole season," Josie Erskine said. "Ilook at vegetables and fruits like Christmas. Why can we wait allyear for Christmas and we can't wait for a tomato?"
Fighting against that need for instant gratification is at the coreof the seed-saving movement. It once was a widespread tradition, away to transport culture across continents and generations. It wasabout survival, but, more than that, it was about maintainingidentity.
"The Cherokee carried seeds on the Trail of Tears, and, as Americawent from wild to cultivated, settlers carried seeds in theircovered wagons," Erskine said. "You really see that it's the poorand persecuted who have been the seed savers."
STRONG ROOTS
Beth Rasgorshek doesn't fall into either category, but seeds anchorher life. Her Canyon Bounty Farm in Nampa is devoted to producingorganic seeds for beans, soy beans, lettuce, peppers, onions,leeks, flowers, melons and herbs. She is only in her fourth season,but her family has a 30-year history in the industry, and herparents (who live just across the field) have helped her become arespected supplier for a handful of organic seed companies.
Rasgorshek works more than a dozen different seed lots on sevenacres with antique farm equipment scavenged from local auctions.Many of her neighbors are involved in commercial agriculture, andthey often tease her for working too hard. She is inclined toagree, but for Rasgorshek, there is only one method.
"Farming this way is the only way that makes sense to me, takingcare of the soil and the impact it has on our community," she said."I'm always focused on what more I can do. It doesn't ever feellike enough."
One of the things she does is supply organic growers in theTreasure Valley - including Peaceful Belly - with good seed. Everyyear is an experiment, the goal being to establish a catalog ofseeds with the best balance of flavor, color, texture, vigor, yieldand hardiness. Rasgorshek also sells to individuals with yardgardens, a person-to-person exchange she sees as a major tool ofchanging people's attitudes about food.
"We kind of have to do it in a mouse-like manner under the legs oftall horses," she said, spinning a metaphor about grass rootsefforts supplanting existing norms. "If you're worried about food,plant a garden. Growing your own bell peppers won't necessarilylower your overall food bill, but it gives people a sense of foodsecurity and reconnects them to food in a more tangible, completeway."
She has noticed an uptick in people starting or expanding their owngardens this year, some to save money and others to reinvest in thefood they eat. A significant slice of the population will still buyChilean apples in the off-season, but those who have tasted an oldfashioned red from Anderson Apple Ranch in Emmett have a hard timegoing back. Rasgorshek thinks it is because of the memoriesassociated with meals, the flashes of frying okra with grandma inFlorida when you smell or even see it.
"It's a great day if I can hear one good food memory from acustomer," she said, touching the weathered, handmade seed packetsput together by her husband's Sicilian grandfather, SabotinoMastrandrea. "Seeds are a part of it, that lineage that gets passedon."
A growing community of thoughtful producers and consumers arepassing on this valuable message, seed by seed, memory by memory.They may not reach everyone, but small victories (and strawberries)are often the sweetest.
Erin Ryan: 672-6732