Denver Seed School in a Day- A Great Success!

Sep 19, 2016 | Activities

On Saturday, August 20th nearly 20 eager participants gathered at DeLaney Community Farm in Aurora, Colorado for Seed School in a Day! This course was made possible through a grant from The Posner Center for International Development received by tenants: Denver Urban Gardens (DUG), Friends of ENCA Farm (FoE), and outside collaborator The Rocky Mountain Seed Alliance (RMSA).

 

Seed School in a Day is a dynamic program created by RMSA, the jam packed one-day workshop offers a comprehensive overview of seed saving. Practical, hands-on activities are balanced with engaging lectures to provide a fun and interactive learning experience. Participants leave the workshop with a deeper understanding of why regional seed saving is so important and the skills needed to start their own seed saving adventures!

Our course included this learning and so much more! Participants ranged from seasoned seed savers, community gardeners, backyard gardeners, educators and community non-profit partners. The dynamic and infectious passion of lead facilitator Penn Parmenter of Miss Penn’s Mountain Seeds in Westcliffe, Colorado set a fun and engaging tone for the day. Participants learned about the history of seed saving, how to save specific seeds including tomatoes, beans, squash and more. They also learned how to conduct their own germination tests on seeds and connected with the growing community of people returning to the historic practice of saving seeds.

The first half of the course was held at the beautiful 5 acre DeLaney Community Farm, which provided a fantastic natural classroom for many of the lessons including; observing how to self-pollinate squash in the field, and a brief wild seed walk in the fields at DeLaney where participants observed wild dill, cat-nip, and other wild plants.

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Participants left the course inspired to take the knowledge they learned and implement it at their home and community gardens.

“The class opened my eyes to a whole new-critical-aspect of gardening this offers hope for healthy food production in the face of climate change and population challenges.”

-Carol, Seed School Participant

“ I learned so much! I can’t wait to get home and turn my basement into a seed palace.”

– Amy, Seed School Participant

In November staff from DUG and RMSA will be traveling to the Philippines with Friends of ENCA Farm to conduct Seed School and Farmer Capacity Building with organic farmers in the Philippines.

We are so grateful for the opportunity to share this powerful seed saving knowledge with Denver and the Philippines and build a global community of seed stewards and advocates!

To learn more about our collaborators in this work please visit:

The Rocky Mountain Seed Alliance website

Denver Urban Gardens website

 

Volunteer Perspective on Visiting The Seed Savers

Mar 23, 2016 | BASS, Uncategorized

Image above: Boaz explaning his planting system

A few weeks ago our Seed Savers Group spent an entire Saturday visiting each others’ farms. We were lucky to have J. Forte, a Filipino-American volunteer participate in this program. Below are his reflections about spending the day visiting the land of our passionate organic farmers.

Reflections By Volunteer:  J.Forte, from Los Angeles, CA

Graduate from UCLA, Philosophy Degree

 “God bless this gift of nourishment that will sustain our bodies so that they may serve you better” said Pastor Alex, prior to a mid-morning snack that was hosted in the humble living room of his abode in the agricultural region of Tublay, Benguet just north of Baguio City.

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The Seed Savers Group, supported by Friends of ENCA Farm, had assembled to conduct a tour of their individual farms. The group has banded together to promote the importance of preserving the genetic lines of heirloom seeds, (seeds from strains of plants that have not been genetically modified in laboratories), and the importance of using organic farming methods to raise, sustain, and harvest crops for consumption.

The farmers who hosted the tour were quite enthusiastic to show off their farms, their methods, and the fruits of their labor. They spoke highly of the peaceful culture of the farming region and made sure that their visitors felt welcomed and had plenty of delicious organic food to sample. While touring the individual farms, all of which are environmentally sustainable, it also became evident that the individual farmers are each very sincere in their belief of a philosophy and movement that makes good-natured sense. Perhaps it’s that what they are doing is in line with the same kind of godliness behind that sincere prayer offered over a couple of simple store-bought snacks by Pastor Alex.

However, as Pastor Alex expressed, there is unfortunately not much to show for the adoption of the organic foods philosophy. While the organic foods movement has increased its following worldwide, it still meets age-old challenges. These challenges typically revolve around a lack of exposure to education concerning food, and more significantly, profits. If there are no severe, immediate, and noticeable repercussions for consuming fruits, vegetables, and herbs that can’t be labeled organic, then what’s to keep a farmer from using a genetically modified seed that will yield a product that is resistant to the pests which plague a particular region? What’s to keep a farmer from using unnatural chemical pesticides to protect his profits? What’s to stop a consumer from saving money at a grocery store?

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On the bright side, thanks to organizations like Friends of ENCA Farm, the culture of organic foods is indeed gaining ground here in the Philippines, although significantly behind nations where the general perspective is more health conscious. As long as there is support in the form of increased education about the organic foods movement, increasing market demand for natural whole foods, and opportunities such as eco-tours to places like ENCA Farm, the good ideas and philosophies behind producing and consuming organic foods will surely better manifest.

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Volunteer Joah

Volunteer J.Forte on the way to the farm tours.

Traditional Farming Builds a Sustainable Environment

Mar 23, 2016 | Ideas

Image above: Members of the Seed Savers Group during the recent farm visits.

Two weeks ago our Seed Savers Group spent the entire weekend together. They visited each others’ farms on Saturday and participated in a cooking demo led by local chef Agunaiya Cloche on Sunday. Below are reflections on the importance of this work from one of our volunteers, a Filipina college student, April Rhoss.

“As traditional farmers, we want to contribute to the protection of our environment and support food security,” said Cesar Galvey, a member of the recently formed Seed Savers Group, regarding their goal as organic practitioners.

Cesar galveys planting system

Cesar Galvey explains planting techniques during a farm visit!

Filipino communities are starting to recognize the importance of preserving our natural environment. This movement is led by organic farmers like Cesar Galvey. Farmers and consumers are becoming  more aware of the many benefits of organic farming including: health, livelihood, education and most importantly, the protection of the natural environment.

In Health: Production of chemical-free products will benefit the growers, consumers, and natural environment.

As Livelihood: Critics say that organic products have lesser yield. However, in the market people are willing to pay more for the produce, because they are aware that the crops are much safer and healthier. This allows organic farmers to not only practice sustainable farming, but earn more money for their labor.

For Education: The farmers are being educated through seminars regarding the different subject matters in organic farming. This widens their knowledge on farming which they can add to the skills they posses and use on a daily basis.

As Natural Environment Protection: Organic farming is an environmentally friendly practice. Organic farming improves soil maintenance, produces less pollution to nearby water systems, and promotes the health and well-being of the entire natural environment. The Seed Saver program also helps the growers to protect their soil as they are able to avoid planting genetically engineered seeds that contain dangerous chemicals, which have large negative impacts on the conservation and protection of the natural environment.

With all these benefits, organically-propagated, regionally-adapted seeds are essential to the on-going support of organic farmers like Cesar Galvey. The Seed Savers Program of Friends of ENCA Farm has created an excellent opportunity for the traditional farmers of Tublay to gain direct access to organic seeds. Cesar and his colleagues are incredibly grateful for this access!

Reflections on a Sagada Native Wedding

Dec 16, 2015 | Activities

Image above: The next generation learning to play the gangsa!

Last week, after a very productive Friends of ENCA/Benguet Tivangdal board meeting, during which we reviewed drawings and costing’s for the repairs of the Nipa Huts at ENCA and introduced Karen Hizola our new Baguio Based Program Manager (more about her soon). I headed North to Sagada for a dear friends native wedding.

It is always wonderful to return to Sagada a beautiful mountain town about 6 hours north of Tublay. Sagada is known for their amazing natural caves, peaceful mountains, and delicious yogurt at the world famous Yogurt House. Siegird, a local potter and environmental activist, has been a dear friend since my early Peace Corps days. She and her husband Steve, an RPCV from the 70’s (that has never left the Philippines), had a civil marriage seven years ago and have two beautiful boys Chico (6) and David (almost one year).

In Sagada, it is very important and as Siegird put it “part of their obligation” to host a native wedding. This is an opportunity for extended friends and relatives and most importantly the entire town of Sagada to celebrate the marriage and give their blessing and congratulations in the form of financial contribution. This also means the entire town comes together to help in the elaborate preparations of feeding literally 1,000’s of people. Sigerid and Steve purchased and extended relatives and community member’s butchered 14 pigs and 1 carabao (native water buffalo) for the party the lasted four days!

As I sat with women from all over the community (who each brought a bowl and knife to help chop the copious amounts of veggies it takes to feed this many people), chatted with the beautiful Lola’s who’s weathered faces tell a story that does not need words, and enjoyed the sound of the Gangsa (native gong music) till literally the wee hours of the morning I was struck with the true community that Sagada demonstrated to pull off this beautiful gathering. Loved ones near and far gathered to honor Siegrid and Steve as tradition has done for 100’s of years. Indeed I am blessed to have been a small part of this beautiful gathering and demonstration of true community and love!

 

 

 

 

 

Successful Planting of the First “Seed School” In Tublay

Dec 4, 2015 | Seed School

Yesterday, over 70 farmers and community members from both Tublay and La Trinidad gathered for Seed School at the Municipal Hall in Tublay. As the room filled with eager and energetic farmers I was overwhelmed with excitement for the launch of this important program.

I attended a similar one-day Seed School in Denver in August, facilitated by our new friends and partners from The Rocky Mountain Seed Alliance (RMSA). While there is far too much information regarding the history and great importance of seeds to share in just one day, RMSA has developed incredible curriculum over the years that they shared with me to adapt to the Philippine farming audience. I am forever grateful to Bill and Belle from RMSA for sharing this knowledge and helping make yesterday’s program a great success. Our big vision is for RMSA to come to the Philippines next fall to conduct more in-depth follow up seed programming with the farmers.

During the program farmers learned the history of seeds, why they are critically important to local bio-diversity preservation, all participants learned to save wet tomato seeds and got to take them home, and they also learned the basics of saving biennial crops (these crops such as carrots and cabbage take two years to flower and produce seeds). While only a handful of farmers said they are currently saving seeds, they all expressed and remember a time not long ago, when their grandparents saved seeds. This means that this indigenous practice is not completely lost and can be restored with the enthusiasm and hard work of these dedicated farmers.

Thanks to the great talent and passion of my host cousin, Chef Aguinaya Cloche (or as we call her Dimples) all participants enjoyed a delicious homemade local organic meal. The menu included: malunggay (local super food plant) pesto pasta, veggie burgers (made w/ tofu and banana blossom), spinach pie, rosemary roasted chicken, eggplant rolls, and a fresh green salad with sprouts and radishes. Farmers here work incredibly hard to produce these amazing veggies but they rarely get to see the diverse ways they can be prepared. It was wonderful to see their smiling faces as they enjoyed this unique, healthy, and amazing meal prepared with love!

After lunch we did small group breakout sessions where participants shared their ideas for future training’s including: bee keeping, mushroom propagation, advanced seed saving in the fields. Farmers also shared the seeds they would like to see available locally and Friends of ENCA Farm will help make this a reality. I was most inspired to see the rooms excitement about starting a local organic seed bank, in fact one group shared that their vision is to see farmers in each Barangay of Tublay producing their own seeds and saving them at the centralized community seed bank. Indeed yesterday was the start to see this big vision become a reality!

In the coming months, we will be conducting follow up meetings with farmers that said they want to be apart of the organic seed trial program. Friends of ENCA Farm will distribute organic seeds to the farmers that meet our requirements, and conduct field trials with these initial seeds to monitor their success and challenges. I am incredibly excited to have planted this first seed in Tublay and look forward to watching it germinate and grow over the course of the coming year! I am honored to work with such a passionate community of farmers all actively working to make this world a better and healthier place starting with each seed they sow!