Helsing Junction Sleepover 2010 Selects Alleycat Acres as a Beneficiary

In the last thirty years, the Cascadian Bioregion has lost nearly all of its
seed houses and public breeding programs, with these have gone a vast majority
of all varieties historically bred in this region. Whether this be tomatoes,
beans, peas, corn, or squash. Only recently have we begun to see a resurgence
in interest towards seed saving, seed breeding, and agricultural biodiversity
preservation.

Enter the large trans-national corporation. These groups have been very
successful in locking away varieties - each with a unique genetic makeup that
could help our agricultural systems to adapt to changes in climate or
cultivation methods. Conservative estimates from the FAO suggest we have lost
75% of crop varieties, which represent humanities collective food plants, from
all over the world, that have been passed down to the present generation. In
some crops we've lost over 90% fo varieties while some have even become
extinct. As an example, in 1880, there were over 200 different types of open-
pollinated cabbage, today there are less than 10 types of open-pollinated
cabbage readily available for the farm or garden. If we do not act now, we may
reach a point where even common foods like cabbage may be lost in the next 100
years due to genetics being narrowed so far that they will not have the
ability to adapt to new circumstances. For this bioregion to begin to become
truly sustainable, we must grow as much of our own food as possible. To do
this we must gather, collect, breed, and disseminate old and new varieties
that are well suited to this area.

Food sovereignty is a right and its associated responsibility is to save
seeds. It is important that good open-pollinated seed varieties be widely
available by remaining in the public domain for future generations. Humanity
is at stake. These organizations and individuals are working on these issues
and also helping to maintain a healthy, nutritious, and diverse food system
not just for us, but more importantly our children's children.

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Alleycat Acres
Alleycat Acres is a urban farming collective that aims to reconnect people
with food. To achieve this, we create community-run farms on under-utilized
urban spaces.

By farming the cityscape, we are helping to create solutions that address a
number of issues facing our communities. Our urban farms lay the groundwork to
enable anyone, from any background, to join in the process of local food
production.

Food is more than what we eat: it’s a medium through which we can forge
intimate, meaningful relationships between people and place. Farming is a
medium that reconnects us, both mentally and physically, to our surroundings.
Our entire operation is based on the collective belief that urban food systems
are key in creating healthy communities.

In an era where the automobile is king, we opted to use bikes as our mode of
transportation. Since our first harvest in May, we've donated close to 400
pounds of food to the Beacon Avenue Food Bank using pedal power. By shifting
the paradigms surrounding food production and transportation, we hope to show
how we can create healthier communities when individuals roll up their sleeves
and work together.

Every carrot we harvest together is one step closer to creating a healthy,

future-forward city and we are proud to be a part of this growing movement.

More information at http://www.alleycatacres.com/


Seed Ambassadors
The Seed Ambassadors Project, based out of Sweet Home, Oregon, is an
independent, not-for-profit seed stewardship initiative. Our bioregion, with a
climate very similar to many parts of Northern Europe, is home to some of the
country's foremost independent food plant breeders who have spent decades
developing robust, stable, productive open-pollinated food crops in organic
field conditions. Some of these seeds as well as other seeds from local seed
savers were taken to Europe over the winter of 2006-2007. During this time,
they orchestrated an ethnobotanical exploration which took place in nine
Northern European countries to collect varieties unknown or unavailable in the
US. They met with many of the region's finest seed stewards and breeders: from
Danish Seed Savers to the Russian Vavilov Institute, from Lithuanian
government offices to 'ancient grain' outlaws in England. In February 2008
they went on a similar journey to Transylvania. Then in 2009 visited Thailand.

Historically, there exists almost no contact between independent plant
breeders and seed savers in the U.S. and Europe. This trip has helped foster
new cross-continental connections benefiting communities on both sides of the
Atlantic. The organization hosts many seed saver workshops in the bioregion.
They also disseminate seeds through Seed Savers Exchange, private exchanges,
and their company Adaptive Seeds. Their focus is on seeds that are rare,
heritage, or gene-pool mixes; and are well-adapted to the Pacific Northwest
and northern climates. All their seeds are public domain, open-pollinated, and
not patented or genetically modified. They also specialize in varieties that
have either been bred in Oregon or the Northwest or are heritage varieties
from the region.

More information about Seed Ambassadors at http://www.seedambassadors.org/
More information about Adaptive Seeds at http://www.adaptiveseeds.com


Tom Wagner
Tom Wagner has one of the few private, one-man potato breeding programs in the
United States. His breeding work, uninterrupted for over 56 years, has led to
the development of tens of thousands of clones. His computer data base on
potato pedigree has over 5,000 clones and is still growing. In addition, Tom
has hundreds of different varieties, especially heirlooms from around the
globe. Tom’s work focuses on enhanced flavors, colors, and nutritional
qualities. In addition, since his move Everett, Wa, the wet Pacific Northwest
has further narrowed his breeding program to those with enhanced qualities and
an ability to thrive in our climate and soil conditions. While Tom’s focus has
always been on potatoes, he spends almost as much time and effort on breeding
new varieties of tomatoes. His company, Tater-Mater Seeds formerly of
Bakersfield, CA is legendary around the world. Green Zebra, Banana Legs, and
Brown Derby are just a few of his taste-award-winning successes. While the
Skagit Gold potato has continued to gain ground locally as a great tasting all
around potato. Last year, the famous Kokopelli Seed Foundation of France,
sponsored Tom on a trip through 10 European countries where he shared tomato
seeds and true potato seeds, as well as talked about preserving potato
genetics though crossing potato varieties and useful tomato varieties.

More information at http://tater-mater.blogspot.com/
More information at http://tatermater.proboards.com/


Tim Peters
Tim Peters is considered one of the top independent breeders in the United
States. A self-taught plant breeder with deep insights, he begun his work at
the age of 14 when he first learned how cross-pollinate tomatoes. Since then
he has been working steadily for the last 40 years, making significant
contributions to many of our common crops, as well as many obscure ones. Steve
Solomon, founder and former owner of Territorial Seed Company once referred to
Peters as “our local Burbank.” Tim Peters was one of the original plant
breeders for Territorial Seeds back in the day working as their trials manager
and later research director. His variety of Umpqua broccoli is a widely grown
open-pollinated variety known for its good sized heads and copious side-
shoots. He has also done extensive work with Russian types of kale which are
some of the most tender types. Through this work, he has been able to shed
light into the origin of these mysterious and delicious kales. Perennial
grains are now one of his major focuses. He started working with perennial
grains in the mid-eighties with a desire to develop grains that could survive
the worst of the worst. History shows us that our rye, wheat, corn, and other
grains were once perennial. Perennial grains are important to the future of
agriculture and humanity because they provide larger yields on poorer land due
to better searching roots. Perenniality eliminates seasonal tilling, lessening
damage to the environment caused by farm runoff. He has currently bred
varieties of perennial rye and wheat which are being evaluated collaboratively
by home gardeners and farmers around the world. And... all this is done on a a
shoe-string budget.