It is not during the holiday season, but rather right after New Year's that my favorite catalogs being arriving in the mail. I have removed myself from almost all of the mailing lists I've somehow gotten myself on over the years, but these are the ones I cannot bear to leave: the seed catalogs.
There's only a few of them.
Burpee's is practically food porn at its finest, a glossy magazine bursting full of vegetable and flower shots that will make you long to be out there, stroking the rows with a hoe and planting your seeds with gusto. Their pictures of plump, ripe orbs busting with color and home-grown goodness make you want to lick the page. However, Burpee seeds are almost all marked "
hybrid", which means that if you saved seeds from the fruits/vegetables you grew, those seeds would be unlikely to sprout or, even if they did, bear fruit. Hybrid plants also tend to need more fertilizer and pesticides to meet their full potential and promised heavy yields.
Beyond Burpee's lies two of my organic/heirloom favorites: the
Seed Savers Exchange and
Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds.
Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds of Mansfield, Missouri, is located about half a dozen miles from where the
Little House books were written. They offer over 1,275 unique varieties of heirloom fruits, vegetables and flowers. They also celebrate the beauty of heirloom food, and if you're visiting the region, be sure to check when they have local festivals.
The
Seed Savers Exchange, located in Decorah, Iowa, is, according to their website, "a non-profit organization that saves and shares the heirloom seeds or our garden heritage, forming a living legacy that can be passed down through generations." They allow visitors to their farm (I plan to make a trip out there this spring or summer) and have, for more than 30 years, worked to preserve the genetic diversity that is rapidly disappearing from our food chain.
You see, barely a handful of companies control most of the food production and seed production in the U.S. Most of our fruits and vegetables have been bred and genetically manipulated for three reasons: 1) to stand up to long-distance shipping; 2) ripening while en route to our local grocery store; and 3) big, showy fruits/vegetables. Since commercial farmers want to of course make a profit, they buy the seeds necessary to have the fruits of their labor stand up to the rigors of transport, and that puts the majority of our farmers on the same field, all growing the same exact productions - the McDonalds-isation of our food chain, if you will.
Of course, when the fruits and vegetables become more selectively grown, they also become more susceptible to bugs or diseases... which of course leads to the need for fertilizers, pesticides, and so forth - many of which are derived from petroleum and not all that good for the environment.
As an additional result of all this selective breeding, the most important parts - the flavor and nutritional value - have either diminished or disappeared.
And as a direct result of all
that, there has been a popular resurgence of "heirloom" variety fruits and vegetables making their way back on the market. Unexperienced consumers may think many of these foods at first look "funny" - they're unusual colors and sizes we do not expect in our food. Marketing has led us to be convinced that tomatoes, apples and berries need to be huge and glossy red; lettuce only pale green; and so forth. But those in the know understand that the rich diversity of heirloom vegetables combined with organic gardening techniques are what create sustainability.
Heirloom varities don't stop with just produce, however. Chickens come in a wide range; just ask the likes of
Sand Hill Preservation Center and
Murray McMurray Hatchery, both of whom grow and sell heirloom poultry varieties. Groups such as
Heirloom Heritage Farms help preserve not only fowl, but pigs and cattle as well.
It is these kinds of groups and companies which are leading the way for a new appreciation for what we've lost in our food chain, and whose customers are demanding that we find it on our plates once more. Customers who demand more flavor in the final product, and far less chemicals to get there.
Do you know that organic food generally has more nutrients and antitoxidants than their mass-industrial-grown equivalents? That pasture-grown, less-chemically-treated meat is leaner with more "healthy" fats and less "bad" fats? That organic fruits and vegetables contain more water but also more flavor than industrial produce?
Do you know there are over 300 varieties of tomato? Over 200 kinds of radish? More than 120 types of cauliflower? Some 250+ varieties of peas and corn (each!), nearly 140 types of celery and cucumbers, 200 kinds of beans, or over 160 selections of watermelon, all just waiting to be discovered? Of course you don't - grocery stores are generally not very diverse. (Check out
Jere Gettle's photo gallery online for some shots of this heirloom diversity!)
The demand for this diversity is there and growing. If you have your own garden, be a little experimental. Stick a couple of unusual - heirloom - plants in among the rest. See how hardy they are. Taste the difference in flavor. Realize that you will actively seek out produce with names like "Green Zebra" and "Blue Peruvian" from now on.
If you've read
Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver, or
Michael Pollan's
The Omnivore's Dilemma: A Natural History of Four Meals and
In Defense of Food: An Eater’s Manifesto, then you understand how out of whack the American food system is on many fronts. Our national food policies create many problems not only here, but around the globe. They range from the simple and obvious - what we're doing to our environment, and what we do to industrial animals along the way - to the side effects of obesity and disease - to the grand scale of political turmoil and long-term sustainability issues.
Sound enticing? There's a group out there looking to change that.
Slow Food states that their vision is that "Food is a common language and a universal right. Slow Food USA envisions a world in which all people can eat food that is good for them, good for the people who grow it, and good for the planet." They believe in growing food that has a positive impact on local ecosystems while promoting biodiversity. They also believe that food "should be accessible to all, regardless of income, and produced by people who are treated with dignity and justly compensated for their labor."
They define their mission as "seeking to create dramatic and lasting change in the food system. We reconnect Americans with the people, traditions, plants, animals, fertile soils and waters that produce our food. We seek to inspire a transformation in food policy, production practices and market forces so that they ensure equity, sustainability and pleasure in the food we eat."
Hmm, sounds pretty good to me. I miss my garden. I hoped that whatever condo I bought would at least have a balcony so I could plant some potted vegetables and herbs. No such luck this time, but on my definite "must" list for the future. In the meantime, I keep searching out the organic as often as I can, I support local farmers, and in doing so, I've managed to lose a lot of weight with no more effort than some simple changes in diet and not really all that much exercise. I'm also healthier in general and stay sick less long when I do fall ill. I don't have to be a scientist to see the differences and neither do you: all you have to do is
taste.
