Brummet's Conscious Blog

Sustainable Gardens   Only a few generations ago every little valley, every little hillside had its own plant varieties. When people migrated they often took their family's seeds with them. Today, when our elders move into retirement homes or discontinue gardening due to physical restraints, much of their plantings are allowed to die out. Without realizing it we are losing varieties on a regular basis. These unique seeds are becoming rare and will eventually face extinction if we fail to keep them alive and growing. Two surveys between 1900 and 1981 revealed that 7,000 fewer apple varieties were grown within that time period in North America. Yet even now, after losing so much diversity there are estimated to be around 2,000 varieties of beans and 6,000 kinds of tomatoes. Every single one has a particular history, a particular DNA sequence, and a particular set of nutrients, colour, shape, size and texture. For example, tomatoes variants offer red, pink, yellow, orange, ...