Will HAVE to get to the 1st National Heirloom Expo at Santa Rosa Fairgrounds Sept. 13-15, maybe all three days but at least one or two. Check out all the related articles by just writing Heirloom Expo in your browser! (Thanks to excellent pr from Chris Fisher of Petaluma Bounty and Paul Wallace, manager of The Seed Bank/Baker Creek Seeds, Petaluma. You can even see Chris’ boyish face atop the info. as he just joined Google+ (am considering).
This just envisioned gathering is a real upper for people who believe sustainability is a very good word In Sonoma County, with our wonderful rich land and innovative folks with far-reaching talents – well, we have a lot to be thankful for! And then there is the FOOD…I know I’ll learn a lot to take back to our start-up Oasis Community Farm on Skillman just outside Petaluma proper.
The Heirloom Expo has invited Alice Waters, author, founder of Chez Panisse in Berkeley, advocate for pure food and largely credited with creating California Cuisine (in praise of the freshest, healthiest most LOCAL foods as the focus of daily cooking).
Vandana Shiva, philosopher, environmental activist, and eco feminist, will also be heard from here. In 1991 Dr. Shiva founded the Navdanya, a movement to protect the diversity and integrity of living resources, especially native seeds. Dr. Shiva’s attention is now focused on preventing imperialism over life itself. “I don’t want to live in a world where five giant companies control our food and our health.” Dr. Shiva is recognized as one of the leaders in the pure food movement, both in India and abroad.
For this first annual, The Seed Bank has collaborated with a long list of advocates for local pure food you could grow or I could grow or I do already. Looking forward to seeing old friends from Daily Acts, Petaluma Bounty, iGrowSonoma, people from the national Transition movement helping us understand how to live well in the future.
This locavore thing is just getting going. We started our involvement with membership in Daily Acts and iGrowSonoma in collaboration with Bill McKibben’s 350.org, now focused on a MovingPlanet day around the world to bring heightened awareness to the climate crisis we are in and solutions to it.
The first 350 Garden Challenge a year ago in May was a joy. 50 people showed up in two days to help plant our first crop, build an adobe oven, dubbed The Lovin’ Oven (see YouTube for visual on how to build one) and many are still coming around for our rich eggs from happy chickens and whatever produce is available. CSA boxes in our future.
After the Oasis Farm new barn and house are complete next year, we will celebrate with all our fav locavores. For now, just learning more uses for radishes, squash, hot peppers – so very much to learn and such great opportunities to share with other people who have decided to commit to the health of the planet as well as the health of their bank account, their own immediate family and a few friends.
This makes my day – and enriches our first year of growing at Oasis Farm – and tickets are just $10 a day at
