Shooting again

I shot something for this project again. It is a tradition in the highlands that the people who help a farmer with their planting are given any leftover seeds, and in this way I received some. Lee James of Tierra Vegetables is willing to plant the seeds I was given in Perú. Mine looked a little dry and aged when I gave them to her, but she thinks a few of them look likely to sprout. They are planting them soon and they are going to call me to come film when they do.

I got a secondary story today while I was filming. A man came to visit Lee James; he had given her seeds three or four years ago, and she has been growing them for several seasons. They are called Paradiso, after his ancestor who brought the seeds over from Italy in the early 1900s; all his family recipes include this pepper. Now he only has one plant of his own, but Lee is keeping the seeds going.

Glory in genetic diversity. Hurrah for heirloom plants.

Candidates

I have been trolling the internet, trying to get a sense of the difference between McCain and Obama in terms of food policy, since it's the issue I feel I know the most about to begin with. It turns out this isn't so easy to find out... From Marion Nestle's blog I was directed to a posting by a graduate student at Cornell, Alexandra Lewin. I was surprised at what I learned, for instance that Clinton was the top recipient of food industry donations, Obama was fourth, and McCain was ninth. It seems to me from looking at the differences between McCain and Obama's vote that Obama is only slightly more in line with my foodie values. I still want to vote for him, because I like his tax policy and his restraint from hyperbole.

Locavore

Hilarious article in the New York Times wherein the author seems consistently surprised yet well informed at all the locavore fuss... "A National Restaurant Association survey this year of more than 1,200 chefs, many of whom work for chain restaurants or large food companies, found locally grown produce to be the second-hottest American food trend, just behind bite-size desserts."

Santogold

Totally in love with Santogold at the moment... I'm wondering if her song Creator is about the DIY movement and buying less stuff (as we all must consider doing if we are to recover from our global warming nosedive). I'm thinking more about how to make the seedling project a propaganda piece about living simply, and this song struck me as saying the same thing. Likely I'm on crack and seeing exactly what I want to see in this song!

Advertising for Andamarca

I still love my handmade hat from the knitters of Andamarca, Peru.

Global food crisis and subsistence farming

Two days running I've read articles about people reverting to traditional methods of farming because of the tough food/ oil price situation. The New York Times has a wonderful article about Mexican farmers reclaiming barren land with traditional methods (including terracing!!). And Treehugger had an article about farmers in India trading tractors for camels which is in turn improving the breeding stock of animals that used to be used to transport royalty.

While neither of these things solve the global problem, they do secure the food supply of each person who is now farming in a sustainable way. This is something I like hearing about when most of the news is about how the people in Myanmar have no access to food or fresh water, and many thousands in China are trapped beneath rubble. I can't think that traditional farming methods shouldn't comprise at least a little bit of a solution to our global environmental emergency.

One thing that might help everyone is to put a price premium on hand-grown food. It's hard for anyone to compete with subsidized American corn.

Mysterious cities of gold

A somewhat dated documentary on the Andes. Brief and inaccurate information on Peru, and some very wonderful theme music.