January 27
Storing locally acclimatised seeds in a fireproof safe!
Today I taught Design for Disaster to the Planetary Health Initiative’s Permaculture students. Part of building our food security in the face of future disasters, is ensuring we have enough locally acclimatised seeds. Now that we’ve been through drought, fire, flood and pandemic, future disasters no longer feel far-fetched!
At Blackheath Community Farm we’ve been growing and collecting locally acclimatised seed for five years now. Much of it is stored in a fridge to extend its life, but today I decided we needed to create a back-up plan so that, no matter what, we always have enough seed to ‘start again’ if our crops get wiped out.
So, for my A Year In a Day action today, I packaged up a range of basic seeds and stored them in a fireproof safe. I’ll add to these over time and swap them with fresh seeds every year as we continue to grow them out.
I know most people secure their money and jewels in a safe, but to us seeds feel far more valuable.
Today I ‘secured’ seeds for Purple and Scarlet Runner beans; Mammoth Melting and Roi de Carouby peas; Queensland Blue pumpkins; carrots; rocket; ruby chard; Continental parsley; sunflowers; dill and Cosmos flowers.
We’ve started collecting seed for a Planetary Health Initiative Seed Bank now too!
Blue Mountains City Council launches Emergency Dashboard for Residents
Today I also bookmarked the fabulous Emergency Dashboard that Blue Mountains City Council launched in December. At the height of any disaster, like the extreme storms lashing Victoria as I write, it’s very stressful trying to find all the information you need to protect yourself, family and community. This new collection of important website links provides up to the minute, emergency information that is tailored specifically to the Blue Mountains region – from NSW Rural Fire Service, NSW State Emergency Service, Fire+Rescue NSW, Live Traffic, the Bureau of Meterology and more … including information about power outages!
You can access and bookmark the Dashboard here
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1 Comment
Meredith · 27/01/2022 at 8:35 pm
Fantastic! I’m at the beginning of my seed saving journey, and feel quite excited about it.
After all the talk of dog poo in A Year in a Day and with our permaculture students, I thought I’d better investigate the safety of composting the bedding and poo of our pet rats, so I did that today. A lovely rat breeder I got in touch with let me know that as long as they don’t eat meat, or eat only a small amount of human food quality meat, they won’t carry any dangerous pathogens. Phew! Onward with the rat poo composting!