i think your great grandfather knew what he was doing.... --- On Tue, 23/6/09, Dan Glover <[email protected]> wrote:
> From: Dan Glover <[email protected] om> > Subject: [MD] Seeds > To: [email protected] > Received: Tuesday, 23 June, 2009, 1:21 PM > > > > It's good to sit in the garden. Seeds planted last month > rise like slowly engorging erections out of the ground, > straining to meet the sinful sun, full of unrequited desire. > Summer has arrived. > > When I turned 25 an attorney contacted me regarding news of > an inheritance from my great-grandfather, who'd passed away > when I was 11. I remember him best for his gardens. I hadn't > thought about him in years. > > I made an appointment with the attorney a week hence. In > the meantime I couldn't help but wonder what the old man > left me. If it were money he'd of left everyone money and > the news would have reached me. My family can't keep > secrets. If not money then maybe a house or an old car... I > was excited. > > When I met with the attorney she handed me a shoe-box sized > box and what looked like a coffee can with no markings on > it, just plain silver in color. It didn't feel like there > was anything in the can but the box felt heavy with paper. > It was taped securely shut. I said: is this it? She said: > that's it! I could tell our meeting was over. > > Once back in the car, I excitedly took out my pocket knife > and cut the tape holding the box shut. It had to be old > antique money worth a fortune, or maybe stocks and bonds. > But when I took off the cover and looked inside, all I found > were a half dozen old hand-written notepads. I thought, what > the fuck is this shit? I took off work and drove all the way > up here for this? > > Opening the notebook on top I could see it was a type of > journal. The last date entered was in 1962, about three > years before my great-grandfather passed away. I picked up > the notepad on the bottom and looked inside. It was very old > and some of the pages had been inserted into protective > plastic sleeves to keep them from deteriorating further. The > dates were from the middle 1800s. > > I put the notepads back in the box and opened the can. The > lid was very tight and it hurt my fingernails to open it. > Inside were packets of seeds, each packet labeled as to what > kind of seeds it contained and the date. I figured the seeds > were no good, what after over fifteen years, and I nearly > threw out the can. On second thought, I kept it. > > I remember as a boy I always got motion sickness when we > traveled to great-grandfather's farm. He lived in the hilly > part of central Illinois. It was the hills that did it to > me. Looking back though, it really was a magical place for a > young kid. Trails ran everywhere, probably made by deer or > other critters, but tended to by great-grandfather so that > the paths didn't become overgrown by the surrounding > forest. > > They had 40 acres. Great-grandmother stayed in the main > house just off the county highway and great-grandfather > stayed in a shanty at the back of the farm. It seemed > perfectly natural at the time but looking back it does seem > strange that they lived apart like that. Maybe it was just > that they couldn't live with or without each other. > > Along the trail to the shanty were various gardens, > terraced lovingly out of scrub soil, the leavings of prairie > weeds. We'd always find great-grandfather in one of the > gardens, taking careful notes after measuring each plant in > a cordoned off plot. In his shanty, the walls were lined > with jars of dried herbs, and in the root cellar smelling of > sweet sand and cedar were cans of preserves. > > There was only one table in the shanty and it was covered > in books and piles of papers. During the autumn the walls > would be festooned with drying plants tied in bunches. He > heated the room with a wood stove and there were chairs by > the stove to keep warm in the winter and to sit and chat > during the summer. The updraft from the chimney would pull > cool air in from outdoors. > > I started documenting my own experiments that first year. I > made my first journal entry, just below my > great-grandfather's last. I'd read all the journals through > many times by then. I had come to deeply appreciate the gift > my great-grandfather had left to me and I had begun my own > seed program. I've since expanded my outlook, but at that > time I worked year to year. > > I simply picked out the best, most vigorous plants and > cross-pollinated them. Later, I learned to select for > certain traits that I valued more highly than others and how > to develop true-breeding seeds... seeds that would result in > plants all sharing the parent plants' traits. I learned to > select for local. Since I started 30 years ago I've had to > adjust springtime ahead by over two weeks. It is all > carefully documented in my notebooks, no, in our notebooks. > Everything is documented there, date and time of planting, > phase of the moon, growth rate, days of sun and rain, > everything. > > The first year, I planted every seed in the canister. Only > about 1 in 10 came up, but I learned how to save the seeds > for next year by storing them carefully away in > vacuum-sealed bags. Those were heritage seeds, very valuable > in retrospect, though at the time I didn't know that. > They're valuable to back-cross with future generations to > keep the heritage healthily static and yet allow for Dynamic > diversity too. > > These days with the Internet there are a great many seed > banks where a person can trade, buy, or sell seeds of all > kinds. In my great-grandfather's day though, it must have > been much more difficult to develop great strains. And he > had some great seeds in that canister. > > I plant many, many seeds these days. Once in a while, some > completely unlooked for trait will Dynamically emerge. The > more seeds I plant, and the greater I manage the > environment, the greater the chance is of a jump in > evolution. To an uneducated observer, it might look like > "oops." But it's not. It is the end result of hundreds and > indeed thousands of years of careful selection. > > I often wonder why great-grandfather left me the seeds and > journals. I don't remember being particularly close to him. > I paid attention when he spoke to me while the other kids > ran and played. But that was more of a case of not wanting > to be rude than it was of any great interest in what he was > telling me. I remember his eyes used to shine when he > thought he was imparting some special knowledge, some little > secret known only to aficionados. > > I also wonder to whom I will leave the journals. I guess > someone will come along who seems a likely candidate. The > kids are all busy with their jobs and families and the > grandkids are all gamers. > > The first of the journal entries were from my > great-grandfather's grandfather, way back in 1844. The old > man owned a farm; there's a road named after him now that > runs just past where his farm sat. He grew enough to eat and > enough to sell to pay his bills and he was generally happy, > from the looks of his entries. It doesn't seem to have been > a bad life to lead. I am very proud to continue his > heritage. > _________________________________________________________________ > Lauren found her dream laptop. 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