Seeds
Seeds represent the foundations or building blocks of life. Just as many of us have lost our connection to ourselves and nature, seeds have been lost too. 93 percent of native and criolla seeds were lost between 1903 and 1993. It is believed that we have lost over 75 percent of Earth’s forests due to deforestation and human activity.
“A seed is a forest inside out.”
—Matshona Dhliwayo
We depend on trees and seeds for nourishment, for medication, for oxygen—for our survival. In numerous ways, you can follow the underpinnings of any given culture through the legacy of their crops and seeds. Once considered to be available to all, like water, seeds have ended up generally privatized, such that now a few companies presently control the worldwide seed supply.
What types of seeds do we have today?
Local or Native Seeds. These seeds originate in the land or region where they are currently cultivated. Ten thousand years ago, humans started to domesticate plants and adapt to specific local conditions; their seeds adapted with them.
Criolla or Adapted Seeds. These seeds originally come from other regions of the world but have adapted to the climate and soil where they are now grown. With the invasion of colonization, and specifically the Spanish here in Latin America, many seeds have been carried into the Americas—and all across the world.
Genetically Modified Organism (GMO) Seeds. These seeds are bred not in a garden but rather in a laboratory, using modern biotechnology techniques like gene splicing. Scientists modify a seed’s DNA to ensure that the resulting plant produces desired characteristics. Many GMO seeds are sterile, meaning they cannot produce seeds for the next harvest. Today, three agrochemical giants—Bayer (who bought out Monsanto in 2008), Corteva, and Syngenta—along with a few other large companies control 70 percent of the market. This has drastically reduced biodiversity across the globe.
Farming has been around for ten thousand years, but the privatization of seeds has happened in the last one hundred years. Since World War II, “seed diversity has deteriorated, farmers have been put out of business due to rising seed costs, and the pesticide companies control most of the seeds available on the market.”
Through the preservation of seeds—planting them on our lands and storing them in seed banks—we can exchange seeds, plant seeds, and bring back some of the biodiversity and vitality we have lost. Seeds are the foundation of all existence. As guardians of the land, we are seeds of change, regeneration, and love. Seeds are our connection to life itself; we cannot have life without seeds.
When it comes to the love within us and surrounding us, it is so important for us to nourish it like a garden, starting at the core of love in our own hearts and rippling outwards to the garden surrounding us.
We are seeds, ready to sprout and then blossom; it is time for us to remember the love that is our true nature. We all have this seed deep within our hearts. The best way to cultivate our garden of love is to start planting seeds—within ourselves and in the earth—each cycle.
Each new moon and full moon, we like to journal about the opportunities and goals that we would like to plant and see flourish. We write out what we need to burn away and let go and what we want to bring into form. We prune the plants in our garden, making cuttings near the new moon and propagating plants and planting seeds each full moon. we highly recommend planting and propagating both your literal and symbolic gardens with your own seasons and cycles. We can plant seeds of regeneration in the earth with each cycle; we can plant seeds of love within ourselves with intention-setting, positive affirmations, and radical transparency.
Plant Seeds
The solution is for cultivation of seeds in each household, schools, and public gardens. The “nursery” is the place where we let our seeds germinate before transplanting them to our garden. In the nursery, our small plants are easier to protect and care for, because we can monitor the amount of water, shade and sun they receive.
Be sure to start planting your seeds in a place you can and will visit every day. Once the seeds are seedlings, transplant them to your garden. Select the location in your garden according to the microclimate each plant likes.
Create a Seed Bank
The best seed bank is in your garden growing, but it is important to save seeds for the next growing season and seeds to exchange with others.
As the flowers dry and you see seeds from fruits, veggies and herbs dry the seeds and put them in tightly sealed containers in a cool and dry space. Label the seeds and put a silonpack or rice to keep the humidity out. Keep collecting seeds from the community and plant again.