Written by Michael & Yasmin Sol
We are the Seeds of a New Age, the bringers of a New Dawn in which we may blossom in such magnificent ways that we never dared to even dream of. Our potential as conscious humans is so great that we barely can grasp a hint of it in our present situation. Many of us are already “living” the change, but most of us burn in eagerness to see a World that we envision splendidly fulfilling, divinely creative, truly healthy and full of Heart.
As conscious beings, we know that seeds are one of the most precious heritage that Nature is offering us. It enables us, humans and animals to create a forest, an oasis, a garden able to nourish our physical, emotional and spiritual bodies. It is nature’s gift and our responsibility to honor and take care of them, to multiply them and to share them.
For this purpose the Ecology & Regeneration Faculty of the New Earth Nation is providing assistance in creating seed banks wherever you are, connect with the seed banks already functioning in your surroundings, and inviting everyone to help newcomers to have access to the seeds adapted to the climate conditions in which they live.
HOW
Preserving seeds has its own science and our most precious ally is observation. Some seeds are designed to stay long periods of time in the cold, some in the dry and some are simply not used to be preserved. Therefore we need to adapt our strategy depending on the climate we live in.
CLIMATES
- Cold climates: seeds stay dormant throughout the winter and are therefore designed to stay many months in a cold condition. We should do the same assuring first to dry them to avoid any mold to break down the germinating power of the seed.
- In a dry climate, the seeds are able to survive a long period of time without any moisture. We should do the same by preserving them in a dry and cool condition.
- The tropical humid climate is much more challenging as seeds in general are not designed to be stored for a long period of time; therefore the best way to have the species preserved is to have them….. growing!!!… in that case our seed bank would be an alive one, especially for trees. The best way to send seeds of that climate would be to harvest them and send them immediately through the post (express in some cases may help) or with the help of someone traveling personally in that direction.
PRECAUTIONS
Nature has many organisms fulfilling different functions and many are there to recycle recent dead material into new fertilizer and we want to avoid them in our seeds so they may stay alive for longer. For this reason it is important to clean the seed through soaking in water (to separate any aerobic bacteria from the seed) and drying (to separate any anaerobic bacteria from the seed). Small plastic zip bags are the best for preserving seeds if they are really dry (sometimes hard in the wet tropics). Otherwise paper bags can be a help for shorter period of time.
It is important to always write the day of harvesting the seed on the bag, so we are able to estimate for how long they may be able to germinate.
As many of us know, seeds stayed alive within the Egyptian pyramids for millennium…, so we may like to experiment in our little scale for our seed storage sanctuary!!!
DATABASE
We are looking forward to create a data base of species for each main climates of the planet and a Global network of Seed Sanctuaries and providers throughout the World. Please contact our Team by visiting http://volunteer.newearthproject.org/aquaponics/ and we would love to grow our network and build alliances in honor of the sacredness of Seeds and Help us in the Fight for Seed Sovereignty!
