The new and true Green Revolution; part one of a two part rant (rough draft)

The new and true Green Revolution: A call to arms for all farmers and gardeners interested in self sufficiency and natural agriculture to take a stand.


The twentieth and twenty-first century have seen the rise of big agri-business by way of the green revolution, petrol-chemical agriculture, and the re-writing and destruction of historical agriculture which has been practiced for over 10,000 years. Never before have species disappeared so rapidly or completely and not only from our agricultural fields but also from their natural environments and never before has the role of supposed “ownership” and the artificial, dangerous, and untested genetic modification of plants and animals been an issue on the minds of farmers and consumers as it is today.

One of many paths to power as proven throughout history is the control of food supply. If one is to effectively control food supplies one must first control the seed. “He who controls the seed controls the feed.” as a friend of mine often says. Our seeds have been taken from our gardens and out of our hands, breaking a bond of generational knowledge and seed as saved and passed down for generation after generation often accompanied by much legend and information. Instead it has been stolen and locked up in litigation, red tape and ownership while being re-sold to the original owners in fanciful packaging for far too long now. I believe it is time we take our power back, returning it to the fields and families where it belongs all around the world.

In the responsible, sustainable, fields and farms of tomorrow we must make every effort to become more sustainable by any means necessary, and it is only by taking a stand and fighting for what we believe in that this effort will be realized. It is time for a true green revolution which will not consist of high priced amendments, petrol chemicals and false information, but instead will consist of deep spirituality, love, peace, knowledge, trade, and respect as well as firm footing and the bravado to fight for those things worth dying for. If all of these previous ideas don’t fall into line, none of this will mater and we will only further cater to corporate greed and the destruction of the very earth that feeds and nourishes us, it is indeed time to fight fire with nothing less than fiery passion!

We have watched, particularly in the United States, as our governments have made mistake after mistake while catering to the petrol-war machine and big business while driving the middle class completely out. Other countries are experiencing the same, particularly in Europe, while even others have seen far worse. Many Ideas are bandied about, most misguided, some just flat out wrong and morally unjustifiable while meanwhile around the world the layman continues to work with innovation, integrity, and pride within the basis of systems which are either completely new and innovative or thousands of years old and tested by time, never being heard or seen because they are not in a position of power to make such projects profitable for a corporation or government, often frowned upon because these innovative men and women don’t have the “required education” to be any more than a nobody in the eyes of the power brokers. While those of us who stand alone can prove a point, together we are and army and with the power to change our reality and purge our system of the evil which is infecting it.

Agriculture is but one small area, but a very important one to start with, for without food, ideas, culture, spirituality and niche roles cannot be realized.


The saving and trading of seed is paramount to sustainable agriculture and keeps many small farms afloat in a time of turmoil the world over. As the rich get richer and the poor get poorer and the world and the responsible inhabitants therein are raped we must stand up to those who would subdue us and cut the metaphorical throat of their bonds; materialistic desire and the cash flow which keeps their blood pumping. The unnecessary transition of material wealth coming annually from the poor to the rich in exchange for the privilege for one to grow their own garden and eat their own food without the option of saving seed is not only an insane idea but completely unprecedented in the annals of history

I am making a stand and a call that all of those responsible farmers and gardeners not only do what they can find it in themselves to do to be more environmentally responsible, but to also make it a point to show big agriculture and petrol business as well as our own governments that we are tired of being pushed around. Just like in the Victory garden campaigns of world war one and two, I call for you, the backbone of America to become more responsible in you use and treatment of the land and it’s resources as well as flying the flag of your independence in the face of those who would otherwise tread on you. False patriotism and alignments with ones own prideful sense of country will do nothing to help further these ideas, indeed they are the very reasons these ides are never cultured or seen to fruition.


It is time to implement green graffiti techniques, planting in public spaces for the good of the environment and the people, in a way that will leave you anonymous but also give you great pride. It is time to start implementing breeding projects which will give us our seed back by effectively saving, selecting and growing out F1 hybrid seeds or by using PVP type open pollinated seeds in new breeding experiments and distributing them world wide.

It is time to start the lobbying against the era of artificial genetic modification and to tell the Monsanto’s and governments of the world that we will not allow it; not here, not now, not ever. It is time to start making gardening more about feeding the earth and the family and less about feeding the rich; it is also time to make agriculture more spiritual and less mechanical.

It too is time to work harder than ever on and with a system of black market trading of seeds and the distribution thereof around the world, finding nooks and crannies into which much seed and plants can be exchanged with cultures around the world, further strengthening our bonds as responsible agricultural stewards and also as a human worldwide family working for the good of our mother, our environments, our nutrition, and our very soul and spirits. It is time to ensure genetic variability and bio-diversity while also working within regional and local agricultural systems and with the world at large. There are no boundaries other than those drawn on maps by men who set in underserved places of power! Internet technology makes this easier than ever before and should be utilized at every opportunity.

It is time to build bridges between the communities of the world and find our common ground, to work with innovative new ideas that will help solve modern dilemmas by way of forgotten technology or new options that are “Eco-Logically” sound.

It is time to encourage the youth of the world to become involved, to utilize local and regional resources to take back the land and farm the land that is too quickly being covered with low rent housing, build on flood plains and prone to disaster. Our misuse of resources, our laziness, our placidity, and the uninformed opinions of journalists who have never touched soil are slowly eroding not only our agriculture, but our very spirit and culture. The very “ terroir” of our lands has been raped and pillaged by power brokers for too long now. Pick up the shovel and put down the video games, experience reality as you never have! The youth are the key, if only they will realize what true knowledge and culture means.

Much work has been done by many dedicated people at our Homegrown Goodness site (http://Alan bishop.proboards60.com) to work with diverse peoples, cultures and farming systems around the world to distribute and obtain seed which at times and in certain countries it is illegal export or import for fears that are solely corporately related. It is time that we all come together and shake hands, exchange culture, ideas, knowledge and seeds.

I too believe that it is time that we educate those who would otherwise not understand our passion, our beliefs and the facts about natural sustainable gardening, while instead of fighting those who would subdue us and who would otherwise become our adversaries. we shall instead prove deeply our point with sound research, observation, and hard impassioned work; sometimes one cannot wait for a door to open and instead has to kick the door down!


More to come in part two; “Bio-fuels, local agrarian living, practicing simplicity and humility, and working towards sustainable living!”

Creating diversity in food crops through the time honored tradition of cultural mixing of seed stocks:

Creating diversity in food crops through the time honored tradition of cultural mixing of seed stocks:
A new spin on an old method as realized by many backyard plant breeders.

Written By: Alan Reed Bishop of Hip-Gnosis seed development and Bishop’s Homegrown
All writings are copy left and public domain property. Feel free to distribute!

So much of what we do on our little produce and research farm here in Pekin, Indiana finds its roots in the time honored traditions of days gone by. Of particular and keen interest to the untrained backyard plant breeder are the questions, how and where do I start. We are often asked why we spend so much time making “chance” mass crosses, something that is often frowned upon by the school and book trained plant breeders. I will attempt to give some history and background on what inspired me to take this particular road in many of my current plant breeding programs in the following paragraphs.

I guess I should start by putting forth my philosophy on life; I am whatever is, and will be, and I create reality with my every thought that is put into practical use within the third dimension and which can be proven time and again through process of spiritual evolution, free thinking, and common sense. I hope that didn’t go over your head, but that’s my creed and all of my self study into cultural, spiritual and horticultural knowledge of the past helps me to reinforce this idea. In other words, one doesn’t learn everything (and sometimes one learns nothing) that is practical within the pages of a book, taught within enclosed walls.

One doesn’t have to look far into the past to see the success, rise and eventual fall of all empires, civilizations and ideas. One also doesn’t have to look far to see the implications of a practical use of common sense. With these ideas in mind a few years back I implemented my plant breeding work after re-discovering my love for natural horticulture and agriculture by way of history and proven, time tested, methodology.

Much of my work is typified by “mass crossing” and mixing experiments. Wherein food plants of one species but of different varieties are planted together and encouraged, deeply, to cross with one another, providing myself with a wide diversity of F1 seeds and new recombination’s of genetics in the following year with which to grow out and make selections from.

A good example would be my current watermelon experiments. We have collected a number of watermelon seed types from around the world in colors of pink, red, orange, yellow, and white, in the winter after collection was done we grouped them into like types; red and pink, yellow and orange, and a separate white fleshed mix. The seeds were thoroughly mixed together in their separate color categories and then planted, encouraging crossing between the varieties with a hive of bees or by way of other pollinators (and sometimes hand pollination, particularly for planned crosses or for “selfing” a bloom for the sake of seed purity). The end result will be mixed and more often than not crossed F1 generation seed that will be bulked together and replanted and which will give rise to future selection work, particularly in developing varieties adapted to our disease, insect, and climate pressures here on the farm and in the surrounding area as well as taste and productivity measures.

You might ask why we don’t just trial a number of cultivars and pick what does best. The long and short of it is that we do and we have, however a good selection doesn’t mean you’re best or most creative, artistic, or tasty option, sometimes our “reality“ needs to be shaken up and revisited as it were (seeds are just like ideas and ideas are in fact seeds). In other words if you can find an OP of terrific quality that works well with you, it will be important to keep that variety pure and keep right on propagating it (you never know when the seed companies will stop offering it) however, if you aren’t satisfied playing the averages and you feel a little adventurous, mix it up a bit, plant the seeds and then start the selection process. In time you can, like we have, select for and develop verities of food plants and recombination’s of genetics, in a natural way, that are uniquely suited to your agricultural needs. Sounds rather tongue in cheek right? That’s the point. With a little bit of ingenuity and common sense and an eye for selection you too can explore the diversity and beauty that nature offers us and create your own variety.

Don’t get me wrong, this is definitely not a new idea. As a matter of fact this idea has probably been practiced for as long as agriculture has existed, particularly so by way of the Native Americans. We have often grown out seed types from Native American farmers which will “throw” us all sorts of shapes, sizes and colors of fresh produce all from the same plant! What the natives were able to breed into plants in diversity is absolutely amazing; a good example is seen on display nearly every fall in the form of “Indian corn“.

Often times natives would mix multiple seed lines or varieties into “grexes” or “mixes” used for planting the next year. Weather these original crosses were the results of planed variability or naturally occurring accidental crosses is probably up for debate, but there is no doubt that the natives saw immediately (common sense again!) the results of diversifying their crop types with the aid of new germ plasm which could lend to the selection pressures of their bio-regions and particular requirements. Seed trading was often a large part of communication between tribes and in this way many new seed stocks found their way into many new seed mixes. The history of most crops in the western hemisphere will prove beyond a reasonable doubt how seed can travel and at a pace that is almost unprecedented (for example, watermelon, a crop brought to the new world by the Spaniards, was being grown by the Natives in some places up to 50 years before contact from the Spaniards!) In other words, dent corn (or flint, pop, or sweet corn types) of multiple varieties were mixed together (by type; dent with dent, flint with flint, with some amount of intermixing between types) and grown together for years while making no apparent attempt to select for a crop which would mature uniformly and in a small space of time (modern plant breeders are big on those type of traits due to the modern food processing industry) leading to a wide variety of colors and shapes, and a long harvest window, important to the home gardener and in some Native American rituals. Disease and pest tolerance were probably well noted in the mind of the grower so that seed selection could be made based on the best of the best. Squash and beans, the other two pieces of the important “three sisters” guild, were also often grown in this way. To this day, squash seed, coming from the natives in the arid south west and Mexico by way of Native Seeds /SEARCH shows such diversity that a novice gardener might believe there had been a seed mix up when in fact these seeds are open pollinated, just genetically variable by way of cultural mass crossing of crops, in other words if you try to save seeds of only on type of squash off of a plant that gave you many shapes and colors, you will always get all of those same shapes and colors in the following plantings. It is pretty ingenious if I do say so myself, and a terrific way to develop genetic diversity. It is due to the work of these early natives and seed saving plant breeders that we owe most of the diversity left in our food crops today.

Beans show the same diversity even though they aren’t commonly out crossers, these beans have made chance crosses for so long, that all the varieties have become one variety, in other words, one variety may have as many as five seed types, but any one seed will give rise to all the same variations! Exciting stuff if I do say so myself.

Early plant breeding by large seed companies was often left to chance as well. Many of the older commercial O.P. types were the results of mass crossing, rare spontaneous mutations, or the results of two varieties of one crop being grown in a field together to encourage crossing with future selection work being made on the progeny, bringing the seed into a “fixed“ or open pollinated state.. Many of the very best varieties suited to regional and local agriculture have been breed in this way or by way of accidental crossing and selection pressures.

Much of this crossing led to much improved varieties, particularly within local agriculture and regional agriculture systems. By mixing up the genetics you are in effect shuffling the card deck, looking for new combinations, and constantly rouging out the “bad hands”. Sometimes you get dealt a real winner though and with a little common sense in selecting the “parent” seeds that go into the mix, one can greatly increase their odds of getting that wining hand.

Parent seed selection should be based on firm self study and research, what grows well in your climate, has disease and pest tolerance that matches your needs, is productive and tasty, can you find multiple varieties of one crop type that has all of these traits that you’re searching for, maybe a compromise must be made from time to time. One melon has taste and productivity but no powdery mildew resistance, while one has taste and powdery mildew resistance while not being drought tolerant, one is drought tolerant and productive but you don’t care for the taste, perhaps these are all vineing types and you want a bush types, with a little common sense we can track down all that we need for a mix to create a mass cross, and if one is really on top of the game they can even trade like the natives before us for all the parent stock they will need for only the price of some of their own seed stock.

From the onset of the additional crosses, the ball is in your hand to make and document your selection criteria for your own needs, perhaps you want a uniform crop where selection must be regimented, or perhaps you’re an explorer and lover of diversity in the time honored tradition of the natives and you will select for disease, pest, and taste and allow the diversity to flourish, the choice of course is yours!

Of course one should not completely rule out F1 hybrid seed either. It is by way of much commercial F1 hybrid seed tat we have made many crosses or selected and segregated out an effective open pollinated version of such and F1 hybrid. Sometimes you win and sometimes you lose, but the beauty is that you always learn and you might just find something great!

Many of our future blogs and research articles will be based on a great many mass crosses and the segregation process that follows here on our farm. Among the many mass crosses that we have or will be working with this year are the following:

Winter squash mixes:
Acorn and mini pumpkins in all colors and variations
Mixta, Moschata, and Maxima mixes
Watermelon:
Red cross
Yellow and orange crosses
White Crosses
Tomatoes:
Modern cherry, grape, and mini pears crossed to high sugar wild relatives in all colors
Cucumbers:
White Cucumber mass cross
Kales
Collards
Cabbages
Broccoli
And Many others!

We also make what we term pure “grexes”, where the seed of many varieties of one type of non out crossing crop are mixed and intercropped together for maximum diversity!

Vermiculture and Vermicomposting - Creating an “Eco-Logically” balanced and self sufficient farm based on the concept of wasting nothing!

Vermiculture and Vermicomposting - Creating an “Eco-Logically” balanced and self sufficient farm based on the concept of wasting nothing!

Written, researched, and developed by: Alan Reed Bishop of Bishop’s Homegrown and Hip-Gnosis Seed Development

Here at Bishop’s Homegrown we are always working to improve our systems of production, fertilization, and “Eco-Logically” managed, Self Sustainable farming. After years of natural observation we obviously realize the importance of eco-systems working as an Echo Mechanism. This is the concept that one plant or animal grows with the aid of something created or produced by another plant or animal, thus Echoing repeatedly back into the eco systems. Never taking more than needed and always adding more back to the mix. Of particular interest to us is creating our own on farm fertilizers, pest controls, and disease controls instead of relying on ordering them in from cross country and adding more to our carbon footprint. As such we have been experimenting with raising Esinia Foetida for nearly three years in our composting systems.

Esinia foetida, more commonly known as the red wiggler worm, is a worm native to Europe with an incredibly voracious appetite which is matched only by its ability to procreate at an expeditious speed of one capsule (egg) a week, each containing anywhere from 2-22 baby worms each (1.21 jigga-watts Marty!) ! These worms will eat and expel nearly twice their weight in organic matter each and every day and will even re-process already spent material further enriching it. The waste product of these worms is known as a casting, and is one of the richest sources of natural compost/fertilizer and micro-biology in the known world. These castings have an excellent balance of the three essential nutrients N, P, K and a number of micro nutrients, as well the micro-organisms of the type that make up the very soil web of the earth which we till and add much to the soil texture and tilth, as well they are encapsulated in the mucous of the worms that expelled them making them a terrific slow release fertilizer that will add up in the soil over years of treatment. As well, the fertilizer is mild enough that it won’t burn even the most tender of seedlings, and with a little bit of research into feeding and watering methods, the contents of this natural fertilizer can be modified to that of a custom type for specific crops. There has been very little scientific work that I know of done in the area of soil sciences and the effects of micro-flora on the plants that inhabit land rich in them when compared to the research done with synthetics during the green revolution, what is known is that these micro-organisms help to break down and enrich organic matter, mineral and water uptake and keep diseases to a minimum while all the while constituting a terrific organic soil treatment that will blow any synthetic out of the water in both terms of production, safety for the consumer, and cost. Short of saying and describing our results I can say that I’ve seen some amazing turnabouts with the use of vermicompost.

One of the many things we have observed here on the farm is the halting of fungal disease dead in their tracks amongst tomatoes, peppers, eggplants and squash, including some of the most common fungal diseases associated with gardening in the Ohio Valley. We accomplished this with nothing more than a foliar spray of vermicompost tea and have seen, only in the short two years I’ve been working with the worms, an amazing drop in the occurrence of disease in the fields treated with these castings and teas and a large drop in the occurrence of mineral deficiencies in our crops. I have also seen improved seedling vigor and growth as well as improved fruit set in many plants.

As mentioned above we put to use vermicompost “tea” quite often in our operation. Particularly within the greenhouse with respect to both seedlings as well as full grown tomatoes which we grow throughout the winter and spring in our two largest greenhouses.


The red worm is fairly easy to “cultivate” in a bin system, requiring very little care at all short of bedding, a bit of lime to correct PH inconsistencies and plenty of food. Our systems are the most basic design available and consist of nothing more than rubber made storage totes with some drainage holes drilled into the bottom. We us spent sphagnum moss from the winter tomato growing for bedding and feed our worms with a mix of kitchen scraps (no meat or dairy, though egg shells are fine and reccomended), rotting produce, and the occasional laying mash to increase size and productivity as well as upping the nitrogen content of the end product. The bins are filled with anywhere between six and twelve inches of bedding and we feed about once every two weeks, never feeding until the old material is finished off. Moisture is kept to that of the consistency of a wrung out sponge, and we usually water, feed, and throw a couple of hand full of lime into the bins at the same time (Ag-lime, or powdered lime, never palletized or hydrated which will burn the worms). We prefer to cover the food with bedding to deter pests such as red mites and rodents which can be a real problem in worm bins. We keep our bins aerated or turned every couple of weeks prior to feeding to keep them from becoming anaerobic and allowing the bedding to become to acidic, a task accomplished with an old potato fork, this also allows us to keep an eye on material that the worms are finishing and to take note of when we will need to harvest.


We currently maintain twenty five 30 gallon bins of red worms and harvest castings once a month by simply scraping the top inch of material off of the beds. When we get behind due to the workload here on the farm we have come up with a bulk harvesting solution by creating our own worm harvester made simply of a large trash can cut in two with a piece of 1/8” hardware cloth connected in between the two sides. The barrel is hung at a 40 degree angle on a frame with a piece of pipe work through the middle so that it can rotate, in this way the finished material falls through the holes while the worms and unfinished materials come out of the other end ready to go back into the bins.

Every 6 months we end up with about 60 five gallon buckets of finely sifted vermicompost which will find its way to our seedlings or fields or will become compost tea.


Making Tea:

To make our compost tea we simply take a couple of hand full of vermicompost and wrap it in some cheesecloth which we then tie shut and attach to a string which we suspend into a five gallon bucket of water along with a fish tank aerator. Forty-eight hours later the tea should be “brewed” enough for use as a foliar spray or a root soak and is never burning to even the youngest of plants.

We have used this tea extensively for foliar spraying of seedlings, full grown tomatoes in the greenhouse and also amongst our field crops with almost an immediate reaction amongst the crops within about twenty four hours. We also obtain terrific results amongst the greenhouse tomatoes with a good root soaking of this solution.


Use as a granular:

We often also use the compost as a soil amendment for potted plants as well as seedlings and also as a top or side dressing for larger crops. Since the castings are contained within a mucous membrane it makes them an excellent slow release fertilizer and we often top dress the potted tomato plants in the greenhouses with this solution. Shortly after watering there is an immediate reaction with the plants which perk up, seem to grow overnight, and often turn a much darker shade of green.

We also plant squash, beans, sweet corn, okra, watermelon, and muskmelon and transplants with a small handful of these worm castings for a kick start in fertilization. We also hypothesize that the fungi associated with the breakdown of organic material in the bins into a food product for the worms may in fact colonize the roots of these plants and provide them with beneficial effects such as fixation of certain minerals and water when needed.

Manipulating fertility in the bins:

Food and bedding sources as well as watering conditions can play a major role in the fertility of the finished product to be harvested from the bins. We find that feeding rotten sawdust as well as leaves or using these for bedding is a terrific way to up the micro-nutrient content of the vermicompost, for trees can reach minerals not otherwise available to plants given the extensive and deep running root systems. Many of these minerals are still present in leaf mold and definitely in rotten sawdust which the worms will over time break down in their beds along with any food added, these minerals and micro-nutrients then become available to any plants with which the vermicompost is added as a soil amendment or fertilizer.

Green materials equal high nitrogen and lying off of the lime and water for a few weeks will also add a higher percentage of nitrogen that will become available to plants which are amended with vermicompost. You do however have to be careful with this as too much acidity will burn the worms and they will literally “melt”. Also the smell is not pleasant. You should only feed green, compostible materials to one side of the bin and never mix them with the bedding as they will heat and can kill the worms. If you feed only on one side of the bed the worms can come and go to the heat as they please. Also, when watering more infrequently one must be careful as if the bins get too dry the worms will not be able to breathe and they will expire. If one looses an established bin of worms it is nothing to fret about as the eggs are very tough and will hatch within 21 days (unless frozen) and can survive extremes of freezing (for years) as well as heat extremes.

We have also often used the pure castings for potting soil. While they do fine as a potting soil and will provide all the fertility that one needs for any plant they do have a tendency to crust over and should most likely be mixed with a more porous material such as sphagnum. A fifty-fifty mix is excellent and we had much success with it when used for potting up the micro-tomatoes from our 2007 and 2008 trials.

Of course red worm cultivation or Vermiculture as it is called also has its other benefits. One major benefit we have found is by adding worms to our potting mix for greenhouse plants, the worms offer and provide more fertilizer and the further breakdown of organic material into usable fertilizer for the plants while also adding tilth which is not often found in container gardening. Another advantage of raising red worms on a small farm is the added profit margin provided by selling excess worms for fishing bait or to other interested Vermiculturist which has become a major factor of our financial success here at Bishops Homegrown.


Any farmer, particularly those interested in “Eco-Logically” sound methods, should look into raising red worms which are amazingly easy to take care of and feed. They will recycle materials that are normally considered waste and create amazing fertilizer out of them and are a terrific step towards self-sustainability.

For more information feel free to contact the author: Alan Reed Bishop 1-812-967-2073 or
bishopshomegrown@gmail.com

Spring 2008 is here!

I've been shirking my internet and article/research writing duties the past couple of weeks due to the constant workload here on the farm as well as a sinus infection that has had me down for the past week or so. Anyhow, just to give a quick update on the things we've been up to here on this little farm of ours:

-cutting and planting over 1,000 lbs of seed potatoes

-getting caught up with starting our seeds, we are about 90% done now.

-Buying some much needed new farm equipment including a John Deer 955 mini-tractor with a front end loader and an 18 foot trailer

-Working on farm equipment

-Planting a ton of greens and lettuce

-Taking care of the new greenhouse crop

-I've started playing music again with some old friends, mostly playing bass guitar, it's a nice release here and there and something I really enjoy.

Hopefully this coming weekend or early next week I'll get some new articles written for this site and the www.notjusthearsay.com site as well as get to do some work to the new interactive Hip-Gnosis seed development web-site.

Hopefully as well the rain will stop soon so I can get the rest of my potatoes, cabbage, and other cole crops in the ground.

We will be bringing in a couple of hives of honey bees in the next week or so, very excited about that!

I got to clean out the neighbors cow barn which gave me about 15 tons or so of cow manure, I've already spread lime and disced a few fields, waiting for it to dry out for my order of 10 tons of chicken manure to be spread and to also spread sand for my melon patches.

By the way, hope you enjoy the "purple heart" potato pic at the top of the page, it's actually just a strangely shaped "all blue" that I noticed when we were chitting potatoes!

Wake up America!

Your local farmer, produce suppliers, and mom and pop stores need you more than ever, and chances are your going to need them!

A call to end “Big Box” mentality in America!
Written by: Alan Reed Bishop of Bishop's Homegrown and Hip-Gnosis seed development.
February 28, 2008


Hey America, it’s time to wake up! Your dollar value is dropping, your waists are expanding and you’re a generally unhappy bunch of folks from what I have seen. And that my friend is from the mouth of an American himself. Alan Reed Bishop.

I’m not here to berate anyone, surely what I’m about to say even applies to myself and I’ve got a lot to learn so that I too don’t sound like a hypocrite. What I’m here to say is something that probably won’t set so well with many blue collard American folks, but it is the truth. A hard truth that if not faced will bare the consequences of an even more uncertain future.

What I’m here to ask, is just exactly how long will it take the fact that we are destroying our own culture, food supply, and future by shopping at the corporate owned big box stores, to set in? You may not realize it, but every time you drive to your local Wal-Mart, Meijers, K-mart, Home Depot or whatever and drop one of those dirty dollars on the counter, you are further eroding the very culture and substance of the American way of life. How many news reports about poisonous toys and unsafe food do you have to hear before you get it? It seems so obvious. Many of you may think that loosing the mom and pop owned five and dimes is of little consequence to your bread and butter, but look what happened to their bread and butter when you took your dollar elsewhere, and guess what, other consumers suffer due to your bad decisions as well, being forced to pay higher prices for lower quality products and food. A damn shame if I do say so myself.

In my profession I’ve seen it time and again. The local produce business can be quite fickle at times, particularly when it comes to un-informed customers. Now, don’t get me wrong, people will have to eat regardless, and I will be able to stay in this business on that fact alone, however the hurt is really being put on the local farmers and co-ops by the Wall-Marts and Jay-C-Food stores of the world and their supposedly “organic” produce, and perhaps more importantly, you the consumer are feeling the burn as well. Prices on organic food keep on sky-rocketing while quality keeps sinking. Perhaps you believe that the much coveted “organic” label actually means something to the big companies who use different names to market “organic“ versions of their products? If so, you‘d be dead wrong. You see, the USDA and the Corporations of the world don‘t care about what the word “organic“ means as long as it equals money in the pocket. That‘s why there are 35 non-organic substances allowed in the production of USDA “Certified Organic“ food production. Thirty five substances which may or may not be any better for you than conventional products. Thirty Five substances which may or may not have been outlawed in other countries around the world due to their links with rates of cancer and environmental damage. Thirty five substances that mono-culture farms half the world away and in your own backyards would rather you never know about.

I’m not here to bash “Organic farming” at all, as a matter of fact I consider myself to be an Organic farmer in the truest sense of the word. In that my produce and products are produced and protected using only the most natural of methods and minus gas to local venues and diesel for my tractor, my carbon foot print on this farm is pretty small. The USDA, big box stores, and corporate agriculture however don’t see “Organic” in this way, as a matter of fact their measure of the word “Organic” would be much easier summed up in monetarily inspired numbers. As anybody knows, self sustainable, nutritious, and organic food is right up my alley and I try my hardest everyday of my life to further improve my systems of delivery, production, and self sustainability in an attempt to treat the earth and it’s inhabitants with the utmost respect and dignity while also providing a premium product LOCALLY, and therein lies the problem.

You see, when you walk into Wall-Mart and see those big blue organic labels, your looking at a lie. Your looking at a money grubbing scheme to both take your money for a sub-par product, run local farmers out of business, and further erode the meaning of the “organic” label, while at the same time making you feel all warm and fuzzy inside because you just bought something “organic”. So, what’s the problem with that organic food? Well there are a lot of problems with it. Much of that “organic” food comes from other counties around the world, particularly third world countries where “organic” standards are much less observed and regulated. Another problem is that there are several organically approved, yet none the less dangerous chemicals that are allowed to pass as suitable for “organic” production systems and in the preparation and processing of those foods, mostly because the USDA Organic law is catered to large mono-culture farms. And last but not least, most of the “organic” food that your buying on those nasty, dollar inflated Wall-Mart shelves that is actually grown in the USA is grown by large corporate farms, owned by multi-million dollar companies that you already know well by their more common brand names, in systems that would make a septic sludge pond look organic, by folks who have little to no respect for local farmers and business and the local economy,environmental concerns and health of the consumer, and to boot the food is then shipped hundreds, sometimes thousands of miles away to those big ugly boxes, effectively leaving a carbon foot print so large it should immediately affect the value of that food as “organic” to any clearly thinking human being. And yet many people continue to shop in these huge emporiums of low-grad crap.

Do you know how many times that market farmers hear the phrase, “well, I’ll go to town and buy that at Wall-Mart cheaper.” ? Does that even make sense to anyone? You’d rather eat poisonous food from 1,000 miles away than to pay an extra $0.25 for quality, local products that you know support the local economy and that you can trust? Not to mention the fact that you are only lowering the value of the dollar and putting wealth and power in the hands of countries which are not exactly on friendly terms with us? I mean to me it doesn't make any sense, you would rather buy food from someone you don't know from a thousand miles away than to actually talk to and see the face of the very person who grew the food? This country is a long strange trip indeed!

I can understand now why so many little mom and pop stores have shut down. People stop supporting them and drive to town, paying more for gas, inflating the economy of the rich corporate stockholders and countries with horrible track records like China, while depleting our own country of natural resources, a healthy lifestyle, community, and yes even culture. For as much as a mom and pop store, a farmers market, or a local feed mill is a source for material goods it is also a source of knowledge and local and regionalized culture. Not only that, but I get a distinct impression that the materialism of this country drives one even more so to go out and buy the latest fashions and gas guzzling vehicles, so one can be trendy and “fit in” while at the same time pretending to “know“ and “care“ about global warming, politics, and the economy. Well America you go ahead and keep drowning our economy, keep pumping yourself full of dangerous chemicals, keep saying that the big box stores are good for us, keep thinking that you need all that crap that you waste your money on, keep playing into the game, keep destroying your history and culture, just keep right on conforming. Soon we can just go ahead and close down all the mom and pop stores, replace everything with “organic” Mc. Donald’s and Taco Bells, put a big Wall-Mart on every street corner and change the name of the United States of America to The Amalgamated states of Conformity. Me, well, I’m going to do the best I can to inform myself and those around me to make the right decisions while meanwhile continuing the god given work that I am doing and not pretending to be anything I am not. I’ll be your valuable market farmer, the source for your healthy food and lifestyle, your alternative to “New America”, I’ll just keep right on being the plant breeding, worm ranching, truly organic, seed saving, hill-Billy, ridge running farmer that I have been, and when the shit hit’s the fan, I’ll be sure to plant a little more for the extra needy and pray that those of you that have caused this can take the crash course in survivalism to protect yourselves and your families from the terrorism that you have inflicted on your own country.

So, here is my question, who are you going to turn to when things take the deep downturn we are headed towards? Is it going to be the mom and pop stores you put out of business? The farmer that couldn’t afford the tools he needed to get the job done?

Really, we have no one to blame for our health, our economy, our loss of morals and our horrible leaders other than ourselves. We have lost sight of what made this country great. Local culture and ideas. Self sustainable family owned business that care as much about the community as they do the money that they make. Independent people with independent ideas who stand up for what they believe in! When the last family farm falls, will you be there to say, this is our fault?


P.S. If you don’t believe that this country is in a sad state then take the time to rationalize that instead of working on national issues, congress is currently more interested in holding hearings regarding steroids in sports. You tell me, where are the priorities?

Update and Priori Proof regarding my cotton breeding experiment mentioned below!

I was recently fortunate enough to come accross four more strains of colored cottons through Sand Hill Preservation Center, below are the names and descriptions:

298 Green: Lint is off-green in color, bolls do not open up big, not a fluffy type.

A7 Brown: Very large, fluffy bolls, almost a khaki color.

Egyptian Green: 115 days. Beautiful flowers on 3 to 4 foot tall plants followed by bolls that produce pale green cotton. Best if treated like peppers as far as growth habit in the North.

Tan: 115 days. 4 foot plants with tan to brown shaded cotton bolls.


End Note on Cotton and Priori proof of the future existence of two new breeding mixes or possible fixed and open pollinated varieties.

Priori Proof is a term I have borrowed from one of Tom Wagners recent postings on the internet discussing and improved version of his still unreleased Verde Claro Tomato. The idea being that if one has the idea and the means to create something then it already exists in an albeit in-material and abstract way in ones mind. When I first started reading about the shades of colored cottons and found out to my dissapointment that most of the colors had since dissapeared I started to think that maybe through selection of slightly off colored types over time you could develop new shades of cotton. Of course my mind went to the extremes and I came up with two possibilities and two names to describe those possibilities as follows.

October Rust - Named for a Type O Negative album of the late 90's. Selecting and working with the off, slightly red tinted bolls of cotton we could look for the most rust colored boles and over a number of years develop a red, rust colored cotton which could be named October Rust and would be a terrific fall color.

and

Le Fee Verte (the green fairy) - The french name for Absynthe. Selecting for the darkest colors of green boles over a number of years and rouging out the off types we could concievably come up with the darkest green cotton yet. Green much like the color of grass in summer with any luck!

Of course these could be the names of new crosses and open pollinated types mixed into a genetically diverse breeding material as well and distributed for work and selection to interested gardeners (the most likely scenario for this fall and for work in '09).

I hold high hopes in particular for the four new cottons that will be added to the mix this year given their longer "staple" size and the developments that this could lead to and the benefits to be derrived from such.

Too long overlooked:

Too long overlooked:
Exploring and re-introducing alternative crops for the sake of nutrition, bio-diversity and self sustainability, a look at a few alternative crops we will be working with in the coming years.

Written and Researched By: Alan Reed Bishop of Hip-Gnosis Seed Development

Naturally colored cotton.

You may not realize it, but cotton has not always been white, as a matter of fact naturally occurring populations of cotton are often every color but white! Colored cotton (Genus: Gossypium) has been selected for and bred in a number of earth tone colors from Peru to Egypt and into the far East for nearly 3,000 years. During the era of slavery it was common to see cotton fields in the south exhibiting cottons in colors of green, brown, pink, and blue and most often slaves were not allowed to cultivate the white varieties due to perceived impurities, just another form of racism.

By the time of the industrial revolution and the invention of mechanical cotton gins and spinning machines colored cotton had fallen out of favor in the United States due to it’s generally short fiber (referred to as staple) which made mechanical spinning difficult if not impossible. As odd as it seems given the long history of traditional plant breeding in this country I’ve uncovered little if any evidence of historical cross breeding between species to develop a longer fibered colored cotton until the early 1980’s. Instead of doing what common sense dictates it appears that the large industrial producers of cotton instead preferred to and do still to dye their cottons with toxic chemicals which harm the environment to produce even the very same colors that are common in naturally colored cottons.

Cotton is a very demanding crop and one in which the cultivation most often involves the direct abuse of natural resources and overuse and rampant abuse of carcinogenic chemicals which leach into our soil, water, and even food supply. However, many of the primitive colored cottons have a higher degree of pest resistance and are further suited to poor soils and organic culture systems than the modern, often genetically modified, types of white cotton. Another admirable trait as seen in the eyes of a utilitarian plant breeder.

There are a very few modern companies producing some amount of colored cottons and much has been said about Sally Fox and her FoxFibre clothing line. The only thing that I will say about the subject of Sally Fox is that proclaiming the “invention” and patenting systems for breeding colored cotton is a direct slap in the face of traditional plant breeders, Native American farmers, and traditional agriculture the world over. What gives anyone the right to proclaim such a thing is somewhat beyond my comprehension, particularly someone who is attempting to “introduce” an alternative but does so by traveling the very same roads and making the same stops as those large companies which came before.

Upon searching the internet and seed companies as well as a number of gene banks in my search for colored cottons I came across very few resources and suppliers though I have found a unique and intriguing history of colored cotton and it’s many utilitarian uses and it’s resurgence. I managed to dig around and come up with five cultivars. Four of which were available from Southern Exposure Seed Exchange
( www.southernexposure.com ) . The varieties available were only available in shades of green and brown. The varieties listed were: Nankeen (a short staple brown), Mississippi Brown (another short staple brown), Erlenes Green (a short staple green, and Arkansas green lint (another short staple Green. With a little research I was able to find a source for Peruvian brown cotton via Native Seeds/SEARCH, however it would appear that the USDA has put a useless, and wide reaching restrictive quarantine on this type due to “pink boll worm” and despite Indiana not being a cotton growing state, seed could not be shipped here and was only available to a small handful of south-western states. Thanks to a good friend however I was able to get my hands on a small batch of this genetically diverse seed with a longer “staple” and variation in color from chocolate brown to green.

This is not the first time that colored cottons have been quarantined. In the southern cotton growing states it is illegal to grow colored cottons for fear of being an alternative host to boll worms and also due to fear of cross contamination with cultivated white cotton. Fears which are unfounded and which have also unfortunately led to the demise and extinction in much cotton diversity. The same restrictive laws were also set into place in Peru all the way into the mid 80’s, by which time much of the genetic diversity had been destroyed or eroded.

Why bother to grow colored cottons in Indiana or to produce diverse seed and new crosses and cultivars of which to organic gardeners and market farmers? My reasons are many, but among the top of those reasons is history. As my growing out, selection, crossing, and maintaining a number of Nicotiana Tobaccum lines is representative of a lesson in the history and culture of my heritage and family and a valuable lesson for new gardeners and children so too do these colored cottons and their cultivation, harvest, preservation and history hold valuable lessons for future generations, including finding a new respect for the hard work that slaves were forced to endure, I am a firm believer that everyone should have to harvest cotton boles at least once during a hot summer day to truly understand what the slaves and cotton farmers had to endure in olden times, it gives us a chance to experience living history and find a newfound and invigorating respect for the peoples and days that have come before us. Of course the history also extends back to our ancestors and their cultivation of and development of these cottons and their utilitarian uses and one day these colored cottons may become an important source of textile material again, as useful as they are beautiful!

These cottons represent living history and human achievement in natural and sustainable systems, many of these cottons exhibit a tolerance to pest and disease pressures that modern cottons do not and these cottons can even be grown in very poor soil with very good results. Indeed these cottons are far removed in practicality, advantageous traits, beauty, and utilitarian traits from their genetically modified and environmentally damaging cousins, the cultivated white cotton of the south. Among the other virtues of these beautiful cultivars are and increased an unique softness to the touch, they are hardy and genetically diverse, adapted to a number of growing environments, pest and drought tolerant, and they eliminate the need for harmful chemical dyes which further pollute the already fragile eco-systems in cotton growing states.

Indeed I would love to see gardeners across the nations take up the hard work of saving and maintaining old strains of cottons, new potential crosses, and genetically diverse blends, even if the boles are never put to their advantageous use they do make a beautiful border plant and an interesting and important living history lesson.

Quinoa

Quinoa is an ancient cereal or pseudo cereal (not a true member of the grass family) grown for its edible seeds and greens. Quinoa was developed in the Andean region of South America where it has been grown for nearly 6,000 years by the Native American tribes in this region, usually at high elevations, making it a somewhat hardy and versatile crop. In morphology and description it somewhat resembles another South American grain crop, Amaranth which we will also be growing in trials this year. Quinoa is of interest not just because of it history and perceived rarity in North America making it a niche product but also because of its nutritional properties. Quinoa is 12-18% protein and high in essential amino acids, Iron, Magnesium, Phosphorus, and dietary fiber, and is also low in Gluten making it a nearly complete food and also a kosher source of food and a great alternative for diabetics.

We will be growing out three varieties of Quinoa this year sourced from Seeds of Change.

The seed/grain apparently contains Saponins which impart a bitter flavor. A trait which is desirable in the field to ward off birds and other scavenging pests but not too popular in the culinary trade. It is apparently this bitter flavor which may have caused the Europeans to pass up this important staple of Native American diet while they were colonizing the Americas. The Saponins are removed using water prior to cooking. Some amount of educating the public about this important crop will be expected, in time however we feel its virtues will outweigh the extra steps of preparation.


Amaranth

Amaranth refers to a wide variety of species (60 or so) with a widespread range and culinary or other uses which produce vividly colorful inflorescences (flower spikes) and foliage.

The types which we will be growing this year are used much like the Quinoa mentioned above and originated in the same areas (Amaranthus caudatus, Amaranthus cruentus, and Amaranthus hypochondriacus.). The foliage can be eaten as a pot herb/cooked green and the seed is used as a grain. Amaranth is high in essential amino acids and lycopene and is a crop to be watched in the future, particularly for arid climates where drought tolerance is absolutely necessary and where nutrition is scarce and land poor.

We will be developing, selecting, and maintain Amaranths here on the farm and for distribution through Hip-Gnosis Seed Development. Searching and selecting specifically for productivity, beauty, taste and nutrition and seeking to develop new colors of inflorescences.


This year will also see a grow out of several rare South American root crops such as Yacon, Maca, and Oca. At a later time we will publish a general paper on these particular crops. The above published paper will be updated as the 2008 season progresses and we harvest a crop, seeds, make selections, and take notes on general and natural observations.