22.1 C
Byron Shire
March 28, 2024

Planting the seeds of wisdom

Latest News

Man charged over domestic violence and pursuit offences – Tweed Heads

A man has been charged following a pursuit near Tweed Heads on Monday.

Other News

Richmond Valley Rail Trail grand opening

The latest leg of the Northern Rivers Rail Trail opened in style on Saturday, with hundreds of two-wheeled travel enthusiasts spinning along the newly opened 13.4 kilometre section from Casino to Bentley.

Adaptive Surf Pro winds up in Byron

A week of mixed weather had seen almost 100 adaptive surfers take on the beaches of Byron Bay in the Byron first international adaptive surfing event to be held in Australia – the 2024 Australian Pro.

Urgent appeal

At last Thursday’s Byron Council meeting a long and dedicated campaign to save rail tracks and restore trains in...

Could the future of the Richmond River be a clean and healthy one?

Imagine a drinkable, swimmable, fishable Richmond River? That is the aim of the Richmond Riverkeepers Association.

Mayoral casting vote gets Lismore’s Affordable Housing Strategy over the line

At the recent Lismore City Council meeting former Mayor Vanessa Ekins and councillor Elly Bird moved the motion to introduce an Affordable Housing Contribution Scheme and submit it to the state government for a gateway determination. 

Save Wallum finalist in NSW 2024 environment awards

The Save Wallum campaign has been named as a finalist in the Nature Conservation Council of NSW Environment Awards 2024. The award ceremony will be held in Sydney tonight, and Save Wallum spokesperson and ecologist James Barrie will be attending with Tegan Kitt, another founding member of the group.

 

Seeds of Wisdom Michel Fanton (left) and Jude Fanton (right) under a baobab tree with rice farmer showing her ancient swamp rice, Sankuya village, The Gambia, during their Seed Solidarity Tour, July 2013. Photo a passerby on the Fantons camera.
Seeds of Wisdom Michel Fanton (left) and Jude Fanton (right) under a baobab tree with rice farmer showing her ancient swamp rice, Sankuya village, The Gambia, during their Seed Solidarity Tour, July 2013. Photo by a passerby on the Fantons’ camera.

Simeon Michaels 

Michel and Jude Fanton are in perpetual motion, a two-person NGO (non-government organisation) on a global odyssey for seed freedom.

The couple formed Seedsavers in 1986 after concerns that corporate seed production would lead to the loss of varieties cultivated over centuries for their taste, nutrition and robustness. Their concern was shared; after decentralising their operation, 120 seed networks sprouted across Australia. Members meet in each other’s gardens to swap seeds and gardening lore. Byron Hinterland Seed Savers is active in Byron Shire.

‘We received 8,700 strains from gardeners around Australia,’ says Jude of when the duo began to take off. ‘Our typical provider was ageing, sometimes unsociable, and fanatical. They didn’t want to pass away without passing on their favourite breeds.’

Food shortage

And then they went global. ‘We now specialise in helping war-torn and newly modernised nations,’ says Jude, who was among the first foreigners to reach Cuba following the Soviet collapse and the near-starvation of the population. East Timor, Cambodia and Afghanistan also received the ‘seedsaver’ treatment. In their travels, they encounter aid groups who respond to food shortages by distributing hybrid seeds, pesticides and fertiliser.

It’s unclear if using potentially genetically modified (GM) seeds and chemical poisons is simply ignorance, or the vacuum left by war and corporate opportunism to open up new markets. But Jude and Michel’s alternative is to educate on permaculture methods and link locals with seed and knowledge.

They don’t have a five-year plan. ‘We have a five-minute plan and a 5,000-year plan,’ says Michel. The five-minute plan was to eat wild almonds. ‘The 5,000-year plan is to bring more local traditional varieties into the global diet. The foods we eat now used to grow in the wild. In 5,000 years we should be growing an even greater variety of nutritious food and natural medicine.’

One senses that the couple have reached a junction in their life and life’s work, are passing from actors to elders, and with this they begin to share their wisdom:

Get planting

‘Just plant something,’ says Michel. ‘We’ve planted stuff from all over the country. If it survives, it adapts. If you send seeds from Byron to a frost-prone area, only the early-flowering varieties will survive. The first year you may get a poor crop, but if you continue to collect the seeds, next year more of your plants will flower early, and soon you have something different: a locally adapted variety. The vital step is to harvest the seed, or you lose nature’s work.

‘I haven’t spent time worrying about [biotech GM corporation] Monsanto. Yes, there is room for political activism, especially against laws restricting the right to save seeds, but if you keep planting and swapping and showing others how, the rest will take care of itself,’ says Michel.

The couple are not entirely free of concerns: Jude worries about farmers. ‘We are losing the people with knowledge,’ she says. And Michel worries most about our tastebuds, citing the example of ‘Zeesweet’, which are highly bred stonefruits developed in California and available in Australia. They are high in sugar, low on taste.

Flavour-bomb

‘Our palate is no longer in tune with what is good for us,’ he says, as Jude serves a flavour-bomb of garden-fresh black sapote with raw cacao. No wonder these people have energy. In fact, Michel is starting to bounce around in his seat. It’s time for a walk in their garden.

Veggies, spices, mushrooms, shampoo, ginger. Asian, South American and African food forests. Staples and rarities. An object lesson in global nutrition and a scented delight.

‘You want the best food, the greatest variety, walk up a narrow track in a third-world country. That is where you find it,’ the couple say.  It’s an astounding comment on modernisation. For all our travel, export and influence, our diet is blander than a remote village.

The couple has just returned from a five-month tour of 13 countries, including a seed exchange with 5,000 participants in Greece and assisting an embryonic seed network in Senegal, west Africa.

‘The longest-lasting, most effective organisations are those that start without a budget and are light on their feet,’ says Michel.


Support The Echo

Keeping the community together and the community voice loud and clear is what The Echo is about. More than ever we need your help to keep this voice alive and thriving in the community.

Like all businesses we are struggling to keep food on the table of all our local and hard working journalists, artists, sales, delivery and drudges who keep the news coming out to you both in the newspaper and online. If you can spare a few dollars a week – or maybe more – we would appreciate all the support you are able to give to keep the voice of independent, local journalism alive.

1 COMMENT

LEAVE A REPLY

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here

Where should affordable housing go in Tweed Shire?

Should affordable and social housing in the Tweed Shire be tucked away in a few discreet corners? Perhaps it should be on the block next to where you live?

Making Lismore Showground accessible to everyone

The Lismore Showground isn’t just a critical local community asset that plays host to a number of major events each year, but has also been used as an evacuation centre during past natural disasters in the region. 

Iconic Lennox beach shed upgraded –  not demolished

Lennox Park and the shelter shed has now been upgraded and reopened.

Govt cost-shifting ‘erodes financially sustainable local government’

Byron Shire Council looks set to add its voice to the growing chorus calling on the state government to stop shifting responsibilities and costs onto local government.