More Art and Seeds or the Magic of Sprouting Up At Balboa Park!

A young artist we met at Balboa Park

Bringing together art and seeds….there is a wise saying that speaks to the profundity of holding just a few seeds and planting these into a cycle of relationships between humans and the earth. On the outside this looks simply as a human-centered opportunity, that is, seeds needing us to plant in order that we might harvest the bounty and nourish our practical bodies. But there is also another view, an embedded perception that opens up the magical and somewhat uncanny cycles of the world, bringing needs in touch with medicine, and inspiration in touch with hope. Seeds are the grounding for this as a journey. This journey was very much present in our SeedBroadcast travels from Anton Chico to San Diego and back again.

It began as a moment when, in Silver City, NM, we discovered inspirations of seed wisdom coupled with sheer generosity and good fortune…which seemed to continue throughout our journey.

The Tomato Guy, Rick Bohart, helping with the MSSBS in Silver City

The Mobile Seed Story Broadcasting Station has always been a persnickety beast, old, strong, and long winded. It always seems to get to where it needs to be by luck and a mysterious desire to wish our way there. In Silver City we broke down and a off-duty mechanic replaced the carburetor and sent us on our way. We made it to Gila and Patagonia with time to spare. But something was still wrong as we trudged westward and made a pit stop in El Centro to try our hand at very amateur SeedBroadcast-mechanic-try. So onward we chugged. I almost felt the need to recite the Little Engine That Could as we barely topped off the Laguna Mountains and puttered down to Chula Vista, San Diego.

 The next morning was looking like an utter disaster and a cancellation of the rest of our tour… but somehow we stumbled upon the most amazing mechanics who basically rebuilt the motor in a day and sent us on our way. As we met each of these people, small talk brought us to seeds, gardens, and hope. It was always the way.

That evening, while pulling into our host’s house, I turned off the van, stepped out, and saw someone I would never have expected. Michael!

Michael Ruiz lived right across the street and was out watering a plant when he saw the Mobile Seed Story Broadcasting Station pull up to his neighbor’s house. Surprised and somewhat confused, he came over and said, “What are you doing here?”

Wow that’s uncanny! Michael was a fellow student at VCFA (Vermont College of Fine Arts) where I went to school when I built the SeedBroadcast van and drove it to Montpelier, VT for my final thesis “exhibition” in the summer of 2012. That was the last time we had seen each other or spoken. The moment was surreal and strangely seed-like. An amazing cycle bringing us together again to inspire some seedy art.

2012 MSSBS Tour at VCFA in Montpelier, Vermont

After catching up, Michael invited us to come to Balboa Park, San Diego’s gigantic urban cultural park in the heart of the city. So spontaneously, on March 26 from 12 – 2 we set up SeedBroadcast between the Spanish Village, the Museum of Natural History, and a SYSCO semi-truck. Like a seed, we sprouted to the occasion and had the joyous opportunity to meet people, share seeds, record seed stories, and learn more about the state of local food and the goal of Balboa Park to redefine “California Landscape” in the inevitable water crisis.

Occupied! Artists At Work in Balboa Park, San Diego, CA

Here are Seed Stories shared from Balboa Park and also some thoughts about the words “Food Justice”

Michael Ruiz shares a Seed Story about making tortillas with his mother: https://soundcloud.com/seedbroadcast/michael-ruiz-shares-a-seed-story-about-making-tortillas-with-his-mother


Michael Ruiz shares several Seed Stories from and of Balboa Park: https://soundcloud.com/seedbroadcast/michael-ruiz-shares-several-seed-stories-from-and-of-balboa-park


Jerry Phelps talks about what food justice means and why saving seeds is so important: https://soundcloud.com/seedbroadcast/jerry-phelps-talks-about-what-food-justice-means-and-why-saving-seeds-is-so-important


Ryan Rosette talks about what food justice means to him: https://soundcloud.com/seedbroadcast/ryan-rosette-talks-about-what-food-justice-means-to-him


Did I mention the stories that seeds have to share?

Seed Keepers of the Gila.

Heirloom Corn

On a warm Sunday afternoon we found ourselves in a beautiful off the grid homestead at the edge of the Gila Wilderness. Our hosts were out gardening, preparing the soil and trying to control the cane that is used as barrier to the spring winds. It’s a labor of love and commitment to grow in this area but there is a resilient community that continues with the belief in growing and eating local food.

 It also is a necessity; “If you want to live in this incredible wilderness then you need to make a commitment,” we were told.

There is no local store so food has to be grown and it is exchanged and bartered. The community tries to help each other out, they are looking for different economies and new ways of being and living in this world.
They are learning all the time.

Their river, the Gila has been the source of diverse agriculture for over 2,000 years. http://www.gilaconservation.org/wp/?page_id=20

This river is a treasure, it is the last free flowing river in New Mexico and it is under treat of being diverted which would weaken its critical connection to the flood plain and surrounding habitats. This action is adding a new stress to the community.

 However on this Sunday afternoon we found ourselves in a small cool room with a circle of seed keepers who had made the conscious choice to live on the edge. We sat together through the peaceful slowed down afternoon sharing our stories and our seeds.
 It was a coming together, the seeds guided us.

Gila Cosmos

 There was an animated discussion until it was time to go back into the gardens to continue building and working the deep relationship to the plants, animals and the earth.

 There was talk about the shift of seed saving that only really kicked in 100 years ago when seed companies started, the different ways to keep a garden alive, with the problems of grasshoppers, squash bugs, and pervasive nematodes. One person in the room suggested planting cover crops of marigolds to keep the nematodes at bay. The marigolds in his garden grew up to four feet tall!

We were told that recently the weather had broken and flocks of wild cranes were rising on the changing wind patterns and that the hummingbirds follow the buzzards. The most important learning’s were though observation, by doing, by knowing the land and knowing your seeds.

 “When I watch the bees I wonder why we need to many ways to say something”

 “Common ground is what we are all looking for but we need to practice keeping our hearts open so it is not so brutal.”

 It was agreed that to hold the belief in our seeds, that to continue to grow our own food was one of the most radical actions one could take and it took committed dedication. At times this work is dirty, tough, extremely disappointing and could bring despair.
There was honesty in the stories.

Treasure

 One gentle human in the room has a carefully stored collection of seeds. Seed saving has been his passion since the seventies. He has four daughters but they, along with many others, have left the family farm and might not come back “Who do I pass these seeds on to?” he asked.

Such a big and important question to consider, where are the young farmers who are willing to take the risk, shift their ways of being in the world, head out and learn from these wise keepers of land based knowledge and seeds?

 If this does not happen soon the edge might crumble and a rare opportunity could be lost.