Mighty Billboards, Mississippi, Rain, and the Seedy Mural

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LuLu's Herbs, owned by Pam Bramlett, in Balwin City, Kansas invited us to stay on on the farm before heading to Du Quoin, Illinois.  We hung out with 3 of the farm WWOOF'ers and checked out the herb gardens. Thank you Pam, Sarah, Alan, and Aaron for you hospitality.  You can check out Pam's garden blog here: Lulu's Garden Herbs.

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View Seed Broadcast Tour - Manitou Springs, CO to Des Quoin, IL in a larger map 

Heading towards Du Quoin, we ran into a huge thunderstorm.  This rain ushers in a new era of moisture for me.  I do not think I have seen this much rain for years. But still, it is dry, even here in the lush, pseudo-tropical, hill country of southern Illinois.

Along the way, people keep asking, "What are you doing?" But, the conversations that emerge are passionate, fascinating, and inspiring. Today we met, Swan the Story Teller in Carbondale, Il. She related information about a mock trial that was recently held here at Southern Illinois University, indicting the corporate hand-hold of people's basic human right to seeds and justice.  Swan said that they will soon be releasing a documentary film about this.

We have finally initiated the Seedy Mural on the exterior of the Seed Broadcast Mobile Seed Station. The images so far include seeds saved from Fodder Project Collaborative Research Farm, Suzanne Coffey, Cathy Kahn, and John and Cindy McCleod. All from New Mexico.  We scanned and photographed these, then scaled them up, printed, and wheat pasted them all over the van.  We will continue to paste the sides with images of seeds as we tour the country.  Please bring a favorite seed to the Broadcast events, we will photograph/copy/print it and you can help paste it onboard.

There's No Place Like Home

For the last several days, we have been slowly cruising across the back roads of Kansas agri-cultura, via State Route 24.  On first observation, I note an extreme contradiction in the fields of corn we pass. They come in two forms. Green, robust and above the knee for the 4th of July or otherwise scrawny 6" specimens of patchy zea maize with extremely crispy, brown, rolled leaves. It is obvious from the roadsides that this landscape has not seen moisture for quite some time.  This drought has swept across the west, with soaring temperatures and winds gusting across the prairies, harkening an epic reminder of the dust bowl days.

Several farmers I spoke to were dreaming of clouds, rain, and relief.

The green monoliths surviving this lack of precipitation, owe their vitality to the center pivot irrigation systems, running a circular track round and round, driven by massive generators, while spraying mists of water droplets onto the surface of the plants. This makes me wonder how much ethanol really costs to produce, while we also ask the perpetual question, "How long will the Ogallala Aquifer really last?"

"Giants Sunflower Seed 2 For $3 -"

I have been searching for a garden, as we drive through these stretches of corn, soy, wheat, and alfalfa fields.  Along the 437 miles that Kansas stretches, I have only spotted one, in a town called Hoxie.  It was a pleasing site to behold with the squash, corn, and beans growing vigorously in the middle of a tiny, modest, grass lawn. Have gardens disappeared from our rural landscapes, only to be replaced by the manicured lawns, formal hedges, suburban architecture, and massive fields of capital commodities? What are the chances that one of these fields grows saved seed?

Thank you J & T Repairs, in Hill City, Kansas, for helping us re-weld our exterior swivel broadcast speakers!

A nighttime shot of the Broadcast Station, camping out at Sheridan Lake, Kansas