SEEDY Habitat: Exploring Climate Change Through the Arts

We will be SeedBroadcasting with Habitat: Exploring Climate Change Through the Arts during the Downtown Block Party in Albuquerque, New Mexico. This will kick off a very special SeedBroadcast project that we will be growing over the next several years, focusing our creative seedy cultivation on the role of local seeds, seed keepers, and regional foodsheds to feed communities and build resilient agri-Culture in the fact of Climate Change.

We will have a fantastic group of artists from Land Arts of the American West and UNM Art and Ecology working with us during this event.

Bring your Seed Stories to record and open-pollinated seeds to share!

Saturday, September 12, 2015 from 1pm - 4pm
On Central Avenue between 5th and 6th Streets
Downtown Albuquerque, New Mexico

In partnership with 516 ARTS

Here is more information about other events and activities during the Block Party.

516 ARTS is organizing a collaborative season of public programming in the fall of 2015 that explores climate change through the arts to create a platform for education and dialogue. The public programs for HABITAT: Exploring Climate Change Through the Arts will include: a series of exhibitions at 516 ARTS; the popular Downtown Block Party; special events with guest speakers; film screenings; and youth programs.

Climate change is an urgent issue of both global and local concern. The Southwest can be considered one of the most "climate-challenged" regions of North America, with rising annual temperature averages, declining water supplies, and reduced agricultural yields. In New Mexico we've already seen destabilized and unpredictable weather patterns, water sources going dry, forests not recovering from fire, loss of urban trees, and crop failures. Public programs for HABITAT strive to raise awareness about these issues by taking an innovative approach to engaging with social and environmental change, and by bringing the community together to focus on sustainability.

DOWNTOWN BLOCK PARTY:
Interactive Art Projects, food, music and fun for the whole family!

516 ARTS presents its third Downtown Block Party on Saturday, September 12, 2015 on Central Avenue between 5th and 6th Streets Downtown, which expands the gallery programs into the street. This year, the event is presented in partnership with the Downtown Albuquerque MainStreet Initiative in celebration of the Downtown Albuquerque Arts & Cultural District. It highlights outdoor artworks and projects that address alternative energy, food issues, and land and water use in the future, all with a focus on positive solutions and dialogue. For example, GhostFood by Miriam Simun, is a performance and interactive/participatory event that explores eating in a future of biodiversity loss brought on by climate change. The GhostFood mobile food trailer serves scent-food paintings that are consumed by the public using a wearable device that adapts human physiology to enable taste experiences of unavailable foods. Little Sun Pop-Up Shop, by artist Olafur Eliasson (Berlin, Germany) and engineer Frederik Ottesen (Copenhagen, Denmark), showcases an attractive, high-quality solar-powered LED lamp they have developed, which serves as a social business focused on getting clean, reliable, affordable light to the 1.2 billion people worldwide without access to electricity. For The Future of Energy by Andrea Polli and students, the public is invited to engage with local energy issues using an app to find and create potential, and to see what they are generating in real time through visualization tools.

Truth or Consequences with Seed

Charlotte Jared tending her corn circles in Truth or Consequences

Charlotte Jared contacted us back in the spring about partnering for some seed action in her town of Truth or Consequences, New Mexico. It took us a while to wrangle a date that worked amongst the chaos of spring and summer planting and SeedBroadcast tours already planned. But we agreed on the date of July 25 in partnership with the Sierra County Farmers Market, which was planned for that Saturday. It was going to be hot, hot, hot. But it would also be prime summer harvest season with farmers sharing their generosity through their labor of love and food.

Driving into Truth or Consequences (or TrC as it is locally known) does not seem extraordinary. It seemingly inhabits a barrenesque low desert shrub terrain until your car pops around the bluff and travels down into a small marshy shelf along the Rio Grande where hot mineral springs bubble up and share their healing waters with all manner of creatures.

Along this route I had my first encounter with TrC in a very local and global sense. As I was driving down the street a man sitting by the curbside with kayak on one side of him and inflatable raft on the other began pointing at the Mobile Seed Story Broadcasting Station van driving past and laughing hysterically. Actually it was a little beyond hysterical… But this struck me as a moment not to be underestimated, a thoughtful, emotional, and critical expression, which we may all need to embrace in our times of solidarity, crisis, and seed. A lot of laughter and a little madness might go a long way.

During the Saturday Farmers’ Market a good number of vendors arrived to set up tables under the shade of big canopy trees in a local city park along the Rio Grande. The shade lifted the heat and cooled the park making it a pleasant space to hang out with friends and family. Unfortunately there was very little produce available. Three weeks earlier the entire region had been hit with an unseasonable hailstorm that damaged and destroyed much of the summer harvest. That which survived was random and in little quantity. So, making it to the market this Saturday were small peaches, green apples which had begun shedding from trees, a few squash and melons, figs, onions, and greens.

Small, delicious peaches from Truth or Consequences

One farmer came bearing seeds and a farm to sell. It was just too much for her. But she laughed heartily and rejoiced in the fact that some young energetic farmer could take over her life-long work and move it forward. This was not a failure. It was the cycle of generations passing on their seeds and responsibility to labor, love, and live in a blessing of these cycles. Again there was a lot of laughter and a release from the burdens of worry. The seeds must go on.

And then the seeds began arriving in baskets, bags, bundles, and pockets. Local gardeners and farmers arrived bringing their generosity and care for community and a grand ceremony for every kind of seed they could share. There were medicinal herbs, indigenous annuals, flowers, vegetables, and careful selections of resilient varieties that folks have been working with for years. This is the family of agri-Culture here, a combination of people, plants, land, and animals working together for the joy of life and the need to be sustained. This crew was also quite jovial, with a laugh and twinkle in the eye, with kids jumping in to help with seeds and Seed Story drawings.

With this group of seeds also came a recognition that some folks were connected and many were not. The question arose, how do we stay in touch and how can we build this seed sharing network? By the end of the day everyone was talking about getting together again and organizing around the common interest in seed, and the needs we all have (seeds and people alike) to cross-pollinate, learn, and grow from one another. And of course share.

By the end of the Market the laughter and jovial madness had been sung and all the seeds had been passed among hard working hands. Rosalita a local farmer came by to give us a parting gift of quelitas, the best spinach ever. Thank you Rosalita and thank you to all those farmers and gardeners that give us sustenance.

Rosalita with her gift of quelitas

But the maddness was not over yet. Something unusual was still to happen involving an unbelievable story and something of a Zen Koan of Dadaist anti-matter….something that one cannot explain with the linear/rational mind. Take a gander and see where this story takes you…

a rada dada Sunflower

rada dada shares a Seed Story about the saloon he is transforming into a farm and the spare change that keeps growing from his vegetables.


Yet, madness and the deep arts of laughter are not really the anti-social of our times. They are the normalcy that we should embrace in our everyday lives allowing each of us to question our thoughts and actions and qualify them within our beliefs of beauty, spirit, and generosity. To stretch our laughter together through our many hiccups and laugh together for our many accomplishments. Maybe something the seed can guide us through to be asked, “what would a seed do?”

Charlotte Jared corn variation from Glass Gem Rainbow Corn

This is the path forward that two other generous spirits shared with SeedBroadcast as their Seed Stories. They were both inspired by Flordemayo and the Seed Temple in Estancia, New Mexico. Listen together and let us listen closely to our seeds.

Jia Apple tells her Seed Story about discovering seeds with the Thirteen Indigenous Grandmothers and the path this has led her on to remember kinships and work towards a future sharing seeds.


Charlotte Jared shares her Seed Story about discovering a familial connection with corn and the magic and depth it has brought to her life and her relations.

Contribute to the Autumn 2015 SeedBroadcast Journal DEADLINE AUGUST 31st 2015

 SeedBroadcast agri-Culture Journal is a bi-annual collection of poetry, inspired thoughts, essays, photographs, drawings, recipes, How-to’s and wisdom gathered together from a national call out to lovers of local food and seeds.  This journal supports collaboration and the sharing of seeds, stories, resources, and inspiration within local communities and between individuals, while also providing pollination through diversified regional, national, and international internet-media networks.

SeedBroadcast agri-Culture Journal 

http://seedbroadcast.org/SeedBroadcast/SeedBroadcast_agriCulture_Journal.html.

It is also available in print at various locations and directly from the Mobile Seed Story Broadcasting Station. If you contribute you will receive a stack of printed copies.

                                           Contribute! Participate! Propose!

Send us your seed inspired poems, images, photographs, recipes, articles about your work, provocative essays, calls for seed action!

The deadline for the next edition is August 31st 2015.  

Please send your inquiries, proposals, and contributions to seedbroadcast@gmail.com

Images should be at least 300 dpi, 4" X 6" if needed include captions and a short bio.

We are looking forward to your contributions.

SeedBroadcasting from UrbanRefuge A.R.T.S and Valle de Oro

Cuidad Soil & Water Conservation District watershed diorama

The Valle de Oro National Wildlife Refuge invited SeedBroadcast to participate in the UrbanRefuge A.R.T.S. event which brought together artists, advocacy organizations, food trucks, and a fun public crowd to explore transportation and movement across the landscape as well as investigate the movement of change occurring at the refuge as it transitions from the largest farm in proximity to the city of Albuquerque into a Wildlife Refuge.

During the day buses, bikes, kayaks, walkers, and dancers explored the open terrain heading out on bird watching treks and performing dances in response to the ground, clouds, and the sense of place across the green open fields and cottonwood banks of the Rio Grande. At the Valley de Oro, walking, biking, jogging, driving, and horseback riding are common, especially along the irrigation and drainage ditches that run across the fields. But what is more challenging transportation wise is how to get there in the first place. It is in far south Albuquerque and it is not the easiest area to get to if you do not have a car. Yet, local efforts are under way to create viable public transportation such as a bus stop and Railrunner stop.

Panorama of the Valle de Oro National Wildlife Refuge

This perfectly level landscape has been a working farm for over a hundred years. For a long time it was known as the Valley Gold Dairies, one of the largest historic dairies in the region. It is still being partially farmed, producing grass and alfalfa hay. During the event we hoped to meet some of the local farmers who have worked this farm and others in proximity to record stories. Many were busy on the farm and suggested meeting up in the fall to talk stories (so stay posted for more to come).

Here is a story that was shared from Chris Skiba, whose family has been farming in the South Valley for a long time.

https://soundcloud.com/seedbroadcast/chris-skiba-shares-a-seed-story-about-farming-and-gardening-in-the-south-valley-of-albuquerque



The transition to a Wildlife Refuge has many people wondering how this space will be transformed as one of the few urban refuges in the country. Its potential lies in its proximity to a major metropolitan area, its location in a dymanic riparian zone and sited on a major migratory flyway with access to water. With all these cues in place its value will be told in how it creates an urban educational opportunity through expanding the notion of what a wildlife refuge can be when it serves animals, ecology, and people. One might also wonder if there is room in the refuge mission and planning for the co-mingling of regenerative agriculture, an ecologically based agricultural system much like permaculture.

The Valle de Oro is located in the Mountain View community. This area of Bernalillo Country is far enough away from major commercial zones to be likened a food desert. With few options for fresh food it might make sense to create space where local food can be both produced and used sustainably, while enabling a demonstration site for sustainable wholistic ecology and education to bring people and the environment together.

Ruben Olgiun, a local artist presented his project Songs of Our Fathers: Migrations

Ruben Olguin is a local artist who was sharing his work at UrbanRefuge. He spent the day presenting his project, Songs of Our Fathers: Migrations, which explores "how land, time, and people are divided by technology and modern transportation. You can read more here: https://www.facebook.com/events/1044096048937167/

He kindly came by to gift SeedBroadcast a beautiful handmade seed pot he had made, its tiny mouth only large enough for the likes of very small seeds like lettuce, carrots, curly dock, and brassicas. Seed pots have been historically made and used by pueblo peoples to store seeds. These storage vessels keep seeds safe by providing a moisture free, self-wicking environment for seed preservation.

We hope to catch up with Ruben this fall for a Seed Story. And we will be Broadcasting soon with more local farmers.

Here are more Seed Stories from UrbanRefuge A.R.T.S.

Kayla Gmyr reads her poem "Vibrations" about connection and awakening to the earth and relationships from the Valle de Oro National Wildlife Refuge in Albuquerque, NM
https://soundcloud.com/seedbroadcast/kayla-gmyr-shares-a-seed-story-of-awakening-and-connection



Kym Loc shares her aspiring work to convey the relationship between people and trees, healing, strength, and roots.
https://soundcloud.com/seedbroadcast/kym-loc-shares-a-seed-story-about-her-work-painting-trees-and-healing-the-self

SeedBroadcasting from the Sierra County Farmers' Market

We will be SeedBroadcasting from the Sierra County Farmers' Market.
Come join us and share your Seed Story!

Sierra County Farmers' Market
July 25, 2015
830 am - 11:30 am

Ralph Edwards Park
Riverside, between Birch and Cedar St
Truth or Consequences, NM

SeedBroadcast and the Mobile Seed Story Broadcasting Station is a collaborative
project exploring grassroots food action and seed sovereignty. We travel near
and far to pollinate the culture of agri-Culture by broadcasting local seed stories
through audio interviews, while networking and distributing do-it-together-howto
resources.

Bring SEEDS To SWAP and SHARE YOUR Seed Stories

We will be recording local seed stories from TorC area

Visit our blog site for a schedule of upcoming events and resources:
http://seedbroadcast.blogspot.com
Seed Stories: http://soundcloud.com/seedbroadcast
Website: www.seedbroadcast.org

Contact: seedbroadcast@gmail.com

In partnership with:
Sierra County Farmer’s Market