The Seed Savers Handbook For Australia And New Zealand

The founders of Australia's Seed Savers' Network show how gardeners can protect the global food heritage - and eat it too. The seeds and growth cycles of 117 vegetables, culinary herbs and edible flowers are described in detail. The book begins with eight chapters on the issues around seeds globally and the practicalities of saving your own seeds. Three quarters of the book is on 117 food plants, mostly vegetables, with the remainder culinary flowers, herbs and spices. Each plant has a description, its wild origins, how to cultivate it, save its seeds or otherwise propagate it, storage of the seed and its medicinal and culinary uses. Permaculture, biodiversity, organics and companion planting are the principles that underlie the contents of this book. This has been a reliable reference book not just on propagating and breeding your own vegetables, but also for how to grow and use both common (corn, tomatoes, beans, cabbages, etc.,) and unusual vegetables, such as tumeric, peanuts and several species of gourds. Included are many Asian and South American vegetables, herbs and spices. 60,000 sold wordwide with 30,000 of the original Australian edition sold and the rest another 30,000 copies of translations and adaptations sold around the world.

How are genetically modified plants produced? Which breeding goals are worthwhile, and which are not? Can the escape of transferred genes be controlled? Why have the first transgenic plants been released without full appreciation of the consequences? How dangerous are bacterial proteins produced in plant foods? Is anyone monitoring the unexpected effects of gene transfer? Will genetically modified plants ever be acceptable to organic growers? These are some of the important questions canvassed in this book, written with the insight of an experienced Australian plant scientist and conservationist.

From James Beard Award winner and New York Times–bestselling author of The Art of Fermentation An instant classic for a new generation of monkey-wrenching food activists. Food in America is cheap and abundant, yet the vast majority of it is diminished in terms of flavor and nutrition, anonymous and mysterious after being shipped thousands of miles and passing through inscrutable supply chains, and controlled by multinational corporations. In our system of globalized food commodities, convenience replaces quality and a connection to the source of our food. Most of us know almost nothing about how our food is grown or produced, where it comes from, and what health value it really has. It is food as pure corporate commodity. We all deserve much better than that. In The Revolution Will Not Be Microwaved, author Sandor Ellix Katz (Sandor Katz's Fermentation Journeys, The Art of Fermentation, and Wild Fermentation) profiles grassroots activists who are taking on Big Food, creating meaningful alternatives, and challenging the way many Americans think about food. From community-supported local farmers, community gardeners, and seed saving activists, to underground distribution networks of contraband foods and food resources rescued from the waste stream, this book shows how ordinary people can resist the dominant system, revive community-based food production, and take direct responsibility for their own health and nutrition.

Founder of the UK Heritage Seed Programme and founders of the Australian Seed Savers' Network have collaborated to show how gardeners can protect our global food hertitage -- and eat it, too. The seeds and growth cycles of 80 vegetables and culinary herbs described in detail.