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Post by canadamike on Dec 10, 2008 16:11:47 GMT -5
Bunkie, it would be great if you could go to the store and get some to try it again. It is possible the supplier of the store made a mistake and forgot a batch, or it is also possible they do not roast it for whatever reason, saving time or costs...
Whatever it is, it would be great news for many of us, I have places to seed it...
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Post by michaeljohnson on Dec 11, 2008 0:46:41 GMT -5
There are quite a few rice varieties in the SSE yearbook, for sale every year.
All you need now is a paddy field.
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Post by canadamike on Dec 11, 2008 1:12:27 GMT -5
Michael, wild rice as we call it is not rice per say, but another aquatic cereal that grows even in northern Canada, actually the best spot for it in the world. It's like a 1/2 inch long rice rain with a dark brown husk ( not sure of terminology here) Delicious, expensive, and a friggin total pain in the ass when you wear partial dentures.... if so, stick to mashed potatoes  ;D |
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Post by bunkie on Dec 11, 2008 8:52:25 GMT -5
Bunkie, it would be great if you could go to the store and get some to try it again. It is possible the supplier of the store made a mistake and forgot a batch, or it is also possible they do not roast it for whatever reason, saving time or costs... Whatever it is, it would be great news for many of us, I have places to seed it... good idea mike, but i did this over in Olympia, the other side of the state, back in '87. i am going to try and find some around here. will let you know. |
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MikeM
grub
frost-free 365.25 + clayish soil + altitude 210m + latitude 34S + rain 848mm/yr
Posts: 91
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Post by MikeM on Dec 11, 2008 10:58:34 GMT -5
orflo: I'd love to try some of that dryland rice -- do you have any seed? Where I am is warm-temperate, so I don't have to worry about frosts or anything. Does anyone have any idea what sort of soils these Rices prefer? I have heavy-ish clay-loam...
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Post by canadamike on Dec 11, 2008 11:49:51 GMT -5
I would suspect they take clay well, as the paddies are clayish. Cereals usually do very well in clay...
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Post by orflo on Dec 12, 2008 13:10:36 GMT -5
orflo: I'd love to try some of that dryland rice -- do you have any seed? Where I am is warm-temperate, so I don't have to worry about frosts or anything. Does anyone have any idea what sort of soils these Rices prefer? I have heavy-ish clay-loam... I'm sorry, I got 8 ripe seeds.... but it is offered in the SSE yearbook, I don't know if you're a member? And my soil is heavy loam, I think this is an advantage for dryland rice, because of it's water retaining capacity... |
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MikeM
grub
frost-free 365.25 + clayish soil + altitude 210m + latitude 34S + rain 848mm/yr
Posts: 91
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Post by MikeM on Dec 13, 2008 8:54:47 GMT -5
Not yet a member of SSE -- it's kind of expensive after currency conversion :-O Might be persuaded to change my mind, though :-)
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Post by americangardener on Dec 13, 2008 9:29:29 GMT -5
Not yet a member of SSE -- it's kind of expensive after currency conversion :-O Might be persuaded to change my mind, though :-) Mikro.. I don't think i'd recomend joining for you. It might be a bit difficult with the way SSE is set up for you to get any real benefit from joining. I've only been a member for a year now.. but it seems like it wouldn't be a good choice for you if you were considering acquiring seeds from other members. The way it works is you receive a yearbook with everyones offerings in there and then you have to contact each individual whos seeds you are interested in and ask them if you can purchase a small sampling. Seeings you are in Africa.. i'm not sure how agreeable some of the members would even be to shipping to your country. Seems like it would be quite expensive for you to be mailing requests to each of the members you wanted to ask for seeds from too. Course it's up to you.. i can see the benefits for all the rest of the members who'd like to receive your seeds.. but it might not work so well the other way around. From a quick look thru the listed members in the yearbook.. out of over 700 members less than 400 even have an email address listed. I can see that might be a problem if you're having to mail correspondence back and forth rather than using emails. I guess i might be just a little dissappointed with SSE. When i joined i didn't realize that many of these members feel as if it's some kind of exclusive cult. Then when i did finally receive a yearbook there were only 21,000 listings. From those many of em were listed by several people so there are far fewer than that many unique varieites. I think i have more varieties in my inventory than the yearbook has. I've got over ten thousand. But, i'm sure someone here will get mad at me for saying i don't like the set up for SSE very much. I think they need to update by making email addresses more available.. perhaps online thru their forumn site. I'd recomend saving your money and just asking for seeds from the people here in HG. All together from the people who regularly come to this forumn you've already got a much larger selection of seeds than you'll find in the yearbook. We may not have all the unusual things like rice that you'd want.. but is it really worth the expense of joining for just a few varieites that you can find in the yearbook that you can't find here? And then as i mentioned.. even if you locate a variety you're interested in.. i'm not sure if you'd find someone willing to mail it to you. Just my opinion...but, i wouldn't recomend it for you. Dave |
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Post by canadamike on Dec 13, 2008 12:46:26 GMT -5
I am not mad at you, Dave, but we live in a world where most do not have access to genebanks like you. And most, like me, do not order there to collect but work with the stuff as soon as it is in. If I had 10,000 myself, I would hardly be moved by their 12,000 cultivars... You probably suffer from The Hugh Heffner syndrome. ;D He's screwed so many women he can hardly be moved by the beauty of a single one... I totally see it in another way. where would we be, seeds savers, if it was not for them. How many would we be? They fathered our movement in a way no others have, giving it a voice and credibility. The role they have played goes WAY BEHOND ''benefits from membership''. I do not benefit from it, having never ordered there, I was going to list a lot when we moved, I had no time. I listed in its canadian version as potatoes were my big thing. And I will pay for it this year quite gladly. This is the most credible voice we have in the whole frigging world, and they have made more babies than a rabbit farm. This is a voluntary ''TAX'' on biodiversity I will be happy to pay on my death bed. When I say I did not get benefits, I might have lied. Their yearbook is THE available master list on this planet. Reading it is the hell of an eye opener and the best winter blues cure I have, along with trades. Worth 100 times its weight and cost in unprescribed anti-depressants... The best 45$ I ever spent in my whole life. When I was alone in Rockland doing what I do, before I discovered the net, that is 22 years of having nobody to talk to that had as much passion as I had, a very very long time feeling alone, SSE was my North Star. I could always look up to it. It kept me alive so to speak. Then, Homegrown came and I was lucky to get to know you folks, my dear friends. Not enough stuff? Add some if you can. You should. But even with 10,000 cultivars, a lot of them are there already. As for the e-mail thing, most seeds savers are past the age of computer savy, sadly. It is to our generation and the ones following to take it up. Mikro, I would become a member. Most of these folks there would be glad to have a friend to whom they send their seeds in Africa, probably as proud as hell actually. And mailing there or in Canada is almost the same price for them. Been there ,done that. |
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Post by cff on Dec 13, 2008 12:53:54 GMT -5
Dave"
I agree with some of your statements about SSE. It has some great people involved but it also has more politics lately than I care for.
I lost my taste for the organization when the decision was made to oust the founder out on his azz last year. None of that seemed fair to me so when I got the notice this year that the membership dues were due I sent them nothing
I've often wondered why no one has an online format - a directory of individuals online who have seed or are looking for seed world wide. Seems like this would be a great project for some computer savvy people and HG would be a great launching pad for such a sight.
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Post by orflo on Dec 13, 2008 12:57:04 GMT -5
Dave, you're not the only one who's disappointed in SSE, I get the feeling the system doesn't work (any more?), possibly because of all the internet exchanges... I wonder if it's possible to check how many transactions are really made through SSE, if I see how many orders I get, it won't be much (and I do have a bit of unique varieties in the book). So, what is it? More some sort of a contact book, and indeed perhaps some exclusive fashion trend? The number of listed members is going down year after year, and perhaps also the number of listed varieties... Oh well, I keep on offering things, because I do believe in the message behind SSE, which is really good.  |
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Post by americangardener on Dec 13, 2008 13:28:08 GMT -5
Well i knew someone would disagree with me Michel...
I'm not saying it's mission isn't admirable.. just that i think it needs some improvements as to the distrubution aspects of it.
I'm not really that computer savy myself.. but i can email a person. And i think in this day and age emails work much faster and more effectively than the slow azz snail mail.
I agree it's one of the best research tools i have.. there aren't even enough websites out there to find info on most of the varieties they have listed. So, as for research material it's invaluable.. and for that it's worth the membership fee. But, i would love to see some improvements. And i will be listing some of my items next year.. not ones that everyone else already has listed.. but anything i have they don't. And i will be putting my email address in there. Just seems too simple not to be doing it that way to me... like i mentioned.. it could be done from their website and they could still control the people who have access to peoples lists.
Just my opinion though.. didn't want to change any subject here. I still think if Mikro was considering it as a source of new material rather than as a reference book, it wouldn't be worth it for that.
And Hugh Hefner! I wish!! I'd take just one of the women he has hanging all over him. And nope.. i don't feel like the veggies i have are all the same.. i love most of em.. but, some aren't worth a darn. They're all unique to me in their own ways.
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Post by PatrickW on Dec 13, 2008 13:28:12 GMT -5
I think Michel really hit the head on the nail. The SSE is really the connection between the older and newer generations of seed savers. For a few years now I've been a member, and I've made several attempts at ordering via email. While a few have been successful, the most common problem I have is I send an email and it never gets answered. It seems a number of members have been talked into getting an email address, or otherwise decided it would be a good idea, but it doesn't occur to them they have to check it sometimes. Even trying to make contact with the SSE themselves via email can be a trying experience. I'm also tired of all the politics. They have also become such a rich organization recently, and I think it's making them lose touch with their members. I really like what they are doing with growouts and contributions to the global seed vault, but they are really failing when it comes to seed exchanges. Reading the SSE Yearbook truly is an eye opening experience! I hope it stays around as long as people still want to be a member, and I don't plan on giving up my membership anytime soon, but it's really time to start thinking about what's going to replace it. Among other things, seed saving in general needs to become more decentralized, so we aren't dependent on one organization as important as the SSE as a single point of failure. It's one of the reasons why I am promoting the blogger seed network, which by the way was just mentioned on the gardening blog of the Observer, a major newspaper in the UK: www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/allotment/2008/dec/12/gardeningadvice-organicgardeningSeveral of you have already joined, but I hope more of you will join too now or in future years. |
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Post by PapaVic on Dec 13, 2008 21:07:37 GMT -5
Mikro,
I think you should go online to Seed Savers Exchange website and explore their mission. And American Gardener has misrepresented some of the facts regarding how seeds are exchanged between members, too.
Also, I think it should be noted that at least those SSE members who list varieties have grown them out themselves and can actually give you a first hand detailed description of what to expect and what to cull out if you should happen to get the wrong expressions in the seeds you plant. American Gardener, while he may have thousands of varieties in his "collection," cannot give you an accurate description of many of them since he farms out most of his growing and has no real idea of the controls used by those who are increasing his seed, giving him descriptions of what they found, and especially the quality or purity of the seed they send back to him.
By the way, there are many SSE members outside the U.S., and many members exhange seeds back and forth across the various continents. Of course, there are import restrictions that come into play with many countries. But I've exchanged tomato seeds frequently with folks in England, India, Australia (until recently), Canada, and Belarus.
But you're right, it will cost you 50 USD to join and 50 USD per year dues to be able to access the Yearbook. What you might do is first find out whether the germplasm you want actually is offered in the Yearbook. What exactly are you looking for?
pv
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