Eating things to save them sounds savage but in the world of plants it’s the best thing you can do for nature. That’s right. In the dream world of plants, there are thousands of weirdos out there and each of them wants to be eaten (or smoked, if you use medicinal herbs) by you.
If you look at the conventional food system, at a typical grocery store, we are only able to access about 30 kinds of fruits and vegetables while hundreds of thousands exist. For example, there are about 1,600 types of bananas, but when you eat the Dole banana you are eating one variety, the Cavendish. Travel to Thailand or Costa Rica and you will see all other kinds of local bananas for sale. We like the small dried ones best.
When the food system (or your standard grocery store) focuses on the same varieties of veggies and fruits, it makes sense. They want reliable stock, week in and week out. Their customers expect the same banana, the same size, shape, and color every week.
The US Government explicitly states that eating a wide variety of vegetables and fruit gives you a wide range of nutrients. The idea is that by exposing your body to a wider genetic diversity of plants, such as seeds, berries and new sources of protein, you can boost your body in unbelievable ways.
So how does this work and why should I care?
There are people called Seed Savers all around you. They collect strange and interesting fruits and vegetables seeds and store them away to trade with others. As globalization occurs plants are losing habitats and face extinction. People no longer have a taste for 1000 different kinds of bananas because one commercial banana wins the race. If you want to know more and join the movement, visit Seed Savers Exchange, a great start for Americans.
Inside the world of cannabis the same thing is going on. It’s been going on for decades and although it’s not so organized on the internet, you can find resources locally through Google. Washington, for instance, has this seed exchange group going on. Commercial cannabis seed growers are known to be excellent breeders as well. You can find thousands of varieties of cannabis (even though it’s the same species) categorized by them according to hybrid. Some have outlandish names like Durbin Poison, Purple Kush, Girl Scout and Cookies.
Taking Cues from Cannabis
We need to take the cues from cannabis: Hundreds and thousands of varieties of plants are at risk. If seeds are just being saved, they will not be spared. Plants need to grow and propagate to have a healthy genetic stock. Seeds can’t last forever, despite a 2000 year-old date palm seed sprouting in the Holy Land. We need to eat a wide variety of plants to keep growers growing them, and seed savers saving them. This practice is good for your health and the plants who want to continue on this planet.
Most pharmaceuticals we develop today start from plants. If we lose a species, we lose our future. While cannabis is a special story (cannabis growers understand the importance of growing and hybridizing seeds and plant varieties) literally thousands of new medicines are at risk if we don’t start growing to save, eat, smoke and admire these plants. Growing plants. Sharing seeds. Consuming the plants. This leads to better genetic resilience, which means stronger, more diverse plants for us now and in the future.
Which takes us back to Eddy. We created Eddy so growers can share seeds, share stories, share experiences, share wisdom, and ultimately share harvests and great medicine. Follow us on Instagram as we grow into a solution that will help humanity get over this period where destruction and species extinction of animal and plants is happening faster than we can count.
Do something. Buy some heirloom seeds, or trade with your friends, and start growing! The weirder the better.
