not sure where to put this. hope here's ok. day before yesterday i received our Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds Catalog. in it, in the red tomato section, there was this blurb from an Iraq citizen who sent and traded seeds with this company every year. i'm not sure how many are aware of the sad situation in Iraq, where the farmers are not being allowed to save their own seed which they have been doing for years. they are now being made to purchase only Monsanto and GMO seed. anyway, i have purchased a couple packets of these heirloom Iraq seeds and intend on saving seed from the produce in 2009 and keeping the lines for future use, when the farmers in Iraq are free and sovereign again. thought maybe some of you would like to help the Iraq farmers keep their heritage..... A Letter From An Iraqi Friend (page 77) http://rareseeds.com/ "I hope you remember me once upon the time in the 1990's we were exchanging seeds. Anyhow I have stopped my activity of gardening years ago but a friend of mine Iraqi national living in Syria because of the war in Iraq has sent me the last seeds of typically Iraqi heirloom tomatoes. In Iraq the globilization and US occupation have finished the whole heirloom way of life in Iraq. Then what i am sending are the last tomato seeds coming from this country. The first tomato according to my Iraqi friend who sent me it, it is coming from Mosul (Nineveh) in the north of Iraq. The second heirloom Al Kuffa tomato delicious one, useful for any purpose, strong bush plant cultivated in the south Iraq in cool greenhouses for late spring or earlier summer popular markets. Both tomatoes were cultivated by familial farmers groups for small popular markets or for personal kitchen needs. Thank you for all your were sending me, it was very nice time. I've moved in UK living with my family. Sorry for my bad English. Warm Regards, Aziz Nael" Jere Gettle (owner) posted..."We want to thank Aziz Nael for all the seeds he sent us, including our 'Ali Baba Watermelon'. It is time for America to support food freedom!"
wow, another perspective on how the "little guys" are often the ones most hurt by the attempt to do everything on a grand scale. But it wasn't that long ago when folks never heard of plants our grandparents took for granted, now those seeds are available again. Let's hope the pendulum swings quickly on this one before more varieties are lost.
