This is our second newsletter of 2023. We’re still fighting and we’re not giving up! Thank you for all the emails, messages, and phone calls expressing your support. The fight for traditional varieties continues, with more organizations joining the cause. We’re in the home stretch of preparing a draft amendment to the law, but we’ll share more about that in due time. Outside (at least where we are), beautiful snow is falling: it’s the perfect time to brew yourself a cup of coffee or tea and read this newsletter:
1. The Petition and Your Support
This is the moment we’ve been waiting for! Undoubtedly, the most important issue addressed in this newsletter is the launch of a petition to the Minister of Agriculture regarding the protection of traditional tomato varieties. It took a long time to draft, but we had to do it very carefully—a poorly worded petition would have rendered the collected signatures invalid. That’s why we had to devote a great deal of attention to it. If you value our work, if you love the taste of real tomato varieties, if you want things to return to normal—please—sign this petition and ask all your friends to sign it too. Show us your support, and let’s fight together for the rights to seeds of traditional tomato varieties!
Sign the petition2. Seedlings 2023
On average, 30 times a day, we answer the same question: “When will the seedlings be available?” Emails and phone calls—the only thing missing (I think) were carrier pigeons. The closer we get to the end of January, the more often this question comes up. The answer is: Sales of seedlings for 2023 begin on February 1, at midnight. Fifty-nine carefully selected tomato varieties and 10 pepper varieties will be waiting for a new home. The catalog will be available on our homepage—just like every year. For those who can’t wait, we’re planning to release a sneak peek of the variety list today, before evening. Where will you find it? On our Forum, of course!
3. Forum
Where? On the Forum? Well, on the forum, my dears! It’s been our little dream for a long time to create a place for lovers of tomatoes and other traditional vegetable varieties. There’s Facebook and other social media, but those are unreliable, fleeting, and thoroughly commercial spaces. The Forum, which has just opened—just like any other place—is shaped by the people who give it its character and spirit. So, we warmly invite you to register and get involved. We’ll be discussing topics important to vegetable growing, the Farm, the Store, and the entire Market.
Are you curious about the number of tomato varieties available as seedlings? People like round numbers—it should be 60, but there are 59… Why this number… You see, there will be 60 varieties, and you’ll choose one of them yourselves! It will be available for purchase starting February 1, though it will be marked with a question mark. A thread with a poll will appear on the Forum this evening (January 29, 2023, at 8:00 p.m.), where you’ll decide for yourselves which variety it should be. The poll will end on March 1, and then the question mark will be replaced with the variety you choose.
4. Natural Seeds Conference
On February 25–26, the “Association for the Preservation of Traditional Tomato Varieties” will host a conference titled “Natural Seeds.” The conference will focus on all aspects of seed production, with a special emphasis on traditional varieties. A number of fascinating speakers will present various aspects of this topic, including seed banks, seed collection, legal issues, and organic farming. The list of speakers is still being finalized, but we can already say—mark your calendars. The conference will be held online, which means all you’ll need is a computer with speakers or a smartphone to listen to the presentations. We’ll send a reminder about the start time in a separate newsletter around February 20.
5. Series of Permaculture Conferences
Speaking of conferences—today (the 29th) marks the start of a three-day series of online conferences dedicated to green building, permaculture, and eco-villages and settlements. Seeds will also be discussed. The schedule for each day, along with a full list of topics and speakers, is available by clicking below: