In my small attempts to stand up to the Ecocidal Monsters of this world, I often feel like David (of Goliath fame), and then I am reminded of the massive opposition to Government and Corporate plans to control our planet and all the life therein!
Amazing people like Elena from Greece, who posted seeds to me last year…one of many subscribers to Bealtaine Cottage who is doing incredible work in protecting our Seed Sovereignty, without which we have NO future at all! 
Elena has written to me to inform us all about what is happening in two days time!
Elena writes:I am writing now to tell you that on January 20th there will be a big demonstration outside the European Parliament in Brussels about the forthcoming seed laws (maybe you already know this, of course). Activists from all over Europe are coming to Brussels to be there, and events are being organised around Europe on that day. I will be coordinating the Athens events – a demonstration outside parliament, all urban farms open and giving away seeds/seedlings/information packs, hopefully some media coverage, as well as Greek blogs posting something relevant to seeds on that day (a movie, a small piece of text, etc)…I thought that maybe you could also write something specifically for seed freedom on that day, as well – although I know that you have written so much already!
have a very happy new year
with blessings from Athens
xxx
Elena
Our struggle to keep our Seed Sovereignty is ongoing, despite the small successes we have had in various government buildings.
The problem is there is so much wealth tied up with seeds, food and food production, the Corporations are seeking total control!
Understand that this struggle is an ongoing battle to keep the seed!
I have harvested seed, like this Leek seed, here at Bealtaine Cottage for almost ten years.
I allow all the plants to seed themselves and I harvest seed every year…No government will stop me!
No law will prevent me posting this seed to all the world.
This is the year for you to take your future into your own hands and save seed, share seed, gift seed and talk about the seed…it is your future, it is my future.Without it we are slaves to tyranny!
There is a wide selection of seeds available here at Bealtaine Cottage.
If you would like some Bealtaine seeds for your own garden, then click on the link at the very top of the page.
Reblogged this on Mysa.
Reblogged this on Ned Hamson's Second Line View of the News.
Colette, I will be sending you seeds from Canada, definitely on my to-do list. I save seed all the time, it is an act of civil disobedience it seems in this day and age. Did you know that one year at Mount Vernon, the head gardener neglected to save the seeds and George Washington (himself a farmer) admonished him for it? He was quite cross! Washington understood the value of seed.
Recently, our public library began a seed borrowing program, this was its first season. You borrow seeds then collect the seeds from your harvest to return to the library. All seed is non gmo and organic or heirloom. I plan to donate many of my seeds! And Seedy Saturday/Sundays are extremely popular here in Ontario from January-April. These are all good things that give me hope.
Cheers!
Alana
That is just brilliant news…we are making fast progress indeed! Bless the work and bless the seed-savers!
Howdy,
Thank you for you powerful and insightful words. Here in the U.S. ( we are in Maine, hooray!) we are also under attack with corporations monopolizing the food and seed industries. We are very lucky to have small operations that pledge to only sell ‘ safe seed’ but who knows!, the powers that be are creeping there way into our food and safety in any way they can. We save all of our seed here ( we propagate all plants on site) and encourage ( teach) folks to do the same. It is hard to believe that the root of our food , SEEDS!, are being tainted with and polluted to such an extent that safe seed, pure unadulterated seed sources, may very well become obsolete! The sad thing is that while huge efforts are made to combat these large corporate entities, a mass of people eat food grown by corporate farms, and seeds are at the beginning of all of this. Oh , those precious seeds! I do understand the economic constraints that can be present while trying to maintain an organic diet or the misleading trail we may travel trying to locate safe seed, it can be expensive and deceptive.. Our fear and concern should be the lack of honesty, integrity, and intent of the corporate seed holders and growers. They will be in complete control of our food and seed source if we do not make every effort to protect it. Their intentions do not have our best interest in mind, this we can be sure of. Safe Seed, Safe Food……shout it out!
Thank you for your pledge and effort to help raise awareness…it is so crucial.
You speak with power and integrity on this issue…and it is people like yourself who will safeguard our seed stock and pass it to the next generation. We are a growing band of Earth Warriors! We shall prevail!
Blessings on your work XXX
Colette
Reblogged this on Bealtaine Cottage and commented:
This is the year for you to take your future into your own hands and save seed, share seed, gift seed and talk about the seed…it is your future, it is my future.
I was directed to your beautiful site by a good blogging friend in Canada. We are 2 enemployed middle aged student hippies who inherited 4 acres of weedy hill that culminate in a river and decided to put the entire property back to natural cycles using Permaculture principles. Firstly, I LOVE your site and I love what you are doing. People like you are galvanising people who would otherwise feel impotant and like their actions don’t matter. The “small people” that make up most of our populations and who really do have amazing buying power and when we think with our feet we can change massive corporations (unless they have gone feral/viral like Monsanto 🙁 ). Aside from learning our property by watching and listening to it over the last few years we are attempting to plant a food forest using plants that we have grown ourselves and that should do well here in Tasmania. Thankyou for your excellent and galvanising information. The best thing about social media is the ability to connect with like-minded people and to gain momentum and hope from the information that you learn. I have placed you reverantly in my RSS Feed Reader and look forward to future posts eagerly 🙂
Thanks to you, I have signed petitions against the EU proposals and was shocked to read that monsanto are targeting farmers in Brazil who are already struggling to make ends meet, these suicide seeds will finish them off.
I will be checking out your seeds page over the next few days, as I plan for the next gardening year and will be buying form you where possible.
Bless you for all that you do
San xx
[…] of Europeans to raise awareness about the danger of losing seed sovereignty. Thanks Colette, of Bealtaine Cottage, for giving me the heads-up about this through her blog post on Saturday. This is an issue that […]
Hi Colette
I can’t help but think – Seedsavers in Scariff, east Clare, have lost a large part of their funding and are struggling to keep their unique work alive. And the corporate world are taking over our food.
There is a connection. There is too much of a coincidence. Maybe there is no direct connection but the two things are linked in some way.
David
There is a connection…there is a takeover happening…if we let it! At least there can be no government or agency pull the plug on me, as I’ve never had funding!
Thank you again. I have reblogged this to http://arandomharvest.wordpress.com. I don’t have a garden just now, unfortunately, but hope to again one day. In the meantime I support anyone who is standing up for the rights of all people. As far as I’m concerned, corporations did not create seeds, DNA or any of the rest of it; so they have no rights; therrefore, too, they have no legal standing in or out of court, in any country. They are so stupid; they don’t seem to realize that going down this path endangers us all . . . This is a call to civil disobedience and I’m glad to see so many choosing that road. ~ Linne
Reblogged this on A Random Harvest and commented:
Keep this in mind on the 20th; do what you can to pass the word along and support those who are standing up for us, our kids and our futures. When people stand together, they will triumph over greed and idiocy. ~ Linne
Seed sovereignty is so very important to everyone in the world. I’ll make a post on that topic on the 20th too. I was in Brussels not long ago, wish I would be there for this gathering but we can each participate in whatever way we can from wherever we are, right? As the commenter above said, Thanks for spreading awareness 🙂
Reblogged this on Laura Bruno's Blog and commented:
An impassioned, practical and inspirational post from Colette regarding seed sovereignty in Europe, including information about Monday’s day of action in Brussels and elsewhere.
Good for you! I do my utmost to do the same here. I garden for ‘friends’ and supply my seeds to their gardens to. One friend I have managed over the past 4 years to establish a vegetable garden, and I am in the process of educating her on what is OK and what is a big NO! I have a great friend that built me a green house form old windows, and every year around this time he comes and puts up plastic to insulate it so I can start my seeds. I am using seeds from what I have saved, but also buying from Organic/non GMO sources so I can get heirloom seeds for the future. I have only been at this for 5 years so it will take me a while to catch up with you. I am originally from England and have lived in the US for the past 20 years, and what strikes me the most is how so many people here have no idea about where their food comes from!
Once again Colette you have hit the nail on the head. I am a big fan of seed-saving but I hadn’t heard about the demonstrations on the 20th. Thank you so much for spreading awareness. Jo x