Grow a little bit of Hawaii

[jschyun]

From University of Hawaii. Found out about it on gardenweb.com. on this thread

Because soil conditions are different in Hawaii than they are in most other places, flavors may vary in the grown vegetable. But it would be interesting to cook with fresh Koba green onions, as opposed to my usual Korean bunching variety. I'm kind of curious about the papaya seeds too.

U of H Seed list: includes short list of veggies, papaya, etc. HGP (home garden packets) are mostly $1 each. Not bad!

FYI

[oneidaone]

What a great resource! So true about the soil conditions, even where I live across the street

has different soil type and their plants grow different than mine. In our valley we get plenty rain

so things grow at a different level than other areas of the island. Let us know what happens if

you get any of the seeds!

Unrelated by still about farming, one of the best events of the year is coming up Oct. 25, the annual

Farm Dinner at Roy's, been to every one and each year it gets better! Vive La Farmers! a hui ho

[skchai]

Thanks, Joan, for the link. Awesome indeed, that CTAHR are spreading a bit of Aloha around the world with this seed program, even if some of it is GMO Aloha.

The availability of Manoa lettuce seed is the part that is most gratifying, since it's the most common variety of lettuce available in stores around here but impossible to get on the mainland. Kind of wrinkly butter-leaf type that's great for making "bossam" with BBQ meat.

[Kapuliperson]

Thank you for the link jschyun! I'm going to get my brother to go get me some of those seeds. :) I swear, I'll be able to grow those right in the little strip of soil that surrounds the apartment I'm staying in right now. When there's a will, there's a way, or so I've heard.

[LarryG]

Offering seeds for Manoa Lettuce is a good thing, and I am wondering if the UH might be convinced that it is also valuable to offer seeds for heirloom varieties of vegetables that are tasty and could use a little help from their friends.

Right at this moment (or when it is daytime in Italy), a Slow Food meeting is working on preserving plants, animals and artisanal products. For info, try Google "slow food" Italy in Google News, or see my blog Free Range Gourmet for info on Hawaii poi and salt that have just been put on the Slow Food Ark for preservation.

I'm also wishing that the UH web page could indicate which seeds are GMO. Did you know that the virus-resistant papaya were created by mixing in actual virus DNA in the soup? I think I have this right. I don't know if it's harmful or not, but I would like to know what genes I'm ingesting in case there should be good reason not to eat a particular variety one day.

Cheerz,

--Larry

[jschyun]

LarryG-

It says on the site which offerings are GMO. I scanned the list and only GMO selections were two of the papaya selections are GMO (SunUp and Rainbow varieties). Anyway, you can't get it if you're outside HI, and you need to also buy an educational session. There are good reasons for this. Frankly, the practice of offering GMO seeds to the public disturbs me, but that's another topic for another day.

If you look at the order form, you'll see that it says "hybrid" for hybrid varieties. On inspection, it appears that most varieties being offered are just open-pollinated varieties.

Also, if some variety says "strain", it's not a hybrid. It simply means that they've grown this particular variety and selected seed from plants with characteristics they like, and that if you grow this variety and save seeds, it will remain true to the parent.

I think this is a really wonderful thing that the U of H is doing. I haven't seen these varieties offered anywhere else, and I believe I've looked at every garden catalog offered in the U.S.

By the way, if you've eaten any form of soy products esp in the U.S., you've probably already ingested something that's been genetically modified. Soy is in places where you wouldn't expect. For instance, soy products are used in bread, ice cream, and candy to name a few.

one gmo "fact sheet"

I believe foods that are certified organic cannot be GMO at this point, but I'll have to doublecheck to see that this has not changed.