O Is For Oppression (A to Z Blogging Challenge 2015)

I just watched a YouTube video about the Star Wars movie to be released this December. As I often do, I check out the related videos. I'm really unsure how they relate, but a couple of videos down, I came across a video with an obviously inflammatory title proclaiming   "Seed sharing libraries illegal in the United States."  

I usually don't bite, but being unable to make any connection, I was curious and clicked on the link.  The show Growing Your Greens was hosted by John Kohler. It appeared to be something one of my health-conscious, garden-loving friends might find interesting, so I watched. I learned that the Department of Agriculture has lost it's mind, or gotten too big for it's britches. Or both.

In the states of  Pennsylvania, Maryland, Nebraska, and Minnesota it is illegal for individuals to partake in a free seed library. They have taken Corporate Seed Laws and applied them to individuals. Unbelievable.  

I grew up in the '70s and had participated in a community garden. But I had never heard of a free seed library. That intrigued me.  There are currently 350 seed sharing libraries in 46 states where individuals can check out free seeds, learn how to grow them, and at the end of the harvest return new seeds to the library. Growing your own food has many benefits: food safety, food security, access to fresh food, locally grown seeds adapt to the climate and soil--ever important in today's changing climate systems, and the abundance of food promotes a culture of abundance and sharing, and there is cultural and generational significance as the stories behind the seeds and harvest are shared.

I'm not a gardner; however, knowing that Big Brother wants  to stop this and have a say in telling me I can't share seeds makes me want to do just that!

Some of the websites mentioned in John Kohler's video on www.growingyourgreens.com included:

www.seedlibraries.net (to locate a seed library in your neck of the woods, or learn how to start one).

www.seedmatters.org (to sign  the petition to keep free seed sharing libraries legal).

www.theselc.org (the sustainable economy law center--a lawyer working on the fight is from here).

If you are interested in learning more, I encourage you to visit one or more of the sites above.

Telling a home gardener  that sharing seeds that are the kin of Great-Aunt Tilly's pole beans with friends or neighbors, and receiving the seeds from the friend or neighbors garden in return is illegal, unless the seeds are processed like the major seed companies have to process the seeds they sell, places a huge financial burden on hobby gardners and individual growers, and more importantly to me, is a huge infringement on my personal freedom.

One definition of Oppression is "an overuse of governmental power."

Any form of oppression is unacceptable.


http://www.a-to-zchallenge.com/This post is part of the A to Z Blogging Challenge 2015 where bloggers world-wide blog a new, successive letter of the alphabet each Monday through Saturday during the month of April. Tomorrow, April 18th, the letter will be P.  Unless I get my dander up about something else, I plan on writing something light-hearted about my new painting obsession.