Something To Chew On - Seed Savers Parade

From "Something To Chew On," my weekly column in the Ukiah Daily Journal.

SEED SAVERS PARADE

I’ve been having this vision, in the sense that the image repeatedly flashes into my mind. It’s a bit like a recurring daydream, but more of a FLASH! It comes in like lightning, sometimes prompted by something I hear – that the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation bought 500,000 shares of stock in Monsanto; that the USDA issued a press release supporting GMO crops; that there are less apple varieties in our supermarkets every year – and sometimes this vision just pops in from I do not know where. It comes in like lightning! But it leaves like honey…

The vision is of the Seed Saver’s Parade. The parade is in the future, in Ukiah, and the Patty Pan Squash Collective is leading the way. They are a group of women, mostly on their later side of life, but there are a few younger women, one middle aged man, and one young boy. The group is decked out in yellow and topped by a wild assortment of strange, large hats. Their garb looks like it is woven of fibers past and future. Everyone’s does, these days…

Two women and the man are pushing a large cart with quilted banners on the sides that proclaim: PATTY PAN. This cart is filled with hundreds of the most beautiful Patty Pan Squash you have ever seen; like the love child of a sea creature, the produce aisle, and a canary. The squash were grown in Willits, Philo, Round Valley, Gualala, and Ukiah, and the Patty Pan Collective takes care to know which squash were grown where.

Other Patty Pan People dole out bits of fried patty pan, patty pan dessert bread, and sliced patty pan with creamy pesto. The crowd is smiles for miles, offering appreciation to the Patty Panners they know and the Patty Panners they don’t know. It’s a great day for Mendocino, and for those who particularly care for Patty Pan Squash, this is a lovely moment.

The Patty Pan Collective beams with pride. To head up the annual Seed Savers Parade! What a treat. What a privilege! The parade starts at the Civic Center, where the lawn out front has been transformed into a community demonstration farm, and winds the one mile to the Mendocino County Center for Agricultural Renewal, which is behind where the old Starbucks used to be on Perkins Street. The Center for Agricultural Renewal is situated on ten acres that a generous, civic-minded, and forward-thinking wine maker from Potter Valley sold at a reasonable price to The County in 2011 from the two hundred acres he bought when the Alex Thomas Pear Orchards went kaput.

The squash that the Patty Pan Collective are bringing to the Center for Agricultural Renewal are among the finest grown in the county this year. Their seed will be saved with care for farmers and gardeners to plant next year. Since these squash are grown in Mendocino County, they are adapted to thrive here, and even in specific microclimates within the County. And, you just can’t always buy Patty Pan seeds, these days…

Following the Patty Pan Squash Collective is the Tomato Lovers Association of Mendocino County, the Indian Painted Corn Man, the Keepers of the Onion, the Broccoli Brothers, Betty Caswell’s fifth grade class, Baby Beet, the Lightfoot Clan, the Scion Sisters, and on and on. People are proud and joyful and the celebration will go on for days.

In total, 328 varieties of fruits, herbs, and vegetables will be saved for the future on this day. Of course, people still manage to bring in lots of seeds from outside the area most years, but you just can’t depend on that, these days…

Well, there you have it! That’s a vision I have. I must admit: the Patty Pan Squash collective is the only visual image that actually flashes into my mind. But like I said: it comes in like lightning, and it leaves like honey.