Jude Fanton's blog

Whole Culinary Gardens Workshop next Saturday

We're holding a series of workshops over six Saturdays from 19th June to 24th July, 10am to 3pm. You may take any one of the workshops as each is exclusive. Next Saturday we're doing fruite crops.

Teachers are Jude and Michel Fanton, Seed Savers founders and Permaculture practitioners since 1978. They wrote three food garden books, produced two documentaries on food diversity and trained in twenty-one countries. This is a rare opportunity as the Fantons are frequently travelling now. 

Learn how to plan, grow, collect and prepare culinary delights at the twelve year old gardens at the Seed Centre in Byron Bay. Practise using traditional tools from our collection from around the world.

We gather and prepare a vegetarian lunch in a French country kitchen and give out free planting material (cuttings, seeds and slips) each week.

Available for perusal - database of 800 perennials in the garden, database of 8500 seed samples. Cost on a sliding scale $90 to $56 per session, includes lunch. Book more than one Saturday or with a friend and enjoy a generous discount. See table of charges at the end. Register at our Payment page - use the Donations option and send us a message. Press Read more for Programme.

There will be two seed saving events in Victoria on the weekend of 10th and 11th of April.

The Indian Government has banned genetically engineered (GE) eggplant after the ex-Director of Monsanto India admitted the corporation provided 'fake scientific data' to regulators. In announcing the moratorium on GE eggplant, Indian Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh, said there was not enough evidence that GE foods were safe to eat and that they didn't harm the environment.

In the Cameron Highlands of Malaysia we interviewed an immigrant agricultural labourer, Mahmoud Rahid, from Bangladesh about the difference between local organic and conventional growing methods. He described he often had to spray conventional crops with what he called “medicine”, but he also did not like how organics are grown with so much plastic.

Louise Nikau writes about our film, "Our Seeds" from New Zealand.

Kia ora Jude I love it!!! The music, the message, the celebrations, we were inspired and we are planning our own celebrations. Everything was put together in such a beautiful way.