today I wrote a blurb for the Koanga Institute Seed catalogue thing about the trip to Bonn, Germany to the Planet diversity conference...dunno if Im allowed to "publish" before its actually published but hey...no one reads this...Im just new to it...and its MY intellectual property...furthermore there are probably a few more steps in terms of editing before it gets out. Here it is;

Planet Diversity enticed dynamic speakers in languages of the globe. We connected on the kaupapa of Local, Diverse and GMO-free crops. An array of presentations, workshops and passionate conversation led me to voice, as I summed up at the final plenary session, along with six other women representing their continents; “A monoculture of the mind... has homogenised thought.” It has; humans bought into the mass-marketed colourful-packaging convenience-life. Most of the world is like most of this country; people happy to go along eating supermarket food or take-aways and providing it to their families. The sadness is the direction and the rate of this devolution of humanity. Those or us, who have sat back and visualised the plague of materialism destroying the planet and her children are now seeking soutions to repair the damage. It’s a costly combat, costly in genetic diversity; between the food giants like Monsanto-and us, the gardeners and small farmers to manipulate or to open pollinate. We must count on ourselves and our community, and for inspiration little pockets of like-minded folk internationally, to eat well. This can be sped up if we find the people who will cause the tipping point and take "Local, Diverse, GMO- free crops" from the domain of ex hippies and alternatives into the realm of cool-which of course leads the mainstream. Then our youth from Te Whanau a Apanui hapu and German suburbs and Nigerian villages and well everywhere won’t be lusting after a Big Mac and an iPod when their committed mother provides them with the home truths of home-grown, home-cooked love on a plate. Planet Diversity was like a shot of echinacea.

The main Presentations, their translations and PDFs can be viewed on the Planet Diversity website, Google it for inspiration. The matriarch of the conference, Vandana Shiva thanked us, Koanga Institute (I salute you all) after I delivered a workshop presentation from Kay about dancing the seasonal rhythms of seeds and grafting from aging fruit trees. I ventured to Europe seeking the answers only to realise we've always had our own here. I continue to thank the whanau at Whitianga Marae- Mana Whenua of our gardens, and our tipuna who have fought to retain and protect the integrity of our territory, and Te Runanga o te Whanau who continue this struggle - rere tonu aku mihi nunui ki a koutou.

the other thing I did today was buy a paper shredder, I had been recycling office paper, but Ive decided to feed it to the worm farm and the garden beds as no dig mulch stuff...and have a big spring clean of the office this week.