To: The friends who contributed seeds from the Seeds of Solidarity for Venezuela project.
From: Gaudy María García, Person Responsible for the Family Seed Reservoir La Paspasa

Women and men, peasants of Monte Carmelo, Sanare, Municipality Andrés Eloy Blanco, Lara State, Venezuela, send you conservation and agro-ecological greetings. Here we will provide a brief account of what we have been developing in recent months in terms of rescue and reproduction of seeds in our project “Seeds for Life”.

First, we received a donation of seeds from our friend Lisa Sullivan, in July 2016. The germination test was carried out, where it was found that the seeds planted had 100% germination! The behavior of the seedlings in relation to the climate and the types of soil was also monitored. It was observed that they had very good development and adaptability to our soil. It is noteworthy to point out that these crops were treated in an agro-ecological way (compost from California red worm, homemade compost, slurry).

Among the cultivated plants were carrots, lettuce, red peppers, beets, chard, and radish. It is interesting to inform you that the lettuces were of various varieties, colors and flavors.

The peppers are still in production, just like the chard, with characteristics of being very pleasing to the palate and with a soft texture when eating them.

The lettuce also developed very well. We consumed a large part of them and left the more robust and healthy plants to extract seeds; which we are already removing and re-sowing with excellent germination results.

As for the seeds of green beans – they were removed and are in the process of germination – requiring us to enlarge the planting space that was originally very small.
Beets are in the process of producing seeds. Their cycle is longer than the green beans and lettuce. We used all the carrots in the kitchen.

In January of this year, we received a second donation brought by our friend Omar Sierra. Part of these seeds are already planted. We hope the results will be very good. The donated seeds were distributed to several people and organizations, among them:

-Carmen Alicia García, Grupo de Productores Monte Carmelo
-Omar García, Cooperativa La Alianza
-Pedro Manuel García, Reservorio de Semillas Buen Vivir
-Héctor José García, Conuco Soberano
-Gaudy García, Reservorio de Semillas La Paspasa
-Sara García, independent grower
-Heberto León, independent grower
-Juan Ramon Escalona (Morocho), independent grower
-Teofilo Enriquez, La Matematica

This distribution of seeds aims to articulate a stable group of guardians of seeds, to guarantee local food security and sovereignty, as well as the conservation and reproduction of varieties in danger of extinction and to the protection of our biodiversity.

We give our heartfelt thanks to the good friends who are contributing seeds for this noble cause.

We will continue to share this responsibility to preserve seeds for future generations and our Mother Earth. We would like you to incorporate other items in your contributions, such as corn.

Plans for this year:

• Carry out the Children’s Day for Seeds at Monte Carmelo School.
• Raffle seed combos for people who participate.
• Give gifts of envelopes with seeds to participants, workers, teachers and school officials.
• Promote and form a School Board for the Protection of Seeds. Likewise, we will promote the creation of local committees for seed protection from peasant, Afro-descendant and indigenous peoples.
• We will continue to follow up on demonstration plots, which are now being developed.

Monte Carmelo February 5, 2017