Practical knowledge of seed processing and the political vision of seeds. Miguel Arribas Kelo and Marc Badal joined forces in the book Haziak. This Friday in Azpeitia you will be able to know the book inside.

Until September 30, ARGIA lovers have a special offer to buy this beautiful book: If you do ARGIA, you will receive the gift book. On this website you have the possibility to do it simply. If you’re already a member of ARGIA, you can purchase the book for 24 euros by 30 September. To do so, write to azoka@argia.eus or call 0034 943 37 15 45.

The authors of the book have made a special journey in the world of seeds

The collective project Aleka, which sells organic seeds produced in Euskal Herria, is one of the authors of the book, Miguel Arribas Kelo, who for eight years has been engaged in breeding throughout the year. The other author of the book, Marc Badal, makes seeds for house in his vegetable garden and is dedicated to the dissemination of seeds. He has been the coordinator of the Haziera seed file of the Cristina Enea foundation for 11 years.

Arribas and Badal are two old friends, and their journey is as curious as it is nice. Arribas has said his as follows: "I'm from Madrid and despite being a street child, I started at about 22 years old on a collective project of gardeners there, and there I began to immerse myself in the world of agroecology and look at aging. 16 years ago I came to the Basque Country, directly to the dwelling Leunda Berri de Beizama. A similar project was being developed here, the Uztaro cooperative, a self-managed and collective project. We created that experience and after so many years, that collective disappeared and then I dared to set in motion my eternal restlessness: to produce the seed collectively and professionally."

Badal has also traveled the world of seeds: "I'm from Barcelona. In the 1990s in Barcelona there was a movement of rapid occupation, and some of them began occupying farmhouses [Farms of the Catalan Countries], making vegetable gardens and understanding self-management in a different way, not only to buy beer at parties, I don't know why. We soon relate to other peoples of the occupied Pyrenees: There was a certain struggle between the occupied peoples of Catalonia, Aragon and Navarra and an informal network was created. At that time, we started talking about the agroecological movement. I was in Alta Garrotxa (region of the Catalan Pre-Pyrenees) and in 1997 the Ecollavors seed network was created, very small, self-managed, which was an informal initiative among four known, and since then I have worked on this type of network. 14 years ago I came to the Basque Country and for 12 years I have been living on a farm in Valcarlos. In addition to working on the Haziera project, I participated in the Seed Network of Navarra".

"At night here, it's a book written in the Leundaberri Manor of Beizama"

As Arribas explained, the book was written by Hanka, who is in the Basque Country: "Euskal Herria has special conditions and it is necessary for a garden book to take these characteristics into account," he added. The text they have written in Spanish was translated by Markel Lizasoain. Arribas values the translation very well: "I think he has taken the concepts of agriculture well and I think he has managed to maintain the tone he wanted to give to the phrases. I have learned a lot from Euskera reading this book! ".

Badal stressed that most of the book was written by a farmer (Arribas): "Politics, history, economics, agronomy, genetics, botany... All that is related in the book and all that has come out of a professional, young, ecological farmer who wrote at night, once his day of his vegetable garden is over. At night here, it's a book written in the Leunda Berri farmhouse of Beizama. That's very valuable.