Projects | P.E.D.A.L.

Cultural Cookery Book

Since P.E.D.A.L. will be traveling through diverse cultures and regions, we thought one way of documenting this diversity would be to collect recipes in a hardback book along the way. By encouraging participants to give a little background information about themselves and/or the region, the recipe etc… we would hopefully create a visual celebration of culture revolving around a fundamental part of social fabric everywhere, food. This would be a valuable resource to share with communities we visit and reflect some of the central themes around our journey; access to seed, land and water.

P.E.D.A.L. Film Project

The P.E.D.A.L. film project is a documentary road movie following radical political movements from London to Palestine.  The film will highlight different cultures of resistance and the common causes between them in fighting social and environmental injustice.

From changing landscapes on the road- to the various cultures P.E.D.A.L. will meet- the film project will capture the intimate moments, the political strategising and story that unfolds for the twenty cyclists.

Sections of the movie will be uploaded onto the P.E.D.A.L. website during the trip, and after post-production the film will be taken around the UK to share the stories and experiences the group encounter along the way.

P.E.D.A.L Seed Bank of Solidarity

Seeds are a sign of life and hope. the beginning of spring: warmth, light, water, soil. Not only do they embody nature and plants in their most simple form, They represent tradition and culture, rich and knowledgeable farming techniques and varieties. Farmers and food growers for generations have grown heritage, local and peasant varieties of fruit and vegetables, saving the seeds each year at the end of the growing season, swapping varieties with other farmers through the winter, ready to plant in the spring.

Varieties of staple crops such as maize, wheat, soya, rapeseed all over the world are now massively in danger of being replaced for GM patented varieties by multi national seed companies such as Monsanto (www.monsantowatch.org). Small scale growers and farmers are losing old varieties of veg as they are being wiped out by Hybrid (“F1″) seed, the result of a cross between two different , but heavily inbred parents. Seed you save from these plants will either be sterile or a give a whole mix of shapes and types, usually producing a poor crop. This is great for the seed companies as it means your tied into going back year after year to buy seed from them.
Growers should be able to keep their own seeds, selecting each year the best plants most suitable for their own land and conditions.

P.E.D.A.L is starting a seed bank of heritage and local varieties seeds from the UK which will be swapped for other seeds or given away at the communities of resistance we visit on our path to Palestine where the final seeds will be given to permaculture projects in the West Bank such as the Tortoise Garden (www.bustanqaraaqa.org). Seeds are a beautiful practical exchange and in the nature of gift economy all those we meet along the way will get a P.E.D.A.L seed packet, some wild flowers but mainly interesting vegetable varieties to plant in the coming months. Spreading, saving, swapping and sharing seeds and information on  preserving and protecting our seeds is the most effect direct action we can take to resist co-oprate control over our food and growing skills. Productive planting, teaching and then eating produce we grow in our communities stems from the knowledge of how to control and protect our seed and food sovereignty.

Palestinian farmers are struggling to grow productive crops due to the lack of water and land which has and still id being lost to the Israeli state. the Occupation confiscated approximately 82% of Palestinian water, leaving them with only about 18% of the total water storage in the West Bank and Gaza, and this percentage is for domestic and agriculture consumption. Palestinian farmers demand the right to land and water in order to continue their rich history of olive and orange groves and small scale sustainable farming. P.E.D.A.L wants to support these farmers and the right of return to their agriculture land, we want to link community food growers, seed savers, land squatters, permaculturalists from Europe and those involved with the Reclaim the Fields European network and Via Campasina worldwide peasant movement to support and show solidarity for environmental justice and to those struggling to continue growing and feeding themselves in Occupied Palestine.

The bank will spread practical knowledge of community food growing, permaculutre skill shares, organic and biodynamic practices and in the spirit of story telling, we will tell tales of land occupations, roof gardens, guerrilla gardening, communal farming and exciting food growing networks in the UK while picking up exciting stories of projects all over Europe and the Middle East.
The Seed Bank will be a Bank of inspirational stories and struggles of grassroots communities, projects and people who have their hands in the soil practically working to reclaim our food, future, fields and seeds.

These seeds will be seeds of solidarity. Resistance is fertile!

Links;
www.permaculture.org.uk
www.realseeds.co.uk
www.reclaimthefields.org
www.transitionheathrow.com
www.viacampesina.org/en/
www.pafu.ps/

P.E.D.A.L. Photography Project

Documentary photographs will complement the Film project to give the fullest picture possible of P.E.D.A.L. experiences.

Photographs will be uploaded into the interactive Map on the way- and will also fall into a complete series of images that tracks the geographical, emotional and political journeys of P.E.D.A.L.

Dinner Diary Video Interviews

As P.E.D.A.L. traverses through cultures across Europe to the Middle East a short interview will be held at the dinner table of each evening meal with ride participants and members of the community we visit.

The diary means that P.E.D.A.L. will have a daily documentary of the changing stories, skills and strategies participants share with people they meet- as well as charting the different food cultures, and interactions between participants and community members in an informal environment.

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