Who are we?

Who is Kokopelli?

Kokopelli is a mythological character from the Americas. He is a universal symbol of fertility and Life.

Depicted as a hunchbacked flute player (his hump is actually a bag of seeds), he relentlessly sows seeds of Life, connecting the song of the stars to the Earth with his large antennae, and fertilizing the soil with his music.

Kokopelli is also a mischievous, teasing, even naughty character, and along the way he also sows the seeds of a fertile revolution in the service of Mother Earth, in people's minds and hearts.

Kokopelli is also a warrior character - in the noble sense of the word - and its antennae constantly pick up the feeds emanating from ecological and social struggles. To the sound of her music, masks fall and the criminal peddlers of death redouble their malevolence, in a last desperate dash, in a vain attempt to drag humanity down with them.

But Kokopelli, the sower of Life, is preparing for the future - a fertile future of co-evolution with Nature and all those who live in it...

Today, at the foot of the Pyrenees in Ariège, a team of 30 salaried employees and 20 seasonal workers are at the service of Life.The values and skills of each member are unified - to guarantee quality seeds and to respond to those seeking autonomy and meaning.

End-of-season meal - June 2021

What are our demands?

There are many of them! Here are the most important:

• We demand the right to sow Public Domain seeds freely - and without restriction. They must be accessible to all, without moderation!
• We demand the free - and unrestricted - use of medicinal plants that have been used for millennia, but have been banned by a handful of criminals.
• We demand the free - and unrestricted - use of fermented plant preparations, micro-organisms, rock powders, etc., for agriculture.
• We demand the outright abolition of all forms of agriculture and medicine based on death, chemicals and genetic chimeras.

What are we denouncing?

Many things, but always objectively, without hatred (except perhaps for the multinationals...) and above all without generalizing:

• We firmly denounce the agro-pharmaceutical-petroindustrial multinationals who are unscrupulously and callously destroying the entire biosphere.
• We denounce the corruption of governments of all nations, too often complicit (or totally in their pay) with industrialists.
• We denounce the agricultural unions, at best passive in the face of the ecological drama generated by agriculture and, at worst, totally complicit in the deadly process.
• We denounce the organic farming industry for allowing the solution to drown in the problem...
• We denounce consumers and farmers who delude themselves without realizing that it's up to them to act!

What do we propose?

We propose many small things, but also some big ones! We're convinced that everyone can do their part, no matter how small.

• We invite you to boycott all supermarket products.
• We invite you to eat locally, organically, without F1 hybrids or genetic chimeras.
• We invite you to grow your own garden in the countryside and, in the city, to transform useless landscaped parks into veritable city pantries (this goes hand in hand with the fight against over-pollution in the city, to avoid, at the very least, heavy metals in the soup!)
• We invite you to lobby local farmers and market gardeners to promote organic farming and, above all, free, reproducible seeds.
• We invite you to lobby local organic distributors to make them aware of their responsibilities in the face of the dramatic rise of bio-industrialization.
• We invite you to inform and alert your fellow citizens to the seriousness and urgency of the environmental situation caused by our way of life, and particularly by our agriculture.
• We invite you to support the growing number of people involved in this fertile revolution we are proposing.
• And above all, like Kokopelli, we invite you to sow the seeds of a fertile, living revolution in your hearts and minds!

What are our missions?

There are many of them, and we can't help but come up with new ones, very frequently, because we're working in the service of Life, and our missions are constantly growing!

• Distribute royalty-free, reproducible seeds. In our boutique in Ariège, at organic fairs and shows, with our Seed Truck, in numerous points of sale and on the Internet, between 1400 and 2000 varieties or species (depending on the season) are available from Kokopelli. This range - unique in its living (not stored in freezers) and transmissible nature - is a treasure that we protect with the help of our professional network of growers/multipliers. This network, some of whom have been working with us since the days of "Terre de Semences", guarantees the varietal purity and quality of our seeds. The association also owns a fleet of extremely precise professional sorting machines - which are made available to all our growers - to guarantee exemplary seed both in terms of visual appearance and germination capacity. We are convinced that it is possible to combine militant action and quality: each batch is tested for germination and the rates we obtain are, for the vast majority of them, well above the legal rates. This first mission, which has cost the association numerous lawsuits due to its illegal nature until June 2020, guarantees Kokopelli total financial autonomy and enables us to develop our other missions.

NGO Yocontigo, Madagascar, 2017

• To provide communities in countries exploited by the West with the tools to regain seed autonomy, and therefore food autonomy, free of charge. Thanks to our Seeds without Borders campaign, we send hundreds of kilos of seeds around the world every year. Transporting these seeds is often a smuggling operation, and we'd like to thank all the activists who combine business with pleasure by bringing this precious merchandise - a token of the fertile insubordination of populations in the face of oppressors - with them on their travels! We would also like to thank all the amateur seed growers who send us large quantities of seeds for this campaign every year. These seeds are very welcome, as they complement the seeds produced by our network of professional growers, and enable us to meet an ever-growing demand!

• We're alerting the world! This essential mission led by the association's founder - Dominique Guillet signs his articles with the name Xochi, which means flower in Nahuatl - offers us a strong militant vision of the biosphere's situation. Picked up by numerous blogs on the Web and often precursors of ecological battles, these articles resound like drums in the minds of attentive readers who are not afraid to question established beliefs. These investigations, always perfectly sourced, combine scientific or technical details, political or social facts and militant battles - giving real meaning to Kokopelli's day-to-day work!

• Helping to develop new, free and reproducible varieties. We believe that Life isn't fixed, that it evolves and, above all, that it loves to play... and that's why we support breeders/multipliers such as Alan Kapuler, Dylana Kapuler, Tom Wagner, etc. Their creations delight our plates and our palates.Their creations have been delighting our plates for many years now, and every effort made by these nature lovers is donated to the Public Domain. And it's this gift to the community that we encourage, every year, in different ways: financial support, seed purchases, etc.

Festival 2018, Les Tambours de Gaïa, le Mas-d'Azil

• Training and passing on know-how and knowledge is essential to people's emancipation. That's why, whenever we have the opportunity, we organize workshops, conferences or seminars on a wide range of topics related to the agriculture of yesterday and, above all, that of tomorrow. We also organize a major festival every 2 or 3 years, bringing together a wide range of speakers (activists, farmers, scientists, whistle-blowers, committed artists, etc.) to share their know-how and knowledge over the course of a few days. On our blog - blog.kokopelli-semences.fr - we also share a wealth of techniques and information relating to seed production in the home garden.

The founders of the association :

The Kokopelli association was founded - by fervent defenders of biodiversity and medicinal plants,Dominique and Sofy Guillet and Jocelyn Moulin - in 1999, following a series of adventures briefly outlined in the chronological tree below.

A tribute to Jocelyn Moulin, treasurer and passionate spokesman for Le joueur de flûte!

You're sure to have met him at a Kokopelli stand, calling you little sister or little brother and guiding you, smiling as usual, through hundreds of vegetable varieties. Seeds were his passion, and his parents, seed growers by trade, taught him this precious gift of Nature from an early age. Jocelyn has accompanied Sofy and Dominique Guillet - with the Jardin Botanique de la Mhotte, Terre de Semences and, finally, Kokopelli - since the beginning of the adventure in October 1992: 25 years of fervor, enthusiasm and steadfastness in the face of attacks, injustices and criticism from the seed mafia.

Jocelyn, our best spokesman, the wandering and joyful soul of the Pied Piper, left on July 31, 2017 for his last journey. This loss is brutal and the sorrow that stirs our hearts is immense, because just a few months ago, he was there, more than present to lead conferences, stands or talks around seeds.

Jocelyn leaves a huge void among us, but his humor, his love and his kindness will forever accompany Kokopelli's free seeds!