A Great Resource for Seed Saving

Thank you to Seedman whose comment on my previous post introduced me to an awesome website! Check out http://www.seedsave.org/issi/issi_904.html for instructions on all aspects of vegetable seed saving--including which seeds are easiest for beginners, when you need to worry about cross-pollination, and even a little bit about the genetics of various plants.

Saving Seeds--Peas

By the end of July, those pea vines are looking pretty dead. Don't pull them up, though, because you can save seeds for next year if you have some ripe (or over-ripe) pods still on the vine.

Peas are some of the easiest seeds to harvest, and it saves you from having to buy any in the future. (I haven't purchased pea seeds for 21 years!) Choose the biggest, fullest pods because the best crop from this year will yield the best for next year. Let the pods get as dry as possible, but avoid mildew if the weather is rainy. Save in a cool, dry place until next spring.

Haitian farmers burn out Monsanto

Citizens united can make a difference!

"In Haiti, trying to recover from a crippling earthquake, farmers of the Peasant Movement of Papay (MPP) say they'll burn 475 tons of corn and vegetable seeds from Monsanto.

The seeds were donated through a USAID program and are not genetically engineered (GE), but are hybrid seeds which do not grow "true" from saved seed and must be bought every year for planting. The MPP says the seeds would make Haiti a slave colony for Monsanto and says farmers instead need help establishing seed banks of their own local, organic, Creole seeds."

Organic Consumers Assoc.
PCC Sound Consumer, July, 2010

My Favorite Seed Catalogs

It's getting late to order seeds, but there are two great companies I "discovered" this year that are worth looking at:

BAKER CREEK HEIRLOOM SEEDS publishes a catalog that is a visual feast! Page after page of huge colored photos--and not of just ordinary varieties of vegetables--make my mouth water for summer's fresh produce. All of the seeds are non-hybrid, non-GMO, non-treated, and non-patented. There are more than 1,200 fruit and vegetable varieties, many of them collected by owner Jere Gettle on his world-wide travels. One summer squash is described as "the ethnic heirloom pumpkin of the Maori people of New Zealand." One kind of corn is an "old variety reputed to be basically unchanged from the days when Native Americans grew it in New England." Or an onion "from the village of Galmi, a small community in the Ader Valley of Southeast Niger." Fun!

Gettle started his seed company when he was just 17 years old, and is now joined in the family business by his wife and young daughter. (His mom does the art for the catalog covers.) They have a store in Mansfield, Missouri and a "Seed Bank" in an old 1920's bank building in Petaluma, California. Baker Creek gives seeds to schools, orphanages, and prisons--over $50,000 worth in 2009. You can order their seeds at www.rareseeds.com or subscribe to their magazine (The Heirloom Gardener) for $12.00 per year.

Another seed company with a less-flashy catalog, but just as important a mission, is

BOUNTIFUL GARDENS (a project of Ecology Action). These folks, besides selling seeds, are dedicated to teaching sustainable agriculture. That means "creating a system in which the soil will live at optimum health and will produce crops at a rate which can be maintained indefinitely, without degrading the environment." Their catalog outlines the eight steps for their "Grow Biointensive" solution. These steps include things that many home-gardeners do (composting, companion planting) and things that most of us don't do (growing grain crops). I'm starting this year to change to some of these new practices in an effort to be a good steward of my garden.

To support their focus on education, Bountiful Gardens offers many DVD's, books, and other publications. While their orientation is sustainable organic gardening, they offer a variety of resources on food storage and processing, self-sufficiency, solar, and food security. You can see what they have to offer at www.bountifulgardens.org. All of their seeds are open-pollinated to "preserve our agricultural heritage in all its diversity."

As Jere Gettle says, "You are the biggest threat to big, corporate agriculture." Please write back and let us know what are YOUR favorite places to buy seeds.

Why Organic Video

Since 1989, Seeds of Change has been preserving biodiversity and supporting sustainable organic agriculture. They are embarking on becoming carbon neutral, and teach urban permaculture courses in urban gardening basics, design and community gardens.

Click on their site http://www.seedsofchange.com/ for a short video on "Why Organic", how this company operates responsibly, and what is available to you:

• Certified 100% organic seed: vegetables, flowers and herbs
• Over 1200 seed varieties, many heirloom, native and hard to find
• Quality performance in your garden or farm are guaranteed

Choosing organic seeds is smart money-wise too, the prices are equivalent to non-organic.

The Safe Seed Pledge

Two seed company catalogs I recommend checking are http://www.bountifulgardens.org/ and info@abundantlifeseeds.com. Both are heirloom, untreated, open-pollinated seeds for sustainable growing, and both have signed the safe seed pledge. Type High Mowing Organic Seeds into your search engine for good selection, cost comparison, pelleted seeds, and other resources. More seed companies are signing now due to customer request for tested seeds. Territorial Seed Co has recently become suspect for the future because one of their suppliers--Seminis*--was purchased last month by Monsanto.

*"Seminis controls 40% of the U.S. vegetable seed market and 20% of the world market---supplying the genetics for 55% lettuce on U.S. supermarket shelves, 75% of the tomatoes, and 85% of the peppers, with strong holdings in beans, cucumbers, squash, melons, broccoli, spinach and peas. The company's bigest revenue source comes from tomato and pepper seeds, followed by cucumbers and beans." http://www.seedalliance.org/: seed news.

The Safe Seed Pledge: "Agriculture and seeds provide the basis upon which our lives depend. We must protect this foundation as a safe and genetically stable source for future generations. For the benefit of all farmers, gardeners and consumers who want an alternative, we pledge that we do not knowingly buy or sell genetically engineered seeds or plants. The mechanical transfer or genetic material outside of natural reproductive methods and between genera, families, or kingdoms, poses great biological risks as well as economic, political, and cultural threats. We feel that genetically engineered varieties have been insufficiently tested prior to public release. More research and testing is necessary to further assess the potential risks of genetically engineered seeds. Further, we wish to support agricultural progress that leads to healthier soils, genetically diverse agricultural ecosystems and ultimately healthier people and communities."

For a current complete list of all companies who have signed the above pledge go to http://www.organicconsumers.org/ for "U.S. Seed Companies Pledging To Be GE Free" and "Ten Reasons Why We Don't Need GM Foods".

Organic vs. Non-Organic Seeds

"Are you growing corn, yellow squash or zucchini, which have been genetically engineered? If so choose organic seeds because organic standards prohibit genetic engineering. Beyond that, the vigor and attributes of any plant starts with good, healthy seed. If you are going to be eating your produce, why not start with the best possible seeds---Organic (or tested Heirloom)---from plants grown without synthetic pesticides and toxic sludge in fertilizers?"

PCC Sound Consumer, February 2010

Seeds for Life

"We are living in a time of unrest and worry, but the same crocus will grow near the Black Sea as grows in Spain, and these flowers don't need passports and frontiers. The seed is beyond frontiers and beyond nationalities, and the growing of things and tilling the earth is one of the most international...one of the most unpolitical things we can possibly do.

Don't ever forget that the seed is the most important thing in this whole world."

- Clare Leighton, garden writer, 1948
Grandma's Garden Catalog, January 2010

Heirloom Vegetables

Heirloom vegetables are gems of nature, passed down for generations by home gardeners who prize them for their flavor. They reproduce true to their parent plants, preserving their taste, appearance, and other unique characteristics from one year to the next.

Industrial farmers don’t have the luxury of breeding vegetables for taste. They have to grow food that can be harvested quickly and transported over hundreds of miles without losing its appetizing appearance. Most of these vegetables never even get to ripen before being rushed to market. Such produce may seem palatable until you have tasted heirlooms, but then you will crave the flavors that have been treasured over time.

Be daring, and try a new heirloom variety this year!