Sewing the Seeds
Last weekend my family and I attending the annual conference of ACORN, the Atlantic Canada Organic Regional Network, which was held at the Rodd Charlottetown. We weren’t there as delegates or members, just as curious gardeners attracted by the chance to rub shoulders with other heirloom gardeners and seed-savers in Atlantic Canada.
We’ve had a garden, in varying degrees, for the past 3 years now. The first year was just a couple of tomato plants, the last two years was a jump to 900 sq ft garden. The first two years we used heirloom seeds from Agrestal (unfortunately no longer in business) and last year tried conventional seeds from Vessey’s. Now granted last year was a terrible year for growing, not to mention we are novice gardeners by any stretch, but this year we are going back to heirloom seeds, both for the diversity of the product, but also because we can buy seeds that were produced locally, not just marketed locally.
At the ACORN conference we had the opportunity to visit with a couple of organizations and companies that I think are worthy of a mention here.
First is Hope Seeds from Glassville, NB. Run by Andrea Berry, Hope Seeds is an Atlantic Canada company through and through. Andrea and a small crew of passionate gardeners manage to put together a collection of vegetables, herbs, flowers and even Jerusalem Artichokes and seed potatoes, all grown in the same climate as PEI. While not 100% certified organic, Andrea does sell some certified organic seed (which I assume she gets from a small network of growers that she enlists to produce her seed to augment her own growing efforts), Hope Seeds is a 100% heirloom and heritage seed seller. As someone who has grown to love the diversity of heirloom seeds, not to mention the ability to buy seeds that are ‘design by nature’ for the Atlantic Canada climate, having someone like Andrea and Hope Seeds close by allows me to breath a huge sigh of relief.
The second company is Annapolis Seeds from Middleton, Nova Scotia. Annapolis Seeds is a relatively new player in the heritage seed marketplace in Atlantic Canada, but that is just fine by me. While the catalogue is simple, the selection of this Annapolis Valley grower more than compensates. Flipping through the catalogue I had no idea that 2010 was only the second year for this fledgling seed company, or that that the owner and operator was only 17 years old! I don’t know if young Owen Bridge has help with this enterprising company, but his descriptions of the products, his personal touches on each seed story, and a stunning array of interesting (and sometimes quirky) vegetables makes this seed seller another worthy option.
The last, but perhaps most important, recommendation is Seeds of Diversity. While not technically a seed producer, Seeds of Diversity plays a critical role in maintaining the heirloom seeds that will be essential to agriculture in the years to comes. Some estimates state that up to 75% of the plants grown on farms 100 years ago are now extinct. That is a staggering percentage, if true. Personally, what disturbs me is the power that we have given companies like Monsanto over our food production. With controversies such as the terminator gene and rBGH in their history, not to mention their vindictive pursuit of alleged seed savers, the answer to Monsanto, both in Canada and abroad, is Seeds of Diversity.
While there are other noteworthy companies, High Mowing Seeds is a stand-out in my mind, that you could order from and still keep it local (if you are from Atlantic Canada or the NE USA). Some people may ask why I didn’t include Johnny’s Seeds in my recommendations. First, they are not a solely heirloom seed company. Second, I overheard one of their company representatives telling a farmer (a presumably high-volume seed buyer) that “of course we don’t grow all our seeds in Maine. We simply couldn’t keep up with demand so we outsource to growers all around the world.” That means that, while Johnny’s is local (OK, Maine), their seeds are more well-traveled than I am. In other words, I want seeds that have spent less time on an airplane or an ocean-liner than I have.
The most important part of planting a garden is — planting a garden. Sewing the seeds is the most important part of the process. The rest is just magic.
Thanks for the info on seeds. Last year I started saving my own seeds from some heirloom plants. It was fun to collect the onion and radish seeds as these are the ones we started with. I look forward to saving seeds from Plants again this year with a goal of storing enough that eventually I won’t have to buy seeds. Unfortunately, this has the potential of not being a great idea for the seed companies, for if we all learn how to and then store our own seeds, it will put the seed companies out of business. That is except for the new plants we want to try that we don’t have the seeds for.
Ups and downs to everything, right?
Look at it this way, there will always be others who are converting to the same line of thinking — saving seeds. Plus, there is a whole farming model that will need to be supplied seeds when (not if) the GMO seeds start failing. I wouldn’t worry about the downsides to savings seeds yet, we are long way off of having to worry about markets being disrupted by saving a few seeds.
Plus, seeds should be free anyway, right? We’re just paying for the labour of someone else to save the seeds vs. the seed companies (GMO that is) where we are paying for the ‘right’ to use their patented product for a year.