Seed-Saving

Went to a seed-saving workshop today, put on jointly by the farm that we get our box through and the community gardens in town. VERY informative. I have lettuce that I've let bolt (well, I didn't actually let it do anything; it did it on its own), and I am keen on saving the seed. Turns out lettuce, tomatoes, and the brassica family (incl kale & chard) are easy seed-savers. I wish I'd taken photos at the workshop today that I could share with you, but there are several good seed-saving books available at the local library.

Seed-saving is important, for many reasons. The first that probably comes to mind is to keep variety in our diet's gene pool. People will comment that big companies (Monsanto, for example) appear to be buying up the seeds and then not offering lesser-known varieties for sale in the future. Statistics show that there are less varieties for sale which correlates with the size of growth of the seed companies. And the average backyard gardener or small-scale farmer (more likely to be growing organically, in my opinion) is also more likely to be savouring the taste of a potentially obscure variety of vegetable. Because you and I aren't likely to be buying thousands of pounds of seeds, it simply doesn't add up for larger companies to keep offering us these lesser known varieties - that's not where they make their money. Besides, as was pointed out to us today, there is something life-affirming in letting a plant complete its natural life cycle, in letting the plant produce seed, and in us saving it. And there is honour in having someone pass along seeds that have been saved for generations - we were told a story of a neighbour passing along heirloom paste tomato seeds, "the tomatoes were voted best in the village back in Italy for many years running" and now, 40 yrs later, the seeds are passed along to you to protect and nurture. It's community-building. And it's important. As I've said before, we all need to eat.

So I'd encourage you to check out a book on seed saving, or a website, and try it. I'll be trying to save lettuce seeds this year - my first attempt. Wish me luck.