Week 3 on the Farm: Seeds

Weather forecast: Mid-60s, Partly cloudy

This week we're going to have you continue to help us with garden bed preparation and we'll teach you how we start seeds indoors to transplant into those beds in a few weeks. This will be an opportunity for us to talk a bit about issues of agricultural genetics and what you might want to look for in choosing seeds to plant for your own gardens. Here's a link to a short essay I wrote on our farm blog in 2012 which gives an overview of different forms of plant breeding and seed propagation: https://harvestofjoyfarm.wordpress.com/2012/02/17/wonderful-seeds/.

In this post, I briefly touch on GMOs (genetically modified organisms). If you don't really know what a GMO is, don't feel bad. According to this four minute Jimmy Kimmel video, most of us don't: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EzEr23XJwFY.

Here's a two-minute video from the Nebraska Corn Board that talks about what GMOs are and likens genetic engineering of crops to traditional methods of plant breeding and even the crossing of wild varieties of plants: http://www.nebraskacorn.org/news-releases/what-are-gmos/. Sounds pretty good, huh? Let's talk about why the real-world effects of GMOs aren't quite this simple . . .

For those of you interested in sourcing seeds for the class garden or for your own, here's a list of seed companies that we often order from:

http://www.johnnyseeds.com/
http://www.fedcoseeds.com/seeds/
http://www.bountifulgardens.org/
http://www.highmowingseeds.com/
http://natureandnurtureseeds.com/
https://www.adaptiveseeds.com/
https://www.wildgardenseed.com/

Soil & Seeds

Okay, I know that class is officially over, but I can't help sharing this article that just appeared in The Atlantic:
Healthy Soil Microbes, Healthy People. Though really informative about the serious problems we've created for ourselves by destroying soil microbial life, I'm profoundly uncomfortable that the solution it proposes is "soil drugs" manufactured by agri-chemical companies rather than good on-farm soil management.

Also, in one of our last classes, I promised to find the name of the Oregon CSA that works in collaboration with plant breeder Frank Morton to produce locally adapted, farmer-controlled plant varieties. It is Gathering Together Farm and the seed organization is Wild Garden Seed.

Here are a couple of videos of Frank talking about the relationship between humans and seeds and about the global commercial seed industry:

Frank Morton - The Value of Seeds

Seeds of Life: Consolidation in the Seed Industry

Enjoy!

Cary Fowler: Protecting the Future of Food

Hey all--

Today on the farm we talked briefly about seed banks or libraries, and the largest one in the world in Norway. I heard this story on NPR the other day and thought it was very intriguing, but learning about genetics and seeds and biodiversity on Amy's farm really made the two facets come into focus.

Here is the full Cary Fowler TED talk that was featured on NPR.

-Hannah


 

What to Plant? Crop & Varietal Selection

We ended up talking a quite a bit this week about how we select the crops and plant varieties to grow each year for our CSA members. We also touched on issues of genetically modified, hybrid, and organic seed production. So I thought I'd share with you a blog post I wrote last year on the farm blog regarding these issues. In it, I give some basic information about the difference between hybridization and genetic modification in seed production: Wonderful Seeds.

A few of you were also wondering how our crop list has changed from year to year. You can view last year's crop list on the Wonderful Seeds blog post I referenced above. And I'll paste our 2013 crop list at the end of this email. But in short, in 2012 we planned 31 different crops and 70 different varieties of plants within those crop categories. In 2013 we've planned 37 different crops and 108 different varieties.

I also want to recommend this video of a TED talk by Winona LaDuke entitled Seeds of Our Ancestors, Seeds of Life. In it, she talks about the relationship that her Anishinaabekwe people have with certain food plants that have sustained them for generations and how they've fought the attempts to genetically engineer and patent these crops, as well as why climate change makes it more important than ever that we preserve and encourage genetic diversity among food crops. It's a really good talk and just under 17 minutes--it's worth your time.

What LaDuke says about the relationship between certain plants and her people may sound a bit esoteric, but it absolutely rings true to my experience. When you work with plants year after year, spending your life energy nurturing them and helping them flourish so that they can in turn feed you and sustain your life, you develop an intimacy with them, an affection, maybe even love. You get to know what they like, what they don't like, and certain varieties become your favorites, become plants that you can't imagine going through a summer without. They become your relatives.

I have long-standing relationships with many of the varieties listed below, but others are new ones that I hope to begin developing friendships with during the coming year.

2013 Crop & Plant Variety List
Arugula: Standard Arugula, Astro
Basil: Genovese Compact Improved
Beans, Green Snap: Provider, Fortex
Beans, Yellow Snap: Pencil Pod Wax
Beets, Red: Red Ace F1
Beets, Golden: Touchstone Gold
Braising Mix: Johnny's Braising Mix
Broccoli: DiCicco, Green Magic F1, Piracicaba
Brussels Sprouts: Roodnerf, Gustus F1
Cabbage, Green: Gonzales F1
Cabbage, Red: Ruby Perfection F1
Radish: Mokum F1, Nantes Fancy
Chard: Ford Hook Giant, Peppermint Chard, Red Rubarb Chard
Cilantro: Calypso
Cucumber: Marketmore 76, Green Finger
Dill: Dill
Edamame: Butterbeans
Eggplant: Orient Express F1, Rosa Bianca
Garlic: Music, Persian Star, Thai Purple, Silverskin, Inchelium Red
Kale: Beedy's Camden, Dwarf Blue Curled Scotch, Lacinato, Sutherland, Madeley
Kohlrabi: Early White Vienna
Leeks: King Richard
Lettuce, Head: Winter Density, Forellenschluss, Jericho
Lettuce, Salad Mix: High Mowing's Gourmet Mix
Melons: Delicious 51, Hannah's Choice F1
Mustard Greens: Red Mustard
Onions, Red: Red Burgundy
Onions, White: White Sweet Spanish Jumbo, Candy F1
Pac Choi: Mei Qing Choi F1, Shanghai Green Pac Choy
Peas, Snap: Sugar Ann
Peas, Snow: Oregon Giant
Peppers, Anaheim: Numex Joe E Parker
Peppers, Jalapeno: El Jefe Jalapeno
Peppers, Sweet Bell: King of the North, Jupiter, Golden California Wonder
Peppers, Sweet Italian: Stocky Red Roaster, Marconi Red
Potatoes: Kennebec, Russet Burbank, German Butterball, Dark Red Norland, Yukon Gold
Pumpkins: Charisma F1, Jack O' Lantern, Winter Luxury Pie Pumpkin
Radish: Cherry Belle, Pink Beauty, White Beauty
Scallions: Nabechan F1, Deep Purple
Spinach: Tyee F1
Squash, Spaghetti: Spaghetti
Summer Squash, Patty Pan: Y-Star, Sunburst
Summer Squash, Yellow: Saffron
Summer Squash, Zucchini: Black Beauty, Golden Zucchini
Sweet Corn: Bodacious RM F1
Tomatoes, Cherry/Plums: Cherry Roma, Mountain Magic F1, Chocolate Cherry, Esterina F1, Juliet F1, Hagan Little Yellow, Sungella, Gobstopper
Tomatoes, Slicing: German Johnson, Golden Sunray, Amish Paste, Prudence Purple, Cosmonaut Volkov, Defiant PHR F1, Ruby Gold, Big Rainbow, Boxcar Willie, Bobcat, New Girl
Tomatoes, Specialty: Green Zebra, Black Prince
Turnips: Hakurei F1, Purple Top White Globe
Winter Squash: Delicata JS, Sweet Dumpling, Waltham Butternut