By Holli Cederholm Gone are the days when every farmer saved their own seed to replant the following season. Gone, too, are the accompanying practices of selecting seed to meet the needs of a particular farm. Most growers have swapped the annual ritual of harvesting their own seed — and of perhaps pooling that seed
Growing your own medicine from seed is an opportunity to enter into deep relationship with our many plant allies. Whether annual or perennial, medicinal herbs create beauty, pollinator habitat, and sacred spaces within a garden while also empowering us to holistically support our health and wellness with the use of these healing plants. Many medicinal
By Holli Cederholm Which came first: the story or the seed? Bonnetta Adeeb, founder of the Ujamaa Cooperative Farming Alliance, says the two are intimately linked. So much so that when the collective, which is focused on supporting Black, Indigenous and people of color (BIPOC) growers, started to sell seeds as a fundraiser, they gathered
By Tim King Every seed in every packet that a seed company ships to a gardener or farmer is throbbing with biological vitality and a barely fathomable web of stories and culture. Take, for instance, the beautiful open-pollinated Swiss chard, called Heart of Gold, that Johnny’s Selected Seeds released in late 2022. The catalog describes
By Caleb Goossen, Ph.D., MOFGA Crop Specialist With gardens put to bed for the winter, now is the time when gardeners reflect on the prior season and begin planning for the next. For many, it is the time to evaluate seed supply, and order seeds for the coming year. This is also a great time
By Sonja Heyck-Merlin In Denver, Colorado, Steve Farr was a full-time computer systems engineer at a university and later at a consulting firm. “Being gone 10 to 12 hours a day, I felt like I hardly knew my children,” he says. “I wanted to do something different, and my wife Kari and I came to
If you’re new to growing vegetables or just need a refresher, here’s a basic vegetable planting calendar to get you started. We’ve also included a few herbs that are often grown similarly to vegetables. The dates are approximate — and based on USDA Plant Hardiness zone 5 — and will vary depending on your location,
by Eric Sideman, PhDMOFGA’s Organic Crop Specialist Emeritus Farmers developed soil-less mixes for use in containers for seedlings because field soil does not work well. Soil alone is heavy and poorly aerated. It tends to become waterlogged and sticky when wet. Then it shrinks when it dries, pulls away from the container edges and turns
Photo 1. Photo 2. June 1, 2020 By Jonathan Mitschele Photos by the author The older plaster walls in my 1850s farmhouse were made by spreading wet plaster on a framework of thin wood strips, or laths. I don’t know what folks shopping at Home Depot or the like buy lath for today,
Downy mildew on winter spinach in a high tunnel. Photo by Eric Sideman By Caleb Goossen, Ph.D. Winter-grown greens have increased dramatically in popularity, and subsequently in ubiquity, over the past couple of decades. We are miles beyond the era of my grandmother’s childhood in northern Vermont, where the “hungry period” set in during the end of winter
