Banatka wheat with a dense understory of Dutch white clover, and no weeds. Hand harvesting Banatka wheat. Temporary storage in a drying cart. Threshing uses a modified MacKissic chipper-shredder. By Ben Hoffman After struggling for 10 years trying to grow and process cereal grains, I joined forces with an equally frustrated Bob Mowdy. We worked
Drawing by Toki Oshima By Joyce White My garden area in Stoneham’s stony foothills is ringed with trees, mostly ash and maple, that have grown very tall during the 21 years I’ve lived here. Their roots have grown very long, too, reaching beneath the soil of the whole garden area. Because of those roots and
‘Chateau Rose’ tomatoes. English photo A display of seed saving in the Exhibition Hall at the Common Ground Country Fair. Amy LeBlanc photo By Jean English Many garden seeds can be collected now and stored for planting in spring. Echinacea seeds are drying on their seed heads – at least those that the goldfinches aren’t
Ramps take advantage of the early spring sunlight to grow and store reserves in the root system before forest trees leaf out. Three-year-old ramp seedlings in seed flats. By Heather McCargo Ramps are a delicious wild edible food beloved by chefs and locavores. Also known as wild leeks (Allium tricoccum), they are a member of
The Svalbard Global Seed Vault in Norway. Photo by Miksu on Wikipedia Hundreds of community members exchange seeds and scionwood at MOFGA each April. English photo The beginning of MOFGA’s new seed library. English photo By Will Bonsall The whole topic of biodiversity and, in particular, our horticultural genetic heritage – heirloom seeds – has
Organic Seed Alliance Seed Internship Program Micaela Colley, executive director of Organic Seed Alliance, spoke of seeds as a “public, natural resource that we all know demands careful stewardship.” Photo courtesy of OSA The eighth Organic Seed Growers Conference was convened in February 2016 by Organic Seed Alliance (OSA) in Corvallis, Oregon. Micaela Colley, executive
Oil being expressed from black oil sunflower seeds in a Piteba press. Photos by Anita Budhraja. After the oil has been pressed and the sediment and pigment allowed to settle for hours, the product is decanted, giving finished, ready-to-use oil. By Will Bonsall Those of us who seek to be more self-reliant are often content
‘Gleisdorfer’, one of the oilseed pumpkins Bonsall trialed last summer. Photo by Will Bonsall. By Will Bonsall We usually class pumpkins along with other succulent vegetables; however a particular type of pumpkin is much more nutrient-dense, in that it is an oilseed, like sunflowers, sesame and peanuts. For centuries, Eastern European farmers have raise pumpkins
Drawing by Toki Oshima By Roberta Bailey When we plant a seed, we create a direct link between our ancestral past and our potential future. The seed we plant has traveled around the world, from farmer to farmer, from native populations to traders and conquerors to royalty and eventually back to farmers. The carrot seed
By Roberta Bailey Seed saving is rapidly becoming a national craze, hot on the heels of football and baseball. Well, not quite, but it is gaining popularity. It’s making the newspapers, and when it gets its own section, I’m convinced that it will have a place before the sports section. I’ve stated it before but
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