Tag: Seeds

Seed Saving

Peppers are among the easiest of crops from which to save seed. Just be sure the fruit is mature, as is this ‘Klari Baby Cheese’ pepper. English photo. By Roberta Bailey When people first visit my farm, many are surprised by how little space it takes to grow seed crops. On the home scale it

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Seed Growing

Epigram to an Aroostook Potatoman By Nicolas Lindholm Seed saving has become a popular pastime and passion for many gardeners and farmers, primarily on a limited or experimental basis, and usually just for their own use. Yet an increasing number of small-scale, diversified farms are growing and marketing vegetable, flower and herb seeds as a

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Cucurbit Seed

By Nicolas Lindholm This is the second of five articles covering some of the most commonly produced and potentially profitable seed crops being grown by small-scale organic and biodynamic farmers in the Northeast. Supported primarily through a grant from the Maine Dept. of Agriculture, I studied almost 30 farms in New England and New York,

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Saving Seed: An Introduction

Roberta Bailey collecting seed from ‘Kniola’s Purple’ morning glory. Rob Lemire photo. By Roberta Bailey Have you noticed that you can’t buy ‘Lutz’ beet seed anymore? ‘Lutz’ was the victim of a few seed company mergers and a lack of attention in the seed industry to low-profit, open-pollinated varieties. A few companies listed it, but

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Tomato Seeds

By Nicolas Lindholm Supported primarily through a grant from the Maine Dept. of Agriculture, this article is the first of five covering some of the most commonly produced and potentially most profitable seed crops being grown by small-scale organic and biodynamic farmers in the Northeast. The information comes from almost 30 farms in New England

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Lettuce Seed

By Nicolas Lindholm Supported primarily through a grant from the Maine Dept. of Agriculture, this is the third of five articles covering some of the most com­monly produced and potentially profitable seed crops being grown by small-scale organic and biodynamic farmers in the Northeast. As co-founder and Executive Director of the Maine Seed Saving Network,

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Flower Seeds

By Nicolas Lindholm Supported primarily through a grant from the Maine Dept. of Agriculture, this is the fifth in a series of five articles covering some of the most commonly produced and potentially most profitable seed crops currently being grown by small-scale organic and biodynamic farmers in the Northeast. As cofounder and Executive Director of

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Germination Testing

Sue Szwed drawing By Roberta Bailey Behind every packet of seed is an individual story and an entire history. The story of the seed ranges from an heirloom passed from generation to generation to the hybrid bred for perfect uniformity and ripening. The history of the seed industry is an interwoven tale of small, local

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Seeds

2009 Farmer-to-Farmer Conference Presentation by Jodi Lew-Smith and Jim Gerritsen A crop of chives grown for seed at High Mowing Organic Seeds in Vermont. Photo by Heather Jerrett. By Jean English Finding reliable sources of quality organic seed continues to challenge farmers, and market development for organic seed has been slower than anticipated. At the

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Restoring Our Seed

Toki Oshima drawing By CR Lawn and Eli Kaufman “We are facing the germination of something larger than we can imagine. Things are falling in place in our favor.” – Evaluation by a conference attendee “Seed is the missing link in sustainable agriculture. We need seeds that are truly adapted to the organic culture of

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