Our Seeds Have Arrived

Months I pour over seed catalogs, devouring the succulent descriptions of each variety, drooling over colorful pictures, selecting just the right ones for our garden, for us to grow and share with others.  Heirloom is the keyword when selecting seeds for our family.  The word itself paints an antique picture of a small family farm saving enough seeds for the next year and for sharing with neighbors.  A long history seems to come enclosed in each individual packet.  Heirloom seeds are saved the old way, from the best of that years harvest, saving and passing on those desirable traits to the next generation of seeds. 

Sadly, seeds don't all come this way, coorporations have gotten their hands in the seed business. Creating hybrids and genetically modifying seeds.  Hybrids are a product of a forced crossing of two plants for a one-time off spring, kind of like mules.  A donkey crossed with a horse, yes they can mate but are they suppose to?  The mule is their sterile off-spring, never being able to reproduce one of its own kind.  Now picture the repercussions of this with seeds?  The finale, you'll have to purchase seeds every year.  Not a big deal for you since there are stores a plenty that come spring time are full of nice little packets of seeds for cheap .99, but what about other people in other places that rely on the ability to save and use seeds from their own crops?  Now they too are reliant on a consumer based system that requires money for seeds.  Someones wallet is getting full from this idea, while others' tummies go empty.  Good idea?  Guess you'll have to answer that one. 

Then there are the GMO's, or genetically modified crops.  Since salmon live in cold temperatures and thrive, why not cross their genes with say a tomato so that you can grow them in colder climates.  Take this all to a laboratory and it is possible, but like hybrids they too cannot reproduce, leaving you once again subject to purchasing seeds.

Simple explanations for a complex monster.  As for our farm, heirloom sound as comfortable as being wrapped up in a homemade quilt and having the smell of fresh apple pie wafting through the house.  Seeds the way nature intended, thank you!  (yes, I do enjoy our nice homemade quilts, six of them).  Our catalog of choice:  Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds can be found on-line at rareseeds.com