Seed Saving Will Get You Bigger Yields, Tastier Veggies, and More Resilient Plants That Thrive
You can develop your own varieties and never have to buy seeds or starts again. Plus, you can do it in your backyard garden.
Master Seed Saver Stephen Scott will show you step-by-step what you need to know to save quality seeds that your great, great grand children will remember you by.
You can do it! Even if you are just a beginner with nothing but a dream.
Hi,
My name is Marjory Wildcraft
Our food system is built on thousands of years of home gardeners and small farmers who loved playing with plants and developing new varieties.
They did it both for fun, and for deeply practical reasons. They wanted tomatoes that were bigger and fruited earlier. They wanted lettuce that was sweet and delicate. They wanted squashes that would store well into March or April. They wanted peas that could survive in the frigid north, or corn that could grow well in drought. They wanted kale that was more nutritious. They wanted garlic that had greater power to heal.
And you know what? Almost all of our favorite modern vegetable varieties come from these older backyard gardeners.
There was nothing that special about these people. They were ordinary folks. It might have been your uncle Jack, or your great grandmother Teresa.
The lineages of folks who helped develop the heirloom seeds we have today are just like you and me.
Except for one big difference; they had control over their food supply.
Why are huge chemical and pharmaceutical companies taking over the global seed market?
Did you know that over the last few decades, huge multi-national companies have been buying up small seed companies?
It’s called “Consolidation”.
We are now to the point where 75% of the worlds vegetable seed market is controlled by just five large multi-national corporations. Monsanto, DuPont, Syngenta, Dow… (Notice that these are primarily chemical or pharmaceutical companies.)
These companies are responsible to their shareholders and they focus on financial gain. They produce seed varieties whose breeding lines are trade secrets and whose seed will not come true to type.
The giant corporations do not focus on local varieties that have greater nutrition, better taste, or are better suited to homesteaders.
You might ask yourself, why are these big chemical or pharmaceutical companies taking over the global seed market?
Controlling seeds is key to control of the supply of food and medicine.
"The big chemical and seed companies are working diligently to monopolize the food system at the expense of consumers, farmers and smaller seed companies" says Philip H. Howard, an associate professor at Michigan State University and an expert on industry consolidation.
You don’t need to depend on industry watch dogs though, Monsanto, the largest player in the global seed market will tell you exactly what they are up to. Robert Fraley, co-president of Monsanto's agricultural sector has been quoted as saying “What you are seeing is not just a consolidation of seed companies, it’s really a consolidation of the entire food chain. —“
More Than 93% Of Heirloom Seed Varieties Are Now Extinct
As we've come to depend on a handful of commercial varieties of fruits and vegetables, thousands of heirloom varieties have disappeared.
“Because of consolidation and concentration in the seed industry, there has been loss of variety and loss of heirloom varieties,” says to Matthew Dillon, a founder of the Organic Seed Alliance of Port Townsend.
It's hard to know exactly how many have been lost over the past century, but a study conducted in 1983 by the Rural Advancement Foundation International gives us an idea of how bad the problem is. It compared USDA listings of seed varieties sold by commercial U.S. seed houses in 1903 with those in the U.S. National Seed Storage Laboratory in 1983. The survey found that about 93% percent of the varieties had gone extinct.
And many of our present varieties have only one commercial source. If they are dropped, they will disappear and you won’t be able to get them—unless you save seed.
Some things are too important to allow Giant corporations to do for you.
You Are Here To Make A Difference, And You Are Needed
If we don’t have crop diversity, we don’t have food security.
It’s that simple.
We need to re-build the vast network of people who save seed and develop varieties on the local and regional scale.
You are vitally important. Even tiny contributions make a big difference. In fact a majority of home gardeners who are save seeds only focus on two or three varieties – and cumulatively it makes a big difference!
For example my father-in-law “Pops” only saves seeds from a couple of plants. One is a porter tomato, which produces really well in the Texas summer heat, and another is a special okra that produces pods that stay tender for a long time.
Pops gave me some of the porter seeds and now I grow them. My kids aren't old enough to be interested in seed saving yet (teenagers... sigh), but I'll pass the seeds on when the kids are ready. And long after Pops is gone (hopefully not anytime soon!) we will still remember him with every summer salad.
Another example is Kent and Diane Ott Whealy who started their collection when Diane's terminally-ill grandfather gave them the seeds of two garden plants; Grandpa Ott's morning glory and German Pink tomato. Grandpa Ott's parents brought the seeds from Bavaria when they immigrated to St. Lucas, Iowa in the 1870s.
Kent and Diane went on from there to create a whole Seed Saving organization (Kent and Diane are featured in our free list of recommended seed companies which I’ll get to you in a minute).
As I said, every contribution helps!
What family stories and precious heirlooms could you create and pass on?
But you don’t have to wait for future generations to get tremendous benefits from saving seeds.
Another Advantage Is Amazingly Delicious Food
You already know that growing your own food is infinitely more delicious than anything at a grocery store.
Now you can take this to the next level – you can specifically select plants that have astonishingly good taste. Juicier, sweeter, more tender, beautiful color, or more flavor. Whatever characteristics you desire, you can select for and develop. It’s how we got all the varieties we have now – people just like you who selected and developed amazing fruits and vegetables.
Have you ever eaten purple potatoes? How about yellow carrots? Have you ever tried red corn?
There are still many varieties of delicious amazing vegetables that you will never see for sale as a start in your local nursery. The only way you can get these is to grow them yourself.
You Can Develop Resilient Plants That Withstand Climate Changes
Gardeners and farmers in our network from around the world are reporting unusual weather patterns.
Regardless of the cause, the fact is our climate is undergoing rapid change.
You need varieties of plants that are adapted to your region, and that are capable of handling the changes that are being thrown at us.
You won’t get that kind of resiliency from generic seeds cranked out by multi-national companies.
One benefit of saving your own seed is you’ll be developing plants that are keenly adapted to your region.
Over time, your garden will become more and more resilient and reliable for food production.
You’ll start to find that your plants are doing well, while your neighbors who aren’t saving seeds are having trouble.
And you will stumble across another big benefit of saving seeds.
Strong, locally adapted seeds are extremely valuable gifts, barter items, or even the source of a side income.
In addition to saving money (since you won’t be needing to buy seeds), you could create a small side income from the seeds you save. Most plants are hugely prolific with their seed production. So you are bound to have extra.
These make fantastic gifts for members of your family and community.
They are also excellent items for bartering or trade.
When word gets around that you’ve got seeds for plants that produced during last summer’s heat wave…. Or during the great flood… Or that handled those bitter cold temps just fine… Well, your seed will be worth even more. Gardeners and farmers in our network from around the world are reporting unusual weather patterns.
Regardless of the cause, the fact is our climate is undergoing rapid change.
You need varieties of plants that are adapted to your region, and that are capable of handling the changes that are being thrown at us.
You won’t get that kind of resiliency from generic seeds cranked out by multi-national companies.
One benefit of saving your own seed is you’ll be developing plants that are keenly adapted to your region.
Over time, your garden will become more and more resilient and reliable for food production.
You’ll start to find that your plants are doing well, while your neighbors who aren’t saving seeds are having trouble.
And you will stumble across another big benefit of saving seeds.
Who Is Stephen Scott?
