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10 New Year’s Resolution that Gardening Facilitates

As 2021 comes to a close, growers across North America are perusing seed catalogs and planning their spring gardens.  Many are learning new gardening and seed saving techniques, and are excited to create more abundance in the new year. For growers and seed savers preparing for 2022, we wanted to share some heartfelt encouragement in […]

Planting for the Harvest Table

The most celebrated meal of the year is a few days away.  If you grow your own food, there is a good chance that the holiday feast will showcase selections from your garden.  For the ultimate planners, perhaps the entire meal (minus turkey) was harvested from your backyard.  My gardening style is more off-the-cuff, but […]

Evening Elixirs of Joy: Grow Your Own Herbal “Tea”

Written by Belle Starr Every evening after we settle in for the night’s activities my husband Bill McDorman puts on a pot of water and goes out to the garden to harvest his latest soothing elixir of goodness. This is a ritual I have been part of for almost two decades and I always take […]

Other Seed Education from our Founders

Urban Farm Podcast – Seed Chats & Classes –

Bill McDorman joins Greg Peterson for a educational chat and answer a few questions
(Podcast episode number)

— 2021 —

  • Where, When, and How to Start Saving Seeds (584)

— 2020 —

  • Current Status of World Seeds, Utility Patents, and Community-Based Seed Systems (552)
  • Difficult Seeds to Save, How to Avoid Cross-Pollination, and Creating a Self-Reinforcing Breeding System (549)
  • Gardening Hacks, Hybrid Seeds, Natural Seed Saving Methods, and Having Fun Making a Mess in the Garden (566)
  • Highlights of Seed Saving Topics from The Year, From Proper Seed Storage to Seed Viability, and Why Plants Thrive Better from Saved Seeds (580)
  • Seed Catalogs, Sourcing Local Seeds, and Building Community (521)
  • Seed Diversity, The Value of Farm Direct Seeds, Building Regional Relationships, and Seed Adaptation (563)
  • Seed Health and Your Health, Resurrecting Ancient Grains, and How Saving Seeds Creates a Healthy Community (571)
  • Seed Hoarding, Providing Seeds to a Community in Times of Need, and More About Seed Resilience  (544)
  • Starting Seeds, Things to Consider, and The Number One Reason Seeds Don’t Sprout (529)
  • Various Seed Exchange Resources, Finding Heirloom Seeds, Supporting Organizations, and How to Connect People to Local Seed Sources (559)

— 2019 —

  • Extreme Seed Saving, How Normal Temperatures Affect Plant Pollination, and Adapting for Temperature  (BE29)
  • Genetic Modification, The Current Advances, and What it Means for our Food, The Truth Behind Scientific Studies, and Hand Pollination (BE31)
  • Growing from Seed, Growing for Seed, and Why Seeds are so Important in Changing Times (BE27)
  • Highlights from The 2019 Seed Summit (BE25)
  • Seed Catalog Season, Favorite Seed Catalogs and How to Recognize the Best Ones, and What the Terminology in the Catalogs Mean (512)
  • Seed School, How to Become a Teacher, and Allowing Plants to go to Seed (BE28)
  • The Art of Saving Your Own Seeds, The Challenges, How to Harvest, Thresh and Clean Seeds on a Small Scale (BE30)
  • The Global Seed Situation, Plant Patents, Advanced Methods for Creating New Plants, Why Seed Saving is More Important Than Ever, and More (BE32)
  • The Importance of Wild Crop Relatives and The Importance of Biodiversity (BE24)
  • Why We Save Seeds, How to Start, How to Store Seeds, Cross-Pollination, and Plant Diversity (BE26)

— 2018 —

  • A Market Explosion of Heritage Grains That Are Changing The Way We Eat and Bake (BE18)
  • Glass Gem Corn and More (BE22)
  • Grain School, Original Peanuts of South Carolina, Inspiring Gardeners, and Broccoli in Alaska (BE14)
  • Patents, Descriptions, Regional Adaptation, and Open Sourced Seeds (BE15)
  • Seed Names, Medicinal Plants, Plant Knowledge, and Landrace Seeds (BE21)
  • Seed Sourcing, Hybrids, Sharing Seeds, and Testing Root Crops (BE16)
  • Sourcing Seeds and Selecting Seeds That Can Help You Feel Confident in Your Selections (BE20)
  • The Seed Paradigm and Seed History (BE23)
  • Why Don’t We Always Know Where Our Seeds Come From (BE19)
  • Wild Seeds, Native Seeds, Noxious Weeds, and More (BE17)

— 2017 —

  • An In Depth Discourse on Grains and Corns, An Ancient Potato, Grain Trials, and Becoming a Seed Steward (BE13)
  • Motivational Quotes, Adjusting for New Weather Norms, and Coming Back from Gardening Disasters (BE11)
  • Running a Seed Business: Growing Seeds, Germination, Testing & Maintaining Seeds  (BE5)
  • Seed Saving Principles, Intellectual Property Rights, Seed Saving Policy, and History (BE9)
  • Seed School Online, de-hybridization, seed patents, and more (BE2)
  • Seed School Teacher Training, Seed Saving Principles List, Disaster Planning, and Breeding Program Preparation (BE7)