Landrace seeds from Joseph Lofthouse, USA

I post a lot of photos to permies of beautiful vegetables, grown in subsistence conditions without fertilizers, poisons, compost, mulch, plastic sheeting, and with minimal weeding. Wishing there was a way to transmit taste, smell, and flavor over the internet!

I sell the seeds from many of them for a few months per year: January through April. Buy my seeds, and you could be trialing my varieties in your garden next growing season. Then you could experience the tastes and smells for yourself. You'd know why I get a silly grin on my face while talking about muskmelons, or why I could eat squash for every meal. Mmm. Mmm. Mmm!

My seeds are landraces. That means they are genetically diverse, and have been selected to grow great on my farm, and meet the social needs of my community. Me and my community like robust tastes and flavors in our food. We like lots of color which may be indicative of higher nutritional levels. We like lots of different kinds of colors because they are beautiful, and because each color may represent a different micro-nutrient.  

My varieties are highly adapted to my location, so when they go elsewhere, they may or may not do well. That happens whenever seed is grown by a seed company. Conditions on the farm that grows the seed aren't the same as where they get  planted. I acknowledge that right up front. My varieties are also genetically diverse, and typically promiscuously pollinated, so some family type or other may grow well wherever they are planted. A couple of years of seed saving in the new location, and they may feel right at home.

My weather selects for plants that thrive in a short growing season with cold radiant cooled night. What that translates to in warmer climates, is that my plants burst out of the ground, grow vigorously and quickly, produce a crop, and then perish in plenty of time to plant a second crop. A guy that grows my seed in a warmer climate says that the quicker a crop can be harvested, the less risk there is that flood, wind, hail, bugs, animals, or disease will destroy the crop.

My current seed list is at: http://garden.lofthouse.com/seed-list.phtml

Lofthouse-Oliverson Muskmelon


My first breeding project, and still my favorite was cantaloupes. I gathered seeds from perhaps 60 varieties of cantaloupes and planted them together in a field. Many varieties died young. Many grew poorly and didn't produce fruits. A few did marginal and produced seeds. I saved the seeds and replanted. About the third year, I was harvesting a hundred pounds per picking.

The first couple years, the only selection criteria for the cantaloupes was, "Must produce viable seeds, no matter how immature". Once the cantaloupes were reliably producing mature seeds and ripe fruits, then the selection criteria changed to must taste and smell great. For years I have been tasting every fruit before saving seeds. The fruits must be sweet as can be, and smelly as anything. I realized after a few years, that I was calling my cantaloupes by the wrong name. They should be called muskmelons! They bear little resemblance the hard, bland "cantaloupe" sold by stores. So these days i only take muskmelons to the farmer's market. They have a loyal following of people who crave the glorious taste and wonderful smell. One day, I put a couple baskets of muskmelons in the cab of the truck with me. That was a fragrant ride!

And, they actually grow in my cold mountain valley. One lady told me that she's been trying for years to grow muskmelons here in the valley, and mine was the first ripe fruit she ever harvested. If I accomplished anything with my farming, that's about as nice a compliment as I can imagine getting.

While developing this variety, I collaborated closely with another grower in my valley. We each grew muskmelons, and swapped seeds with each other for a number of years.  Each of us contributed our last name to the variety.

This is what a typical variety of cantaloupe looks like when grown in my garden, if it even survives this long.


This is what my variety looks like when planted and photographed on the same day, growing a few feet away.


100 pounds of melons per week!


Mmm. Mmm. Mmm.

Lofthouse-Astronomy Sweet Corn


My introduction to landrace growing came with a packet of Astronomy Domine Sweet Corn seed from a landrace developed by Alan Bishop of Pekin Indiana. It is a multi-colored sweet corn. He combined hundreds of varieties of sweet corn into a single population. I fell in love with the colors, and the different shapes of cobs, and the colorful silks, and that every plant grew differently from any other.

I have been growing it ever since. After many years, the genetics of the population have shifted to be more adapted to my farm, so I call it Lofthouse-Astronomy now to distinguish it from other populations. For example, my population is more colorful than the original, and about 10 days earlier. My population is more resistant to pheasants and small mammals.

Lofthouse-Astronomy is old fashioned sweet corn, therefore, it germinates very reliably in cold spring weather. Kernels are chewy, and not sickly sweet. Flavor is robust, and variable due to different colored kernels contributing different flavors to each bite. Mmm. Mmm. Mmm. Adding a hint of vinegar to the cooking water really helps to brighten the colors on the table.

Loving the colors of the cobs.




Loving the diversity of the tassels.

You'll be receiving an order from me again soon.  

Interspecies Tomato Hybrids


The previous two varieties that I showcased have been growing on my farm for 8 and 9 years. I'm also selling seeds from experimental varieties that are brand new. I am releasing seeds of inter-species crosses which are part of my beautifully promiscuous tomato project. I am doing so, in hopes that many plant breeders and home gardeners will join me in selecting for new varieties of tomatoes that thrive across a wide range of conditions. I suspect that if I started culling heavily for conditions that are perfect for my farm, than I would throw away many great traits that might be useful in other gardens. Therefore, the more I share this early on, the more likely we are to find something great.  

With this population, I am particularly hoping that people who experience severe late-blight will grow the seeds, and discover varieties that are resistant to late blight.

The genetics of this "variety" are all over the place. Fruit size might be anywhere from 1/4 ounce to 8 ounces. Smaller sizes expected the first few generations. Color might be red, yellow, pink, green, white, purple, etc. The fruits will probably be striped while green. Taste could be anything from a spitter to sweet and fruity when very ripe. Plants might be any shape, or size from dwarfs to monsters. Leaf shape is all over the place: rugose, potato-leaved, fern-like, serrated, habrochaites-like, and lots of intermediate types. This is the generation that is the most fun to work with as a plant breeder.

Part of the Beautifully Promiscuous Tomatoes project:


One of my selection criteria is for huge flowers. Too bad they aren't all like this!

I will look at incoming coins for you. I raise some things that self sow here in southern De bitter melon and an African flower/ herb called wild dagga  that self sows . I also have a self sowing jobs tears and tulsi (sacred basil ) If you are interested I might like to swap for perhaps corn since I have played with that over the years or some kales or Mochata squash .I have grown here 40 years no chems and op seeds mostly. Enjoy the seasons! Sharon Carson

I've really enjoyed growing Joseph's seeds in 2017. I grew Joseph's sweet corn, flour corn, 4 kinds of squash, cucumbers, watermelons, muskmelons, tobacco, dahlias, wheat, onions, garbanzos, favas, lentils, tomatoes, wild tomatoes, tomatillos, ground cherries, rye, potatoes, and peas. My garden while normally interesting was even more so this year. If I had an existing variety of a crop I let them mix freely with Joseph's I saved seed from most crops and plan to grow them again in 2018. I highly recommend Joseph's work.

Clary Sage (chia)


I consider this to be the most important breeding project I am working on for my own health. The standard american diet is way over-supplied with Omega-6 oils compared to Omega-3 oils. Therefore, I have made growing Omega 3 oils a high priority on my farm, and I've stopped eating oils from corn, soy, cotton, and canola. Clary Sage is closely related to common chia, and is used similarly in the kitchen. It supplies Omega-3 oils in rich abundance.  I'm working with flax, and 3 species of salvia as Omega 3 oilseeds. Clary sage has been the most successful. To harvest, I cut the plants off just above ground level. Pile them on a tarp to finish drying. Beat them with a stick. Then winnow.

I recommend planting clary sage is late summer or early fall. The plants are perennial in my garden. If spring planted, they flower the second year.

Question about the Lofthouse-Astronomy corn- when left to mature and dry, does it tend to produce a good dent or flint corn, for cornmeal, hominy, or such?  I'm amazed and grateful for your landrace efforts, especially that you keep the lines diverse and not inbred, a real gift to other long-term breeders and growers.  Thank you!

Trish Dallas wrote:Question about the Lofthouse-Astronomy corn- when left to mature and dry, does it tend to produce a good dent or flint corn, for cornmeal, hominy, or such?  

Lofthouse-Astronomy is a sweet corn, so it doesn't dry to dent, flour, or flint. It doesn't have enough starch in it to be good for cornmeal, pancakes, breads, etc. It is a fabulous parching corn. Great chicken food. I've put on my to-do list to test is as hominy.

As a side note: I see varieties of corn sold as "parching" corn. If that is something that appeals to you, I recommend parching one of those varieties side by side with a sweet corn. When I did that, I forever abandoned the idea of parching anything other than sweet corn.

I have added a note to my April calendar to remind me to order from you.  I'm nervous to order much earlier because I don't want the seeds to freeze in transport.

I noticed you were looking for hazel nuts . Have you thought about Walnuts ?

Glad to see the lovely offerings, I'll be sure to order from you this season, so I'm eager for January when I know the list will be complete. In the meantime, my question is are there any recommendations you have from your seed stocks that would be fun to use in starting off landrace efforts in Zone 8b?

Hi Joseph, what species of kale is your hardy offering?  Also, do you have a favorite kind of silver dime or no preference (I've always loved dimes for some reason)?

Thank you so much!

Another quick question....by any chance have you managed to get any swiss chard to overwinter for you?  I'm on the hunt for hardy chard....better yet perennial hardy chard, but biennial hardy is good.

Joseph, I understand your desire for hard currency. But I will be honest it is just difficult for me to get silver dimes. Is there a backdoor way of doing this like paypal to a neighbor of yours who can make you whole? I would love to get some of your genetics to mix with Southern Exposure stuff.

Tj Jefferson wrote:Joseph, I understand your desire for hard currency. But I will be honest it is just difficult for me to get silver dimes. Is there a backdoor way of doing this like paypal to a neighbor of yours who can make you whole? I would love to get some of your genetics to mix with Southern Exposure stuff.

From Joseph's website, I read the following: "Pricing is one silver dime, dated 1964 or earlier, per packet of seeds, or $5 paper currency."  

I took that to mean that current cash is an acceptable form of payment. Am I wrong in that? I hope not because that is how I was planning to pay.

Yep Joseph accepts silver dimes or $5 modern cash for a packet. This gave me pause for a bit last winter. You can get the dimes on eBay.

Angelica Harris wrote:Glad to see the lovely offerings, I'll be sure to order from you this season, so I'm eager for January when I know the list will be complete. In the meantime, my question is are there any recommendations you have from your seed stocks that would be fun to use in starting off landrace efforts in Zone 8b?

Just speaking as a fellow customer. What I do with Joseph's seeds in regards to starting or enhancing my own landrace breeding projects is if I already have a variety of the species that works for me I plant it with Josephs and allow them to cross. If you find your most local seed company they may have varieties that do well in your area- if you wish to turn those varieties into landraces, crossing them with Joseph's should accomplish that! Most of Joseph's varieties should do well in Zone 8b in fact there are a few reasons why you might want them. Short season crops are resilient they may allow you to get a crop harvested before heat, drought, hail, insects, or disease pressures make it difficult to do so with a longer season variety.

Sorry that I've been gone for a week and a half and didn't respond. Thanks to those that know my ways for answering questions.

I had to specify "paper currency" on my web site, because people would send me checks, thinking that they are cash. I choose to not use digital money in my own life because I believe that meme to be flawed, therefore, I can't ask a friend to cash a check for me, nor to accept paypal in my behalf, because that would supporting a system that I think is wrong.  I want my seeds to be hard to get, so that it limits the number of requests that I receive. I'm a farmer sharing my children with the world. I've lived under a vow of poverty for about 18 years. I'm not running a seed company, nor trying to make money.

I don't have a preference on what style of dime... Silver is silver. Mercury dimes seem fancy to me.

I have been saving seeds from an overwintering variety of swiss chard. I don't currently have enough seeds for sharing, but it's on my list of things to grow in a couple years.

My kale is  Brassica oleracea. I'll get that added to seed catalog.

I am working on a walnut breeding program that has been ongoing for generations in my valley, so any nuts that I imported from other places would likely be inferior to the locally-adapted stain that I'm already growing.

For what it's worth, I freeze seeds as part of the cleaning process. Then I take them out of the freezer for storage and germination testing. I want to make sure that I'm not sharing seed-born insect propagules.

Thank you Joseph.  I have my fancy Morgan dimes ready to go for when I get my order out :)  I'm really excited to try several of your plants.  I really appreciate the work you're doing.  Very excited about your hardy chard and can't wait until that one is ready too!

This might be the coolest thread I've read in a long time! Very inspirational Joseph! Keep up your efforts!

Big Hill Tomato


The first tomato variety that I bred was Big Hill. It was my first attempt at making a promiscuously pollinating tomato. It originated as a deliberate manual pollination between my decades long favorite tasting tomato, Hillbilly,  and Jagodka, which was the winner of my frost/cold tolerance trials and my favorite market tomato (due to productivity.)

Jagodka is typically the earliest tomato to bear fruit in my garden, and ripens it's fruits long before fall. It is determinate, therefore tends to ripen fruit early. Fruit size is 2 to 3 ounces, so easier to pick than cherry tomatoes. Even though Jagodka has closed industrialized flowers, it is highly attractive to bumblebees. I presume that's because it sheds lots of pollen.

Hillbilly is a large-fruited indeterminate beefsteak tomato. The vines keeps getting longer the whole growing season. It has flowers that are wide open, and thus more susceptible to cross pollination. It is very long season for my garden, so typically the fruits are harvested green a day or so before fall frosts are expected. (I originally started growing it in a much warmer climate.)

The project that led to the creation of Big Hill was the first time I attempted season shifting on a breeding project. I grew the original hybrid indoors over the winter and was thus able to get second generation  seeds before spring. The second generation is where the most diversity shows up in a breeding project. I planted the second generation in the spring, and got lots of different varieties of tomatoes. For example, here is the earliest harvest from that generation. In my records, I called this project Hx, so the fruits carry that label.

Earliest Harvest: Project Hx.


Big Hill is descended from the fruits labeled H9. Big hill contains a whole series of recessive traits that combined perfectly to meet the goals of this breeding project. It was the only plant that exhibited all of the traits that I was looking for in the offspring.

Here's the traits I was looking for:

Early

Determinate

Big Fruits

Bicolor fruits

Great taste

High productivity

Wide open flowers, that are attractive to bumblebees

Big Hill has about a 10% natural cross pollination rate in my garden. That's a huge step in the desired direction. Eventually I want that to be 100% out-crossing, so I am using Big Hill as a parent in other projects.

Big Hill: Exerted stigma makes it much more susceptible to cross pollination.


One of the siblings of Big Hill was also very attractive to me:

YTD Harvest: Project Hx.


Each column in this photo represents the YTD harvest from one plant. Big Hill is in the 5th column from the left, and has 5 large fruits in it. The column with 8 smaller fruits was called Hx13 in my notes. It was indeterminate, and highly productive. The fruits were red, so not my favorite tasting. The flowers are industrialized. So in other words it didn't meet any of the goals of the breeding project, but it was really productive, so I wanted to study it more. The next year I planted out a bunch of seeds from it.

Hx-13 Clade:


Again, each column represents the YTD harvest of one plant. I am really liking the taste of the yellow tomatoes, and some of the yellows are determinate, so next growing season, I am hoping to release a new variety of about 3 ounce bicolor red/yellow tomatoes that are determinate, super early, and fabulous tasting. Tentative name for it is Orange Hill.

Big Hill Tomato.


 

Maximoss Winter Squash


Some of my varieties are stable and consistent. Others are unstable, and inconsistent, for example Maximoss Squash, which is recently descended from an inter-species hybrid between maxima and moschata squash. It's a new project for me. Some of the plants are male-sterile, and thus don't produce male flowers, so I recommend that they be grown near a maxima and/or moschata pollinator. Due to the rearranging genetics, germination averages about 50%. I don't typically release seeds with such low germination, but this is experimental seed, and well worth the risk.

I am releasing Maximoss early in the breeding cycle, because I think that there is a lot of value in getting seed like this into as many hands as possible. People will select for things that I never would have thought to select for. Traits that I might eliminate in my garden may be just the thing that someone else is looking for. I want to switch traits between species, for example, what if someone finds a squash that has the glorious maxima taste that grows on a plant with the squash bug resistance of moschata squash? That would be really clever. What if someone finds a squash that combines the taste of a maxima with the long-necked traits of moschata? Or how about a long-keeping squash with the flavor of maxima? Hmmm. Can you tell that I am really impressed with the flavor of maxima squash?

Because of how I grew this seed, there is even a possibility that pepo or argyrosperma genetics got into the mix. Wow! The possibilities: Kobocha squash on bush plants? Summer squash that make excellent winter squash? Zucchini that are not bothered by squash bugs? And no telling what sorts of disease resistance might show up.

Anyway, I expect that a number of people that grow this out during the coming season will discover great new varieties, and ways to grow squash. That's what I do best: Create novelty. Then I pass that novelty on to others who select something more stable and consistent from among the diversity.

For those who do not have facebook, i have ripped the audio of Joseph's latest talk:

https://soundcloud.com/andrew-barney-745137400/food-security-through-common-sense-and-traditional-methods

I give this seed source 10 out of 10 acorns!

I received some of his carrot seeds this year, and even though my climate is almost opposite to his, the carrot seeds are performing better than any the ones that are supposed to be suited to my area. They are two to three times bigger, and germinating better, than the other carrot seeds I planted a row away.

My son is super excited about his "desert carrots" and here's a picture of him planting them!

I give this seed source 10 out of 10 acorns.

I ordered a few types of seeds last year and they arrived promptly, and the ones we planted (Moschata squash) grew well.

I give this seed source 10 out of 10 acorns.

I'm a huge fan of Joseph's landrace plant breeding.  I love the idea of increasing genetic diversity (instead of just attempting to maintain it like we do with heritage cultivars) and power of developing one's own locally adapted varieties.  

Everything I've grown from this seed source has been absolutely brilliant.  The runner beans especially delicious and the tomatoes!  Oh wow.  Tomatoes that can survive in six months of zero rainfall or irrigation AND produce a harvest.  That was completely unexpected.  When I finished planting the tomatoes I planted the runt plants in the neglected corner of the garden and expected them to ... well, I don't know what I expected.  I kind of forgot about them.  But then, a shiny red beacon drew my attention back to them and excitement!  Tomatoes!  delicious.

When we grow carrots, if they grow at all, they come out tiny, usually no bigger than my pinkie, and often smaller.

This year, we got some carrot seeds from Joseph (we call them our desert carrots.)

A few days back, we harvested one of the carrots. It was HUGE. And yellow. And sweet. With a great crunch and no hard center. It was AMAZING.

Look. At. This. Carrot!

It was seriously the best carrot I've ever eaten. My son ate almost the whole thing. He gave me the small top that was left, and I gnawed everything I could off of it. Amazing. Thank you, Joseph!!!

Joseph Lofthouse wrote:Interspecies Tomato Hybrids

(source)

The previous two varieties that I showcased have been growing on my farm for 8 and 9 years. I'm also selling seeds from experimental varieties that are brand new. I am releasing seeds of inter-species crosses which are part of my beautifully promiscuous tomato project. I am doing so, in hopes that many plant breeders and home gardeners will join me in selecting for new varieties of tomatoes that thrive across a wide range of conditions. I suspect that if I started culling heavily for conditions that are perfect for my farm, than I would throw away many great traits that might be useful in other gardens. Therefore, the more I share this early on, the more likely we are to find something great.  

With this population, I am particularly hoping that people who experience severe late-blight will grow the seeds, and discover varieties that are resistant to late blight.

The genetics of this "variety" are all over the place. Fruit size might be anywhere from 1/4 ounce to 8 ounces. Smaller sizes expected the first few generations. Color might be red, yellow, pink, green, white, purple, etc. The fruits will probably be striped while green. Taste could be anything from a spitter to sweet and fruity when very ripe. Plants might be any shape, or size from dwarfs to monsters. Leaf shape is all over the place: rugose, potato-leaved, fern-like, serrated, habrochaites-like, and lots of intermediate types. This is the generation that is the most fun to work with as a plant breeder.

Part of the Beautifully Promiscuous Tomatoes project:

One of my selection criteria is for huge flowers. Too bad they aren't all like this!

Great photos Joseph!

How has your [Big Hill x wild tomato(s)] crosses faired? Is the seeds sent by Gilbert Fritz the only crosses to wild tomatoes that you have so with Big Hill? I ask because you seemed to really put some effort in Big Hills development and likewise you've also put in significant effort into you WTF and WTO multi species crosses that have the flower shape you were looking for.

(Feel free to reply to this in any thread you deem most appropriate for a reply)

Andrew Barney wrote:How has your [Big Hill x wild tomato(s)] crosses faired? Is the seeds sent by Gilbert Fritz the only crosses to wild tomatoes that you have so with Big Hill? I ask because you seemed to really put some effort in Big Hills development

I consider Big Hill to be my most successful tomato breeding project to date. My signature variety so to speak. It would be really clever if the Beautifully Promiscuous tomato project ended up with Big Hill as a major contributor.

I found 5 plants in the [Big Hill X Neandermato] attempted cross that I am thinking may be successful inter-species crosses. The fruits are yellow/orange, which I wasn't expecting, but I've never made an interspecies cross to a yellow tomato, so I don't really know what to expect. So I'm looking forward to growing out the next generation which might give me a better idea about whether the interspecies cross was successful. Whether they are interspecies hybrids, or domestic hybrids, I am intending to grow them out next year, and reselect for Big Hill phenotype, and probably for a new line with the earliness, taste, fruit color, and size of Big Hill, but on indeterminate plants.

This summer, I recreated Gilbert's experiment, and I also attempted some manual crosses that are [Big Hill X [domestic X S pennellii]]. I planted seeds from those about 5 weeks ago. Going to attempt an overwinter seed grow-out.

I am also growing  5 week old plants which may be [Big Hill X S habrochaites]X[domestic X S pennellii].

I'm going to attempt to ID successful crosses by phenotype. So wish me luck. My eyes want to spin out of my head sometimes, looking at all the different leaf shapes, and flower shapes, and fruit colors, and fruit shapes, and trying to see ancestry in them. Sometimes it's trivial, sometimes really complex.

So yes. I'm intending for Big Hill to become fully integrated into my Beautifully Promiscuous Tomatoes.

Joseph Lofthouse wrote:

Andrew Barney wrote:How has your [Big Hill x wild tomato(s)] crosses faired? Is the seeds sent by Gilbert Fritz the only crosses to wild tomatoes that you have so with Big Hill? I ask because you seemed to really put some effort in Big Hills development

I consider Big Hill to be my most successful tomato breeding project to date. My signature variety so to speak. It would be really clever if the Beautifully Promiscuous tomato project ended up with Big Hill as a major contributor.

I found 5 plants in the [Big Hill X Neandermato] attempted cross that I am thinking may be successful inter-species crosses. The fruits are yellow/orange, which I wasn't expecting, but I've never made an interspecies cross to a yellow tomato, so I don't really know what to expect. So I'm looking forward to growing out the next generation which might give me a better idea about whether the interspecies cross was successful. Whether they are interspecies hybrids, or domestic hybrids, I am intending to grow them out next year, and reselect for Big Hill phenotype, and probably for a new line with the earliness, taste, fruit color, and size of Big Hill, but on indeterminate plants.

This summer, I recreated Gilbert's experiment, and I also attempted some manual crosses that are [Big Hill X [domestic X S pennellii]]. I planted seeds from those about 5 weeks ago. Going to attempt an overwinter seed grow-out.

I am also growing  5 week old plants which may be [Big Hill X S habrochaites]X[domestic X S pennellii].

I'm going to attempt to ID successful crosses by phenotype. So wish me luck. My eyes want to spin out of my head sometimes, looking at all the different leaf shapes, and flower shapes, and fruit colors, and fruit shapes, and trying to see ancestry in them. Sometimes it's trivial, sometimes really complex.

So yes. I'm intending for Big Hill to become fully integrated into my Beautifully Promiscuous Tomatoes.

Cool! I wish you great luck!

That was one reason i had wanted to keep my wiki was to help catalog leaf morphology for a given species to help in identification. But while that can help,  there are sometimes great diversity within certain wild species. Plus my website is currently down.  

Cool sounds exciting, i hope to do a winter tomato grow.

Joseph Lofthouse wrote:Lofthouse-Astronomy Sweet Corn

(source)

My population is more resistant to pheasants and small mammals.

How does a plant become resistant to animal predation?

The plant doesn't taste as good to them because it has some sort of natural pesticide in it? It becomes harder to chew?

Andrew Michaels wrote:

Joseph Lofthouse wrote:Lofthouse-Astronomy Sweet Corn

(source)

My population is more resistant to pheasants and small mammals.

How does a plant become resistant to animal predation?

The plant doesn't taste as good to them because it has some sort of natural pesticide in it? It becomes harder to chew?

With corn it is often mechanical mechanisms of resistance that don't impact taste or texture: Taller stalks, Ears higher on the stalk, Ears more tightly wrapped by husks, Etc. Last year 2017 When I grew Joseph's corn next to my own corn grex it was almost always taller. Often the ears were higher up. This was true both for sweet and field corn patches. It was also a bit longer season of corn than mine, but not too long for my climate for seed saving. I tried his Lofthouse astronomy, sweet orange high carotene, and flour. I have seed for his neandercorn for another year. I didn't get any corn planted in 2018.  

Andrew Michaels wrote:How does a plant become resistant to animal predation?

In the case of pheasants, the cobs get high enough off the ground that the bird can't eat it while standing on the ground.

In the case of coons/skunks, the stalks get strong enough that the animal can't easily push them over and eat the cobs from the ground.

In all cases, the higher the cobs are off the ground, the more resistant they are to predation. It's becoming pretty common for cobs on my landrace plants to be about 4 to 5 feet or more off the ground. That's also great, cause it means that I don't have to bend over to harvest.

And, in the case of flint corn, the kernels are harder to chew, and they are not as appealing to animals as sweet corn, or flour corn.

It's that time of year again, when I am putting my seed catalog together. As I get things written, I'll be posting to this thread about some of my new varieties.  

Thank you Paul, and the staff here at Permies for allowing me to blatantly advertise the seed on this site. To those of you that are requesting seeds from me, if you tell me that you participate in these forums, I'll send a royalty payment to Paul. My way of acknowledging the value that the site brings to me.

So to start with, here is the new variety that I am most excited about. I have been writing about this breeding project on permies for 3 growing seasons. I finally have enough seed to share!
Promiscuously Pollinated Tomatoes And The Bees That Make Them Possible



Wildling Interspecies Tomato Clan

If you would like to explore the tomato genome for sweet, fruity tasting fruits, this would be an excellent place to start! 3rd to 4th generation seeds from crosses between domestic tomatoes (50%) and Solanum habrochaites (~35%) or S pennellii (~15%). These are part of the polyamorous, and panamorous tomato breeding project. The end goal of this project is beautifully promiscuous tomatoes. This is a muddled assortment of genetics. Leaf shape can be anything from potato-leaved, rugose, regular-leaved, habrochaites-leaved, fern-leaved, pennellii-leaved, etc. Fruit color might be green, red, yellow, white, pink, or purple. Some fruits are striped prior to ripening. Mostly cherry tomatoes, though some fruits in later generations are expected to attain 8 ounces. Up to a quarter of the plants may be determinate, the others are indeterminate. Plant size might be anywhere between dwarf and monster. These are a mix of self-compatible and self-incompatible plants. Some plants might be self-incompatible, but have self-compatible flower types, so pollination may be problematic.

I am hyper-excited to release this seed because of the tremendous amount of diversity it carries within it. There are all sorts of paths that your selection and breeding might take. I am intending to select for open flowers, exerted stigmas, huge-petals, bold floral display, self-incompatibility, fruity-taste, and larger fruits. Perhaps some of these will be resistant to late blight? I'd love grow reports from areas in which tomatoes are difficult to grow because of blights. I'd particularly be interested in getting seeds back from these, if you grow them untreated in a garden with terrible blight problems, and they survive as if the blight wasn't even there. One of the parents of these crosses originated at very high altitude. Perhaps some degree of frost or cold tolerance will show up. An inter-species hybrid, therefore germination can be erratic. Large pinch of seeds.

Joseph Lofthouse wrote:These are part of the polyamorous, and panamorous tomato breeding project.

What's not to love there!  

Glad to see the nice progress you are making on this, Joseph!

The seed catalog is ready!!! See it at: http://garden.lofthouse.com/seed-list.phtml

Mention Paul Wheaton, or Permies on your order form, and I will send a royalty to Paul in appreciation for providing this site.

I am shipping, and already handled most of the backlog. Tyler's carrot seed is next in the queue.

New varieties of note this year are the high carotene sweet and flint corns. Also a new flour corn. Corn with air-roots is this year's newest fad, so I saved seeds from plants with that trait.

The tepary beans were amazing this year. About half of the seed are 2nd, 3rd, and 4th generation from hybrids, so they are really shining regarding local-adaptation.

I'm really happy to be able to share seed from the beautifully promiscuous tomato project.I loved the fruity exotic tastes. It's still a really rough draft. I received a wonderful grow report regarding blight tolerance of the interspecies crosses and their wild ancestors.

Wonderful work   I need self-pollinating varieties for my greenhouse.  Your seed info page says they're "promiscuously pollinated", is this self-pollinating?