Luna Vehmas

Thank you for the knowledge, teacher Joseph.

Hello, Joseph!

I already bought and read your book, it's great. It blew my mind on every other page. I've always been scared to even do basic seed saving (I took all of the dire warnings about spacing etc really seriously) but I feel really inspired now. So thank you very much for your teachings.

I'm thinking about experimenting with squash. Do I understand your book correctly that this could be as simple as:

Year one: gather and plant many different types of squash that seem interesting. Let the squash cross as they will. Harvest all surviving squash. Eat the squash, saving seeds from those that are particularly tasty.

Year two: plant those seeds and repeat. Save seeds from those squash that survived best and were most delicious.

Is this an okay way to start or am I going to create disaster? One more question: in your book you mentioned that there's a temptation to save seeds from plants that survived a local plague, but then you risk only saving the genetics that are adaptive to that particular problem. Can you elaborate on this? I wasn't sure I understood fully what you were communicating, but it seemed important.

Thank you again!

Whoa, you guys, I never even thought to wonder if there were any hybrids out there... that's exciting news. Thanks so much. I have no experience in plant breeding, but this is intriguing.

Thanks for sharing your beautiful photos, Natasha!

Hi permies,

My all-time favorite winter squash is kabocha (C. maxima): I love sweet, dense, dry squash. I currently live in SE US, with very hot, humid summers, and C. moschata types are recommended here. This year, South Anna butternut did very well, I harvested 20+ squash from three plants. Unfortunately... butternut isn't my favorite kind of squash. Is anyone aware of any C. moschata squash that are closer to a kabocha in flavor?