SEED SAVING
WORKSHOP - Monday, August 2 - 10am-12:30pm at Greentree
> Naturals Certified Organic Farm, Sandpoint, Idaho. By saving seed
> from your garden, you can product plants best suited to your specific site and micro-climate.
> We will discuss seed selection, hand pollination, cleaning and storage
> of seed. Cost $25 / RR members 25% discount. For more information
> visit www.greentreenaturals.com . To reserve a space, call or email
> Diane Green at (208) 263-8957 or
greentree@coldreams.com "Seeds are critical to our success as gardeners and farmers. They are compact packages of genetic information and stored food reserves, just waiting for the conditions found in warm, moist soil in order to germinate and create tomatoes, carrots, beans and thousands of other delights out of sunshine, air,
water and soil. For most of the last ten thousand years of human history, seed-saving was something nearly everyone practiced, because in order to eat and therefore to survive, it was necessary. The grains and beans which formed the basis of most diets were both seed and food. Grown in large quantities, the best were saved for planting and the rest were eaten. Our ancestors did this each year, generation after generation through the centuries. Variations in climate, soil and techniques from garden to garden and community to community, accumulated through the years, creating the incredible diversity which existed over much of our planet well into this century. These
local seeds were integral to life and culture everywhere. Unfortunately, the vast majority of these varieties have disappeared."
From Bill Duesing - Living on the Earth ©1999