2010 CLASSES AT SEVEN SEEDS FARM

ORGANIC ORCHARD CARE, FEBRUARY 13, SATURDAY 1-4PM
Come and glean from nuggets of wisdom that we have leaned from over a decade of growing tree fruits, and berries organically in the Siskiyous. Topics to be covered will include pruning, mulching, fertility, pest and disease maintenance, and variety selection, planning and planting. The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago, next best is today!
GROWING FOOD FORESTS, MARCH 13, SATURDAY, 1-4 PM
Learn how to design and care for abundant perennial landscapes with many integrated elements. At the center of North American Permaculture lays deeply rooted forest gardens that include trees, shrubs, herbs and vines that produce nuts, fruits, medicine, fodder, nectar, fertility, shade and habitat. $25

PERMACULTURE HOMESTEAD TOUR, APRIL 3, SAT. 1-4PM
A Permaculture Approach to sustainable human settlement. Here at Seven Seeds Farm we have converted a dilapidated turn of the century (1900) homestead into a thriving passive solar home based family farm. This practical outdoor class will inspire ideas for your own home space. Topics include: pattern observation, assessment tools, retrofitting, creative resource location, infrastructure development, dancing with the elements, water catchment, growing soil, food crops, animals and food forests. $25

SEED SAVING, APRIL 17, SATURDAY, 1-4PM
How to plan for, plant, care for and harvest seed crops. Fresh, homegrown seed can perform significantly better than store-bought conventionally grown seed that is often many years old. Special emphasis will be given to understanding the basics of variety improvement through selection and basic plant breeding. Also covered, basic botany, basic genetics, isolation distances, pollination, seed life, vigor and germination and more. Help your garden adapt to climate change the old fashioned way – good genetics! $25

HOMEGROWN FOOD YEAR-ROUND, MAY 22, SATURDAY 1-4PM
In the Siskiyous, it takes experience, careful planning and good storage conditions to be eating from the garden year round. This timely class will emphasize growing winter foods and storage crops often overlooked by the more casual gardener. The best health insurance money can’t buy is eating healthy fresh food! $25

FARMER, DON TIPPING WILL BE THE INSTRUCTOR FOR ALL CLASSES. ALL CLASSES ARE ON SATURDAYS, FROM 1- 4PM AND COST $25 PER PERSON. LAST YEAR ALL CLASSES FILLED QUICKLY, SO PLEASE PREREGISTER ASAP. CALL 846-9233 OR EMAIL AT SEVENSEEDSFARM@YAHOO.COM.
THANK YOU VERY MUCH!

ALSO:
ANNOUNCING SISKIYOU SEEDS! – A BIOREGIONAL SEED BANK FOR THE PACIFIC NW WITH OVER 200 OPEN POLLINATED, ORGANIC VARIETIES. WEBSITE UP SOON AT
WWW.SISKIYOUSEEDS.COM
EMAIL FOR CATALOG AT @ sevenseedsfarm@yahoo.com

Siskiyou Seeds Vision

Siskiyou Seed is a bioregional seed bank and seed source for gardeners and small farmers. Our vision is to serve as a hub to connect seed growers, gardeners and farmers in a mutually beneficial relationship to support small-scale agriculture in Southern Oregon. We grow and distribute certified organic, open pollinated seeds through seed racks, a catalog and the Internet / mail order. Our goal is to produce most of the seed on our farm and field we manage in Southern Oregon’s Applegate valley. We also work with local organic seed growers to round out a diverse offering. Varieties that are not successful seed crops here (due to climate or cross-pollination issues, such as Spinach or Carrots) are sourced from outstanding, organic growers in the Pacific Northwest.

We have arrived at this point after 14 years of growing certified organic seed for many national scale mail order seed companies, which we continue to do. After SOW Organic Seeds closed shop in 2007 after the untimely death of pioneering seedsman, Alan Vanet we recognized that our bioregion was left lacking a cohesive seed bank. Although we are blessed with abundant summer sun here in the “banana belt of southern Oregon”, the Siskiyous can be a challenging place to garden with our winter rainforest, summer desert climate of harsh extremes. Uniquely situated to serve our local community we recognized an opportunity to try and fill this important niche and will be offering our seeds nationally through our web site , and a catalog, both of which will be available after 2/1/10.

There is tremendous opportunity for the renaissance of the bioregional seedsman/woman to select and breed varieties for organic agriculture. I am committed to the notion that well-selected, open-pollinated seeds can outperform commercially available hybrids. Through focusing on this crucial work, we can cooperate with gardeners and farmers to address the agronomic challenges that we will all face as climate change shifts microclimates in North America. Population breeding with special attention to horizontal resistance will hopefully alleviate the hardships growers experience with plant diseases, pests and climatic stress.

Careful attention to plant selection for seed saving can contribute to the improvement of important traits such as disease resistance, pest tolerance, climate adaptation, flavor and nutrition. Domestication is not an endpoint. Rather it is a relationship that is ongoing and can go in different directions. We are much more concerned with breeding plants that will foster healthy food for people, rather than traits such as ship-ability and shelf life. When we consider the concept of “food security” I find it logical that “seed security” should receive equal attention especially considering the threats of genetic engineering and the corporate consolidation of the seed industry. Bioregional seed banks and distribution networks will emerge as one of the more important stores of wealth in the future. Anyone want to buy futures in seeds? Let’s get planting!


Stay tuned for more developments and please check out our pending web site at www.siskiyouseeds.com to follow the seed saga and get your hands on some fresh seed! Peace to you and yours.