2010 Seed RoundUp!

The spring of 2010 was a real doozy!
Going into March we were anticipating a very dry summer, with almost no snowpack in the mountains. Then the rains came. And they didn't let up until late June. While a blessing for summer irrigation use, it made for a very challenging year on a number of counts:
* Wet soils made springtime soil preparation work difficult, necessitating thoughtful timing
* Pollination of fruit trees was very poor. There was snow and horizontal rain in both April and May. We had no fruit set on our peaches, Asian pears, cherries and Asian plums. Our Apple crop was 30-40% of last years.
* Much of what fruit that did manage to set was beset by scab and other fungal diseases as a result of high humidity.
* Due to wet soils many vegetables were planted 2-4 weeks later than normal. This resulted in some seed crops flowering later than normal, when warmer temperatures fostered poor fertilization. For instance Broccoli pollen dessicates (dries out) over 85 degrees farenheit. So even though we had nice plants, good flower and pollen production, the pollen dried out and we had nearly no seed set. Hence my 2 broccoli seed crops wound up as crop failures. Urrghh...so much beautiful broccoli let go to seed only to feed sheep!
* Once again, with the late planting, many fruiting crops (such as tomatoes, peppers and melons) are maturing so late that we are pushing up against the threat of frost to have enough heat to mature their seed adequately.

As I have come to anticipate these types of experiences as normal in the rough and tumble world of farming. Fortunately, my devotion to diversified permaculture farming ensures that something will grow successfully and keep food on the table and yield seeds to share. It is interesting to contemplate these moments as a farmer who awaits at the virtual "tap" of mother nature waiting fill my cup from her over-running abundance, in anticipation of excess akin to previous years' experience and have the cup only filled part way, climate change, a freak year, or what have you and be able to recognize deeply the intricate relationship that we have woven ourselves and our sustenance into. As climate change weirds our seasonal patterns we can no longer anticipate the norms of yesterday. Rather we must diversify further and become more creative with season extension techniques and permaculture food system approaches. When we grow our Riverspirit Rainbow flour corn we try and grow a 2 year supply every year to cover the off years when summer is short or the corn worms, raccoons or crows indulge themselves on an inordinate amount of our harvest. I am beginning to get the feeling that we are going to have to do this with more crops as we drift into this increasingly brave new world. In the meantime let's save the seeds that the incredible green goddess gifts us with!

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.

Southern Oregon Organic Seed Legacy Continues

Happy Spring!

The Hawthorne trees are about to open up their flowers here. Hawthorne is a vasodialator, which means that it helps increase blood flow my nourishing our heart. As I ponder this I think about my heart connection to plants and those who love plants. One way I contribute to this community is through my work with growing seeds. Organic farmers are a small minority these days, organic seed growers are a smaller minority still. All of us in the state of Oregon could easily fit in a small room. Yet, we carry an important piece of enabling local sustainable food systems to thrive.

I recently acquired the seed collection legacy of Al Vanet of SOW Organic seeds in Williams. SOW Organics began back in 1974 as Stone Broke Hippie Seeds in Ruch, moving to Williams as Peace Seeds in 1978. This vegetable, flower and herb seed collection represents the best local repository of locally adapted open-pollinated vegetables in SW Oregon if not the entire state. When you consider that seeds of many of the varieties in this collection have been continually reproduced here for over 30 years, starting a garden with this genetic adaptation to climate, pests, soils and diseases in a huge advantage over using seed produced in a different bioregion. Many noteworthy individuals have been involved with this genesis including Gabriel Howearth, Dr. Alan Kapular, Alan Vanet, Alan Adesse, Chi Scherrer, Frank Morton, and Munk Bergen to name a few. Sow Organic seeds also helped give rise to Seeds of Change, the Southern Oregon Barter Faire, the Williams Watershed Council and the Williams Town Council.

We are in the process of doing thourough germination and vigor testing and reproduction of these seeds and will be offering the work horse varieties through our own seed company, SISKIYOU SEED. We hope to build upon the awesome work of Alan Vanet and preserve the best qualities of these strains and improve upon them where we see opportunity to do so. I am planning on writing an article on the relationship between climate change, organic agriculture and seed saving for an upcoming blog, as I truly believe that this type of work will enable agrarian societies to continue to thrive amidst erratic frost, heat and rain cycles. Domestication is not an endpoint, it is actually an ongoing process of which we are participants.

Our seed rack in Ashland at the Coop has a number of these strains, along with biodynamic seed that we have grown and organic sweet corns from Lupine Knoll Farm. Feel free to email us to get on our mailing list for an upcoming catalog.
Thank you for your support, may your lives be full of abundant vegetation!