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.

Are Commercial Hybrid Seeds really Necessary?

Hi ,

As a farmer and plant breeder I feel compelled to call attention to the myriad of reasons to plant heirloom and locally adapted seeds. Through selecting the best performing plants in a population, farmer bred heirlooms have had to evolve with nutures panopoly of pests, disease and climate stress. Consequently, they develop horizontal resistance to disease (stress, etc) which remains largely effective despite mutations in the pathogen (eg. downy mildew race 1,2, 3 ,4, 5 etc). Horizontal resistance is the result of population breeding, wherein a suite of diverse genetics is maitained that can infer secondary benfits to growers planting these seeds. For instance if I focus on breeding for cold tolerance in a broccoli I may also be selcting inadvertantly for aphid resistance of increased phytonutrient content. Commercial hybrids are bred for vertical disese resistance to s specific race of a pathogen. Once the pathogen evolves, that resistance is rendered ineffective. Further, a handful of multinational corporations control over 90% of the vegetable seed market and their marketing focus is F1 hybrids thereby discouraging gardeners and farmers to save their own seeds. Consider that Monsanto recently bought the world's largest vegetable seed company (Seminis) making them one of the largest seed companies in the world. Think about that when you buy your hybrid "Early Girl" tomaotes - money in Monsanto's pocket. While the hybridization process infers heterosis which increases vigor in some instances, the benfits can only truly be seen in a small group of families (namely corn, broccoli). Classical or traditional plant breeding can acheive or surpass the results of propritary hybrid breeding programs.

Also - Seven Seeds Farm is commerating its 13th season farming in Williams with the birth of Siskiyou Seed - which picks up where Al Vanet and Shryl Lee's SOW Organic Seeds left off. We will have locally grown certified organic seed racks at the General Store, Chet's Nursery, the Ashland Co-op and in Ruch within the next few weeks. Our offerings are the culmination of what has proven sucessful in many years of homestead gardening here in Williams. Our favorite chestnut varieities will be represented in the vegetable, fruit, flower culinary herb seeds we will be selling.
feel free to email us for a seed list if you would like to place an order before I finish assembling the seed racks.
Seven Seeds farm - Don Tipping
sevenseedsfarm@yahoo.com