I wanted to give you some inspiration about something that is incredibly dear to my heart, something that I am absolutely passionate about and something that drives most of my family batty! They seem to collect everywhere in all the corners of the house, in the car, in the pockets of my clothing, and everywhere outside. You could say it is quite the obsession.
These delightful lifeforms I speak of are something that we rely on for our survival. They are often so small that we can hardly even see them and they have been around for thousands and thousands and thousands of years.
Can you guess what I am talking about? Well, the title probably gave it away right!
I am talking about seeds
I’m talking about the very thing that creates life on earth. The seeds that grow all the food we eat, the seeds that have been passed down through generations of people and from farmer to farmer for their survival. The seeds that came over to these lands on boats and that are so important for our survival! Without seeds, we would have no food, no flowers, no plants. Think about that for a second. Aren’t these seeds vital?
My intention with this post is to inspire you to learn more about seeds and where they come from and perhaps get into a little bit of your own seed saving. It is super easy and comes with a little word of warning…. once you start you will not be able to stop. Just saying.
What exactly is food security?
Its been really interesting watching what is going on at the moment in the world with the covid lockdown. All the panic buying at the beginning was such an eye opener and for many a scary taste of what it might be like if we were not able to access the food we rely on to live. For me I felt it was good for people to see just how unreliable our whole food system is.
I have been tuning into some of the discussions being had among food growers here in New Zealand. There was a discussion about how lucky we are in New Zealand and how we can grow all our own food. Yet an interesting point was made and that is that 98% of the food crops grown in NZ rely on imported seed. What that means is, if for some reason we were limited in what we could import, or there were border restrictions on seeds, our food production industry would take a big hit. How would we grow all our food? Sure we would have our own backyard gardens and there would be a huge revolution with that, (as long as we could access seed to grow our own) but these kinds of figures show just how vulnerable we are. We need more people to be getting into seed saving and seed growing in order to create a more robust and diverse supply chain. If we look to the larger food seed production companies, we will see their interests are more in the modification of seed for better production, faster growth at the expense of nutrient density and with strong financial interests. All of these are at the heart of their motivation rather than good health, diversity and actual long term food security.
Inspirational seed protectors
There is a huge underbelly of home growers at the moment that are sharing and swapping seeds and there’s also some really fantastic businesses out there to be inspired by. My good friends Setha and Roddy run a small-scale seed business called Sethas seeds. Check them out, they have a beautiful kaupapa (ethos) and produce quality heirloom seeds.
You may have also heard of world-renowned seed protector and biological life activist, Dr. Vandava Shiva who is an absolute inspiration to me. Lately, she has been speaking out about the current “crisis” we are facing and her take on it is very interesting. Dr. Shiva speaks about the fact that the further we get away from our natural source of good health which is naturally grown food in soil filled with biological life, the more unwell the human race becomes. We have moved towards an industrial food system that grows food in a way that is unsustainable for the soil, for the seeds and for our health. Much of the food made today looks nothing like it was when it was grown, and for sure does not hold any nutritional qualities.
The penny drops
Before my studies in Sustainable Horticulture I thought I was pretty switched on when it came to health. I always chose to eat fresh fruit and vegetables. I tried to support local vegetable shops and include herbs in my diet. I really did not think twice about where that food might have started life, how it was grown or what it was grown in. I certainly did not have any idea about the story of the seeds and that they themselves were being manipulated and indeed ‘patented’ under ownership.
I was shocked to learn about the mass control of the seed by a few big companies around the world and how much of the ancient seed had been manipulated for monetary gain. It made me sad to hear that big seed companies were holding a monopoly over rural farmers in places like India. The seed that the companies produce is not open pollinated, nor does it grow true to type. Therefore, the farmer is locked into having to buy new seed each year at a high price. Many of them would have to take out loans to cover the cost of the seed, and then lose money as the return of their crop was lower than the loan. Much of this seed was genetically modified (GMO) and needed heavy applications of chemical fertilisers which was another huge cost not only in monetary value but also for the soil health. Some did not understand that they could not save the seed and indeed many of the crops failed. Such a sad state of affairs isn’t it? Traditionally these farmers would have grown seed passed down from generations, seed that was perfect to their region, seed that had been saved from strong and healthy plants, and seed that was designed to nourish them fully.
A story that really pulled at my heart strings and spoke to the unfairness of the seed monopoly was that of farmer Percy Schmeiser. Percy lost his families treasured canola seed crop when some of the GMO crops growing on a neighbouring property flew over the fence and started growing. The seed company who “owned” the seeds was Monsanto and they took Percy and his family to court saying that he had unlawfully grown their seed without buying it. Honestly! I could go on, but that is a whole other rabbit hole to dive into….
Seed diversity, going, going, gone!
Over the last century we have lost 90% of the diversity we once had with our seeds. Thanks to passionate seed savers there are still plenty of varities remaining and thankfully there are many committed growers ensuring these ancient seedlines live on. Still, we could do with a lot more people taking on the responsibility of becoming seed savers by distributing these to others in order to save and protect them. It is so important that we value and look after these special taonga, these treasures, and keep the heart beat going.
How can you do your part to save seed?
It is sooo easy to save your own seed and become a part of the solution. Here are my top tips for getting going.
1. First of all be sure you are starting off with heirloom, heritage and open-pollinated varieties. These are the seeds that are going to grow true to type and can be continued to be saved year after year. The hybrids are best not to take the seed from and you can mostly tell these as they often have the letters F1 or F2 in front of them on the seed packet. These will not grow true to type so do not bother with these unless you have a lot of time and land.
2. You also want to understand the plant and it’s requirements. For example how many plants you need to grow to ensure genetic diversity and whether the plant family you are saving from crosses with other members of the family. Eg. Different corn varieties cross with each other. Always start with seeds that do not cross easily otherwise you may end up with seed that grows weird looking specimens that look nothing like the parent plant. While that can be fun to see what you end up growing, it also takes up space in your garden and is not the best path to take if you are looking to create strong seed lines.
Easy seeds to save – Tomatoes, Peas, Lettuces and Beans.
More difficult seeds to save – Broccolli, Pumpkins, Cabbage, Cauliflower, Sweetcorn, Pumpkins.
Pumpkins are a little bit tricky but not completely impossible. There are four sub groups of pumpkins and they cross within each sub group. So if you want to grow pumpkin seed true to type, only grow one variety from each of these; Curcubita Moshata, C. Maxima, C. Pepe and C. Mixta . You can grow one variety from each of these sub-groups OR you can hand-pollinate but that is a whole new blog post! Plus if you are not growing for seed of course you can grow what you like!
3. Only save seeds from the healthiest plants. You are becoming an amazing creator, a breeder, especially when you start growing them out year after year, You always want to save seed from the healthiest plants, the ones with the best qualities, the tastiest. If you have one scraggly looking plant going to seed, do not worry about it unless you are going to use the seed for eating. Scraggly seed will breed scraggly plants, they will be less resistant to pests and disease and will be disappointing for the grower, least the person who ends up growing a plant from the low quality seed. You want to be part of the solution to create strong, healthy seedlines so choose only the best!
Be seed inspired
There are lots of online resources for you around this subject. Sethas seeds has an online booklet on how to save your own seeds and Crafty Gatherer have created some cool videos on some different methods of saving the seed. Crafty Gatherer also sell very cool seed processing trays which makes saving and processing seed ALOT easier.
We have been saving seeds for 10 years now since I discovered this whole shebang, and a small part of our business includes offering these quality seeds to others. The amazing thing about growing your own, or sourcing seed from within your own country is that it grows MUCH better than seed imported or grown in other climates around the world. We have created our own genetically strong seed line of several different flowers and vegetables. I am most proud of our Sunflower seeds which were originally a cross between Giant Russian and Sky Scraper. Each year we select seed from the tallest and biggest sunflowers and grow these out again the next year. The feedback from these seeds is always amazing and it makes me happy to share strong seeds with others. We also do the old school sweet peas, Queensland Blue pumpkins, lots of heritage tomatoes and Flowering Shallots. The shallots are hands down one of the easiest seed crops to grow! Now that we have our own property we have the chance to grow and save a lot more seed and I am looking forward to providing flower seed too, as we begin to develop cut flower gardens.
Perhaps if you become passionate enough, seed growing could turn into a viable side income stream for yourself. In these times it is good to have a few plates spinning, and aside from selling them on trade me (of which sooo many people do) you could look to approaching some of the bigger seed companies who are always looking for growers for specific types.
I wholeheartedly encourage you to get started with it. It’s never been more important to start understanding the true start of our food system so go get amongst it! Seed saving is such an empowering way to take control of your food source and reconnect you back to the whenua (land). More than anything, it is just super fun, you will start noticing, collecting and stashing seed everywhere. It will likely drive your family crazy and I am not gunna lie once you start, you will never stop!
Whanau and friends big love to you all, thanks for tuning in, reading my blog and huge thanks for all your support. If you have any questions then send them through to me and do come share your seed saving moments with us in our facebook community. See you!