The Seed Growers Podcast

You can plan for growing seed in as little or as much detail as you can plan for growing any other crop. Up until now, I’ve been encouraging you to slow down and take it easy. Start your seed growing small and learn from it. Don’t worry about the details too much. But eventually, when you start feeling more comfortable growing seed, you’re going to want to plan your seed crops more precisely. This is the 5th and final weekly episode of a mini-series all about the basics you need to know so you can plan your first seed crop for the coming growing season. I would love to know how you like these mini-episodes. Send me a DM or an email to tell me what you think - is this a format you’d like me to repeat in the future? Mentioned in the show... Seed Q&A Workshop on April 20 Crop Plan Template Ask a question for future Seed Growers episodes Dan's list of Seed Grower Resources Follow Dan Brisebois on Instagram The Seed Growers Podcast is produced, in part, by No-Till Growers No-Till Growers is powered by the folks who support it every month over at patreon.com/notillgrowers, you can also pick up a copy of The Living Soil Handbook if you don't have one already, as well as a No-Till Growers hat, and you can ask you questions or share your insights into ecological market gardening on the brand new growers forum at notillgrowers.community.chat

What seed will you harvest this summer from your market garden? In episodes 1-3 of this miniseries, we’ve talked about some key considerations for growing seed. We’ve discussed open pollinated and hybrid varieties. Selfer and crosser crops. Annual and biennial plant life cycles. Now, let’s look at what crops you’re actually growing for market or CSA or wholesale and let’s see which of those crops would be great first seed crops. This is the 4th of 5 weekly mini-episodes all about the basics you need to know so you can plan your first seed crop for the coming growing season. I would love to know how you like these mini-episodes. Send me a DM or an email to tell me what you think - is this a format you’d like me to repeat in the future? Mentioned in the show... GUIDE SUR LA PRODUCTION DE SEMENCES À LA FERME Ask a question for future Seed Growers episodes Dan's list of Seed Grower Resources Follow Dan Brisebois on Instagram The Seed Growers Podcast is produced, in part, by No-Till Growers No-Till Growers is powered by the folks who support it every month over at patreon.com/notillgrowers, you can also pick up a copy of The Living Soil Handbook if you don't have one already, as well as a No-Till Growers hat, and you can ask you questions or share your insights into ecological market gardening on the brand new growers forum at notillgrowers.community.chat    

Have you ever had that perfect bed of lettuce in the field and a few days before you’re going to cut it for market, you discover that the stems have all bolted, the lettuce has gone bitter, and you think to yourself “I should really be a seed grower?” But, once you’re trying to harvest that seed, you’re getting awfully close to the rainy days of autumn and your lettuce has barely begun to bolt, you’re thinking, “I should have cut this lettuce and sent it to market!!!” If you want to reliably grow seeds, you need to align your farming systems to respect your plant’s life cycles. This is the third of 5 weekly mini-episodes all about the basics you need to know so you can plan your first seed crop for the coming growing season. Mentioned in the show... Ask a question for future Seed Growers episodes Dan's list of Seed Grower Resources Follow Dan Brisebois on Instagram The Seed Growers Podcast is produced, in part, by No-Till Growers No-Till Growers is powered by the folks who support it every month over at patreon.com/notillgrowers, you can also pick up a copy of The Living Soil Handbook if you don't have one already, as well as a No-Till Growers hat, and you can ask you questions or share your insights into ecological market gardening on the brand new growers forum at notillgrowers.community.chat

Are you afraid to keep your own seed on your farm? Does the terror of cross-pollination keep you up at night? Are you worried that any seed you kept would unleash legions of unruly crossed-up mutant plants onto your market gardens and that there would be no turning back the ensuing chaos? Let me put your mind to rest. It’s not that dire. This is the second of 5 weekly mini-episodes all about the basics you need to know so you can plan your first seed crop for the coming growing season. Mentioned in the show... Take Podcast Host Natalie's Survey! Ask a question for future Seed Growers episodes Dan's list of Seed Grower Resources Follow Dan Brisebois on Instagram The Seed Growers Podcast is produced, in part, by No-Till Growers No-Till Growers is powered by the folks who support it every month over at patreon.com/notillgrowers, you can also pick up a copy of The Living Soil Handbook if you don't have one already, as well as a No-Till Growers hat, and you can ask you questions or share your insights into ecological market gardening on the brand new growers forum at notillgrowers.community.chat

You can grow seed on your farm. And it’s easier than you think.  This is the first of 5 mini-episodes to get ready for the season 2 of The Seed Growers Podcast. Today’s episode is about getting into the mindset for your first seed crop. By starting small and taking your time, there is a greater chance that seed growing seems realistic on your farm and that you persist and develop your seed skills. This is how you become a cornerstone in a resilient seed and farming community system. Ask a question for future episodes Dan's list of Seed Grower Resources Follow Dan Brisebois on Instagram The Seed Growers Podcast is produced, in part, by No-Till Growers No-Till Growers is powered by the folks who support it every month over at patreon.com/notillgrowers, you can also pick up a copy of The Living Soil Handbook if you don't have one already, as well as a No-Till Growers hat, and you can ask you questions or share your insights into ecological market gardening on the brand new growers forum at notillgrowers.community.chat

Chris & Owen are the founders of Truelove Seeds,a Philadelphia, PA farm-based seed company offering seeds grown by 70+ small scale urban and rural growers. They discuss their seed stories, how they came to be seedkeepers (and how they intentionally use that word), and Truelove's network of seed growers and how they support the growing of culturally important seed. They also talk about the difference between technology and technique when harvesting and cleaning seed. For the technical breakdown, Chris talks about growing and harvesting crowder peas and Owen talks about cucuzza bottle gourd seed. Truelove Seeds https://trueloveseeds.com/ https://www.instagram.com/seedkeeping/ https://www.patreon.com/trueloveseeds Seeds and Their People Podcast https://trueloveseeds.com/blogs/satpradio Sankofa Community Farm at Bartram's Garden https://www.bartramsgarden.org/farm/ Please TAKE THIS SURVEY to tell Dan what you think of The Seed Growers Podcast and what you want to hear in season 2! Dan’s Collection of Seed Saving Resources The Seed Growers Podcast is made possible by... The Organic Seed Alliance, a US-based nonprofit that advances ethical seed solutions to meet food and farming needs in a changing world. Join the community at organicseedcommons.org The Bauta Family Initiative on Canadian Seed Security, producers of the Seed Heads Podcast, works in partnership with organic and agro-ecological seed producers and farmers to advance agricultural biodiversity across Canada. and No-Till Growers. Check out some of our other podcasts and the No-Till Growers YouTube channel with over 400 videos, order a copy of The Living Soil Handbook, and sustain our mission of keeping our work free for growers everywhere by supporting it on Patreon.

Robin Tunnicliffe grows seeds and veg at Sea Bluff Farm in BC, Canada. She is also one of the co-owners of Saanich Organics Marketing Cooperative. Robin talks about how she selects veg for seed from a 10 acre farm and transplants them into a 1/4 acre seed plot, coordinating seed production and sales through the cooperative, her love of seed and farming conferences, and her work with the BC Eco Seed Cooperative, a 20+ member seed coop. For the technical breakdowns, she dives into brassica greens and Swiss chard. Also mentioned in the show... All the Dirt (book) The Sucky Seed Separator Please TAKE THIS SURVEY to tell Dan what you think of The Seed Growers Podcast and what you want to hear in season 2! Dan’s Collection of Seed Saving Resources The Seed Growers Podcast is made possible by... The Organic Seed Alliance, a US-based nonprofit that advances ethical seed solutions to meet food and farming needs in a changing world. Join the community at organicseedcommons.org The Bauta Family Initiative on Canadian Seed Security, producers of the Seed Heads Podcast, works in partnership with organic and agro-ecological seed producers and farmers to advance agricultural biodiversity across Canada. and No-Till Growers. Check out some of our other podcasts and the No-Till Growers YouTube channel with over 400 videos, order a copy of The Living Soil Handbook, and sustain our mission of keeping our work free for growers everywhere by supporting it on Patreon.

Muddy Fingers Farm is in the finger lakes region of NY state. Liz and Matthew grow veg for CSA and market on about 3 acres for about twenty years! and now grow a handful of seed crops on contract for seed companies and for on-farm use. They talk about how they got started saving seed to improve varieties used on their own farm and the juggling act of fitting seed crops into a market garden. The technical breakdown this week is pole beans and leeks! Throughout the convrsation, they illustrate how they overcome the challenges of growing seed in a humid climate. Check out their ongoing blog Follow them on Instagram You can now find Dan's seed saving workshops, blog, podcast and resource list at seedgrowers.farm!   The Seed Growers Podcast is made possible by... The Organic Seed Alliance, a US-based nonprofit that advances ethical seed solutions to meet food and farming needs in a changing world. Join the community at organicseedcommons.org The Bauta Family Initiative on Canadian Seed Security, producers of the Seed Heads Podcast, works in partnership with organic and agro-ecological seed producers and farmers to advance agricultural biodiversity across Canada. and No-Till Growers. Check out some of our other podcasts and the No-Till Growers YouTube channel with over 400 videos, order a copy of The Living Soil Handbook, and sustain our mission of keeping our work free for growers everywhere by supporting it on Patreon.

In this bonus episode, Frank Morton of Wild Garden Seed explains several methods for saving lettuce from seed to seed. Also mentioned in the show... Frank Morton on The Seed Growers Podcast   The Seed Growers Podcast is made possible by... The Organic Seed Alliance, a US-based nonprofit that advances ethical seed solutions to meet food and farming needs in a changing world. Join the community at organicseedcommons.org The Bauta Family Initiative on Canadian Seed Security, producers of the Seed Heads Podcast, works in partnership with organic and agro-ecological seed producers and farmers to advance agricultural biodiversity across Canada. and No-Till Growers. Check out some of our other podcasts and the No-Till Growers YouTube channel with over 400 videos, order a copy of The Living Soil Handbook, and sustain our mission of keeping our work free for growers everywhere by supporting it on Patreon.

Frank is a renown seed grower and sells seed both on contract and retail through their seed catalogue and website, Wild Garden Seed. You can also follow them on Instagram. The conversation ran long, so we broke it up into two parts. Part one, Frank talks about his farming career, how he scaled up his operation through a number of sites over the years to growing 15 acres of seed, and now only grows on a hectare and is more profitable than ever, the differences between wholesale and retail and why everyone should have a retail outlet, and his evolving crop mix from primarily greens, to fruiting crops, to flowers. Part two comes out Friday and is all about lettuce seed production. You don't want to miss it. Also mentioned in the show... Frank Morton on the Seeds & Their People Podcast   The Winnow Wizard by Mark Luterra   The Seed Growers Podcast is made possible by... The Organic Seed Alliance, a US-based nonprofit that advances ethical seed solutions to meet food and farming needs in a changing world. Join the community at organicseedcommons.org The Bauta Family Initiative on Canadian Seed Security, producers of the Seed Heads Podcast, works in partnership with organic and agro-ecological seed producers and farmers to advance agricultural biodiversity across Canada. and No-Till Growers. Check out some of our other podcasts and the No-Till Growers YouTube channel with over 400 videos, order a copy of The Living Soil Handbook, and sustain our mission of keeping our work free for growers everywhere by supporting it on Patreon.

Helen Skiba of Artemis Flower Farm in Boulder CO sells cut flowers through farmers markets, wholesale, and a flower CSA. She also sells dahlia tubers and Dutch flower bulbs through her online store. She talks about how she integrates saving flower seed into her production field for on-farm use, how and why she chooses to save certain varieties, and EVERYTHING about dahlia tuber propagation and sales. Mentioned in the show... Helen's blog series on saving flower seeds  Helen's blog post about dahlia tuber production and profitability Dan’s Getting Ready For Seed Harvest workshop The Treehouse Farm Collective on YouTube The Seed Growers Podcast is made possible by... The Organic Seed Alliance, a US-based nonprofit that advances ethical seed solutions to meet food and farming needs in a changing world. Join the community at organicseedcommons.org The Bauta Family Initiative on Canadian Seed Security, producers of the Seed Heads Podcast, works in partnership with organic and agro-ecological seed producers and farmers to advance agricultural biodiversity across Canada. and No-Till Growers. Check out some of our other podcasts and the No-Till Growers YouTube channel with over 400 videos, order a copy of The Living Soil Handbook, and sustain our mission of keeping our work free for growers everywhere by supporting it on Patreon.

Rowen White is a seed-keeper and farmer from the Mohawk community of Akwesasne and a passionate activist for indigenous food and seed sovereignty. She grows seed outside of Nevada City, California, in the foothills of the Sierras. She talks about improving stock seed to offset the impact of genetic drift to select culturally and bioregionally relevant seed, about building a relational database with NOTION to manage all of the information related to her seed work, seed rematriation—an initiative to bring seed back to their mother communities and lands and it’s implications for reconciliation, and managing space/time/diversity in corn and squash seed crops.   Follow Rowen on Instagram Check out Sierra Seeds Support her work on Patreon The Indigenous Seed Keeper's Network   The Seed Growers Podcast is made possible by... The Organic Seed Alliance, a US-based nonprofit that advances ethical seed solutions to meet food and farming needs in a changing world. Join the community at organicseedcommons.org The Bauta Family Initiative on Canadian Seed Security, producers of the Seed Heads Podcast, works in partnership with organic and agro-ecological seed producers and farmers to advance agricultural biodiversity across Canada. and No-Till Growers. Check out some of our other podcasts and the No-Till Growers YouTube channel with over 400 videos, order a copy of The Living Soil Handbook, and sustain our mission of keeping our work free for growers everywhere by supporting it on Patreon.

Today, Annie Jesperson and Nathaniel Talbot of Deep Harvest Farm tell us about running both a veg CSA and seed company on Whidbey Island, outside of Seattle Washington. They get into their exposure to growing seed at The Organic Farm School, a letterbox campaign to find land, early seed growing/selling experience, running a seed company vs growing on contract, how they navigate seed/veg on the same farm, how the two compliment one another in workload and cashflow, and they break down growing beets from seed to seed.   Blue Fire Bird Netting   Follow Deep Harvest Farm on Instagram   The Deep Harvest Farm & Seed Website   Follow Dan Brisebois on Instagram   Check out Dan's blog Going to Seed   See where Dan farms cooperatively at Tourne-Sol Cooperative Farm   The Seed Growers Podcast is made possible by... The Organic Seed Alliance, a US-based nonprofit that advances ethical seed solutions to meet food and farming needs in a changing world. Join the community at organicseedcommons.org The Bauta Family Initiative on Canadian Seed Security, producers of the Seed Heads Podcast, works in partnership with organic and agro-ecological seed producers and farmers to advance agricultural biodiversity across Canada. and No-Till Growers. Check out some of our other podcasts and the No-Till Growers YouTube channel with over 400 videos, order a copy of The Living Soil Handbook, and sustain our mission of keeping our work free for growers everywhere by supporting it on Patreon.

A living seed LEGEND, Kristyn Leach of Namu Farm grows veg and seed crops in Winter, Ca. She is also a part of Second Generation Seeds, a collective of Asian-American growers devoted to the deepening of culturally adaptive seed and veg production. Follow them on Instagram and check out their seed collection here.   Follow Dan Brisebois on Instagram Check out Dan's blog Going to Seed See where Dan farms cooperatively at Tourne-Sol Cooperative Farm The Seed Growers Podcast is made possible by... The Organic Seed Alliance, a US-based nonprofit that advances ethical seed solutions to meet food and farming needs in a changing world. Join the community at organicseedcommons.org The Bauta Family Initiative on Canadian Seed Security, producers of the Seed Heads Podcast, works in partnership with organic and agro-ecological seed producers and farmers to advance agricultural biodiversity across Canada. and No-Till Growers. Check out some of our other podcasts and the No-Till Growers YouTube channel with over 400 videos, order a copy of The Living Soil Handbook, and sustain our mission of keeping our work free for growers everywhere by supporting it on Patreon.

Marie-Claude Comeau of Ferme La Radicule is situated in Manseau, Quebec (zone 4B). She grows certified organic seed with draft horses, which she sells exclusively on seed contracts. She talks about why, after working with both vegetables and seeds, she chose to go "all in" on seed production, how and why she came to farm with horses having little previous experience, what considerations go into her choice of seed crops, and the technical details of growing two acres of cucurbits. Hint: there is a log-splitter and shop-vac involved. She concludes with how to finish legume seed crops in a wet-Fall climate and the joy/worry of scaling to enter the US market.   Mentioned in the show... The Winnow Wizard, one of the machines she uses to process seeds The Millet Wet Seed Extractor, another seed processing machine she uses Follow Dan Brisebois on Instagram Check out Dan's blog Going to Seed See where Dan farms cooperatively at Tourne-Sol Cooperative Farm The Seed Growers Podcast is made possible by... The Organic Seed Alliance, a US-based nonprofit that advances ethical seed solutions to meet food and farming needs in a changing world. Join the community at organicseedcommons.org The Bauta Family Initiative on Canadian Seed Security, producers of the Seed Heads Podcast, works in partnership with organic and agro-ecological seed producers and farmers to advance agricultural biodiversity across Canada. and No-Till Growers. Check out some of our other podcasts and the No-Till Growers YouTube channel with over 400 videos, order a copy of The Living Soil Handbook, and sustain our mission of keeping our work free for growers everywhere by supporting it on Patreon.

... grow certified organic veg in Oregon City, OR where they sell through farmers markets and a Winter CSA. They ALSO grow a variety of seeds on seed contracts for seed companies. Adrianna and Joelene explain how they've integrated commercial seed saving into the market garden, how they got started with their first contract, and why they like contracts for selling seeds. Follow Empowered Flowers on Instagram Check out the Empowered Flowers website Mentioned in the show... Wild Garden Seeds, where they learned how to save seeds The Winnow Wizard, the machine they use to process seeds Follow Dan Brisebois on Instagram Check out Dan's blog Going to Seed See where Dan farms cooperatively at Tourne-Sol Cooperative Farm The Seed Growers Podcast is made possible by... The Organic Seed Alliance, a US-based nonprofit that advances ethical seed solutions to meet food and farming needs in a changing world. Join the community at organicseedcommons.org The Bauta Family Initiative on Canadian Seed Security, producers of the Seed Heads Podcast, works in partnership with organic and agro-ecological seed producers and farmers to advance agricultural biodiversity across Canada. and No-Till Growers. Check out some of our other podcasts and the No-Till Growers YouTube channel with over 400 videos, order a copy of The Living Soil Handbook, and sustain our mission of keeping our work free for growers everywhere by supporting it on Patreon.

Every episode I’m going to bring you a conversation with a grower who has integrated Saving Seeds into their own farm systems. Some grow seed crops to sell commercially and some do it just for their own farm use. I’m hoping their stories will make you want to save seed on your own farm... and if you already save seed on your farm, I hope it makes you want to save more! First episode comes April 27th. Follow along on Instagram Check out our farm, Tourne-Sol Co-operative Farm