With gardening seeds going up in price and sometimes not always being able to find that extra special variety that grandma grew; we started to develop "Seed trains".
You might ask "What is that!" Well, here in New York State, we started trading seeds with other fellow gardeners and seed savers. Eventually we had people from other states join in to want to swap favorites and heirloom seeds.
With all this talk about genetically modified seeds; many of which are being developed not to produce viable seed, or you have to sign a contract with the company (such as monsanto) to say you will not save seed and you will purchase new seed each season. I think its terrible when we continue to develop rules on people against what comes natural just so you can make more $$ per person.
I can see being paid for the toils of your labor for growing crops; but to make seeds that grow in your soil illegal to own and control is like saying - "Im going to sell you this pet, but if it has puppies, I can sue you!" This makes me want to grow my own produce more and more. Not to purchase any products knowingly with these seeds crops used, and to become more self suffient so that by buying or trading original heirloom or natural seed, I am making a conscious vote as to what I feel is important to me and my humanity.
This brings me to my original thought. Seed Trains.
People collect seed from their garden plants and flowers. Label and date them and reuse those seeds for future gardening or trade with others.
Collecting seeds is not only fun and money saving, but guarantees that you will have seed from your favorite tasting tomato and not have to settle for a perfectly tasteless tomato that is modified to keep bugs away but also probably you as well. I do not think I wish to eat food full of "natural insecticides" As much as this seems cool and step saving, it also takes from the total value of the vegetable grown. This is also apparent with more variety of blooms in color but not much scent. That is why we tend to like some of the older style garden plants that attract butterflies and birds. Healthy for them and us too.
Anyone who wishes to become involved in a Seed train can do so by stopping in to visit at CNYPlantcycle http://groups.yahoo.com/group/cnyplantcycle You do not have to live in New York to enjoy the benefits. In fact once you take a look at who is involved, you will see they are from all over and enjoying the benefit of seed swapping and seed trains. Some even post their lists which they are willing to send some seeds to you for just a S.A.S.E. (Self addressed stamped envelope)
You learn more about gardning this way as well as learning about a variety of food we used to grow in our gardens and include in our diets before we became more limited to corn, beans and potatoes. Those are great veggies too, but so are some of those we grew up with as kids or were loved by our grandparents.
If your not used to seed saving or trading, you are not alone! You can easily learn just by participating or asking questions. Each year I learn more about gardening just by trying a new variety or saving seeds from the best tasting tomatoes of the crop from my own garden. Seed saving is something we should teach our children as it is as important as some of the other life skills.
