Seeds «

Seeds

Feb 27th, 2011 by SFU Local Food Project

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“You need good seed to grow good food and to keep growing good food. Seed becomes food becomes seed becomes food. Just as it doesn’t make sense to rely on food being brought in from thousands of miles away, neither is it wise to depend on seeds from somewhere else. You need reliable seeds that are adapting to where you are and which can provide a sustainable diet.” – Dan Jason, Salt Spring Island Seeds

Buying Seeds

Check out our list of List of BC Seed Companies!

What’s the deal with GMO seeds?

Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs) are one of the top reasons why people begin to grow their own food and save their seeds. GMOs are a huge topic, but the Council for Responsible Genetics offers some straight forward answers on some FAQs including: Won’t genetically engineered foods cure world hunger? Do genetically engineered foods pose risks to human health and safety? Do genetically engineered foods pose risks to the environment?

When you’re ready to start your own garden and want to know how avoid buying GMO seeds then you may want to look at the list of seed companies that have signed the Safe Seed Pledge. Not every seed company that does not sell GMO seeds has signed the pledge, but it a good starting place for you to do your own research.

The Garden of Eatin’ also has a very popular post called “How to Avoid GMO/Monsanto“. This post has a list of seed companies that DO sell GMO seeds.

Seedy Vocabulary:

Organic: Organic seeds have been grown from organically grown plants. That means no chemical fertilizers or pesticides.

Open Pollinated (OP): Open Pollinated means that plants (and resulting seeds) are pollinated by wind, insects, or other natural vectors. Open pollinated varieties are how we’ve “selected for” desirable traits in plants that have led us to our favourite tomato (and other veggie) varieties. They are better at adapting to local climates. Seeds saved from Open Pollinated varieties can be planted and offspring will be “true to type”.

Heritage/Heirloom: There is no “official” definition of Heritage or Heirloom varieties that I can find. However, these varieties are usually very old varieties that are open pollinated, produce high yields, are easy to grow, and have a lot of flavour!

Hybrid: Hybrid seeds have been bred for increased yields, but often at the expense of hardiness and disease resistance. The seeds of hybrid varieties will be sterile or will not produce “true” offspring. Their offspring will essentially be the product of inbreeding, and will show inbred characteristics.

Seed Saving

The International Seed Saving Institute provides fantastic resources on how to save seeds in your own backyard. There are many reasons why saving seeds is important, and you can get lost in all the information and statistics, but it comes down to:

Maintaining and recovering genetic diversity of our food plants
Maintaining open pollinated non-GMO varieties
Increasing local food sovereignty
Maintaining localized varieties that are more resilient to weather variability

Salt Spring Seed Saving Resources

Salt Spring Seed company has been selling untreated, open pollinated, and non-GMO seeds for 24 years from Salt Spring Island, BC. Their website has a wealth of information on how to save seeds in your own garden (starting with the easy ones!), and how to start a neighbourhood seed collectives. There hope is that by growing our own we will become more self reliant in food and medicine.

Farm Folk City Folk Seed Saving Resources

Farm Folk City Folk has worked on strengthening sustainable local food system since 1993 in British Columbia. They have worked in collaboration with others to produce an amazing database of seeds that are currently being produced in BC. They also have sample resources to help communities map their existing seed growers, keep track of seeds, and learn how to save their own seeds.

The Seed Ambassadors Project

The Seed Ambassadors Project is based out of Oregon. It is a website full of resources on seed saving, and interesting articles on rare seed varieties.

Cedar Cottage Seed Savers Collective

A blog for Cedar Cottage (in Vancouver) residents to connect about seeds! A part of the Village Vancouver Transition Town Initiative. Contact them at ccseedsavingcollective@gmail.com