Podcasts about organic seed alliance

Jared Zystro is a research and education director at the Organic Seed Alliance. Jared is based in Arcada, California. I invited Jared onto this episode so he can tell you about the Organic Seed Growers Conference in Corvallis, Oregon that is taking place from February 26th to March 1st, 2025. I first went to this conference in 2008 and it was the single most important learning experience to my seed career. I also made so many great friends and contacts that have followed me throughout all my CD endeavors. And I think that you would probably enjoy an experience like this also. So in this episode, Jared and I talk about what is happening at this year's conference and how you can participate not only in person, but also virtually if you can't make it to Corvallis. Jared and I talk about more than just the conference in this episode. We start with Jared's seed story and how it went from working summers on vegetable farms to ultimately getting a PhD in plant breeding and plant genetics from the University of Wisconsin Madison. And we finished with a deep dive into growing quinoa on both a larger commercial scale using a combine and a smaller scale with manual techniques. Free, Crop Planning for Seed Farmers minicourse: www.spreadsheet.farm/seedcropplan Follow Dan on Instagram, get his newsletter, & follow Tourne-Sol Cooperative Farm ORDER Dan's new book, The Seed Farmer, from notillgrowers.com to further support our work! Folks who support The Seed Farmer Podcast The goal of the Culinary Breeding Network is to improve communication between plant breeders, seed growers, farmers, chefs, produce buyers and others to improve quality in vegetables, fruits and grains. Learn more and check out upcoming events! Are you a farmer looking for educational resources in Canada? Check out Young Agrarians! They are a farmer-to-farmer educational resource network for new and young ecological, organic, and regenerative farmers. This February, join thousands of farmers like you from across the U.S. for three days of community building and farmer-led learning at the 36th annual Marbleseed Organic Farming Conference in La Crosse, Wisconsin. Truelove Seeds is a farm-based seed company offering culturally important and open pollinated vegetable, herb, and flower seeds. Check out their podcast, Seeds & Their People, wherever you're listening to The Seed Farmer Podcast!

John Navazio was a breeder of genetically-resilient, open-pollinated leafy greens and root crops for regenerative farming practices. He also authored The Organic Seed Grower, a comprehensive manual for the serious vegetable grower. His work focused on developing varieties with robust growth, broad resistance to disease and environmental stress, and superior culinary quality. In this episode of Nature Revisited, those who knew John best pay to tribute to the life of a truly passionate and inspiring spirit, celebrating his magnetic personality, his lifelong relationship with seeds, and his philosophy & approach to growing robust, genetically-diverse crops. John's book: https://www.chelseagreen.com/product/the-organic-seed-grower-paperback/ The Organic Seed Alliance: https://seedalliance.org/ Listen to Nature Revisited on your favorite podcast apps or at https://noordenproductions.com Subscribe on Spotify: https://tinyurl.com/bdz4s9d7 Subscribe on Apple Podcasts: https://tinyurl.com/5n7yx28t Podlink: https://pod.link/1456657951 Support Nature Revisited https://noordenproductions.com/support Nature Revisited is produced by Stefan van Norden and Charles Geoghegan. We welcome your comments, questions and suggestions - contact us at https://noordenproductions.com/contact

Get the inside scoop with Ira Wallace, also known as “the Godmother of Southern Seeds,” as she sheds light on all things seeds and its importance in the food industry. Ira Wallace is an organic grower, author, speaker, and one of the original pioneers behind organic seed saving. For the last 25 years, Ira has been a worker/owner of the cooperatively managed Southern Exposure Seed Exchange, which offers over 700 varieties of open-pollinated heirloom and organic seeds selected for flavor and regional adaptability. Ira serves on the boards of the Organic Seed Alliance and the Virginia Association for Biological Farming.  In this episode, learn about: - Ira's background and current role with Southern Exposure Seed Exchange - The various categories of seeds that exist, their differences, and ownership of seeds - A brief overview of harvesting, saving, and exchanging seeds and the challenges farmers face - The impact of seeds on historical and current food pathways   Find resources here for new and advanced seed advocates:  Southern Exposure Seed Exchange Organic Seed Alliance  Checkout the upcoming event: Roots & Herbs Festival, April 8th: https://bit.ly/3JuNxQS We hope you enjoyed the episode! Please help us continue to produce more valuable content by subscribing to our Fresh Take Podcast Series! Subscribe here  SPONSORSHIP OPPORTUNITY- Learn more about the many benefits of becoming a Sponsor of Florida Organic Growers!  Your contribution will not only help to advance an organic and sustainable future but gain brand awareness through our growing audience. If you are interested, click here Support the showWe hope you enjoyed the episode! Please help us continue to produce more valuable content by subscribing to our Fresh Take Podcast Series! Subscribe here SPONSORSHIP OPPORTUNITY- Learn more about the many benefits of becoming a Sponsor of Florida Organic Growers! Your contribution will not only help to advance an organic and sustainable future but gain brand awareness through our growing audience. If you are interested, click here

Growing and Saving SeedsIn This Podcast:Hassena Kassim returns to talk about the recent growth she is experiencing since moving from Arizona to North Carolina about 5 years ago. She explains how growing and saving seeds for Sow True Seeds led her to the Organic Seed Alliance seed school and what she learned from completing the program. Hassena admits to a newfound appreciation for beans as she shares interesting facts from their long and colorful history. Don't miss the fantastic seed resources mentioned in this episode!Don't miss an episode!visit UrbanFarm.Org/blog/podcast Hassena Kassim is a mother and a newish farmer in Hot Springs NC. She works the land with honeybees, chickens, dairy goats, gardens and several composting methods. Hassena is a grower of seeds for Sow True Seed in Asheville, North Carolina and has recently completed the Organic Seed Alliance seed school. Visit www.UrbanFarm.org/Podcast-by-episode-titles for the show notes on this episode, and access to our full podcast library!Hassena Kassim on Saving Seeds.urbanfarm.org/hassena

"Jared Zystro is Organic Seed Alliance's research and education assistant director. He has an M.S. and Ph.D. in plant breeding and plant genetics from the University of Wisconsin – Madison, where he studied efficient methods of developing new organic sweet corn varieties." Be on the lookout for the Humboldt Permaculture Guild's Seed and Plant Exchange in March 2023.    0:00 | Start 1:36 | Seed saving 11:41 | The switch from plant breeding to genetic engineering 20:59 | Organic vs GMO 28:15 | Glyphosate 37:22 | Lack of genetic diversity in our crops 44:11 | Conventional farming practices affecting organic producers 48:59 | How they make plants resistant to chemicals 1:01:29 | Organic farmers competing against industrial farmers 1:07:01 | Incentives against being organic

HostKevin Smith: @KevINmidMOGuestKiki Hubbar: @KristinaHubbardOrganic Seed Alliance: @Seed_AllianceKevin Smith is joined for a chat by Kiki Hubbard of Organic Seed Alliance. The two chat about the issues facing modern farming, the quality of product and input and how chemically altered seeds and farming practices impact not just the food we eat, but the way of life for the farmers who provide. For More Info: https://seedalliance.org/ https://heartlandpod.com/Twitter: @TheHeartlandPOD"Change The Conversation"

HostKevin Smith: @KevINmidMOGuestKiki Hubbar: @KristinaHubbardOrganic Seed Alliance: @Seed_AllianceKevin Smith is joined for a chat by Kiki Hubbard of Organic Seed Alliance. The two chat about the issues facing modern farming, the quality of product and input and how chemically altered seeds and farming practices impact not just the food we eat, but the way of life for the farmers who provide. For More Info: https://seedalliance.org/ https://heartlandpod.com/Twitter: @TheHeartlandPOD"Change The Conversation"

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.

Here's our latest collaboration with Dan Brisebois of Tourne-Sol Cooperative-Farm, The Seed Growers Podcast! Subscribe on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you're listening to this podcast today. Joelene and Adrianna of Empowered Flowers 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.

... 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.

LINKS buymeacoffee.com/changeug The ChangeUnderground Academy No-Dig Gardening Course: https://worldorganicnews.com/changeunderground/ FREE eBook: https://worldorganicnews.com/freeebook/ email: jon@worldorganicnews.com Transcript https://worldorganicnews.com/episode270/   Bubugo Conservation Trust http://www.bubugoconservation.org/   Episode 189: https://worldorganicnews.com/episode189   Biological patents in the United States https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biological_patents_in_the_United_States   Green Revolution https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Green_Revolution   Glyphosate Sales By Year https://www.researchgate.net/figure/Global-glyphosate-sales-1980-through-2018-Source-Adapted-from-data-provided-in_fig2_351374539   Organic Seed Alliance https://seedalliance.org/   Heirloom Seeds https://vimeo.com/398922532

2021 Okra Dreams: After a winter break, we are launching straight into spring. E6 focuses on growing okra and the upcoming season, but there's plenty of food talk to get us dreaming about those hot harvest days. Mark Tancig, a UF Extension Agent, shares expert advice on growing okra and talks nematodes.  We discuss okra varieties with Ira Wallace of SESE as well as food, memories and culture. And we close with some beautiful stories from Sidney Nicholson, who recounts his, often amusing, childhood responses to his okra-loving mother! Meet the GuestsMark Tancig is the Commercial/Residential Horticulture Extension Agent for Leon County, FL, where he shares research-based best practices for sustainable landscape management. Mark also coordinates the Leon County Master Gardener Volunteer Program. His articles are regularly published in the Tallahassee Democrat. Contact.Information About Nematodes:Nematode Management in Vegetable Garden Cover Crops for Nematode Management Nematode Assay Form (UF) Ira Wallace is a worker/owner of the cooperative Southern Exposure Seed Exchange. Ira serves on the boards of the Organic Seed Alliance, and the Virginia Association for Biological Farming. Ira is an organizer of the Heritage Harvest Festival at Monticello. She was named a 2019 Great American Gardener by the American Horticultural Society. She is author of the Timber Press Guide to Vegetable Gardening in the Southeast and a subsequent  state specific book series.Sidney Nicholson retired from a long career in law enforcement in NYC and became an after-school coordinator at Cornerstone Learning Community in Tallahassee, FL, where he mentored children, young people, and adults alike. He is a father and grandfather, and husband and partner to his childhood sweetheart, Gloria. He enjoys life outdoors and spending time with family and friends. Participate in the Whidby White CSS Project.We hope you enjoyed the music outtakes from, The Okra Song, courtesy of Hot Tamale. Subscribe to this podcast wherever you get your podcast fix and follow us on Instagram and Facebook. Email questions and comments to theokrapodcast@gmail.com. Also, consider supporting us with as little as $1 a month via Patreon.Thanks from your Co-hosts, Chris Smith and Rebekka White! 

Laurie McKenzie, Research & Education Associate with the Washington State-based Organic Seed Alliance, develops new crop varieties for organic production systems. A typical day for her might include evaluating breeding trials in the field, collaborating with seed companies and farmers to establish breeding priorities, or sharing the latest seed research at an industry conference. In this episode of Plant Breeding Stories, Ms McKenzie shares how she was inspired to pursue plant breeding after working at a community-supported-agriculture farm and a seed production farm. She shares with us her the people who shaped her career and her passion for her work while also explaining how breeding for conventional and organic systems both differ and complement each other in solving food insecurity challenges. She digs into what traits she breeds for to meet the needs of the organic market, and reveals her proudest career achievement — spoiler alert, it involves very colorful carrots. A transcript of this podcast is available at www.pbsinternational.com/podcast Find more about Laurie's work here: Twitter: @Seed_Alliance

Today we celebrate the Landscape Architect who had an affinity for boxwoods. We'll also learn about a passionate orchidologist who shared some advice back in 1972. We salute the English WWII code breaker who became a one-woman force for garden conservation and restoration. We’ll hear a verse about the Hyacinth - one of my favorite spring bulbs… so fragrant! We Grow That Garden Library™ with an indispensable book about saving seeds. And then we’ll wrap things up with the story of a Washington gardener whose garden advice was relatable, gentlemanly, and humorous.   Subscribe Apple | Google | Spotify | Stitcher | iHeart To listen to the show while you're at home, just ask Alexa or Google to “Play the latest episode of The Daily Gardener Podcast.” It's just that easy.   Gardener Greetings Send your garden pics, stories, birthday wishes, and so forth to Jennifer@theDailyGardener.org   Curated News Want a 20-second distraction from 2020? Here are some mesmerizing pictures from 1800s seed catalogs  | Massive Science | Max G. Levy   Facebook Group If you'd like to check out my curated news articles and blog posts for yourself, you're in luck because I share all of it with the Listener Community in the Free Facebook Group - The Daily Gardener Community. There’s no need to take notes or search for links - the next time you're on Facebook, search for Daily Gardener Community where you’d search for a friend and request to join. I'd love to meet you in the group.   Important Events November 12, 1957 Today is the anniversary of the death of the Landscape Architect Arthur Shurcliff. After receiving his degree in Mechanical Engineering from MIT, Arthur discovered the field of Landscape Architecture. Although the field was beginning to take off thanks to the Olmsteds, Charles Eliot, and the Chicago World's Fair, there were no formal degree programs for the field. As a result, Arthur cobbled together his own curriculum at the Lawrence School of Science at Harvard. All his life, Arthur had a lifelong love for the outdoors. He especially enjoyed camping, canoeing, scenery, and sketching. Looking back on his pursuit of Landscape Architecture, Arthur reflected,   "All led me away from mechanics toward scenery, toward planning and construction for the scenes of daily life..."   In terms of his career, Arthur will forever be remembered for the work he did at Colonial Williamsburg. The project at Williamsburg was funded by John D. Rockefeller and the mission was a total community restoration. The scope was enormous. Arthur had over 30 years of experience when he started work on the project on St. Patrick's Day in 1928. In addition to his Landscape Architecture skills; Arthur leveraged his training in engineering, his meticulousness, and his personal energy, and charm. It wasn't just the buildings that needed restoration; it was the land, the paths, the streets, the gardens, and green spaces. Arthur wrote about his daily quest to uncover the past. One entry said:   “Wednesday morning saw me in the old-fashioned gardens in the heart of the town. These old places… now gone to decay are filled with a kind of golden glory which is lacking in the new gardens. The old lattice trellises, ruined box hedges, and even the weed-grown paths seem to have the glamor of the sunshine from the olden days.”   Every aspect of the town was fully researched. When it came to garden plans and plant selection, Arthur insisted that authenticity was paramount. For example, Arthur’s team actually searched for original fence-post holes to determine the colonially-accurate backyard.  It’s no wonder that it took Arthur 13 years to finish the project. Arthur’s signature plant was the boxwood which he called Box for short. Williamsburg required boatloads of Box and Arthur wrote,   “In replanting Williamsburg places much use should be made of Box… even allowing it to dominate the parterres and bed traceries… Generous use of Box in this manner [will define the] display and [help with the] upkeep of flowers especially in the dry season...”   Arthur’s passion could get the best of him. The woman who lived at the St. George Tucker House, wrote this entry in her diary in January 1931: “Today I was asked to go over the yard with Mr. Arthur Shurcliff… I found him a very alarming person! Somehow the idea of changing the yard and garden is much more repellent to me than changing the house, and this is such a terribly enthusiastic man!”   And, when Arthur returned in May, she wrote,   “[He came] down like a wolf on the fold again today. He rushed in and out... with charts and plans for all sorts of alarming ‘landscapes’ in our yard. He has boxwood on the brain.”   Luckily for Arthur, his charm counteracted any hesitance caused by his exuberance. When Colonial Williamsburg was revealed to the public in 1934, Arthur’s Colonial Revival style gardens — complete boxwood — caused a sensation. Soon, Revival Garden design appeared in suburbs all across America. Once the restoration was complete, Arthur Shurcliff had redefined Williamsburg. By reclaiming the past, Colonial Williamsburg found a path forward. And, thanks to Arthur’s incredible efforts, Revival Garden design took its place in 20th Century Landscape Architecture.   November 12, 1972   On this day The Greenville News shared an article called Orchidist Finds Hobby Versatile. The orchidologist was Gilbert L. Campbell. During six years of collecting, Gilbert amassed more than 300 plants - in addition to a library of orchid reference materials. Orchid lovers can grow orchids all year long indoors in their homes. When Gilbert’s passion outgrew his house, he built a greenhouse and in a short time, he built a second greenhouse. Gilbert said,   "Some orchidologists do grow their flowers in their homes... [but I advise against it. Growing an orchid is like being a fisherman. 'Some fishermen may be content to sit on the bank and fish, but most want to get out in a boat on the lake. It's a lot easier to grow orchids in a greenhouse [due to temperature and humidity control]. ”   As for why Gilbert had two greenhouses, his answer was simple: the cool greenhouse was for cymbidium orchids and the “medium” temp house was for the cattleyas. To show how significant the role temperature plays in growing orchids, the difference in temp between Gilbert’s two greenhouses was about 10 degrees. Gilbert reported that,   “A medium house has a minimum temperature of 55 to 60 degrees and a cool house has a minimum of 45-50 degrees.”   Finally, Gilbert advises plenty of fresh air. Gilbert’s orchids are moved outside in summer and on balmy days throughout the winter. Gilbert says:   "Orchids, like people, do best in a spring-like fresh-feeling atmosphere… Beginners should start with a few mature plants. Orchids like dry roots, so they should be watered thoroughly, then allowed to dry out."     November 12, 2013 Today is the anniversary of the death of the World War II hero and garden historian and restorer extraordinaire Mavis Batey, who died at the age of 92. Mavis broke the German Enigma code, which allowed the Allied forces to stage their D-Day invasion. In the back half of her life, Mavis became a champion for forgotten, yet historically significant, English gardens. She also became a garden historian and writer, writing books on Jane Austen and Alexander Pope. In 1955, Mavis and her code-breaker husband Keith settled on a farm in Surrey. The property sparked Mavis’s passion for Landscape history. After moving to Oxford, Mavis and her family lived in a fantastic park designed by Capability Brown. The park was also home to a garden designed by William Mason in 1775. Mavis recalled:   "We lived in the agent's house, right in the middle of a Capability Brown park, but it was William Mason's garden that really got me. We had to cut our way into it. It was all overgrown, and garden ornaments were buried in the grass. I knew at once it wasn't just an ordinary derelict garden: someone had tried to say something there."   Mavis Batey used her wit and determination to become a force in numerous conservation organizations and missions like the Garden History Society, the Campaign to Protect Rural England, and English Heritage’s Register of Parks and Gardens of Special Historic Interest. In 1985 Mavis was honored with the RHS Veitch Memorial Medal for her invaluable work preserving gardens that would otherwise have been lost to time.   Unearthed Words If you plant spring bulbs, I hope you remember to include hyacinths. The hyacinth is in the asparagus (Asparagaceae) family. Native to the Eastern Mediterranean, they grow throughout Asia Minor, Syria, Iran, and Iraq. Nowadays, the hyacinth is mainly grown in Holland.   If of thy mortal goods thou art bereft, And of thy meager store, Two loaves alone to thee are left, Sell one, and with the dole Buy hyacinths to feed thy soul. — Saadi, Persian Sufi poet, in Gulistan (The Rose Garden), 1258   Grow That Garden Library The Seed Garden by Lee Buttala, Shanyn Siegel, et al.  This book came out in 2015, and the subtitle is The Art and Practice of Seed Saving. The Seed Garden won the American Horticultural Society Award for Excellence In Garden Book Publishing and it is an excellent resource for anyone who wants to save seed that is true-to-type and ready to sow in next year’s garden. This comprehensive book is a collaboration between the esteemed Seed Savers Exchange and the Organic Seed Alliance. Readers will learn the invaluable tradition of saving seeds for more than seventy-five best-loved vegetable and herb crops―from heirloom tomatoes and beans to lettuces, cabbages, peppers, and grains. I love the photos in this book - they are beautiful and relatable. The plant profiles are nicely laid out and the seed saving instructions are crystal clear - providing a thorough master class level presentation of the art, the science, and the joy of saving seeds. This book is 350 pages of indispensable and clearly written advice for growing plants and saving seed - and it’s a beautifully illustrated resource to boot. You can get a copy of The Seed Garden by Lee Buttala, Shanyn Siegel, et al. and support the show, using the Amazon Link in today's Show Notes for around $22.   Today’s Botanic Spark November 12, 1993 Today is the anniversary of the death of Washington Post columnist and gardener Henry Clay Mitchell. Henry wrote mainly about gardening and miscellaneous aspects of his daily Washington life.  Pragmatic and humorous, Henry’s garden advice struck a chord with his readers. His weekly garden advice was compiled into two bestsellers named after his column Earthman. A southerner and a gentleman, Henry found tranquility and restoration in his garden. Like most of us gardeners, Henry had his favorites. Of the Japanese Iris, Henry wrote,   “[It’s] a fine flower for anybody who thinks nothing can be too gaudy, too overstated, too imperial. I have known rednecks who adored it.”   A dog lover, Henry recognized his garden didn’t exist in a bubble but was fully part of the natural world. Henry reflected,   “Squirrels eat a lot of bulbs -- they are in heaven when they find the cyclamen and crocuses -- but they keep the garden interesting for the family dog... And besides, the squirrels are more attractive than the cyclamen probably would have been anyway."   And, Henry's obituary in the Washington Post shared his love of gardening:   “Gardening was a part of his life almost from the time he was born. When he was a small boy, he would pick up autumn leaves or pluck the petals from tiger lilies and admire them when his mother took him walking. He had a garden from the time he was old enough to work in it. He could rattle off the Latin names of perhaps 3,000 plants. He said, he learned about gardening because he was "passionately fond of flowers." The failure of such projects as grafting a carnation onto a prickly pear cactus left him undaunted.”   And, if you have a steadfast love your garden - warts and all - you’ll feel a kinship with these words by Henry from his 1992 book One Man's Garden:   It is agreeable to waddle about in one's own paradise, knowing that thousands of others have better gardens with better thises and thats, and better grown too, and no weeds at all… To know this and grin as complacently as a terrier who just got into the deviled eggs, and to reflect that there is no garden in England or France I envy, and not one I'd swap for mine: this is the aim of gardening — not to make us complacent idiots, exactly, but to make us content and calm for a time, with sufficient energy (even after bitter wars with bindweed) to feel an awestruck thanks to God that such happiness can exist. For a few days, of course.

Episode four of the third season of Free the Seed! the Open Source Seed Initiative podcast Do you have questions about OSSI, intellectual property rights, or plant breeding that you would like answered on this show? Please share them with us through our listener survey at http://bit.ly/FreetheSeedsurvey This podcast is for anyone interested in the plants we eat – farmers, gardeners and food curious folks who want to dig deeper into where their food comes from. It’s about how new crop varieties make it into your seed catalogues and onto your tables. In each episode, we hear the story of a variety that has been pledged as open-source from the plant breeder that developed it. In this episode, we'll be talking about carrot breeding in general, and two breeding projects in particular. First, Claire and Irwin will tell us about the Open Source Seed Initiative-pledged carrot breeding populations that they’ve developed at University of Wisconsin-Madison. They’ll explain how the UW-Madison Goldman Lab is able to speed up the seed production process to fit it into one single year using greenhouses and vernalization chambers. Then we’ll hear from Petra about the project to develop ‘Dulcinea’, a new variety offered by Fruition Seeds, which Irwin and Claire have collaborated on. And all three of our guests will weigh in on the basic steps of any carrot breeding project.       Left: Dr. Claire Luby (Photo credit: Matthew Dillon)                  Right: Dr. Irwin Goldman (Photo credit: Matthew Dillon) Petra Page-Mann with freshly-dug 'Dulcinea' roots (Photo credit: Lisa Barker)                    Left: Carrot flower-heads (umbels!) (Photo credit: Claire Luby)  Right: Carrot seed head (Photo credit: Claire Luby)   Left: Pollination cages in the field (Photo credit: Claire Luby)Right: Carrot root evaluation in the Goldman Lab (Photo credit: Claire Luby)  Wisconsin Open Source Composite Nantes-population that was used as the parent material for the 'Dulcinea' project Episode links For folks wanting to get in touch with Irwin about potential future carrot breeding project collaborations, here is the Goldman Lab’s website:  https://goldman.horticulture.wisc.edu/ If you’d like to use the market classes as a starting point for a breeding project of your own, you can find information about procuring seed on the OSSI website. https://osseeds.org/seeds/ You can purchase seed of 'Dulcinea' from Fruition Seeds at https://www.fruitionseeds.com/, or get in touch with Petra at petra(at) fruitionseeds.com for purchasing larger quantities of ‘Dulcinea’. The next Organic Seed Growers Conference, which Petra mentioned, is happening in February 2020. You can register through: https://seedalliance.org/2019/registration-open-for-the-10th-organic-seed-growers-conference/ The Organic Farm School, which Petra mentioned, and which has been producing seed of ‘Dulcinea’, is located on Whidbey Island in Washington State. https://organicfarmschool.org/ Nathaniel Thompson's farm is Remembrance Farm, in Trumansburg, NY. https://remembrancefarm.webs.com/ Organic Seed Alliance's carrot seed production guide: https://seedalliance.org/publications/carrot-seed-production-quick-reference/ Download the Transcript Free the Seed!Transcript for S3E4: ‘Dulcinea’ Carrot  Rachel Hultengren: Welcome to the fourth and final episode of the third season of Free the Seed!, the Open-Source Seed Initiative podcast that tells the stories of new crop varieties and the plant breeders that develop them. I’m your host, Rachel Hultengren. This podcast is for anyone interested in the plants we eat – farmers, gardeners and food curious folks – who want to dig deeper into where their food comes from. It’s about how new crop varieties make it into your seed catalogues and onto your tables. In each episode, we hear the story of a variety that has been pledged as open-source from the plant breeder that developed it. Dr. Claire Luby and Dr. Irwin Goldman will be returning as guests today,

Episode one of the third season of Free the Seed! the Open Source Seed Initiative podcast This podcast is for anyone interested in the plants we eat – farmers, gardeners and food curious folks who want to dig deeper into where their food comes from. It’s about how new crop varieties make it into your seed catalogues and onto your tables. In each episode, we hear the story of a variety that has been pledged as open-source from the plant breeder that developed it. In this episode, host Rachel Hultengren talks with Edmund Frost of Twin Oaks Seed Farm and Common Wealth Seed Growers about 'South Anna Butternut', a downy-mildew resistant winter squash that he developed. Edmund Frost 2014 Variety Trial, ('Seminole Pumpkin' x 'Waltham')F3 on top, 'Waltham' on bottom Taste test from 2017 Virginia Association for Biological Farming conference Episode links - Learn more about Common Wealth Seed Growers' research at  http://commonwealthseeds.com/research/ - Organic Seed Alliance's "Grower's Guide to Conducting On-Farm Variety Trials": https://seedalliance.org/publications/growers-guide-conducting-farm-variety-trials/ - Information on the patent on using the PI197088 cucumber for downy-mildew resistance breeding: https://patents.google.com/patent/US9675016 - Carol Deppe's Books: https://www.amazon.com/Carol-Deppe/e/B001K80VOQ%3F Show Survey Let us know what you think of the show! Free the Seed! Listener Survey: http://bit.ly/FreetheSeedsurvey Download the Transcript Free the Seed! Transcript for S3E1: ‘South Anna Butternut' Rachel Hultengren: Welcome to Episode 1 of Season 3 of Free the Seed!, the Open Source Seed Initiative podcast that tells the stories of new crop varieties and the plant breeders that develop them. I’m your host, Rachel Hultengren. This podcast is for anyone interested in the plants we eat – farmers, gardeners and food curious folks – who want to dig deeper into where their food comes from. It’s about how new crop varieties make it into your seed catalogues and onto your tables. In each episode, we hear the story of a variety that has been pledged as open-source from the plant breeder that developed it. Rachel Hultengren: Our guest today is Edmund Frost. Edmund is an organic farmer and seed activist based in Louisa, Virginia. He focuses on several aspects of Southeast regional seed work, including seed production, plant breeding, variety trials research, and variety preservation. Edmund runs a small seed company called Common Wealth Seed Growers, and co-manages seed production at Twin Oaks Seed Farm. We’ll be talking today about ‘South Anna Butternut’ – a butternut squash that Edmund has been working on for the past 9 years. Hi Edmund – welcome to Free the Seed! Edmund Frost: Hi Rachel, it’s good to be here. Rachel Hultengren: So I’d like to start by talking about the impetus for this project. The primary trait of interest with ‘South Anna’ is its resistance to downy mildew, a fungus-like disease that affects plants in the squash family. So I’m curious - what was the process of deciding that this was a project you wanted to take on? did you talk with other farmers or gardeners that told you that this was something they needed, or was it personal experience that mainly drove that decision? Edmund Frost: So I started the project in 2011, quite a while ago now, and it was based on experiences of having Cucurbit crops that died from downy mildew. We had cucumbers, winter squash, melons and other crops especially in 2010 and 2009 that did really badly from downy mildew, so it was really on my radar from that. And I guess in 2010 we had a ‘Seminole Pumpkin’ seed crop that did quite well despite the downy mildew pressure. So I noticed that, and I was excited about it, and the next year I thought, ‘Well, I’m growing some butternut, just some ‘Waltham Butternut’ for produce, and why don’t I just plant some ‘Seminole (Pumpkin)’ plants next to it?’ So that’s really how I got started,

Two in a row! Jerika joined Heather for the second week in a row to talk with Executive Director Cara Loriz and Program Director Micaela Colley from Organic Seed Alliance to talk about seeds, food and the future! Want to donate: Click and Give!  Visit their site at: Organic Seed Alliance Want more CFD: Click Here

Have you ever stopped to think about how the plants that produce our seeds are treated? Today on Rootstock Radio Cara Loriz, Executive Director at Organic Seed Alliance, is talking about an often-overlooked and truly fundamental piece of our food and agriculture system: seeds.

What do you know about organic seeds? Do you know of their benefits to our food systems and environment? Have you ever thought about them before? On this episode, Allison and I travel out to WA states peninsula to participate in the yearly county Farm-Tour put on by the county extension agency and interview two groups that are bringing awareness to the importance of food production and furthering our understanding of how we need to think about our environment. You will hear from one of those groups on today's episode. This will be the start of our Amazing Gardener Series, where we interview different gardeners doing all sorts of amazing things!  Allison and I interview Cara Loriz and Laurie McKenzie from the Organic Seed Alliance.  We arranged to meet them at this past Septembers' Jefferson County Farm-Tour where the WSU county Extension Agency hosts and promotes local farms and farmers. We met Cara and Laurie at the Finn-River Cidery, as one of the "farms on the tour" in Chimacum, WA. Organic Seed Alliance has a trial farm on the Cidery Farm to evaluate and collect different vegetable crops in this region.  We were able to meet and sit down with Cara and Laurie to hear all about the Organic Seed Alliance and what they are doing.  Here is our interview. You can find out more about Cara and Laurie ,and the Organic Seed Alliance at www.organicseedalliance.com   And you can sign up for their newsletter at www.seedalliance.org/subscribe/     If you want to find organic seeds, go to https://stateoforganicseed.org/what-you-can-do/   And you can click on three different links to find organic seeds.  They are:  Organic Seed Finder  Pick a Carrot  SeedWise  Find other garden topics and episodes on our podcast page at spokengarden.com/podcast    You can find us on Instagram or Pinterest under @SpokenGarden.    Also, find us on your favorite podcast platform and now Alexa through MyPod or AnyPod!      See ya in the Garden! 

Welcome to The Seeds of September – this week on Cultivating Place we kick off our four-part series in conversation with Jere Gettle of Baker Creek Seeds, and more from the Organic Seed Alliance and Redwood Seeds. I think you’re going to love it! For photos visit cultivatingplace.com. The show is available as a podcast on SoundCloud, iTunes, Google Play and Stitcher.

In this episode Hilary and guest expert Micaela Colley of the Organic Seed Alliance discuss terminology related to seed-saving, including: "open-pollinated", "heirloom" and "hybrid" seeds. {We're busy lining up late-spring and early summer episodes of the #EBPodcast and we need your support!} Consider making a one-time contribution here or supporting us at the $5/month level for access to our Slack group. For more info, check out our Patreon page! Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/encyclopediabotanica Show notes: http://www.seattleurbanfarmco.com/blog/ #EBpodcast 

The Northern Organic Vegetable Improvement Collaborative (NOVIC) includes researchers and educators from Oregon State University, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Cornell University, Washington State University, Organic Seed Alliance, and the USDA.

“Seed draws you in,” says Micaela Colley. “They capture your imagination,” Kalan Redwood adds. Seeds are the alpha and the omega, the beginning and end of most plant life. This week on Cultivating Place we’re joined by Micaela Colley, Executive Director of the Organic Seed Alliance based in Port Townsend, WA and Kalan Redwood of Redwood Seeds in eastern Tehama County. Redwood Seeds is a member of the Organic Seed Alliance's national network of organic seed growers. They provide us with environmental health, food, utility and incredible biodversity supporting all manner of life – join us to hear more about maintaining their integrity, diversity and supply.

SUBSCRIBE: WWW.EARTHREPAIRRADIO.COM Don tipping's Permaculture Farm is just about the best one out there. Don has been developing his thriving Permaculture system for 20 years now, and it is really something to behold, he is living the dream! Don is a an organic seed farmer in the Siskiyou Mountains of Southern Oregon, USA. In this episode he talks about his legal battles against GMO pollen contamination, his amazing Permaculture farm, reaching out to the next generation of young farmers, agriculture in the age of climate change, and much much more! Don's Links: www.siskiyouseeds.com www.sevenseedsfarm.com Video of Seven Seeds Farm water system: https://youtu.be/_X-BMbLBozA Seven Seeds Farm Drone Footage: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XZYtATUNgmU Don Tipping Full Biography: Don Tipping has been offering hands on, practical workshops at Seven Seeds Farm since 1997. We are a small, organic family farm in the Siskiyou Mountains of SW Oregon; situated at 2,000 feet elevation on a 7,000 tall-forested mountain with rushing spring fed creeks flowing through the land and nestled among old growth forests. Here we produce fruits, vegetables, seeds, herbs, wool, eggs, and lamb. The farm has been designed to function as a self-contained, life regenerating organism with waste products being recycled and feeding other elements of the system. Lauded as one of the best examples of a small productive Biodynamic and Permaculture farms in the northwest by many, Seven Seeds helps to mentor new farmers through internships and workshops. We have produced certified organic vegetable, flower and herb seeds for over a dozen national scale seed companies. Seven Seeds has also been active in USDA Western SARE, Organic Seed Alliance and other seed initiatives to advance the development of open pollinated organic seeds. In 2009 we began Siskiyou Seeds, a bioregional organic seed company operated from the home farm. Don helped to found the Siskiyou Sustainable Cooperative, which manages a 300 share CSA, commercial seed growing, and an equipment co-op and internship curriculum among 12 cooperating farms. He also co-founded the Family Farmers Seed Cooperative, a seed grower, marketing and distribution cooperative comprised of 10 western organic farms. More recently we created the Southern Oregon Seed Growers Association (SOSGA) to advocate for and support a bioregional seed system. With this group and Our Family Farms Collective (OFFC) and Oregonians for Safe Food & Families (OSSF) we successfully banned the growing of GMO crop in Jackson & Josephine Counties. Don helps people focus upon helping people build their skill sets in sustainable life skills such as permaculture, biodynamics, organic gardening, eco-forestry, seed saving and other traditional arts that help to build regenerative culture. He has co taught with a wide group of widely respected people in the both the seed & Permaculture movement including: Tom Ward, Larry Korn, Michael “Skeeter” Pilarski, Bill McDorman, Dennis Martinez, John Navazio, Andrew Milleson, Frank Morton, Harald Hoven, Jude Hobbs, Becky Bee, Rowen White and more. He sits on the board of the Rocky Mountain Seed Alliance and is a regular contributor to the OSU Small Farms educational programs, The Seed Academy is a 5 day intensive in organic seed production and plant breeding that occurs at Seven Seeds Farm with guest instructors including Rowen White, Bill McDorman, Belle Star, Andrew Still, Sarah Kleager and Jonthan Spero. Don is also a charter member of the Open Source Seed Initiative (OSSI) as a plant breeder and a seed company advocate. He also sits in an advisory role with Top Leaf Urban Farms in Oakland, CA. Don is regularly sought out as a teacher, collaborator and consultant in the Pacific Northwest.

Last week Kellie and I went to a community field day and variety tasting event put on by the Organic Seed Alliance. The event celebrates the second annual harvest at OSA’s Washington research farm, which serves as the hub of OSA’s Pacific Northwest organic plant breeding, seed education, and variety trial program. In this episode, we’ll discuss OSA’s mission and some of the work they do and we’ll also share their technique for saving tomato seeds. HOW TO LISTEN: Listen right now in your browser by clicking above. Subscribe in iTunes (or your favorite podcast player) to have our podcasts sent directly to your device. Stream from SoundCloud SHOW NOTES: In this episode, we discuss: What the Organic Seed Alliance (OSA) is and their mission. Why organic farmers and gardeners are reliant on organizations like the OSA to help develop seed adapted to their specific farm conditions and climates that don’t require the use of synthetic pesticides and fertilizers How to save tomato seeds. Important Take-aways: Seeds are a living, natural resource that need careful management to meet food needs now and into the future. The Organic Seed Alliance’s work is crucial to the future of organic farming. Research demonstrates that varieties developed under non-organic growing conditions are not always successful in organic and other low-input systems. Organic growers need crop varieties developed specifically for low-input systems – crops that mitigate pest and disease pressures, and that are adapted to their local conditions and climates.” The OSA is partnering with farmers all over the country to identify seed needs and to trial varieties and collect data. Label any seeds you save with the variety and date! Heard on the Episode: “It’s not everyday that you get the opportunity to try seven different types of kale...sided by side. It’s just a good reminder of all of the different vegetable varieties and flavor qualities that are out there.” - Hilary Dahl “I have to say, this was just such a cool experience...I’ve never really done anything like this before. I learned way more than I expected about the importance of seeds in our culture...honestly, I know it’s fall but it got me super jazzed up for planning my spring garden…!” - Kellie Phelan

Holli Cederholm was on-site at Organic Seed Alliance’s 8th Organic Seed Growers Conference in Corvallis, Oregon, on February 5-6, 2016, for a special episode of The Farm Report. After a full day of workshops and panel presentations on everything organic seed, Cederholm caught up with Lane Selman of Oregon State University and Chef Timothy Wastell of Sweedeedee in North Portland to explore a unique collaboration between plant breeders and chefs, enabled by the Culinary Breeding Network. The Culinary Breeding Network (CBN) is comprised of plant breeders, seed growers, fresh market farmers, chefs and produce buyers engaged in developing and identifying varieties and traits of culinary excellence for vegetable crops in the Pacific Northwest region. Cederholm also attended a panel on “Community Plant Breeding: Engaging Stakeholders Across the Food System from Eaters to Breeders,” and recorded a segment with organic plant breeder Frank Morton of Wild Garden Seed in Philomath, OR, in order to round out the dialogue.

Want to know how you can save your own vegetable seeds? Develop your varieties? Start your own seed library? We talk to David King of the Seed Library of Los Angeles about these topics and more. During the podcast David mentions a few resources including the Organic Seed Alliance and Carol Deppe’s book Breed Your […]

Jared Zystro is Organic Seed Alliance’s research and education assistant director. He has a master’s degree in plant breeding and plant genetics from the University of Wisconsin. Jared has worked in the organic seed industry for over 10 years, managing seed production at two farms and conducting research and education projects with OSA. In his work at OSA, he manages OSA’s regional development, conducts participatory breeding projects and variety trials, and teaches farmers about seed production and plant breeding through publication and at workshops, conferences and field days. Jared lives in the coastal town of Arcata, CA with his wife Lisa and son Toby. This program was brought to you by Heritage Foods USA. “The word heirloom often makes you think it’s something that gets passed down from generation to generation. The reality is that seed and heirloom varieties do change – they are part of our global ecosystem.” [11:00] –Jared Zystro on Greenhorns Radio

This week’s featured young farmer: Dan Hobbs Dan Hobbs is a cooperative development specialist with the Rocky Mountain Farmers Union Cooperative and Economic Development Center. He has twenty years agricultural and rural development experience in the United States and South America and formerly served as executive director of Organic Seed Alliance, NewFarms and Nuestras Raices, all 501(c)(3) organizations. He is trained and skilled in the organizational aspects of setting up producer cooperatives and other member-driven organizations and businesses. He is a founding member of the Family Farmers Seed Cooperative, Colorado Farm and Art Market Cooperative, and the Arkansas Valley Organic Growers. Dan is a fifth generation Coloradan, holds a B.A. in Latin American Studies, and owns and operates a 30 acre organic seed and vegetable farm in Pueblo County Colorado. “There’s a very vibrant effort now to take the seed back and produce it in a bio regional basis” [18:00] –Dan Hobbs on Greenhorns Radio

Jared Zystro from Organic Seed Alliance talks about organic seeds and some of the work of the organization. Produced and hosted by Jennifer Bell, khsu.org

Jared Zystro from the Organic Seed Alliance talks about the Seed Field Day in Garberville where participants will learn about seed saving. Produced and hosted by Jennifer Bell, khsu.org