This is the "Propagation" section of a presentation given at CSW 2021 (Convention on the Status of Women, typically held each spring in New York). Cathy Mauluulu of Big Ocean Women and I taught the "Four Ps" of greater self-reliance when it comes to food: Principles, Production, Preservation, and Propagation. (Our portion of the video begins at 1:23:45; the seed saving/propagation part begins at 1:39:05.)
The fourth of our four Ps is Propagation-- Tapping into the natural self-sustaining abilities of the plants you grow for food. That might include saving some seeds from your crop, or be as easy as saving some of your potatoes or taro tubers to plant next season. The simplest way to start is when you buy seeds, keep any you don't use. They will be good next year if you take good care of them- keep them cool, dry, and dark. They will last at least a few years if you store them properly. I usually get a good four or five years out of my seeds. After that, not as many of them will germinate. You can use seeds from your pantry, too: the dry beans you buy will grow in your garden, though you might not know which variety they are.
Seed-saving is part of the expected, normal way of gardening in some cultures, and there are big reasons to do it. One is the security of having the seeds you’ll need, without having to rely on local market conditions. Last year, we had a cold, wet spring. I had planted pole beans, and after a month most hadn’t sprouted. I went to the store to get more. There were no pole bean seed packets for sale anywhere local anymore. So of the ones that grew, I let some beans mature on the vine, dried them, shelled them-- and now they’re ready to plant when needed in a few weeks.
Another reason to seed save is it helps create plants that are adapted to your garden and climate. That’s how we get ‘heirloom’ varieties. The best plants are developed by saving seeds from individual plants that have traits you want. Over the years, a better strain will be developed.
Traditionally, it’s been considered too cold in Siberia to grow watermelons. Dima in Novosibirsk (NO-vo-see-BEERSK), Siberia, planted them anyway. After a few years, one tiny tennis-ball sized melon matured. It held two seeds. He saved those and planted them the next year. This time, more watermelons matured. He saved seeds from the largest of them, planting them the next spring. After ten years, he was consistently getting kilo-sized mature watermelons. We got early-producing, cold-tolerant tomatoes from Siberia in the same way. Plants in other places are selected to produce well despite heat, drought, or particular diseases.
There’s a huge advantage to the agricultural diversity created by individuals selectively saving seeds- eventually, pests and disease hit individual varieties. If we are relying almost completely on just a handful of varieties, results can be catastrophic. There’s a potato blight that caused the Irish Potato Famine in the mid 1800s. In the early 1900s, the boll weevil destroyed most of the cotton crop for decades in the southern United States. Having a big diversity of location-specific varieties provides botanists great resources to find disease-resistant varieties.
Some seeds are simpler than others to save properly. Tomato seeds are in this category- put the jelly and seeds in a jar with a little water. Set it someplace warm for about three days, until it starts to ferment. The fungus that grows in it is a good thing- it breaks down a slippery coating on the seeds that prevent good germination, and the fungus produces helpful bacteria that help prevent some diseases when the seed becomes a plant. Rinse and drain the seeds, keeping the ones that sink. Spread on a clean cloth to dry, then store in a labeled plastic bag. When they’re totally dry, store in a paper packet or plastic bag. Label.
If you want to learn more, where do you start? There are some great resources below.
Where else do you go to learn? The same as you do for producing food. You don’t have to be good at it to start, just willing to learn. Find a mentor- a neighbor who knows more about it than you do. Grow a sisterhood of women who “gather and work harmoniously together in ways that bring about … goodness” and use the fruits of their labors to bless their community.
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Resources:
►Local growers and co-ops
►Your local/county/state/national Extension Office; here's one for Utah; all states have one, as well as many countries across the world. https://extension.usu.edu/yardandgarden/
►www.seedsavers.org/mission
►www.seedsave.org
►Seed Saving instruction booklet, on Kindle, $5, by Bill McDorman
https://www.amazon.com/Basic-Seed-Saving-instructions-wildflowers-ebook/dp/B01A83JYB4
Growing a garden without buying packets of garden seeds:
►https://dontwastethecrumbs.com/regrow-food-water/
►Start thinking GARDEN! - The Provident Homemaker
►More seeds from your kitchen - The Provident Homemaker
Another reason to seed save is it helps create plants that are adapted to your garden and climate. That’s how we get ‘heirloom’ varieties. The best plants are developed by saving seeds from individual plants that have traits you want. Over the years, a better strain will be developed.
Traditionally, it’s been considered too cold in Siberia to grow watermelons. Dima in Novosibirsk (NO-vo-see-BEERSK), Siberia, planted them anyway. After a few years, one tiny tennis-ball sized melon matured. It held two seeds. He saved those and planted them the next year. This time, more watermelons matured. He saved seeds from the largest of them, planting them the next spring. After ten years, he was consistently getting kilo-sized mature watermelons. We got early-producing, cold-tolerant tomatoes from Siberia in the same way. Plants in other places are selected to produce well despite heat, drought, or particular diseases.
There’s a huge advantage to the agricultural diversity created by individuals selectively saving seeds- eventually, pests and disease hit individual varieties. If we are relying almost completely on just a handful of varieties, results can be catastrophic. There’s a potato blight that caused the Irish Potato Famine in the mid 1800s. In the early 1900s, the boll weevil destroyed most of the cotton crop for decades in the southern United States. Having a big diversity of location-specific varieties provides botanists great resources to find disease-resistant varieties.
Some seeds are simpler than others to save properly. Tomato seeds are in this category- put the jelly and seeds in a jar with a little water. Set it someplace warm for about three days, until it starts to ferment. The fungus that grows in it is a good thing- it breaks down a slippery coating on the seeds that prevent good germination, and the fungus produces helpful bacteria that help prevent some diseases when the seed becomes a plant. Rinse and drain the seeds, keeping the ones that sink. Spread on a clean cloth to dry, then store in a labeled plastic bag. When they’re totally dry, store in a paper packet or plastic bag. Label.
If you want to learn more, where do you start? There are some great resources below.
Where else do you go to learn? The same as you do for producing food. You don’t have to be good at it to start, just willing to learn. Find a mentor- a neighbor who knows more about it than you do. Grow a sisterhood of women who “gather and work harmoniously together in ways that bring about … goodness” and use the fruits of their labors to bless their community.
----------------
Resources:
►Local growers and co-ops
►Your local/county/state/national Extension Office; here's one for Utah; all states have one, as well as many countries across the world. https://extension.usu.edu/yardandgarden/
►www.seedsavers.org/mission
►www.seedsave.org
►Seed Saving instruction booklet, on Kindle, $5, by Bill McDorman
https://www.amazon.com/Basic-Seed-Saving-instructions-wildflowers-ebook/dp/B01A83JYB4
Growing a garden without buying packets of garden seeds:
►https://dontwastethecrumbs.com/regrow-food-water/
►Start thinking GARDEN! - The Provident Homemaker
►More seeds from your kitchen - The Provident Homemaker
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