What does patented seed mean? What is a seed utility patent? Can plants and seeds have intellectual property rights? If you’re wondering along these lines, you’re not alone! We started coming across seeds we thought were open-pollinated and fair game for seed saving this past year and were surprised to find restrictions on saving seeds […]
Open-Pollinated Seed Utility Patent Restrictions Read More »
Wondering how to save okra seed? Saving okra seed is as simple as benign neglect and is super easy, even for beginner gardeners. If you’ve ever grown okra before, you know that the pods grow quick and even when picking nearly everyday they can get large before you know it. While those pods will be
How to save okra seed in 3 easy steps Read More »
Farmer Nathan and I love browsing seed catalogs in the winter, dreaming of our summer garden, and possibly getting carried away with our seed orders. (We can’t be the only ones! 😉 ) We’re always excited to try new varieties, colors, and flavors…but some cultivars aren’t happy to meet us and our good and steamy
What to look for in seed catalogs – Southern Seed Guide (pt. 1) Read More »
During the seed shortages of the 2020 pandemic, we began learning how to save as many seeds as we could. But even though we learned how to save cucumber seeds, we weren’t able to do so because we had all hybrid varieties. Womp womp. Lesson learned. We knew we needed to find an open-pollinated or
How to save cucumber seeds – Seed Saving Guide Read More »
Maybe you’ve finally found THE tomato variety of your dreams or maybe you’re just trying to save a little moolah in your seed budget next year. Either way, learning how to save tomato seeds is a great skill to have in your homesteading toolbelt. Why save seeds? Saving seeds is a super economical way to
How to save tomato seeds – Beginner’s Guide Read More »
Seed catalog season is here! Time to dream about this year’s garden, begin planning layouts, and figure out how to fit everything you want to grow in the available garden space. If you’re anything like us, you’ve acquired quite the stash of seeds over the years to the point you don’t remember what you have…and
Take a seed inventory – Free printable worksheet Read More »
Last year we decided to up our dry bean game. Not only did we plant two 30-ft rows of dry beans (black, kidney, and cannellini), we also planted the prolific whippoorwill cowpeas. On a much smaller scale in years past, we’ve just hand-shelled the legumes. But with the volume we harvested last year and now
How to harvest dry beans – Free threshing box plans Read More »
Learning how to harvest loofah actually requires the plant to produce fruit. Shocking, I know. We learned the hard way our first season that loofah (or luffa) is a tropical plant. This means loofah prefers a similarly warm and sunny growing season. One that we weren’t providing. After that first year’s mistake, we’re so happy
How to harvest loofah and save seeds Read More »
One of our favorite snacks is popcorn. Not the stuff in the bag, but from scratch in a pot on the stove. A big bowl drizzled with olive oil and sea salt is one of the best ways to end a full day of homesteading. In our endeavors to eat more self-sufficiently, we knew we
Growing Popcorn – Create your own cultivar Read More »
Why Save Seeds Saving seeds is a super economical way to propagate next season’s garden and allow you to save your seed money for fun new varieties rather than re-buying the same exact seeds each year. Collecting your own seed also allows you to begin adapting a particular cultivar to your exact environmental and soil conditions.
Lettuce seed saving in 3 simple steps Read More »