Toward a more sustainable Cedar Mill
Seed Saving and Stewardship

by Donna Prock, permadonna.com

Seed saving has been going on for as long as humans have engaged in agriculture.

While there is some debate about definitions, heirloom seeds are basically seeds from plants that have not been cross-bred, and that have been nurtured, selected, and handed down from one family to another for generations. They preserve the true genetics of the species. Some schools of thought believe that in order for a variety to be considered heirloom, it must be at least 100 years old, while others consider 1951 to be the latest year a plant can have originated and still be called heirloom, since that year marked the beginning of the widespread introduction of the first hybrid varieties.

Thousands of varieties of vegetables and flowers are being lost, due to reliance on commercial hybrid seed. Widespread use of a relatively few mass-marketed hybrid seed varieties, in both home gardening and commercial farming, is said to be eliminating many open-pollinated (pollinated by natural means) varieties, especially the variations that developed when local seed-saving was the common practice. The concern is that this erodes the gene pool, resulting at some point in less hardy, more vulnerable plants. Countering this trend (an environmental and sustainability issue), and an affinity for variety and tradition, are the principal motivations for many large seed-saving groups.

Seed saving and stewardship are the most fundamental acts necessary for food security. Seed sovereignty places these acts in the realm of fundamental human rights. We are keeping the seeds out of the ultimate control of for-profit industrial seed companies and in the hands of the people, and creating connections with plants, our environment, our foodshed, and our community.

Locally produced or saved seed is already adapted to our climates and soils which cuts down on fertilizers and pest control methods needed to get seeds from another region to grow here. The fossil fuel energy used to transport the seed is also eliminated. There are several local seed exchanges that happen in the late summer and early fall, and it's a great way to meet other gardeners and seed savers. Check with your local garden club or start one of your own. Here are two that I know of:
www.seedambassadors.org
Salemgardenshare

Most of the vegetables we eat are the unripe fruit. This is true for peppers, eggplant, melons, squash, cucumbers, etc. For seed saving we need to leave a fruit or two to fully ripen before we collect seed. Full ripeness is indicated by a color change. In eggplant it reaches a dull brownish purple, zucchini and cucumbers turn yellow, and acorn squash turns orange, for example.

Most of the vegetables we eat are the unripe fruit. This is true for peppers, eggplant, melons, squash, cucumbers, etc. For seed saving we need to leave a fruit or two to fully ripen before we collect seed. Full ripeness is indicated by a color change. In eggplant it reaches a dull brownish purple, zucchini and cucumbers turn yellow, and acorn squash turns orange, for example.

Learning how different species are pollinated is the key to successfully saving seed that is true to its parent plant. Plants, like all other living organisms, have a sex life. Most plants have both male and female reproductive organs, often within the same flower. Sexual reproduction in plants occurs when the pollen from an anther is transferred to the stigma. Some plants can self-fertilize, which occurs when the pollen from an anther fertilizes the eggs on the same flower. Cross-fertilization occurs when the pollen is transferred to the stigma of an entirely different plant. This occurs in insect-pollinated plants—most of our vegetable plants, and wind-pollinated plants—grains, grasses and trees.

When the ovules are fertilized, they will develop into seeds. The petals of the flower fall off leaving only the ovary behind, which will develop into a fruit. A fruit is any structure that encloses and protects a seed, so fruits are also "helicopters" and acorns, and bean pods. When you eat a fruit, you are actually eating the ovary of the flower.

Varieties from the same species will often cross-pollinate. So in order to be sure that we have true seed, we need to avoid this. This is done though various methods such as isolation distances, mechanical isolation, bagging techniques, hand pollination, etc.

For example, melons, cucumbers, and squash are all in the cucurbitaceae family and they all produce male and female flowers, rely on insects to move the pollen from flower to flower, and will accept pollen from other varieties within the same species. For this reason, keeping insects from visiting the flowers and "hand-pollinating" the flowers is necessary.

Beans and Peas belong to the leguminosae family and have self-pollinating flowers that may occasionally be visited by insects resulting in cross-pollination, but this usually not the case. This makes these plants some of the easiest to gather true seed from. Simply allow the pods to dry on the vine then harvest them and pop the seeds out.

Tomatoes, peppers, and eggplant, which are all in the solanaceae family, are an exception to this in that the fruit we eat already contains mature seeds. Collecting these seeds requires wet processing, fermentation, and drying.

Wet processing seed is a three-step process:

1. Removal: For seeds located inside fleshy fruits and vegetables such as squash, cucumbers, and tomatoes, wait for the fruit to fully ripen on the plant. Typically, fruit for seed is harvested at a stage that is much more mature than how the fruit would be harvested for eating. Wash the fruit, then break it open and remove the seeds. Clean pulp residue from seed by washing or fermenting (see below).

2. Drying: Spread the seeds out on a tray in a warm, dry place, and let dry. Seeds should not reach temperatures over 95 F.

3. Fermentation: Seeds such as tomato, pepper, cucumber, and squash are typically processed by fermentation as it facilitates removing the pulp from the seed and in some cases kills certain bacterial seedborne pathogens.

Fermentation of wet-seeded crops:

1. Rinse dirt and debris from fruit.

2. Mash the fruit and pour the mixture of seeds, pulp, and juice into a large container (small garbage cans or large buckets work well).

3. Place container in a location where you can maintain a temperature of 75-80° F. Ferment tomatoes for up to three days and squash for up to 2 days, depending on the ambient temperature. At 75 – 80° F, fermentation may require 42 to 72 hours.

4. Stir the fermenting mixture two or three times a day to aerate the mixture and facilitate even fermentation.

5. In two to three days a white scum may appear on the top of the mixture. This is normal and indicates that fermentation is successfully taking place. After the two- to three-day period, seed is ready to be rinsed. Pour off the top layer of scum and pulp. Pour water into the remaining mixture so that the volume is doubled.

6. Stir, allow the mix to settle again, and pour the top layer of pulp and debris off the top. Some lighter, less viable seed may be poured off with this top layer.

7. Repeat this washing process from 3 to 6 times, until the water is fairly clear.

8. Pour the remaining contents (seed) through a large strainer retaining the seed and draining off the remaining water.

9. Spread the drained seed out onto a fine screen to dry. Fine-mesh window screening works well for most seeds. Distribute the seed on the screen so that the seed layer is as thin as possible (less than 1/4 inch). Avoid placing seed on paper, as drying seed may stick to the paper and paper may hold moisture. Stir the seed frequently to encourage even drying. If possible, place seed in front of a fan or gentle breeze to facilitate drying.

For more information on seed saving techniques, I highly recommend the book Seed to Seed by Susanne Ashworth.

Recommended Seed catalogues:

Seed Savers exchange www.seedsavers.org

Adaptive Seeds www.adaptiveseeds.com

Fedco Seeds www.fedcoseeds.com

Turtle Tree Biodynamic Seed Initiative www.turtletreeseed.org

Horizon Herbs www.horizonherbs.com/

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