Seed Savers Exchange

This is the seed vendor that I'm so excited about. Most of the text is from their catalog:

Seed Savers Exchange is a nonprofit organization of gardeners and plant collectors who are saving and sharing ‘heirloom’ (handed-down) seeds that gardeners and farmers brought to North America When their families immigrated. Since it was founded in 1975, their members have distributed an estimated one million samples of rare garden seeds, no being widely used by alternative seed companies, farmers markets, chefs and CSA growers.
Heritage Farm is Seed Savers Exchange’s 890-acre headquarters near Decorah, Iowa. It includes preservation gardens, historic orchard, herds of Ancient White Park Cattle and several miles of hiking trails.
The Preservation Gardens are planted on 23 acres of certified organic land and are on public display. Seed Savers maintains 25,000 endangered vegetable varieties including 5,500 tomatoes, 4,500 beans, 2,000 peppers, 1,200 squash, 1,100 peas, 1,000 lettuces and more. Each summer 10% of each crop is planted on a 10-year rotation to renew the seed collection. Few gardeners have ever seen this stunning genetic diversity or realize how much of our garden heritage is in danger of extinction.
In 1900 there were 7,000 named varieties of apples in the U.S., but less than 1,000 of those still exist today and are steadily dying out. To halt this constant genetic erosion, Seed Savers Exchange has developed the most divers public orchard in the U. S., where 100 pre 1900 apple varieties are on display. The orchard also maintains about 200 hardy grapes developed by widely-known grape breeder Elmer Swenson.
Finally, Heritage Farm maintains Ancient White Park Cattle. This truly ancient breed roamed the British Isles before the time of Christ, but less than 1,000 now survive worldwide. Seed Savers Exchange’s breeding program began in 1987 and was the first in the U.S. Today there are about 300 of these extremely rare cattle in the U.S. with more than 80 living at Heritage Farm. They have distinctive white coats, black-tipped lyre-shaped horns, and black noses, ears and hooves.
Seed Savers Exchange and Heritage Farm have provided the models for genetic preservation projects and organizations in more than 30 countries.
While not all of their seeds are certified organic, they do have a safe seed pledge: “Agriculture and seeds provide the basis upon which our lives depend. We must protect this foundation as a safe and genetically stable source for future generations. For the benefit of all farmers, gardeners, and consumers who want an alternative, we pledge that we do not knowingly buy or sell genetically engineered seeds or plants. The mechanical transfer of genetic material outside of the natural reproductive methods and between genera, families or kingdoms, poses great biological risks as well as economic, political and cultural threats. We feel that genetically engineered varieties have been insufficiently tested prior to public release. More research and testing is necessary to further assess the potential risks of genetically engineered seeds.”

In the interim

Hello folks, it's been a while... I've been bogged down in end of year, then beginning of the year work.
The highlights:
- Inventory's over and I don't have to do it again for a year.
- I spent tons of time with seed catalogs, and besides now being extremely impatient for spring, we've got a new vendor that I'm excited about.
- Calendars have pretty much come and gone.
- The flood of book catalogs has slowed from a completely-out-of-hand rate to a still-can't-keep-up rate. I've got a stack about 2 feet high at the moment. All books, all the time!
- I had a blast at the San Francisco International Gift Show last weekend. Surprisingly, I found more eco-friendly products than I expected. I'm particularly looking forward to the jelle bath, but that's a whole nuther topic.
- We're starting to sell seeds, soil, fertilizer, compost etc., so the springtime struggle to have enough of all of the above in stock, while still having room to move around in the store is on again.

I'll tell you more about the seeds soon...
Happy 2005 everyone!

jill