A Seed Saver's Garden

[Jane23]

I might get something like that with a screen. I think the lack of time to do anything with it stops me. Plus, I have been fighting my cars lately. So much snow and one lost its 4-wheel drive—stupid automatic sensing technology and black cows that love to stand in the middle of the road at midnight where there are no streetlights.

When I am home, I just want to read.

 

[Branching Out]

It tool a looong time to clean the lettuce heads.

At the workshop that I attended they ruthlessly crushed, rubbed, and mangled the dried lettuce stalks and heads in a big bin (gloves are a good idea for this part) which took less than a minute. Next they removed the bulk of the stems, and then put the lettuce seeds through a sieve. A bit of winnowing in the wind finished the cleaning of the seeds, and it was all quick and easy. In the past I would rub each seed head individually to release the seeds, which took a very long time. I much prefer this new method, and I save the spent stems to use as treats for our rabbit through the winter. Bunny loses her mind over them.

 

[meadow]

At the workshop that I attended they ruthlessly crushed, rubbed, and mangled the dried lettuce stalks and heads in a big bin (gloves are a good idea for this part) which took less than a minute. Next they removed the bulk of the stems, and then put the lettuce seeds through a sieve. A bit of winnowing in the wind finished the cleaning of the seeds, and it was all quick and easy. In the past I would rub each seed head individually to release the seeds, which took a very long time. I much prefer this new method, and I save the spent stems to use as treats for our rabbit through the winter. Bunny loses her mind over them.

Thank you so much for the description. That's going to come in handy!

 

[heirloomgal]

Deal of the year, 4 packs for a $1.25. I would have settled for the 79 cents!

The Habanadas and one Peruviano are up. Still waiting on the flexuosums. Gosh, I hope it doesn't take a full year for them to sprout. I think I'll plant all the rest of the seeds (I only planted 4) hoping that one might be an earlier sprouter. I've decided to wait with the Capiscum annums because they get too big too fast. Maybe February.

 

[heirloomgal]

I just read the wildest information on a pdf file published by Japanese University Ehime. I was researching a new soybean I've ordered called 'Hoseki' (there were letters and numbers in there but I forget what they were). Anyway, this soybean was written about in the publication - which was the only piece of information online I could find about it. Turns out that the paper was a study including Hoseki soybeans, but comparing differences in their rice, soy & other grain crops when grown organically versus chemically after being stored for 18 years. I don't know why I find this so surprising, because I'm an organic gardener for a reason; I guess I just never heard of a study like this. Well, it turns out that the nutritional profile of CF products degrades much more significantly in storage compared to OF ones. The cell structures (seed coats, cell walls etc.) of CF crops in general did not hold up either over time in many cases compared to OG ones. Wow, kinda blown away by that. I wonder what the reasons for that might be on a technical level.

 

[Pulsegleaner]

I might get something like that with a screen. I think the lack of time to do anything with it stops me. Plus, I have been fighting my cars lately. So much snow and one lost its 4-wheel drive—stupid automatic sensing technology and black cows that love to stand in the middle of the road at midnight where there are no streetlights.

When I am home, I just want to read.

Basil and other mints are a headache for me, because not only are the seeds quite small, they also accumulate a VERY strong static charge, which means sifting them from the chaff becomes an exercise in chasing them all around the sifting bowl as static shoots them to the other side constantly.
It doesn't help that, because of all of the essential oils in the seed heads, they never really dry to a "crumbly" texture, so twirling them in your fingers until the plant matter is reduced to dust doesn't really work that well. You have to sort of pinch each seed vessel one by one, while counting how many seeds come out until you either hit four (the maximum number producible by a single flower), or have totally flattened it.

 

[Jane23]

Basil and other mints are a headache for me, because not only are the seeds quite small, they also accumulate a VERY strong static charge, which means sifting them from the chaff becomes an exercise in chasing them all around the sifting bowl as static shoots them to the other side constantly.
It doesn't help that, because of all of the essential oils in the seed heads, they never really dry to a "crumbly" texture, so twirling them in your fingers until the plant matter is reduced to dust doesn't really work that well. You have to sort of pinch each seed vessel one by one, while counting how many seeds come out until you either hit four (the maximum number producible by a single flower), or have totally flattened it.

I gathered some basil seeds yesterday from some of the plants I have not yet prepped for next year. They really did not break apart well.

I would like to set aside a portion of my garden this year to be a tea garden. I am currently looking at different seeds to plant and wondering if my soil will help them go. Some I know won't because I do not have a long enough growing season, such as ginger, and I will consider others for when I have a green house.

 

[digitS']

The cell structures (seed coats, cell walls etc.) of CF crops in general did not hold up over time in many cases compared to OG ones.

Don't you suppose, the science of industrial agricultural falls short of what nature is capable of and, in some cases, demands. (tongue in cheek )

We can continue to explore and learn and apply but there must be room for the natural world and its processes of which we are all a part.

Steve

 

[Pulsegleaner]

Don't you suppose, the science of industrial agricultural falls short of what nature is capable of and, in some cases, demands. (tongue in cheek )

We can continue to explore and learn and apply but there must be room for the natural world and its processes of which we are all a part.

Steve

Yes, but there is no denying that, used properly, science and technology CAN help us out.

I STILL fully believe that, one day, they will be able to create a computer program that can "ring the changes" of a organisms DNA. That is run though all possible gene sequences of a chromosome, work out which amino acids those genes will produce, cross check it with data on what those amino acids do in and to the organism, and be able to virtually model what traits and abilities an organism with that particular genotype would have. In other words, a program that could tell us EVERY possible genotype and what it does and then tell you which you needed for a given set of conditions.

By that point it may even be capable of assembling those genes and basically 3-D printing a zygote that possesses them, so you could basically print cells to order (of course, it is quite possible that doing THAT would mean crossing the MAJOR scientific hurdle of working out what makes something "alive" and how to make a living thing from non-living matter.)

 

[digitS']

Okay, I'm shocked ... but, at my age, I'm shocked by a lot of things.

Will we have Alexa comforting and advising our pets when we aren't home (like that recent goin to the dogs post)? Three D printing for house construction interested me when it first showed up. Concrete construction, ya know, I kinda like concrete . For living creatures!?!!

BTW. A careful look at Roman concrete has yielded interesting information why some of their construction has lasted for centuries/millennia. Meanwhile, modern concrete construction may fail in mere decades. And, a first notion regarding Roman concrete was that a feature was just reckless contamination, not so ... oh you wise industrialists.

Let's not lose sight of how nature carried on for billions of years without any human presence, at all. Let's not lose sight of the wisdom of the past. How wonderful it must have been to successfully produce a healthy diet for your family from a small piece of land. And, how might human comfort and contentment play into human existence. Or, is human fate simply that of minions to industry?

Steve