More Seeds In The Mail!!
@jeejee’s Contest
A couple of weeks ago, I entered a contest by @jeejee. The prize, tomato seeds! I collect seeds, all seeds, but tomato seeds are my favorite.
Here are some of them...
Well, I WON! And here’s what I found in my mailbox:
I’ve never grown tomatillos, so I’m stoked about that!
Cherokee Nation Seed Bank Shipment
A while back, I wrote a post about the Cherokee Nation Seed Bank. Every year, heirloom seeds passed down through generations of Cherokee are offered to tribal citizens from their seed bank. Each citizen is allowed two varieties. I recieved my shipment and my son’s. Here’s what we chose.
Cutleaf coneflower, sunchoke, jewelry gourd and Trail of Tears bead corn.
For the Cherokee people, knowledge of agriculture wasn’t just a necessary practice, it was a central component of culture. These seeds are the direct descendents of plants grown by Cherokees in our ancestral lands. They are drought and disease resistant and have long storage lives.
The genetics in these rare varieties, that aren’t available commercially, are tied directly to the Cherokee people, their heritage, and tradition.
“No self-respecting Cherokee would ever be without a corn patch.”
~ Old Cherokee Saying
I had planned on growing some Cherokee white eagle corn this year, but I think I’ll be growing the Trail of Tears bead corn instead. I don’t have enough property to keep them from cross pollinating. And it’s very important to me to keep these varieties pure.
Shed Update
So, a few weeks ago I made a post about things we were going to try to get done while my husband was off work for a week. The shed was the main event. Well, we didn’t get it finished. It rained, snowed and froze.
But today, the weather was beautiful, so the work continued.
Hopefully there will be some bigger and more frequent project updates coming as the weather continues to cooperate!
Thanks for stopping by! Have a great week!
So cool to keep the Native American seeds going like this! If anyone would know what works well and what doesn't, it would be the folks that grew along side them.
Just curious - I wonder if the 'bead' corn refers to the appearance on the cob of if they were actually used in beading.
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It’s edible, but it’s also used to make jewelry. I’m hoping mine does well this year. I’d love to make some jewelry with it, but I’ve got to save enough for seed and I’d like to be able to make beads for sale and share some of the seed.
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Neat! I'll keep my fingers crossed for a great harvest. That way you can do a little exploring of all those options.
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that is an impressive haul - congrats on the win!
if you ever were asked to choose a favourite tomato varietal, could you?!
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Beauty Queen. It’s absolutely beautiful, it’s an excellent balance of sweet and acidic, and it produces well. Second favorite....that would be a tie between all the others! lol
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"a tie between all the others" - oh man, that's the best answer ever!
i will look for some beauty queen seeds (it's also a tori amos song, so that gives me double reason on top of a flavour recommendation).
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That's a lot of tomato seeds! Wow! I like growing tomatoes way more than I like eating them...I've never really been a fan. Abhorrent, I know. Especially for the Ozarks. Haha!
We are building a wood shed/chicken coop and it looks like we are at the same stages!
Congrats on that haul of awesome seeds!
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I’ll eat all of mine, and all of yours. :)
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I just know I'm going to be making a lot of tomato sauce! Which is fine! Haha!
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Wow! There must be 10-15 varieties of tomatoes there. I also think its really cool how the Cherokee pass down seeds to future generations. I have heard through people in my family that I have some Cherokee way in my background and there is a member of my family who is really into genealogy, who says they think there is too.
One question I had was if you had ever tried a bean called Trail of Tears? I saw the name of the corn you were growing and thought maybe there was a chance you tried it.
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I haven’t tried it, but someone suggested it to me the other day. I’m going to have to find some seed and get them in the ground. I’ve just got to find a supplier.
I’m grateful for the opportunity to take part in keeping some of the Cherokee traditions going. I hope to save enough seed to share with people who don’t have access to the Cherokee Seed Bank.
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I bought a small packet from Baker's Creek about a month or two ago and was planning on planting them this next year. I will only have enough to try and save enough seed for the next year, so unfortunately I won't have enough to share for a couple of years. If your interested I think they were around $3 for a packet at Baker's Creek.
I have been hearing more about seed banks lately and I think its great! We need more diversity in the foods we grow in case a pest or problem affects one variety, then at least we can have several others and will not have to worry about plants going extinct. Keep up the great work!
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I just looked up the Cherokee Nation Seed Bank (I missed your earlier post on it). Too bad they don't sell seeds to those of us who are not members of the nation. It would be great to help ensure such great plants live on.
And I know how it is to have projects kind of stalled for a while on account of weather! I am looking forward to the warm weather of spring. Although it will be rainy, which might put a damper on other outdoor plans.
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I saw a post a while back...I wish I could remember who’s it was... but they had a package of seeds that they got in the mail. It had several packages of labeled seeds in it, and a list of all the other Steemians the package had visited. When someone recieved the package, they would take what they could use and add what they had to share. They would mard on the list what they took and added, write their name and pass it on. I was thinking of starting something like that after harvest time this year, and if I’m able to collect enough seed, pass them around a little.
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I do remember that! I think I saw it on YouTube back when we were on there. I think it is a very neat idea. So, if you end up doing that, keep us in the loop!
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You bet’cha! :)
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This is great!! I had own garden with my husband in Japan but we moved to Canada so we still don’t have our garden yet. We are planning to have our garden soon.
Your seed collection looks nice!
Someday, we want to have our chicken too!
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What sort of things did you grow in Japan? Any super unique varieties of veggies or flowers? And do you have any pictures? I’d love to see them!
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We tried Hokkaido Potatoes, Aiko tomatoes, cucumbers, eggplants, and herbs. And also, Naturally Fuki plants (edible flower buds) grew around our garden. We ate them as Tempura!
Unfortunately, We left that house in 2014 so we don't have pictures now. My husband tried to do Masanobu Fukuoka style. He is a very interesting farmer. Please check his website if you like!
http://www.onestrawrevolution.net/One_Straw_Revolution/Massanobu_Fukuoka.html
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I just read a post about this style of gardening, and I’m absolutely interested! Thanks for that link. It’s something I want to experiment with this garden season.
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