Supermarkets Slow Down Yet Gardens Are Growing


Consumer’s wallets have tightened significantly since 2008, when the global economic slowdown started, led by the food safety scares of tomatoes and peppers during that summer.

2009 is the first year that fruit and vegetable sales have dropped, with fruit down 12% and vegetables down 6%. The trend is from more expensive fruit and veggies to less expensive ones, as everyone is trying to make their dollar go farther. What is even more interesting is that the volume is up of fruits and vegetables, but the sales or profit is down. One explanation is people are eating out less, which decreases the profits to the retailers. Another is that people are gardening a lot more, growing some of their own food, especially the more expensive vegetables, and buying the less expensive ones. As an example, weekly dollar sales of packaged salads fell by nearly 5%, while bulk lettuce sales rose by 6.9% in 2009.

The increase in gardening has been driven by a concern by consumers over prices and overall food safety. The National Gardening Association states that there is a multitude of reasons people are gardening in increasing numbers, including the state of the economy,  increased costs of food and that “food safety is a huge issue in the US. People mistrust producers of food so if you grow your own you can control the inputs like fertilizer.” CNN reports that there were 43 million vegetable gardens planted in 2009, with 19% of households growing some of their own fruit, vegetables and herbs are first timers. $100 spent on seed can save you up to $2500 at the grocery store, according to a couple of studies in 2008 where vegetables were planted, grown and weighed, then compared to local grocery store prices for an entire season. That figure is probably even more now, with food prices increasing.

On April 22, 2010 the National Inflation Association issued the following food inflation alert-

The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) today released their Producer Price Index (PPI) report for March 2010 and the latest numbers are shocking. Food prices for the month rose by 2.4%, its sixth consecutive monthly increase and the largest jump in over 26 years. NIA believes that a major breakout in food inflation could be imminent, similar to what is currently being experienced in India.

Some of the startling food price increases on a year-over-year basis include, fresh and dry vegetables up 56.1%, fresh fruits and melons up 28.8%, eggs for fresh use up 33.6%, pork up 19.1%, beef and veal up 10.7% and dairy products up 9.7%. On October 30th, 2009, NIA predicted that inflation would appear next in food and agriculture, but we never anticipated that it would spiral so far out of control this quickly.

Elizabeth Pivonka, President and CEO of the Produce for Better Health Foundation says in the Feb 2010 issue of Seed World, “There are still many fruit and vegetable growers and shippers that continue to struggle to stay in business. Food safety initiatives, including the cost of traceability are some of their biggest expenses right now, along with trying to cope with any other types of legislation that always cost money (for example, water issues on the west coast, immigration issues and cap and trade.) Finally, just overall profitability is an ongoing concern- it’s a shame that the fruit and vegetable industry doesn’t make the profit margins other products make so that they can better market themselves.”

This is very telling, as the costs of commercial food production, regardless of the sector, continue to rise due to more and more legislation aimed at making the food produced safer. This is in direct contrast to the costs in a local food system, as the transport costs are very small, and the quality and health of the food is significantly higher, eliminating the need for increased legislation to attempt to force the safety into the food production system. The safety and quality are inherent, as producer, shipper and retailer are often one and the same. If the quality and safety are missing, the consumer simply won’t buy, which has a much greater impact on the producer. Thus the closeness and openness of the local food system works to increase the quality, health and safety of the locally produced foods.

This is one of the main reasons that local food and local agriculture- that grown and consumed within a 100-200 mile radius- has been increasing in volume and sales for the past several years. People can see what they buying, talk to and get to know the person who grew or raised their food. They get to actively participate in making the decision for better food that is raised or grown in healthy ways and has better flavor and nutrition than industrial food producers.

What better time or reasons to eat locally?

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Non- GMO Labeling is a Hit with Consumers

GMO Labeling Fight


This is an interesting report from the Nielsen company- the same company doing the familiar Nielsen Ratings.

The consumer interest in Non-GMO labeled foods is skyrocketing. In 2009, this micro market segment was worth $60.2 Million and grew at 67% over 2008, making it the #1 healthy eating trend in store brands for 2009. Store brands are like Topco Full Circle and Safeway “O” Organics. Store brands like these now make up almost 40% of products with no preservative claims, 25% of all organic product sales, and nearly one-fifth of all products with “natural” claims in food/drug/mass merchandise retailers. Whole Foods Market, one of the largest U.S. natural foods retailers, have started the process to certify that all of their store brands are GMO free.

What is even more interesting is the early adoption of the Non-GMO labeling by store brands, which are taking the lead in offering healthy products instead of trailing the major brands as they used to do. Consumer sentiment against genetically modified foods (GM or GMO) is growing- despite all of the marketing and press support by genetic engineering companies like Monsanto- and market brands are reflecting that. With GMOs being linked to organ damage, crop failures, increased water usage, soil contamination and worse, consumers are becoming aware of the dangers of these products. Another major winner is the “No high fructose corns syrup” label worth $13 Million and growing at 28% over 2008. That gives it a #10 rank.

These dollar amounts are big numbers to most of us consumers, but are small potatoes to the large national brands, such as Lays and Kraft. What makes them take notice is the growth percentage. They will be watching the growth in several of these segments to see if there is consistent, sustained growth that makes it financially feasible or even necessary for them to switch suppliers from conventional to non-GMO. If there is enough movement in the market towards GMO free products, they will switch, as they will not stand by and watch a large market share evaporate.

This happened in the recent past with RBGH or RBST, the bovine growth hormone developed, not suprisingly, by Monsanto to increase the milk output from cows. It created many other problems, such as increased infections in the milk and disease in the cows. The FDA stated RBGH did not alter the milk, and sued several dairies that labeled their milk RBGH free. Enough consumers found out the truth and started requesting RBGH free milk. Not long afterwards, the major players saw the movement in the market and made the switch to RBGH free suppliers. Surprisingly, this didn’t take a majority of consumers, only 5-7% of Americans, as they represent several hundred millions of dollars to the major national brands. This is money they will not lose when they can make a switch in suppliers and keep their customers happy.

Monsanto is worried, of course. When, not if, the major national brands make the switch, Monsanto will find itself with many highly expensive bio-engineered products that no one wants. They are already in trouble in Europe, as they have lost several recent lawsuits they filed to force their way into European markets and agriculture. The nations of the European Union and more importantly- it’s people- have rejected genetic engineering of food almost out of hand.

What this means for you and I is great news. Safe, wholesome and sustainable food is at the core of our needs, next to clean air and water. With people starting to actively request GMO free labeling on their foods, safer foods are closer and easier to get for everyone.

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Heirloom Seeds Give Us Resiliency

Seed Planting


There is a lot of talk, writing and thought about self-sufficiency now, mainly due to the partial economic and industrial collapse that we’ve all watched in the past year or so. The thought of being dependent on no one else is appealing, at least in the short run. This is short term thinking, however, without the realization that humanity has not been completely self-sufficient for 15,000 years, if ever. We were, possibly, self-sufficient when we were hunter-gatherers, but not really even then, as groups of people would trade and help each other.

The progression goes from dependence, to independence to interdependence. At one point we were interdependent with communities mostly supporting themselves, with some goods and services coming from outside. We have since regressed to dependence in just about everything- water in most cities, food, clothing, supplies for housing and just about any other goods we use.

What, exactly, is produced in your town or city?

This brings us to the present self-sufficiency dilemma.

Here is an alternative- resiliency and resilience thinking. This takes into account the many variables that have been stumbling blocks for many- from industries down to family gardeners. For example, the home gardener that finds a few bugs and a disease have pretty much wiped out their tomatoes. They are surprised at this downturn, thinking it abnormal.

In fact, you will be hard pressed to read anywhere that the diseases, pests and other challenges in gardening are anything other than something to be managed and minimized, as if they aren’t entirely normal events! Resilience thinking plans for these events in several ways, so that there is no surprise at loss, only at gain. What a radical concept! This is something that has been taught in several range management and natural resource management courses for a number of  years now. This concept works extremely well in environments that have definite, finite limits and resources, similar to the home gardener and small grower.

Resilience thinking acknowledges that ecological systems are very dynamic, experiencing storms, pests, diseases, flooding and droughts. These are not surprise events, but normal and natural over time. These are also not always on a global scale, but often very local patterns. The optimal growing conditions one year are sometimes completely different the next.

This way of thinking is definitely not new, yet has been overlooked in the commercial production of food and goods where profit and continued growth are the main driving forces.

Using diversity in our gardening to overcome the losses of one or more varieties is only one example. Bio-intensive gardening, companion planting and square foot gardening are more ways that adapt to the changing conditions while working to produce viable amounts of food. Building the health and abundance of the soil is one of the most critically important, as everything literally follows the health of the soil. It stands to reason- if the soil is full of minerals and nutrients available to the plants, supported by the active living communities in the different layers of the soil, then the plants will take up the full spectrum of nutrients and minerals to produce the best fruits and vegetables possible. If, on the other hand, there are no living communities due to chemical applications of fertilizers, pesticides and herbicides, and there are only 8 to 10 minerals available, that is what the plant will take up.

The results are easy to see- we all love the supermarket tomatoes, don’t we? Have you ever stopped and thought about why the common backyard, hybrid tomato tastes so good compared to the supermarket one? You have the answer now- the health of the soil they were grown in.

Variety or diversity of species is one of the key elements in resilience thinking, by the simple expedient that the more types or varieties of a species there are, the more likely that a significant portion of the population will make it through whatever challenge appears, from pests to disease to weather. This is why there are so many different types of heirlooms, as each one offers different benefits to changing conditions. This gives you the ability to choose, instead of being forced to rely on a small number of varieties to perform in multiple growing conditions, as hybrids do.

Having 6 or 7 types of tomatoes planted, interspersed with lettuce, carrots, garlic and nasturtiums will give you a much better chance of a good crop than a row of only 1 type of tomato with nothing else in the row. Not to mention all of the other produce that you will get, in addition to the tomatoes! This is a bonus on bonus situation. Even if there is a loss of a couple types of tomatoes from pests, disease or weather, there will be enough other production to provide a good harvest. No one goes hungry!

This is also greatly applicable to the soil. If the soil has healthy communities of multiple organisms in many layers of the soil, there will be plenty of nutrients for both the soil dwellers and the plants, so everyone benefits. Diversity of the soil communities works the same way, the ability to respond positively to a change or challenge without major losses.

Of course we benefit from the healthy plants and their production, so it is in our best interest to build and grow the soil, the garden and the plants to their most resilient stage that we can. We gain the benefits of longer, better harvests that are more tasty and nutritious, which increases our health and our resiliency to outside events. We are more easily able to support ourselves and our communities with fresh and healthy food.

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Homegrown Vegetables Are the Most Nutritious

Dacha Garden


I came across a great article about how fresh colorful vegetables offer the most nutrition for the money spent. While I definitely agree with this, I believe there are some lost opportunities here; namely growing your own vegetables will prove the truth of several recent findings. Below is the link for the article:

Fresh Vegetable Salads Provide Maximum Nutrition for Each Food Dollar Spent

The first finding is that fresh colorful vegetables have the most nutrition when compared to prepackaged and prepared foods. The second is that naturally grown chemical free vegetables have more minerals and nutrients as compared to conventional chemically grown ones. The third is that the dollar return on money spent for seeds to grow a vegetable garden- even a modest one- is staggering. Several articles I’ve read put the return from $100 in seeds at anywhere from $1000 to $1800 in fresh produce!

“Salads that offer the most nutrition for the money are made with fresh, unprocessed vegetables. Color is the key. Those veggies with the bright, vibrant colors are trying to tell you something. The more colors added to the bowl, the more the salad can keep you looking and feeling young, and put a bounce in your step for the rest of the day. That’s because vibrant colored veggies are loaded with antioxidants, plant compounds that slow the aging process and ward off disease.”

The more colors in the vegetables you eat, the more different types of nutrients, minerals and other vitamins that you get. This is a great start!

“All of these varieties are excellent sources of Vitamins A, E and K. Vitamin A supports eye and respiratory health, and makes sure the immune system is up to speed. It keeps the outer layers of tissues and organs healthy, and promotes strong bones, healthy skin and hair, and strong teeth. Vitamin E slows the aging process, maintains positive cholesterol ratios, provides endurance boosting oxygen, protects lungs from pollution, prevents various forms of cancer, and alleviates fatigue. Vitamin K keeps blood vessels strong and prevents blood clots.

Greens are also excellent sources of folate, manganese, chromium, and potassium. Folate prevents heart disease, defends against intestinal parasites and food poisoning, promotes healthy skin, and helps maintain hair color. Manganese keeps fatigue away, helps muscle reflexes and coordination, boosts memory, and helps prevent osteoporosis. Chromium helps normalize blood pressure and insulin levels. It prevents sugar cravings and sudden drops in energy. Potassium regulates the body’s water balance and normalizes heart rhythms. It aids in clear thinking by sending oxygen to the brain.”

Now if we take this a step further and grow these vegetables ourselves, or at least buy them locally- from the farmers market or “our” farmer/gardener/neighbor that grows way too much to eat themselves- we can stack the advantages of the nutrition in our favor.

Several recently released studies show what is at first glance somewhat common sense- naturally grown vegetables have more nutrients, vitamins and minerals than those grown in the conventional chemically grown manner. The common sense part comes from the fact that chemical agriculture on any scale depends on very few chemicals- NPK familiar to anyone? Nitrogen, phosphorous and potassium are important, but they aren’t the only elements that plants need to grow and produce healthy fruits and vegetables. One study I’ve read showed that a naturally grown vegetable had 84 minerals and elements that were identified as opposed to 8-10 in the same exact vegetable planted from seeds from the same seed packet but grown conventionally with the standard chemical fertilizers and pesticides/herbicides. Something to note- the test didn’t identify the negative elements in the vegetables- such as chemical residues.

Which do you think has better nutrition, which has better taste, and which would you want to eat or serve as dinner to your family?

Continuing the stacking of benefits idea- this is the introduction to the article:

“It looks like food prices will continue to creep steadily higher throughout 2009, even in the face of an economic crisis that has reduced the purchasing power of most Americans. This makes it more important that ever to get the best nutritional value for every food dollar spent.”

I agree completely with this, and seeing this at the end of 2009, the truth of the cost of food vs purchasing power is apparent. What if we can turn this truth around, and make it pay instead of save money? That’s an exciting idea, as saving money is good, but saving in this case is only a stop to spending money. Growing a garden can actually pay you! It is truly not very difficult to grow a garden that produces more than you and your family can eat. Sell the excess, make some money! Farmers and local markets are the fastest growing segment of agriculture for the past several years. Most have a booth just for the backyard gardener to sell/trade their abundance.

Or trade it to your neighbor in return for services or something you need. This won’t give you dollars, but will give you something of value that you didn’t have to spend dollars to obtain.

Or donate some to your local food bank/soup kitchen/Meals on Wheels/etc. Again, not dollars, but karma is good too. So is the increased community that you’ve just created that can help you in ways unforeseen right now.

Now please don’t misunderstand me. I really like the article! I think that there are some ways to capitalize on a good idea and great benefit to achieve much greater results for all of us. Please take the time to read the entire article.

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Food Films


Winter is a cold time of year in most parts of the country, with shorter days and more time spent indoors. One of my favorite hobbies (besides gardening) is watching movies. I have been a film buff since I was a kid and had actually contemplated going to film school. Instead, I majored in horticulture and environmental sciences. But while in college I did take a documentary film class. Documentaries about our food system are a very hot topic right now. There are many great films available for viewing that talk about food, growing, industrial agriculture, fast food, community gardens, etc. Some have a more positive view and some just present the cold hard truth of the matter.  I thought I would share with you some of the films I have seen over this past year, you may want to view one or all of them during these cold months of winter. Many are available from your local rental store, library, Netflix or online.

The Future of Food is a 2-disc set is a great introduction to our food system and GMO’s. There are also some great shorts about food in our school systems, seed saving and farmer’s markets.

One of my personal favorites,  Super Size Me is about the month long adventure of Morgan Spurlock eating only McDonald’s fast food. I never ate at McDonald’s before this film but if you do, you will not think about it afterwords. Morgan is a great film maker and has a unique way of bringing everyday issues to the forefront in an entertaining way. Also, check out his 30 Days films available on DVD.

Food, Inc. was a very popular documentary film in theaters this past summer and is now available on DVD. This film is a hardcore look at industrial agriculture and how it is now working. This film is not for the faint of heart, but it does show you what happens when you have to produce food in mass quantities. I love this film and the film Fresh, because they both highlight the great work of Joel Salatin. I had the privilege I hearing Joel and his family speak in the mid-90’s before he was a farming superstar. His way of farming is so unique and I think could be duplicated to varying degrees depending on what environment you are farming in. I am glad Joel has received some lime-light for the great work he has done for so many years. Fresh is also a great film and has a little more positive spin to it, than Food, Inc. If you want ideas to make some changes, Fresh is a great place to start.

King Corn is a film about how corn is so infused in our food system. This is a great documentary film; I was pleasantly surprised how well the story-lines were presented and how welcoming this small farming community was to the film makers.

The Garden is about a community garden in the heart of LA. This is an amazing documentary filmed over many years. Warning: the ending is a surprise and somewhat troubling. But the filmmakers did a great job telling an amazing story.

Ingredients really celebrates the ingredients that make up a great meal, with small, local agriculture. Some great interviews with chefs and farmers.

Urban Sustainable Living with Patti Moreno, The Gardening Girl is very inspiring. This is a great series of how to videos aimed at the urban/city gardener. After watching it, I was almost inspired to make my own yarn!

The Botany of Desire is a recent PBS special now available on DVD based on Michael Pollan’s best-selling book by the same title. Plants are amazing and mankind has been manipulating them for a long time. This film explores the world of four amazing plants and our interactions with them.

This will give you a few films to view during these cold winter months. If you want just pure entertainment, I would highly recommend the new DVD release Julie & Julia, a great film for foodies. If you want to take an outing to your local theater, the uplifting film The Blind Side, based on a true story is worth your time. Next time, some book and magazine suggestions!

Cindy

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Heirloom Gardens From Seeds

Fall Garden Salad


Many of us have gotten used to eating the few select varieties of fruits and vegetables that are available in the grocery store. The  grocery store produce is pretty, but it doesn’t taste like much.

Incredible, exceptional taste is the single biggest reason so many people are turning to heirloom vegetables. Once you experience the sheer depth of the flavor that any heirloom variety has compared to the supermarket one, you will always want more. You will find heirloom produce to be more flavorful as well as much higher in nutrients. You can eat a salad with no dressing because all the greens and veggies just taste so good. Many heirloom vegetables have been saved and selected for decades and sometimes even centuries because they are have the best flavor and production in home and small market gardens. Flavor is once again the biggest concern for small growers, as they don’t ship their produce farther than the local Farmers Market.

Recent studies have shown that the newer hybrid varieties that are developed to optimize production don’t have as much nutrition as their heirloom counterparts. So now, not only do the supermarket veggies have less taste, but they don’t nourish us as well.  Heirlooms tend to be hardier so it is easier to grow organically without all the chemicals that the popular commercial produce has. So it is also cheaper in the long run to grow plants from heirloom seeds. Heirlooms tend to ripen at different rates, which spreads the production out, unlike hybrids that have been specifically developed to ripen all at once. This means that you have a longer season to enjoy the produce, instead of getting hammered with all of the crop at once.

Another benefit of heirlooms is they don’t have all of the development costs and research associated with hybrids, so the seeds themselves are usually less expensive. Some seed companies try to counter this cost basis by selling seed packets at a smaller charge, but you wind up getting a lot fewer seed- sometimes as few as 10-15! You can save seeds from heirlooms, replant them and they will adapt to your specific garden climate, becoming even more flavorful, nutritious and productive. This is a huge benefit, one that ties directly to how we have fed ourselves for the past 12,000- 15,000 years. Seeds saved from hybrids won’t grow the same plant, and genetically modified seeds either won’t regrow at all or you will face serious lawsuits for saving and replanting their seeds. Heirloom seeds offer many advantages over hybrid and genetically modified seeds.

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New and unique heirloom seed collections available online now.


In response to our customers requests, we have just released our new and unique seed collections online at Underwood Gardens Heirloom Seed Collections. We have an initial 14 collections that are specially priced and carefully selected to make your growing experiences as easy and rewarding as possible. This makes it easy to explore a new area of gardening that you might be interested in, but aren’t ready to jump in fully. Almost all of our collections have a book with them to guide you through the process and help you make your decisions along the way.

These collections allow you to be extremely creative, not just in gardening but in creating gifts and useful everyday items as well. From crafting the perfect personalized homegrown herbal tea for your tea loving friend, making kitchen helpers out of  gourds from your garden to creating a personally designed, grown and arranged dried flower bouquet for that special occasion when nothing else will quite do. These collections help you go far beyond what is available in any store, and in the process learn how to create a new and deeply satisfying gardening extension.

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Home Seed Saving and Storage

Oaxan Green Dent Corn


Many people are attracted to heirloom seeds and gardening for the variety and flavor. Once they realize that heirlooms are open pollinated seeds that can be saved and replanted year after year, they often ask how to start saving their own seeds.

This is not hard, but there are some basics to understand first. With a little knowledge you will be able to make the choice to save seeds, or realize it’s not something you want to pursue at this point. Please realize that this is an only in introduction, as there are several excellent seed saving books on the subject if you want to learn more.

Short term storage is the largest concern for most home gardeners and even most market growers, as they are looking for a way to have viable seeds for next year, not 10 years from now.

This is the same concern that humans have had since we started planting seeds some 10,000 – 12,000 years ago. There is some confusion as to how to keep seeds viable for a couple of years, as the news about seed banks and the high tech methods have created a false sense of need.

You don’t need high-tech, expensive equipment! You already have everything in your house that you need.

Temperature and humidity are the two main concerns in any seed storage setup. A place that is consistently cool and low humidity are what’s needed, as temperature fluctuations will shorten the life and viability of your seeds.

Your refrigerator or freezer is ideal;  you won’t need a lot of room as seeds are usually small.

Short Term Storage

There are environmental concerns to be aware of such as ambient humidity and temperature. If you live in a high humidity environment you will need to take certain precautions, just as if you live in a high temperature area.

In many areas the refrigerator is fine, as long as you put the seeds towards the back and in an area that isn’t exposed to the temperature fluctuations of the door opening. The freezer answers the temperature fluctuations, as it is opened a lot less than the fridge door.

Freezing seeds does not harm them, and can greatly extend their lifespan if done properly.

All seed banks freeze their seeds intended for long term storage! Humidity is a greater concern with freezing, as a blast of warm humid air on frozen seeds can damage them. If you live in a high humidity area, smaller packets of seeds for one years planting will be ideal, as the packet can be pulled from the larger seed storage without exposing the rest of the seeds to temperature/humidity fluctuations.

If you are saving seeds from a seed packet where you didn’t use all of the seeds, keep the packet and put it into a Ziploc baggie. Date the baggie and put it into a gallon sized Ziploc that has the date on it as well.

If you don’t date everything, you will wonder how long the seed has been in storage…

If you are saving seeds from harvest, put all of the info on the baggie- common name, scientific name, date, and any notes you want to remember next year when you pull it out.

This is the time to start a garden/seed journal as well, to document what you planted, what grew well, what challenges you had, bugs, disease, weather, etc. that you will forget in 3 or 4 years.

As with anything you will need to experiment and learn what works best for you and in your specific, unique situation. Some high humidity areas need to store their seeds in smaller quantities and pull the individual packets out of the storage container that are needed for that years planting, put them into another container in the back of the fridge to thaw out for a couple of days, then finally bring them out into the room to finish warming up.

Most areas aren’t nearly as exacting, with the seeds going from the freezer to a covered container on the counter for a couple of days to thaw and stabilize before being planted. One side note, some seeds will germinate better after freezing/refrigerating, as this imitates the natural winter season in the ground.

Longer Term Storage

Long term storage is similar to short term, but the freezer is almost always used, with chest freezers purchased specifically for seeds acting as miniature seed banks.

Only seeds are stored in the freezer and it is opened only a couple of times a year, so temperature swings are minimized. The freezer is usually run at about -15F. Most seeds will last a minimum of 5 years with certain hardy varieties lasting 20+ years!

This is obviously the domain of the serious seed saver. There are a lot of individuals that fall into this category, which surprises many people, who think that serious seed saving and seed banks are reserved for seed companies or government agencies.

Individual seed banks were common until the 1920’s, and are on the rise again. It makes a lot of sense to have a local or community seed bank, as the varieties saved are locally adapted and proven producers; poor performers simply aren’t saved. Local knowledge on what grows well is indispensable and is not possible to have at a company or government level except for possibly at the local level, as the time and interest is just not there.

To start saving seeds, they must be clean and dry, free of vegetable matter or mold/mildew.

Most seeds are intuitive to save, just let them dry on the vine/cob/pod and shell or separate the seeds from the husk/cob/pod and you’re done! Some, like tomatoes need a little more work, such as fermenting the gel coat off of the seeds, washing and then drying them.

Start with an easily processed seed to get the feel and see if this is something you want to do. Also, start with saving something that you like and are interested in eating again.

Be warned though, once you start it becomes a bit of an obsession as you realize that you are starting to take control of your food and the future of what you eat! It is a powerful and liberating feeling. You might even become a food rebel!

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A Royal Vegetable Garden and more


Some of you may have seen this already, but it’s worth repeating.  The British Royal family has started a vegetable garden at Buckingham Palace. This is great news! The idea seems to be similar to what we are seeing here- to promote family gardening and growing one’s own food, if even on a limited scale.  It is interesting to note that a lot more of the British have continued the concept of the Victory Garden than Americans.  A friend who had just returned from a visit remarked on the train ride from the airport,  he could see into the backyards and a vast majority of them had gardens from fence to fence, with a lot of growing in evidence.

Another item of interest is from the Washington Post.  The headline states the increased seed demand is based on the recession, yet the article also states that a lot of the growth is from people who are concerned about the safety of their food and where their food comes from.  Here is the full article. This follows what we have seen here, most people aren’t as concerned about the economic impact; they’re concerned about the safety of their food and how fragile the distribution chain is. They remember the $5/gallon diesel last summer, and the resulting $2 tomatoes that still tasted like cardboard. People are starting to realize that the supermarket model is not sustainable, as the food travels an average of 1200-1500 miles to get to them. The increasing popularity of the farmers markets and home-grown veggies is the result of this unease and resulting realization.

Hope your garden is going gangbusters, and you’re wondering what to do with all of your veggies!

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How to Store Your Seeds for Next Year

Cleaning Pumpkin Seeds


We get a lot of questions on how to save seeds. Most of them are general seed saving questions, but most boil down to how to save seeds for the next year. Most of the seed packets have more seeds than will be used in one year, and most seeds are good for several years in proper storage conditions.

Please realize that seeds are meant to be planted, not stored!

We get a chuckle from the e-bay seed sellers and survivalist stores that proclaim their seeds are nitrogen flushed, vacuum packed in tin cans or aluminum foil pouches, and are good for 5 or 10 years.

That’s great, but if the seeds are tossed out in the unheated/uncooled garage for 3+ years- guess what?

They’re DEAD!

The temperature/humidity fluctuations shortens the life of the stored seeds drastically. Seeds are the plant’s mechanism for propagation and survival. They have evolved to survive for a short time- e.g. a winter or two- in the ground until the optimum conditions arrive to sprout.

For almost all domesticated varieties that are used for food, the optimum conditions  mean next spring. There definitely are seeds that will last longer, but most are non-food plants. Throughout history people would collect and save seeds for the next year or two and have kept plant varieties alive for thousands of years.

Today we have methods to stabilize temperature and humidity; we have advantages in prolonging the life of the stored seed.

The best way to save seeds for future plantings are to keep the seeds in the original seed packets; that way you know where they came from, the name, planting instructions, etc. Then put them in clear Ziplock sandwich baggies with the date on the baggie.

This way you know when you started storing them.

Put all of the baggies in a gallon Ziplock and put it into the freezer.

“But won’t that hurt the seeds?”, people ask. Not at all!

This is why the Vavilov Institute in St. Petersburg, Russia uses liquid nitrogen to freeze seeds for a long time. This is also why the “Doomsday Vault” in Svalbard, Norway is located above the Arctic Circle and dug into the side of a mountain and several hundred feet down, to keep the vault below zero if the cooling system fails.

Your freezer is cold and has low humidity. You probably don’t go into the freezer several times a day like the refrigerator. Each time you open/shut the door, the outside air comes in, raising the temperature and humidity.

This isn’t good for your seeds if they are in the fridge. The freezer is more stable. Please understand the fridge is better than the garage or basement, but the freezer is even better, and you probably have space!

When time comes for planting next spring, take out the packets you will use, take out the seeds you will plant if there are a lot left, and put the bag back into the Ziplock and into the freezer. Let the seed to be planted come to room temperature before planting into the soil.

Most varieties will keep for 3+ years with no loss of germination.

There are exceptions, of course. Onion seeds are good for 1 year, no more, no matter the method of keeping. Garlic only grows from the bulb or clove, freezing kills it.

There are some other varieties that have a short life in storage, but don’t get too caught up in that. If you plant each year, you will be fine.

When you start to save your own seed, the same procedure applies- just be sure the seed is DRY, or else the freeze will expand any moisture in the seed and destroy it.

Label the bag with the name, date harvested, date stored and freeze it.

If you get into seed saving, or want a lot more information on the methods and details for each variety of vegetable, Seed to Seed by Suzanne Ashworth is a wonderful book. It is not light reading, but if treated like a reference book or text book, you’ll do just fine. 

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Raised Garden Beds at Underwood Gardens


We are finishing up our raised bed garden, and wanted to show you what we have been working on.  The raised beds will be both production garden for our family, and a test garden for the seed business.  Our garden is 35 x 70 feet;  smaller than some,  larger than others. There are several projects that we are working on that we will keep you up to date on with the blog, so check back often!

Today is an overview of the gardens, our climate and challenges that we face, as well as an introduction of some of the projects that we are working on.

We are at 5000 feet elevation, with 4 full seasons, and are located between Phoenix and Flagstaff, so we avoid the temperature extremes of both places. Our temperatures range from 110 to 20 degrees F. We are in a high desert environment with about 12 inches of rain annually. The soil here is good, but needs organic matter worked into it to be productive.  Arizona has a lot of microclimates, as does most areas of the US that have hills and elevation changes, so this presents unique challenges to growing depending on where you live.

Some of our challenges include the wind, heat and dry climate.  These combine to dry out a garden severely unless measures are taken.  Wind protection, drip irrigation and lots of mulch are some of the things we do to keep moisture where we need it.  Even with our challenges, we can grow a ton of food, and so can you!

Let’s take a look-

A plant growing in the dirt on a sunny day.

This South facing shot shows the raised beds, the blue wind break on the fence and the wood chips in the walkway. Over the fence in the background is the native grassland. There is weed cloth under the wood chips;  this gives a good walking surface that keeps the weeds out!  We are moving worms into each bed to help build soil and keep the beds aerated and healthy.

A plant growing in the dirt on a sunny day.

Here is a  photo of  the worm bed. We haven’t put the weed cloth and chips in the walkway yet, but the weed cloth under the bed is visible. This is where we will have lots of worms, in addition to charcoal, coffee grounds, and horse manure compost.  The worms love coffee grounds, which also retain a lot of moisture to help jump start the soil building process.  The white PVC piping is the drip manifold with the shut off valves and the garden hose that connects each bed to the next. The charcoal is visible under the drip tape.  It acts as condos for the micro-organisms that live in healthy soil. The humus-like soil will be used to amend or top-dress the other growing beds in the fall and spring. Once we have enough, we can use the excess humus as another product to sell locally. We will keep you updated on the progress.

This should give a good overview of what we are doing and where we are going. We will give more detailed info in the next few posts, so stay tuned!

Please don’t think that this level of gardening is required to be successful, it’s not! A lot smaller garden can be just as productive on a smaller scale- all the way down to 2×2 feet… The most important thing is to just get started! We will go over options on sizes in future blogs. As always, if you have questions or comments, please leave them on the comments section, or call us at 888-878-5247!

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The Value of a Home Garden

Square Foot Heirloom Vegetable Garden


Well seed season is upon us! We have been busy with orders and talking to a LOT of incredibly nice and friendly people who are making things happen in the heirloom world. There has been a lot of support for us as  new owners of Underwood Gardens and the direction that we are headed. We have found several new growers that will help us make the transition into more new and unusual heirloom varieties, while ensuring the quality and viability of the seed.

One of the trends we have seen is the amount of new or newer growers/gardeners that are looking at heirlooms for their gardens and food source. This is wonderful, especially in light of the legal action that Monsanto et al are trying to boondoggle America with. We ran across the following article at Kitchen Gardeners International and wanted to reprint it here in its entirety. Please enjoy, will write more later.

Dear Kitchen Gardener,

What’s a home garden worth? With the global economy spiraling downward and Mother Nature preparing to reach upward, it’s a good question to ask and a good time to ask it.

There isn’t one right answer, of course, but I’ll give you mine: $2149.15. Last year, my wife Jacqueline suggested to me that we calculate the total value of the produce coming out of our garden over the course of the growing season. Initially, the thought of doing that was about as appealing to me as a recreational root canal. I remember replying something like: “OK, so let me get this right: in addition to raising three busy boys, managing two careers, volunteering in a school garden, and growing most of our own produce, you’re proposing that we weigh every item that comes out of our garden, write it down in a log book, and spend a few leisurely evenings doing math?” Jacqueline, an economics major in college and a native French speaker, answered with a simple “oui” and so the project began.

There was a lot of work involved, mostly for Jacqueline, but as with gardening itself, it was work with a purpose. It didn’t take long for our log book to start filling up with dates and figures. Although we started eating our first garden salads in late April, we only began recording our harvests as of May 10th, starting first with greens and asparagus. Our last weighable harvest was two weeks ago in the form of a final cutting of Belgian endives forced from roots in our basement.

By the time we had finished weighing it all, we had grown 834 pounds and over six months worth of organic food (we’re still eating our own winter squash, onions, garlic, and frozen items like strawberries, green beans, and pesto cubes). Once we had the weights of the 35 main crops we grew, we then calculated what it would have cost us to buy the same items using three different sets of prices: conventional grocery store, farmers’ market and organic grocery store (Whole Foods, in our case). The total value came to $2196.50, $2431.15, and $2548.93 respectively. For the other economics majors and number crunchers among you, you can see our crunchy, raw data here.

There are things we didn’t include like the wild dandelion greens which we reaped but did not sow, the six or so carving pumpkins which we ultimately fed to our compost pile, and the countless snacks of strawberries, beans, peas, and tomatoes that never made it as far as our kitchen scale. There were also things we forgot to weigh like several pounds of grapes which turned into about 12 jars of jam. As with any growing season, there were hits and misses. The heaviest and most valuable crop was our tomatoes (158 lb/72 kg for a total value of $524). In terms of misses, our apple tree decided to take the year off and very few of our onions started from seed made it requiring me to buy some onion plants.

On the cost side, we had $130 for seeds and supplies, $12 for a soil test, and exceptional costs of $100 for some locally-made organic compost we bought for our “This Lawn is Your Lawn” frontyard garden (normally, we meet most of our soil fertility needs through our own composting). I don’t have a scientific calculation for water costs, but we don’t need to water much and, when we do, water is relatively cheap in Maine. Also, I mulch my beds pretty heavily to keep moisture in and weeds down.  Let’s say $40 in water.  So, if we consider that our out-of-pocket costs were $282 and the total value generated was $2431, that means we had a return on investment of 862%. The cost of our labor is not included because we enjoy gardening and the physical work involved. If I am to include my labor costs, I feel I should also include the gym membership fees, country club dues, or doctors’ bills I didn’t have.

If you really want to play around with the data, you can calculate how much a home garden like ours produces on a per acre basis. If you use the $2400 figure and consider that our garden is roughly 1/25th of an acre, it means that home gardens like ours can gross $60,000/acre. You can also calculate it on a square foot basis which in our case works out to be roughly $1.50/ft2. That would mean that a smaller garden of say 400ft2 would produce $600 of produce. Keep in mind that these are averages and that certain crops are more profitable and space efficient than others. A small garden planted primarily with salad greens and trellised tomatoes, for example, is going to produce more economic value per square foot more than one planted with potatoes and squash. We plant a bit of everything because that’s the way we like to garden and eat.

Clearly, this data is just for one family (of five), one yard (.3 acre), one garden (roughly 1600 square feet), and one climate (Maine, zone 5b/6), but it gives you some sense of what’s possible. If you consider that there are about 90 million households in the US that have some sort of yard, factor in the thousands of new community and school gardens we could be planting, this really could add up. Our savings allowed us to do different things including investing in some weatherization work for our house last fall that is making us a greener household in another way. Some might ask what this would mean for farmers to have more people growing their own food. The local farmers I know welcome it because they correctly believe that the more people discover what fresh, real food tastes like, the more they’ll want to taste. In our case, part of our savings helped us to buy better quality, sustainably-raised meat from a local CSA farmer.

The economics of home gardening may not be enough to convince President Obama or UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown to plant new gardens at the White House or 10 Downing Street, but the healthy savings their citizens could be making and then reinvesting in their local economies could.

In the end, it might come down to the language we use. Instead of saying “Honey, I’m going out to the garden to turn the compost pile”, perhaps we should say “Honey, I’m going outside to do a ‘green job’ and work on our ‘organic stimulus package.'”  I bet that would get the attention of a few economists, not mention a few psychologists!

Happy, healthy March,

Roger Doiron

 

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What is Terroir Seeds and how does it relate to Underwood Gardens?


Cindy and I decided to start our seed company in June/July of 2008. I had left my job at the dealership, and Cindy was looking to move to something else from her job as an outreach coordinator at the non-profit natural history center. We had been growing our own vegetables for about 14 years at that point and wanted to move into something bigger. One of the biggest factors in starting our own seed business was the loss of diversity that has occurred since 1900. If one were to compare what was commercially available in 1900 (vegetables, herbs and flowers) to what was available in 2000- there has been a 97% DECREASE in the varieties offered for sale! This was a huge wake-up call for us…

We looked at the total seed market, from the smallest one person businesses to the giants of Monsanto, etc. Then we looked at the open pollinated and heirloom seed companies, who were engaged in what we feel is the most important work- that of keeping genetic diversity alive and well. We saw the heirloom/open pollinated market as the best one, for a multitude of reasons. Heirlooms are becoming known more in the mainstream world, as people are tired of the poor performance of the hybridized varieties of seeds and plants that they buy at the local garden centers. Nutrition is a growing concern, as people are starting to realize that they CAN grow a significant amount of food in their backyards, reducing their food budget and providing better taste and health for their families. People are looking at the current economic situation and are trying to find ways to gain more control of their lives, and lessen their cash outlays; thus reducing their income needs and exposure to the current economic climate.

The term Terroir means soil in French. The French have always paid close attention to the flavor as well as the origins of food, unlike most Americans. It matters to the French where a food comes from, because they understand that place matters. It is interesting to note that the French government has subsidized food production, like America. The difference is that the French have subsidized the local farmer instead of supporting the corporate business of farming, as in America. The difference in approach is startling, as there are multitudes of benefits to the localized agriculture that is the norm in France, instead of the exception. Health – both of the soil and of the people- is one, as there are fewer chemicals in the food chain. Nutrition is another, as the localized food production encourages organic and wholesome approaches to food production. There is a longer history of food production in Europe than America, so people have had to learn how to grow food without destroying the soil. This is something that we as Americans are realizing is important. We felt that this term exemplified what we wanted to accomplish with our business. It closed the circle, as I showed in my last blog- Terroir Seeds means soil seeds or soil and seeds.

We have tried to “grow” our soil for the entire time we have been growing food, and have discovered many things- one of the biggest is that the fertilizers are for the plants, not the soil. One must pay attention to the soil in order to have successful, long term food production. We wanted to pay attention to the soil in our business as well.

When we found Underwood Gardens for sale, we realized that it would be a perfect fit for what we wanted to accomplish. The direction of Underwood Gardens was very close to what we wanted with the diversity of the seeds. We saw that we could add the soil aspect to the business and move forward, combining the qualities of the heirloom seeds with building the best soil possible to achieve the best of both worlds- great flavor and nutrition with healthy soil that will sustain people for a long time. Expanding the selection of offerings and  increasing the depth of knowledge presented, both for the soils and the seeds is our primary goal. We are finding “new” heirloom varieties in all areas- vegetables, herbs and flowers, as well as new information on their history and uses, both culinary and medicinal. Several influential people have given us resources to find these offerings, and we will bring them to you as we get them grown out and tested.

This is an incredibly exciting time for all of us in many respects. There are changes on the horizon, some that we will make, some that we will have to adapt to in order to move forward. Many feel that we are at the “tipping point” in many areas- economic, agricultural, energy supply, social and environmental. Some of these choices we make are becoming easier, as we gain knowledge of the results of our choices. Some are going to be difficult to get used to, as habits are hard to change, even on a personal scale and especially on a social scale. We feel that the time of the community garden or small farm is upon us- it is one of the fastest growing segments in agriculture today. It is what has sustained us for the total amount of recorded history. In the words of Small Farmers Journal founder Lynn Miller- it is time for the Farmer Pirate; one who refuses to be drawn into the wizadry of modern chemical agribusiness and recognizes that in some things, the old ways truly are the best. We want to be with you for the journey of growing, whether it is the first time you’ve planted something, or the first time you’re planting heirloom seeds, we want to share the growing with all of our community. There are some incredible people in this community, many of whom are willing to share their experiences with all of us that need it- Cindy and myself included. Please join us as we begin this part of the journey.

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Why Heirlooms Seeds Matter


Many people have started to learn about Heirloom vegetables, with the tomato being the main introduction. Heirloom seeds, along with heirloom herbs and flowers have seen a tremendous growth in the past few years. There is a mindset that heirlooms are delicate, fragile varieties that need lots of love and the perfect conditions to grow and thrive. That’s just not right! This fallacy comes from a couple of places- one is the conventional seed companies that have a vested interest in selling the “seed du jour”, which is most often a hybrid or has some GM trickery to it. Hybridization is not terrible in some cases, if you know what you’re getting yourself into. GM or genetically modified seeds are the closest thing to kissing the devil as most of us will get. Another place is garden centers, again where they sell commercially available strains of vegetables, and have the financial interest in selling you THEIR stock, not some back-woods variety that they know nothing about. Where does the plant knowledge in most garden centers come from? Why, the suppliers of course! Why would the suppliers give their garden center customers information about a plant/seed that they don’t carry?

So just what is an Heirloom seed/plant/variety anyway, and why should the average gardener care, much less an apartment/duplex/city dweller? The standard definition of “heirloom seed” is one that has been saved by multiple generations, generally accepted as being older than 50 years. Now the question arises- if an heirloom variety is fragile and demanding, how in the world did it survive for 50 years, much less hundreds or thousands, as some of our varieties have? The answer is obvious- they aren’t fragile at all! They have been saved by generous people looking to keep the variety alive and pass it on to new generations. The seeds that we have today are the result of careful selection for the earliest, hardiest, juiciest, best tasting, most healthy and heat/cold/disease tolerant varieties that were grown. They have had the luxury of time to adapt, and to fine tune the adaptive qualities that the hybridized and engineered varieties just don’t have. If an heirloom plant doesn’t do so well the first year- SAVE THE SEED! Plant it next year and you will be surprised at the difference in performance. This is the adaptive quality that can’t be bred for or engineered into a species. It takes years, sometimes hundreds to fully develop this trait.

As hybrid and genetically modified seeds take over the marketplace and our gardens, we may enjoy a few benefits such as a new color or improved, short-run disease resistance, supposedly improvements on the original plant. But to “improve” a plant in one way usually requires the subtraction of an original characteristic. Generally hybridized versions sacrifice fragrance in flowers, flavor in vegetables, and potency in herbs. What do you think happens to the nutritional qualities when they are developed to be shipped over 1200 miles to market? Why does the most basic back yard tomato beat the pants off of the fancy supermarket ones in looks and taste?

We don’t agree with this trade-off!  In many cases the original varieties were far superior in looks, flavor and long-term disease resistance.

More benefits of the heirloom plant community are the diversity, the wonderful variations in color, shape, size and most importantly- TASTE! A lot of gardeners that try heirloom seeds find that the taste is the most compelling reason to continue and expand their plantings. They are amazed to find that different tomato varieties actually taste different, unlike the seedlings that they have gotten in the past. This opens up a new world of gardening- one of planting for the kitchen, and planning menus around the garden. This is one of the focal points that we want to develop- the synergy and symbiosis of the garden and kitchen, no matter the size of either. A small window box planting can greatly improve the flavor of the food with fresh herbs and a vegetable or two. As the size of the garden increases, the opportunities to be more creative also expand exponentially! We will be delving into this and more!

Another focal point is the soil that everything is grown in. We see that the symbiosis of the best seeds and the best soil will result in the best produce- whether vegetable, herb or flower. One part of the equation is the seed. This has been addressed with the heirloom, open pollinated and organic stock that we use and sell. The other part of the equation is the soil. Once we start growing or building the soil, then magic can REALLY happen! By improving the quality and health of the soil, we improve the quality and health of everything that follows. We find that the produce has higher nutrient content, thus improving our own health and well being. This starts a circle of improvements that branch outward in many areas. We will also look at this more in depth in upcoming blog posts.

We’ve had a lot of questions on the meaning of the funny name we chose for our company- Terroir Seeds. What is Terroir? In its most basic form, it means soil, or the place where something is grown. Terroir is a term used by the American wine community for a decade or so, but it really dates back to the 1850’s in France. It was originally used to mean the taste of the place where the crops were grown. This makes perfect sense to us, as we want to close the seed/soil circle and bring focus to the soil part of the equation. Terroir Seeds… Soil Seeds… Soil/Seeds. Make sense now?

Please let us know what you think- leave a comment here,  visit our website, or send us an email. We would love to hear from you, as we want to open a conversation with our customers and create a community of growers that are all trying to make this a better, tastier world to live in!

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