The rain all day kept me from experiencing the power of the now in the garden today. But in between doctor waiting rooms, working around the house and on the computer, I did get a few garden-related tasks in. One was taking the bean seeds out of the dried out brown green bean pods from the garden. They are from vintage beans a friend gave me and, unlike bought seeds, should come back when planted along the trellis in the backyard garden next spring. I am saving lots of the been seeds since I do not have much confidence yet in my seed saving skills.
Seed saving had been a traditional way for farmers and gardeners to get seeds in this country. However, nowadays there is a shift to purchasing seed annually from commercial seed suppliers. These hybridized or cloned plants do not produce seed that remains “true to type” — retaining the parent’s characteristics — from seed. These commercial seeds do not lend themselves to being saved, and lead to less variety of plants. The art of seed saving is being lost, and farmers and gardeners are becoming dependent on commercial seed producers.
However, there is a movement to reintroduce seed saving. In India, I attended a the Navdanya rural institute that has a large seed bank and is working hard to once again make seed saving “traditional” for farmers. In the USA there are seed saving co-ops that I will need to investigate for next spring’s seeds.
I wish all plants were perennials, saving and planting their own seeds each year. But they are not and the next best thing is to learn how to save seeds and join together to share saved seeds.
Saving seeds is like composting, taking the cycle of life seriously and using the leftover past to grow the future in the present.
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