Seed Savers: Are You One?

About author / Christine Gable

Culinary enthusiast; kids cuisine and slow cooking; magazine recipe developer; professional writer. Her simple recipes are great for family dinners.

Heirloom seeds. Hmmm, sounds like something that’s been discovered in my grandmother’s attic. I can just envision it: An avid gardener, she picked the seed heads off her favorites at the end of the season, letting them dry completely in the crisp autumn air under clear blue skies. She spreads them out on screens in her backyard, grouping the vegetables and fruits together, the low-growing flowers and tall perennials into their own specially designated areas.

When sure they were completely dry—eliminating any chance that mold or mildew would spoil next year’s bounty—she sorts them into separate packages. Small, crisp, brown paper bags that were folded over sharply at the top and emblazoned with the variety and date of the capture.

Yes, that’s what the words ‘heirloom seeds’ brings to my mind.

Never mind that this is all a figment of my imagination. No such luck that I was privy to any of this process, although I was lucky enough to spend time with my grandmother in her garden (and I quite enjoyed it!). I even had the opportunity to glimpse how her father kept his garden—and I have no doubt that they were from the era of the seed-savers. For to be careless in saving one’s seeds would have meant no garden and no harvest the next year. No opportunity to improve and better one’s skills at producing the sweetest, most chin-dripping-est tomato, or the crispest, thinnest-skinned cucumbers and pickling gherkins.

To be a seed saver was quite an ordinary thing in the first half of the 20th century. Yes, it was commonplace and expected.

Fast-forward fifty, seventy-five years and it’s quite a different story. How many of us—vegetable gardeners included—let our plants grow and mature to the seed-giving stage? How many of us have even seen mature seed heads? Or have experience with collecting seeds?

And come to think of it: How many of our kids even know where those seeds come from? Underneath the hustle-bustle of daily life, are we even aware of the genetic erosion that is happening as we dally off to Wal-Mart and Giant and secure the food that keeps our families chugging along?

According to the Seed Savers Exchange, the definition of an heirloom is “any garden plant that has a history of being passed down within a family, just like pieces of heirloom jewelry or furniture. Some companies have tried to create definitions based on date, such as anything older than 50 years.”

Seeds are a subject that’s popped up from time to time in our house too. Usually around garden-planting time when we’re thinking of it—but occasionally it’ll happen when we cut open an avocado, a pineapple or mango. Discussion will ensue about the pit or seed, about how the tree/bush/plant grows and whether or not we should plant this out in the flowerbed and see if we can grow one in our backyard. Sometimes, depending upon the curiosity level, we may even look up the item in question and learn what the growing plant looks like, or where it is native (if we don’t know).

Of course, having a garden—even a small one—is one of the most powerful ways to bring this seed point home. It was on my recent press trip to Holland, Michigan, during a visit to Lubbers Family Farm, that I learned even more about heirloom seeds. For those are the types of seeds that this organic, sustainable farm is committed to using.

I didn’t see any grannies spreading seeds on screens and we certainly didn’t delve into any attics with little brown paper bags, but we did see row upon row of beautifully cultivated vegetables. We viewed row upon row of freshly sprouted pots in the greenhouse, all labeled with various heirloom varieties.

Karen Lubbers also told us to check out the Seed Savers Exchange, where they obtain all their seeds. The Seed Savers Exchange is the largest non-governmental seed bank in the country. As a member-supported, non-profit organization, they maintain more than 25,000 endangered vegetable varieties—seeds that have come from all corners of the world. It’s located on the 890-acre farm known as Heritage Farm in Decorah, Iowa, and Diane Ott Whealy and Kent Whealy started it all in 1975. According to their website, “Their collection started when Diane's terminally-ill grandfather gave them the seeds of two garden plants, Grandpa Ott's Morning Glory and German Pink Tomato, that his parents brought from Bavaria when they immigrated to St. Lucas, Iowa in the 1870s.”

Maybe my vision of granny’s seed saving ain’t so far off after all. After years of relying upon Burpee’s best and the hybrid varieties available at the greenhouse, I’ve ordered a catalog. I think we’ll try our hand at a few heirloom varieties. Since this year’s tomatoes are already shoulder-high, I think I’ll have to shoot for next year’s harvest.

Go ahead—try an heirloom variety or two the next time you plant. I’ve heard that the flavor can’t be beat.

And if there’s any way to get our kids eating more fruits and veggies, sweet rich flavor has gotta be a sure winner, eh?