Over the years we’ve accumulated a few fancy pieces of seed cleaning equipment. The one we probably use the most is the Office Clipper from A.T. Ferrell. Please note – you don’t need a machine like this to save seed! For years we only used box fans and home screens to clean seeds. With these … More Cleaning Bean Seeds With The Office Clipper
This week I was on the No-Till Growers Podcast with Jesse Frost! At first I had some trepidation about being on a No-Tillcentric podcast. At Tourne-Sol, we do a touch of no-till in our green houses but we are a tractor tillage based farm. There are many other growers equipped to better discuss no-till. In … More Talking Seeds On The No-Till Growers Podcast
This week, we take a break from our regularly scheduled Farmer Spreadsheet Tip to announce the A 4-part online mini course for market gardeners who dream about saving some of their own seeds. The first class is just before the new year. Just in time to plan your 2020 growing season! Dec. 30 Why Grow … More Announcing the Seed Saving for Market Growers FREE Mini Course
Last weekend was the latest ECOSGN gathering. It was amazing! ECOSGN is the Eastern Canadian Organic Seed Growers Network. This year we met in Montreal at Santropol Roulant for 2 half days of activities and then came to Tourne-Sol Farm where I led a tour. Listening To The Indigenous Seed Keepers Panel Tourne-Sol Farm Tour … More Meeting Up With My Seed Folks for ECOSGN 2019!
This is the story of how my dream of breeding a black skin radish with red flesh came true! … More Living The Radish Breeding Dream
We’ve been cleaning seeds like there is no tomorrow! Basically, because we need to get out of greenhouse (where we clean seeds) and into the seed shack to get germ testing and seed packing so we’re ready to ship in December! Here are the basic steps we use for most of our seed cleaning. Dirty … More Seed Cleaning 101: Winnowing And Screening
Back in July, I told you all about selecting some brassica plants and transplanting my favourites into big pots by the porta potty. We harvested those plants in mid-August and threshed the seeds. The plantless pots full of soil sat by that porta potty for the next 2 months. I didn’t pay them much attention. … More Reading Shattered Seeds To See What The Future Holds
