Heirloom Seeds: Grow Them Out!

Jim Richardson is no scientist. He’s a National Geographic photographer. As such, he got to work on one of the most fascinating, relevant, crucial stories of our times: the preservation of seeds and heirloom animal breeds.

The great thing about lay people is that they speak a language that you and I can understand. “Agricultural biodiversity is the most important legacy of mankind,” said Jim Richardson last night at a talk hosted by the Long Now Foundation in San Francisco. I guess that sums it up. Think about it: thousands of plant species and animal breeds created over 10,000 years of agricultural history, designed to match an innumerable diversity of climates, elevations, weather hardships, and pests. All for one purpose only: making sure that we, humans, have food to sustain ourselves.

“We kept developing the gene-pool for 9,900 years, and then something happened at the dawn of the 20th century: we starting throwing it away,” said the good photographer, a farm kid from the Midwest who grew up to travel the world for one of America’s most prestigious magazines.

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Disclaimer: The views expressed above are solely those of the author and may not reflect those of
Care2, Inc., its employees or advertisers.

Jan H.

10:16AM PDT on Apr 23, 2012

I just started propagating my own tomato seeds. EZ PZ with awesome results. Plus I had 100's of seeds to share. Great article. Thanks for sharing.

send a green star

Debbie C.

9:09AM PDT on Mar 28, 2012

We get a Burpee catalog every year and I buy seeds that I haven't grown before - or even a variation of another one. I usually share it with our neighbors on each side of us.

paul m.

1:51AM PDT on Mar 12, 2012

Informed....

greenplanet e.

8:24PM PST on Mar 1, 2012

Important

aj E.

9:15AM PST on Mar 1, 2012

thanks, didn't know that.

Lika S.

1:33AM PST on Mar 1, 2012

I have strawberry plants from my great grandmother. They're probably at least 150 years old since she's had them, and depending on where she got them from, who knows? But the berries are sweet and juicy, so I'll keep those.

Douglas S.

9:33AM PST on Feb 28, 2012

Interesting

Shirley E.

4:02AM PST on Feb 28, 2012

Seed banks are a great idea. Thank goodness some people had the forethought to start them up and raise awareness of this important field.

LMj S.

7:28PM PST on Feb 27, 2012

Very interesting article, now reallly miss my garden, thank you for sharing.

carolyne m.

6:39PM PST on Feb 27, 2012

buy heirloom /open pollinated seeds on the web, at Baker Creek Seeds, wild boar farms, ebay, seed savers, and others. SAVE YOUR SEEDS!

Heirloom and open pollinated plants come in a rainbow of colors, sizes, textures, and tastes.

Tomatoes come in sizes from a small marble, to several pounds, different shapes, currant, pear, ruffled, plum, elongated, heart and many colors,red, white, black, chocolate, orange, yellow, pink, purple, bicolor, striped and rarely spotted. Eggplants come in these colors too. There are white tomatoes, cucumbers, pumpkins, carrots, radishes, eggplants, corn, and the list goes on. There are yellow fleshed, and black skinned watermelons.

Yet some only think pumpkins and carrots are orange, and tomatoes are red.

The world is an amazing pallet of diverse species. There are even chickens with feathery crowns, poufy cheeks and beards (Sultan) pheasents with the colors of parrots.

Seek out these gems of nature, and leave the contaminated Monsanto Stuff alone.

Seed saving is easy, but Monsanto will destroy the lives of anyone caught saving it's "patented" seed.

If People buy Monsanto "stuff", it will only become stronger in contaminating, he crops of the world. One ay, it will fall, and the few heirloom "contraband" seeds may save the world.

It's like scientists trying to bring back extinct animals, while at the same time the US, Canada and possibly Russian Federation States try to eradicate wolves.

Why kill them off in the firs