Seed saving – Wild Oasis Permaculture

Permaculture [ pur-muh-kuhl-cher ] verb

A systems design science whereby regenerative actions are taken to build human habitat within a natural context rather than opposed to it.

Peregrination [ per-i-gruh–ney-shuhn ] noun

travel from one place to another, especially on foot.
a course of travel; journey.

I am longing for spring. This winter has been long and cold. To be fair winters are generally cold in Colorado, but we are lucky, the cold spells usually give way to sunny days in between where, even when the temperature is in the 30’s, the sun helps to make it feel much warmer. This winter though seems not to have gotten that memo.

In my desire for spring I have been thinking about seeds, perfect little packets of life just waiting for the right conditions to express their potential. Over time I have become a bit of a seed horde, buying or trading more than I can realistically plant out each year. There was a time when I didn’t worry about the seeds I was planting; before I learned about seed lobbying, and trademarks, and patents, and hybridization.

I recent years I have learned more and more about how the future of our food is in danger of being controlled by large corporations. The American Seed Trade Alliance (ASTA), established in 1883, has around 650 members who believe in company controlled seeds for profit. A look at their strategic goals shows that they want to influence policy at local, state and federal levels, and advance the use and respect of intellectual property rights (IPR) protection for the seed sector globally. These companies restrict the use and distribution of both genetically modified patented seeds as well as seed they have bred that falls under Plant Variety Protection laws. I genuinely don’t believe any of the people in these companies are evil or bad. I believe they think that using science for seed development and utilizing their legal right to intellectual property for that seed is the way forward, that it fosters innovation, but I fear they don’t have the imagination for unintended outcomes. This industry is all based on the green revolution mentality of the need to feed the whole world. A consequence of the industrial revolution is that we have sought to make everything at scale to take care of the world. A consequence of scaling and allowing large or mega corporations to supply all our needs is that food, energy, education, communication, healthcare, and entertainment are now no longer perceived as achievable on a local community scale. This includes the growing, harvesting, saving, trading, and then regrowing of seeds from the plants that make up our diets.

Scale is a dangerous design paradigm.

Lucky for us there have been people who understand the importance of seed to every earthly being. While some companies have been trying to make seed less accessible by creating paywalls for every step of a seeds lifecycle, groups of individuals and small organizations have been working to ensure the rights of people to grow, harvest, save, trade, and regrow seed.

When we choose to buy, barter, trade and grow seeds that are heirloom and open pollinated, then save those seeds to plant the following season we are not only actively providing sustenance for ourselves and our communities we are expressing our desire for food independence and allowing the sovereignty of seed. So what exactly is seed sovereignty?

Seed Sovereignty is the right of a grower or farmer to save, use, trade or sell their own seeds. It applies for every seed we grow and collect. The grower or famer passes seed on to others with no restrictions for the end user to save, use, trade or sell. Due to the ASTA and companies trying to control all facets of seed, and therefore food, the Open Source Seed Initiative (OSSI) was born. Inspired by the open source software movement OSSI was created to ensure that some seed genetics do not ever fall under large corporate control. Seed distributors that take the OSSI pledge pass open source seed on with the pledge. It is like a grassroots type of contract. The pledge reads:

You have the freedom to use these OSSI- Pledged seeds in any way you choose. In return, you pledge not to restrict others’ use of these seeds or their derivatives by patents or other means, and to include this Pledge with any transfer of these seeds or their derivatives.

This type of grassroots effort has been spreading, with new organizations being formed in countries all over the world. Participation in these efforts is paramount. So how do we, gardeners, growers, farmers of all sizes participate?

Buy seed from smaller seed suppliers who hold value in our human right to save, use, trade and sell seeds without restriction

Save seed from the plants you have grown to maturity. Keep some seed for yourself and share some with friends, neighbors, and at seed swaps.

Talk to the people in your life who are growers about the importance of buying seeds that have no patents, intellectual property restrictions, or protections.

Buy open pollinated seed rather than hybrid seed.

This last one is a tricky one. There are many reputable seed companies that sell hybrid seed (the result of crossing two varieties of the same species through pollination) developed for disease resistance, added vigor, or desirable qualities. The result of hybridization is that the seed cannot be saved and regrown. The plants that are grown from fruit of hybrid seed can be unpredictable. It frequently fails to take on the characteristics from the parent plant producing sometimes unrecognizable offspring. When you find a hybrid type you like you must return to the seed purveyor yearly to purchase seed. There are generally no restrictions placed on the seed as the developer knows that the subsequent seed is unpredictable.

Hybridization to create plants that are disease resistant, vigorous, and have desirable qualities can be bypassed. Humans domesticated plants through selection. We selected seed based on flavor, vigor and which types survived the best. We spread the seed from these plants with intention. With each iteration of collecting and spreading the seeds we chose the characteristics that made plants more desirable. When the USDA was established in 1862 one third of their yearly budget was designated for seed distribution. Through the free seed program seed was acquired by growers and grown in various bioregions. The seed was saved for planting the next year and each subsequent year as long as it was successful. This created bioregionally stable seed. When we save seed this way it is called a landrace.

A landrace is a plant or animal that has been developed by selecting stable offspring over time to be suited to a specific area. This means a cherry tomato, grown at a high altitude over several seasons and selected for the best food and plant traits, becomes accustomed to and will perform better at a high altitude than buying seed for the same cherry tomato type that was grown over several seasons at a lower altitude and selected for different traits. We end up with plants that are healthier in our context, regionally adapted and likely to perform under the strains our specific environment presents. Landrace development makes community food systems stronger. It allows us to have more reliable seed that grows into reliable plants with reliable harvests. When we share our landrace seeds with each other we strengthen our community food shed by ensuring that the types of seed our friends and neighbors are growing are well suited to where we live.

We can also improve our own crops this way.

Wind or insect pollinated plants can become stronger or weaker depending on what is planted within the pollination zone. Inferior plants can spread their genetics to the crops we save seed from. When we share seed from our landrace of strong, disease resistant, great tasting fruits and vegetables within the pollination zone we benefit by having the opportunity of pollination from strong healthy plants. Landrace development also lends to genetic diversity. A landrace in my garden, although it may be of the same named variety, will have differing genetics than a commercial seed. This means that if an issue arises, such as disease susceptibility in the variety, my landrace may not be affected. Highly commercial types of seed are genetically the same and can suffer globally if there is an issue causing famine similar to how blight created the Irish potato famine.

There are other ways that landraces strengthen our communities.

When we share seeds we develop relationships. We may not know our neighbors, but sharing is an easy way to say “Hi, I thought you might like to try these out. They have done really well for me.” Other than some time in growing and harvesting there is nothing to lose and plants are generous in their giving of seed. Sharing seeds that are built on a foundation of strength and health transfers health to those who consume the plants that grow from our well intentioned seeds. Plants grown from seeds with excellent genetics, in living soil, have more phytonutrients. They taste better which makes humans want to eat them more. They help our livestock in the same ways, which in turn benefits us.

So, are you interested in developing a landrace of your own?

If you already have a variety of fruit or vegetable that you love and grow every year you are already taking one step toward landrace development. Landraces require several plants of the same variety to be grown and allowed to produce seed. Select seed from the plants that have the highest vigor, show disease resistance, and are the best tasting. Plant the seed you saved the next season. Again, select seeds from the plants that meet your criteria, and repeat. Around the 7th generation you will have plants that are adapted to your bioregion. Some traits to select for are: