I managed to find a few racks of seeds at Greenfield Farmer’s Co-op and filled a small bag. I was disappointed that the price had not dropped. Generally, seeds are 1/2 price by now but I paid the full freight on everything. I found 9 varieties of tomatoes and 4 different peppers, eggplant, summer squash, pumpkins (but no winter squash) several types of peas, horticultural beans, lots of herbs, quinoa, buckwheat, lots of brassicas, beets, carrots and 10 packages of mixed greens. Most were heirloom seeds. It was quite a haul. I plan to vacuum seal them in a 1/2 gallon Mason Jar and keep them in the freezer until spring. The rest of my multiplier onions arrived yesterday too. I have to wait until January to order the seeds for the Oregon Sweet Meat squash. I’m just glad I found a source.
My permanent food group is reading The Resilient Gardner for our winter book choice. I love the book and think it’s a good choice. Our next project is to assign each of us different one variety of squash to raise from each of the three families so we can save the seed. I’m the only group member with neighbors and all of them garden so saving seed is a bit harder because of the cross-pollination issue but it’s doable. At end of the year, we’ll have a party and swap squash. We have enough people participating to ensure lots of redundancy. None of us will be the only source.
I’m reading two books. The first is Carol Ekairus’s Illustrated Guide To Poultry Breeds (Storey) and Jenna Wogonrich’s Chick Days. I’m having to buy eggs as our chickens are really slowing down in production. I would love to expand next year and maybe experiment with some of the rare breeds. I also want to have enough poultry to have some winter production. We have Rhode Island Reds now. They’re hardy and a good dual purpose birds but I sure do love Buff Orpingtons. My chicken books will have to feed my poultry addiction until spring.
October 14, 2011 at 7:37 am
hmm, I was told NOT to vaccuum seal seeds as they are basically living. I love my rhode island reds. We went through McMurray hatchery to get them. they have some rare breeds and lots of good info.
don’t forget to remind me that the next time we meet up, I have some winter squash seeds for you (North Georgia Roaster)
October 14, 2011 at 8:13 am
HMMMMM… Anybody care to comment? I’ve heard compelling aguements on both sides.
October 14, 2011 at 8:57 am
I too am reading Chick Days… dreaming of my own little flock of Buff Orpingtons myself (though the book is also making me dream of Silkies as well).
October 14, 2011 at 9:13 am
I love my Americanas. Sweet,love to be picked up, quiet in the hen house and such good layers. I have 4 turquoise blue egg layers and one rosey tan. Plus 3 RIR, 5 Sil-Go-Links and 5 white egg layers so my egg cartons are quite colorful. But will definitely get more Americanas. Eat no more than the sex link chickens which are super layers on little feed. We have the 60 watt bulb on in the chicken house now and consistenly getting 18 for 18…thank goodness I have neighbors who buy eggs weekly or I end up with 10 dozen eggs taking up the frig!!
October 14, 2011 at 9:25 am
My thought is actually to borrow a page from The Resilient Gardener – experiment. Vacuum seal half the seeds (or 3/4 or 1/4 or whatever you want). Don’t seal the other half. When you plant a row, plant the south end with the sealed ones and the north end with the non-sealed ends (or whatever) and see what you get. You can get a lot of opinions, but if the verdict is split, then it comes down to specific variables that only you can test. Maybe your particular method of vacuum sealing works better than other people’s. Maybe your particular climate wakes up the seeds well. Maybe you soak and other people don’t. You don’t have to pin down the specific variable that affects the experiment, but you can at least figure out if YOUR particular style works with sealing… or not. And it’s best to figure it out before it’s completely critical
October 14, 2011 at 1:54 pm
I just picked up “The Small Scale Poultry Flock” by Harvey Ussery (it just came out) and can *highly* recommend it. He has been working on low-resource poultry raising for decades and has some great ideas to share about housing flocks, making them do work for you in the garden and compost and making best use of cover crops, feeding poultry with as little off-farm purchasing as possible, getting poultry to raise their own chicks for less reliance on hatcheries. We have been experimenting with ducks this year for eggs after reading The Resilient Gardener, but I am rethinking that decision and may get chicks again next spring after reading this book.
October 14, 2011 at 2:30 pm
I had to laugh, I unpacked a box from Amazon with a copy of The Reslilient Gardener just last night. (Great minds….?
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If you can store wheat with oxygen obsorbers and then use it to sprout then I think you’d be safe vacuum sealing seeds. I asked this question of a large site a few months ago and was given this link to check out: http://selfrelianceadventures.blogspot.com/2009/02/sprouted-wheat-experiment.html
October 14, 2011 at 2:42 pm
My Buff Orpingtons laid fairly well in the winter, but also tended to get broody. My Black Australorp, on the other hand, laid almost all winter long. (I’m near you, in Florence.)
Sadly, no eggs this year. This week, something got in and killed all of our chickens.
October 14, 2011 at 3:03 pm
Lise: I’m so sorry! Losing chickens like this is terrible. BTW. You wee one is about the cutest thing on two feet. That’s saying something because I already think Phoebe holds that honor and I hear Gardengirl’s little one is pretty cute too. Thanks for that link on the wheat, Dennis.
October 14, 2011 at 4:38 pm
The Resilient Gardener made me want ducks. Since we live on an enormous pond where Mallards and Muscovies abound, the environment is certainly right for ducks.
I freeze my seeds, but I don’t vacuum-seal them. Best wishes!
October 15, 2011 at 10:50 am
The Svalbard Global Seed Vault stores seeds in a 4 ply envelope hermetically sealed to keep out moisture and the temp. is maintained at 0 degrees F. No mention of vacuum in the Wikipedia article.
October 15, 2011 at 2:52 pm
I love your idea of trading squashes with other families. A friend and I just discussed doing something similar – trading the growing of crops when we’re taking a break due to bug infestation. I think I’ll suggest trading squashes as well.
October 18, 2011 at 10:01 am
I can think very highly of both the Resilient Gardener and The Small-Scale Poultry Flock. In fact, I’ve reviewed both of them on my blog and am currently running a giveaway for a copy of the latter. If you want a chance at that one, drop by and leave me a comment with a good frugality, homesteading, or self-sufficiency tip, plus a way to contact you.