Going to Seed with Dan Brisebois

Next week, on December 12, Going To Seed turns 10 years old!

Wow.

When I first started typing these blog posts, I was but a learner. I wouldn’t say I’m a master now but I have learned so much.

Today’s post is going to highlight 10 Going To Seed articles I’ve posted over the years that illustrate some of what I’ve written about. They are mostly in chronological order.

But before we begin, I want to say thank you.

Thank You!

Thank you to all my readers. Some of you have been reading for quite a long time, some of you have just discovered this blog, and some of you have been reading for a period in between. Without readers a project like this quickly loses steam.

Thank you to everyone who’s commented on my posts or written to me with thoughts, questions, suggestions … Every time I hear from one of you, I get excited. A conversation is so much more interesting than a monologue!

Thank you to everyone who has shared and promoted my articles over the years. It’s very motivating when something I’ve written has moved someone enough that they need to tell others about it. This has also really helped my blog grow!

Thank you!

1. My First Big Seed Harvest

On December 12, 2009, I started my blog with the story of my first big seed harvest.

I had saved some seeds before this big harvest.

But it was this accidental Arugula seed crop that let me know what growing seed could be like.

This harvest is where I started to think of myself as a seed grower. (Even though the plants weren’t specifically planted for that purpose.)

2. Chufa Nuts

This is by far my most popular blog post.

Chufa nuts are crunchy, delicious, and particularly mysterious.

Somehow, this post became one of the defining articles on the subject!

3. Seed Economics and Profitability

This was my first series about whether growing seed can be profitable.

Over the years, this has been my most requested topic when I speak about seeds at conferences.

Folks love hearing about the numbers. (Though they don’t always want to crunch their own.)

I followed up a little later with a series about Crop Planning for Seed Growers.

In both these series I apply the 11 Step Brisebois/Thériault System for Crop Plan Success that Fred and I wrote about in the Crop Planning For Organic Vegetable Growers handbook.

These 2 series are bit dated but the core concepts are timeless.

4. Seed Packing Scoops

This is the kind of heavy technical writing I’m known for. Gritty and unafraid of getting deep into a subject.

Here’s another highly technical article about the seed labeling technology we use.

5. My Honeymoon Road Trip

After Emily and I got married, we took a month long road trip.

And what is more romantic than visiting vegetable growers and seed farms?

6. Mulched Garlic vs. Unmulched Garlic

I’ve written a lot about garlic over the years. This was the most controversial article on the topic.

People really love to hate straw mulch.

7. Book Review: Le Jardinier-Maraîcher

As far as I know, this was the first time Le Jardinier-Maraîcher was reviewed.

If you’ve heard about this book (or the English translation The Market Gardener) I like to think it is because of this book review.

8. My Radish Breeding Project

This spring I shared my radish breeding breeding project to the world on Tourne-Sol’s Instagram account.

The world went crazy.

We had over 400 likes by the next morning. (Crazy is a matter of scale, this was 3 times more likes than our previous most popular post.)

People really like a radish with black on the outside and red or purple on the inside.

I’ve been to 3 farming conferences in the last month. At everyone, people keep asking me about this radish.

I’ve got a feeling that this might be my seed breeding high point.

It’s all downhill from here.

9. The Farmer Spreadsheet Academy

I’ve given a lot of crop planning workshops over the years. And I’ve seed that nothing stamps out farmer enthusiasm then stumbling over a spreadsheet.

With the Farmer Spreadsheet Academy, I’m trying to strengthen farmer’s spreadsheet skills and deepen farmers’s planning and management.

I post a new Farmer Spreadsheet Tip every week.

In January 2019, I’ll also be launching an online Farmer Spreadsheet course.

10. Seed Saving For Market Gardeners

This winter I’ve decided to bring Going To Seed beyond the written word.

Starting Dec. 30. 2019, I’m giving a 4 part online course on Seed Saving for Market Growers.

I’m excited about this next phase of the Going to Seed adventure.

Still Going To Seed!

That was 10 years of Going To Seed.

And one thing I’ve learned is that plants just want to keep going to seed.

I’m going to follow their example and keep writing these blog posts.

I hope you’ll continue with me on this journey!