These days, seeds make up a bigger part of our gross sales than vegetables at Tourne-Sol co-operative farm. This is a big change from year one when we sold $600 of seeds. Let me tell you how we came to actually sell $600 of seeds. Summer 2003 I was managing La Ferme Du Fort Senneville … More My two first seed contracts
I spent the 2001 growing season at Switch Farm in Milton, Ontario. It was my second season working on a farm and everything was still new to me and I didn’t yet know what was the important stuff. I just filed all the experience away in that mental filing cabinet as I went along bunching … More How seed saving sneaks into your brain
Have you thought about your seasonal workload? On our farm, we grow vegetables for 500 weekly CSA baskets. We also grow seeds for an online store. These are very similar activities: We grow plants, harvest a crop, pack it up, and get it to the client. But these activities don’t happen the same way for … More The Opposite Seasons Of Growing Vegetable vs. Selling Seeds
Back in November, I showed you how to extract seeds from squash. (All it takes is an axe and vacuum cleaner.) Today let’s talk about how to dry those seeds! (I know I’ve skipped over the actual seed cleaning part but I can’t find any great pictures of our cleaning. We’ll have to wait till … More Drying Squash Seeds
Tonight I’m on Growers Live with Josh Sattin at 8pm EST. You can watch live on the No-Till Growers Youtube channel. Bring your questions about seeds, spreadsheets, workers coop, farming, crop planning … whatever you want to hear about! This is going to be fun! UPDATE: You can watch the recorded show here.
This is the journey of how the Tourne-Sol co-operative Farm seed scoop collection evolved. It is also a story about how most of what we know as farmers we’ve learned from other farmers. Our First Seed Scoops In the early Tourne-Sol years, we grew seed for our own use and for a couple seed companies. … More The Tourne-Sol Seed Packing Scoop Story
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 … More 10 Years of Going To Seed
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