Screens – they are a seed saver’s best friends. And they can be pretty easy to make. These screens are made with ¼” hardware cloth sandwiched between pieces of 1×2. The frames have the same dimensions as the rubbermaid bin. That isn’t an accident. If you’re going to make your own seed screens, start by … More Screens – A Seed Saver’s Best Friend
There has been a request from the @fermetournesol seed crew to retire my favourite seed cleaning screen. I love this red colander. The square openings on the bottom are the perfect size for radish seed. But I can accept that sunbleached and brittle, its time has come. Thank you red colander for all the seeds … More Sunbleached and brittle
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
Last night Tourne-Sol farm was featured on the TV show Les fermiers on Unis tv! Les fermiers is a show about what it’s like to be a farmer. The show follows Jean-Martin Fortier and the crew at la Ferme des Quatre-Temps through 2 growing seasons. During this episode I walked Annie-Claude and Justine around the … More Watch Tourne-Sol on Les fermiers TV show!
This post is a little late coming … On August 25th, 2010, the Eastern Canadian Organic Seed Growers Network (ECOSGN) hosted a field trip to Greta’s Organic Gardens in Ottawa, Ontario. The visit was broken up into A little about Greta, A field walk, A tomato taste test, A peek inside Greta’s seed workshop, and … More Visiting Greta’s Organic Gardens
Lettuce is the other seeed crop that took me years to learn how to clean well (radishes being the first). The basics are like other dry seeded crops (thresh, screen and winnow ad nauseam) but to do a good job I’ve had to pay a lot of attention to the threshing and final screening. (If … More Cleaning Lettuce Seed
As a new seed saver I used to work delicately with seed crops to avoid any damage and minimize seed loss. This worked well for plants like arugula that have seed that shatters easily and light chaff. But radishes, with their big spongy pods that squished before shattering and left pieces of pod the same … More Saving Radish Seed With Gusto!
In my early seed-saving days, I’d thresh and I’d winnow but I just couldn’t get my seeds as clean as when those that came from a seed packet. Over the next dozen years, meeting experienced seed growers, reading piles of seed production books, and attending whatever seed workshops I could find; I gleaned many pearls … More 10 Steps For Getting Seed As Clean As Possible
As I started this post, I realized I haven’t shared much about our bean production this year. That kind of surprised me since we grow 100-150 lbs of beans a year and spend a good part of September cleaning bean seeds. Why don’t we catch up and first look at different types of bean seed … More Saving Bean Seeds