(guest post) Saving Seeds

It's so nice to be here today, I'm honored (and a little overwhelmed) to be visiting.

cilantro gone to seed

With many of my crops reaching the harvest stage, I naturally think about preserving and making them last as long as possible. In addition to canning, preserving, dehydrating, and freezing, saving seeds to plant the following year has been a skill of preserving that I have tried experimenting with over the past few years. Saving seeds to me represents the full circle of life. It's spiritual, meditative, natural, and a way to live providently and mindfully.

storing dried seeds

In the years past, I've had success with growing crops from seeds I've saved from tomatoes, sugar snap peas, several varieties of pumpkins and squash, spinach, Swiss chard and beans. This year I plan to try my hand at carrots, basil and several herbs.

allowing a sugar snap pea to dry on the vine

sugar snap pea seeds

I'm certainly not an expert on the subject, so I'll leave you with two of my favorite references:

Organic Seed Alliance
Seed to Seed, which you're likely to find in your local library.

And there are of course countless sources to turn to on the internet.

I encourage you to give it a try. The links above have wonderful information on how to get started. It really isn't as difficult as it may first seem, and once you're successful, it can be such a rewarding hobby!

various gourds grown from last year's seeds

pumpkin seeds

various tomato and tomatillo seeds fermenting

amber shares little bits of her life over at her blog & is the maker behind the beautiful etsy shop, oakmoss. she is a wonderful gardener, artist & mama! thank you so much, amber!