Latest / Old Ways New Days / At the Garden Gate - episode 6

Transcript

At the Garden Gate - episode 6 · Old Ways New Days

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_01: So welcome friends, you caught us between chores.
• 0:02
  SPEAKER_01: The watering cans are empty, the chickens have settled in for the evening, and there's still a little dirt beneath their fingernails.
• 0:09
  SPEAKER_00: I'm Kayla, and I'm Mel.
• 0:11
  SPEAKER_00: You've found us at the Garden Gate, a place where gardeners gather, neighbors swap stories, and no question is too simple to ask.
• 0:20
  SPEAKER_00: Every week we'll pull a real gardening question from the online gardening community and bring it here to the fence line.
• 0:29
  SPEAKER_00: Together we'll sort through the advice, separate gardening myths from proven practices, explore the science, rediscover the old ways, and share the practical knowledge that's helped generations of gardeners grow food and confidence.
• 0:45
  SPEAKER_00: So pull up a bucket, lean on that fence.
• 0:48
  SPEAKER_00: The garden is always teaching us something.
• 0:51
  SPEAKER_00: Let's see what today's visitor has brought to the garden gate.
• 1:09
  SPEAKER_01: Today we're talking about something that looks incredibly simple, something tiny, something you can hold between your fingertips, a seed.
• 1:16
  SPEAKER_01: And specifically, we're talking about saving seeds.
• 1:20
  SPEAKER_01: Now, if you've never saved a seed before, the idea can sound intimidating.
• 1:25
  SPEAKER_01: You might imagine complicated equipment, specialized knowledge, carefully controlled growing conditions, or shelves full of labeled jars.
• 1:33
  SPEAKER_01: But the truth is that humans have been saving seeds for thousands of years, long before seed catalogs, long before commercial agriculture, long before packets of professionally packaged seeds appeared on garden center shelves.
• 1:46
  SPEAKER_01: People grew plants, selected the ones that performed well, saved their seeds, and planted those seeds again.
• 1:52
  SPEAKER_01: And over generations, that simple practice helped create many of the varieties we still grow today.
• 1:57
  SPEAKER_01: So today we're going to take the mystery out of seed saving.
• 2:01
  SPEAKER_01: We're going to talk about what the seeds you should save, which plants are easiest for beginners, the difference between open pollinated and hybrid seeds, how to actually collect and dry seeds, how to store them, and some of the common mistakes that can turn a perfectly good seed saving project into a jar of disappointment.
• 2:20
  SPEAKER_01: Because seed saving isn't about saving money.
• 2:23
  SPEAKER_01: It's about becoming a little less dependent on having to buy everything again next year.
• 2:28
  SPEAKER_01: It's about preserving plants that perform well in your particular garden.
• 2:32
  SPEAKER_01: It's about keeping a little piece of this year's garden alive for the next one.
• 2:37
  SPEAKER_01: Hey Kayla.
• 2:38
  SPEAKER_01: No.
• 2:40
  SPEAKER_02: Ah, you did it this time! Yes this time.
• 2:42
  SPEAKER_02: Yes.
• 2:43
  SPEAKER_02: But I went all the way.
• 2:45
  SPEAKER_02: You did.
• 2:46
  SPEAKER_02: I'm Kayla.
• 2:47
  SPEAKER_02: I'm Kayla.
• 2:48
  SPEAKER_02: And I'm Nell.
• 2:50
  SPEAKER_01: Jeez.
• 2:51
  SPEAKER_01: What the heck?
• 2:55
  SPEAKER_01: Damn it.
• 2:56
  SPEAKER_00: Oops.
• 3:00
  SPEAKER_00: That old age is sitting in.
• 3:02
  SPEAKER_00: It is.
• 3:02
  SPEAKER_00: Oh my god.
• 3:03
  SPEAKER_00: How's it going, Kayla?
• 3:05
  SPEAKER_01: Um well, I think I'm still flustered from our first live TikTok because I don't like myself on camera.
• 3:13
  SPEAKER_00: But but it goes away.
• 3:15
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 3:16
  SPEAKER_00: Unless I save it.
• 3:18
  SPEAKER_01: Unless you save it.
• 3:19
  SPEAKER_00: But I didn't.
• 3:20
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 3:21
  SPEAKER_00: But I still can.
• 3:23
  SPEAKER_00: Uh-oh.
• 3:23
  SPEAKER_00: For how long?
• 3:24
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know.
• 3:25
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 3:25
  SPEAKER_00: Alright.
• 3:26
  SPEAKER_00: No.
• 3:26
  SPEAKER_00: I don't save them.
• 3:29
  SPEAKER_01: I see no point.
• 3:31
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 3:32
  SPEAKER_01: So uh when looking at YouTube, I just wanted to make a quick announcement.
• 3:36
  SPEAKER_01: Um when looking at YouTube, it said that all or some of our pro of what we produce is AI.
• 3:43
  SPEAKER_01: Uh all of the things, all of the scripts that I have, I have personally written.
• 3:49
  SPEAKER_01: I do send them through Grammarly to make sure that it's, you know, flows and works, and I know Grammarly uses AI, so that might be some of the It probably is.
• 4:00
  SPEAKER_01: And then the images, unfortunately, I do use images that are AI generated.
• 4:06
  SPEAKER_00: Well, start drawing up your own.
• 4:08
  SPEAKER_01: It takes me like a month to draw because I'm so meticulous.
• 4:14
  SPEAKER_01: And there's no way.
• 4:18
  SPEAKER_01: I know.
• 4:19
  SPEAKER_01: And my while my I know my art is decent, it is not anywhere near that.
• 4:26
  SPEAKER_01: I mean, eventually, yes, I would like to hire somebody to do the art for us.
• 4:31
  SPEAKER_01: That would be awesome.
• 4:32
  SPEAKER_01: Um, but that's gonna be way down the road.
• 4:35
  SPEAKER_01: So I just want to let everyone know that we, you know, the pro the what we produce isn't a hundred percent AI.
• 4:42
  SPEAKER_01: It's basically just the imagery.
• 4:45
  SPEAKER_01: Yep.
• 4:46
  SPEAKER_01: So our voices are our real voices.
• 4:49
  SPEAKER_01: They are?
• 4:50
  SPEAKER_01: I would hope so.
• 4:51
  SPEAKER_01: I'm not modifying them.
• 4:56
  SPEAKER_01: Okay, Bonnie.
• 4:58
  SPEAKER_01: Yep.
• 4:58
  SPEAKER_01: And the information is real information.
• 5:02
  SPEAKER_00: It is 100% real.
• 5:06
  SPEAKER_00: So there's sound like on a daily basis.
• 5:09
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, same.
• 5:10
  SPEAKER_00: So just wanted to get that out there for everybody.
• 5:12
  SPEAKER_00: Alright, so we're gonna start off with the obvious questions.
• 5:17
  SPEAKER_00: Why bother?
• 5:18
  SPEAKER_00: Why bother?
• 5:19
  SPEAKER_00: Why bother at all?
• 5:20
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 5:21
  SPEAKER_00: Seeds are relatively inexpensive, right?
• 5:24
  SPEAKER_01: I don't know.
• 5:24
  SPEAKER_01: The last time I looked at sunflower seeds, it was like three dollars, and you got like two or three in the pack, which yeah.
• 5:33
  SPEAKER_00: So a dollar a seed?
• 5:35
  SPEAKER_00: Basically, yes.
• 5:36
  SPEAKER_00: Gross.
• 5:36
  SPEAKER_00: I know.
• 5:37
  SPEAKER_00: You can order them from catalogs, you can buy them at garden centers, you can find seed swaps and community seed libraries.
• 5:48
  SPEAKER_00: So why spend all the time saving your own?
• 5:52
  SPEAKER_00: There are actually several reasons.
• 5:54
  SPEAKER_00: The first is self-reliance.
• 5:58
  SPEAKER_00: Every year that you successfully save and grow your own seed is one more year you've developed a skill that doesn't depend entirely on purchasing new seed.
• 6:08
  SPEAKER_00: That's useful for anyone interested in homesteading.
• 6:12
  SPEAKER_00: And it doesn't matter whether you have 10 acres or a balcony with three containers.
• 6:18
  SPEAKER_00: The principle is the same.
• 6:20
  SPEAKER_00: The second reason is adaptation.
• 6:23
  SPEAKER_00: When you save seeds from plants that grew successfully in your particularly particular environment, you're selecting plants that demonstrated that they can handle your conditions.
• 6:36
  SPEAKER_00: Your soil, your weather, your growing season, your pests, your particular garden.
• 6:42
  SPEAKER_00: Over time, careful selection can help you maintain plants that perform well where you live.
• 6:48
  SPEAKER_00: The third reason is preservation.
• 6:51
  SPEAKER_00: Every variety that disappears from cultivation represents a little bit of agricultural history that can disappear with it.
• 7:00
  SPEAKER_00: Seed saving can help preserve varieties that might otherwise be lost.
• 7:05
  SPEAKER_00: And finally, there's something wonderfully satisfying about planting a seed that came from your own garden.
• 7:12
  SPEAKER_00: You aren't starting completely from scratch.
• 7:15
  SPEAKER_00: You're continuing something.
• 7:17
  SPEAKER_01: So before we start collecting seeds, we need to talk about a few terms.
• 7:22
  SPEAKER_01: Because not all seeds behave the same way.
• 7:25
  SPEAKER_01: You'll hear the words open pollinated, heirloom, and hybrid, and understanding the difference can save you a lot of frustration.
• 7:33
  SPEAKER_01: Open pollinated varieties are pollinated naturally through things like wind, insects, or other natural processes.
• 7:40
  SPEAKER_01: When isolated from unwanted cross-pollination, their seeds can generally reproduce plants with characteristics similar to the parent plant.
• 7:49
  SPEAKER_01: That makes them particularly useful for seed saving.
• 7:53
  SPEAKER_01: Heirloom isn't a strict botanical classification, it's generally used for varieties that have been maintained and passed down over generations.
• 8:02
  SPEAKER_01: Many heirlooms are open-pollinated.
• 8:04
  SPEAKER_01: They can carry a tremendous amount of agricultural and cultural history.
• 8:10
  SPEAKER_01: Hybrid varieties are created by deliberately crossing different parent lines.
• 8:15
  SPEAKER_01: You may see F1 on a seed packet.
• 8:18
  SPEAKER_01: That means the seed is from the first generation of that particular cross.
• 8:22
  SPEAKER_01: Hybrid plants can be fantastic plants.
• 8:26
  SPEAKER_01: They can have excellent disease resistance, productivity, flavor, or other desirable characteristics.
• 8:32
  SPEAKER_01: But saving seeds from a hybrid doesn't necessarily mean you'll get the same plant next year.
• 8:37
  SPEAKER_01: The offspring can be quite variable.
• 8:40
  SPEAKER_01: That doesn't mean hybrid seeds are bad, it simply means they aren't always the best place to begin if your goal is predictable seed saving.
• 8:48
  SPEAKER_01: So for a beginner, look for open pollinated varieties.
• 8:51
  SPEAKER_01: Heirlooms are another excellent place to explore.
• 8:59
  SPEAKER_00: This is where I want to make seed saving feel much less intimidating.
• 9:04
  SPEAKER_00: You do not need to start with every plant in your garden.
• 9:08
  SPEAKER_00: In fact, please don't.
• 9:13
  SPEAKER_00: Learn how that plant works, then expand.
• 9:16
  SPEAKER_00: Some of the easiest crops for beginners include beans, peas, lettuce, and tomatoes, and with a little more intention to pollinators, peppers.
• 9:27
  SPEAKER_00: These crops can give you a good introduction to the basic principles of seed saving without immediately throwing you into the more complicated problems of cross-pollination.
• 9:39
  SPEAKER_00: Beans are probably one of the easiest places to start.
• 9:43
  SPEAKER_00: Instead of harvesting every bean while it is young and tender, leave some pods on the plant, let them mature, eventually the pods will become dry and often begin to look somewhat wrinkled.
• 9:56
  SPEAKER_00: That's what you're waiting for.
• 9:58
  SPEAKER_00: The seeds inside need to mature fully.
• 10:02
  SPEAKER_00: Once the pods are dry, harvest them.
• 10:05
  SPEAKER_00: Remove the seeds from the pods, then allow the seeds to finish drying somewhere dry and well ventilated before storing them.
• 10:13
  SPEAKER_00: Peas work similarly.
• 10:16
  SPEAKER_00: You want mature, dry pods rather than the tender pods you normally eat.
• 10:21
  SPEAKER_00: Then there's a very satisfying rhythm to this.
• 10:24
  SPEAKER_00: Some peas go into dinner, some peas go back into the garden.
• 10:29
  SPEAKER_00: Food today, seed for tomorrow.
• 10:32
  SPEAKER_01: Lettuce is another good beginner crop.
• 10:34
  SPEAKER_01: The tricky part is that lettuce doesn't look particularly impressive when it's ready to produce seed.
• 10:40
  SPEAKER_01: Eventually, instead of producing the nice leafy heads you harvested for salad, the plant bolts.
• 10:46
  SPEAKER_01: It sends up a tall flowering stalk.
• 10:48
  SPEAKER_01: Those flowers eventually produce fluffy seed heads.
• 10:52
  SPEAKER_01: Let the seeds mature on the plant.
• 10:54
  SPEAKER_01: Once the seed heads begin to dry and the seeds are mature, collect them carefully.
• 10:58
  SPEAKER_01: You may need to harvest them over several days because they don't necessarily all mature at once.
• 11:04
  SPEAKER_01: And remember, a plant that's gone to seed isn't a failure.
• 11:07
  SPEAKER_01: It's doing exactly what plants are designed to do.
• 11:10
  SPEAKER_01: It's reproducing.
• 11:12
  SPEAKER_00: Tomatoes are another excellent beginner crop, although their seeds require a slightly different process.
• 11:19
  SPEAKER_00: Choose a healthy, vigorous tomato from a plant you particularly liked.
• 11:24
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe it's produced early.
• 11:27
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe it handled your garden's conditions beautifully.
• 11:31
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe the tomatoes tasted fantastic.
• 11:34
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe it resisted disease better than the others.
• 11:37
  SPEAKER_00: Whatever characteristics matter to you, choose accordingly.
• 11:41
  SPEAKER_00: Cut the tomato open, scoop the seeds in their surrounding gel into a small container, and here's where tomatoes get interesting.
• 11:52
  SPEAKER_00: Tomato seeds naturally have a gel coating that contains compounds that help prevent premature germination.
• 12:00
  SPEAKER_00: One traditional method for removing that coating is fermentation.
• 12:05
  SPEAKER_00: Place the seeds and their gel into a small container with some water.
• 12:10
  SPEAKER_00: Then let them sit for several days.
• 12:13
  SPEAKER_00: You'll notice that the mixture gets unpleasant.
• 12:16
  SPEAKER_00: That's normal.
• 12:18
  SPEAKER_00: It may develop a film or begin to smell.
• 12:21
  SPEAKER_00: That's part of the fermentation process.
• 12:24
  SPEAKER_00: Afterward, rinse the seeds thoroughly through a fine strainer.
• 12:28
  SPEAKER_00: Remove the remaining pulp and gel.
• 12:31
  SPEAKER_00: Then spread the seeds in a single layer on a nonstick surface, such as a plate, glass, or appropriate drying surface.
• 12:39
  SPEAKER_00: Allow them to dry completely.
• 12:41
  SPEAKER_00: And I mean completely.
• 12:44
  SPEAKER_00: Moisture is one of the biggest enemies of stored seed in working with the tomato, which is such a wet plant.
• 12:50
  SPEAKER_02: Correct.
• 12:53
  SPEAKER_01: Peppers are also fairly approachable.
• 12:55
  SPEAKER_01: Choose a fully mature pepper from a healthy plant.
• 12:58
  SPEAKER_01: Ideally, choose one that has reached the mature color appropriate for its variety.
• 13:03
  SPEAKER_01: Remove the seeds, spread them out, let them dry thoroughly, then store them away.
• 13:09
  SPEAKER_01: The important thing here is to remember that peppers can cross-pollinate.
• 13:12
  SPEAKER_01: If you're growing several varieties close together, the seeds you save may not necessarily produce peppers identical to the parent plant.
• 13:20
  SPEAKER_01: That's not necessarily a disaster, it can also produce some interesting surprises.
• 13:25
  SPEAKER_01: But if you're trying to preserve a particular variety, you'll need to pay attention to isolation and pollination.
• 13:33
  SPEAKER_00: Squash is where the beginner seed saver can suddenly discover that plants have a sense of humor.
• 13:39
  SPEAKER_00: If you've ever grown squash, you already know that bees absolutely love those flowers.
• 13:46
  SPEAKER_00: And bees don't care about your carefully labeled seed varieties.
• 13:50
  SPEAKER_00: They move from flower to flower.
• 13:52
  SPEAKER_00: That means different squash varieties can cross-pollinate.
• 13:56
  SPEAKER_00: So if you have if you save seed from a squash and plant it next year, you may not exactly get what you expected.
• 14:06
  SPEAKER_00: For example, two compatible varieties growing nearby may cross.
• 14:11
  SPEAKER_00: Resulting seeds can produce offspring with characteristics from both parent plants.
• 14:17
  SPEAKER_00: This is why crops like squash and cucumbers can require additional care if your goal is to maintain a specific variety.
• 14:25
  SPEAKER_00: You can use physical isolation or learn how to hand pollinate flowers and protect them from additional pollination.
• 14:35
  SPEAKER_00: But this is probably not where I tell a brand new seed saver to start.
• 14:39
  SPEAKER_00: Learn the easy crops first, then graduate to the complicated ones.
• 14:44
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, so if you had two varieties and you liked the flavor of both of them, you would want to self-pollinate one plant and then take like a mesh.
• 14:58
  SPEAKER_01: But but that's getting oh I know, it's getting really, yes, I know.
• 15:01
  SPEAKER_01: We're not getting into that part yet.
• 15:04
  SPEAKER_01: I know.
• 15:05
  SPEAKER_01: Stop! I know, I just want to educate, educate.
• 15:07
  SPEAKER_01: Uh tell, tell, tell.
• 15:08
  SPEAKER_01: And and we'll get there.
• 15:09
  SPEAKER_01: I know.
• 15:10
  SPEAKER_01: Wait, now's not the time.
• 15:12
  SPEAKER_02: Okay, okay.
• 15:13
  SPEAKER_01: Um, one of the most important parts of seed saving happens before you ever collect a seed.
• 15:19
  SPEAKER_01: You need to decide which plants are worth saving from.
• 15:23
  SPEAKER_01: Don't automatically save seeds from the first tomato you see.
• 15:26
  SPEAKER_01: Look at the entire plant.
• 15:28
  SPEAKER_01: Was it healthy?
• 15:29
  SPEAKER_01: Did it produce well?
• 15:30
  SPEAKER_01: Did it handle your weather?
• 15:32
  SPEAKER_01: Did it resist disease?
• 15:34
  SPEAKER_01: Did it mature when you wanted it to?
• 15:36
  SPEAKER_01: Did the fruit taste good?
• 15:38
  SPEAKER_01: Was it productive?
• 15:40
  SPEAKER_01: Did it have characteristics you want to see again?
• 15:43
  SPEAKER_01: Those are the plants you want to save from.
• 15:45
  SPEAKER_01: And if you start and if you're saving seeds for future years, think about what you're actually selecting for.
• 15:52
  SPEAKER_01: Maybe you want early maturity, disease resistance, heat tolerance, cold tolerance, good flavor, large harvest, small plants for container gardens, long storage life, whatever matters most to your garden, you're not just saving seeds, you're making selections.
• 16:13
  SPEAKER_00: This one is important.
• 16:16
  SPEAKER_00: If a plant is visibly diseased, weak, or struggling because of a series pathogen, because of a serious pathogen, don't choose it as your seed source simply because if it's the plant that happens to have mature seeds.
• 16:33
  SPEAKER_00: You're trying to preserve desirable characteristics.
• 16:37
  SPEAKER_00: Start with healthy plants whenever possible.
• 16:40
  SPEAKER_00: And remember that some plants plant diseases can be seed borne.
• 16:46
  SPEAKER_00: So good seed saving practice includes paying attention to plant health throughout the season.
• 16:52
  SPEAKER_01: If you're saving seeds from a crop that benefits from genetic diversity, don't necessarily take every seed from a single plant.
• 17:00
  SPEAKER_01: If you have several healthy plants with desirable characteristics, saving from multiple plants can help maintain greater diversity.
• 17:08
  SPEAKER_01: This becomes particularly important as you get more serious about long-term seed saving.
• 17:14
  SPEAKER_01: You aren't just trying to create clones of one perfect plant.
• 17:18
  SPEAKER_01: You're maintaining a population, and diversity matters.
• 17:24
  SPEAKER_00: This sounds ridiculous, it isn't.
• 17:27
  SPEAKER_00: Label your seeds immediately.
• 17:30
  SPEAKER_00: Not tomorrow, not when you get around to it, immediately.
• 17:35
  SPEAKER_00: Write down plant, variety, year.
• 17:40
  SPEAKER_00: And if it's useful, write down anything else you want to remember.
• 17:45
  SPEAKER_00: Where it grew, which plant you selected, why you selected them, how they performed, because six months from now, a little container of beige seeds may look exactly like another little container of beige seeds.
• 18:00
  SPEAKER_00: And you will not remember.
• 18:03
  SPEAKER_00: Trust me, label the seeds.
• 18:06
  SPEAKER_00: Label label.
• 18:07
  SPEAKER_00: Label label.
• 18:10
  SPEAKER_01: Seeds need to be thoroughly dry before storage.
• 18:12
  SPEAKER_01: Moisture can lead to mold, rot, and loss of viability.
• 18:16
  SPEAKER_01: Spread your seeds out, give them plenty of air circulation.
• 18:20
  SPEAKER_01: Don't rush this stage.
• 18:22
  SPEAKER_01: Once that are completely dry, place them in an appropriate airtight container.
• 18:26
  SPEAKER_01: Glass jars, seed envelopes kept in a suitable dry container, or other moisture-resistant storage systems can work.
• 18:33
  SPEAKER_01: The important things are cool, dry, dark, and protected from moisture.
• 18:41
  SPEAKER_00: A refrigerator can be useful for seed storage because it provides a cool environment.
• 18:47
  SPEAKER_00: But cold alone isn't enough.
• 18:50
  SPEAKER_00: Moisture is the problem.
• 18:52
  SPEAKER_00: If you're storing seeds in a refrigerator, they need to be thoroughly dry and sealed against humidity.
• 18:59
  SPEAKER_00: And when you remove a sealed container from cold storage, let it come back toward room temperature before opening it.
• 19:06
  SPEAKER_00: Otherwise, condensation can form on your seeds.
• 19:11
  SPEAKER_00: And we've already established that moisture is not your friend.
• 19:14
  SPEAKER_00: Nope.
• 19:16
  SPEAKER_01: So how long will a seed saved seed last?
• 19:20
  SPEAKER_01: There isn't one universal answer.
• 19:22
  SPEAKER_01: Different crops have different expected storage lives.
• 19:25
  SPEAKER_01: Storage conditions matter, seed quality matters, how thoroughly the seeds were dried matters, and age matters.
• 19:33
  SPEAKER_01: That's why labeling the year is so important.
• 19:36
  SPEAKER_01: If you're unsure whether older seed is still viable, you can perform a simple germination test.
• 19:42
  SPEAKER_01: Place a known number of seeds between damp paper towels, keep them appropriately warm and moist, watch for germination.
• 19:51
  SPEAKER_01: If eight out of ten seeds germinate, you've got roughly 80% germination.
• 19:56
  SPEAKER_01: That gives you useful information before you commit an entire garden bed to those seeds.
• 20:03
  SPEAKER_00: There's something else happening here that doesn't always get talked about.
• 20:08
  SPEAKER_00: When you save seed from your garden, you're paying attention, you're observing, you're learning which plants thrive, you're noticing which tomatoes taste best, which beans produce heavily, which lettuce bolts quickly, which pepper handles your conditions, which plant attracts pollinators, which varieties struggle, and the observation makes you a better gardener.
• 20:35
  SPEAKER_00: Seed saving forces you to slow down enough to actually watch your garden.
• 20:41
  SPEAKER_00: And that may be one of the most valuable parts of the entire practice.
• 20:47
  SPEAKER_01: We often think of homesteading as the obvious physical things growing food, preserving food, keeping chickens, making bread, composting, building things.
• 20:57
  SPEAKER_01: But homesteading is also about knowledge.
• 21:00
  SPEAKER_01: Knowing how to save seeds is knowledge.
• 21:03
  SPEAKER_01: Knowing how to recognize a mature seed is knowledge.
• 21:06
  SPEAKER_01: Knowing which plants perform well in your climate is knowledge.
• 21:10
  SPEAKER_01: Knowing how to preserve a crop for another season is also knowledge.
• 21:15
  SPEAKER_01: And knowledge can be an incredibly resilient.
• 21:19
  SPEAKER_01: You can lose a crop, you can lose a garden, you can move, you can downsize, you can go from acreage to an apartment.
• 21:26
  SPEAKER_01: But once you've learned how plants produce and how to preserve that process, you've gained something you can carry with you.
• 21:33
  SPEAKER_00: If you're listening to this and thinking, I want to save everything, don't.
• 21:40
  SPEAKER_00: Start with one crop.
• 21:41
  SPEAKER_00: Pick something easy.
• 21:43
  SPEAKER_00: Beans are a great choice.
• 21:45
  SPEAKER_00: So are peas, lettuce, and tomatoes.
• 21:48
  SPEAKER_00: Choose one.
• 21:50
  SPEAKER_00: Grow it, observe it, select your best plant.
• 21:54
  SPEAKER_00: Allow some of the crop to mature specifically for seed.
• 21:58
  SPEAKER_00: Collect it, dry it, label it, store it, and next year plant it.
• 22:04
  SPEAKER_00: That's it.
• 22:06
  SPEAKER_00: You've officially started seed saving.
• 22:08
  SPEAKER_01: Yay! So here's your assignment from the garden gate.
• 22:14
  SPEAKER_01: Ooh! I know! Feels like I'm in school again! Pick one open pollinated crop this season.
• 22:22
  SPEAKER_01: Choose your healthiest plants, watch them carefully.
• 22:25
  SPEAKER_01: Select the plants that perform the way you want.
• 22:28
  SPEAKER_01: Allow the appropriate part of the plant to mature fully.
• 22:31
  SPEAKER_01: Collect the seeds, clean them using the method appropriate for that crop, dry them completely.
• 22:38
  SPEAKER_01: Label them with the variety and year.
• 22:41
  SPEAKER_01: Store them someplace cool, dark, and dry.
• 22:44
  SPEAKER_01: Then, next growing season, plant some and see what happens.
• 22:48
  SPEAKER_01: Keep notes.
• 22:49
  SPEAKER_01: How many germinated?
• 22:51
  SPEAKER_01: How did the plants perform?
• 22:53
  SPEAKER_01: Did they look like the parent plant?
• 22:55
  SPEAKER_01: Did they produce well?
• 22:57
  SPEAKER_01: Did you like them?
• 22:59
  SPEAKER_01: And if you do it again the following year, you're no longer simply gardening, you're beginning to develop your own little cycle.
• 23:06
  SPEAKER_01: Plant, grow, observe, select, save, plant again.
• 23:11
  SPEAKER_00: You forgot eat and harvest.
• 23:14
  SPEAKER_00: Well, seeds are tiny, but they carry an enormous amount of potential.
• 23:22
  SPEAKER_00: Inside one little seed is the possibility of another plant, another harvest, another meal, another generation.
• 23:31
  SPEAKER_00: And when we save seeds, we're practicing, we're participating in something humans have been doing for an incredibly long time.
• 23:42
  SPEAKER_01: We're saying this was worth growing, this plant was useful, this food mattered.
• 23:48
  SPEAKER_01: Let's keep it going.
• 23:50
  SPEAKER_00: You don't need acres of land, you don't need a barn, you don't need a huge garden, you don't need to become a seed saving expert overnight.
• 24:00
  SPEAKER_00: You just need one plant, one healthy plant, one handful of seeds, and the willingness to learn.
• 24:08
  SPEAKER_01: Because every time you save a seed, you're saving a possibility.
• 24:12
  SPEAKER_01: And maybe that's the real heart of seed saving.
• 24:14
  SPEAKER_01: We're not only preserving something from the past, we're putting something aside for the future.
• 24:19
  SPEAKER_00: So as you walk away from the garden gate today, look at your garden a little differently.
• 24:25
  SPEAKER_00: Look beyond the vegetables you're harvesting now.
• 24:28
  SPEAKER_00: Look for the plants that might provide tomorrow's garden.
• 24:32
  SPEAKER_00: And remember, save a few seeds for tomorrow.
• 24:35
  SPEAKER_00: Until next time, keep your hands dirty, your curiosity growing, and your garden gate open.