Latest / The Shed Organics Show / #51 - Why Heirloom Seeds Are Crucial! | Ambre Whatley [Eden Seeds]

Transcript

#51 - Why Heirloom Seeds Are Crucial! | Ambre Whatley [Eden Seeds] · The Shed Organics Show

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Hey everybody, welcome back to another episode of The Shed
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Organics show. We are kicking off the new year
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with an absolute fundamental episode.
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We are talking about seeds with Amber from Eden Seeds here in
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Queensland. Now Amber is doing a fabulous
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job providing everybody with some incredible quality seeds,
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heirloom varieties and cross pollinated varieties, some
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fabulous seeds. And we're talking about the
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importance of saving seed, how easy it can be, how seed swaps
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and community based swaps are so important in today's world to
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avoid working with seeds that come from large companies that
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are treated and all sorts of different things from all sorts
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of different places. Now, another thing that we spoke
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about is not only saving seed, but what that means in terms of
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tapping into our connection to our past.
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Some tried and true tested varieties that have stood the
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test of time, that are providing us with quality nutrition for
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years and years. They hold that ancient wisdom.
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And I think this conversation is so vitally important that we
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just had to kick off the year with it.
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So without further ado, let's jump straight in.
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This year is going to be fabulous with guests, but this
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one kicks off absolutely perfectly with Amber from Eden
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Seeds. Can you just maybe start with
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your thoughts on the importance of saving seed?
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So I think that, for one, it is just a beautiful way to get us
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reconnected with everything from, you know, the food on our
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plate, but also just to nature in general.
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Because, you know, I think a lot of the problems with, you know,
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mental health, physical health in the world comes from a really
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big disconnect. You know, we are really more
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connected than ever in terms of, you know, being able to have
2:24
everything at our fingertips at a moment's notice, et cetera.
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But we've really been taken out of true connection with the
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world around us and the community that we can find even
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in the plants themselves, You know, there's you're never
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lonely if you've got a garden or some trees or a patch of grass
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outside like you can really connect in.
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So I think that's really important.
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I think knowing where your food comes from is really important.
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It's scary how little people will realize about what it takes
2:59
to get the food on their plate. It's scary to think about what
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children are not being taught in schools about how their food is
3:08
made. So many children would not have
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even seen so many of the amazing plant foods there are in the
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world and how they grow and you know what they look like at
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different stages and what they taste like.
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I mean, how many of them would not have tasted a real tomato
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flavour? You know who?
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And and they don't like it so they don't like it.
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They think it's, they think it's gross because it doesn't have
3:34
any flavour. It tastes like wet cardboard.
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But you let a child into a vegetable garden and they will
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go around munching with delight. You know, what else can I pick
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and eat? Let them try some herbs and you
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know, so their, their palates are very bland, which means that
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their nutrient intake is probably very bland also.
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And you know, then we end up with a lot of sick adults, you
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know, so there's, it's such, that's such a huge question.
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There's so many important things to why we should be kind of
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getting back in touch with where our food comes from.
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And you know, saving seeds is everything begins with the seed,
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right? So, so that's the start there
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is, you know, obviously you don't have seeds to begin with,
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but you get some and then you can watch the whole process
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happen. And so also a lot of people will
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will grow a vegetable and cut it and eat it when it's at its
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prime for eating, but not actually know what the whole
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cycle, you know, what happens there.
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And so letting something go through its full natural life
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and death cycle is, you know, a great way to really understand
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that plant. And yeah, you can't save the
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seed unless you let it go through that entire cycle.
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You have to, you know, grow it until it's, it looks messy in
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the garden. And you're thinking, you know, a
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lot of people will have wanted to pull that out by now because
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it's just dead and brown and crispy and taking up space and
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you think it's just a problem, but it's really not, you know,
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that death is leave it there. Leave it there.
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Never take it out. You can cut that down, take the
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seeds when they're fully done. And you know, even leaving that
5:20
plant to then create the next bit of nutrient for your, you
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know, your next crop. It doesn't ever have to leave.
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I think we kind of kind of, you know, reframe how we think
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something should look. It doesn't have to be this
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clean, you know, perfect lines and, you know, tidy kind of
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garden because it's, it's not life's not tidy, it's messy.
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It's, you know, a bit chaotic. It's a bit sometimes, a bit
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gross sometimes, you know? Yeah, this is, this is all part
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of that reconnection of kind of life and death and our place in
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it. Yeah, so true.
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And like nature's not clean and tidy in that way either, is it?
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Like it's just, it is what it is.
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It does that full cycle. And you're right, you can
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appreciate the full cycle of a plant, the life and death.
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But then that one seed, like you said, it all starts with the
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seed. It's almost like the chicken and
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the egg type thing, but you've got the seed and that seed can
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last you forever if you kept getting seeds back from that
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plant. And obviously with seeds and the
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where they're grown, how they're grown, you're going to get a
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little bit of genetic diversity among the seeds.
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You can then select for stronger varieties or certain traits that
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you like in varieties and kind of seed select in that way.
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Talk to me maybe please, if you can, about the importance of
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the, the good genetics and keeping around these original
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seeds that haven't been. I guess I'm going to use the
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word tampered with or because we're seeing to give a bit of
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context, we're seeing seeds now that are like almost roundup
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ready seeds. They're kind of advertised as,
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and this is just to me, it's along with genetically modified
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seeds just is screaming the wrong things.
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We, we want to go back to the most traditional seed varieties
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and heirloom varieties, things like this.
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Why is that important over some of these seeds that we're
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starting to see today? Yes.
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So heirlooms are just a a tiny little definition for any of
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your viewers that may not know what an heirloom is.
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They are the old traditional varieties that have stood the
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test of time. They grow true to type.
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When you save their seed, you're you know that the next season
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you plant that you're going to get a plant that looks the same
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as the parent crop. And they have been carried down
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through a family or a culture or a place for over 50 years that
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there's, there's, you know, there's different kind of time
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frames on this, but you know, you, you, you know that there's
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many generations of growth in this, in this seed line.
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And the genetics have held true all the way along.
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And so they are also open pollinated, which means that
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they're naturally pollinated by wind animals, insects.
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And you know, so, so a lot of hybrids are either pollen free
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or need and which means that they're also not food for our
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pollinators, which is a whole nother can of worms.
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We want to provide food for our pollinators.
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And you know, and so if they're pollen free, they're also
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sterile. So you won't be able to get to
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save the seed, which takes away your own sovereignty, your own
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ability to be self-sufficient. And it also means that you're
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reliant on outside sources buying every season.
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So saving these heirlooms matters because they are a link
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to our ancestral past. They are a link to all of the
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people that came before us. They carry traits and resilience
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for times that we haven't even been here for.
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You know, it is written in their genetics, in their DNA.
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These seeds are little time capsules and, you know, and, and
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they have been carried by people that transient people that have
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been either forced to move or have, you know, moved by choice
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due to, you know, whatever it was that made them up and take
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their seeds and their belongings and, and make a journey.
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And these seeds have come with them.
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And so we have this these bits of resilience from different
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climate zones, from different parts of the world, from, you
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know, all these different cultural backgrounds that carry
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a absolute wealth of different nutrition, not just the one
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variety of, you know, green beans you can get in the grocery
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store, but but there's hundreds of varieties of beans and
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they're all different colours. They're all different shapes and
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sizes and, you know, and they all have a different, some of
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them are going to be more drought tolerant, some of them
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are going to be frost tolerant. Some of them are going to be,
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you know, better for, you know, smaller spaces or you know, some
10:19
of them are going to be rambling and perennial and last for
10:21
years. So it, you know, it allows us to
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be able to have a bit of bit of security in different types of
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plants and what they are good at and what they can provide for us
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nutritionally. And you know, they, yeah, they
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just, I think they're very special heirloom seeds because
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everything, my whole life has been really everything is, I've
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been so passionate about connecting with ancestry in, in
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making things. You know, like I, I've done a
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whole lot of kind of art and, and craft throughout my life.
10:57
And every time I was drawn to something new, IT was always
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like an old ancestral skill that we just call, you know, it's
11:04
craftiness now. But really it was what we had to
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do to survive. It was what created, you know,
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cooking implements and catching animals or harvesting food
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implements the tools that started culture, you know, and,
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and so heirloom seeds have the same kind of feeling for me.
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It's like this, this little seed has, you know, just a world of
11:26
history in, in it, contained in it.
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And when those things are lost, when they're not grown anymore
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and therefore not saved anymore, we don't have that history.
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We don't have those stories. We don't have the, you know,
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even the science of it, the genetic, you know, traits that
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we can, you know, identify in this particular plant.
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If, if it's gone, it's gone, you know, it's, it's not coming
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back. So they're so important because,
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you know, we need to yeah, keep it's, you know, keeping this
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stuff alive. And and it's not just in the
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history books where the children of the future will never get to
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see that we'll never get to grow that we'll never get to taste
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that. And I think when you eat these
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things as well, you know, for me, I'm transported to these
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other worlds, You know, you can just close your eyes and taste
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these flavours and just think about the people before you,
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that, you know, how it sustained them.
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And that paved the way for us to even be here.
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We wouldn't be here without it. Yeah, that's, that's so true.
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That's a really nice, lovely way of putting it.
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It's like this genetic memory that's kind of stored within the
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seed. And I feel like, you know, when,
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when you're saying about these, the crafts and things that
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you're doing, it's, it's having, it's awakening this genetic
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memory within our cells. It feels authentic when we start
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to do these types of things because you're tapping into that
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wisdom of the past, this passed down wisdom through our
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subconscious, through our genetics, through our cells and
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our DNA, the actual coding. And that's going through into
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those seeds, that seed that, like you said, has seen all of
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the times beforehand, has been adapting over that time.
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And am I right in saying that the alien varieties, like you
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said, are true to form? So, you know, over time, they're
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going to replicate. They've been stabilized somewhat
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in the fact that they're going to they're going to replicate
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themselves so much. That to me screams the fact that
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it's meant to be almost because it's it's genetics and it's form
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have been stabilized naturally, not with our input.
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And I've often said that we are some of the greatest pollinators
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because we've we're able to take things all over the world and,
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and shift things and cross things and all sorts of things,
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which is great in a lot of ways because we can be selective and,
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and breed out these bad traits and breed in some good traits.
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But I feel like when nature naturally does it over time,
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that has that genetic resilience, it has that ancient
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wisdom and all of that carrying through.
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My question then is with these heirloom varieties versus
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something that's like genetic, sorry, that's been maybe played
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with by us, like selected and all of these types of things.
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Do you find that it's either easier to grow the heirloom
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varieties because they are so well used to and adapted to
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conditions versus some of these newer seeds, even the ones that
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were just you can go to the hardware store or the garden
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centre and buy. From my experience, I've always
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seen that the heirloom varieties seem to, especially if they're
14:54
within our climate zone and ones that I've got from you, you guys
14:58
actually have been really awesome because they have been
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bred in this environment. They understand it, They've got
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that genetic memory and they know what to do.
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Whereas if I'm planting a seed that I've gotten just from,
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yeah, the hardware store or wherever, it just doesn't seem
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to have that same strength, resilience and knowing what to
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do. Do you find that?
15:20
Yeah, it is true. So there is something called
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hybrid vigour, which a lot of these kind of hybrid hybridizing
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companies that create hybrid seeds will you know, market as
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this is, you know, it will collapse in the second
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generation. So the first generation of
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hybrids often you will get a big yield and it can be quite Hardy.
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You know, that's what that has been bred for.
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But like we said earlier, you can probably not save the seed
15:48
and if you do, you're not going to be sure what you get, if
15:50
anything comes of it, it will be kind of a Franken fruit of, you
15:54
know, whatever genes, you know, exert themselves in that second
15:59
generation. So there is, you know, there is
16:04
that there with hybrids. But you're right with the local
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adaptation. Now that being said, if we were
16:12
to get a seed from someone who had grown it in an Alpine region
16:19
for 30 years and bring it here to southeast Queensland, it's
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probably not going to do very well the first year.
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We can adapt it to our local environment over a few years.
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But yes, local seed does have local resilience to those
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conditions. So that's why it's really
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important to get in touch with other local growers, get
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involved in a local seed savers group or a gardening group or,
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you know, that kind of thing, a crop swap where people in your
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region are growing things that grow well in your region because
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not everything grows in one place.
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We can't, you know, be so blind to think that we can just take
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any kind of plant and make it grow where we want it to grow.
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It's it's not going to happen. Nature is much smarter than us
17:06
in those ways. And, you know, some things need
17:09
the frost and some things will die in the frost.
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So, you know, yeah. So those those local traits,
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yes, are that do come over the time.
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So yeah, that is something to look at when you're when you're
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get getting seed is, you know, kind of the the history of the
17:28
seed and your specific climate. A lot of stuff will grow OK
17:33
across, you know, across Australia, for example, we can
17:36
kind of grow a lot of things, but in different times of the
17:39
year. Or you might have a shorter
17:40
growing period than, you know, your neighbor down South, but
17:43
still be able to grow that food. Yeah, I think I answered your
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question. Yeah, you did, you definitely.
17:52
No, that's OK. That's perfect.
17:54
I think now like it's, it's got me thinking because we see these
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seeds marketed by big companies and you know, specifically I
18:05
guess to farmers where who are growing the majority of our food
18:09
for supermarkets for all of these types of things.
18:13
I've had quite a few conversations about the food
18:17
crisis in terms of like bringing back that connection, like you
18:22
said, to our food, where it comes from being a father, it's
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so important to me to teach my son, hey, look, your food
18:31
doesn't come from the supermarket.
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It's grown from this tiny little seed of potential that we then
18:37
put in the ground. We nurture, we watch it grow
18:39
just like ourselves, and then we're able to harvest, reap the
18:42
benefits and be grateful for that.
18:45
We're we're seeing these seeds that are just, you know, in
18:49
facilities that are just put in through machines and through,
18:53
you know, copy and paste mediums, controlled
18:56
environments. They're then put into fields in
18:59
monocrops and, you know, treated with all sorts of different
19:03
things that we don't want. What's the difference in terms
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of like, because I just kind of think if we used seed that was
19:17
much better evolved and not these kind of really strictly
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controlled coated often seeds. We, we haven't even spoken about
19:26
that yet, but coated seeds, things that they put on the seed
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and they, they're playing intervention in terms of they're
19:34
playing God. They're trying to say, look,
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yes, like you said before, I want this to grow here.
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It's going to grow this well, we're going to modify it so that
19:42
it, you know, fits, ticks all these boxes and grows the same
19:45
thing every single time. Do you think there's room to be
19:49
bringing in these types of heirloom seeds, these tried,
19:54
true and tested varieties in more of a large scale?
19:59
This doesn't obviously account for all of the ways in which
20:02
they're treated and the crops are growing and the mono crop
20:05
and all of that. Obviously, we would love to see
20:07
a little bit more diversity, some organic approaches,
20:10
regenerative. Et cetera, et cetera.
20:12
But do you think there's room for us to be able to use some of
20:14
these heirloom seeds, to be able to feed everybody in this in the
20:18
same way that they're trying to with these genetically modified
20:22
seeds? Look, I would hope so.
20:25
I would really hope that there is, you know, a future where we
20:28
can have, you know, a large, large scale production of some
20:34
of these beautiful old heirlooms.
20:35
It will introduce, you know, more nutrient dense diet to, you
20:40
know, people, especially when we're talking about the kinds of
20:44
foods that dominate the food supply, which is, you know, we
20:50
have, you know, 50,000 species of edible plants and we use
20:55
about 150 of them, you know, and the, the majority, like 60 or
21:00
75% of the food supply is based on wheat, rice, maize.
21:09
And so and you know, and yes, you've spoken just before of
21:12
the, you know, proprietary chemicals that are sold with
21:17
these seeds. So the farmer has a contract to
21:21
grow out this particular type of corn.
21:23
And with that comes a chemical that they must use.
21:28
It's kind of a, you know, you get this with this, it's a, it's
21:31
a, it's a, it goes in tandem and there's this very narrow set of
21:37
genetics. And then we're dealing with
21:39
stuff like herbicide resistance and the pollution of the soil
21:45
and the waterways. And, you know, from all of these
21:48
chemicals that are made to be used with these, you know,
21:54
various, you know, narrow selection of crops.
22:00
But if yes, if we could potentially replace some of that
22:03
corn with some beautiful alien corn with its different colours
22:07
and, you know, get back some of that, you know, food we're able
22:10
to create that has different colour, different flavour.
22:13
I think it is going to take a lot of work also on on people's
22:17
part because not just the growers and not just the, you
22:21
know, the farmers and the multinational corporations that
22:24
control a lot of these large scale broad acre farming
22:27
outfits, but also people we'll need to like.
22:31
Like I was saying about the bland palettes is that we have
22:34
trained in ourselves to accept a very neutral set of flavours and
22:40
a very neutral set of, you know, colours on our plate.
22:43
And so, you know, we may have to kind of start rewiring our own
22:48
brains to say this is also good, you know, oh, this is what this
22:53
actually should taste like. And that we've been kind of lied
22:58
to our whole lives because we've been fed this, you know, beige
23:01
diet and, and corn that doesn't taste like anything and you
23:05
know, etcetera. Yeah, and the, and it doesn't
23:08
translate with the nutrients as well.
23:09
Like it it, as you said earlier about the the kids going and
23:13
going around the garden tasting everything there is the flavour
23:17
is better in a more nutrient dense plant.
23:20
They go hand in hand. So if it tastes better, then,
23:23
you know, there's more nutrients in it and it's better for you.
23:26
And you're right, we're just so used to just going and having
23:30
these super bland tasting things that just have absolutely no
23:33
flavour. And then that's why we all say
23:35
like homemade is so much better or homegrown is so much better,
23:38
I should say, because we understand that that taste
23:42
translates through into the food that we eat.
23:44
And yeah, I mean, so I would love to see more of these open
23:49
pollinated things because these seeds that they, the companies
23:52
use, they, they are just A1 use thing so that farmers are forced
23:56
to be buying and buying and buying and using more and more
23:59
chemicals for less and less yield and more and more pest
24:02
pressure. And it's just becoming more
24:05
unsustainable in terms of like encouraging people to to bring
24:12
seeds back into their thought process.
24:17
That's a lot of what I love about your content is that
24:20
you're really helping to educate people in terms of why it's
24:24
important to connect back with the seed, to planting your own,
24:28
to gardening yourself and saving the seeds, being part of that
24:31
full cycle. Was that something when you took
24:36
over eating seeds? Because I know you and your
24:38
family took it over initially. Is that something that you knew
24:44
that you wanted to really do or is it sort of evolved over time
24:48
from coming into the the business?
24:52
Yeah, look, I have personally, I've got, I've saved seeds from
24:56
my own garden for years and years and loved that process.
25:01
And I'm one of those people that even as a kid, I'd be picking
25:03
seeds and putting them in my pocket.
25:04
And, you know, there's all these different seeds and seed pods
25:07
and whatnot still lined up on my window sill to this day.
25:10
So there's always been kind of that.
25:13
And, and like I said, so much of my life has been, you know,
25:15
driven by the passion of reconnecting with our our lost
25:18
past. But I did not realize quite the
25:22
dire circumstances of the seed world until I was in it.
25:27
And even then, you know, we're about three years in now.
25:30
And you know, I remember asking the previous owner of the
25:34
business that the man who founded it in 1986, which he
25:39
founded it through amazing foresight that this was going to
25:44
be needed way back in 1986. And I believe that he started it
25:48
before the Eden Seeds name. Well, well before that as well,
25:51
seed saving and, you know, sharing these heirloom seeds.
25:57
And, you know, I think that was incredible to see back then.
26:00
This is going to be a problem. And I remember asking him before
26:05
we stepped in, how do you foresee, like, the next few
26:10
years? What, you know, what struggles
26:12
am I going to be up against? And yeah, I think really just
26:15
kind of shook his head. I felt a little bit, almost a
26:18
little bit scared at that point. Like, oh, gosh, you know, what
26:21
am I stepping into? Surely, surely gardening is
26:25
just, you know, peace, love and mung beans, right?
26:29
We're just out here having fun, getting dirty and it's all good.
26:32
Like it's just it's, you know, but it's, it's not that way and
26:36
it's a little bit scary and it's, you know, it's getting
26:39
tighter. It's getting harder to find
26:44
seeds. There's a lot of treatment, as
26:47
you said, there's coatings and treatment that is being put on
26:51
the seeds. And this is seed that's even
26:55
just, you know, there's seed that you can get domestically.
26:57
There's other seed that people, big companies will be bringing
27:00
in. There is obviously we do have a
27:03
very delicate ecosystem in Australia and we have this, you
27:07
know, unique kind of position to be kind of, you know, this
27:10
island nation away from the rest of the world and should
27:13
definitely take good care of our our own biodiversity here.
27:19
And so, you know, that's why a lot of the stuff coming in has
27:22
these treatments and stuff on them.
27:23
However, that doesn't make it good for us.
27:25
You know, that doesn't make it good for the seed or good for
27:28
the environment that these seeds are being planted in, which
27:32
makes it even more important to grow more here to empower our
27:38
own farmers and gardeners to save seed and their seed to be
27:43
purchased from, you know, back from them.
27:45
And, you know, keep it kind of on shore as much as possible to
27:50
avoid having to have seed that's been through irradiation and
27:53
chemical treatments and fungicides and herbicides and
27:55
all this other stuff that has to happen with imported seed.
28:02
Yeah. Look, these monocultures are
28:05
really fragile. And diversity is our, you know,
28:09
insurance. It is our security blanket on
28:13
the food supply. And so, you know, I think it
28:19
goes back to you are we are all casting a vote every time we
28:24
shop. And there are small businesses
28:27
out there that are utilizing some of these older varieties
28:31
and there are farmers markets that you can frequent a lot more
28:34
than your grocery stores and make the choice or ask your
28:37
grocery stores to stock certain, you know, small businesses
28:41
products. If that's, you know, if that's
28:43
going to be helpful with making your choice with what you feed
28:46
your families. Yeah, you're absolutely right.
28:50
Voting with our feet means that we, or our dollars I should say
28:54
as well, is that we're then showing to the mainstream
29:00
agriculture that the demand is not there anymore.
29:04
The demand is actually for locally grown, organically
29:09
grown, good quality genetic seeds that are, you know, passed
29:14
down like we spoke about through generations or that are well
29:17
adapted locally to the climate, have good nutrient density.
29:21
Me being a big soil person, focusing on the quality of our
29:25
soil, regenerating our soil so that it's got all the life in
29:28
there to give that seed the most amazing foundation so that it
29:34
can out, it can live out its full potential as a plant as
29:37
well. I've noticed, you know, at
29:41
various different garden meet ups that I've been to and
29:44
things, a lot of them have seed swaps and seed banks that they
29:47
have, which is such a great initiative.
29:49
And some of the best seeds that I've gotten apart from obviously
29:53
from you guys is the the ones that have come from local
29:58
people. And, and you know, you mentioned
30:00
that earlier, just swapping saying, Hey, you know, I've got
30:04
some seeds for this. Do you have any seeds for that?
30:06
And we can swap some stuff and that takes away the need for
30:12
these big seed companies and this importing of seeds, this
30:16
kind of giant conglomerate thing that's going on that's.
30:21
It shortens the supply chain. So, you know, it's keeping
30:24
things, you know, that's taking away reducing some of your food
30:27
miles. And that's not just benefiting
30:31
the food that you're putting in your body, but that's benefiting
30:34
the environment. That's less fuel, that's less
30:36
wear and tear on roads. That's less, you know, you got
30:39
to think about it kind of macro. It's not just the food itself,
30:43
it's not just you, but it's this, you know, macro of
30:46
everything contained in the food supply chain that the more and
30:51
more we can shorten it, the better off we all are.
30:55
Yeah, that's right. The planet is the better off the
30:56
soil is, the less pollution in the air and the water, you know?
31:00
Yeah, it's, it's one of these things that's like, it seems so
31:04
obvious. It's just one person at a time.
31:07
We're trying to help make that transition be a little bit more
31:11
conscious. I think we're seeing a lot more
31:12
people being conscious about where their food comes from and
31:15
and wanting to make a change away from some of the the
31:19
nasties that are coming in and ruining our health.
31:22
Just going back to when you started, when you took over a
31:25
couple of years ago. Hey guys, really quickly jumping
31:29
in. I just want to remind you, if
31:30
you are not subscribed to this show, that is the number one
31:33
thing that you can do to show me your support.
31:36
So if you're finding value from this conversation and you're
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deeply engaged, I would love you to hit the follow or subscribe
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button. All right, back to the show.
31:44
What were some of the initial challenges that you faced
31:49
personally taking it over? I'm sure obviously once it's,
31:51
it's already been set up for many years prior.
31:54
So there's a certain way of doing things.
31:57
Did you take over the location as well as to where it was?
32:01
So you're coming into a location that he'd already started and
32:05
and built up with a process. Can you tell me a little bit
32:07
about getting to know the process and and the challenges
32:10
initially? Yeah.
32:12
So we did purchase the business and the property that it was
32:15
located on, which is A7 acre lot in Southeast Queensland in the
32:21
mountains behind the Gold Coast. At that stage it was just him
32:26
here and he was in his mid 70s and was not doing any production
32:31
anymore at that point. There had been production
32:33
actually growing by that. That's what I mean by production
32:36
is growing the seed here. So none of that was happening
32:39
anymore. So the place was a real blank
32:42
slate every. It was all tall grass weeds.
32:44
It had grown over there was there's been a lot.
32:46
We've spent two years clearing, setting up, We're still building
32:51
out spaces for gardens. That has been a work in progress
32:55
and will be a work in progress still for years to come.
32:59
But the property is beautiful. It did used to be certified by a
33:03
dynamic and so it's it has been very clean in the way that it
33:10
has been managed for many, many years, which we love.
33:14
And we have got quite a bit of production going here now.
33:18
But we do have growers all over the country, which that brings
33:22
me to one of the major challenges that I faced when I
33:26
stepped in was to build my own relationships with the growers
33:30
around the country and realized that in fact, the same as the
33:34
previous owner, a lot of the growers were aging out of the
33:39
industry completely. And that's both very sad and
33:43
also a huge loss because there are not a lot of young people
33:48
choosing to go into agriculture. If you don't have that kind of
33:51
intergenerationally in your family.
33:54
It's not it's not a common thing that's chosen.
33:56
It's not voluntary. You know, a lot of people are
33:59
not saying I want to be a farmer, you know, like it's,
34:01
it's pretty thankless work. It is long, hard, hot hours.
34:06
You have the very restless climate impacting everything
34:12
that you do. We have had growers that have,
34:15
you know, they lose, they lose a crop in an afternoon to 1 bad
34:20
storm. That's their entire year of
34:22
work. And, and you know, income that's
34:26
just lost as well. And so, you know, these, the,
34:29
the farmers, Oh my gosh, they're the real MVPS out there.
34:34
I tell you what and I have travelled around a bit and met
34:39
some of them. I will continue to do so.
34:42
Visit properties, meet farmers, see their operations and you
34:47
know, make a relationship with them and and continue those
34:52
through so that, you know, we can continue supporting them and
34:56
they can continue their work. Or, you know, hopefully someone
34:59
steps in for some of these people when they are ready to
35:02
retire, because otherwise we are in a pickle.
35:06
Yeah, this you've hit the nail on the head.
35:08
And there's no incentives for young people to get into
35:12
farming, especially when it's it's shown how difficult it is.
35:16
And, you know, the powers that be are certainly not making it
35:20
any easier for us to to farm in terms of giving some sort of
35:25
incentives to switch to a better regenerative approach or just
35:29
supporting them in general because they do provide us with
35:33
our food. And that's like everything.
35:34
Yeah. It's like such, it's one of the
35:37
most, if not the most crucial job that we have and has been
35:41
for a long, long time. So seeing the aging out or of
35:47
these generations of of knowledge and wisdom as well
35:50
coming back to that. Such a loss, yeah.
35:52
It is. It's such a loss and the the
35:54
fact that we don't have the incentives for the young people
35:57
means that it is quite difficult.
35:59
Do you see a lot of these, I guess like yeah, places,
36:04
farmers, things that you've been connected with or that
36:07
previously have been connected through eating seeds, Do you see
36:10
the numbers of them dropping off or are you trying, are you
36:15
seeing a little bit more of a wider adoption?
36:19
How? How is it tracking for you?
36:21
I've definitely seen numbers of especially the larger scale
36:27
growers, which goes back to I think a lot of the larger scale
36:30
broad acre growers have been bought out, which no fault to
36:36
them. Sometimes there isn't another
36:38
option. Sometimes some of these farmers
36:41
are in a world of debt because of how much they put into their
36:45
work and then to lose it, they have no other option.
36:48
And so, you know, I understand, you know, from a human
36:52
perspective what happens here. So in, in, in those ways,
36:57
especially when it comes to certified organic as well.
37:01
Unfortunately, certified organic, while a wonderful
37:06
concept in theory, is very tricky for a lot of growers to
37:10
sustain the costs involved, the, the, the process involved in,
37:17
you know, maintaining your certification and your audits
37:21
and stuff. I've had so many growers come to
37:23
me and say, I'm not doing that anymore.
37:25
I'm still growing organically, but I'm not worrying about the
37:27
certification. They've grown organically for
37:30
5080 years in their family. Their, their, their properties
37:33
are truly beautifully managed and have been for generations.
37:38
But they're not bothering with the certification anymore
37:40
because it is just too much red tape, too much paperwork, too
37:43
much cost, you know, a burden for them that they can't hold,
37:48
you know, at the same time as just doing what they know how to
37:51
do, which is farm organically. So that's a real shame and you
37:57
know, so we have two lines in our business.
38:02
We have the the Eden line and we have the select organic line and
38:06
all of our seed comes untreated, non-GMO, non hybrid, no
38:12
coatings, no chemicals used. However, we have the select
38:16
organic line that those growers have done the certification
38:20
steps. So those are the two
38:21
differences. You know some people will ask
38:23
well how come only that's organic?
38:25
Well, it's all organic, but we can't call it certified, you
38:30
know, by regulation. So we do have a line that is the
38:34
certified, but it's a very small line and that line has
38:37
diminished. It's diminished.
38:39
We have a room in the office full of old packets that have
38:43
been printed for certified items that we can no longer get, you
38:48
know, So it's like these are the ones that I try and get small
38:51
amounts of to them and give to a grower and say, can you just
38:55
grow out that seed so to buy organic so we can bring that one
38:58
back, you know? OK.
39:01
And yeah, sorry, just to jump in on that then, can you help me
39:06
understand a little bit about how you collect your seeds, how
39:10
you get all of the range of seeds that you have?
39:14
I presume that you're not growing absolutely everything
39:18
and then saving the seed yourself.
39:20
Can you tell me a bit about how you collect those?
39:22
Well, we couldn't. Like I said, we have 7 acres
39:25
here, which is just a small, a really small plot.
39:29
And especially because we sell some of our seed in, in huge
39:31
bulk numbers. We grow a few things here.
39:35
We're, as I said, we're trying. We've we've got more areas in
39:38
production that we will be growing more and more here, but
39:41
we have growers all over the country and some of them are
39:45
large scale growers and some of them are just small, you know,
39:48
backyard growers, market gardeners, market gardeners are
39:50
great. I do think that's one kind of
39:54
area where there are young people, that passionate young
39:57
people that are starting to build a bit of a name for
39:59
themselves, or at least. A a living, at least, you know,
40:03
a comfortable living where they can be proud of their work and,
40:06
and you know, live in, you know, in within rhythm with nature.
40:11
And so you know the farmers markets and the small, you know,
40:14
the organic, you know, fruit and veg shops on your corner, those
40:17
kinds of things. You, you even just it doesn't
40:20
have to be the organic fruit and veg shop, but your local fruit
40:22
and veg shop. We have growers that will grow
40:25
things out and supply the fruit and veg shop with part of it and
40:30
then save some back for seed and that that gets sold to us, which
40:34
is great. And yeah, otherwise, yeah, it's,
40:39
it's the actual process of, of saving the seed.
40:43
If, if that's what you're asking about.
40:44
That changes for every Yeah, that's, that's so like it's
40:48
different for every single plant that some of them require, you
40:51
know, one thing and some of them require the total opposite.
40:54
But really you just let the plant grow out to its final
40:57
form, you know, and, and you know, things like flowers and
41:01
herbs, you have to be quite on it because they'll release their
41:05
seeds and you've missed the window.
41:07
And it might be that morning if you look at the seed pods and
41:10
you're like, oh, it's getting close.
41:11
It might be a day or two. But then that afternoon they've,
41:13
they've released them and that's it.
41:15
You've missed it. So it is observance.
41:17
It is really paying attention, you know, close attention,
41:21
getting to know that relationship with your plants,
41:24
with your garden and and you know, you know, OK, this one's,
41:28
you know, it's getting close. I've gotta, I've gotta stay
41:30
close today and, you know, catch the seeds or, you know, get, get
41:33
it all out of the ground now. But then there's other stuff
41:36
that you can just leave. You know, you, you've got your
41:38
big, you've got your beans. You can leave beans and peas.
41:40
You can just leave them on the vine until the whole thing is
41:43
dead and crispy. And then you're going to pull
41:45
them all off and, and Shuck them all out.
41:48
And, and that one's even easier. Things like cucumbers and
41:50
pumpkins, you're leaving them on until it's all died back And the
41:53
cucumber's well past the eating stage.
41:56
It's this massive, you know, kind of fibrous, hard skinned
41:59
thing that's not very juicy anymore.
42:02
But when you cut it open, the cavity that used to be the
42:05
juicy, you know, lovely salad ingredient is now all seed,
42:09
massive, plump seed. And, you know, you can scoop
42:11
those out and save them. And so, yeah, some things you
42:14
can save and eat at the same time, like tomatoes.
42:18
Generally when they're ripe, they're ripe for seed and for
42:21
eating. I found pumpkin seeds easy to do
42:25
like that as well. You can eat them at the same
42:28
time as as doing that. Have you got any tips for and
42:33
again, this is so plant dependent, so I'm well aware of
42:36
that, but like have you got any tips for home gardeners in terms
42:39
of saving seed techniques? Because like, I, I've been
42:43
saving basil seeds for a while and like, I'm trying to shake
42:48
them out of their seed pods and I'm trying to like break them
42:51
out a little bit and they're so fiddly and small.
42:53
And then I'm trying to scoop them all up.
42:54
And I, I feel like I spend like a couple of hours getting all
42:57
these seeds out and then I've got this tiny little bag of
43:00
seeds. But that goes a long way,
43:02
obviously. It does.
43:03
But have you got anything from your experience in saving seeds
43:07
where without turning to like a machine or anything, is there
43:10
any little gadgets or any tips and tricks that you like to use?
43:14
Well, I love a sieve, just a kitchen sieve.
43:16
If you can get them in different size sizes of the holes, they're
43:20
very, very helpful. We have big, we have really big
43:22
ones as well that they can be used with a, a winnowing
43:26
machine, which is basically a blower.
43:29
It kind of blows the air up and winnows, which is kind of blows
43:33
off the the shell and then leaves the seed because the seed
43:36
is heavier and more dense. So it will stay and the the husk
43:39
and the shell will kind of be blown off.
43:40
But you can do the same thing on a small scale with just small
43:44
kitchen sips over your sink or outside.
43:47
And, you know, over a bowl is probably the safest way because
43:50
then, you know, is this whole, you know, small enough to, you
43:54
know, is the seed going to come through or can we catch it?
43:56
You know, it's over a bowl until, you know, is probably the
43:59
safest way to do it. But they're brilliant.
44:01
I use them for a lot of things, even for, you know, tomatoes I
44:04
was doing this week just in the kitchen.
44:07
And it's amazing how many seeds you'll get out of a tomato, you
44:09
know. And so I've got a few crops
44:12
coming ready to be harvested at the moment.
44:14
And yeah, I have to do them in a kitchen, in a sieve, in a bowl.
44:18
I just use kitchen equipment. It doesn't have to be, you know,
44:21
too difficult. Once you've washed them and
44:25
sieved them and gotten all the pulp off, you spread them out
44:27
onto a like a a baking piece of baking paper on a tray and let
44:31
them dry, you know, and you've got your seed.
44:35
I remember telling somebody, because I sort of was sharing in
44:39
this fact that it can be very fiddly.
44:41
I think they were talking about lettuce seeds at the time, how
44:44
sort of fiddly and small it can be.
44:45
And I said, and the yard just takes a few hours and I just
44:48
don't know if I can be bothered with it anymore.
44:50
And I said, right, true, but you do it one year, you put that
44:56
effort in one year, you could have several years of seed ahead
45:00
of you. In fact, in fact, obviously you
45:02
know some of these things self seed so they're you can just.
45:06
Keep You don't even have to. Yeah, like Basil is a good
45:09
example here in southeast Queensland.
45:10
It just come, I've got Basil coming out the lawn.
45:13
It's just like it's, it comes out of everywhere.
45:15
So you don't necessarily have to be doing it every season, every
45:19
year. You just go, OK, look, this crop
45:22
was really good this year. I got a really good crop.
45:27
I'm going to save some of these plants, let them go to seed
45:30
because I know that was a good crop.
45:33
Do you recommend that as well? Because I know that, say, if
45:38
you've had a bad crop and it's a bad producing plant or it didn't
45:43
work so well or it was under lots of stress, how's the
45:47
quality of the seed from that plant versus something that was
45:50
thriving? Yeah, absolutely.
45:52
And I just want to go back to your lettuce.
45:53
Little tip on that 1A pillowcase is great for lettuce.
45:57
So I either cut the plant off or RIP it out if you want.
46:00
But you can leave the roots in and just cut the plant off
46:02
straight into, put the the pillowcase over the top and tie
46:06
it up or put a rubber band around it.
46:07
And then you just thrash that in there and all the seed will fall
46:10
out. And then you can do a little
46:11
sieve as well. But that's the easiest thing
46:13
that I've found for lettuce seeds.
46:15
And similar to that, like radish, broccoli, those kinds of
46:18
things that have those spikes of seed, put them in a pillowcase
46:22
and that's really easy. Yes.
46:24
But yeah, the, the seed that you, the plants that you save
46:28
seed from should be the best, the healthiest, the most vibrant
46:32
plants because they will, you know, the apple doesn't fall far
46:36
from the tree and they will take on the traits of their parent.
46:40
So, you know, if you are choosing a very, a struggling, a
46:43
plant that didn't produce much or it produced small weekly
46:46
looking fruit, that's probably what you'll get back.
46:49
So if you can save the seed from your best looking plants, you
46:53
will probably have, you know, a nicer crop in the future.
46:56
And, and you're right, you can save those seeds for years.
47:01
Obviously seed packets come with an expiration or a Best Buy date
47:05
or a sow before date on them. And I like to tell people that
47:09
please don't pay attention to those.
47:10
They have to be on there. That's kind of a, you know, a
47:12
retail requirement. But if you store your seed well,
47:16
it will last you countless years longer than that for a lot of
47:21
varieties. Now there are some seeds, Some
47:23
plants that seeds have a natural shorter viability period or or
47:28
lifespan, but most seeds will last a very, very long time.
47:33
We have, I did an experiment. I've kind of moved on from it
47:36
now, but sometimes I'm still planting old seeds.
47:39
But I didn't experiment a year ago where the entire year I only
47:42
grew out of date seeds. And I'm talking really out of
47:46
date seeds like tomatoes from 2010, you know, like best before
47:49
2010 and everything came up, I had the best crop.
47:54
It was fine. No problem.
47:56
If you keep your seeds in a cool, dry, dark place, they'll
48:00
probably last a lot longer than the packet says.
48:03
And yeah, So, you know, your garden shed, that's probably not
48:07
it. I know that seems logical.
48:09
So many people I know, myself probably included in the past.
48:13
You got your tin of seeds or your bucket of seeds or whatever
48:15
in the garden shed next to your tools.
48:17
Of course, it makes sense. But that place is, you know,
48:20
especially around here. I mean, maybe that might fly if
48:23
you live somewhere very cool and you know, but in the, in the
48:28
subtropics, anywhere where it gets hot or humid, you're really
48:33
taking away the viability of those seeds.
48:35
So we like to tell people in an airtight container in the
48:38
crisper of your fridge if there's room.
48:40
That's exactly where I have mine.
48:42
That's exactly right. And and like same with my seeds
48:44
because I, well, there's one here.
48:46
I do a cover crop seed mix, which is 15 different seeds.
48:52
This one's more a winter blend because it's got lots of Clover
48:54
and stuff in it. But I tell I've got all those
48:56
seeds in fridges in the dark and I they're obviously sealed
49:01
packets to make them nice and dark.
49:02
But I tell people Chuck them in the fridge because that does
49:05
extend the life. And that was actually a question
49:07
that I had for you was about that sow by date because like,
49:12
so why do they have to have it on there?
49:15
Is it because of a guaranteed germination rate based on what
49:19
they've tested? Or is it just like, well, yeah,
49:23
why? Why do they have that?
49:25
Yeah. You know, actually I don't know
49:27
the answer to that question. It is something that, you know,
49:30
we are told needs to be on there.
49:32
And I guess for retail facing products, most things it is a
49:37
they're kind of a food, you know, in a way, especially when
49:40
it comes to your sprouting and your microgreens, that is a food
49:42
product. So it would need to have that on
49:45
there. But yeah.
49:47
And and yeah, there is a generally industry recognized
49:51
standard of about 70% germination is is what 70 about
49:58
70, which you know, I think that's pretty good.
50:01
You know, 7 out of 10 seeds, that's a pretty good
50:05
germination. If you're going to get that, I
50:07
think you're looking pretty good.
50:09
There are lots of companies that will still sell them when
50:13
they're less than that but but give you more seed to make up
50:15
for the difference. Most companies that do that will
50:18
put that on their packets. Extra seed has been added due to
50:21
low germination. There are also some seed
50:24
varieties that have a naturally low or very slow germination,
50:29
and I'm talking months before you see it emerge from the soil,
50:33
which sometimes can throw people off because they're like, what
50:36
have I done wrong? And well, the seed is bad or and
50:39
you know, sometimes it's just the seed has a particular season
50:42
that it will come up and it will only wait for those conditions.
50:45
Australian natives are a good example of that because, you
50:48
know, some of them require a Bush fire to to make them
50:52
germinate. They, you know, and so for those
50:54
we can kind of replicate what a bushfire might be by inoculating
51:00
them with smoke. I'm in a container with some
51:03
charcoal and some and that can, and those chemicals interacting
51:08
can trigger their germination. But if that doesn't happen, they
51:12
may never germinate. You know so.
51:15
Yeah, that's right. And even same, same with the
51:17
weed seeds as well that can be sort of dormant for so many
51:20
years until the rat soil come in.
51:23
There's so many yeah different variables that come with the
51:26
seed themselves. Yeah.
51:29
And with those germination rates like are you able to like I
51:33
don't, I actually don't know. But have you got sow by dates on
51:37
your seeds and how far in the future is that so by date and
51:42
have and do you sell or can you sell or would you sell seeds
51:46
past that date? Yes.
51:49
So the the so by dates that are on our packets are generally
51:52
about two years and that allows the consumer to see I should
51:55
have these in the ground within this two year time frame.
51:58
Some things will have a year or 18 months on them and there are
52:01
a couple of seeds like Angelica for example, which is a herb, it
52:06
has about a six month so by date on it.
52:09
Anything in your onion family has about an 18 month so by date
52:12
on it because we know that these seeds do expire quicker, they
52:17
want to be in the ground sooner. So it just gives consumers an
52:21
indication of how long can I store these for.
52:24
You can keep them well stored and you may get longer out of
52:26
them. And in fact most things you will
52:29
get longer out of, you know, the tomatoes, they they will last
52:33
decades, decades. Beans last many years, you know,
52:38
so generally the dates are there as a guide, but keep, don't
52:45
throw them out if once they've reached past that date, still
52:47
put them in the ground because you'll probably still get some
52:50
plants. You know, you may not get 100%,
52:52
you might not even get 70% depending on how they're stored,
52:55
but you'll get still some plants, almost surely.
52:58
I've got a few very old capsicums in this year.
53:02
What else have I got in? I put in an old cubitter peppo,
53:07
which is the zucchini of the, you know, the pumpkin squash
53:10
family, any of the Peppos that we had in our seed bank, and it
53:14
was probably a decade old. And I've had 100% germination on
53:18
them. Not a single, not a single fail.
53:21
So those are going to come back this year.
53:23
So we have a seed bank similar to some other, you know, big
53:27
seed banks around the world, like the Svalbard Global
53:32
Doomsday Vault in Norway under the permafrost.
53:36
So that if you know the world ever, you know, implodes, we
53:39
have a backup there. And we like to do a similar
53:44
thing, albeit at a very smaller scale.
53:47
I think they've got like one and a half million different seeds
53:51
there. We certainly don't have those
53:53
numbers, but we do have a pretty amazing seed Bank of our own.
53:58
And we we keep all of our seeds in walk in full rooms, really
54:01
big cool rooms. And one of those is dedicated to
54:05
a very cool seed bank with a lot of amazing old varieties.
54:10
And every year we try to grow at least a couple of those and
54:13
bring them back. And sometimes it's a hit and
54:15
sometimes it's a miss. The genetics is still there and
54:19
stored. I, you know, am not entirely
54:21
sure what we would do with seed that doesn't have any viability,
54:26
but we just can't find any more. I think it's still such a
54:28
treasure trove that we'd keep it there.
54:31
Yeah, for sure. Yeah, I'm.
54:34
Sorry, saving any of these seeds is just such a great idea.
54:37
Like it, it, it makes me think then, because three years ago we
54:42
were kind of in the, the heart of a bit of a global crisis of
54:46
sorts. Did you notice that when you
54:50
took over, there was like a very old demand for seeds?
54:53
Because I know that like in local garden centres and things,
54:57
seedlings were flying off the shelves when everyone was stuck
54:59
at home. I'm not sure how the time
55:01
correlated in terms of when you took over and this type of
55:05
thing, but surely an event like that makes people realize how
55:09
important these seeds are and, and saving seeds and getting a
55:12
hold of something to be able to grow some food, bring back some
55:15
sovereignty. Did you notice any of that
55:18
initially? So we were in after that
55:21
happened, but I do know that in talking to the old staff that we
55:26
retained when we stepped in, their stories were pretty
55:28
amazing. And the the whole place had to
55:30
shut down because the orders were coming in by the thousands
55:33
everyday and things were completely sold out.
55:35
There was just and and it was weeks and weeks before getting
55:38
through orders. So they had to turn off the
55:40
phones, shut the website down and just say we can't take any
55:43
more orders, we need to get through these.
55:45
And I think it took a very long time, but, yeah, I think people
55:49
realized. I think it was a combination of
55:52
people are stuck at home and they're bored.
55:53
What can we do? OK.
55:54
What can we do in our own backyard?
55:56
Well, there's a few things You can renovate.
55:57
You can garden, you know, and a lot of people turn to gardening.
56:01
And then also. Yeah, like, where are we going
56:03
to get our tomatoes and cucumbers and lettuces from?
56:06
You know, we can't, you know, there's there's nothing at the
56:08
stores. The shelves are empty.
56:10
You know, we can't drive, you know, here and there.
56:13
The markets are closed. This, you know, So people
56:15
realized. Oh, actually.
56:17
And so, you know, we, we still, there is still echoes of that.
56:22
We talk to people every week that call in or e-mail in or,
56:27
you know, make orders and, and they are, you know, talking
56:32
about this time. And there is, you know, there
56:35
are people that talk about if it's happened, it'll happen
56:38
again and we need to be prepared.
56:40
So there are people that are looking towards the future and
56:44
what they can do to kind of bolster themselves in, you know,
56:49
humming similar events. And look, we sell a
56:54
self-sufficiency collection, which is almost everything that
56:57
you could possibly need to feed yourself in your backyard
57:00
across, you know, many seasons that it's a very generous supply
57:06
and they're quite popular and you know, a lot of people will
57:08
just get them to put them. I remember having someone come
57:12
here and talk to us about it and he had a bit of a climate
57:18
controlled vault and he said these are just going in there.
57:20
He said I'm not, I don't, I'm not planting at the moment.
57:22
He was a pilot and he was all jet setting all over the world.
57:25
But he wanted to have that ready for if he needed to have that
57:29
ready. And, you know, that's a fairly
57:31
wise investment. I totally agree.
57:34
I mean, it's one of those things that like, you hope you never
57:37
have to use, like your first aid, you hope you never have to
57:40
use your CPR skills, but you exactly.
57:43
You want. To know it when it's there, so.
57:45
That's right. Yeah.
57:46
And like talking about the future then 22 parts of this
57:52
question, how do you see the business and the seeds and all
57:59
of this for you personally going?
58:01
And then also how do you see the world adopting more of these
58:06
seeds hopefully in a more positive mind frame like that.
58:10
I'm hoping for is that we, as we spoke about earlier, we're using
58:13
more of these amazing seeds. But personally for you in the
58:16
business looking forward, what some things coming up on the
58:19
horizon or things are occupying your thoughts base?
58:23
Getting more production happening here is an important
58:26
part of it to be able like, like I want to support the farmers
58:30
around the country. But like I said, you know, it's,
58:32
it's, it's getting trickier and we all have to be a little bit
58:36
more self-sufficient, don't we? So the more obviously we can't
58:39
grow acres and acres of of old wheats and corns and stuff here,
58:43
you know, I will grow small amounts.
58:46
But there are some things that we have in stock for a month or
58:49
two and that's it. That's it for the whole year.
58:51
We only have we've only produced a small amount and this is what
58:54
we have. So get it while you can because
58:56
it won't be again until. And also that speaks to
59:01
different our size property here and growing certain species that
59:06
frost pollinate. So you know, that's like if
59:09
you're to grow, I was talking about the cubita, the pumpkin
59:12
family. If you're to grow 2 Peppos at
59:14
once, you know, a Black beauty zucchini and this other one that
59:19
I'm growing, which is called gills Golden Pippen, if I'm to
59:21
grow those at the same time, pollinators can transfer the
59:26
pollen from one to the other. And then we will have a cross in
59:30
the next generation. So we don't know what we're
59:34
going to get and in which case that next generation is not an
59:36
heirloom. It is now something new and the
59:39
genes won't be stable. I think it's 7 to 10, you know,
59:42
generations where you can start to see a bit of stability.
59:46
And I'm talking about, you know, plant generations, not people
59:49
generations, but but you know, so, so we can only, so each
59:53
season I'm only able to grow that one peppo.
59:56
So if there's, you know, there's hundreds of different varieties,
59:59
but I can't bring them back quickly.
1:00:00
I can't bring them all back each each year.
1:00:03
But yeah, so important to me is continuing production,
1:00:06
increasing production, you know, I think.
1:00:12
Tighter bonds with a smaller group of growers is probably
1:00:17
the, the wisest way, you know, to really be in collaboration
1:00:22
with, with certain growers, which we have started to really
1:00:25
be, you know, fairly exclusive with, with growers and say, hey,
1:00:29
you know, we've got to support each other.
1:00:30
So, you know, you're going to grow these things for us and
1:00:35
we're going to buy it all from you to support you.
1:00:37
Because, you know, if we if we just go, oh, no, at the end of
1:00:40
the day, we don't want that. You know, then they've grown it
1:00:43
and they don't have anyone to sell it to.
1:00:44
And, you know, that's not good for them either.
1:00:46
So, yeah, and, and just more education, more getting it out
1:00:51
there to people to just give it a go.
1:00:54
Gardening is not an exclusive club.
1:00:56
And it's not that hard It it throws all of us curve balls.
1:01:01
You know, I've been doing gardening pretty much my whole
1:01:03
life and I still will have failures.
1:01:05
And, you know, don't get down about that.
1:01:07
It's OK. It's, you know, nothing that you
1:01:11
know, should just make you throw in the towel.
1:01:14
Keep crying. You know, even a couple of times
1:01:19
this season. I was telling one of my staff
1:01:21
yesterday I put in some corn seeds and I had like one out of
1:01:26
20 come up. And then about a month later I
1:01:29
put in those exact same seeds and I had 100% germination.
1:01:34
And it was just a few weeks difference, but the conditions
1:01:38
were different. It was a little bit warmer, it
1:01:40
was a little bit more, it was more rain coming, you know, so
1:01:43
it wasn't relying on me watering every day.
1:01:45
And you know, so the conditions change, you know, the way that
1:01:49
the seeds and the plants will react.
1:01:52
So it's, it's not necessarily the seeds and it's not
1:01:55
necessarily you, you know, being a failure, neither one.
1:02:00
It's sometimes just the conditions and the perfect
1:02:02
conditions haven't, you know, come yet.
1:02:05
And so give it another go. And you don't have to grow your
1:02:09
entire family's food supply. You can just grow one thing and,
1:02:13
and making those community connections and trading, you
1:02:18
know, a lot of small communities have these crop swaps and, and
1:02:22
stuff that you can go to now and you've got a whole wheelbarrow
1:02:25
full of tomatoes, but that's it. We'll take those along and
1:02:27
you'll probably come home with, you know, pumpkins and herbs
1:02:31
and, you know, watermelons and all these other things.
1:02:34
So it what you've got is still abundant, you know, to somebody
1:02:39
else. So yeah, I think just just
1:02:42
encouraging people to people in cities.
1:02:45
There are community gardens in cities.
1:02:48
You can grow herbs on your windowsill.
1:02:50
You know there are There is something that you can grow for
1:02:53
your own plate for everyone, everyone.
1:02:56
You know, there's no barriers here that you say that you can't
1:03:00
grow anything. Yes, you can.
1:03:03
I promise you you'll there'll be a way.
1:03:04
Even sprouts. Sprouts are something that you
1:03:07
can grow that's, you know, good for your health that anyone can
1:03:10
do anywhere in an apartment 34 floors high.
1:03:13
You know you can still have a garden in your kitchen.
1:03:32
Beautiful. And there we have the
1:03:34
conversation. Ladies and gentlemen.
1:03:35
Amber is a wealth of knowledge so I highly encourage you to go
1:03:40
and check out her links in the description below.
1:03:43
She posts regularly on social media educating about seed
1:03:47
saving and the importance of that and the ramifications in
1:03:51
our communities and in our world.
1:03:53
So go and support her. Go and check that out.
1:03:55
You can go and buy seeds from eating seeds as well.
1:03:58
If you're interested in getting yourself some wonderful open
1:04:01
pollinated or some, you know, different varieties, some
1:04:04
heirlooms. So go and check those out.
1:04:06
If you enjoyed the episode, I would really appreciate some
1:04:09
sort of review, any comment to say what you liked about it and
1:04:13
leave us some stars. But most importantly, if you hit
1:04:16
the follow or subscribe button, that shows me that you are
1:04:19
sticking around for the long haul.
1:04:21
And it shows the algorithm that we can spread this to more
1:04:24
people. We can get them inspired and
1:04:26
empowered to get into the garden.
1:04:29
So I'm so grateful for you, the listeners.
1:04:31
I'm so grateful that we got a massive year last year and I'm
1:04:34
so ready for next year's guests. It's going to be a big one.
1:04:38
So thank you again for sticking around.
1:04:40
I really appreciate you. Take care and bye for now.