Growing Heirloom Vegetables

Finding Heirloom Seeds

Stop by your local Farmers Market and look at all the produce. See a purple tomato? Maybe a yellow and green striped one? There are so many different kinds. Buy a couple to taste, and dry the seeds for next year's crop.

By Great Granny Vi from Moorpark, CA

Heirloom Seeds: Just Like Grandma and Grandpa

One of the greatest days of my life is opening up that mailbox on a cold winter day in January and finding my seed catalogs. I spend hours trying to figure out what to grow and what space I will have available as I love to grow flowers too. Many people in this country are fighting the battle with obesity and would like an opportunity to live a healthier lifestyle. Gardening can help keep you in shape and if you eat what you grow you know what was or was not put on your crops. In the Depression, every family had a garden and it helped them to survive. Vegetables and fruits also were traded with neighbors or helped to feed many of the transients who came to back doors for a free meal. Community gardens are popping up in most of the major cities. Gardening is making a comeback in a big way!

I wrote an article last week about Nature's Best Fertilizers and Insect Repellents. In the feed back section, there was a article about Genetically Altered or Hybrid seeds. Although I agree with some of what the writer wrote, I still believe that having a garden and working naturally in the garden is just good stewardship of our planet. In a time when money is so hard to come by and families are struggling, I stand by my position that growing a garden can help a family to survive these tough times. I must say that I am a loyal American with a son serving in the military along with his wife and I believe in our government. I don't always agree with the government but I still believe that they do try and keep us safe. I am also a Christian, believe in Armageddon and believe that some of our government is corrupted by power just as the Bible says. I believe that people should be prepared, if it is for a hurricane a tornado a flood or the end of the world. But I also believe that it is 2010 and that my family should eat healthy and save money today and for our future and try to undo some of what harm has been done to the planet.

Genetically altered seeds are qualified as safe by the FDA, but that does not mean that they are truly safe. According to my research, not enough tests and studies have been done to prove the safety issue one way or another. It is a fact though that, yes, most of these plants are sterile and seeds saved from them will not produce. I believe that every gardener should do their own research before they buy or plant anything. Try rooting an avocado seed, most of them won't root because they were genetically altered.

The good news is this, folks, and the whole reason that this article is named the way it is. For many years now, there have been folks that were concerned about genetically altered seeds! With the help of farmers and backyard gardeners, they have saved seeds from the plants that our grandparents used to grow. Remember the taste of Grandpa's tomatoes or the taste of the onions in Grandmas pickled onions? Well you can have them too! There are many companies that sell what is termed to be "Heirloom" vegetables and fruits. You can buy seeds from these companies online or through their catalogs. All of these companies certified that there seeds are open pollinating and are not genetically altered. These seeds have been collected for generations and some are no longer available but through these seeds banks. Any produce grown from this seed will reproduce and taste wonderful. I have included in this article websites that you can go to and see for yourself the methods they have used to collect and keep alive these wonderful plants. Read for yourself about genetically altered plants. You can also Google genetically altered plants and Wikipedia has a whole long explanation on how it is done.

• http://www.heirloomseeds.com/
• http://rareseeds.com/
• http://www.seedsavers.org/

But if you are like me and just want to enjoy some fresh air and sunshine, if, like me, you want to enjoy the fruits of your labors, if, like me, you enjoy knowing that no man made chemicals were added to the food that goes into your body, then try some of these seeds and grow yourself a wonderful garden. Rejoice that you don't have to pay Walmart prices for your zucchini squash and share some with your neighbors, for the Lord said "Rejoice in this day for I have given it to you!"

Editor's Note: Here is the Wikipedia entry that Debra discusses:

• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genetically_modified_food

By Debra Frick