Archive : Seed Collection

Waterloo Region Record Wed Jun 22 2011 Byline: Margaret Mellon and Doug Gurian-Sherman Source: McClatchy-Tribune By 2050, the world will have to feed nine billion people, adapt to climate change, reduce agricultural pollution, and protect fresh water supplies – all at the same time. Given that formidable challenge, what are the quickest, most cost-effective ways to develop more productive, drought-, flood- and [Read More...]

We have been very busy planning out 2011 farming season.  We will be farming up to 10 acres with 80 varieties of mixed vegetables.   We got an exciting line up of heirloom, organic and exotic global vegetables. We will also have 3 green houses to extend our season.  We are expanding our CSAs from 5 to 25 and starting two farmers’ market locations as well. Here is a section of the seeds.  These seeds are already [Read More...]

By JESSICA LEEDER From Friday’s Globe and Mail December 9, 2010 Armed with $50-million in seed money, Global Crop Diversity Trust launches hunt for wild relatives of common crops, with goal of developing hardier varieties through crossbreeding A worldwide search for the wild kin of the most commonly consumed food crops kicked off Friday in Rome. Billed as the largest ever initiative of its kind, a decade-long hunt was [Read More...]

The green house is still producing Bittermelons in September.   We are leaving all of them to go to seed. Next year, half of the green house will be planted with Pavai bittermelon.

We have collected the dried golden bean seeds for next year. Next year, we are planning on having three trimster planting of beans to get a steady supply of this very popular produce. We will also attempt to freeze and pickle beans next year.

We didn’t have too much success with the Trinco Chillies from Eelam.  But the ones in our backyard gardens thrived and we are in the process of collecting the red chillies for seeds. We will let them fully dry and then save the seeds.  There is a huge demand for these spicy chillies in the GTA area. We are also planning on using them next year for pickles and chilli powder.

We are attempting to save some of the heirloom tomato varieties as well as the bitter melon seeds from the green house. We also have Keerai spinach seeds, garlic seeds from bulbil, romaine lettuce, Vanni long beans, lemon cucumber, Ceylon onions etc. curing in our basements.

These are our own Romaine Lettuce seeds from the Scarborough Backyard garden. We seeded them in the Milton backyard in middle of August.  Their growth started picking up with the colder nights and cooler daytime temperatures. You can see the spot at top where our 2 1/2 year old farmer watered.  It is a challenge to keep that farmer off the field and destroying the crops with a good intention. We will be planting these seedling [Read More...]

We grew these Trinco Chillies in our basement grow rack.  Started the seedlings in early March. We got the seed from our Markham backyard garden friend.  We planted some of those in Brampton outside lot and was very disappointed with the development. The clay soil in our Brampton lot didn’t suit this variety well.  But the organic garden in Milton backyard is full of these chilli plants.  We have been harvesting [Read More...]

Our Farm Manager Saulis had couple of these plants lying around late in June and we have decided to give them a home. These are one of the hottest chillies out there.  We make a mean Sambol(type of chudney) to accompany our Dosa, idly and bread. We have decided to use these plants to produce enough seed for next year since there is a huge market for it in GTA.