Seed Circles

We’ve all heard of the chicken vs egg debate, but have you ever wondered which came first, the plant or the seed?

Until recently, every gardener in the world saved their own seed. They saved the seed of the plants that did best for them, and which they liked most.

Although simple, this was efficient. Each gardener was maintaining a slightly different strain of each vegetable. This created a huge living genebank that was very resilient against disease or climate change. If things changed so that your cabbages didn’t do well, someone down the road probably had a slightly different one that would cope.

Every year, without even thinking about it, millions of people added to the achievements of their ancestors to maintain and improve the previous years’ varieties.

This has worked very well for the past 11,000 years. However, in the past 40 years, almost all these adaptable local strains have been lost.

This has to change and this online course, and invitation to join a local SEED CIRCLE is the first step along the route.

Introduction click here
Module 1: Background click here
Module 2: Seed and Pollination click here
Module 3: Why save seeds? click here
Module 4: Getting Started click here
Module 5: Harvesting and Storing click here
Module 6: Seed Saving Techniques click here
Module 7: Joining a Seed Circle click here

And if you want to check up on a particular plant, try the A-Z of seed saving.