It’s a fiercely bright, blue Friday, and I’m happy to be hitting the road this afternoon, heading southwest from Albuquerque to Tucson. Stay tuned for news from Arizona this weekend as I participate in Native Seeds/SEARCH’s two-day “Introduction to Seed Saving” course all day Saturday and Sunday. Per the email sent by their Education Coordinator earlier this week, here’s what I’ve got in store:
All class materials and handouts will be provided, but please bring your favorite notebook and a pen. Of course if you have questions, seeds, or seed stories to share, bring them too! Here is an overview of what we'll be covering:
- Stories of seeds and seed keepers
- Saving seeds from tomatoes, chilis, lettuces, beans, sunflowers, brassicas, corn, amaranth, chard, squash, melons, gourds
- Botany, flowers and pollination
- Seed biology, germination
- Basic genetics
- Garden/farm planning for seed saving
- Seed types: landraces, heirlooms, hybrids, GMOs
- Community seed systems
- Seed storage methods