'Tis the season for planting...and growing....

This beautiful sunshine calls me...." Come....Come...Come outside. Come dig. Come plant."

I heeded the call and ordered seeds !!

We've always been interested in the Seed Savers Exchange and used them extensively when we had a big garden at the ranch.

In the United States, it is the largest non-government seed bank. Seed Savers is an non-profit organization dedicated to saving and sharing heirloom seeds. An heirloom seed is defined by Seed Savers as "any garden plant that has a history of being passed down within a family....like pieces of heirloom jewelery or furniture."

Preserving and continuing to develop disease and pest resistant plants without modifying or altering the genetics of the seed takes time, dedication and patience.

Currently, though, there is tremendous pressure to patent and create genetically engineered plants and animals that will produce rapidly. These "mutations" are now part of our everyday lives. Depending on the study you read, there could be over seventy percent of processed foods on our grocery shelves that contain genetically engineered ingredients. It is estimated that about seventy-five percent of U.S. corn and eighty-five percent of soybeans are genetically engineered.

Typically, an engineered plant will produce seeds that are sterile so they can not reproduce. Sometimes, this is referred to as “terminator technology” because the plant’s ability to reproduce has been ‘terminated’ at the genetic level. This may not seem particularly important unless we know that these genetically engineered plants are not harmful to our health, and if we can continue to have access to a supply of "GM-free" (genetically modified-free) plants.


I highly recommend the following for plants and seeds:


http://www.seedsavers.org/


http://www.johnnyseeds.com/


http://groworganic.com

this company is in Grass Valley, CA...



A great resource is:

http://www.motherearthnews.com/


Happy Planting...Happy Growing....and

Happy Infusions,
Kate
http://tea4kate.com