Seed Bank

I've not had much time to actively promote the seed bank concept but I'm planning on changing that since there always seems to be more and more seed available.  One of our club members kindly donated several packets of seeds which will go into the seed bank.  All seed bank seeds will be made available for SASE to other club members.  The seed bank will be located in the new exchange forum (yep, I'm changing that too).

The Heirloom Club Exchange/Trade forum portion of the site drives me nuts so I'm changing to a different format.  The current format makes it much too difficult for me to follow and if it's difficult for me (the one who is currently posting more than anyone else) it must be just as annoying to everyone else.  Everyone who had registered on the site will automatically get registered to use the new site.  My hope is the new forum will encourage more interaction and discussion among heirloom interested gardeners.

Native American Corn

A bunch of us are trialing beans and corn in 2010 so I've been reading up on the different types and interesting varieties. Seed catalogs with diverse heirloom and open pollinated varieties often list flint corn along with sweet corn and I've always focused on the sweet corn merely out of convenience. But, I've often pondered the differences and how they coule be used. In reading through 'Heirloom Vegetables' by Sue Stickland she notes some really interesting points:

In the Native American culture, there are six colors of corn which directly correlate to what they consider their six directions: black, red, white, yellow, blue and multi-colored corns relate to north, east, south, west , zenith (sky) and nadir (earth).

Northeastern Indians use white corn for breads.

Southwestern Indians use blue corn which have evolved an association with beneficial soil fungi making the soil 10 times more efficient at utilizing the nutrients in the soil.

There are some fascinating details in this book:

Heirloom Vegetables: A Home Gardener's Guide to Finding and Growing Vegetables from the Past
By Sue Stickland
Publisher: Fireside or Gaia Books Limited, London, 1998
Pages: 191

2010 Seed Planning

So, I can't believe it's nearly 2010 but with the new year is always the fun of planning the new garden. Now that we have the exchange forum, it will be nice to distribute seeds earlier in the year to people who have an interest, especially those with a shorter growing season.

Interested in obtaining some new seeds in 2010? If so, please feel free to list the items of interest and/or the items you're planning on purchasing as well. Please post a reply on the exchange forum if you're interested being part of the collective who will receive seeds from my purchases. Feel free to list what's on your planting/personal purchase list for 2010 here. It will be great for us to compare notes next year if we all end up planting similar items.