Enka:ri Farm

Awhile back I wrote this post about seed saving, noting that I wasn’t an expert in the field, and also that you don’t have to be an expert to get started, which is one of my favorite things about farming in general.

And I continue to learn as I go. In the original post, I wrote that when it comes to seed saving, you can’t have your cake and eat it, too. You either get to eat the green beans or leave them on the plant to toughen up and produce mature seeds. And while that’s true for beans, it’s not necessarily the case for every crop.

Last summer, I visited the Kenhteke Seed Sanctuary with my cousin Lynn on our reservation in Ontario, Canada for a “seed to salsa” event. After touring the gardens, we all set to work making delicious salsa… while simultaneously saving seeds. I’d saved a few tomato seeds before, but I think I’d just tossed the rest of the tomato in the compost! Now, after scooping their seedy centers into glass jars, we chopped the rest of each tomato into perfect salsa chunks. I jumped right into this task; others diced onions, hot peppers, and cilantro. The chip supply was bountiful and the community-made salsa was absolutely fantastic.

Saving ‘wet’ seeds like tomatoes and cucumbers takes some time. The seeds have to soak and agitate for a few days to separate from the goo they’ve been floating around in inside the fruit.

Here’s one thing I learned at this event that I hadn’t thought about before – that goo that has to break down serves a purpose in the natural plant cycle. If a tomato drops to the ground in September in New York, it wouldn’t benefit the tomato very much to start sprouting new plants right away as cold gloomy winter rolls into town. By the following spring, goo is gone, seed can sprout. Nature, you fabulous thing.

Anyhoo, I returned to the farm, and got right to it. I selected a few beautiful fruits from a few healthy plants. I even labeled the jars, which for me is incredible.

Cheesecloth allows it all to breathe while doing its science thing. I even ventured further – one of these jars contains cucumber seeds!

After rinsing several times, the seeds dry on paper, then go into dry storage, ready for spring.

Ready for seeding! Should we have a seed saving day on the farm in the summer? (Hint: I think so.)