February Newsletter - Zines, Community, and a Conference

 

Growing Guide Zines

Growing Guides Support Seed Libraries and a Prison Garden Program

In an effort to increase seed return rates for Seed Libraries and to provide education on crops, Julia worked with volunteers to create printed growing guides. These zines feature information on cultivation, seed-saving from year 1 and beyond, where the seeds came from, and a paper pocket to hold a packet of seeds. Everything is in here to help the novice grower have a successful crop and save seeds. Most of these are being sent out to seed libraries, some of which feature locally grown seeds of that seed library by grantees of our Farmer Support program. For example, the cucumber guide features seeds grown by Megan Allen-Lazaro and Eduardo Lazaro of Care of the Earth Community Farm in Corryton, Tennessee. Megan and Eduardo’s local seed library will feature this guide with their seeds. Others are being sent to Land Together, a prison garden program operating in 9 prisons throughout the State of California. Land Together works to help prisoners connect with themselves, others, and nature through educational in-prison and reentry programs. They have had an immensely positive impact upon incarcerated people in their programs. They hold a 97.5% success rate of individuals exiting prison and not re-entering, compared to California’s 42% recidivism rate. If you would like to learn more about Land Together, click here.

 

Volunteers helping to make growing-guide zines

Community Posts

Proposed Going to Seed Gathering in Europe 

Are you interested in a LIVE Going to Seed gathering in Europe? Some of our European friends in the community are trying to organize an event for October or November of 2025. The event is proposed to be hosted at the Green Network of Activists Groups’ (ZMAG) educational facility in Croatia. For more information and to fill out the interest form, click here. 

The “Brassica oleraceae” Effect

Looking for inspiration on improving underdeveloped plant structures in different crop species into yummy edibles? Professor Porcupine promotes growing crops such as Amaranth, Squash, and others the way Brassica oleraceae was domesticated into brussel sprouts, cabbage, cauliflower, kohlrabi, kale, and broccoli. The possibilities are inspiring to think about. Check out the conversation on this topic here. 

We Mourn the Loss of Casey Piscura

I would like to recognize the loss of Wild Mountain Seed’s visionary founder, Casey Piscura, who died earlier this month at the age of 39. I grew the Alpine Poblano mix from Wild Mountain Seeds when it was offered in EFN’s 2022 catalog. I had never grown poblanos before or cooked with them. Only a few seeds survived and they grew into large, multi-branching bushes that pumped out loads of medium-size poblanos. They were incredible when cooked green and took forever to turn red, at which point they had a slow-building heat that was deep and complex. With my limited palate, it was unlike anything I had before experienced. I have grown out the seed I saved from them in the past years and contributed much of it to the Seed Share. I know others who grew seeds from Wild Mountain Seeds. Many of the genetics from Casey’s breeding efforts have found their way into Going to Seed’s mixes. If you would like to know more about Casey Piscura or tell us how his work affected you, read this post here.

 

Alpine Poblano from Wild Mountain Seeds grown in Florida in 2022.

Join Us at the Organic Seed Growers Conference | Feb 26 - Mar 1 We are off to OSA’s Organic Seed Growers Conference and hope to see you there! If you have not bought tickets yet, there are still virtual options which can be found here. On Saturday, Julia will be on a panel speaking about strengthening regional seed systems for sustainable communities. For more information on this panel and others, click here.

Lowell + Going to Seed