How To Store Seeds for years, survival and to save money?

   I was out in the garden bright and early this morning, planting more radishes, spinach and Blue Lake Bush beans. As I was planting, I was thinking of the show, “Revolution”, it’s a show about all power going out all over the world and different groups trying to maneuver to take control of the United States. Now hold on, I wasn't thinking about taking over the USA, I was thinking about how they planted their gardens to survive. How you could keep seeds ready at hand for years to come or even generations? I have written before about the different types of seeds, Heirlooms, Hybrids, GMO and how to collect them but I couldn't recall if I had written on How to Store seeds for years to come, for emergency gardening or just to keep those seeds where your plants did so well?

   Storing survival garden seeds... along with growing an emergency garden is very important for emergency preparedness or a food shortage crisis and also will save you lots of money in the long run! As the value of money decreases, the value of food and vegetable seeds will increase. Vegetable seeds are a major food-source, and should be considered one of the most valuable commodities of all for emergency and survival preparedness, as well!

   The conditions you will need for properly storing survival garden seeds are just the opposite of those required for good germination. Good germination occurs when water and oxygen are present at a favorable temperature. Best seed storage results are obtained when seeds are kept dry (below 8 percent moisture - 4 percent is optimal) and the temperature is kept low (40 degrees or below).

"Get Started Gardening With The Right Seeds"

   Well Finally! Over the past week I have been able to get my hands dirty in the garden. I have been on cloud 9. First last weekend I got all my tomatoes and peppers started and under the lights. And as of today I have my broccoli plants in the ground. Along with turnips, beets, 2 different radishes, spinach and salad lettuce. But I believe I have ran into a little problem, I think I am gonna have to expand and build more raised beds. See the problem is, I want to plant more that I have room for, SO, off to build I go! At the bottom of this article I left links to some of my past article gardening tips for you to enjoy!
   I also want to give a shot out for Botanical Interest Seed Company! All of my seeds that (I didn't save from last season) came from them the past two years. I have had great success with their products! At Botanical Interests, not only is the seed inside our packets the highest quality available, their packets are designed (inside and out) to give you the information you need to be a more successful gardener!

• Over 500 high-quality varieties
• Many heirloom seed varieties
• A large selection of USDA Certified Organic seed varieties (learn more about organic seed)
• Guaranteed - the germination rate of every variety is tested before we package it
• All our seed is untreated
• No GMOs - we enthusiastically signed the SAFE SEED PLEDGE: We do not knowingly buy or sell genetically engineered seeds or plants
•  

Here is more great articles from "The Redeemed Gardener" on Seed Starting:

"Sink or Float Tip"
"Heirloom vrs. Hybrid Part1"
"Damping - Off 101"
"Jell-O in the Garden"
"Hugelkulture Beds"
"Reaping What you Sow"
"Most Important Seed"

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What do you SEED in this picture?

Look Very Very Closely!

Photo by: TheRedeemedGardener

Photo by: TheRedeemedGardener

  

  

  Pardon the use of words there but I couldn't resist (SEED)! What I see is next years "Blue lake" Pole Beans SEEDS! Yes its the end of the growing season but you still can think of next year as you clean up the garden beds for the winter. That is if you do not year round garden. Saving seeds from your beans is much easier than you may think and here is how.

Saving Bean seeds:

1) Let the Bean Fully mature on the plant.

2) Either let the beans totally dry out on the plant or pick the biggest filled pods from the plant string them on some string and hang them in a warm/dry place to dry out.

3) When the pods are as dry as a "popcorn fart", just crumble the bean pods in your hand to remove the bean itself.

4) As with any other seed you save. Put the beans in an airtight/dry container or plastic baggy.

5) Store them with the rest of your seeds for next year in a dry place.

6) Next season when you are ready to plant, remember to soak your bean seeds in water for 24 hours before planting. This will help germination!

If you didn't catch my post on saving Tomato Seeds, here it is as well! "Saving Tomato Seeds, for next year".

Tips for Saving Beans:

•  Choose beans from plants that are strong, prolific, and disease-free. Remember: healthy plants = healthy seeds = healthy plants next year.
•  Only save those dry beans that are large in size, smooth, and whole. Don't save seeds that are smaller than the others, wrinkly, or broken.
•  Only save seeds from heirloom, open-pollinated beans. Hybrids won't come true from seed.

 

Mark 4:30  Then He said, “To what shall we liken the kingdom of God? Or with what parable shall we picture it? ³¹ It is like a mustard seed which, when it is sown on the ground, is smaller than all the seeds on earth; ³² but when it is sown, it grows up and becomes greater than all herbs, and shoots out large branches, so that the birds of the air may nest under its shade.”

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Saving Tomato Seeds, for next year?

  Well its that time of the year when we will start canning, cleaning the garden up, planting fall crops and one of my favorite thing to do is, "Seed Saving", something Grammie taught us how to do! One of the plants I want to carry over this year is my San Marzanos Tomatoes! Why you may ask, because you can get that wonderful tomato that really love, year after year and it will start to adapt to your environment (read more in link below on "Heirloom".) So how do we do this task that for generations people have done?
 Well prabaly the most important part is, choosing the right tomatoes for "Seed Saving".
 There are a few things to keep in mind when deciding which tomatoes to use for seed saving:
* They should be from "Heirloom" varieties. "Hybrid" tomatoes won't come true from seed, so if you save seed from a hybrid and plant it, you will get tomato plants, but there's no way of telling whether the tomatoes will be any good or if you will even get the same tomato?
*They should be fully ripe, but not over-ripe.
* They should be the best-looking tomatoes on your plant. When you save seeds, you want to save from those fruits that have the very best quality.

Photo by "The Redeemed Gardener"

Good tomatoes = good seeds = really good tomatoes next year!

So here is a step by step on this  really simple process.
1. Choose a ripe and the most perfect tomato you have on the healthiest plant you had all season.Choose it off the plant that produced the biggest yield and with the least amount of problems.Remember, you will be getting the same plant as the fruit comes from next year.
2. Cut it open, right through the middle!
3. Squeeze the seeds, "gunky" stuff, out into a small cup or jar.
4. Cover the seed gunk with two to three inches of water.
5. Label your cup so you know which variety of tomato you saved seeds from.
6. After about three days, white mold will start to form on the surface of the water. This means that the gel or "gunky" stuff, lol, on the seeds has dissolved.

Photo by "The Redeemed Gardener"

7. Once you see the white mold, pour off the mold, the water, and any seeds that are floating (Remember the post "Sink or Swim" floating seeds are bad - they probably won't germinate next year) You want all of those seeds sitting at the bottom of the cup, they will have a better chance to grow strong, healthy plants next year.
8. After you've poured the mold and bad seeds off, drain your seeds in a fine mesh strainer and rinse under running water. It's not a bad idea to stir the seeds around with your fingers to help remove any extra gel that may be clinging to them.
9. Dump your rinsed seeds onto a paper plate that has been labeled with the variety name. The paper plate will wick away the water and help keep seeds from getting moldy, we don't want that!
10. Make sure your seeds are in a single layer on the plate, and set it aside a few days so the seeds can completely dry.
11. Once they're dry, put them in a labeled envelope, baggie, or other container and store in a cool, dry spot.
*A link to help with more in depth question's you may have: Master Gardener's and Organic Gardening (for more related photo's)!


“And we have known and believed the love that God has for us. God is love, and he who abides in love abides in God, and God in him.”  1 John 4:16

Heirloom vrs. Hybrid Part 2

 Part 1 was about Heirlooms, this is gonna be about Hybrids! I didn't know a great deal about the scientific part going into this research study that I have done. I have found out lots of great information and two blogs that have lots of great information on it for us all to read. The name of the blog's are  "The Garden of Eaden" and "The Green Girls". I also received lots of good information off of one of my favorite site "The Victory Garden".
 Here is what I learned in a summary and you can check out the other articles latter! A hybrid seed is one that has been created by artificially cross pollinating two or more varieties of a plant so that the resulting plants will have better disease resistance, produce more, and have a uniform color, texture, and flavor. Hybrid seeds are the first generation of seeds from the cross pollination process. You are supposed to get more "bang for your buck" with hybrid seeds. Just be sure to water, fertilize, and keep the bugs and weeds away and you should have a successful harvest. Another thing I found out is that some hybrid tomatoes are bred to be picked green and gas ripened because that is what is needed for commercial growing and shipping! Ripen-Green-Tomatoes
   I guess it would be like one of those churches that just do whatever they can to grow bigger and get more and more people in the door and in the pew at whatever cost. Sacrificing the truth and fullness of Gods Word to achieve this. The pastors of those churches get a bigger yield but their fruit (congregation) are not as flavorful and may not produce fruit like the parent plant (in must cases, not all). Hybrids become more clonish (if you will) and have less individuality, losing their own individual flavor because they didn't grow the way God intended them to, they grow how some else thought they should. Just a thought of contrast!

Would you rather it be like this?

  Pros of using hybrid seeds: Much research has gone into the production of hybrid seeds to ensure the seeds produce plants that have the best attributes of their "parent" plants. The produce you get from a hybrid seed is more attractive and uniform that the produce from an heirloom seed (just remember beauty is in the eye of the beholder). You usually get a bigger yield from a hybrid plant and the shelf life of hybrid produce is usually longer than that of it's heirloom cousin (you sacrifice a lot for that). Hybrid plants are more disease resistant than their heirloom cousins (that is yet to be proven to me).

Or this?

  Cons of using hybrid seeds: The produce from a hybrid seed may not be as flavorful as its heirloom cousin due to emphasis being placed on uniformity, production, and shelf life rather than flavor. The biggest difference though between hybrid and heirloom plants is the inability to harvest seeds from a hybrid and produce the same or similar plant next year. With hybrids the resulting seeds may be sterile or produce something totally unlike the plant it was harvested from.

Heirloom vrs. Hybrid Part 1

   In the next few post I am gonna do my best to answer a question that is always asked. What is the difference between "heirloom seeds and hybrid seeds?" I am no scientist, all I know is what I was taught growing up and the investigation that I am about to undertake! Part 1 will deal directly with heirloom seeds!

   It has been said that for generations when a young couple would get married that their parents would give them a house warming package of many different essentials to start the journey in life together and to be able to sustain and grow a large beautiful family. Within that package was two of the most important things that they would need to start their family, one was a family Bible to continue their walk with Jesus and one of the others was a package of all the seeds that their family had grown for generations, showing where the word "heirloom" comes from. Both the seeds and the Bible have been strong and true, never changing and tested for ever!

  The term heirloom seeds refers to any of a variety of seeds that come from plants that were grown historically but have not been used in modern agriculture on a large scale. Any 

Whats Growing On...And Thinning Out?

  As we in the northern part of the country still have a few months to go before we start to fill our containers with soil, open the seed packets and sow those seeds of hope. Look at what our friends in the warmer areas are starting to do. Don't be jealous or angry, just be happy for them that they have a little longer growing season. Thank to the Scaife Family farm for showing us that the end of the cold season is ending and the planting season is almost upon us!

Simply Scaife Family Farm: What's Growing On...

Also when you Get done on the Link above jump over to this link and read how to thin you seedlings. No need for me to tell yah, when someone else has done such a great job.

Poppyjuice : "Thinning Tomato Seedlings"

"Recycled seed starting containers"

  If you are going to start you seed from seed here is a good step by step guide from, Botanical Interests, this is also a good site to order seeds from. There are many good seed distributors out there. I just have a friend that works there and I like to support. Also if you will start paying close attention to my posts, I will be posting a "free give away" in the very near future. So be on the watch out!

  I just wanted to give a few DIY tips and ways to recycle things around the house to start your seeds in. You can use just about anything to start your seeds in. Plastic pots or containers are preferable to clay pots when starting seeds, as they retain moisture more consistently. Wide, shallow containers prevent both overcrowding of seedlings and excessive moisture around fragile, young roots. Plants that resent root disturbance when transplanted are best sown into small, individual containers like cell packs or plug trays. Recycled plastic containers, like empty yogurt or margarine tubs and egg cartons work well, too, provided you've poked holes in the bottom for drainage.No matter what type of container you use, it must be clean and free of pathogens. To sanitize a container, soak it in a 10 percent bleach solution for 15 minutes and let it air dry.

  Here is an interesting container that we all see at the store that make a neat little greenhouse altogether. These are the containers that most veggies come in, in the store or maybe you get a salad in them at a drive thru, maybe even your bought your Wal-Mart fried chicken in one! These already have holes for water drainage and for air ventilation. Only fill it up half way with dirt so your plants have a little room to grow before you have to transplant the.

  You can even use your news papers to make little stater pots, I even saw a lady on another blog using the pagers of her old phone book! Awesome idea, I thought!

  These are just a few ideas on how to recycle containers for seed starting. I would like to see anymore ideas!  And read more for a great opportunity with other bloggers!

 Also to find other blogs that you may enjoy and also its a good way to meet other bloggers of the same interest click on this link and follow the instruction! Fridays Photo Blog Hop No. 5  God Bless you in this Day!

 2 Corinthians 5:17 "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new."

Finding that perfect plant!

   Now that you have located the perfect spot for your garden and prepared the soil. Its time to find the seed or plants of what you have chosen to plant. I love going to my local greenhouse nursery (not the big box store) and look for plants that are ready to put into the ground but normally I start browsing through the seed catalogs really early. Usually in December or January they start showing up in the mail box. My wife gets so aggravated when the start showing up. She always tells me, "everything in those catalogs you can view online". But there isn't anything like looking though, reading about the plant and just learning. A good catalog will have all kinds of information about the plants and other items they sell. You can also get hard to find and unusual plants from catalogs as well. You will have to make a decision, are you buying plants or starting them from seed? That's up to you!

 Here are some links to some of my favorite:
http://www.botanicalinterests.com/
http://www.southernexposure.com/
http://www.tomatogrowers.com/
http://www.burpee.com/

The most important seeds I plant!

What is salvation and Justification? 

  What does salvation mean? Simply, to be delivered or protected from suffering or danger. "Salvation" in the since of becoming a Christian, is being delivered or protected from sin. We were born into sin and have a debt of sin to pay. A debt that none of us can pay, the consequences for this unpaid debt is eternal death (Romans 6:23). Because of our inability to pay this debt God provided a way for us, through His Son Jesus (John 3:16).

  What are we saved from? We are saved from God's Judgment on sin, we are saved from His "wrath" (1 Thess. 5:9, Romans 5:9), eternal suffering and damnation. The sin we were born into separates us from God. But Jesus Christ has already provided us a way to pay our debt, delivered us from the consequences of sin and has provided a way to remove our sins in the sight of a Holy God. But only if we understand and trust the gospel which Jesus came to provide.

   Who does the saving? God is the only one that can remove our sin and deliver us from the debt we owe Him of sin. It is wholly of God by His grace on the basis of the redemption of Jesus Christ, the merit of His blood, and not because of anything we do in works or by our own merit. (Eph. 2:1-3; 2:8-10, Titus 3:5, John 1:12, 1 Peter 1:18-19, 2 Timothy 1:9).

   How does God do the saving? Through the sacrificial death on the cross and the resurrection from the grave of His only begotten son Jesus (John 3:17, Romans 5:10, Eph. 1:7). The Bible is very clear that salvation is a gracious and undeserving gift from God and ONLY available through faith in Christ Jesus (Acts4:12, Eph. 2:5-8).

   How is salvation received? Only by faith in the gospel of Jesus Christ can we be saved from the curse of sin.

      1) We must first hear and understand the true gospel, the good news of Jesus' death, burial and resurrection (1 Corinthians 15:1-11, Eph. 1:13, Romans 1:16).

         2) We must fully trust, "believe", Jesus and that His sacrifice for our sin debt (Romans 1:16). We must fully trust that Jesus was born of a virgin, was God manifested into flesh, that He lived a sinless life, that He shed His blood for our debt of sin and after three days in a tomb was resurrected from death. 1 Corinthians 15:1-11 is a very good explanation of the Biblical gospel.

         3) In trusting it, it brings a person to "repentance of sin", this means a changing of the mind about sin and Jesus our Christ (Acts 3:19) and in repenting, a person is asking Christ to forgive them of their sins and asking Him to become their Lord over their life (Romans 10:9-10). A true repentant heart will understand the love that God has graciously granted them and accept His gracious gift out of love and not out of obligation.

   "Salvation is the deliverance, by the grace of God, from eternal punishment for sin, which is granted to those who accept by faith God’s conditions of repentance and faith in the Lord Jesus." Quote by C.H. Spurgeon.  Salvation is available in Jesus alone (John 14:6; Acts 4:12) and is dependent on God alone for provision, assurance, and security.

   "True salvation is not to be found through the mere reception of any creed, however true or scriptural. Mere 'head notion' is not the road to heaven. "You must be born again," means a great deal more than that you must believe certain dogmas. The study of the Bible cannot save you! You must press beyond this; you must come to the living, personal Christ, or else your acceptance of the soundest creed cannot avail for the salvation of your soul. Salvation lies in Jesus only!"  ~ C.H. Spurgeon

"Justification is by grace alone (not mixed with our merit)"

   Most churches ignore the work and teaching of justification and focus on a person's sanctification. In doing this people are being taught that the things they do and say are justifying and clearing their guilt before God. Basically they are taught to work their way into heaven. You work for a wage and the Bible says that "the wages of sin are death". This view takes the focus of the completed work of Jesus Christ and place's the emphasis on our performance. It is basically saying that the blood Jesus spilled on Calvary wasn't powerful enough for our sin debt and that His Resurrection from the grave wasn't powerful enough to conquer death! Some teachers either combine both justification with sanctification or put it out into the future where glorification is. Again, justification, sanctification and glorification are in God's souvenir hands not in ours (Romans 8:30)! Faith justifies the person, and works justify his faith.

   "This is the rock where we stand when the dark clouds gather and the floods lick at our feet: justification is by grace alone (not mixed with our merit), through faith alone (not mixed with our works) on the basis of Christ alone (not mingling his righteousness with ours), to the glory of God alone (not ours)." quoted by John Piper

    Simply put, to be justified is to declare you righteous, to make you right with God. Justification is God’s declaring those who receive Christ to be righteous, based on Christ’s righteousness being imputed to the accounts of those who receive Christ (2 Corinthians 5:21). Justification is Christ taking our unrighteousness off of us and placing it on himself and then taking all of His righteousness and placing it on us for eternity. Jesus sacrifice covers our sins (past, present and future), allowing God to see us as perfect and unblemished. We were declared justified the very moment of our salvation. It pronounces us righteous in the sight of God. It came by placing our entire faith (trust) in the finished works of Jesus Christ and not in  our own works. Because as believers we are in Christ, God sees Christ's own righteousness when He looks at us. This meets God's demands for perfection, so He declares us righteous, He justifies us. (2 Corin. 5-21, Romans 3:21-26)

    Justification allows the peace of God to rule over our lives. In understanding justification , believers can have the true assurance of their salvation. Justification enables God to begin the process of sanctification, the process by which God, daily, removes sin from our lives.(Phil. l:6,Phil 2:3,Eph. 2:10). “Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ” (Romans 5:1).

   1) God justified us at salvation (Romans 5:18-19),  2) Sanctification progressive until we go to be with our Lord Jesus, it is a lifelong process (John 17),  3) Glorification is God's final removal of sin from the life of the saints ( everyone who is saved) in the eternal state (Romans 8:18; 2 Corinthians 4:17). Understanding all three are crucial to our knowledge of the ongoing work that the Holy Spirit does in our lives after salvation (justification). Truly braking the chains that bind us, to live a joyful, peaceful life in Christ Jesus!

Reference: NKJV "The Holy Bible",  Matthew Henry commentaries, MacArthur Study Bible,Q&Ministries

By: Clint Baker

Jan. 2012

"Q&A before you start tilling"

   Before you start planning what you are gonna plant in your garden you need to determine a few things to be successful. Things to think and survey before you start planning your garden.

1. What planting zone are you in?   http://www.usna.usda.gov/Hardzone/ushzmap.html
2. When is your last spring frost and your first spring frost? West Virginia's are approx. April 20/Oct. 20. This may very do to the elevation or area you are in. 
3. Where will I get the best sunlight? Full sun all day is the best, but if you don't have that, pick a spot that gets full morning sun.
4. Do you have a good water source? Plants need lots of water and city water isn't the best for them because of all the chlorine and fluoride in it. If possible collect water to water your plants and it will save you money.
5. What type of soil do you have? It ranges from sandy to clay soil.
6.  What is the PH of your soil? Plants are like people, they don't all like to lay down roots and eat the same thing.
7. A few things you can do to get the soil ready is to, work in compost or manure in the fall, leaves and straw help as well. If you can attract worms to the garden, they are awesome little creations of God's. They will do a lot of the work for you. Just work into the soil table scrapes minus fats, meats and oils and they will move right in and start to work.
8. How big is your garden gonna be? Gardens range from pots on your deck to raised bed gardens to full size conventional acre size gardens. If you have never gardened before start small and don't do more than you can handle.
9. From experience, protect your garden from children playing and you wonderful pets. This past year I had so many volleyballs hit my plant I thought for sure they would all die and Maple well she was a little puppy, need I say more?

Now after you figure out where your garden is gonna be. you can start to plan it out and order your seeds or plants. Have fun and God Bless!

January "To Do List"

    We have had really nice weather for a January and we could actually be getting a head start on all the things that we would normally have to do, when things start growing faster than we can handle them. You may not think that there is much to do in the month of January but there is.
Here is a list of things you can be doing:

• Repot houseplants as they outgrow current pots. If you see roots when you look at the drainage hole in the bottom of the pot, chances are it’s time to transplant.Transplanting into larger pots helps plants grow stronger and healthier.
• Sketch garden plans, including what to grow, spacing, arrangement and number of plants needed.
• Order seeds and plants from mail order catalogs or online retailers as early as possible for best selection. There are so many variates to pick from and it's a fun thing to do as a family.
• Use your hand or a broom to gently brush away any heavy snow that may accumulate on shrubs before it freezes.
• Fertilize spring-flowering bulbs as they break ground. Use an all-purpose granular fertilizer according to label directions, or apply a light dusting of compost. I like to try to use as much organic as I can.
• You can also use this time to really catch up on some of the Bible studying that you may have let slip away from you during the busy Christmas season. Another great family activity!
• Getting everything prioritized makes things so much easier, so take this slow time to prioritize those areas needed. 
• Get organized in the tool shed, garage, attic, house or any place that maybe a little messy. This is one area that I really struggle in. I always straighten everything up with good extension to keep it that way. But as you can ask my wife, it just never seems to stay that way.

I am sure that if you are like me I have put off so much stuff that I have plenty to do. Just try to make a list, prioritize and get started.