• Check Out These Seeds: What is a Seed Library?

    Seeds should be shared, their nature insists upon it. A single pumpkin contains hundreds of seeds. when lettuce bolts, the seeds produced are difficult to contain. Nature produces in abundance and the seed saver knows each year their collection grows exponentially. Seeds thrive when distributed among community growers, not when copyrighted and claimed as intellectual […]

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  • seed companies

    8 Seed Companies With More Than Great Packaging

    Seeds are miracles. The seed of a giant sequoia blows out of your hand in a light breeze. But, that seed contains all the genetic material needed to make the largest living organism on the planet. You wouldn’t notice a tomato seed on the ground and in fact eat hundreds of them regularly without a […]

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  • how to make sauerkraut

    How to Make Sauerkraut From Your Garden Cabbage

    It is common to enter the world of fermentation through sauerkraut; It is easy, requires only simple equipment and the end product will be tastier and healthier than anything you will find in the store. Sauerkraut is alive with beneficial bacteria and I like putting it on just about everything. My favorite is to put […]

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  • cooking with amaranth

    Grow, Harvest and Cook With Amaranth

    Amaranth is an ancient grain with a history steeped in the Aztec Empire. The Conquistadores attempted to eradicate the plant. However, due to the perseverance of subversive farmers and of the plant itself, amaranth survives today. Read about amaranth’s history here.  Although not a grass like the true grains, amaranth seed is often considered a […]

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  • History of Amaranth

    The Conquest of a Plant: A Brief History of Amaranth

    Colonization raises many weapons at the targeted. First, there are swords and guns, weapons that kill. Then, there are more insidious slower working weapons. Weapons that alienate people from skills that their ancestors have passed down for centuries. Weapons that make people forget what plants provide medicine and which ones poison. These weapons aim to […]

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  • Grow Your Own Basil Cocktail

    An ancient myth held that if left under a pot, basil would turn into a scorpion. Medieval legends claimed that a patch of basil sprouted where Jesus’ blood fell during his crucifixion. As a medicinal herb, basil has been used as an antidote to venomous bites. While courting women, men have worn a necklace of […]

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  • Inviting in the Bugs: 11 Plants to Increase Garden Diversity

    The Good, the bad and the ugly. Gardeners talk about bugs like they are characters in a Western; ladybugs in a white hat, aphids in black. Ecology, however, is much more complicated. Earwigs, often considered ‘bad bugs,’ are predators and scavengers. They eat the fallen detritus in our gardens providing a valuable nutrient recycling service. […]

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