Seed Production 2015

There’s several gaps in the blog posts this year, mostly because we were so busy cleaning and processing seed that I didn’t have time to actually write the blog posts!
I did take photos, so since it’s raining today, I thought I’d put them all together in one post and show you what we’ve been doing.
The Workshop has turned into a premium seed production facility.   Here, we have 3 types of tomato seeds fermenting and drying, plus leek seed (in the bags) and radish seed (in the pods on the pallet) drying.

In this photo, Shanlee spreads out fermented tomato seeds to dry on ceramic or glass places (so they don’t stick and can be gathered easily when dry) with a canape knife.  Most seed processing equipment is made for laboratories (for testing) or for farms that grow acres of one type of seed.  Most small-scale heirloom seed processors have assorted “make do” repurposed items to help them clean and process the seed they grow.

Here are Tina, Libby and Shanlee processing radish seed in the evening in the doorway of the Workshop. It’s a very pleasant place to be on summer/early fall evenings, but radish seed, it turns out, is one of the most difficult seeds to process.

Next year, we are hoping to have less hand-work and better equipment to help us clean seed in a more timely manner.  One of my winter reading projects is to learn more about how to efficiently clean and process the different types of seed we want to grow.  If you have any tips, leave them in the comments!