Watermelon can be a bit of a difficult crop to grow in Canada… unless you’re growing Blacktail Mountain, that is! Originally bred by Glenn Drowns in northern Idaho, this year’s seeds came to the Citizen Seed Trial from Sal Dominelli of Gabriola Island’s Sweet Rock Farm. Besides selling seeds directly Read more…
Mel and I caught up on a recent sunny afternoon over some cold lemonades on the sprawling UBC Farm… just kidding, this interview happened over Zoom like everything else during these crazy times. Nevertheless, Mel’s passion for the project and sense of humour came through clearly. Mel is the Field Read more…
Our first Citizen Seed Trial farmer interview comes to us from Hank Keogh of Avoca Seed in Oregon’s Willamette Valley. Hank bred the Dazzling Blue kale variety being used as the control variety in the 2020 Citizen Seed Trial. It was also featured in the 2016 BC Seed Trials and Read more…
Welcome to the Citizen Seed Trial 2020 blog series! This year we’d like to introduce you to the people behind the Citizen Seed Trail project, from plant breeders and seed producers to the facilitators who make the project possible. We’ll be (virtually) sitting down with a number of these people Read more…
Demand for organic seed is increasing across North America and many regions of BC offer a great growing environment for seed crops. On-farm seed production can bring additional revenue to your farm and help you grow seed optimally suited to your farm environment. Join long-time organic seed producer and founder Read more…
This year we have taken a bit of a different approach with setting up the isolation tent for the Carrot Seed Project by erecting the tent as late as possible before flowering. This is done in the hope that the carrot stalks will be strengthened by having more wind exposure Read more…
9 October 2017 Chris Thoreau One of my favourite trips of the past couple years has been my venture down to Portland to the Culinary Breeding Network’s Variety Showcase. Last week (sometimes it takes a while to get to these blog posts) I made it down for my second visit Read more…
Today we were happy to host Laurie McKenzie of the Organic Seed Alliance for our Kale Breeding Workshop in Duncan on Vancouver Island. We had a group of 18 eager and budding plant breeders ready to absorb all Laurie had to offer. This workshop was focused on kale as it Read more…
Introducing the 22-week online Certification Course in Organic Vegetable Seed Production through the Canadian Organic Growers! This flexible online course is delivered with online readings and webinars while studying The Organic Seed Grower book by John Navazio and Breed Your Own Vegetable Varieties by Carol Deppe. The experienced course instructors are Patrick Read more…