Taking up the challenge!

Joining Amy at Homestead Revival for

#6.

I could have put this post over at

The Garden

(do come and see what is blooming today!)

but I did these things inside my home

and in my mind :~P

so decided to post about it here.

~*~

I have been dabbling with saving seeds from a few of

my flowers and veggies over the last couple of years

with unpredictable success. I would really like to

be able to grow and save the majority of

our garden plants with better results and proficiency.

I have been cruising the web looking for heirloom seeds,

open-pollinated seeds, non-GMO seeds.

I came across the Baker Creek Heirloom Seed company,

who not only met all of these criteria, but also offer a

magazine where you can

"Learn how to grow organically, eat locally, save your own seed, preserve the harvest, homestead and live self-sufficiently."

I ordered it!

I also received my Seed Savers Exchange catalog and

got really excited to find a page for

"Planning Your Garden For Seed Saving."

I was a little less happy about the fact

that I can't grow everything that strikes my fancy

if I want to prevent cross-pollination and

produce pure seeds! :~{
I want to grow so many different varieties of squash,

which is surprising since I don't really even like squash!

But because squash is insect pollinated, and if

I were to grow more than one type of squash,

it would most likely not produce pure seed because of

cross-pollination.

So, I will have to choose which species I want one year

and only plant that variety to save pure seed.

But..

I can grow a variety of self pollinators
like beans and tomatoes which are less

likely to cross-pollinate!

So, I think this year I will plant a variety of

beans for drying and shelling

and hopefully for saving for next years' planting!

Not a big step as far as preparing,

but it is a beginning!

~*~

"In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth....

And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness; and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth...

So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them. God blessed them, and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it; and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth. And God said, Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed, which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in the which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for meat."

Selected from Genesis 1