Hello ATS lets talk about SEEDS!

I did one introduction before, but I have moved and not been on the internet for some time, so I am starting this to try and get my posts up so I can start a real thread.

My name is Justin and I live with my wife and kids in Portland Oregon. I get hell from the family whenever I am on ATS reading about Aliens or whatever I come across that day. I am not sure what else to say so I will just start by talking about something I have been thinking about recently.

I have been reading about food manufactures adding chemicals into our food. I believe our government allows much worse to happen, so it doesn’t surprise me when I read this stuff about our food.

I have been wanting to buy property one day and grow enough food for my family and I, but I am afraid to just go out and buy seeds, since my logic tells me if they are putting chemicals in our food, then they must be doing it to our seeds as well. Does anyone have any advice or comments? I was thinking about looking in our mountains around here for natural food, but if you have a place that is awesome at growing green beans then that land is already owned by some other company that is already farming it right?

Sometimes it seems hopeless, but one has to keep trying to survive to the best of their ability right?

reply to post by AIC4ME


I think your best bet would be to find someone in your community who has been perpetually growing for years and years and approach them for seed... These days, I heard just about all seeds (with the exception maybe of some heirlooms) are sterilised or mucked around with so that the seeds from those plants aren't viable.

Welcome to ATS (again!) by the way! You will probably find the Survival forum interesting, tons of good info about sustainable gardening etc.

reply to post by SerialLurker


Thanks for the info and the kind welcome.

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I live in portland oregon as well, I am starting a garden myself for the first time, I tried to use as many organic seeds as possible, although if you can find organic starts thats the best way to go since starting the plant from the seed can be difficult, but I used a green house to help. You need to wake your family up, its important, mine is pretty ignorant but i dont have kids. Just get things that claim they are organic, should be ok, your real worry will be the rain, probably has radiation from fukishima, thats what i am thinking, but the weather this year has kinda sucked for some plants, and make sure to space your plants properly alot of people dont do that correctly and well, they lose there plants.

Do some research on organic growing - and also realize that "organic" seeds are not the same as "non-gmo" seeds. They're two different things (many on ATS don't seem to realize). You have to search for "old" seeds.

A doctor told me once that a peach in the 1950s had 50x as much nutrition as a peach today. All the modifications and breeding to make them bigger, prettier, bug-resistant - have made them less nutritious. When you grow old foods with old seeds and organically, you won't get supermarket-looking foods. They'll be smaller, you'll have to cut out bad spots - and you'll be healthier.

Excellent idea ....

Ive been having the same thoughts ... and feel strongly about doing what you want to do ... But it is not a viable reality for me at the moment ...

With regards to Organic seeds ... yes ... but be aware some companies use the term organic misleadingly .. to suggest it is completely natural and unmodified ... when its not .. or was it the term non GM .. i cant remember exact examples on this ... but suggest you research whatever seeds, before spending months growing something you could have just got from a supermarket shelf ...

There must be a reputable resource online, with reviews, that cater for this exact scenario ..
As someone just mentioned ... This doom awareness stuff these days is big business ..

Good luck with it ...
Wish more people would do this .. and drive GM etc out ... or at least create a larger viable market for completely natural products ...

Originally posted by Schkeptick
Do some research on organic growing - and also realize that "organic" seeds are not the same as "non-gmo" seeds. They're two different things (many on ATS don't seem to realize). You have to search for "old" seeds.

A doctor told me once that a peach in the 1950s had 50x as much nutrition as a peach today. All the modifications and breeding to make them bigger, prettier, bug-resistant - have made them less nutritious. When you grow old foods with old seeds and organically, you won't get supermarket-looking foods. They'll be smaller, you'll have to cut out bad spots - and you'll be healthier.

You're absolutely right... I remember hearing about certain Australian native foods that had up to 10x the nutrition of "regular" fruits and vegetables

reply to post by AIC4ME


Welcome back, new here myself .

Hope you find all the info you are looking for and then some.

Originally posted by SerialLurker
A doctor told me once that a peach in the 1950s had 50x as much nutrition as a peach today.

Ha ... so the medical phrase .. an apple a day . should now be changed to ... 50 apples a day ...

And is it the WHO that dictates the 5 a day ... its gonna be hard to eat 250 a day .. think ill need to start using my blender ...

So wish i could grow my own natural fruit n veg ...

Originally posted by thegoods724
I live in portland oregon as well, I am starting a garden myself for the first time, I tried to use as many organic seeds as possible, although if you can find organic starts thats the best way to go since starting the plant from the seed can be difficult, but I used a green house to help. You need to wake your family up, its important, mine is pretty ignorant but i dont have kids. Just get things that claim they are organic, should be ok, your real worry will be the rain, probably has radiation from fukishima, thats what i am thinking, but the weather this year has kinda sucked for some plants, and make sure to space your plants properly alot of people dont do that correctly and well, they lose there plants.

I am not sure I have heard of fukishima, can you elaborate? As far as waking my family up, it's rough, a lot of people just can't believe our government is controling us.

This is all interesting stuff to me. Sorry I havn't been back in a couple of days, been busy with work. When I get a chance I will try to do a little google research and see what I can come up with as far as where to get seeds. My thought is still try to find seeds or starts in the mountains, or like another member said find a farmer who is growing seeds from several years ago.

Not sure if anyone is still reading this, but I found a place in Portland to buy organic non GMO seeds. Portland nursery its at 5050 se stark. I bought over $100 worth of seeds. When I asked the store if their seeds were GMO they replied that they signed a petition to not sell them, and their farmers did as well. Good news. Lets keep spreading the word until our food is clean again!

Well, I can give you a few tips...if you want what I have to offer.

Hybrid does NOT equal GMO. For some reason a lot of people 'suspect' hybrid seeds and only want heirlooms.
Heirlooms can suck.

Let me give you an example -Heirloom tomatoes can be beautifully unusual, and tasty, but they get diseases - all sorts of wilt diseases - that they hybrids do not.

A hybrid means that varieties have been BRED - naturally - for certain characteristics. For instance, an EARLY GIRL tomato has been breed to produce tomatoes quicker than other plants.

I'm not so sure if 'organic seeds' are worth all that. I can't figure out how much pesticide you could really GET on a seed. That said, some seeds rot really easily and so sometimes chemicals are used to make them fresh and germinate better. It's up to you...I'm just saying, they are awfully expensive and seeds are little and can be washed if you want.

It does pay to save seeds - I can't believe how much seeds are this year! In years past, I always saw 20 cent seed packs that offered maybe 20 seeds - enough for most small gardens. This year? Nah, seeds were 2.89 and more. That is really outrageous.

For instance, I had a brussel sprout that I let go to seed. Just one plant - I easily saved 200 seeds in 5 minutes with very little work. I bet that one plant produced thousands.

The other thing is, even with hybrids, save your best producers. I've been saving my seeds now through 3 droughts - I saved the last plants of the season, so those plants have good hearty genes that made it and produced the longest. This year, I had several plants come up without my planting them as well.

Some seeds have to be saved a certain way - you can look it up online. For instance, tomato seeds need to be soaked a bit til they get nasty smelling, then rinsed and put up. Some seeds need to be tricked into thinking snow fell on it and melted in the fridge. Some need to be soaked before planting, or nicked.

Anyway, the Internet has all sorts of information.

Hi, welcome to ATS, I love seeds and plants. Here is where I would personally order my seeds from: The Berkey Guy

Best to get seeds that are prepared and stored already and put them away for "after" the fact, rather than purchasing to grow them. I do not think there is time for growing right now (personal insights).

Let us know what you do find and share your ideas. Personally I have stopped growing altogether this year because it will not make it to harvest; for me anyways!

reply to post by hadriana


Thank you for the advice. I started my seeds in the house and I am kinda new at this, but I hope I get some good starts to throw out in my garden. Our weather here has sucked, and it still feels like spring instead of summer, perhaps I will get lucky with my garden haha. I will keep your advice in mind when I start gathering my own seeds for next year. Thanks.

my understanding is that you do NOT save hybrid seeds, as they are specially bred to produce for one generation.

"You shouldn't save seed from hybrid vegetables because they won't produce true in the next generation. This is indeed a fact...seed collected from a F 1 hybrid will not produce plants the same as those from which it is collected."

sustainable.tamu.edu...

"if you do save seeds from hybrid plants, you are bound to be disappointed – the plants that result will not be like the parent, and the results are often inedible. Additionally, seeds from hybrid plants are often sterile or have a very low germination rate."
downtoearthseeds.com...


to re-use seeds use non-hybrid 'open pollinated'.

reply to post by works4dhs


Thanks for the tip. All the seeds I have are organic, I didn't grab any hybrids.