The Seed Farmer Podcast

It's time to review your seed sales channels to see what's working and what isn't.    Whether you're selling seed packs through your own company or bulk seed to other seed companies, there are a few metrics that will help you plan for next season.   This minisode is part 3 of the 2025 Season Review Challenge, where I want to make sure you take the time to learn from this season so you can build an...

Gather the crew - it's time for a season review!   This week on the Season Review Challenge, we're talking about doing a team season review. That means gathering everyone who worked alongside you this year, and looking back together on how the season went - not just from your perspective, but from theirs.   Taking time for a team review might feel risky during fall harvests and cleanup, but it's o...

You might be busy harvesting carrots, planting garlic, and wrapping up the season - but this is also the perfect time to pause and look back at your growing season.   Before all the details of the season fade away, take a moment to review what you actually planted, what you harvested, and how it all turned out. Completing your field records now, while the season is still fresh in your mind, will m...

All those roots you're harvesting for fall storage aren't just good for eating or selling at market. They are also the first stage of a biennial seed crop!   If you've planted carrots, beets, turnips, onions, or winter radishes this season, you can choose the best roots now to grow a seed crop next year.   This is another Seedy September minisode to realise that there is seed growing in your garde...

Your bean plants might be winding down but that doesn't mean there isn't one last harvest in them.   If you've been picking bush beans or pole beans all summer, chances are a few pods got missed. By now, those pods are starting to mature—and even if you didn't plan to grow beans for seed - those missed pods mean that you still have a chance to harvest some bean seed!   This is another Seedy Septem...

Head to your squash patch and grab a fruit or two — because inside, you've got a pile of seed waiting for you!   Another Seedy September Minisode about what seed you can harvest from your fields right now.   Now, squash is a bit different from peppers or flowers. Most of the time, I wouldn't tell you to start your seed journey with squash. But if you've only got one variety of a squash species in...

Head out to your flower beds and look for those blooms that have dried up and turned brown! This is another Seedy September minisode to realise that here is seed growing in your garden right now and all you have to do is go and harvest it.  This episode is about all the opportunities in your cut flower garden. In this episode, we'll get into … • How to spot when flower seeds are ready to harvest •...

Head out to your fields and pick some peppers then cut them open and take out the seeds!    That's what I"m hoping you do as soon as this episode ends - or better yet, that is what I hope you do while you're listening to this episode.   My goal with this podcast is to get more farmers to grow their own seeds. And September is the perfect time to do that. So this month I'm talking all about the cro...

Adam Alexander is a film maker, writer, and gardener based in Wales. Adam is also the author of the upcoming book Accidental Seed Heroes: Growing A Delicious Food Future for All of Us. A chance meeting with a delicious pepper in a Ukrainian market in 1989 kicked off his career as a Seed Detective tracking down rare, endangered, culturally important and above all, delicious vegetables from around t...

Sebastian Aguilar runs Summertime Seed with his wife Kelly Gelino in Dayton, Oregon. This year they're growing 190 varieties on 16 acres.   In this episode, Sebastian shares how they transitioned from vegetable farming to seed production, the challenges and benefits of mechanizing seed cleaning and harvesting, and how they recently launched their own retail seed company.   In the deep dive, Sebast...

Chris Smith is the founder of the Utopian Seed Project, a hands in the earth non-profit based in Asheville, North Carolina. Chris is also the author of the book the Whole Okra: A Seed To Stem Celebration Chris grew up in the UK and moved to the U.S. in 2012 with no formal background in farming, But that all changed when he received an okra pod and a gift card to a local seed company as wedding sho...

Patrice is the owner of La Société des Plantes, a farm based seed company in Kamouraska, Quebec.   On his website, Patrice describes La Société des plantes as "une agence de rencontres entre les plantes et les jardiniers" which roughly translates to "a Dating Service for Plants and Gardeners."    In this episode Patrice shares his journey from city boy to seed farmer, and how being an artist inspi...

Jared Zystro is a research and education director at the Organic Seed Alliance . Jared is based in Arcada, California. I invited Jared onto this episode so he can tell you about the Organic Seed Growers Conference in Corvallis, Oregon that is taking place from February 26th to March 1st, 2025. I first went to this conference in 2008 and it was the single most important learning experience to my se...

Léa and Ferdinand are two of the twenty-two members of Buzuruna Juzuruna , a 2 ha seed farm and school farm in Lebanon. In this episode, Léa and Ferdinand define the terms "peasant seeds" and "balady seeds" and the challenges of finding local seeds in Lebanon. They also discuss the role of international seed banks in preserving seeds and the importance of reclaiming these seeds and bringing them b...

Stephen Silverbear McComber is a seedkeeper and a recently elected chief on the Mohawk Council of Kahnawà:ke whose portfolio is sustainable development. Silverbear tells us about the seeds that different people shared with him while visiting different First Nations communities within the Confederacy. He tells us how he has taken care of these seeds and a generation later, he has been able to retur...

Heron Breen is this episode's guest. Heron grows seed on six acres at Fruits of Our Labors in St. Albans, Maine. In this episode, Heron and I discussed the nature of seed work as a plant-based meditation that encompasses sculpture, art, science, and quantum physics, and the generational connection that seed provides across time and space. And then we pivot into talking about how to space seed crop...

Katie Kulla is the author of Farm-Raised Kids. A brand new book from Storey Publishing. Katie is also an illustrator, one of the hosts of the Growing For Market Podcast and farms with her husband at Oakhill Organics on Grand Island in rural Dayton, Oregon. In this episode, we do discuss Katie's brand new book but we also talk a lot about Katie's experience growing seeds and how that experience has...

Ellen Rignell has many years experience growing seed from her time at Trill Farms and as a program coordinator for the Gaia Foundation seed sovereignty program. But in this interview we catch Ellen at a new part of her seed journey as she's finishing the first growing season of her Winnow Farm Seeds , her very own seed company based in Dorset in the UK. In this episode, we discuss what Ellen wants...

Manish Kushwaha is a fourth generation seed farmer who had no intention of following the family tradition, but after a period working as a software engineer and thinking about what was meaningful to him, Manish decided to start working with seeds and ultimately start his own seed company, Gaia Organic Seeds in Ottawa, Ontario. In this episode, Manish talks about getting set up on land in Ottawa's...

Gabriel Bravo is one of the founders of the company Semillas Plantae and farms with Mima Picado at El Tablazo Farm in Costa Rica. In this episode, Gabriel talks about how Semillas Plantae is structured with 4 partners who operate the seed company and how they distribute their seeds. Gabriel explains how they source seeds from outside of Costa Rica and trial them to see what can grow in their biore...

In almost every interview on The Seed Farmer, my guests and I wind up talking about tools. And one tool that podcast guests have mentioned more than any other tool is the Winnow Wizard. We use the Winnow Wizard at Torne-Sol Farm to clean seeds, so I understand the love that folks have for this machine. But I really wasn't expecting it for it to just keep coming back, interview after interview. And...

Kim Delaney farms with Aaron Lyons and Stephen Surgenessie at Hawthorn Farm Organic Seeds in Mount Forest, Ontario. They grow certified organic seeds on two farm sites for their online store and to distribute through Seedy Saturdays and through their wholesale seed rack program. In this episode, Kim discusses how she began her seed journey working in tall grass prairie restoration and how that blo...

Dan Brisebois here, seed grower at Tourne-Sol Co-operative Farm , spreadsheet crop-planning enthusiast , and also host of The Seed Farmer Podcast. Wait... The Seed Farmer Podcast? Isn't this The Seed Growers Podcast feed? Well, you are right - but let me tell you why there is going to be a name change... Mentioned in the show... The Farmer Spreadsheet Academy Order The Seed Farmer: A Complete Guid...

You can plan for growing seed in as little or as much detail as you can plan for growing any other crop. Up until now, I've been encouraging you to slow down and take it easy. Start your seed growing small and learn from it. Don't worry about the details too much. But eventually, when you start feeling more comfortable growing seed, you're going to want to plan your seed crops more precisely. This...

What seed will you harvest this summer from your market garden? In episodes 1-3 of this miniseries, we've talked about some key considerations for growing seed. We've discussed open pollinated and hybrid varieties. Selfer and crosser crops. Annual and biennial plant life cycles. Now, let's look at what crops you're actually growing for market or CSA or wholesale and let's see which of those crops...