So are Heirloom the only seeds to save?

 Good morning!  Well it's morning here anyway.  Not sure exactly when you're catching a glimpse of this, but still....

So how yall doin?  How's yer Mama?  How's you're family?  

My mom is doing well now.   She had a nasty bout with Shingles that lasted over 5 weeks!  UGH!  As for our family, we're doing well.  Rubic is on two feet at last, albeit with a walker.  That won't last long.  He won't need the walker in a week or so I bet.  

I'd like to say that's going to free up time for me, but it probably won't.  Not only is this the busiest time of year for me, but because Rubic had his wreck due to a seizure; he can't drive for 6 months.  So I will be taking him to every Doctors Appointment, Physical Therapy, etc.  Once he gets back to work, unless he can work from home, I will be taking him there as well.  This is just temporary, and I'm happy to do it.   Before I quit my job and came home, I had a co-worker ask if I thought I'd be bored.  I told her I didn't think so, and I was right.  I've always had a lot to keep me busy.  

SO!  Now that the chit chat is out of the way, lets talk about the topic at hand:  Saving seeds from year to year!

I've always been told that ONLY Heirloom, open pollinated seeds can be saved from year to year.  This statement made things confusing when I'd see a volunteer non heirloom plant from the year before.  I'd let it live in the garden anyway.  My motto is if you made it thru winter you deserve a spot.  It would produce true to parent, most of the time.  I will say once we ended up with a weird Franken Veggie, but that was it.  

I will ask this of seed producers: Isn't it a bad business model to have to recreate your product(hybrid seeds) every year rather than them recreating themselves?  Also, if Heirloom seeds are the only ones that can recreate themselves, why do they cost more?  I saved seeds from ONE Heirloom Kale plant last year and had so many seeds; I was giving them to everyone I met, just about.  I still have  more than enough seeds for many gardening seasons into the future.  

Can you say Marketing Maybe? That's what I'm thinking.  Heirloom is the new buzz word to get people to fork over more money.

Years ago I'd bought speckled lima beans at a feed store.  I didn't save the seeds; they weren't Heirloom, but nature saved them for me I guess, and they kept coming back every year.  Finally last year I purposely set aside 100 seeds from these plants.  I planted a few to see how they would do, and now look at the plants below!

Next are Pepper plants from seeds saved from a store bought pepper

That's not grass.  It's wheat from wheat berries I purchased last year

What potatoes I have this year were planted from store bought potatoes that had sprouted in the pantry. 

Year before last I bought cow peas from tractor Supply; non heirloom.  Last year I decided to save seed to see how they would do.  I planted some recently and here ya go:

I've replanted watermelons seeds from store bought watermelons, store bought pinto beans, and popcorn as well.  What do you have to lose?  Nothing!

As a result of my past experience, I've come to these conclusions:

A)  Non Heirloom seeds can also be saved for future use IF they aren't hybrid.  

B)  Hybrid seeds can still be saved for experimental reasons.  If they produce well the following season, then keep saving them.  Just be prepared to have a Franken veggie, cause that might happen.  No harm no foul.  The seeds were free!   If they produce true to their parent, then save them again for the next year.  A plus for saved seeds is you can be liberal in planting.  They're free!  You'll get a lot of seeds from saving them.  More than enough to keep you in seeds for a good while; especially if saved every year.  I've already started saving my butternut squash seeds rom my harvested squash from last year.  This year I plan to save everything I can.  Free works for me! 

So have you ever tried this?  How were your results?  

And then there were 8

 Sorry it's been a couple of weeks since last I posted.  Everyday has had something needing my attention.  It's that time of year!  I'm outside most day, weather permitting.  I'm thinking we're at the "time to plant warm weather crops" point.  That means an even crazier schedule.  Normally this wouldn't be as crazy, but you add in doctor visits for our son; it's a little nuts.  

I did want to update you guys on the broody mama.  She managed to hatch out 8 babies.  My apologies for the lighting.  I grabbed this pic just as my phone died!  

We aren't sure how many males and females there are; odds are it's half and half.  We do have another hen sitting on eggs.  She's sitting on 8 that we know of.  Those should hatch around the 30th.  If no other hen goes broody by June 4th, we'll incubate one last batch.  This plan was put in place a few weeks ago, before all the chicken and eggs shortages started.  I'm glad we put this in place.  Come fall we will cull 4 older hens and all but 2 roosters.  We were going to sell some of the hens, but we may keep them all and sell eggs.  Not sure yet.  

Been crazy busy.  Sorry for the short post, but will post more later.

Introducing....my tiller! Plus Spring on the Homestead!

 My Dad once told me that the more moving parts something has the greater chance of it breaking.  Those wise words have helped me a lot over the years.  It goes without saying, then, that one of the most reliable tool in my tool chest is the one with the fewest moving parts. With that being said, may I introduce my tiller! 

 One moving part; two if you you count my arms.

We haven't had an actual rototiller for quite a few years now.  We sold it when we realized how it had sat unused for a few seasons,  Poor thing needed a new home where it could be truly appreciated.  It wasn't that I didn't love my tiller.  It had served us well, but once I'd moved to raised beds, there wasn't a need for it anymore.  It was hard to get the tiller  in and out of the beds anyway.  As a result, I'd just gotten used to using a shovel and cultivator.  Even last year when we expanded the garden to include the side yard, which isn't done in raised beds; I still prepared and planted the entire area with just my shovel and cultivator.  It took a few weeks of work, but I did it.  In addition, I plan to expand the garden further this year.  Who needs lawn right?

To be honest, I've really not missed having a tiller.  There are times I think I might want to borrow a tiller to do a large area, but then I decide to just start working on it and see how far I get.  It never fails.  I end up getting what I needed accomplished, and without all the fuss of a tiller. 

 Another plus in this day and age is no gas used.  Now that I can take to the bank!

You guys can chime in to let me know if you're the same way, but I hate( I'm using the word hate here) getting on a treadmill or other piece of exercise equipment for a workout.  I'll do it if I have to, but my preference is to be outside digging up my garden, shoveling wood chips, or some other outdoor highly physical activity.  I have a sign in my garden that reads "Mom's gym".  That would be right.  So another benefit of my not using  tiller is negating the need for a gym membership!  I'll take that to the bank as well.  

Springs seems to be up and running (I hope)  still don't have my warm weather crops out.  I do have Onions, Broccoli, Kale, Lettuce, Snow peas, Dill, Spinach, and potatoes going strong.  The Strawberry, Blueberry,  and Blackberry plants are a buzzing.  I thought I'd share a few pics of how things are shaping up so far this year.  Over the past few weeks I've managed to catch a few shots, just for our own use(I thought), but thought I'd share them with you guys as well.  

BTW< Broody Mama managed to hatch out a few chicks.  We can't see them yet, they're still under her, but we're proud of her.  She did it!  Now onto pics!

I love our little farm!

I also wanted to share a little walk thru my tiny greenhouse.  It's crammed full of seedlings, so it's a mess, but I'm loving every bit of it!

So how are things in your neck of the woods?  Have you planted something?  Share!