Saving Seeds - Saving Money

 Just in the last couple of gardening seasons I have started to save seeds from the plants that I had grown in the garden. Beans and Peas were the first things that I had saved. So easy too - just letting the pods dry out completely and then pop them open...Seeds Baby! Last year was my first big seed saving project. The veg that I saved seeds from: variety of squash, Glass Gem corn, peas, kohlrabi and some of my Tiger's Eye Beans. The only thing that I hadn't gotten would be the Provider beans. The geese were allowed into the garden after the season was over and they annihilated the beans. I let them, so it's hard to be upset with them.

Okay, so I may have gone a little overboard last year, but hey, I couldn't help myself. It seems a shame to waste such a precious resource. I can plant row after row after row of sunflowers if I wanted and I might just do that next year. The Glass Gem corn might warrant its own garden space. So many possibilities for the 2021 growing season. 

This morning I spent some time harvesting seeds from my spent Basil, Genovese plants. Also, I prepared the garlic that I saved from the harvest in June and some of the shallots that I pulled up this summer also. Over the weekend I plucked a Salvaterra tomato that was overripe and took seeds from it. There are still a couple of things that I want to get some seeds from a lone Delicata Squash and the Spookie pie pumpkins that came from last year's seeds.

Basil Genovese - Seed Savers Exchange

Mt Saint Helens Garlic - Territorial Seeds

French Shallots - Territorial Seeds

By setting aside some of these garlic and shallots I'm already saving nearly $40. With the seeds from like the corn, beans and peas those packets are $3.25 each. This is pretty typical when ordering from quality seed companies that sell organic, heirloom seeds all non-gmo of course.

My hope is to continue saving the seeds that I know that we'll plant in the future. Starting in 2021 with my retirement and the reduced amount that it will bring and Tom's retirement I think that our income will be more limited and we'll need to be mindful about what we spend our available funds on. We are going into this new phase of life with a lot of reliance on the God who made the universe and cares for each an every need that we have. Trusting that the Lord has prepared the way for me to be away from a full time job. Also, trusting that He hears us even before we realize that we have a need.

Farm Life is a Blessed Life!