I used to volunteer to help sort beans and package chilies for this amazing organization. Not only to they help keep the diversity of native seed varieties alive, they provide seeds for free to local tribes. Every year I love to purchase their native wildflower flowers seeds, chili-hot chocolate mixes, gourds and tepary beans. My garden overflows with native edible plants! This organization is worthy of you donation, and the money will be well spent.
I live in Texas and the summers here can be brutal. I got tired of seeing my vegetable die in the heat. So I started looking for vegetables and plants native to the Southwest USA. I can across Native Seeds/ Search. I fell in love with it. From the variety of corn and beans, I was amazed. I have purchased many items from them and have been extremely happy. The Wild Texas Cherry Tomatoes made me wish I had found them years ago. I love the fact that they are helping conserve plants that otherwise would be lost forever.
As 2013 dawned, BKW Farms embarked on an experiment. We planted our first heritage grain, White Sonora Wheat. We were nervous. Although we have been farming in the Marana, AZ area for 75 years and have grown tens of thousands of acres of grain, the heritage varieties were new to the current generation of the Wong family farmers. We attended NSS’s Grain School which put us in touch with farmers, millers, brewers, bakers, nutritionists, and other experts. This gave us confidence that our decision to enter the heritage grain market was a sound one. Because White Sonora Wheat is just now being “rediscovered”, seed in large quantities is not easy to obtain. And because BKW Farms planned to grow this wheat as USDA certified organic, we needed seed that could be verified as non-GMO and untreated.
NSS was able to provide us with 1,900 pounds of seed. We were surprised (and pleased) by NSS’s policy of “loaning” seed to growers at no cost with the understanding that it would be returned in double the amount if there was a good harvest. We worked with Chris Schmidt, the NSS Conservation Program Director, who was not only responsive to our needs, but also agreed to be interviewed in BKW’s video on growing White Sonora Wheat (see video at www.bkwazgrown.com). BKW’s White Sonora Wheat harvest exceeded expectations and we were able to return 4,000 pounds of USDA certified organic seed.
Based on last year’s success, BKW has not only planted White Sonora Wheat again in 2014, but we have nearly doubled the production acreage. Thank you NSS; we couldn’t have done it without you!
P.S. In 2014, BKW Farms will also be growing some heritage vegetables such as beans, squash, or corn to provide NSS with seed for their many programs.
Native Seeds has an irreplaceable seed collection that is used to maintain the important and incredible genetic diversity of foods specific to our desert region before they are lost forever. So many factors can impact our food sources: genetically modified foods, climate change, pests and crop diseases - without Native Seeds leading the challenge to preserve, grow and share this incredible collection there would be a great loss to humanity in general.
How priceless is the service to the Planet of saving rare and endangered crop seeds--the genetic material which can help to feed us in the future! Native Seeds/SEARCH has quietly and effectively saved locally SW adapted seed for the last 30 years. Through SeedSchool they are teaching how everyone can take part in saving our food-growing potential.