The Dan McMurray Community Seed Bank is off to a great 2018 growing season! The tomatoes, peppers, herbs, and other vegetables are up and growing well. These plants and seeds of peas and beans will be distributed to seed bank growers here in the Creston Valley and elsewhere.
We had a fantastic growing year in 2017 in spite of the heat and smoke (although carrot growers would disagree…). Our growers submitted 51 varieties of seeds - tomatoes, beans, peas, peppers, carrots, cabbage, and squash. Some had very strange names: Clint Eastwood’s Rowdy Red tomato, Ne Plus Ultra pea, Doe Hill pepper.
Why is a community seed bank important? Seed banks maintain varieties of plants that grow well in our climate and soils. Seed banks maintain diversity in food plants, while the variety of commercial seeds decreases every year. In the event of a major disaster, we will always have seeds available even when we can’t get imported food. Plus, vegetables from ecologically grown local seeds taste better!
Many of the seeds in the community seed bank are heirloom varieties and most you can’t buy at local retailers. We give seeds or plants and seed-saving instructions to growers. Then, they return seeds to us at the end of the season. Growers get to eat most of the vegetables they grow. They love trying new and interesting varieties every year – some spectacular, others not so much.
Are you interested in helping to preserve local seeds adapted to our climate? Would you like to save seeds for the community seed bank from plants grown in your own garden or greenhouse? Join our group of volunteers and learn about growing vegetables and herbs for seeds.
Come meet us at the Annual Plant Sale on May 11, 2018, from 11 am to 2 pm at the College of the Rockies Creston Campus. We will have lots of amazing plants you can buy and put in your garden or greenhouse. The proceeds from this sale help sustain the community seed bank.
We greatly appreciate the support of Tom at Sunset Seeds and Kim at College of the Rockies!
Contact us at DMseedbank@gmail.com or Facebook.