We are the ancestors; we are the human link between past and future. The seeds of our ancestors will only be available to nourish our grandchildren if we save them today. It’s up to us! It’s easy to see how hard or easy the saving of any particular line is, by checking to see what has survived. The easy ones we have lots of - beans, tomatoes, garlic, peas and lettuces. The hard ones we struggle to find we’ve saved any - carrots, pumpkins, cabbages, cauliflowers, cucumbers. There is room for anyone to be involved at any level.

Basic seed saving can be done by everyone with no more than the basic information given here. Just check the seed saving info heading in each family of the Seed catalogue. Once you have grown the seed, drying it well is very important. We dry ours in the plastic house to begin with, and then after we’ve threshed and cleaned it we put it through the electric dehydrator to make sure we have the moisture levels low enough to make it safe to put the seed into the freezer to kill any potential pests before storing it. If you are using an electric dehydrator make sure it’s one with a thermostat, and you can turn the temperature down to 30 degrees. Most cheap dehydrators in NZ are on 70 degrees and they can not be turned down.

All of our seed is cleaned by a combination of dancing on it, either in a barrel, or on the concrete or the hard dry ground on a tarp, and using hand screens. Rich from Seeds of Change in Gila, New Mexico connected me to the ago old process of cleaning seed by dancing on it on the ground, and in the process singing or story telling the stories into the seeds.

A combination of dancing and rubbing is all most seeds need, as long as they have been dried to a crackly stage first. After that you can either tip the seed from one container to another in a breeze, or set up a small electric fan at one end of a sheet spread on the ground and tip the seeds in front of the fan. The best seeds will fall closest to the fan, and the rubbish/chaff furthest away.

After winnowing the seed we place all of our seed into the freezer for a minimum of three days to kill and bugs or eggs of bugs that might hatch at a later date and eat the seed! In a home garden situation this is not as necessary however it is a great idea. If you don’t want to freeze your seed, or are unable to, you might like to try putting some dried herbs or leaves in with the seed to repel the insects. In India neem leaves are used for this purpose.

As a seed organization we are committed to;

• selecting seed specifically for home growers on the basis of taste, disease resistance, specific end use and ease of growing
• all our seed being organically grown
• dealing only in open pollinated seeds so you too can save your own
• supporting our members to save their own seed
• providing high quality seed with high germination standards ( all our seed is germination tested each six months)
• Bio Intensive organic gardening
• Taking care of our environment and our staff

Please note: The amount of seed in each packet is determined by the true cost of producing it under the above criteria. Sometimes there is more, sometimes less than in commercial packets. We will gladly replace any seed you are not completely happy with.

Vegetable and Flower Seeds

Our New Zealand heirloom seed is very special. We have now, the choice of being able to grow our vegetables from seeds that have never been grown by machines in monocultural life destroying systems. It has given the concept of “growing our own food” a whole new dimension. These seeds hold our past and our future and the spirit of Aotearoa. Try eating vegetables grown in that energy... our grandparents, or great-grandparents knew nothing else. Losing the connection with that energy and our intimate link with our food (and hence the earth and our spirit) is probably the worst thing that has happened to the human race. Things are changing.....

For information on saving your own seeds please click on the plant family below:

AMARANTHUS amaranth

AMARYLLIDACEAE e.g. onions, garlic, leeks

APIACEAE e.g carrots, parsnips

ASTERACEA e.g. lettuce

BRASSICACEAE e.g. cabbage, turnip

CHENOPODACEAE e.g. beetroot, silverbeet, quinoa

CONVOLVULACEA kumara

CURCUBITACEAE e.g. marrow, squashes, cucumbers

FABEACEAE beans

GRAMMINEAE corn, sorghum

SOLANECEAE e.g. potatoes, tomatoes, peppers

If you're new to seed saving and you're planning to save some of your own seeds this year, then now is the time to do some learning. Spend some time looking at the charts in the seed catalogue under each family. It's important to get a feel for which plants are in which families. It will be possible for you to save many of your own seeds using the information here, however if you decide you need more information then I suggest you buy a copy of Seed to Seed by Suzanne Ashworth. It is the book I learned to save seeds from and is the best book in the world as far as I'm concerned. Easy to read and follow. Available from www.koanga.co.nz click here

Seed Multipliers

Our seed multipliers are all of you out there who would love to support our work by helping us grow out the seeds. We can never grow everything and the more support we have the better. Unless something specific is requested we send peas or beans because we know there is no risk of these crossing and the minimum numbers are low compared to many other crops. It’s always very special receiving your parcels of seed in the mail.

Please e-mail info@koanga.co.nz if you would like to be a Seed Multiplier.