There was nowhere to buy seeds, so we saved them. Once we got’em, we kept’em. We’d leave a row of beans in the garden to seed for next year, then we’d shell them out when they dried up, and put them in a can and put a spoonful of soda in’em and shake it real good. And that’s your seed for next year. It’s the same way with peas.
For corn, when we were shucking it out after it was dried on the ear, whenever we found a big pretty ear, we’d throw it in a separate pile to save for seed. Even mustard—we’d let one or two grow up and make seed, and they’d leave one cabbage stalk to grow up and make seeds. Same way with spinach. The pea and bean seeds are the only ones I put soda in—the rest I’d just put them up in a cloth bag in a dry place and hang it on a nail somewhere.
—Foxfire 4
Today’s Thankful November giveaway is a used copy of a Foxfire 4 book. Leave a comment on this post to be entered. *Giveaway ends November 26, 2023.
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I have collected a few Foxfire books, but do not have this one. Thank you for giving us this opportunity to receive this gift. Good luck to everyone who has commented.
My Mama was great about saving seeds, whether it was vegetable seeds or flowers seeds. She was a smart Appalachian Mama and knew how to make the best of what she had and how to be Thankful for it all. She was an amazing Mama, I knew it then but I didn’t realize just how much so until my later years. I sure do miss learning interesting ideas from Mama and Daddy.
It has been years since I have read any of the Foxfire books. I would love to start collecting them!
I read my first Foxfire book when I was about 12-13 and wanted to run away and live in the woods. They have been a part of my soul ever since!
Why did they put soda in with the seeds they saved?
I saved lots of Zinnia and Marigold seeds over the past months also my poppys. Katie got me interested in poppys. I am now in love with them. Praying everyone has a great Thanksgiving. God is so good to us. He is greatly to be praised!!!
I always save my zinnia and marigold seeds each year. I got a free pack of chocolate cherry tomato seeds over ten years ago and have saved seeds from those ever since. It is very interesting to learn about using baking soda in the bean seeds.
Oh I remember Dad doing this.
Such good books and great reads. It really does resonate with all things Appalachia.
My grandmother saved seeds when I was a kid. She was very fond of her snuff, but she could always spare a little to dust to sprinkle over her jars of seeds. She said it kept the bugs out of them. Have you ever heard of anyone doing that?
I already have the foxfire books, so hope someone else will enjoy this one. Happy Thanksgiving to you all.
Foxfire books are hard to find. I’ve tried to get some at auction several times but they always go way above my price range. Would love to have one. Hope your family has a blessed Thanksgiving Tipper.
Use soda to store seeds…Good to know. Learned something new today. 🙂
What is the purpose of the addition of baking soda to the dried beans? Does it act as a dessicant? I never gave any thought to what people used to do before seed stores. I have heard of the Foxfire series but have never read one.
I saved seeds from my beans this year. They are an old timey beans. Go back years.They are so good. I did it my parents did. Send them with needle and thread and hung them up to dry and shelled em. I put em in a jar and put them in the freezer till next year.
I save as many seeds as I can! They don’t seem too expensive when you buy a packet of them but when you have a big ole garden it can add up to a lot of money.
I would like to know what the soda was for. It’s scary to think about how seeds are looked at today by corporations. I doubt many people have thought about this, but if we don’t have seeds, we don’t have food. Personally, I think seeds display the wonderful work of God. Only God could make something that would create food for mankind and continue to do so forever.
I love saving seeds and foxfire books. God bless you all
My first attempt at gardening was a fail last year. I can’t garden this year as I don’t know when we’re moving (house up for sale), but it’s still a dream of mine. Loved reading the resourcefulness of seed saving!
We had our first AirBNB stay Saturday and Sunday! A beautiful old shotgun cottage called The Pearl! It was so beautiful–just filled with antiques and just old things and newer things displayed! The owner had a whole bookshelf in the kitchen full of cookbooks and antique kitchen stuff. one whole side of the bottom shelf held Foxfire books! In fact there were books everywhere. I so wished we had had time to look at every Foxfire book. I have several but she had at least ten. I grew my first honeydew melons this year from seeds my best friend saved for us. Mine were not as good as hers were and I wonder if the Alabama soil is why.
Reading this about the seeds makes me want to do garden so bad. I’m not able to do this anymore, due to severe Uncle Arthur, arthritis. LOL. It sure would be nice. I tried drying seeds years ago. Just once. I still have the seeds. It’s not much. The thing is I can’t remember what they are. Might be a squash. It makes me laugh thinking about these few seeds and forgetting to put what they are, but even funnier is the fact that I only did these very few. Have a wonderful Thanksgiving and pray for those who cannot have one and for people who are alone. Jennifer
I am curious why the soda was added to the beans. I imagine it preserved them some way. It is great to be both educated and entertained in BP&tA! Thank you for daily posts and blogs, Tipper and family!!
Happy Thanksgiving!
I save bean seeds after drying completely but have never heard of adding soda to them. Is that supposed to preserve them better?
I am re-reading the Foxfire books and trying to collect used copies as I go. I am up to book 3, so would love to have number 4!
Happy Thanksgiving, Tipper, to you and your family!
Prayers for Granny’s healing!
My Pa was a superb gardener. He saved seed and planted with them the following year. He once found a beautiful tomato in the groceries and saved and, on a shim, dried the seeds from it. He planted some of them and got huge and very productive vines of excellent tomatoes. We had no idea what variety they were, but they were some of the best tomatoes I’ve ever eaten.
I save seeds in an envelope like your mother does.
Thankful for the rain today.
Mama used to save seeds in glass jars. Never heard of using baking soda but that sounds like a super idea! I’m always learning something new on the BP&A. Have a blessed day everyone!!
Happy Seedgiving!
The foxfire books sound wonderful! Such good advice for us still !!! I would love to read them !!! Thank you so much for sharing with us all !!! Thank you for all that you share !!! Your YouTube channel , blog & this comment section are all sweet blessings to me !!! I am enjoying this sweet community so much !!! You are all blessings !!!
Interesting post. Seems like I learn something new every time I come here. Never heard of putting baking soda in with pea and bean seed. (It probably wouldn’t make any difference for me, since I keep my seeds in the freezer, but still good to know- just in case!) My dad always saved seeds of various kinds and so do I. (My daughter is now saving seeds , too.) Corn, beans, peas, tomatoes, squash-all the usual things. This year I tried saving seed from my experiments- Lady Peas and Ruby Red lettuce. I planted a few of each in pots shortly after collecting them, to check germination, and praise the Lord, they both sprouted!
It has taken me years to perfect seed-saving. I start with the “Mortgage Lifter” tomato seed — we dearly love the taste of those pinkish beauties! The man who formulated the seed sold so many tomatoes that he paid off his mortgage! What a blessing. This tomato has the distinction of having the best “story” in its relatively short history. The Mortgage Lifter tomato was developed in the early 1930s in Logan, WV by a radiator repairman, M.C. “Radiator Charlie” Byles. It’s a drought-tolerant heirloom variety that produces extremely heavy yields of large, low-acid pink fruits. What I didn’t know about tomato seeds until last year is that you have to get them in water to get off the protective film and let them sort of ferment before drying them out. So you see, I have a lot to learn and would love to learn more from a copy of a Foxfire book! Blessings to all 🙂
Such a great little story Tipper. I never comment. But I do plan to start. I comment a little some on your YouTube channel but not a lot! I love your channel. Please include me in your drawing for the book.
We save seeds but by the time they dry with 2 – 3 different melon and cantaloupes having been eaten over the week we forget which name to put where. After having mice and bugs get into seeds we now store them in plastic bags in the refrigerator.
I have been using bean seed that my aunt saved in the freezer this year they had been saved for thirty-three years. They didn’t make as good beans this year, they were very short pods. So, I have replenished my seeds for next year from a trusted source and will make a new start from several different type’s including rattlesnake beans which I heard about on your you tube.
I save bean seeds once they are completely dry but have never heard of adding soda to them.
I’m re-reading the Foxfire books, read them years ago when my parents bought them new. I am trying to find used copies and have found 1 through 3 so far, so would love to have number 4!
Happy Thanksgiving to you and your family.
I love the old ways! This book sounds like a real treasure.
My parents and my in-laws always saved seeds, mostly corn and beans. My DIL saves pumpkin seeds for us. I have been watching some of your older videos of your Thanksgiving and Christmas celebrations this morning. You gave me some great ideas for food and decorations. Thanks a bunch. Have a wonderful day.
I save okra seeds and love to shake the pod once it is dry to her the seeds rattle. This year I planted okra seeds I had saved from my last year garden and okra seeds I bought this year. There was no comparison! The seeds I saved were healther, bigger, prettier and out produced the seeds I bought. Needless to say, I saved seeds from those plants again this year.
I have already wrote too much but some of these comments about the older rural generations saving their seed got me to thinking (dangerous) about this. With my grandparents and other folks that not only had large gardens but also made a living by farming-my Granddaddy raised a family of 8 by growing cotton on a 40 acre farm and a couple of mules. Do any of you remember fertilizer being called guano and would come in up to I think 200lb sacks/bags and pure granular 33% nitrogen being called sody? Around here the favorite brand of sody was the Bulldog Brand. The Cole Company of Charlotte, NC made a mule drawn fertilizer/guano distributor. Using chicken, horse/mule or cow manure straight out of the barn was sometimes used on their gardens but when using this manure you would also be sowing grass or weed seed.
I just finished eating some hot buttered biscuits along with some sorghum molasses (not Karo syrup) that had butter worked up in them. I intend to start reading a book ( Tall Woman – had to buy my own copy) shut up and be energy efficient for the rest of this much appreciated rainy day. Some of the lesser educated folks would call this being lazy.
I love saving seeds! I saved onion seed from last year planted some and they all came up…this year in the high desert in CA where I live I had to order turnip seeds from Burpee..I couldn’t find any in the stores..Save those seeds!!! they’re be needed if you can find them in stores ..
All the Foxfire books are a great read; they would be a welcomed addition to one’s personal library. As a native Kentuckian, I stumbled on them many, many years ago! As Thanksgiving is soon upon us, giving thanks for all the wonder of life and the many, many folks who make it more so! A blessed Thanksgiving to all the readership out there and to you, Tipper, and your family and friends ……
Morning, Tipper! Cold and rainy here in Charlotte. It’s a day for hot chocolate for sure. My late husband and I came across the Fox Fire books many years ago and loved reading every one we read. I would love to own the entire set! I love history and these books are a look back on how past generations did things and I find that fascinating. Hope all is well with you and yours. God’s blessings on you all, especially Granny!
I have never been a gardener myself, but found it quite interesting on how you were able to obtain seeds for future crops. I would think that even if you had access to purchase seeds why do that when you can produce your own.
I remember my grandparents saving seeds for the huge garden they had and of course my Dad saved seeds for watermelons and rye and corn on the farm. Thanks for the memories. I would love a Foxfire book!
My husband and I just bought a new home this past summer and I am so excited to have 2 acres to grown on. I love watching your channel and learning about seed saving. I haven’t had a big garden since i grew up on the farm back home in WV as a child. I so cant wait for February to start planting in our little greenhouse. I so look forward to being able to can our bounty, share with neighbors, and the food pantry I oversee!!!
My wife likes to save flower seeds…but not other seeds. But I believe we will start. I believe a day will come when there will be no seeds to get. Enjoy the different things you come up with to share.
My parents always had a big garden and dad would save seeds every year.
I love to read all these comments it brings back so many memories!
I save my flower seeds.
Both of my grandfathers saved seeds from as many vegetables and flowers as they possibly could; however, we always went to the seed store in the spring and fall. I always loved going with my maternal grandfather to the local supply. We went often to buy hog and chicken feed. I can close my eyes and still remember the way the feed store smelled!!! In my mind, I can still see the little brown bags of seeds with the top so neatly rolled down, tied with twine and marked with a bluntly-sharpened carpenter pencil as to the kind of seed that was inside the bag…!!! When I was little we lived with my maternal grandparents until I was almost 5 years old and then visited very often after that…I spent every summer with my maternal grandparents, too, so I was always around to watch and sometimes help plant the seeds and feed the hogs and chickens—so many wonderful memories.
Tipper, more memories unearthed again today. We grow collards every year from seeds that have been saved for over 60 years. My Grandmother would let a couple collards go to bolt and seed out and we would save the seeds. Also saved, peas, beans, turnips, fruit stones and seeds, tomato seeds and pepper seeds, as well as flowers we wanted to save. I loved the video Matt did on cleaning deer meat. I have a customer that brings me deer meat and I selftaught myself a lot about cleaning. I learned real fast about the silver skin and the big streaks between the muscles!! I hope all is well with everyone. Love and prayers to all of you and Granny and Little Mama too.
So interesting! I would love to have this book. Prayers for all! Take care and God bless ❣️
Dear Tipper,
I pray for Grandma Louzine every day. Sending good vibes of good health! I also pray for the entire Wilson and Presley family. Would like to have the Foxfire book. God bless❤️
When Mom passed away we found several jars in her freezer with seeds and hand-written notes explaining what kind of seeds they were and where she got them. One half-gallon jar had rare green bean seeds with a note saying a lady gave them to her while Daddy was horse trading with her husband. The note was dated 1986. I put the jar in the cellar and forgot about it until a few years ago. I planted a row of the beans and every seed germinated. Mom had put a moth ball or two in every jar of seeds she saved. It would be nearly impossible to find the muskmelon and tomatoes I grow without saving the seeds and raising my own.
I save seeds from the garden but never knew that you put baking soda in with peas and bean seeds when storing after they dried. Lots of good advise and stories in the Fox Fire books. I’ve only remember some stories you read Tipper from them, but not read any myself.
I save bean, pepper, and tomatoes seeds from several heirloom varieties.
I’ve enjoyed reading this post and the comments. I would really like a copy of the Foxfire 4 book.
This summer was the first that I planted seeds that I had saved myself. It was a good feeling.
My grandmother used to save the seeds for the next year. Always kept them in jars. Wonderful days those were.
Mom always saved a lot of seeds for most of everything.
Oh yes!!! I remember Daddy and my uncle saving seeds – beans, peas, corn, tomatoes, watermelon. It was a common practice for them.
when I was young my dad looked for years for cob melon seeds…when he found them we were all excited to grow and eat a melon of his youth…it was like a cantaloup but the seeds were in a cob shape form in the center of the melon….we saved some seeds to plant the next year but much to our dismay even though in a bog hanging from the rafters in an out building the rats still managed to get to them and ate every last seed….in my adult life I have yet to find any cob melons let alone the seeds and at 68 I guess I will give up the search
Cershownski Melon is the name. Less sweet than a cantaloupe. You can get 20 seeds for about 4 dollars. Five seeds for a dollar seems expensive to me but you can save your own after the first harvest. Google this name. I think it originally came from Ukraine.
Tipper could you choose one winner but include the name and address of several others! Then when the first winner finished the book, he or she could mail the book to another person on the list, remembering to put the names and addresses inside before sealing the package. Better yet just write the names and addresses inside the cover of the book. Leave enough room for each reader to make a short comment. that way many people will be blessed!!! It is a small fee to mail books and media. Seems like it was a little over $3, when I last sent a book to someone.
Marilyn-that’s a great idea. I don’t have time to organize it, but if the winner wants to post a comment with their email address and details they are more than welcome to do that 🙂
I’m interested in reading this book. My mom saved seeds, and I have done it too, but never heard of putting soda on beans and peas.
When I got married in 1962, my husbands grandmother gave me something to put in the pea seed I had saved, to keep the weaves out of them, seems like she called it ‘high life’ or something !
I didn’t know about the soda in the bean seeds that’s interesting. Truly brilliant to grow an extra plant just for seed. Food wouldn’t be so hybrid if we all did this . Food grown in our gardens is such a blessing when all the packaged food in our world has toxic preservatives and chemicals, growing a garden is a real health saver these days . I love foxfire and really want a copy of this book! ❤️
I remember my grandmother saving seeds. She was always so good with growing almost anything.
When I found out about Foxfire books in the 1970’s I thought I found gold! I had a friend who had a bluegrass group and he was the one who turned me on to the books. I never had all of the books and over the years not even sure where the ended up. To this day they are a great collection to have!
I have FF#4 so you can skip me. I am gradually saving more seed and letting more plants self-sow. I planted mustard seed months ago but the mustard that sowed itself has done far better even though they have each had the same conditions. I should have watched the timing of when each sprouted better. I would have learned something. When I do save seed I save too much and it gets too old. I don’t know of but one or two other people who garden but they are kinda hit and miss. The times I have tried to give seed away I couldn’t find any takers. This post makes me think though that localized blogs about gardening could be very useful. Of course there is Co-op Extension that has good information but it tends to be more for commercial operations and doesn’t do much with garden lore from folks who have learned by doing.
My grandparents saved seed but they are gone. My son and I tried to save bean seeds this year and ended up with a moldy mess. Maybe it’s the baking soda we needed?
Ashley ,did you allow the beans to dry on the vine? Did you also allow time for the seeds to sit at room temp for a few days before putting them away. Also did you put the seeds in an envelope or a folded paper, not a zip lock plastic bag???
I am so glad that there are some that still save seeds. So many of the old seeds have been lost , praying for Granny. God bless you and your family.
I should have said in my first comment a burlap sack. One year the peas got mites in them and I broke out in a rash. No doctor, I just washed good with soap and water, scratched and clawed until it got well. I never heard of putting baking soda (sody) in with the seed. Today we are getting some rain. It is predicted to be up to 2 inches, this is the first measurable rain we have had in 2 months. Maybe some storms this afternoon even a tornado. Really we have had very little rain since the beginning of June. Too late for the growing season except for the farmers that are sowing wheat or similar grains. I still think of it as a blessing, it will help keep the chance of wildfires low.
Seed saving is coming back I’m glad to say. I wonder if y’all ever put an old nylon stocking over the mustard seed stalks to keep the weather from blowing away the seeds? I’ve enjoyed the Foxfire stories through the years and they’re a wonderful reminder of lost arts.
I too also enjoy saving any seeds I can get my hands on. We still grow and save the beans and corn from my wife’s grandmother’s seed stock she gave us over 40 years ago. I always enjoy reading your articles.
Tipper, WHAT is going on here???? All of a sudden this blog has many more followers and ain’t it just fantastic????I can’t hardly get through comments that are insightful-it’s taking longer I must say. About seed saving, it’s the ONLY way to go and purchasing from EDEN BROTHERS IN NC!!! Tipper, you’re my inspiration in cooking and gardening! You’ve had a goodly effect on my well being and I thank YOU, dear sweet lady friend! My cornbread is good now because of you! I have plenty things you’ve taught me that I’m grateful for and I’m fixing to make black walnut pound cake with icing and aunt Fay’s apple pie this evening for Thanksgiving. I’m thankful to have found you, Tipper, and this wonderful blog. Y’all NC hillbillies are super cool! I learn something new here about every day…
I’ve been reading your post for several years and have told several of my Sisters & Family about it. Now they read it to. So many things you write about is similar to how we grew up in NC . I’m from a large Family that grew up on a big Farm, so we all worked hard growing up. I love your post, I read them almost every day & go back and read the ones I missed.
I’ve never entered your give away, I would Love the Foxfire 4 book.
I save seeds every fall. Learning more how to take care of them would be great!
Thank You Tipper.
Speaking of thankful, we have already have more rain here this morning than in the past 5 months put together. It is a slow gentle rain, so far, and the ground is soaking it up like a sponge.
I was out at my garden yesterday when it rain just a few drops. The raindrops were kicking up dust when they hit. Have you ever seen that? Ain’t no dust out there now!
When the large raindrops hit the parched earth…it smells sooo wonderful!
I call it God’s perfume! I also thank God for each and every drop of blessing rain!
LOVE TO READ EVEYTHING HERE.
self reliance…true survivalists…
I’ve been saving seeds for a few years now. Even though I don’t need a lot, I still can’t help but save them.
My folks always put seeds up too Grandma and Grandpa would always do that and as you and many others in times past would even trade or sometimes barter seeds of the ones they didn’t have. I would actually like to know where all the seeds that we have now started from. I know as people would move to an area to start a home they would bring seeds from where they came from , but I almost would bet that,that it was the same way from where they were from also. Anyway Tipper you all have a very Happy Thanksgiving and God Bless all much love y’all’s way and tell all hello.
Remember Grandma and kin stringing wax beans to dry and Savin what we called ( soup beans) for next year, which later became scarce. Oh the day.
Seed saving is something that I didn’t do until about 3 years ago. I learned how the seeds I saved from our garden would produce a better crop over time since they were adapting to our soil and that has proven to be very true. And it saves us money since we’re not buying seeds for our main crops now. But I do buy something different to try every year when we put out our garden.
It gets harder every year to find seeds for some vegetables I like to grow. Never thought to seed save. We can learn so much from the old ways which are the best way. Would love a copy of this book.
My granny was born in the Ozark mountains in Arkansas in 1900. She talked often about how her family grew a garden and saved seeds. She had a garden right up to her death in 1995. I don’t think I’ll
Ever stop missing her.
I did the same thing with this year’s crop of pumpkins. I saved a small bag full of seeds for planting next spring and toasted and salted the rest for healthy snacks.
Seed saving has been a major part of our family’s food supply for generations. I never considered it to be unique. Ma & Mamaw, my grandmothers, always left enough vegetable & flower plants to grow on out to seed. I remember as a tiny little girl, taking saved pepper bags, we saved everything to repurpose, and putting whole heads of seeds in each labeled bag. Then we’d take the bags on the back porch and each of us would have several bags of different seed to pick & sort through. Finally, we’d store seeds in jelly jars under the counter in a cool spot off the kitchen which was left unheated. In February, we’d start some of the open pollinated tomato seeds first, we’d group together those seeds to be direct planted which was most of them. At age 62, I still have this tradition. I am thrilled to see the self sustained ways work for me just as they have done for generations in my family. I’d not do it any other way for our old tried & true vegetable varieties.
All the best to your family. Saving and frugality made the good times last through the lean times
I love to save seed. Isn’t it amazing that we can even do that and plant it again next year and it makes another plant? Just wonderfully amazing.
I really like reading on the old times ways of saving seeds, or anything actually. Sometimes I feel like I might have been born in the wrong century. The old ways just seem more practical somehow.
Me too! I’m 80 now! But I often find myself thinking about what it must have been like back in the good ole days!
My father-in-law developed a type of okra. It is large and yummy. It doesn’t really get hard. After he died we planted it for a couple of years. Some how we have lost our seeds. I am so sad that we haven’t any seeds left. We have lost our legacy. I have put out fillers. I am hoping that someone in the family has some.
Baking sodie in bean seeds, that’s a new one on me. I wonder how that works. Baking sodie is cheap and it can’t hurt, so I think I’ll give that a try, if I don’t forget.
Just be sure that the seeds you save are from non-GMO stock.
I can remember my Granny saving seeds and giving them to my momma to plant in our garden. In fact, my daddy, momma and granny all said, seeds are valuable, we need to save them. I think that’s why I do enjoyed the video of Debbie over in Sylva at was it Brysons Feed store? We drove through Sylva the other day and when we passed the store it tugged at my heart. So many of those places are disappearing, just makes me sad. So happy to know your mom is doing well Tipper. As the days pass and she gets further away from the treatments her strength and stamina will return. Tell her to just rest as much as she needs to, and that she will be stronger soon. Have a blessed day.
We saved our zipper cream pea seed last year from our raised bed garden. My husband, Randy was so excited when he planted them this year. His crop made an overabundance of peas this year, of course we all know it was because he had saved his seed! lol. I love the Fox fire books.
Been really enjoying these posts.
Whynsida? What does the soda do to the bean and or seeds?
It’s another name for sodium bicarbonate or HCO-3. Sodium dries and is a dissident. Bicarbonate probably kills any bacteria, fungus, mold, etc.
Reckon sodium hydroxide NaHO would do the same thing? It is a “desiccant” too! Or them little packets of silica gel that sometimes come in medicine bottles, that’s what I’ve been using to save seeds. The bottle and the “desiccant”.
I have a garden now and try to save seed for next year. I was told that when you do this and plant on your own ground it is called ‘landrace’ – and the Lord will allow the seed to change a bit to do better on that land because of your microflora in that soil – to give you a better crop.
When I was growing up way back in the early 70’s my folks and Family lived in a big city with smog. My Dad’s health needed better air, so he found some land about 400 miles north and we moved to the property. This area in the Central Valley has farmland that grows a fair portion of textiles, fodder, alfalfa, and food.
We moved when I was about thirteen. We had never raised our own food back in the city but I was going to try my own patch. Needless to say, I did not know what I was doing and grew mostly weeds. My folks got a couple of Foxfire books and I was hooked.
I still live here on the land and have a garden that still has weeds – but the Good Lord gives us volunteer Tommy toe cherry tomatoes, garlic, onion, mustard, and chard that reseeds themselves year after year. And we are very thankful that the Lord helps us along.
Where I live there is not much annual rainfall and these past many years drought has been the norm. So I am very happy that the saving of seed from one year to the next – it is almost that the seed ‘remembers’ what it went through to grow that past year and strives to make it through the next to keep on going.
I would really like to receive this copy of the Foxfire book – so please put me in for the draw 😀
I enjoy reading your post!
My mother grew up in Eastern Ky. in the mountains.
I very much enjoy hearing her stories of her childhood. My grandfather worked
in the coal mines of Eastern Ky. for almost 50 years and raised 11 children.
I save tomato and pepper seeds. This year I bought a tomato called Wild Boar. I think it was the best tomato that I ever tasted. I saved the seed. I love the Foxfire books and would love to read this one. Happy Thanksgiving.
I have saved some watermelon seed , in old rolled up newspaper God bless you friends of Appalachia, God bless Granny Louzine Wilson with healing and health in Jesus name
I still save seeds. I love doing things that help us survive come what may.
Blessings to all
What great memories this brings back! I especially remember the old window screen that Grandpa left the watermelon seeds on to dry. He would bag them up and keep for the next years planting! What wonderful meals were made from the bounty of each year’s garden harvest! I would love to own and read the Foxfire books, the stories bring back my wonderful childhood ❤️
I heard that seed from store bought produce (peppers, tomatoes, squash, melon and such) is sterile and won’t make, so I never tried. Anyone have success?
I’ll bet they were the best-tasting veggies!
I would love a copy, I have a love of old used books.
We save our seed too, but I have never heard of putting soda in the pea and bean seed. I am curious to hear what others say.
Hope y’all have a wonderful day! May you find many blessings in your day!!
Me too! I’m 80 now! But I often find myself thinking about what it must have been like back in the good ole days! Debbie, several years ago I put some pinoto beans bought at the grocery store in 2# bags, in a five gallon bucket lined with a Mylar bag…. I put DE in with the beans! I put quite a bit then I sealed up the bag and put the lid on the bucket! I did the same with rice. I know they will have to be washed before cooking. That was my first attempt at trying to preserve something that will keep our tummies full if the
bottom falls out!
I love how the Appalachian people were always looking ahead!
We usually placed seeds on newspapers to dry. After drying seeds were stored as mentioned or wrapped in paper towel and placed in the deep freeze.
Would love to have book 4, I do not have that in my library. Happy Thanksgiving everyone.
This brings back memories of seed saving with my Granny & Pa. Thanks for sharing!
When you first showed in a video about saving seeds it perked my interest. I have not saved seed before that. I have not figured out how to save cabbage seeds as I don’t see them bolting. I am willing to try saving other seed when I get them. I love reading my Foxfire books and imagine all the ways they did things that the current generation has no idea what they can do. Praying for Granny’s treatment and of course for you guys. By the way, I have not seen if you were going to have an almanac calendar and when is Katie due??..
Glenda-I will have the almanacs, hope to put them in our Etsy store next week. And thank you for asking about Katie, she is doing really good and so is the baby 🙂
Thankful for some much every new day!….your blog is on the list of blessings
Carolyn
I think (don’t hold me to it) you have to overwinter your cabbage to get seeds. They grow a big head the first year and on the second send up a seed stalk, flower, set seeds and die. I don’t think fall cabbage will act the same but, fer shore, I ain’t no expert.
I remember when growing up of my Daddy saving pea seed. He would put the dried peas still in the hull in a sack and just hang them up under a shed during the winter. Next year we/me would beat the sack with a heavy stick and then on a day with a good breeze lay a sheet on the ground and get handfuls of the peas that had been beaten, stand above the sheet and slowly drop them from our hands, the wind would blow the chaff away, leaving the pea seed because of the seed being heavier. Much of today’s seed are hybrids, I was taught when a hybrid seed is planted over and over it will eventually turn back to the dominant strain. I also remember saving field corn seed, watermelon and cantaloupe seed. Have you noticed how we try to be careful when saving seed but often seed left in the garden or field over the winter will come up in the spring as volunteers. We had citrons that would come back up each year for many years. Mother would make preserves from them, I don’t know of anything else they were good for.
Mama always saved bean and pea seeds that way for dried beans to eat. She used an old pillow case and we would beat it with the broom handle. It was always fun to see the chaff blowing away!