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Feb 7., 2015
I will be speaking along with Stephanie Gaylor about seed saving at the LIRSC Seed Swap on Saturday Afternoon, Shinnecock Building. Suffolk County Community College, Riverhead ,NY. Bring your seeds to swap. I will be helping to raise money for the Long Island Regional Seed Consortium by making some of my rare seeds available for a small donation. The event is free and there will be free seeds even if you don't bring any to swap.
January, 2015
I am pleased to announce the availability of two naked seed pumpkins, Little Greenseed and Yellow Submarine and some of my other breeding projects through www.northforkseed.com. Anyone who has tried to obtain my seed or contact me realizes that I have not been the best at getting back to you so I am pleased that there is now a reliable seed company producing seed on Long Island that you can contact. Although my work is quite scaled back now, because of the generosity of farmers who continue to see value in what I do, you will probably see more Long Island Seed becoming available but why wait? Save your own seed and develop your own varieties.
March 20, 2010
I will be speaking at the Hallockville Farm Restoration on Sound Avenue, Jamesport, NY at 11:30. I have only a half hour to talk about the Long Island Seed Project. I hope to show why it was important for farmers in the 1800's to grow their own seed and why it is just as relevant today.
August, 2009
All the summer squash hand pollinations are done; the pumpkins are being hand pollinated now. Tomato seed processing has started. Pepper and Melon crops look good. OSU Broccoli is better than ever and some oddities to observe as always. Lots of deer damage this year in spite of fencing. You are welcome to see what we're doing but please contact me before you come as you will need a guide if you want to see the crops in the field.
Jan., 2009
I have been invited to speak at the 28th ANNUAL LONG ISLAND AGRICULTURAL FORUM:
ALTERNATIVE FARMING SESSION on Thursday Afternoon, January 8, Shinnecock Building, Room 208. Suffolk County Community College, Riverhead ,NY. Scott Chaskey, president of NY NOFA will chair the Alternative Farming Session which begins at 2 pm. I will be talking about backyard vegetable breeding and producing seed crops and why it's a good idea for farmers at my workshop. You can download the brochure at: http://counties.cce.cornell.edu/Suffolk/AGprograms/2009%20Short%20Program%20AgForum.pdf. There are a number of workshops that should interest the local farming community.
Sept., 2008
Although my colleagues and I managed to do some interesting research with unusual edible crops at the college where I work (which I will write about on this web site soon), I was out of commission most of the summer with complications from lyme disease and family matters that required much of my attention. Therefore, I wasn't able to produce seed crops in the quantities to support the kind of distribution which we were able to in 2006 to 2008. I also apologize for not corresponding in a timely manner with many who wrote to me. When we assess what we can provide for Spring, 2009 I will update the seed list. As always, if you have a specific research need, please let us know and we will try to help you. Thank you all for your continued interest and support!
Jan., 12, 2008
You can now use PayPal as a means of making payment to the Long Island Seed Project (which will also accept credit card use).
You can begin to request seeds (the seedlist linked from the Home Page is almost complete but will be amended through the next few weeks as we finish processing last year's seeds, check germination rates and inventory what we have). The order page is linked from the Home Page also and will give you the specifics on obtaining seeds from us. The PayPal site is linked from the order page. It's not a shopping cart system but it does allow you to request seeds and make payments online which many folks find convenient and fast.
Dec., 20, 2008
Long Island Seed Project is featured in "Edible East End" Winter Edition,
There was a story about our breeding work in the local "Edible" magazine http://www.edibleeastend.com/2007winter13/pdfs/artisans.pdf . The article points out some major problems in the seed industry that really need attention. One way to protect ourselves from the dominance of large scale international seed suppliers is to "regionalize" seed production which means that more farmers and backyard gardeners really have to become involved in seed breeding and production.
Nov., 28, 2007
This year there has been more progress toward the development of a tender broccoli which is adaped to organic systems in the northeast using material from Oregon State University. It is still quite variable but it continues to become an easier crop to save the seeds of which is critical for producing a sustainable crop. See Rambling, "Breeding a Better Broccoli".
Some promising work in producing a new insect resistant lettuce using material from USDA- Salinas has been made. See Rambling, "Breeding a New Lettuce".
Some very exciting work developing new disease resistant zucchini squash using material from Cornell (Ithaca) continues to impress local farmers. Cornell continues to help us evaluate selections by PM testing. See Rambling, "New Zucchini from Cornell Breeding Program".
We are releasing material from our Acorn Squash Mass Cross which has genetics from Cornell's breeding program and also Oregon State University. It is nothing short of impressive and will allow home breeders a real opportunity to "fine tune" an excellent acorn squash to their own gardens or farm.
We also release two new blends that should be of interest to local growers who specialize in farmstand sales: " Asteroids", a scallop squash mix and "Orbit", a round zucchini mix which comes out of Long Island Seed Project. See Ramblings, "Round Zucchni" and "Scallop Squash".
Our work with Naked Seed Pumpkins has progressed quite well too and we are releasing "Little Green Seed" which will require continued work. A nice project for home breeders.
New peppers including the "Sweet Fingerling" series and our hot "Dwarf Early Cayenne" have been a pleasure to show off to farm visitors during the 2007 growing season.
We especially would like to hear from our local farming community about your breeding needs. Seed stock of new developments is always limited and we are looking to partner with farmers who have an interest in small scale seed production as a means of diversifying their income stream.
Long Island farmers should contact us for seeds that they would like to trial or work with as part of an on-farm breeding program. The Long Island Seed Project is also interested in releasing material to Long Island farmers or farmers in the NOFA community in order to develop a regional seed network. Promising varieties will continue to be trialed and developed for our regional production and markets. It is hoped that seeds will eventually be produced by a number of local farmers on a sustainable basis. If the local project is successful, look for the greater availability of our Long Island selected varieties in the future.
Dec., 22, 2006
liseed.org Will be Participating in NOFA-NY's Organic Seed Project
This year liseed.org will be again working with the Organic Seed Project, making many of our seeds available to NOFA-NY members and other "organic seed breeding hubs" across the U.S. participating in the Organic Seed Project. Our seeds will continue to be evaluated for organic systems and we hope, will undergo more breeding work by farmer-breeders and seed-savers. Promising selections of broccoli and squash that were made at Flanders Bay Farm during summer, 2006 will be returned to the original breeders at O.S.U and Cornell- Ithaca for continued work.
Nov., 20, 2006
Breeders to Exchange News of their Developments and Seed!
Plans are underway to develop liseed.org as a place that plant breeders, farmer seed producers and adventurous gardeners can use in order to exchange seed with each other: seeds of new varieties, crosses and selections that they develop; as well as information about conventional plant breeding. Backyard breeders as well as professional seed breeders often work in a vacuum, producing notable varieties and selections with considerable merit; most which will never be grown by the public or other breeders. liseed.org hopes to act as a forum for breeders to discuss their work. There is a great opportunity for collaboration and liseed hopes to help facilitate the process. |
