This summer was a close repeat to the one that we had last year – cool, wet weather into the first part of July and then mild temperatures all summer.  Unlike the rest of the country, we had very few hot days.  Now we are trying to harvest everything all at once before either freezing temps or devastating rains zap us..

The result of these weather patterns is that the “early season” tomato varieties have been ripening in late August while the “mid and late season” varieties are ripening late in September and into October.  Rain is not threatening – we actually have not had a drop since July and none is forecast in the near future – but the nights have been dipping into the low 30s for the past three days.  The cold temps have been a season-ender for the vining crops, the corn and legumes are drying down nicely, and solanace family are all showing some degree of damage.

This means that we are running a big crew (for us anyway) trying to bring in all of the tomato seed that we can before a “real” freeze or rain hits and turns everything to mush.  I thought that I would share a short pictorial of the tomato seed harvest process with you all.

John Picking Tomatoes

Harvesting tomato seeds obviously begins with picking the fruit.  Only fully vine ripened tomatoes are processed for seed.  Although we spend a lot of time with the plants throughout the growing season, we use this opportunity to document the flavor, textures, interesting characteristics, weights, sizes, and take photographs.  Once that is done, the buckets of tomatoes are given to the crew for processing.

The Crew in our Early Fall Ritual of Squeezing Tomatoes

As you can see in the photo, this October here on the farm has been really nice.  It has started light frosting overnight, but has been in the mid to high 70s during the day so we are able to do this messy work comfortably outside for a change.  This is a photo of the crew squeezing tomatoes that John picked.  During this seed removal stage, the crew only works with one variety and then cleans everything up before moving on to a new variety.

Cleaning Up Between Varieties

Since the primary purpose of our work is preserving old varieties, accuracy is a key part of our mission.  Starting with proven seed, our grow outs are carefully monitored throughout the season and compared to the historical record for the particular variety as well as to our past grow out data.  Neat, tidy and following procedure is critical during the seed saving stage.

Fermenting Tomato Seeds

Those of you that have read my thoughts on the subject of repurposing or have watched the videos know that I am a big fan of keeping useful “trash” out of the the garbage stream and even out of the recycling bin.  If you can find a new use for an old item, it is just plain smart.

So in that vein, we have our friends and family save their plastic salsa, sour cream, and humus containers for us and use them for fermenting the tomato seed harvest.  (FYI – The containers last four or five years but the lids only only about three)  I have found that the perfect place on our farm for fermentation is in our potting shed.  If the temperatures are just right, the seeds are ready to be washed in three days.

Washed Seeds

Aren’t they pretty?    This happens to be a nice batch of ‘Millet’s Dakota‘ seed.

Tomato Seeds Drying

Folks have different methods for drying.  My way of doing it is to place the wet seeds, about a cup of them, onto a paper coffee filter, gently wring out as much water as possible without tearing the filter, and then spread the ball of seeds out and allow them to dry.  As a rule, I let them start the drying process in the potting shed that first day and move them into the barn that evening where I have fans going.  And to prevent any possible disasters from happening, I keep different varieties far away from each other.  All of the seeds in the above picture is the same variety.  After about week, the clumps of seeds can be crumbled and screened to remove and small seeds and dust.  And that is the process in a nutshell.

If you are interested in more detail about how to save your own tomato seeds, click here.  And as always, thank you for supporting our seed variety preservation work.  We could not do this without you!

This is a time of year when every open square foot of covered space around the farm begins filling up with screens of various seed crops.  The old chicken coop becomes a drying house.  The shop, a drying house.  The barn where my office is located, a drying house.  Even my office fills up with seeds.  (Yes, I need to build a drying house!)

So this evening, after all the staff had gone home and suppertime was past, I headed back out to work.  As I was walking through the old barn on my way to the office, I passed a screen of blue-podded peas and started shelling them.  It is a new variety for us; our second year at increasing out our stock, so the screen was not very full.  That small quantity, which I quickly calculated would not be a great time commitment to complete, is what I suppose lured me to the task.

Now if any of my peers from other seed companies are reading this, and I am sure that they will, they are probably thinking, “That was a thorough waste of time.  After all, there is staff and machinery for that task.”  And yes, that is true.  But there is something deeply relaxing and therapeutic about performing jobs like shelling peas.

Most of my other duties require thinking.  When I am in the office, all of my business responsibilities require my undivided attention.  It is just the nature of the work and once your brain is engaged, it is hard to keep from thinking about work.  This is not unique to me, you can probably relate.  This is especially true if you live where you work.  Even when you are not physically in your office, you are at work.  And since you are at work, it is hard to shut that part of the brain off.

(Next time you are at your job having a bad day and thinking how cool it would be to own your own farm-based business, remember my anecdote above.  Still don’t believe me?  Move into the office for a week.  If you hate it, don’t quit your day job.)

So, on occasion, I find those somewhat menial tasks to be awesome.  Driving tractor and working the soil.  Potting seedlings in the early spring.  Tilling or hoeing weeds in the summer.  Garden cleanup and compost pile building in the fall.  And yep, shelling a pile of peas.

Even if only for a short time, gone are the thoughts of meetings, appointments, tasks that need to be completed, etc.  My mind is allowed to wander; to be free.  I think about friends I have not talked to in a long while and need to call.  Reminisce about when the kids were little and how their children are so similar and different.  Daydream about lofty goals like building a tree house.  And then realize that I am not as stressed as I was before tackling the peas.

So if you end up deciding to grow a small patch of these cool, blue-podded peas in your garden next spring, as you are planting them and enjoying your gardening therapy session, you can remember mine.

It has again been some time since my last blog post.  I often think about cool and interesting things to tell you about but it is usually when I am working out in the field or up to my elbows in fermenting tomato seed sludge.  I can’t wait until we there is a direct brain to blog interface available.  Until then, I suppose this will have to do.

Let’s see . . . what’s new?!?!  Well, once our summer finally arrived (about July 5th ), it ended up being one of the driest ones in years.  Our installation of drip irrigation really paid off.  With minimal effort, we kept everything in the field watered as needed and things have done very well.  Although it was dry, the temperatures were very mild.  This made it pleasant to work out in but has affected maturation on things like peppers, eggplants and tomatoes.  If the weather holds out for a few more weeks, we should be fine but this is always the “nail biting” time of the year when an early frost can end up . . . well you get the idea.  I don’t want to jinx it. 

We have been busy harvesting peas, beans, cardoon, tomatoes, and ground cherries.  If all goes well and germination tests prove positive, we should have a lot of those popular and currently out-of-stock varieties available once again for the 2013 gardening season.

And speaking of ground cherries . . . I spent several hours yesterday and today processing five gallon buckets of ‘New Hanover‘ and ‘Cossack Pineapple‘ ground cherries that Melanie picked and de-husked (thank you Melanie).  While fresh in my mind, I thought that I would share some seed saving tips.  Basically I use a process very similar to the tomato process outlined by clicking here, with a couple of differences.

Start with the ripest fruit (they drop from the plant when ready) that are a nice golden color.  Then, as mentioned, they are removed from the husk.  This is a tedious, manual process so if you have any tips, I would love to hear them.  Then, instead of cutting and squeezing, I cheat and use an old Good-Will acquired, cheap, blender and using the pulse function, break the fruit up into a slurry.  Don’t go overboard here or you might start damaging seeds.  I pour the fruit-smoothie looking (and smelling) contents into a five gallon bucket stopping when half full (more on why in a sec), cover so fruit flies don’t find it, and place somewhere warm (I use a greenhouse or the potting shed).

Unlike tomatoes, they do not need to be fermented for several days.  Although they can be immediately processed, I usually wait 24 hours.  I just have found that it is easier for me.  So, I pop the lid off of one of the half-full buckets and using a spray nozzle on the hose, fill the bucket to the brim.  Give it a minute or two and the good seeds will settle to the bottom and you can pour off the bits of skin, flesh, juice and immature or hollow seeds.  Fill the bucket with water again and repeat.  Do this as many times as it takes you to get nice, clean seed.

Some folks pour off through screens or strainers but for me, I prefer to dry them on coffee filters.  Again, this is just my preference.  The main goal, like any wet seed processing, is to get the seeds cleaned and dried as quickly as possible.  By placing small amounts into many coffee filters, I am able to get them in front of a fan in the barn and dried in no time.  I also like handling the smaller amounts when getting the big, dried clumps of seed broken up and readied for sale.

Anyway, this is what I did yesterday and today and although you probably won’t be growing out and processing several pounds of ground cherry seeds, you can scale down the process outlined above, using smaller containers for example, and save your own seeds.  If not, I know where you can get some . . .  and  I already did all the hard work for you. 

Both ‘New Hanover‘ and ‘Cossack Pineapple‘ are currently out of stock, but if you are interested in receiving an email when they are ready, click on the links and click the “Put Me On The Waiting List” button.

So until next time, I hope that you enjoy the fall and that your harvests are bountiful.  Thank you again for your continued support of our seed variety preservation work!  ~Mike

P.S. – If you are unfamiliar with ground cherries, click on the links above.  They really are an interesting old garden staple that seemed to fall our of favor sometime in the 20th Century.  I am not sure why.  They are sweet and tasty, easy to grow, and the reward at harvest time is well worth the effort.

I have added a couple of recipes to the the VintageVeggies.com recipe page . . . look towards the bottom under desserts.  If you have any other old family recipes, or even memories and stories, please do share them.

This is the time of year when it really feels like a farm around here.  The hay fields are cut and curing, crops are growing, and we just finished installing all of the drip irrigation systems.  This eliminates the time consuming process of watering by hand (our typical method of keeping things growing through the dry Oregon summers).

I spent the whole day Saturday walking behind a tiller cultivating between rows so hoeing is only required where the tiller can’t reach.  Basically, we have things under control at the moment . . . which is always a good feeling.    This buys me some time to start working on summer farm maintenance projects.

I hope that you are able to take time to enjoy the summer and that your gardens are growing and producing well. ~Mike