Dunton Family Farm News

What's Happening Around the Farm as well as a Soapbox for head farmer, Mike Dunton

Quick Update

Farm Update – It has been a cold, wet, gray, miserable weather week.  Yes it allowed me to get caught up on a lot of web and office work, but I had ground all tilled and ready to plant last Saturday.  Then the floodgates opened.  The tomato plants in the greenhouse are at the point they need to stretch their roots and get out into the garden.  Looks like it will be one of those years we are planting in the mud.

But I certainly am not in a position to complain.  Yes, it is inconvenient.  Yes, it could affect our harvests this fall.  But our weather is noting in comparison to the tornado year that folks in other parts of the country.   We see the devastation on the nightly news and it is just so hard to fathom.   Our thoughts and prayers go out to you.

Newsletters – If you have not already done so, be sure to sign up for our newsletter.  You do not need to worry about getting your email box filled up.  I am the only person here that does all the communications – tweets, blog, email, CRM, etc. – so I am lucky if I pull off one newsletter mailing per month.  Anyway, sign up!  If you are a reader of the blog or tweets, there will be a bit of information redundancy, but the newsletter remains the best place to hear about sales and discount offers.  Just head to any page on the site and look for the Mailing List feature at the bottom of the left-hand column.  There is a new one scheduled for 6/1.

Seed Saving and Sharing – This topic may seem counter intuitive to you.  That is, does it make sense for us to promote a practice that empowers people to raise heir own seeds?  Yes and no.  If we were motivated by financial gain (like big corporations) then it is absolutely self-defeating.  However, seed variety preservation is a work of passion.  It is what we feel is our mission.  Yes, seed sales is how we pay the bills and keep the lights on.  But more importantly, it is how we are able to continue to research and grow out rare, old varieties, get them into home gardener’s hands, and how we can work to help others do the same.

Case in point . . . One of our mission points is to support charitable works with our work.  A young project that we support is the Richmond, California Seed Lending Library.  Here is a link to a cool article about their program – click here.  Check out the cool picture :)

Well, no rain is presently falling here on the farm so I am going to grab a bite to eat and head outside to see what I can accomplish.

posted by Mike in Company News,Farm News and have No Comments


Click for Heirloom Tomato Seed Selection Save Seeds - Victory Horticultural Library matersearch.com - online tomato resources