Redwood Seeds Blog

  • Redwood Seeds at the Heirloom Expo

    WOW. We are still humming with the excitement of the 3rd Annual National Heirloom Expo in Santa Rosa. Thousands of farmers and backyard gardeners gathered to discuss ideas regarding heirloom agriculture. Our booth was packed with people eager to grow good food and preserve pure seeds.  Thank you to everyone who stopped by and all the other exhibitors who inspired us to keep farming true seeds. We loved being outside in a big tent with all our seeds and great music playing in the field Pictures of our farm hung in our booth Giant pumpkin competition The melon artist was... read more »

  • Saving Melon Seed = Delicious

    OH MY! The first Bidwell Casaba of the year! How sweet it is... Every year our friends come out of the woodwork to help us save melon seed! This year we  grew the Blacktail Mountain Watermelom, an early season melon, in the lower garden along with the Bidwell Casaba, an heirloom bred by John Bidwell of Chico, CA in the 1800s. The Bidwell has been a favorite for several years now! In our upper gardens, we grew Blenheim Muskmelon, another farm favorite for sweetness and an English heirloom and Crimson Sweet Watermelon. Here is the quick low down on melon... read more »

  • Zucchini Selection and Recipe Ideas

    The Zucchini patch 2013  Seed Saving Facts: Scientific Name: Curcubita pepo     Common Name: Black Beauty Zucchini Isolation Distance: 1/4 mile to 2 miles depending on pollinator pressure   Population Size: 20 will usually preserve good genetic diversity for squash Outbreeder, Insect Pollinated, Monoecious ( Male and female flowers on the same plant)  These will cross pollinate with any other Curcubita pepo nearby. Common pepos include Spaghetti Squash, Acorn Squash, most summer squashes, some pumpkins, Delicata and more. If you are growing more than one pepo or can't achieve isolation due to what your neighbor is growing consider hand pollination. After selection... read more »

  • Seed Saving Class: Brassicas, lettuce, etc

    Attention Chico and Redding area seed savers! We are teaching a class on saving seeds from your cool weather crops this weekend at the Chico Grange. The class will be held from 1-3 pm on Saturday, June 29th. We will be discussing best practices when saving seeds from Brassicas, Lettuces, Carrots, Beets and more. There will also be a hands on portion of the class where participants will have a chance to winnow brassica and pea seed. I have attached our handout for the class below the flier. This is a free workshop but does require pre-registration at www.cultivatingcommunity.org  ... read more »

  • Redwood Lettuce Party

    This week we hosted the first annual Redwood lettuce tasting party. Some of our friends and most trusted greens connoisseurs sampled each of our lettuces, kales and mustards and helped us discover their most defining qualities. It was a tasty and productive experience. We started our green garden tour with forellenschus lettuce, also known as speckles because of the smattering of purple on the green leaves. The hearts were crisp and sweet, though we did find them to be a bit tastier a few weeks ago. The prizehead variety lives up to it's name with massive heads of purple tipped... read more »