Redwood Seeds Blog

  • Spring on the Farm

    Spring planting continues at a frenetic pace and the frequency of our blog posts has diminished! So as our little one naps, I'll take a moment to catch you up to speed. With spring rains, this time of year is always so beautiful here on the farm. We can almost imagine that we live in New Zealand, Cam's home country where summer rains usually keep the fields green year round. We always chuckle when we hear from his parents that the country is experiencing drought; their definition of drought is about 6 weeks with no rain!  Compare that to our... read more »

  • Arcata Seed Swap

    Last weekend we attended the Arcata Seed Swap. It was the biggest seed swap we've been to this year with several workshops, speeches and hands-on educational opportunities. Kalan gave a presentation about our seed production and farm. The swap included live music and lunches sold to benefit the Seed and Plant Exchange. And of course there were plenty of seeds to trade, share and purchase. Thank you to everyone who helped make the swap so great this year, and to all the folks who came by our booth. It was great to meet so many people excited about seeds and... read more »

  • Wake up, Seeds!

    Wake up, Seeds! Each year we do germination tests on our seeds to test their viability. As a seed company, we're required to meet Federal Germination Standards for each variety. This year we were met with great success. Not only did our seeds pass the germination standards, but many far exceeded it! To share our process, I sprinkled fifty seeds of each variety on a wet paper towel and folded it up. Then each paper towel square was placed into an open plastic bag (to maintain air flow) and labelled with the variety and date. All the bags were placed... read more »

  • Peautiful: Organic Pea Seed Production!

      Horizontal pea trellis Planting Peas This past week we planted nearly 7,000 pea seedlings representing 7 varieties: Sugaree Snap, Golden Sweetie, Green Beauty, Mammoth Melting, Oregon Sugar Pod II, Sugar Magnolia Purple and Sugar Snap.  We must have worked hard because we all had sore hamstrings then next day! Although peas are an easy crop to direct seed, years ago we switched to starting them in trays and transplanting after watching most of the pea seeds either rot in the ground due to weather or get eaten by gophers! The secret to transplanting peas with success is to plant... read more »

  • Seeding the Schools

    We get pretty excited about school gardens around here, and this year we have the honor of helping out a couple of local schools with our organic seeds. The Sequoia Middle School in Redding started their garden project last year, and if their initial success was any indication, it is a project that will keep growing. We have joined with the school to do a fundraiser for the garden. For one more week, students are selling Redwood Seeds through the school, and a portion of the proceeds go right back to the garden project. We are so proud to be... read more »