Author: Sarah Kleeger

Sarah’s Soapbox – Climate Crisis

January 3, 2020 / Sarah Kleeger

Each year we publish a political essay in our paper catalog. This year the Sarah’s Soapbox was cut due to space constraints, so we’ve posted it here instead.

2019 was not an easy year to be a farmer in most of the country. Here was no exception.

Nearly every month in 2019 we had new examples of the effects of climate change in our local area, not to mention the world at large. At our farm in Sweet Home, Oregon, unusually heavy snowfall landed in late February, burying our fields in snow just as many overwintering crops were beginning to go to seed. The weight of the wet snow snapped some of these nascent seedheads right off (Brussels sprouts, mustards). Then the sun came out in the beginning of March long enough for fields to dry out and flowers to bloom. In April, severe river flooding led to a nearby contract seed grower’s field, that was full of seed crops, being submerged by six feet (!) of water. The following month we had to irrigate to finish prepping our spring beds because of lack of rain, unheard of in our usually wet springs. After a summer that never really heated up, nonstop rains fell most of September and we lost a few dry seeded crops because of it (dry beans, lettuce). Our first frost appeared in mid-September this year, and then in October, several weeks of deep freezes (22˚F) put an undeniable end to the growing season – the kind that row cover doesn’t help – and took a few more crops along with it (sorghum, some flowers). Here, in an area where we frequently don’t even get a mild frost until November.

It’s now mid- November as I write, and we haven’t had a drop of rain for three weeks. November, historically our wettest month of the year. I can only wonder what December, and beyond that 2020, will have in store.

Beating Black Leg on Brassicas

March 4, 2016 / Sarah Kleeger / 0 Comments

No FOMO* for Phoma

There are plenty of things about Oregon’s Willamette Valley that are worthy of FOMO, or the *Fear of Missing Out. We have mild winters, fertile soils, & natural beauty abounds. Phoma lingam, however, is not FOMO-worthy. Since 2014, the Willamette Valley has been hit with Phoma lingam, aka Black Leg, a fungal disease that affects all species of Brassica family plants including kale, cabbage, turnips, & many other important food crops, as well as many common weeds such as wild mustard. Black leg causes stunted growth, girdling of the stem, & can lead to great reductions in yield & sometimes plant death. It is estimated that around 10,000 acres of Willamette Valley brassicas were infected in 2014, & similar numbers may have been infected in 2015.

Phoma lingam at leaf spot stage

What is being done about it?

The disease is thought to have come in on infected seed, & so in response the Oregon Department of Agriculture (ODA) has passed an administrative rule requiring all Brassica seed that will be planted in the Willamette Valley in quantities over 1/2 oz, to have been tested from a qualified, approved laboratory, and to be treated for the disease, even if the test results are negative.

At Adaptive Seeds, seed quality is a priority & we are committed to providing seeds that exceed our customers’ expectations. Even though most of our Brassica varieties are not sold in packages over 1/2 oz, we have decided to test all of our Brassica seed lots, & all of the test results so far have been negative. At this point, we are not treating any of our seed prior to sale.

We Love Growing Dry Beans, You Might Too!

May 20, 2015 / Sarah Kleeger / 29 Comments

Growing dry beans can be a fun & beautiful addition to the garden. If you have space, it is easy to produce homestead quantities of dry beans to feed your family. On a small farm scale growing dry beans can provide a profitable addition to the farmer’s market display. Conveniently, seed saving is the same as crop harvest for dry beans, which makes them a crop you only have to buy seed for once (unless you accidentally eat them all).

We sometimes sell a mix of bean varieties as a “Bean Party.” So pretty!

Here at Adaptive Seeds, we love to grow beans almost as much as we like to eat them (which is a lot). Producing them is a bit of a process but it’s pretty fun & you’re rewarded with piles of delicious, nutritious jewels at the end so it’s totally worth it.

As market growers, we were attracted to dry bean production because we saw a need for local staple food production – for food security as much as to fill a market niche – & soon discovered we could sell all of the beans we could produce. We also really like having dry beans fill a spot in our field rotations. In the past we have planted as many as 6 acres in dry beans, but it didn’t take us long to figure out that if we planted less acreage but took better care of it, we could have much higher yields & fewer headaches. Since we’ve shifted our focus to seed production, we have reduced our dry bean crop size further & now grow about ½ acre of beans per year, still selling some as food. Following is an assortment of tips & tricks for dry bean production, & details of our bean enterprise budget from 2014.

Planting

In our area (The Willamette Valley of Oregon), dry beans can be planted until the beginning of June, which means you still have some time to get a crop in the ground this season. Our goal is to sow our dry beans by mid-May, but we have successfully harvested earlier varieties (such as Early Warwick) from sowing as late as June 10.

An Adaptive Guide to Growing Garlic

September 9, 2014 / Sarah Kleeger / 13 Comments

‘All Things Garlic’ – Organic Guide to Growing Garlic

At Adaptive Seeds garlic is one of our favorite crops. It is garlic seed buying season, so we thought we would share this organic guide to growing garlic. We cover some basic (and not so basic) info about how to grow garlic organically and care for this kitchen staple.

First, it is good to know what different kinds of garlic are available. We offer two of the three main types of garlic at Adaptive Seeds.

Hardneck
So named because it produces a woody stem, this type of garlic is known for having fewer (4 – 12) easier-to-peel cloves than softneck garlic. It generally has a more pungent flavor, which many garlic lovers prefer. Hardneck garlic tends to have fewer of the papery sheathes both around the clove and around the bulb. This wrapping protects the garlic from light and changes in humidity, so hardneck garlic does not store as long as softneck. Generally speaking, hardnecks store well for about 3 – 4 months. We offer two types of hardneck garlic – Porcelain & Glazed Purple Stripe.

Varieties include: Donostia Red, Shvelisi / Chesnook Red, Khabar, Music, Purple Glazer, Romanian Red, Rosewood, Purple Italian Easy Peel, Zemo.

Softneck
In contrast to hardneck garlic, this type of garlic has a pliable stem (neck). Softneck garlic stores better and can be more productive. We offer several varieties of Silverskin type softneck, which is the most common garlic for commercial growers and what you most likely find in the grocery store. Silverskins have excellent storage and pure white bulb wrappers. Silverskin garlic can have up to 40 well-wrapped cloves per bulb. We also have Artichoke types of softneck garlic. Artichokes have only about 12 – 20 cloves each, and both the cloves and bulbs tend to be significantly larger than Silverskin varieties. Artichoke garlics tend to mature up to 4 weeks earlier than Silverskin types. Both are great storage types and generally speaking can store up to 9 months.

Varieties include: St. Helens, Polish White, Broadleaf Czech, Nootka Rose, Oregon Blue Silverskin, Siskiyou Purple,

Seed Swaps for Everyone – A How To

February 3, 2010 / Sarah Kleeger / 0 Comments

The world could always use more seed swaps and here are a few tips for organizing your own Seed Swap. (Thanks to Kim in central Virginia for the e-mail prompting this blog post.)

The folks at Seedy Sunday Brighton have a whole page devoted to hosting a seed swap. Food not Lawns also has a bit about organizing one.

The first thing is to get some friends involved, because it can be a lot of work (organizing, set up, clean up, promotion, etc.). If you don’t know anyone that will help you, post some fliers at garden stores or your local natural foods store, or maybe even the community garden bulletin board if your community is lucky enough to have one.

We have seen a few ways seed swaps can be organized. You have to decide which is best for your group.

Seedy Sunday Brighton has a central table, and when people come in, they give their seeds to the table, then volunteers organize them for redistribution. This way seems overly centralized and impersonal to me, but it works for them, and it may be necessary to do it this way at an event that draws upwards of 1,000 people. They also charge a small entrance fee to cover their expenses and require either a straight across swap of seed for seed or 50 pence for a seed pack, partly because “people don’t value that which is free.” At every other seed swap I have been to, everything is free.

A second way is to set up tables and have people stand near their stuff, so they can explain it to others that might have questions. This is what we do at the smaller fall seed swap.

A third way, which is also good, is to set up tables and have designated areas for different types of plants: flowers, herbs, tomatoes, etc. this is what we do at our large spring seed swap.

Most seed swaps descend into a sort of chaos even with the rough framework, so you could just have some tables and have people toss their seeds wherever they land. Then it’s a real treasure hunt!

Some other tips:

* If the group is 30 people or less, it is nice to stand in a circle and have people introduce themselves and what they’ve brought. This gives the swap more of a community vibe.
* If you know any seed geeks or old gardener types, be sure and personally invite them to help ensure there are some good seeds there.
Continue reading