Alfred Reed Bishop and Doris William Butler

The picture above is the very tap root of Bishop's Homegrown/Face Of The Earth Seed. My grandparents shortly after moving to Pekin Indiana from Greensburg KY in 1947 where they purchased the farm that is now Bishop's Homegrown. This picture was taken in Pekin in front of the old co-op next to the old railroad depot, neither of which exist today.

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Tuesday, November 4, 2008

Seed Network Proposal


Over at my good friend (and fellow member of Homegrown Goodness http://alanbishop.proboards60.com)Patrick's blog site he is proposing an interesting and much needed blogger seed network. He explains it much better than I ever could, so instead of trying, I'll quote some relevant text and drop a link to his site, please check it out, join if you have something to offer, and give a helping hand to a cause that is worthy.

lifted from/relevant link:
http://www.patnsteph.net/weblog/?page_id=65

Seed Network

Email address for orders or questions: weblogQ@patnsteph.net

This is my Blogger Seed Network page. Feel free to use it as a template for your own if you wish.

See the bottom of this page for the seeds I’m offering!

I’ve written before about why a Seed Network is so important.

Everyone on this list has their own policies for distribution of their seeds, but have one important thing in common. They are all motivated to get their seeds out into other people’s gardens!

Generally people here offer seeds for trade; either for other seeds, for something else you might both agree on, or for small amounts of money. There are enough of us sending seeds and other things back and forth, that we can also handle a lot of local currencies as well. For example I am happy to handle US$ and all major (west/north, maybe Swiss) European currencies. I also have agreements with several other people offering to exchange small amounts of local currencies if necessary to facilitate trades, let me know if I can help out with this. I only accept paper currency, no coins please.

This is a worldwide effort! It’s open to everyone to participate who accepts the basic principles outlined here.

If you don’t have anything to trade, and have a local currency that is not widely accepted, most people below are also willing to send out reasonable numbers of seeds for free. In fact a few people are willing to send seeds out free to anyone who asks.

These seeds are for everyone!

You don’t need to have a blog to request seeds. You don’t need to be an experienced gardener, or have any seeds yourself to offer. Most people below will send seeds anywhere in the world. If you are interested in growing anything listed here, just ask!

If you have seeds to share under similar terms outlined above, get in touch! If you have a blog or another place on the Internet offering seeds, let me know and I will add a link to you to this list. If you don’t have any place on the Internet to list your seeds, get in touch with your seed list, contact information and policies regarding payments and where you will send to, and I will post it here on this blog and forward requests to you.

Please note this is primarily a network for gardeners to share their own seeds, saved from their own gardens. In any event no unstable commercial F1 hybrids. If you are a plant breeder or have been selecting for traits in your own garden, this is a great place to offer your seeds! Unstable varieties, F1s or genetic mixes are considered, as long as you are clear about what they are and someone growing them can expect, and they must be useful and interesting to the average gardener.

A few small or up and coming seed companies have expressed an interest in participating. This is also very much welcome if done under the terms outlined here, and I will be adding links to these as they come forward.

Think in terms of offering your favorite and best quality seeds.

Anyone who wishes to offer commercial F1 hybrids (seeds from purchased packets or store bought produce), suspected commercial F1 hybrids or the seeds saved from plants grown from these seeds should do this elsewhere on the Internet and not make reference to this seed network. Members of this seed network are encouraged not to link to people who try to offer these seeds, and to make these people known to others on the network through private communication. Most of us know what these seeds look and sound like! The only exception to this may be people who have selected over a number of generations and stabilized an F1 hybrid. If you don’t know what this means, your commercial F1 seeds are not welcome here.

In addition if you encounter quality problems with seeds, you should first address this with the person offering the seeds and try to help them solve the problem, but if necessary we should work together to make sure any persistent quality problems are identified as such.

People in this network should be choosy who they link to! Promote quality together with your own friends and personal contacts.

If you have a blog, please use it to publicize this network! Please pretend you are the organizer of the network from the point of view of explaining it and making sure all the information necessary to find other members is on your blog. If this blog disappears tomorrow, make sure the idea of a seed network can go on!

Please consider offering some seeds in this way, even if you only have one or two varieties to offer.

If you have a blog, and obtain seeds from this network, make sure to post about your experiences.

This page is licensed under Creative Commons, that means you are free to copy it for non-commercial purposes as long as your mention the source and provide a link back to this blog. Feel free to copy any part of this page in this way. With reference to this page only, you are also free to make derivative works and modify it according to your own needs.

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