Plans are in full swing to make this year’s Spring Planting Festival better than ever at Baker Creek Heirloom Seed Company’s Bakersville Pioneer Village near Mansfield, Missouri, on May 6 and 7.

Visitors will enjoy strolling through the many graveled paths lined with huge vendor tents and booths where they will find an abundance of plant starts of everything from vegetables, to flowers, to succulents, to herbs, to fruit trees and bushes. Visitors with no space to garden will still enjoy browsing the vendor booths for all different kinds of wood crafts, food crafts, needle crafts, survival and sustainable living ideas, metal crafts, and many more.

Our speaker line up is filled with nationally and internationally known presenters: Jeffrey Smith is an international best-selling author, founder of Institute for Responsible Technology, and one of America’s leading experts on the subject of genetically modified foods.

Our speaker line up is filled with nationally and internationally known presenters:

Jeffrey Smith is an international best-selling author, founder of Institute for Responsible Technology, and one of America’s leading experts on the subject of genetically modified foods.

Doug Oster is host of the Organic Gardener radio show, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette’s garden writer, and author of several garden books.

Jimmy Williams is an urban farmer and co-author of the the critically acclaimed From Seed to Skillet, a guide to planting a backyard garden. He has an extraordinary wealth of knowledge when it come to growing edible gardens without the use of pesticides or chemical fertilizers.

Susan Heeger is co-author From Seed to Skillet and a long-time magazine and newspaper feature writer with a specialty in garden, design, home, lifestyle, and food stories.

William Woys Weaver is a well-known heirloom gardener, author of respectable collection of cookbooks and food industry books, and contributing editor to Mother Earth News.

Dave Murphy is founder and executive director of Food Democracy Now!, a grassroots movement of more than 250,000 American Farmers and citizens.

Mac Condill is a famed cucurbit farmer, homesteader, and seed developer from Arthur, IL.

Charlie Hopper is a Marketing Specialist for the Missouri Department of Agriculture, spent seven years in Appalachia working in rural development and sustainable land use where he had an organic vegetable operation on the side, and now works directly with farmers and community groups preaching the gospel of local food.

New this year will be our ongoing children’s activities throughout the two days. We will have a large children’s area in which we will have activities such as potato sack race, obstacle course, treasure/scavenger hunt, sing-alongs, seed starting, making pine cone bird feeders, and a whole lot more. Best of all: there is no admission charge for kids 16 and under. We do ask that parents accompany their children to these activities.

People who relish in old-time music will want to experience the western, folk, country, gospel, Irish, bluegrass and Americana tunes scattered throughout the grounds. In addition to performances on our four stages, there will be single, family, and group performers entertaining in other venues. Diners in the restaurant may enjoy piano music with their meal while browsers in the mercantile listen to a folk quartet while visitors to the flour mill enjoy gospel with an hint of Irish flavor. Old-fashioned musicians, both solo acts and groups, travel from many states to compete in the Folk Music Contest. Instrumental and vocal acts alike have fun vying for prizes while entertaining the masses.

Aside from scheduled activities, people who live the pure and natural life of gardening enjoy sharing ideas and swapping stories. Many take advantage of the Gettles’ offer to pitch a tent or park a camper in designated areas for the duration of the festival. Those folks then can be found enjoying the after-festival time to meet and exchange seeds, advice, and anecdotes.

Join thousands of visitors from farms, small towns, and large cities across the United Stages at the 2012 Spring Planting Festival, America’s largest heirloom planting event.

The festival is held our our village and farm. Simply take Highway 5 north from Mansfield for 1.5 miles and follow signs. Food is available at the festival from our Bakersville restaurant and a variety of vendors. Admission for adults is $5 per person, per day. Children 16 and under are free. All pets over 20 lbs must be pre-approved. No weapons are allowed. Vendors are welcome (call 417-924-8917 for info).

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Visit us online at www.rareseeds.com or email us at seeds@rareseeds.com.

Last week my husband and I got the privilege of meeting Jere Gettle of Baker Creek Seeds for the first time.  I can honestly say that I have never met a more genuine person.  We only had a few minutes to chat with him as we stopped by the Petaluma Seed Bank, but in the first five seconds of chatting with Jere you know how passionate he is about what he does.  I left there feeling like I needed to do more.  It used to be all I cared about was what I did on our little third of an acre lot, here in Sacramento.  Now I know I can do more to make change happen; one person at a time, one state at a time, and one country at a time.

With that, we have my first ever guest blog post thanks to Baker Creek Heirloom Seed Company.  Kathy McFarland from Baker Creek is here to tell you about a new California Intiative we are trying to get on the November 2012 ballot that simply requests that food sold in retail establishments that contain genetically modified crops are labeled with that information.  Read on for more information:

Baker Creek Heirloom Seed Company owners Jere and Emilee Gettle are in Petaluma, California, working fervently to ensure that Americans are entitled to know what is in the food they purchase.

Having always been interested in pure food, the Gettle family has joined the Label GMO effort in California where they also own the Petaluma Seed Bank, a retail outlet for Baker Creek seeds.

Much of the world already requires labeling for genetically engineered foods.  Fifty countries, including Japan, China, and the entire European Union already label foods with genetically engineered ingredients.  Americans, too, deserve the right to choose between foods containing GMO and non-GMO ingredients.

The Committee for the Right to Know is a grassroots coalition of consumer, public health, environmental organizations, and food companies in California that is seeking the labeling of genetically engineered foods (GMOs).  On November 9, 2011, the coalition submitted the California Right to Know Genetically Engineered Food Act to the State Attorney General for the title and summary, prior to circulation as an initiative measure for the November 2012 election.

The initiative needs 504,760 valid signatures by April 20 to make it on the November 2012 ballot.  Signatures can be declared invalid and thrown out for a number of technical reasons.  Therefore, the campaign plans to collect a significantly higher number of signatures to make sure they have enough valid ones to qualify.  It is imperative that anyone interested in having the right to know what is in our food should sign the petition.

Jere Gettle teamed up with Pamm Larry, founder of labelGMOs.org, to raise awareness of the initiative.  He designed a special seed packet to be used for the campaign.  The seed packets, packed with Baker Creek’s non-GMO San Marzano Tomato seeds, are being distributed free all over the state of California.  The San Marzano has been a favorite tomato of California gardeners for generations, and the campaign packets have become instantly popular.  Anyone who would like to help distribute the free packets at farmers’ markets, gardening events, or any other venue may simply email  jeregettle@gmail.com with a mailing address and number of packets requested for distribution.  Thousands and thousands of the special packets have already been sent for distribution, and many more thousands are being printed and packed.

While other states are also working on campaigns to get GMOs listed on nutrition labels, the Gettles are currently concentrating their efforts in California where there is large population of like-minded people in support of the measure.  The feeling is that if the initiative passes in California, then other states will quickly follow.  In most cases, it will not be financially feasible for companies to develop food labels listing GMOs only for the California market and also develop food labels without the listing for other states.

Anyone interested in joining the effort to require GMO ingredients to be labeled should contact www.labelGMOs.org to find out where they can sign a petition, how they can be trained to gather signatures, how they can donate to the campaign, or simply where they can get more information.  Our right to know what is in our food depends on this ballot.  Please don’t wait to contact Jere Gettle at jeregettle@gmail.com or Pamm Larry at labelGMOs.org..  Let’s get labeling on the ballot!

The Christmas season typically provides a chance for folks to reflect on the happenings of the year just past and and to dream of things to come in the new year ahead. As Christmas quickly approaches, the staff at Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds hopes that all of you can look back with satisfaction over the past year and can look forward to the new year with hopes and dreams of something even better. As for us here at Bakersville, we are thankful for the good year that we have had. We continued to expand on the farm, having added even more gardens, a new machine shop, and a new media center. While we never know exactly what to expect in any given year, the quest is always on to find and preserve even more rare heirloom seeds. Jere and Emilee Gettle are planning a trip abroad next year to do just that.

The National Heirloom Festival that we planned and sponsored in Santa Rosa, California, gives us cause to both look back with satisfaction at having created a successful event, and to look forward to making the 2^nd National Heirloom Festival even bigger and better in 2012.

Christmas time in the Ozarks means that it is also winter time. For many people, that means it is time to kick back by the fire and take things easy while the weather rages outside. For the staff here at Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds, it means it is time to kick into high gear for the next several months. Most customers have had the 2012 catalog for 2-3 weeks by now and are already placing their seed orders. The staff has been busy, as apparently there are lots of lucky folks out there who will receive Baker Creek seed assortments or gift certificates for Christmas. Once the holiday season winds down, the seed orders will pour in as you at home begin to take action to bring those garden dreams to fruition.

We don’t entirely give up gardening during the winter time, though. Our green house provides at least a little taste of freshness during the winter months. What a treat it is to still enjoy figs, pink bananas, guava, and papaya growing right here.

Jere, Emilee, and Sasha Gettle, along with the entire Baker Creek staff, wishes all of you happy holidays followed by a new year filled with many blessings and successful gardening.

Little Green Eggplant–One of our new favorites!

First and foremost is our new and improved 2012 Baker Creek Heirloom Seed Catalog. It is now a whopping 196 pages and printed on recycled paper to help save our Earth. The catalog contains lots more photos of beautiful flowers and vegetables, as well as many additional interesting and informative articles and narratives. We have also included more planting and growing tips to help make your garden successful. For those wanting to view the catalog online, it is now available in flip format  No more scrolling down the pages to find what you want—just flip through the pages!

Most significantly, though, is that our 2012 catalog contains more than 120 “new” varieties of of heirloom seeds. One of Jere’s favorite new offerings is the Little Green Eggplant, an abundant producer of brilliant, neon-green fruits that are sweet and mild. He also really likes the Ivory Pear Tomato which produces cute little 1-ounce fruits that are ivory-cream in color and shaped like little pears on high-yielding plants. Jere is excited to offer the Bhut Jolokia Pepper, a legendary variety that is one of the world’s hottest peppers, if not the hottest, with readings in excess of 1,000,000 Scoville units.

Ivory Pear Tomato

We have also added new flower varieties to our offerings this year. Two favorites are the Chocolate Streamer Sweet Peas that produce gorgeous rare and unusual blossoms that are chocolate speckled and will steal the show in your home or market garden, and the outstanding Spun Gold Marigold that boasts fully-double pale gold flowers blooming all summer long.  With additional varieties listed online, we offer more than 1,400 varieties of heirloom seeds that are pure and free of GMO’s.  View our online catalog to read helpful customer reviews of specific varieties.  Also check out our online forums at iDigmyGarden.comthat recently have been redesigned with new features added and a colorful interface.  We currently have 850,000 posts!

We are thrilled to introduce even more of our new and improved colored seed packets.  So far, we have about 1,000 of our varieties in these new packets that feature color photos or drawings of the mature fruits.  We will continue to develop more of these custom-colored packets throughout the year.

In keeping up with the electronic age, we are excited that you can now read our magazine, catalog and other publications on your iPad.  We further plan to have our publications available on other devices in the near future.

Our Heirloom Gardener magazine continues to grow.  It is now 84 colorful pages and is on the newsstands at Barnes and Noble, Tractor Supply Company, Whole Foods Markets, and other regional outlets across the US.  Each issue is filled with mouth-watering images, educational articles and delicious recipes.  We cover everything from seed starting to vegan cooking.  Read further down to learn how to get a free subscription!

We now have THREE retail outlets.  In addition to our Baker Creek Headquarters at Mansfield, Missouri, we invite our friends on the West Coast to visit the Seed Bank in Petaluma, California.  Occupying the beautiful and ornate Sonoma County National Bank Building that was constructed in the 1920′s, the Seed Bank attracts gardeners, foodies, shoppers, and tourists alike.    Our friends on the East Coast will enjoy visiting Comstock Ferre, and Company in Wethersfield, Connecticut, where we carry a full line of Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds.  We acquired this 201-year old seed company in 2010 and are currently restoring its store, barn, and grounds.

We were thrilled to help host The National Heirloom Exposition in Sonoma County, California, last September.  This event was sometimes called the world’s fair of pure food and attracted more than 11,000 people.  Visitors begged for more, so we are now planning the 2012 expo for September 11,12, and 13.  With more internationally acclaimed speakers, vendors, chefs, etc., we expect this National Heirloom Exposition to greatly surpass last year’s in attendance and participation.

Squash Tower at The National Heirloom Exposition

We are very excited that our first book is receiving such enthusiastic response! Written by Jere and Emilee Gettle and published by Hyperion, a division of ABC/Disney, The Heirloom Life Gardener is a book for a new generation of gardeners and not just another how-to-garden book.  This full-color, 228-page book tells the story of Jere Gettle’s very early interest in gardening and how that interest evolved into Baker Creek Heirloom Seed Company.  Read about the Gettles’ travels, philosophy on food, seed saving, and much more.  Best of all, when you order the book from us for $29.95, you will also receive a FREE one-year subscription to the Heirloom Gardener magazine.

Andy Couturier will talk and share excerpts from his book“A Different Kind of Luxury: Japanese Lessons in Simple Living and Inner Abundance” at The Seed Bank in Northern California on Thursday, June 23,
from 7 -8:30 p.m. Admission: Free

By Susan Audrey

What really matters?

This was the question considered by the 11 men and women in author Andy Couturier’s book “A Different Kind of Luxury: Japanese Lessons in Simple Living and Inner Abundance.”

Andy, who is a writing teacher, essayist and poet living in Santa Cruz, California, traveled to Japan about two decades ago to teach English and discovered people living very simple lives in the Japanese countryside north of Tokyo.

“I became caught up in their artwork,” he said, during a recent interview. “I became entranced by the beauty of what I uncovered.”

His “visit” turned into a four-year stay. He learned Japanese and really got to know these people living their own version of the “good life” in the lush Japanese mountains. He wrote articles about them for the local Japanese newspaper and slowly, the foundation for a book began to take shape.

Far from the highly-populated Japanese cities fueled by a lust for materialism on par with if not stronger than that of the U.S., the people profiled in Andy’s book have “titles” that include organic farmer, anti-nuclear activist, recycling educator, potter, book binder, wood carver, harp player, and yoga practitioner.  And granted, as Andy has pointed out, they don’t have the health insurance concerns us Americans do, as Japan has a national health insurance program, and the mountain homes they live in can be rented very cheaply, but they face other challenges. They face an immense pressure to conform from a society where conformity is highly revered, Andy writes in his book. They must also work very hard to sustain themselves in a very hands-on way. For the most part, they are living a self-sustaining life, one we in the U.S. may refer to as living off the grid. Yet, they have also discovered the fulfillment in it.

For Kogun Murata, in Chapter Four of the book, his answer to “what’s really important” in life was “food.”   He started by growing what works well where he lives, said Andy, cabbage, potatoes and rice using shizen no-ho, which means “natural farming” in Japanese.

The key principals, explained Andy, are to do as little work as you can and not use outside input, such as fertilizer, compost or bone meal as well as tractors and other fuel-run machinery.

What this technique involves is to simply plant your seeds among the weeds, merely cutting them down in the areas closest to the plantings and letting the weed cuttings lay beside the plants as they grow. As the weeds reemerge, Andy added, you continue to cut down the weeds closest to the plants to allow them to get enough sun.

Leaving the grass mulch beside the crops encourages beneficial insects to remain and provides food for the insects that may otherwise feed on the crop plants, he explained. “By not taking away anything, you’re creating a whole biotic community, those plants’ nutrients, and your life.”

For Murata, who grows enough rice to have extra to sell, part of this do-as-little-as-you-can farming technique includes not irrigating, as it rains throughout the summer in his region.

Patience is an important part of natural farming. You get a very low yield the first several years, Andy pointed out. It takes about seven years for the weed mulch and loam to build up the soil.

Andy knows about long-term projects. It took him 15 years to write “A Different Kind of Luxury,” having to translate his notes and writings from Japanese into English.

“The book is not about Japan,” he stressed, “and it is not a how-to book. It’s about the fact that we can really live a good life, and it’s about people who have really figured out how to live sustainably.”

In the book, Andy mirrors the lushness of the mountainous countryside with his own rich prose and reflects the Zen-like simplicity of his subjects’ lives in minimalistic photographs of the surrounding nature, their humble homesteads, lovingly tended farms and fields, finely crafted artwork as well as poignant shots capturing the inner essence of the 11 men and women profiled. He also publishes their words of wisdom derived from their simple ways of living as well as letters he has received from them, all now friends, and certainly sources of much inspiration.

So what can we do in our lives to bring this richness, these luxuries of a simpler life into our own lives?

“Produce as much as you can for yourself and do with a lot less (a lot less things),” Andy answers.

“I am always moving in the direction to live more the way that they do,” he said.

For 20 years, Andy grew his own food, and as he undertakes his current rigorous book tour, he still finds time to grow a portion of what he eats and to volunteer in fields that grow food for others. It’s the words of professional philosopher and organic farming mentor Masanori Oe, profiled in Chapter 11 of the book, that best describe Andy’s own concern for our land: “We need to find a way of growing food that does not plunder the earth and that can last forever.”

Note: Andy shared that the people profiled in his book were not directly affected by the earthquake and tsunami that hit Japan in March. They are situated several hundred miles north of affected areas.

Susan Audrey is a Northern California writer, editor, photographer, and artist. She can be reached at tosusanaudrey@gmail.com

The Committee for the Right to Know, which recently launched Label GMOs: It’s Our Right to Know (www.labelgmos.org), is a fired-up-and-ready grassroots organization primarily instigated by Pamm Larry of Chico, California. It was born from an idea that popped into Pamm’s head during that dreamy mode just after waking when some of our best ideas can materialize seemingly out of nowhere.

Label GMOs activist Pamm Larry speaks at Baker Creek Heirloom Seed Company's Seed Bank in California

For Pamm, a former midwife and organic farmer, this birth of an idea made her next move crystal clear and transformed her immediately from being depressed about the state of our food’s labeling and safety to the passionate and inspired place of taking action. This mother and grandmother, who’s been interested in eating and living healthfully since age 19, knew she wanted nothing more for her grandchildren and the entire nation than to ensure that we are provided with the information we need to make healthy choices about what we put into our mouths. And a place to start, she realized, was to get foods containing GMOs (genetically modified organisms), as well as meat and other products from animals fed GMO foods, labeled as such in California.

“I’m giving my whole life to this,” says Pamm, “until it’s done, until GMO’s are labeled so that we know what we are eating and are not part of an experiment.”

Pamm is off to a great start in helping make her idea a reality. She took six weeks to learn about government and the initiative process. She has garnered the support of the California State Grange, worked tirelessly in getting the word out, helped in creating county “hives” of supporters who are also spreading the word, and she has connected with fellow advocates, including GMO-Free Portland in Oregon. Pamm also started up www.labelgmos.com and has a Facebook Page with over 1,000 supporters. It’s been full speed ahead in her quest to get an initiative on California’s November 2012 ballot that would make the labeling of foods containing GMO’s mandatory.

Sobering material in one of Pamm’s current blogs states that over 70 percent of the foods we eat contain GMOs.

There’s a lot of work to be done, she shared recently at one of The Seed Bank’s free Thursday night talks. (The Seed Bank is Baker Creek Heirloom Seed Company’s Northern California retail store, located in a former bank building in Petaluma, California.)

“This is not just a state issue,” Pamm stresses. “Every book on the subject (GMOs) says we need labeling. What happens here will affect the whole country.”

Label GMOs: It’s Our Right to Know has already connected with other states creating a similar initiative in their neck of the woods. Instead of reinventing the wheel, Pamm envisions states sharing their resources, including Website templates and advertising campaigns. Washington State and Michigan have already started collaborating among states to share resources, she adds.

What needs to happen in California to get the Label GMOs initiative on the state’s 2012 ballot includes heightening public awareness, recruiting volunteers to be in place this fall to gather signatures, and raising funds to hire professional signature gatherers.

About 800,000 to 1 million signatures are needed to get the initiative for mandatory labeling of GMOs on California’s 2012 ballot, according to Pamm, and that’s to ensure there are the 504,769 “qualifying” signatures needed. Also, $1.5 million dollars must be raised to hire professional signature gatherers.

This may all sound daunting to some, but puts no chink in Pamm’s armor of intention that this initiative will be written, make it through the political channels required, acquire the petition signatures needed to get on the ballot, and receive the passing votes required to become law.

An immediate way to get involved is to visit www.labelgmos.org and make a pledge to help gather signatures this fall or to donate to the campaign for labeling GMOs.

“I need team players,” adds Pamm. “Move here and come help us.  Or visit California in the fall to volunteer as a signature gatherer. It’s legal and it could be fun,” she says.  “This will fly or die, if we don’t do anything. Just one state gets the ball rolling.”

Susan Audrey is a Northern California writer, editor and photographer and can be reached at tosusanaudrey@gmail.com.

Taste hundreds of varieties of traditional vegetables and fruits from all over the nation this fall—heirloom produce you’ve never seen before and bring your own homegrown or farm-raised heirloom favorites to display and share. Whether you’re an attendee or a participant in the first National Heirloom Exposition, you’ll be a part of culinary and agricultural history.

Taste Heirloom Produce

The inaugural National Heirloom Exposition coming up September 13, 14, and 15, 2011, at the Sonoma County Fairgrounds in Northern California is destined to be the biggest and best-attended heirloom industry event ever, and it’s for everyone: the home gardener, small farmer, professional farmer, even school-age gardening enthusiast. The spring growing season has begun throughout most of the country and we invite heirloom enthusiasts of all ages and levels of expertise to start growing their heirloom favorites to exhibit at the Exposition. We hope to have heirloom produce from all 50 states, as many as 5,000 heirloom fruit and vegetable varieties represented as well as heritage livestock and more. (Contact us at info@theheirloomexpo.com for details.)

This “World’s Fair” of the heirloom industry, sponsored in part by Baker Creek Heirloom Seed Company, will also feature dozens of seed companies, garden tool companies, and garden accessory craftsmen and their wares from throughout the U.S. as well as plants and plant starts, garden-inspired art and organic, natural and original food items. Top chefs will provide cooking demonstrations using the produce grown for the Exposition and participate in celebrity chef competitions. We expect to feature over 250 booths and are still taking applications from those interested in participating. Just contact us at the above e-mail address.

See thousands of different varieties of heirloom vegetables

Special demonstrations and informational booths will also be provided by our fellow event sponsors, including Seed Savers Exchange, Marin Organic, Amy’s Kitchen, Farm Trails, Green 960 Radio, Daily Acts, Comstock, Ferre & Co. LLC, Sunset Magazine, and the American Livestock Breeds Conservancy.

Over 40 local and international speakers will be featured, including world-renown philosopher and environmental activist Dr. Vandana Shiva; non-GMO (genetically modified organisms) activist and noted author Jeffrey Smith of the Institute of Responsible Technology; author and Seed Savers Exchange chair Amy Goldman; and Green 960 Radio host Helge Hellberg—to name a few.

There will also be educational seminars throughout each day, including talks on seed saving and GMO’s as well as many other gardening, farming, and food preparing subjects. Special movie screenings on the history and future of our food will also be presented.

The Exposition will run on weekdays from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. with the idea of providing a daytime educational opportunity for school-aged children and youth. Special seminars and educational opportunities will be available for school groups, and school gardens are encouraged to grow produce for the event. (See contact e-mail above for more information.) The Heirloom Exposition is a “not-for-profit” event and any funds generated will be donated back to school gardens and food programs. A silent auction and live auctions of garden-related items and art will also benefit school garden programs and other food charities.

Hundreds Of Colorful Displays

There will also be representatives from national media, including the editors of several gardening and farming publications, including Organic Gardening, Ediblemagazine, Grit magazine, The Heirloom Gardener, and event sponsor Sunset Magazine.

And, it’s quite fitting that the Sonoma County Fairgrounds, where the National Heirloom Exposition will be held, is bound by GE-free counties: Mendocino County to its north and Marin County to its south.

Whether you join us as an attendee or participant, or both, mark your calendar now for this gargantuan heirloom event (September 13, 14, and 15, 2011) in Santa Rosa, California.

Visit www.theheirloomexpo.com for more details.

Susan Audrey is a Northern California writer, editor, photographer and artist and can be reached at tosusanaudrey@gmail.com.

If you’re reading this, you most likely know about Baker Creek Heirloom Seed Company’s large selection of non-hybrid, non-GMO, pure heirloom seeds, featuring over 1,400 varieties from over 70 countries. You may not know, however, that we put on some really fun, informative, gardener-friendly festivals throughout the year at our three locations around the country. Here’s what to look forward to this year:

Spring Planting Festival

spring planting festival

Coming up May1 and 2, 2011, is our big Spring Planting Festival held at our Baker Creek Farm and authentic Bakersville Pioneer Village near the beautiful Missouri Ozarks. This is our ninth year for this national event, which draws thousands from throughout the U.S. and Canada, and we’re gearing up to make it even bigger and better.

Baker Creek Seed Store

Over a dozen speakers will be featured, sharing on topics of interest to gardeners and farmers, including accomplished gardening book authors as well as our own Karen Keb Will, editor of The Heirloom Gardener magazine, and her husband, Hank Will, editor of Grit Magazine.

Headlining this year’s music offerings at the Festival’s Bakersfield Opry will be country music legend Leroy Van Dyke, and 60 other musicians will take turns playing throughout the weekend featuring western, folk, country, gospel, Americana, Irish and bluegrass music.

At the Bakersville Opry

There will also be 100 vendors featuring all kinds of homespun items, from honey to fresh-baked bread; handcrafted items, from homemade soaps to handmade musical instruments; as well as hundreds of heirloom plants. You can also enjoy all kinds of home-cooked, historic foods.

Historical demonstrations will include spinning, weaving, blacksmithing and how to hand-hewn logs.

All takes place in our quaint historic village, which includes our Baker Creek Seed Store, a speaker barn, restaurant, old-time mercantile, herbal apothecary, natural bakery, garden museum, blacksmith shop, two music barns, a Western jail, native rock oven, windmill and many breeds of historic poultry and livestock.

Come in period dress, rub elbows with fellow gardeners, and get a real taste of Missouri! Admission is $5 for adults; free for youth age 16 and under. Find out more by calling 417-924-8917.

You can also sign up for our national newsletter to keep up on all the goings on at Baker Creek Farm and more at http://rareseeds.com/xnewsletter/

Heritage Day Festivals

If you can’t make the Spring Planting Festival at our Baker Creek Farm and Bakersville Pioneer Village in Missouri, or even if you can, visit the Village for one of our Heritage Days held the first Sunday of every month, March through November. Enjoy music, produce, crafts and more.

Vendors at Bakersville

These one-day events are a great way to experience all that Bakersville offers.(See description above under Spring Planting Festival.) Admission is $2 per person; free for youth age 16 and under. Find out more by calling 417-924-8917.

Comstock Ferre’s 200^th Year Celebration

At Comstock Ferre & Co.

Visit our East Coast location, Comstock, Ferre & Co. in Wethersfield, Connecticut, on June 5, 2011, for its 200^th year anniversary celebration. Jere and Emilee Gettle, owners of Baker Creek Heirloom Seed Company, feel blessed to have had the opportunity to restore this historic store and gardens, New England’s oldest seedhouse, and hope you’ll come and help them celebrate. The event will feature nationally acclaimed guest speakers, music, and more, and, of course, the seed, gift and antique stores will be open. You can also visit Comstock, Ferre & Co., Sundays-Fridays (closed Saturdays), 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. EST. Visit www.comstockferre.com for more details.

The Seed Bank’s Second Anniversary Celebration

Inside The seed Bank

Our West Coast location, The Seed Bank, located in the quaint Victorian city of Petaluma, California, will celebrate its second year in business on June 12, 2011. Come enjoy garden-theme demonstrations, local food, artists, and more, and shop for heirloom seeds, garden tools and books in this grand, old former bank building.

petaluma-seed-bank

Also, checkout The Seed Bank’s weekly, free gardening demonstrations, gardening author talks, and healthy eating and cooking talks. The store is open Sundays through Fridays (closed Saturdays.) To get on our e-mail list to find out all about what’s happening at The Seed Bank, sign up for our California newsletter at http://rareseeds.com/xnewsletter/

National Heirloom Exposition

Heirloom Tomatoes

This inaugural event taking place at the Sonoma County Fairgrounds in Santa Rosa, California, on September 13, 14, and 15, 2011, may well be the largest event for heritage agriculture ever held. Join Baker Creek Heirloom Seed Company, along with other seed companies from across the U.S., as well as farmers, gardeners, chefs, and various food organizations for this gardener’s dream event. Speakers will include nationally renown authors, writers and farmers; over 1,000 varieties of heirloom produce will be displayed; and over 200 exhibitors will feature organic, natural and original foods, art, and garden related items.

All profits from this event will be donated to school garden projects and other food and garden-related charities.

This event location is also just 20 miles from our Northern California seed store, The Seed Bank, in Petaluma. To find out more, contact Paul Wallace at paul@rareseeds.com.

Susan Audrey is a Northern California writer, photographer, and artist, and can be reached at tosusanaudrey@gmail.com

Lemon Queen Sunflowers

Post by Sue Capella

When Paul Kaiser and his wife Elizabeth moved onto the nine acres that comprise Singing Frogs Farm, their Community Shared Agriculture (CSA) farm in Northern California, Paul was out in the fields planting native plant hedgerows amongst his crops even before he moved the furniture into the house. The importance of creating a strong, resilient, pollinator-friendly environment for the farm was more important than their own personal comfort.

“Our goal is to create a healthy, biodiverse native habitat that also happens to produce food for humans,” says Paul, a self-taught farmer with a Masters in International Relations from American University in Washington D.C. and a Masters in Natural Resource Management and Sustainability Development from the United Nations University for Peace.

Paul is such a stanch advocate of bee-friendly farming that his efforts have garnered him national recognition. Last fall, Paul won the 2010 Farmer Rancher Pollinator Conservation Award, sponsored by the North American Pollinator Protection Campaign and the National Association of Conservation Districts.

Pollinator-friendly habitats are created by introducing a variety of native plants that provide a high-quality bee forage all twelve months of the year, explains Paul. He has planted hundreds of natives in hedgerows about 80 feet apart throughout his crop fields. Coyote bush, ceanothus, gooseberries, common butterfly bushes, certain species of asters are just some of the natives he’s introduced.

If these habitats include a variety of pollen sources—a balanced diet, so to speak—they help bees be better pollinators, says Paul. Blueberries, which flower when a lot of other bushes don’t, provide little nutrients to pollinating bees; almond trees are good for pollinators, but without any other pollen sources, it’s like giving bees an all-rice diet, he says.

Paul checks buds on a ceanothus bush in one of his native plant hedgerows.

“Honey bees are valued at $42 billion a year,” Paul adds. (An estimate of what it would cost us to provide the service these beneficial insects provide.)

“There are 4,000 native bees,” he adds. “Half in California. I’m trying to call in 2,000 types of native bees.”

Yet bees are just part of the story. Native pollinator-friendly habitats also attract beneficial insects and birds that feast on crop pests.

Before their crops were planted, Paul placed bamboo poles in the ground in the center of his fields as bird perches. There was such a large expanse from tree to tree across the property, he explained, that the birds had no resting place. With the native hedgerows planted throughout the crop field, the birds now come right where they’re needed to feed on crop pests.

Singing Frogs Farm is an organic farm, or as the Kaisers call it “beyond organic” farm, growing vegetables and fruits throughout the year for close to 100 CSA members. The farm meets or exceeds certified organic requirements, but is not a certified organic farm, Paul explains.

A view of Singing Frogs Farm in winter.

Paul and Elizabeth also raise about 200 chickens to provide fresh eggs for their CSA members. They have a resident llama named “Charlie” and raise a half-dozen sheep, some of them quite rare. Paul does most of the farming; Elizabeth handles the business side and also works as a public health nurse; both juggle the raising of their young children, Lucas and Anna.

Paul's friendly llama, Charlie, likes to give kisses.

Paul encourages all farmers to try to totally back off doing any spraying—even organic—to combat crop pests. When he and Elizabeth first started farming the property, Paul used an organic spray to fight cucumber beetles. He sprayed his crops, checked on them the next day and discovered that there were still a lot of beetles, and that the spray had killed beneficial ladybugs. (Bees can take these types of preparations back to the hive, as well, he stresses.) He then took a couple dozen cucumber beetles, placed them in a jar, sprayed the organic mix directly on them and screwed on the lid. A couple of days later, he said, about half the beetles were still alive.

At that point, he was determined to deter crop pests naturally with the native plant hedgerows. He lost some crops in the beginning, when he first gave up organic preparations, but he’s now convinced that the key to healthy crops is in creating a thriving, biodiverse environment, and that becoming a bee-friendly farm is an important part of maintaining that environment.

Find out more about bee-friendly farming and Singing Frogs Farm at www.singingfrogsfarm.com

Sue Capella is a Northern California writer, editor, photographer, and artist. She can be reached at suecapella@gmail.com.