Hello from Alberta, Canada!

[jbrobin09]

Hi everyone, I am a small-scale seed collector (just for my own use, for now) but I would like to have enough volume to sell/share in the future. I think landrace plants are going to be key to producing food in backyards as the climate changes and I would like to be able to contribute to that. I have about 80 bean varieties in my collection and close to the same in heirloom tomatoes. This year I received some True Potato Seed in the mail from a BC grower doing an exchange so I have about a dozen seedlings growing- exciting! My father passed away in the first week of June, so I didn't get a chance to plant out all the things I had planned but there's always next year. I am in Zone 3, rural Alberta on silty soil.

 

[baymule]

Welcome from east Texas. Your seed collection sounds like a promising endeavor!

 

[heirloomgal]

Hello there @jbrobin09! Welcome to The Easy Garden!
Great to have you here!

 

[Dahlia]

Hi everyone, I am a small-scale seed collector (just for my own use, for now) but I would like to have enough volume to sell/share in the future. I think landrace plants are going to be key to producing food in backyards as the climate changes and I would like to be able to contribute to that. I have about 80 bean varieties in my collection and close to the same in heirloom tomatoes. This year I received some True Potato Seed in the mail from a BC grower doing an exchange so I have about a dozen seedlings growing- exciting! My father passed away in the first week of June, so I didn't get a chance to plant out all the things I had planned but there's always next year. I am in Zone 3, rural Alberta on silty soil.

Welcome to the forum from the Pacific Northwest!

 

[ducks4you]

from Central IL.
Be sure to put your general location with your avatar. I will soon forget where you live. Thx

 

[Branching Out]

A warm welcome from British Columbia! Like you I am intrigued by land races, and am curious about their potential. It will be fun to see photos of what you grow.

 

[ducks4you]

Yay for Alberta!!

 

[flowerbug]

hello and welcome to TEG from mid-Michigan.

sounds like you'll do well here with so many other bean collectors.

sorry to hear about your loss.

landraces are an interesting contrast to monocultural practices and for that alone i consider them worth thinking about.

i have one particular bean variety which i consider a blend because of how much it has going on within it. Peregion it was sold to me as and i've tried to keep it going as it was when i got it but every once in a while i also get some crosses or things that happen and i'm not sure if it was in the original bags of seeds or not. i had two half pound bag sent to me because when i got the first one it had all these strange things in it while the picture on the website did not show all these other beans - so when i sent the company a note they just sent me another bag which was just like the first one - full of what i considered odd beans. so in the end i still have this blend, mix, landrace, variety or whatever you'd call it and it's interesting to plant and see what happens next but it's also taking up a lot of room to grow because the plants are sometimes semi-runners and they can sprawl around. i prefer to grow bush beans... oy!

 

[heirloomgal]

@jbrobin09 I'm curious about the landraces, I've watched a couple of Lofthouse videos that piqued my interest. Some of his ideas were quite thought provoking. I do enjoy collecting distinct varieties, but to read about how quickly the performance of a variety can change and/or improve through specific selection after a few generations is fascinating. Potager Ornamental de Catherine, one of the places I like to get seed from, does not irrigate their seed crops. Sometimes only a small percentage of a population will survive being subjected to that stress, but they say the next generation will demonstrate remarkable tolerance to dry growing. They seem to really be succeeding in getting genetics that are tolerant of little to no human intervention in the growing season.

 

[jbrobin09]

Yay for Alberta!!

Are you in Alberta too?