Clean Seeds!

   Part of the garden area had been planted in assorted greens this past fall.  They did well all winter and supplied us with wonderfully fresh dishes for our winter meals.  In the late winter, the greens bolted or flowered.  This was the beginning of the reseeding process.  My garden was a thing of questionable beauty for a couple of weeks.  I say questionable because the blooms were on long, spindly stalks that soon gave way to the wind.  After the yellow blooms dropped, the small, bean-like seed pods started appearing on the stalks.  

  This week saw me clearing and turning the soil in this section of the garden.  The stalks were yanked from the ground and placed in one of the empty planter boxes.  There they sat as the sun beamed down helping the seed pods to ripen. I was in hopes of gathering enough seeds to replant for another season.  I watched them carefully as they dried.  Anyone who grows greens will tell you that these seeds are tiny and I was afraid that my seeds would drop between the cracks.  There they would fall into the grass and be lost forever!  That would never do!  The old wash pan worked wonders in catching the seeds as I threshed the stalks. Thousands of minute seed flipped from the pods and into the pan. 

  With the price of seeds forever spiraling out of control, I did not want to lose as single one.  It not only saves money to harvest seeds but the assurance that a gardener can plant "clean" seeds makes it worth the effort.  Buying seeds that are laden with all sorts of chemicals or are genetically altered scares me.  So I am willing to go the extra step. After all was said and done, I managed to harvest enough seeds to be assured of a full planting again. These seeds will provide us with another season of good eats!