This seed season, consider a catalog that takes a different approach

It takes a village, not a threshing machine, to complete the harvest of pounds of watermelon seeds that fill the plain, white packets sold by Turtle tree seed.

“No one minds helping collect watermelon seeds,” said Lia Babitch, co-manager of the seed company. She’s not just talking about their crew: residents of Camphill villagein Copake, NY, where Turtle Tree is headquartered, are happy to participate.

After all, it’s a pretty fun task, which involves eating the fruit of the yellow-fleshed Early Moonbeam, or perhaps an heirloom like Moon and Stars, and spitting the seeds into appropriate cups – the first step before washing, drying and finally packing them for sale.

Like everything else at Camphill Village Copake, a purposeful nonprofit community of adults with developmental differences, seed collecting is part of the place’s “life sharing” model, which was founded in 1961. This is the largest Camphill community in the United States. , where about 230 people live; Today there are approximately 100 Camphill communities worldwide.

Inclusion is the guiding principle. There is a hands-on role for everyone, regardless of their abilities, in every step of the work at the various village businesses, including the seed catalogue, which contains around 400 varieties of vegetables, flowers and herbs.

Everyone on the team of approximately 18 full- and part-time employees knows what it feels like to contribute to the effort that sent nearly 30,000 seed packets to more than 200 farms and 4,500 gardeners last year.

“We have a lot of hands,” we always say,” Ms. Babitch said.

That means tasks often involve chatting and laughing – through the sounds of connection with the seed and with each other – rather than the noise of farm machinery.

“We’re not trying to mechanize,” she said, but “break down each task into arbitrary parts so that everyone can do what they can.”

These tasks include sowing and weeding, harvesting and cleaning seeds, and even testing the viability of each seed crop. A set of handmade, glazed ceramic plates – one with 100 thumbprint-sized cutouts and another with 50 – allows anyone who wants to participate to count the number of seeds needed for a germination test.

Every step of the way, she said, “we work side by side,” producing most of the seed for the catalog on site.

All Turtle Tree seed varieties are open-pollinated, not hybrids, and all are grown biodynamically, adhering to guidelines sometimes described as ‘premium organic’.

“You can’t do any of the bad things you’re not allowed to do in organic,” Ms. Babitch said. “But then there are a lot of things you have to do that are optional with organic.”

For example, it is not enough to simply give up chemical fertilizers. Biodynamic farms do not purchase bagged amendments, even if they are approved for organic use. Instead, they cultivate their own fertility, raise animals for their manure and plant green manures, and make compost as attentively as the crops are grown.

“It’s not something you can just buy in a package,” Ms. Babitch said. “You have to do it.”

Peas, beans and broccoli with a difference

Many of the seed varieties Turtle Tree offers have more of a sense of craft than agribusiness.

This includes the Piracicaba broccoli, which does not form enormous heads at once that can be mechanically harvested in a day and taken to market, the large-scale formula of commercial agriculture. Instead, it forms a small head, followed by weeks of side shoots – just the right amount to provide an extensive supply of freshly picked dinner portions.

“It’s not great for mechanized systems and large-scale agriculture,” Ms. Babitch said. “But it’s great for home gardens.”

That includes the Schoenbrunn Gold Cape gooseberry (Physalis peruviana), which is not a gooseberry or much like the other Physalis varieties that gardeners may know as ground cherries. The fruits – described in the catalog as having “flavors of guava, passion fruit, mango and citrus” – do not fall to the ground when ripe, but hang in papery husks from the shrubby plants.

Rolanka carrots, an excellent storage variety, have also not found a commercial niche. They can reach a pound each, with a rich, strong carrot flavor and deep orange color.

There is also a pea with a different color: the Swiss heirloom Schweizer Riesen, or Swiss Giant. Turtle Tree, which is celebrating its 25th anniversary at Camphill Copake, introduced the variety to the United States as one of its original catalog offerings.

On 6-foot-tall vines, this plant produces showy, bi-colored flowers in shades of pink and burgundy, followed by extra-large, sweeter-than-average pods – like extra-large snow peas, but best for eating once the peas begin to form inside , because a kind of snow-snap-combination-pea experience.

Then there’s a true keeper of a Butternut winter squash: Over the years, Ms. Babitch and her Turtle Tree co-manager Ian Robb have developed a version of the famous Cucurbit that can be kept much longer than most. The seed they save for sale or replanting comes from the fruits of the most productive plants that have lasted the longest in storage, some of which retain their firmness and good taste until the following May.

As for green beans, Turtle Tree’s must-have is Aunt Ada’s, a signature Italian Arctic variety.

“Don’t worry if the seeds appear in the pods,” Ms. Babitch will tell anyone who has never grown this heirloom, which came to Colorado with immigrants in the 1900s.

Even with her disclaimer, the sight of the bulging four-inch bean-filled pods can evoke the feeling that they are stringy and past their prime. Rather, they are delicious steamed whole or used in vegetable soup, as an all-in-one ingredient that yields both beans and greens. Yet another option: let them ripen and dry on the six-foot vines, then peel them for use as dried beans.

Some basic principles of biodynamics

The principles behind biodynamic gardening and farming – and behind Camphill – are based on anthroposophy, the teachings of philosopher and scientist Rudolf Steiner.

In June 1924 he gave a series of eight lectures that formed the basis for biodynamic agriculture. As part of his course, he offered formulations for biodynamic preparations — “herbal medicines for the earth, basically, and for the plants,” Ms. Babitch said, including medicines to enliven compost made from yarrow, chamomile, nettle, oak. bark, dandelion and valerian.

Another tool for biodynamic farming is the North American-focused Stella Natura calendar, inspired by research by Maria Thun, a German biodynamic farmer, that began around 1950. This approach takes into account the influence of the phases of the moon and the constellation that the moon is. at some point before. Plants are divided into four groups, each of which correlates with certain times in the monthly planetary cycles, indicating the best time to plant or care for something in that group to benefit from a particular cosmic energy.

There are ‘root days’, for working with plants grown for their roots or root-like properties (kohlrabi and onions for example), and ‘leaf days’ (for lettuce and cabbage, for example). “Fruit days” are best for any plant that produces an edible part after flowering (including peas, tomatoes, squash and raspberries). ‘Flower days’ are for flowers, of course, but also for less obvious plants whose immature flower heads we grow for food, including broccoli and cauliflower.

Packages with the biodynamic preparations and copies of the Stella Natura calendar 2024 are available via the catalogue, which is now at the printer. And new seed varieties are uploaded to the Turtle Tree website every day, as a new seed sales season begins.

A bargain: Dahlias from seed

Although Turtle Tree’s seed range contains many vegetables, “Ian and I both really love flowers,” said Ms Babitch, “and we can’t resist adding more.”

For summer bouquets or for drying, the Turtle Tree Helichrysum mix combines yellow and white tones, light to dark pink and coppery colors.

Gladiolus tubers are also listed in the 2024 catalog, a new offering for which the team has built up stock. The dahlia seedling mix is ​​another favorite: multicolored and heavy on the single-flowered daisy-like flowers that attract pollinators.

“You can just plant a hedge of them because you don’t buy individual tubers for ten dollars each,” Ms Babitch said. “You can have thirty to fifty plants for a few dollars.”

As if to encourage experimentation, there are several samplers – mini-packs and multi-packs for $5 or $15 – containing small portions of five themed crops. Try a variety of winter squashes or heirloom tomatoes, an assortment of essential herbs or a flower that appeals to butterflies.

When customers reach out late in the season asking how they can save seed from the plants they grew from a packet of Turtle Tree seed, Ms. Babitch knows the catalog’s message will resonate.

“Vegetable gardening is like babysitting, and seed saving is like having children,” she said, repeating a piece of wisdom she shared years ago.

Yes, perhaps this means that one packet less seed will be sold in the coming year. But it is a victory: one more pair of hands joining the vast mix, in the ever-widening circle of human-plant relationships.

Margaret Roach is the creator of the website and podcast A way to gardenand a book of the same name.

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