Food Where do you order seeds from? And. . .

[nomifyle]

what seeds do you order? How do you store them?

I ordered some basic vegetable and herb seeds from Amazon and 10 years ago I acquired one of those cans of seeds that are supposed to be good for 5 years and I've never opened them.

What do you feed chickens if you can't get chicken feed (laying pellets) from the store?

Judy

 

[20Gauge]

The wife ordered from main street seeds?

As far as chickens go..... don't have any.

 

[nomifyle]

The wife ordered from main street seeds?

As far as chickens go..... don't have any.

What seeds did she order? And how do you store them?

Judy

 

[Freeholder]

Most of my seed purchases in the last fifteen years or so have been from Fedco, which is based in Maine. I may look for other sources since we are in a warmer climate now. While we were living in the dry climate of Eastern Oregon, seeds seemed to keep quite well in plastic tubs on a shelf. Here, they will need to go in the freezer in canning jars, because of the humidity and summer heat. (I need a bigger freezer! I have a small chest freezer, and it's usually full to the brim.)

If you choose your chicken breeds for those known to be good foragers, and have some land, they can feed themselves most of the time. I have about a dozen Icelandics (which includes several roosters), and they need very little food as long as there's no snow on the ground. I do give them layer pellets, but they don't eat a lot of them most of the year. I have to keep the chicken feed where my dogs, and wild birds, can't get into it, though, or they will eat much more than the chickens do.

It is possible to feed a small flock mostly on kitchen scraps and stuff grown specially for them in the garden. Two or three hens would be enough for one person, if you have a breed that lays well. I have more hens that the two of us really need; the extras are so we have enough eggs when some of the hens are going broody and not laying.

If someone is going this route with chickens, I would recommend the more active, light breeds. Most of these won't go broody, which doesn't matter if you aren't keeping a rooster. If you can keep a rooster, and want to raise your own replacement chicks, look through the Henderson Chicken breed chart, or the hatchery charts (several hatcheries have charts), for smaller breeds that will go broody and raise chicks. In addition to Icelandics, Dominiques would fit the criteria. I'll take a look and see what else might work, and add those breeds.

Kathleen

ETA: https://www.cacklehatchery.com/chicken-breed-fact-chart

http://www.sagehenfarmlodi.com/chooks/chooks.html

https://www.canr.msu.edu/uploads/234/69325/Chicken_Breed_Chart_to_Help_Choose_Your_Chicken.pdf

 

[nomifyle]

Thanks Kathleen, I don't know what breeds we have. Several months ago one of the hens hatched out 6 eggs, and one by one of the little babies disappeared. My cousin has one of those electric egg hatcher things and he hatches eggs for us but we always get more roosters than hens. DH has said this spring he's going to buy 20 pullets from Tractor Supply, all hens.

What kinds of seeds do you plant for food?

Judy

 

[AlaskaSue]

Denali Seed (bestcoolseeds.com), which is local and for cold-weather/arctic growing conditions. They also sell seeds for those giant cabbages grown up here. Very good company, seeds have germinated long past the expected time-frame...and they also offer coupons or frees seeds. You Northern growers will do well with them.

 

[summerthyme]

Territorial Seeds, Johnny's Selected seeds, Baker Creek seed, Twilleys, Willhite (larger quantities)

Parks seeds has actually done well for us, despite their "yuppy" type catalog. They often have sales on seeds for a buck a packet.. they are the more common/older varieties, generally (and many are open pollinated) but the seed quality is excellent.

You might want to look at Southern Exposure seed company... more suited to your climate.

Seed Savers Exchange also has an amazing variety of heirloom and open pollinated seeds.

As far as chickens... first, you need to know they need a minimum of 16% protein overall for laying hens. That's tough to achieve with just garden vegetables. If you can get them to safely free range, they'll eat tons of insects, which are very high in protein. Avoid feeding them earthworms or snails/slugs. They carry parasites (gapeworm, blackhead disease) that can harm the birds.

Unfortunately, they seem to hate some of the easiest grains to grow... sorghum and broomcorn seed. Soybeans are a good protein source, but must be roasted before feeding. Like most dry bean seeds, they contain substances which are more or less toxic when raw. AFAIK, red kidney beans are the worst in that regard.

Pumpkins (and their seeds, if the humans don't get them first!) are good... they love them. Sunflowers (look for "oilseed" varieties, not the huge Russian giant types, which have more shell than seed) are a good possibility, if you can kerp the wild birds away.

Snaring pest animals (woodchucks, possums, etc) can provide top quality protein... as can roadkill. Butchering waste will be consumed quickly.

I'd suggest stocking at least a couple of bags of oyster shell for a calcium supplement. Modern layer mash has significant calcium in it, and even so, they can need a supplement at certain times. If the mash isn't available, they're going to be short of calcium, and you'll start losing eggs to breakage (and then, very quickly, to egg eating hens)

One thing is for sure... you won't be getting 240-300 eggs a year! But you'll treasure every one...

Summerthyme

 

[Freeholder]

Thanks Kathleen, I don't know what breeds we have. Several months ago one of the hens hatched out 6 eggs, and one by one of the little babies disappeared. My cousin has one of those electric egg hatcher things and he hatches eggs for us but we always get more roosters than hens. DH has said this spring he's going to buy 20 pullets from Tractor Supply, all hens.

What kinds of seeds do you plant for food?

Judy

It would be faster to say what we don't plant -- corn and most of the nightshades (tomatoes, peppers, eggplant -- we seem to be able to eat potatoes without any problem).

Kathleen

 

[Freeholder]

Territorial Seeds, Johnny's Selected seeds, Baker Creek seed, Twilleys, Willhite (larger quantities)

Parks seeds has actually done well for us, despite their "yuppy" type catalog. They often have sales on seeds for a buck a packet.. they are the more common/older varieties, generally (and many are open pollinated) but the seed quality is excellent.

You might want to look at Southern Exposure seed company... more suited to your climate.

Seed Savers Exchange also has an amazing variety of heirloom and open pollinated seeds.

As far as chickens... first, you need to know they need a minimum of 16% protein overall for laying hens. That's tough to achieve with just garden vegetables. If you can get them to safely free range, they'll eat tons of insects, which are very high in protein. Avoid feeding them earthworms or snails/slugs. They carry parasites (gapeworm, blackhead disease) that can harm the birds.

Unfortunately, they seem to hate some of the easiest grains to grow... sorghum and broomcorn seed. Soybeans are a god protein source, but must be roasted before feeding. Like most dry bean seeds, they contain substances which are more or less toxic when raw. AFAIK, red kidney beans are the worst in that regard.

Pumpkins (and their seeds, if the humans don't get them first!) are good... they love them. Sunflowers (look for "oilseed" varieties, not the huge Russian giant types, which have more shell than seed) are a good possibility, if you can kerp the wild birds away.

Snaring pest animals (woodchucks, possums, etc) can provide top quality protein... as can roadkill. Butchering waste will be consumed quickly.

I'd suggest stocking at least a couple of bags of oyster shell for a calcium supplement. Modern layer mash has significant calcium in it, and even so, they can need a supplement at certain times. If the mash isn't available, they're going to be short of calcium, and you'll start losing eggs to breakage (and then, very quickly, to egg eating hens)

One thing is for sure... you won't be getting 240-300 eggs a year! But you'll treasure every one...

Summerthyme

I'm able to free-range our chickens because I've got a livestock guardian dog. Without her, I'd have to keep them in their coop (and the Icelandics would not be ideal for this, as they are very active, good fliers, and don't like to be confined). During the months that aren't frozen most of the time (most of the year, here!), they pick up a lot of bugs -- last year we had a lot of ticks. This year I've only seen a couple on myself. The dogs had a few more, but they are outside most of the time, or all the time in the case of the LGD, and so have more exposure. But the chickens certainly have helped keep the bugs down. Beets and turnips and cabbages can be used as winter feed supplements, in addition to squash or pumpkins. Any shriveled fruit, sour milk (spoiled), or anything else you can't use in the kitchen can probably go out for the chickens. They won't eat orange or banana peels, and there are supposedly a few things they shouldn't eat. If you have rice or flour that goes rancid, you can feed that to the chickens; they may get more good from it if you can cook it first.

The LGD is fairly easy to feed, by the way. Right now she mostly gets commercial dog food, but in the past I've fed dogs on raw rolled oats soaked in raw milk, with an egg once in a while. They did really well on this diet. Sled dogs in the far north are sometimes fed a diet of cooked rice and salmon (the salmon are spawned out and picked up at the edges of rivers where they are dying; they are filleted and dried.). Dogs can eat quite a lot of vegetables; this along with a few eggs, some oats or rice, and table scraps, will keep an LGD nicely even though they are very big dogs. If anyone reading this does decide to get an LGD, if you live in a warm climate, I recommend looking for a dog with a shorter coat. The long-coated dogs will do better in northern climates; they can manage hot climates as well, but I've had major issues with Cameo's coat matting badly. I just had her shaved a couple of weeks ago (bad timing, I know, but I couldn't afford to do it sooner). I've attached a picture of her with her new haircut, and one taken a few years ago when she was in her full coat (and it wasn't all matted).

Kathleen

 

[Freeholder]

This should probably go over in the homesteading section, but since we are talking about chickens here already....I did some quick checking and have a list of dual-purpose chicken breeds that I would recommend for homesteaders who want a reasonable amount of eggs (all are good layers, some are very good layers), good meat birds when the hens are through laying and when you have surplus cockerels to butcher (if you can let them grow to about five months old), and who will go broody and raise your replacements. I did not include any of the really rare and very expensive breeds; some of those may work just as well, but they cost a lot more than the more common breeds. The list is in alphabetical order, not in order of which ones I would personally prefer. I selected these from Cackle Hatchery, but most of the breeds on the list can be found locally at feed stores in the spring.

Buckeye
Buff Orpington
Delaware
Dominique
Indian River (a cross of Delaware and New Hampshire -- I don't know if they will breed true, but offspring should still be very good birds even if they don't look like their parents)
Speckled Sussex

There are many other perfectly good breeds, but most of them won't reliably go broody. These six breeds aren't 100% reliably broody, either, but if you have several hens, and keep them for several years, broodiness usually increases as they get older, so you are likely to have at least one that will raise replacements for you. There are some breeds that are excellent broodies, but they primarily are either bantams, or have heavily feathered feet, which I don't like. If you have room to keep two breeds, though, you could have your pick of any good layer breed for your main flock, and use the broody breed to hatch replacements. The problem is that you have to keep two complete flocks, because the broody hens need their own rooster so they can be replaced, too.

Kathleen

 

[nomifyle]

Territorial Seeds, Johnny's Selected seeds, Baker Creek seed, Twilleys, Willhite (larger quantities)

Parks seeds has actually done well for us, despite their "yuppy" type catalog. They often have sales on seeds for a buck a packet.. they are the more common/older varieties, generally (and many are open pollinated) but the seed quality is excellent.

You might want to look at Southern Exposure seed company... more suited to your climate.

Seed Savers Exchange also has an amazing variety of heirloom and open pollinated seeds.

As far as chickens... first, you need to know they need a minimum of 16% protein overall for laying hens. That's tough to achieve with just garden vegetables. If you can get them to safely free range, they'll eat tons of insects, which are very high in protein. Avoid feeding them earthworms or snails/slugs. They carry parasites (gapeworm, blackhead disease) that can harm the birds.

Unfortunately, they seem to hate some of the easiest grains to grow... sorghum and broomcorn seed. Soybeans are a god protein source, but must be roasted before feeding. Like most dry bean seeds, they contain substances which are more or less toxic when raw. AFAIK, red kidney beans are the worst in that regard.

Pumpkins (and their seeds, if the humans don't get them first!) are good... they love them. Sunflowers (look for "oilseed" varieties, not the huge Russian giant types, which have more shell than seed) are a good possibility, if you can kerp the wild birds away.

Snaring pest animals (woodchucks, possums, etc) can provide top quality protein... as can roadkill. Butchering waste will be consumed quickly.

I'd suggest stocking at least a couple of bags of oyster shell for a calcium supplement. Modern layer mash has significant calcium in it, and even so, they can need a supplement at certain times. If the mash isn't available, they're going to be short of calcium, and you'll start losing eggs to breakage (and then, very quickly, to egg eating hens)

One thing is for sure... you won't be getting 240-300 eggs a year! But you'll treasure every one...

Summerthyme

We save the egg shells and DH microwaves them and crushes and feeds back to the chickens. I think he does have some calcium though.

Judy

 

[ReneeT]

I like Shumway; they have a lot of the older varieties that I like.

 

[paxsim2]

Baker creek. Free shipping until the end of the year. When I had chickens they ate all kinds of squash and greens from the garden until the frost killed everything then cracked corn and feed. Plus sunflower seeds.

 

[20Gauge]

What seeds did she order? And how do you store them?

Judy

She is only ordering pepper varieties. After spring is done, she will freeze the balance.

 

[sierra don]

I've been buying my seeds from a place called "Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds/ Rareseeds" for the last few years. They have a lot of unique stuff that you can't really find elsewhere. They have veggie, flower and herbs seeds and you also get a pack or 2 or more depending on the size of your order of what they call their free seed variety pack. They also order a free catalog on request (it's an out standing catalog, all glossy pages, 452 pages) and your order ships for free.

Catalog request link........https://www.rareseeds.com/requestcat/catalog

Rare Heirloom Seeds| Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds

My order on Christmas day........

Items Qty Price Colorado Red Star Artichoke SKU: AR102 1 $4.00 Free Seed Variety 1 SKU: FR101 1 $0.00 Puma Hot Pepper SKU: HPP227 1 $4.00 Sugar Rush Cream Hot Peppper SKU: HPP230 1 $4.00 Anise SKU: HB217 1 $2.50 Lavender - Munstead Strain SKU: HB213 1 $3.00 Queen of Malinalco SKU: JSGR108 1 $4.00 Mammoth Melting Sugar Snow Pea SKU: SN102 1 $3.00 Carouby De Maussane Snow Pea SKU: SN111 1 $2.75 Free Seed Variety 2 SKU: FR102 1 $0.00

OUR STORY
Jere Gettle always had a passion for growing things, and at age 3 he planted his first garden. Ever since, he wanted to be involved in the seed industry. So in 1998, at the age of 17, he printed the first Baker Creek Heirloom Seed catalog. The company has grown to offer nearly 2,000 varieties of vegetables, flowers and herbs—the largest selection of heirloom varieties in the USA.


Baker Creek carries one of the largest selections of seeds from the 19th century, including many Asian and European varieties. The company has become a tool to promote and preserve our agricultural and culinary heritage. Our company and seeds have been featured in The New York Times, The Associated Press, Oprah Magazine, NPR, Martha Stewart, The Wall Street Journal, and many others. Gardeners can request a free color catalog. Our catalogs now distribute to over 700,000 gardeners nationally.


Baker Creek started hosting festivals in 2000 as a way to bring gardeners, homesteaders and natural food enthusiasts together to exchange ideas and seeds, to listen to speakers and to enjoy vendors, old-time music and much more. These festivals gave birth to the idea for our pioneer village, Bakersville. Other projects include our trial gardens that we grow each year, seed collecting expeditions, and educational produce exhibits.


Over the last several years, Jere Gettle and his wife Emilee have branched out into other related projects, as well. They have also expanded into a location in Sonoma County, CA, in the beautiful town of Petaluma and are continuing with the restoration and preservation of the landmark Wethersfield, CT, Comstock, Ferre & Company, the oldest continuously operating seed company in New England.


The Gettles have published two books with Hyperion. These books feature heirloom vegetables and their work with seeds and food. After publishing The Heirloom Life Gardener in 2011, they released The Baker Creek Vegan Cookbook in 2012.


Jere and Emilee also work extensively to supply free seeds to many of the world’s poorest countries, as well as here at home in school gardens and other educational projects. It is their goal to educate everyone about a better, safer food supply and fight gene-altered frankenfood and the companies that support it.

 

[EYW]

Tomato Growers Supply Co: Tomatoes, Peppers, & More Seeds. Non-GMO

Tomato Growers Supply Company has a catalog of over 600 varieties of fruit and vegetable seeds, including tomatoes, peppers, eggplants, tomatillos, cucumbers, squash, onions, herbs, lettuce, broccoli, potatoes, pumpkins, gourds, radishes, and kale. Non-GMO. Orders before 4 PM ship next business day.

www.tomatogrowers.com

 

[mecoastie]

Fedco,Johnnys and High Mowing for the seeds. As for the chickens in the summer they forage for a lot of their food and we give them most of our scraps. In the winter mostly pellets but we do raise some fodder for them and I will grind up some old meat and give it to them to supplement. If we couldn't get pellets, they would get culled hard in the fall and the survivors would get whatever we had. Probably a lot of root crops, some corn, acorns and some green fodder. The idea is to get them thru until spring and not necessarily have the perfect balanced ration.

 

[ivantherussian03]

Staying close to home at moment. It is 35 below. In direct wind gas engines won't start, at least for me. Chopping wood like crazy around the house. I have been reading the end of food, a book sitting in my house for some time. Intriguing!

 

[ReneeT]

I buy some bulk seed at the local Mom & Pop feed store; I order the rest of my garden seed through the RH Shumway's catalog: www.rhshumway.com They have a lot of older varieties, and some novelty seeds as well. I didn't see my yellow wax pole bean seed this year, but then, I've not made it all the way through the catalog yet. I appreciate being able to pick beans without bending over and their Kentucky Blue and Kentucky Wonder green pole beans are excellent.

I have been to a festival at the Baker Creek Seed Compaty, but it was in the early years. The music was fun to listen to, and - at that time - they had sort of a farm market area where other people sold seeds and plants.

 

[mecoastie]

Someone messaged me, asking about feeding acorns to my chickens. I don't currently feed them acorns as part of their regular ration. When they are foraging they do gobble up the acorns in the driveway that get crushed by the cars and in the spring they will scratch out and eat the little seedlings. It would only be an emergency feed for me as I have read mixed things on feeding them to chickens. Morrisons states that if more than 25% of their feed is made up of acorns it can give the egg an olive yolk and possibly impact the hatchability of the eggs. I have also read that it can cause liver damage and possibly death in large amounts but that was on the internet. But there are plenty of people that report using them in good quantity with no effects. I would be cautious and only use them for 15%-20% maximum as part of a ration but that is just what I would do.

 

[Illini Warrior]

Where To Get Heirloom Seeds

Heirloom Seeds & Organic Seeds | Sustainable Seed

Seed Savers Exchange Heirloom Seeds

For sale: Genetically-diverse promiscuously-pollinated landrace seeds grown by Joseph Lofthouse in Cache Valley in the Rocky Mountains

 

[Tundra Gypsy]

Heirloom seeds only from Baker Creek. They have a beautiful catalog too!

 

[packyderms_wife]

Where To Get Heirloom Seeds

Heirloom Seeds & Organic Seeds | Sustainable Seed Co

Safe Seed Resource List

Seed Savers Exchange Heirloom Seeds

For sale: Genetically-diverse promiscuously-pollinated landrace seeds grown by Joseph Lofthouse in Cache Valley in the Rocky Mountains

Thank you for the links.

 

[packyderms_wife]

what seeds do you order? How do you store them?

I ordered some basic vegetable and herb seeds from Amazon and 10 years ago I acquired one of those cans of seeds that are supposed to be good for 5 years and I've never opened them.

What do you feed chickens if you can't get chicken feed (laying pellets) from the store?

Judy

We have a gardening forum here in On Your Own, there's a thread there about left leaning seed companies and members have posted a bunch of links in that thread.

 

[TerriHaute]

I am fortunate enough to live near a large locally owned garden center. They sell several different brands of seeds as well as packaging bulk seed into packets with their name on it. I buy most of my seed there, but occasionally order flower and tomato seeds from Burpee and Baker Creek. I try to grow at least one of the AAS winners each year and have to order those. My local garden center never carries those seeds until they have been on the market for sever, they stick to traditional varieties.

This year's AAS winners here: https://all-americaselections.org/product-category/year/2020/