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Post by dirtsunrain on Dec 20, 2009 9:18:54 GMT -5
The darn dog ate my seeds! He didnt eat the stuff that I have a bazillion of, he went for my daisy gourds and some pumpkins.
I do feed him raw pumpkin as a snack and he loves it. The dog is fully blind but finds ways to amuse himself with his supersniffer nose. He carefully selected the jars he wanted from off the shelf and hoovered them up. I use rice as a dessicant and he even ate that.
Some of the plants we grow are in short supply. I cant afford to lose some of the varieties that I've gathered. A house fire, flood, open window in a windstorm, unsupervised toddler, bored dog, frisky cat...a years work could be wiped out in minutes. How do you organise and protect your seeds?
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Post by mnjrutherford on Dec 20, 2009 9:34:35 GMT -5
Our front door is really our backdoor and there is a little entry that Mike has lined with shelves. He's built a "thingy" that is nailed to the south facing window so that I have a window box of sorts, my seed potatoes are all at the top of that. The lower shelves have dirt, tools, etc. The top shelves have seeds, catalogs, and records. The space is about 4' x 7'. I'm guessing at that but I'll give you the exact dimensions if you need them.
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Post by dirtsunrain on Dec 20, 2009 9:42:49 GMT -5
I'm rattling around by myself in a 6 bedroom farmhouse. The house was built in 1877 and the upstairs has a series of inter connecting rooms. I moved everything into one room and created a threshing, sorting and saving area. The door locks.
My treasures are safe now until BlindDog sells his soul for some opposable thumbs.
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Post by plantsnobin on Dec 20, 2009 11:01:48 GMT -5
Yikes, 6 bedroom house. Sounds like you could start a bed & breakfast. I bet some people here would love to vacation on your beautiful island. I hear what you are saying about the seed security issue. Even if we think we are all set for the next year, something could happen in a matter of minutes that could change everything. A few years ago there was a tornado in a town about 60 miles away. All around here there were papers blowing in from there! We found pictures in our field and sent them to a center they set up for people to try to get their stuff back. I don't think we can really protect ourselves from something like that, but it would be a good idea to at least break up part of our seed collections in different locations, even if only on our own property. A fireproof safe, or a freezer would be good.
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Post by mnjrutherford on Dec 20, 2009 11:52:37 GMT -5
I'm echoing Karen! YIKES! 6 bedroom house? I WOULD start a B&B! (Wouldn't I Karen? ;o)
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Post by grunt on Dec 20, 2009 17:20:13 GMT -5
I second Karen's suggestion of using some freezer space. Alternatively, get some large jars with sealing lids (1 gallon pickle jars or similar), baggie your seeds, and put them in the jar with a little desiccant in the bottom of the jar. If you're worried about the possibility of fire, store the jar in the basement against one of the outside walls, or duplicate your seeding jars, and store one elsewhere. We store all of our seed bank seeds in the porch freezer, but keep a backup second sample in a jar in the bottom of the refrigerator. We use the backup jar ro emergency requests, or to regrow a variety from.
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Post by dirtsunrain on Dec 20, 2009 22:50:37 GMT -5
My 133 year old house has 127 year old plumbing so I would have to market a B & B very creatively. All the bats that pour out of the roof at dusk would probably send customers running screaming into the lake anyways.
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Post by oldfatguy on Dec 21, 2009 2:28:23 GMT -5
I save too much seed for a reason. I split them into three separate containers and keep them in three different places. I ain't losing the stuff I've been growing for years by fire, hungry dogs or the seed Nazis. This is serious bidness.
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Post by rockguy on Dec 21, 2009 3:08:51 GMT -5
I save too many seeds also, you never know what might happen. I store them in paper envelopes inside metal boxes in the cooler part of the house, no problems so far. If I did want to store seeds for 10 years or so, I'd freeze them but I'd rather re-plant everything to get fresh seeds every year or at least two.
One rule I had to make for myself: Never plant more than half the remaining seeds of any variety. Learned that one the hard way and lost an heirloom bean I will never see again.
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Post by flowerpower on Dec 21, 2009 6:06:37 GMT -5
My 133 year old house has 127 year old plumbing so I would have to market a B & B very creatively. All the bats that pour out of the roof at dusk would probably send customers running screaming into the lake anyways. If you say the house has ghosts, you would get people to come there.  |
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Post by Penny on Dec 21, 2009 6:49:01 GMT -5
I would market the B&B as a "rustic" B&B, you might be surprised on who would love to stay, especially on an Island and considering the tourists that you get there, you might be surprised.
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Post by mnjrutherford on Dec 21, 2009 7:17:26 GMT -5
I'm with Penny and Lynn. Additionally, you could use the proceeds to moderately "de-rustify" to your personal tastes. I've pondered building a couple of tree house "getaways" on our creek and offering them as a unique getaway.
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Post by dirtsunrain on Dec 21, 2009 8:00:45 GMT -5
I work with the violently mentally unwell and my job is very people intense. My home is my sanctuary. A B & B isn't in my comfort zone at all.
However, I do rent out the house to a group of Elmer Fudds for one week in November. They like rustic and poor hygiene seems to be the norm for that time of year. I get $600 each so it's well worth the fact that I have to move out and live in a glorified garden shed while they are here.
I'd like to do a pumpkin patch and market it to the local schools. We also do sleigh rides here in winter so I believe that the necessary insurance coverage is already in place. That would give me an excuse to grow even more pumpkins and funky squash.
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Post by Penny on Dec 21, 2009 9:28:06 GMT -5
Sounds like a good plan, and nothing like sleigh rides in the winter.
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Post by rockguy on Dec 21, 2009 16:50:31 GMT -5
You could make a ceremony out of the bats leaving the roof, assuming they do that at the same time every day. I don't know how you'd make any money on it, but there oughtta be a way! Maybe sell T-shirts "I saw the bats leave the belfry!"
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