G.E.T (Garden Education Training) students at Loften have been learning to save seeds through a collaboration with Forage Farm. A recently tilled plot at the Farm to School to Work Hub on the Loften High School campus will be used this fall to grow a variety of plants which will be allowed to “go to seed.” Many of us have not experienced that aspect of plant development in leafy vegetable plants – lettuce, collards, kale, etc. – because we harvest them before the seeds pods are formed. This special plot, however, will be carefully observed to determine which plants are the hardiest, and those plants will be the ones allowed to produce seeds to be harvested, sorted, and packaged by students. The seed will then be stored carefully, waiting to be sowed for the next season’s school garden transplants. Since each plant produces hundreds, sometimes thousands, of seeds, there will be plenty left to distribute to community gardens as well through Forage Farms “Southern Heritage Seed Collective.”
[A big thank you to Scott Smith Photographic for the lovely photos]
