Wild Seed Collection, Working with Market Gardeners, & DIY Seed Equipment w/ Kim Delaney of Hawthorn Farm Organic Seeds

Kim Delaney farms with Aaron Lyons and Stephen Surgenessie at Hawthorn Farm Organic Seeds in Mount Forest, Ontario. They grow certified organic seeds on two farm sites for their online store and to distribute through Seedy Saturdays and through their wholesale seed rack program. In this episode, Kim discusses how she began her seed journey working in tall grass prairie restoration and how that blossomed into growing and selling vegetable, flower, and herb seeds. Kim also talks about how she has established and manages wild collection areas on her farm to harvest seed for wild bergamot, black-eyed Susan, milkweed, prairie grasses, and other plants. Kim explains how Hawthorn has worked with local farmers to grow seed on their farms as part of a transition town project where market growers grow the seed crop and Hawthorne would harvest and clean the seed. We discuss Kim's vision of what that could look like as a cross-country project. Kim also describes some of the seed infrastructure they've set up at Hawthorn including a seed dryer in a shipping container and a DIY air column. For this episode's technical section, Kim talks about growing and harvesting seeds from two native prairie grasses, Indian grass and blue stem grass. Follow Hawthorn Farm Organic Seeds on Instagram & check out their website Follow Dan on Instagram, get his newsletter, & follow Tourne-Sol Cooperative Farm PRE-ORDER Dan's new book, The Seed Farmer, from notillgrowers.com Mentioned in the show… The Organic Seed Grower by John Navazio The Organic Seed Alliance Real Seeds (UK) DIY seed cleaner The Winnow Wizard Folks who support The Seed Farmer Podcast The goal of the Culinary Breeding Network is to improve communication between plant breeders, seed growers, farmers, chefs, produce buyers and others to improve quality in vegetables, fruits and grains. Learn more and check out upcoming events! Are you a farmer looking for educational resources in Canada? Check out Young Agrarians! They are a farmer-to-farmer educational resource network for new and young ecological, organic, and regenerative farmers. This February, join thousands of farmers like you from across the U.S. for three days of community building and farmer-led learning at the 36th annual Marbleseed Organic Farming Conference in La Crosse, Wisconsin. Truelove Seeds is a farm-based seed company offering culturally important and open pollinated vegetable, herb, and flower seeds. Check out their podcast, Seeds & Their People, wherever you're listening to The Seed Farmer Podcast!