They Sell Rare Staple Seeds Direct

They Sell Rare Staple Seeds Direct CROPS Miscellaneous Great Lakes Staple Seeds makes it easy to grow staple crops in the Upper Midwest Some are heritage varieties others are landraces and some are newer like a triticale developed in the 1990’s All are open-pollinated and non-GMO and only available online “We lived in China for 8 years and friends there shared the government’s suggestion that people have enough food for 5 years ” says Scott Hucker Great Lakes Staple Seeds “We started calculating what we would need to feed a family for a year ” When they returned to the U S Scott and Eleanor started to add grains to the gardening they had done before their time in China One of the sources they found for grains was John Sherck Sherck Seeds He was planning to retire and encouraged them to begin selling staple seeds “We had been buying seed from John and growing staple crops for ourselves for several years ” recalls Eleanor “We decided to give it a try If it didn’t take off we would still have the seeds for ourselves ” “Within 2 weeks we incorporated and began trialing seeds ” says Scott “We grew out 40 varieties of wheat and barley in 3 by 4-ft plots and harvested half a cup of each We had a few kinds of wheat we were planting in 30 by 30-ft plots exploring how much space we needed to feed our family for a year ” They were up and running with a website and selling seed just in time for the pandemic to hit “Orders came in so fast in 2020 that we had to shut down to catch up ” says Scott Scott has a full-time off-farm job as an engineer in the auto industry Eleanor handles the bulk of order fulfillment website maintenance and inventory control They share the planting weeding harvest and processing all by hand That’s a lot of labor They have 225 grains and cereals posted on their website Only a portion of them are planted each year It’s the varieties that make the seeds they offer so interesting from Gaspe Flint Corn that tassels within 30 days and matures in 70 or less to Rox Orange Syrup Cane Sorghum They offer five varieties of millet and 10 of triticale They offer 120 legumes including a bush bean brought from Norway in the 1870’s They also offer a few functional crops like flax for fiber and food as well as sesame for flavoring and oil and even tobacco for use as a natural pesticide Other utility crops offered may be used for weaving broom making cordage and even thatching While the okra they offer might be considered out of place in a staples inventory the seeds can be pressed for an oil that is edible and suitable as a biofuel The stems can be used to make cordage or rough cloth and the leaves can be eaten as greens The prices vary from $3 00 to $6 50 depending on weight or seed count While they don’t limit sales they do encourage customers to limit the amount they buy The concept is for buyers to grow out the seeds they buy and select seeds from those they harvest for future planting The idea is that over several years of planting and selection the variety will adapt to local soils and weather “The best seeds for your garden come from your garden ” suggest the Huckers in their blog They are enthusiastic advocates of seed saving by their customers This doesn’t seem to be hurting their sales any “We have about 10 acres in total broken up into three gardens ” explains Scott “We can only grow one kind of rye each year because it is wind-pollinated Wheat and barley plots must be separated Our gardens are a patchwork quilt with hundreds of plots ” Sales are usually wrapped up by mid-April to begin spring grain production Great Lakes Staple Seeds offers education in seeds needed for true self-sufficiency The website is also filled with information on how to grow and use staple crops Contact: FARM SHOW Followup Great Lakes Staple Seeds seeds@greatlakesstapleseeds com; www greatlakesstapleseeds com; www facebook com/greatlakesstapleseeds

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