Glass Gem Corn

Every garden year a new variety comes along and becomes my obsession. I saw a photo of Glass Gem Corn on Pinterest, my friend Sylvia See had pinned it from Native Seed Search. I fell for it, hard, I NEED to grow this corn, so right away I looked it up on their website. At that time they were taking reservations for this years seeds, and I signed-up via their online list.

Yesterday Native Seed Search sent out a special email to the 7000 people who were on the list, opening up the sale of this years Glass Gem corn seeds. They are listed in a secure section of their website that can only be accessed with a special code, with a limit to one packet of 50 seeds per person. I quickly selected a packet and loaded it in my shopping cart.

Then I went about selecting a few other seeds, a gardener can never have too many seeds. Native Seed Search has an incredible selection, here are the packets I purchased: Tabasco peppers, for lacto fermented Quilli-basco sauce come this fall, Wenk’s Yellow Hots, which are very productive and one of our favorite hot fresh or pickled peppers and Del Arbol de Baja California Sur, a chili I have read about but never grown. Also, a pack of King Richard leeks fit for a king.

The Glass Gem corn looks like it should be kept in a jewelry box. If we have a productive crop from these seeds, if the corn can mature in this northern climate, I promise to have seeds to share with you next year. I will keep you posted how it goes. Of course I don’t yet have the seeds in my hand and as every gardener knows there are many variables to a healthy harvest.

You will have to wait on any photos, but I promise to keep you updated on how the corn does in this region. If you want to see images and read more about the history of Glass Gem Corn follow the link to the Native Seed blog.

Save the Seed

Do you find it disturbing that the corporate seed industry is messing with the free sharing and saving of seeds?

Seed Packets

As you are merrily surfing seed catalogs and dreaming up plans for the season ahead, please take the time to voice your concerns for the free sharing of seeds. Vandana Shiva has been advocating for the freedom to save seeds for years. You can read more about this at Declaration of Seed Freedom and sign on while you are there!

I don’t think any home gardener is coming under attack for saving and sharing seeds. But one of the disturbing stories that came up for me while watching Food Inc was the guy who had a seed cleaning business and worked with mid-western farmers that saved their own seeds to replant. The record of farms he worked with was subpenaed by a corporation to find out which farmers were saving and reusing seeds.

And while we are on the topic of seeds and corporations. Here is a fabulous post from Erica Strauss at Northwest Edible Life: A Brief History of Monsanto and Seed Houses Who Got Screwed. Erica does a fabulous job of following the story and sharing the research trail with her readers. If you are gardener and an eater, you will love her garden inspired journalism.