GUILFORD-It’s the time of year when our dreams of a better tomorrow get poured into our gardens.
It all starts with the seeds.
“One of the secrets of being a successful gardener is knowing where to source your seeds and buy your plants. Local farmers buy seeds that are proven for our neck of the woods because their livelihood depends on it,” says Jack Manix, owner of Walker Farm in East Dummerston.
“Farmers need plants that will produce for their customers, so they are willing to spend extra to get the best seeds available,” he observes.
Vermonters have a bevy of local, regional, and New England seed companies to source from. There are the bigger favorites: Fedco and Johnny’s in Maine.
And closer to us, some specialty and fledgling seed companies are finding a niche.
One such firm in Montague, Mass., Ox and Robin,cultivates seeds that grow well in southern Vermontusing environmentally friendly techniques and oxen as the main power source.
“We never use pesticides or herbicides or even commercial fertilizers,” owner Linda Enerson says. “Our seed crops grow strong and healthy without [them].”
It’s a trend among local seed purveyors: organic, climate-appropriate, low-impact, and often, heirloom. If you want to grow vegetables, herbs, and flowers in southern Vermont, look no further than nearby seed companies specializing in just that.
Cultivating for specific growing conditions
The practice of home gardening reflects Vermont’s innate cultural values of resilience, localism, ruralism, and preservation. A University of Vermont survey found that 61% of all respondents from Vermont and Maine engaged in home and wild food procurement activities in 2021 and 2022, and the majority of those gardened.
This is notably higher than the national average; one recent National Gardening Association study reported that 35% of families in the United States grow vegetables, fruit, or other food — and that figure represented a 17% increase over five years.
Vermont has always had a strong agricultural culture, despite the challenges here in Zone 5b: a very short growing season, unpredictable weather, rocky and clay-heavy soil, and more than our fair share of pests and blights. Our season doesn’t officially start until the last risk of frost has passed around Memorial Day weekend, and it’s mostly over by early fall.
Hyperlocal varieties have naturally adapted to this challenging climate, and innovative companies often source seeds from plants native to other places with similar conditions.
In Corinth, Cassie Plummer, owner of Jig-Bee Flower and Seed Company, is devoted to cultivating hardy plants that can thrive in this climate.
“I began focusing on seed production so I could steward varieties that are sometimes hard to find seed for and create new, unique colors available for gardeners and flower farmers to grow and save their own seeds,” says Plummer, who has been flower farming for over 10 years.
While this is only her second year releasing a seed catalog, it already offers more than 40 varieties of flowers whose seeds were all grown and harvested in Vermont. Some of her favorites include strawflowers, rudbeckia (black-eyed Susan), coreopsis, feverfew, pincushion flower (scabiosa), snapdragons, and forget-me-nots.
“I’d love to encourage folks to start exploring planting hardy annuals. The common adage is ‘plant your garden on Memorial Day,’ but hardy annuals can be planted in late April or early May and do really well,” Plummer says.
These plants “love to establish themselves in the cool soil of spring, and because Vermont doesn’t get so hot, they bloom all summer long,” she adds.
Preserving agricultural heritage
Indigenous New England crops include corn, beans, and squash, known as “the Three Sisters” because each improves the conditions for the others. The Abenaki people historically grew these companion plants, along with sunflowers, sunchokes, ground cherries, and tobacco.
Subsistence crops — including potatoes, turnips, asparagus, and apples — introduced by the colonists have also become staples of Vermont gardens.
Plenty of other foods have fallen out of fashion over the years, particularly those not supported by the bigger seed companies. Salsify, rutabaga, and sunchokes — all root vegetables — used to be common on dinner tables.
Some Vermont seed companies now maintain a focus on preserving rare, heirloom, and regionally important varieties of fruits and vegetables. High Mowing Organic Seeds, based in Wolcott, has been around for two decades and offers over 600 varieties of seeds, the majority of which are certified organic and are free from genetic modifications (non-GMO).
The firm specializes in varieties adapted to Vermont’s soils and microclimates, including some of these harder-to-find heritage varieties.
Its Jacob’s Cattle dry bean is an heirloom with indigenous roots, and Roy’s Calais Flint Corn is an Abenaki variety of corn rescued from near-extinction in 1996 by the seed company’s founder, Tom Stearns.
High Mowing’s dedication to preserving Vermont’s heritage of growing is why local gardening experts like Sarah Rosow, farm-to-school coordinator at Guilford Central School, often buy from this company.
“Not only do I love their seeds, but I have a special place in my heart for High Mowing because they are a Vermont company and particularly generous when it comes to donating seeds for school garden programs,” Rosow says. “Every year they send us 100 seed packets. I get so excited when the package arrives.”
Supporting the local economy (even in outer space)
Buying from closer-to-home companies reduces dependence on long supply chains, enabling you to support the local economy. Supporters call it a direct, tangible way to push back against the consolidation of the global seed supply by multinational corporations — and, as a bonus, you can often speak directly with the growers.
Johnny’s Selected Seeds, founded in 1973 by Rob Johnston Jr. during the back-to-the-land movement, is now a fully employee-owned company based in Winslow, Maine. Johnny’s doesn’t sell genetically engineered seeds and instead has long been known for using traditional methods to create hybrid seeds — a process that can take years.
The company has a reputation for high quality and high integrity, and is big enough to have a quality control department — but still a small-enough company to care deeply about its original and lasting mission to “help families and friends to feed one another.”
Fun fact: In 2015, astronauts on the International Space Station grew and ate Johnny’s “Outredgeous” romaine lettuce in space (where, presumably, there aren’t a lot of local seed companies).
Longtime Guilford gardener Anne Rider says, “I tend to get my seeds from Johnny’s, my bulbs from Van Engelen [in Connecticut], and my starts from Tadj Shrek at Up the Road Farm in Guilford.” For her starts, Shrek buys most of her seeds from High Mowing and Johnny’s.
Staying away from GMO
While the big multinational agricultural conglomerates rule U.S. crops with their genetically engineered varieties of corn and soybeans, family-owned operations in and around Vermont uphold a different philosophy: small-scale, non-GMO seed diversity. Better for the land, better for the local economy, better for ecology.
Up in St. Johnsbury, Le Jardin du Gourmet is a third-generation family-owned business selling strictly non-GMO seeds for over five decades. This Northeast Kingdom mail-order seed company is known for its affordable sample packets (still 55 cents) and specialty crops like fraise des bois (wild French strawberry plants) and saltwort (an edible coastal plant you can use in salads or as a side dish).
Vermont Wildflower Farm, in Hinesburg, has been selling non-GMO-only flower seeds since 1981. The family-owned business has grown into one of the largest seed companies in the country, but its ethos stands firm: “100% pure seed (no fillers ever), open-pollinated, GMO and chemical free, just as nature intended!”
The company cultivates more than 354 species, offering highly specific mixes, including a Deer Resistant Wildflower Seed Mix and a Native Northeastern Mix.
Trying something new
People who found seed companies are innovators at heart, and smaller local seed companies often experiment with new crops that aren’t in the usual lineup.
At Ox and Robin, Enerson experiments with seeds that are adaptable to the hilltown climate — like Criolla Sella peppers, which were developed in the Andean mountains and produce an early, prolific hot pepper.
“They start producing bright yellow medium hot peppers 80 days after transplanting and keep pumping them out until the season’s end,” Enerson says.
“When the first big frost hit last fall, I pulled the plants out of the ground and hung them in my unheated barn,” she continues. “I’m still picking the dried peppers off those plants and seasoning my dinners with them. That variety is a real powerhouse!”
Other seed experiments she has run include the North Carolina Heirloom Pickling Cucumber, the Patisson Panache Jaune et Verte summer squash, and Fagiolini dell’occhio yardlong beans.
Enerson, who illustrates her own seed packs with original watercolors and collage, says, “I’m going to grow some natural dye plants this year, such as indigo, weld, madder, and dyer’s chamomile, so I’m excited about that.”
Finding seeds that tell a good story
Some seeds offer a lot more than just nutrition. Homecoming Seeds in Northfield, Vermont, sells seeds for all of 24 plants, but virtually every seed it sells has a good backstory.
The company’s bioregionally adapted open-pollinated vegetable, flower, and herb seeds include Josh Toombs Purple Podded Pea (with roots in Ireland) and the Sibirskiy Knyaz (Siberian prince) pepper (“a Russian sweet pepper developed for shorter seasons by a research station in Western Siberia”).
That seed, along with two varieties of bush bean (Keygold and Purpiat) and Maria Amazilitei’s Giant Red tomato, were all passed down to owner Charlie Watt from his mentor, John Austin. The Green Egg Yolk tomato and Noir de Pardailhan turnip, rare varieties you probably won’t find elsewhere, were introduced to Watt by farming friends.
Watt plants most of his seeds on his family’s Flytree Farm for a continuous cycle of improvement, selecting for the toughest traits and improving the resilience of the seeds. This year, he’s excited about the new onion crop he stored overwinter in a root cellar.
“Not only has the onion proved to be an exceptionally tasty and fantastic storage onion, but it holds a special place in Homecoming Seeds’ story because it was the first seed crop we planted as a family,” he says.
“My daughter, wife, and parents all seeded these together in a ceremonial planting to initiate Homecoming Seeds. It’s also a variety shared from Ireland, which holds special meaning to our family; the name Buan means ‘long lasting’ in Gaelic.”
It’s an apt meaning, as seeds have long been a symbol of human resilience, sovereignty, and longevity.
“We hope that planting seeds, gardening, and eating these foods can help you feel more connected and grounded in this crazy world,” says Watt. “And, of course, we encourage everyone to share the delicious food you make with your friends, family, and neighbors.”
“Getting outside, growing plants is a great way to get some time moving around in nature, which is such a great antidote to sitting all day staring at our screens,” Ox and Robin’s Enerson says.
“You don’t need pesticides, herbicides, bags of soil mix or fertilizer,” she adds. “Homemade compost, a few seeds, minimal tools, and some water are all you need to get your garden growing.”
This News item by Joslyn McIntyre was written for The Commons.