Researching the damage caused by genetically altered
seeds,
and headlines like...
"Industry Aims to Strip Local Control of Food Supply"
helped us decide to take responsibility for our own food
source; and to help others take responsibility for theirs.
So Ommas-Aarden Heirloom Seed was created.
Our ability to grow our own is in jeopardy, and we've got
to get ourselves back to the garden. I searched for a
name that signified an earlier time.
My mother-in-law raised her children on this land and her
grandmother name is Omma, (Dutch for Grandmother) and 'Aarden'
is Dutch for earth.
Ah, - Grandmother's Earth - perfect !
I have saved seeds for the last 20 years. I can certainly
teach others how to do it too. Since I didn't want to
waste my time on nutrient-low foods, I looked up the
healthiest foods and found this site, whfoods.com; it taught me where my energy
should be spent in my own garden. Saving seeds is easier
than you might think ! There were so many seeds when I
harvested, I couldn't possibly use them all, so I thought
I would sell them, and teach people about the nutrition
each variety holds. I designed the seed packet to have
all the information needed to save seed and a little
nutritional information to nourish the mind.
Heirloom seeds come from non-hybrid (open-pollinated)
varieties of vegetables. Growers can save their own seeds
from heirloom seeds, as opposed to most modern hybrids
which produce sterile or unreliable seeds. The term heirloom
is used because the seeds for many of these varieties
were saved by hand for generations. Farmers of the past
dedicated their entire lives to producing seeds for
plants that would grow well in their local area, only to
have them go extinct due to commercial interests. On
average, food travels over 1,000 miles to get to your
plate. 70 to 90% of the food in any store is *GMO !
It's time to turn this around and get local. The more I
learned, the more I knew this was the path for me.
Chemical companies like Monsanto are part of the
pesticide industry and they have been aggressively buying
up seed companies for more than 20 years. I don't want to
rely on them for my seed... I don't know if the seed I
buy from them isn't genetically modified, or hybridized
past the point of healthy. I question what they have done.
I know their priority, and it's not health,
either yours or mine. Large corporations aided and
abetted by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) have
lowered organic standards. We will not stoop that low.
Seeds are treasures and seed diversification is essential
if we are to withstand food viruses such as the one that
caused the Great Potato Famine in Ireland in the 1840s.
With proper storage, most seed can last indefinitely. We
need to take back responsibility for our food source and
our health. Fortunately, this is neither difficult nor
time consuming.
Together we will take back control over nutritional
integrity. It can't get more local than when you grow
your own - from your seed. No more worries about the food
grown for the masses being tainted because when you grow
your own, that concern is remedied. The fresher your food
source, the more nutritious it is. When you grow with
your own seed, you and your family don't have to rely on
anyone to provide something that you can provide yourself.
What seed we don't grow here in Lewis County, New York,
we buy or trade
with other small family organic farms. This is common
practice with smaller seed growers. Pesticides,
fungicides and chemical fertilizers annihilate soil. The
food grown in these conditions isn't healthy. If the
minerals aren't in the soil, they won't be in your food.
We believe heirloom seeds go hand
in hand with organic gardening and organic farming. The
more people know
about how to grow their own food and save seed, the
better.
Nutritional information and seed saving how-to come
with all vegetable seeds that we sell.
Our goal is to offer the best varieties for you to
begin your own seed saving adventure.
We encourage you to save the seeds from individual plants
that meet your standards. We adhere strictly to the Safe
Seed pledge, returning to the earth with seed from an
earlier time, before corporations took control over and
advantage of our food sources.
Ommas-Aarden Heirloom seed.
We must work together to assure the future of our food
source.
Remember -nutritional information and seed saving
instructions comes with all vegetable seeds.
*Genetically Modified
(GMO) seeds are patented and require a license fee and a
contract to use certain pesticides. Some GMO crops are
designed to produce sterile (terminator gene technology)
seeds. GMO seeds mix both plant and animal matter in ways
that nature never intended. Recent studies showed that
GMO crops have 10% lower yields,
and create genocide on the cycle of life.
