From being planted to arriving at your doorstep, follow a seed's journey at Seed Savers Exchange.
Follow a seed's journey at Seed Savers Exchange in Decorah -- from when it's planted in the ground to when it arrives in a packet on your doorstep.
Transcript
[Charity Nebbe]For gardeners, getting seed catalogs inthe mail is like Christmas morning.
It kicks off a period of scheming and dreaming in the off season, plotting out what plants you're going to grow in the coming months.
For those behind the catalog, though, the work is year round.
Seed Savers Exchange is a nonprofit based in Decorah that preserves, grows and sells heirloom seeds to gardeners across the world.
It's the largest nongovernmental seed bank in the country, and for more than 50 years, it's stewarded the familiar life cycle of growing, harvesting, processing and saving seeds.
Here's a look at how they do it.
Each spring, about 600 varieties are planted on site in Decorah in one of eight gardens.
Plants that are grown out are selected for one of three reasons distribution, evaluation, or to simply maintain viability.
Unlike other gardens, most vegetables and fruits at the Seed Savers Exchange Heritage Farm aren't grown for consumption.
Their purpose is to provide for more seeds so others can enjoy them.
Once they're ready for harvest t he farm team will collect all of the fruits and vegetables to begin the process of saving the seeds.
[Corbin Scholz] It's the first week of September, so we are heavy in harvesting and processing season.
The majority of the seeds that we're growing and saving are actually for our seed bank.
We're also growing for our catalogs.
[Nebbe] Some seeds, like those of tomatoes, require a brief fermentation process and need to be rinsed before they're saved.
Other seeds, like beans, are threshed through a machine for easier sorting.
Seeds also go through a winnowing stage to eliminate debris and other non-viable waste.
After they're dried and sorted, they go through a process to test for germination and moisture content before being packed away into storage.
There are different freezers and walk in refrigerators throughout Seed Savers Exchange that are used for different purposes and storage durations.
[Briana Smorstad] So in this room of the seed bank, we have over 5000 varieties that we're storing at about 50°F.
And many of the packets in here we use for distribution so that we can share these seeds with the public and get these seeds into people's hands so that they can grow and enjoy them.
[Nebbe ] The seeds featured in the catalog that are available for purchase are then packaged and weighed before being shipped out.
Finally, the best part the seeds are in your hands where they're ready to be grown again in your own garden.
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