So, let's say there is a catastrophic event.
 
Like uh, the world as we know it ends.

Huge. 

Mass destruction everywhere, death, air/water pollution - you know like, in an instant we are thrown back 200 year; literally starting over?
 
Where will you get food when you’ve used up all your goods?  Trust me your stockpile is only going to last so long.
 
You can't plant an MRE.
 
You can't plant a can of beanie -weenies
 
And, you definitely can't plant a bag of flour, sugar, coffee, tea, or anything else for that matter that you have stockpiled.
 
So what’s the answer?

Well to tell you the truth I didn’t know.  That is until I read an article on seed vaults.

Seed vaults?

Yep it appears that while we go about of day living the life oblivious to the world around us, our government and other countries are hording seeds of every make and kinds. 

And why do you think that is?

Uh … because they are smarter than us? 

Nooooo.  Well yeah in a weird kinda way.

The reason?  They are saving under the guise of “preserving’ the seeds. You know like they wished we could have preserved a dinosaur so they can say “this is what a (fill in the blank of the name of a dinosaur - I didn’t pay attention to dinosaur 101 in school) looked like way back when.  
 
It seems there are more and more seed vaults popping up such as the Native Seeds in Tucson, Arizona; the Ambrose Monell Cryo Collection in New York City; the Millennium Seed Bank Project in West Sussex, UK, Wakehurst Place near London; and, the most notorious max daddy of them all; the Svalbard Global Seed Vault tucked on the island of Spitsbergen in the Barents Sea near the Arctic Ocean in the country of Norway (not surprisingly by investors the likes of The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, The Rockefeller Foundation, Monsanto Corporation, Syngenta Foundation, and the Government of Norway – you know, monied people.)

Now I appreciate science as much of the rest of you (not that much really), but to me it sounds a little like … “If something terrible were to happen to our planet, let’s make sure that we have the means to rebuild.” (Just paraphrasing of course)   Which looks noble at first glace until you realize … hey wait they have all the seeds!  See who has the power now?  And I have to admit I have a little authority problem and I just hate someone telling me what I can or can’t do or worse having to ‘ask’ someone for something, ugh!

 So as usual I got to thinking.  How does someone, like me, whose meals have come out of a box, via a drive thru window, delivered to my doorstep or served by a young college student at the local gathering spot even begin to know how to gather seeds?

Lot’s of questions start popping up in my little think tank of a brain.  “I wonder what Katie is wearing to the party Saturday night?”  But I digress. 

Back to seeds.   I wonder, can I save the seeds from the tomato on my hamburger or the cucumber in my salad? Or even from produce I get at the grocery store? 

Well the long and short of it is, you need to know where the seed came from first.  You see, if it came from the local farmers market, there’s a good chance the seeds you would be dealing with are heirloom seeds – you know like granny maw used to plant?  But, the grocery store produce?  Now, that’s a bird of a different color (or whatever the saying is – something about an animal and color). You see, most if not all, produce in grocery stores are grown with hybrid seeds (genetically altered) to make them plumpier (is too a word), juicy and more colorful – which are all pleasing to the eye. Unfortunately, the success rate of these seeds is not the best, and can actually revert back to an earlier variety or not reproduce at all.

Heirloom and hybrid?  

Okay, okay.  Think little white hanky being passed down year after year from one to another – that’s heirloom. 

Now hybrid has a darker side to it involving powerful cartel of seed companies – think Monsanto or Sopranos either works.

So your focus needs to be on heirloom seeds.  Which will be hard to come by unless you get them from a reputable company that sells heirloom seeds or from produce from a local farmer.

But what about the seed packets you get at the store?  Well unfortunately those are consumer products of the cartel er …seed companies.  You know - use and throw away?  The seeds are usually hybrids genetically altered with an inability to reproduce – which means you can’t save the seeds and replant them.  They are actually designed to not grow as many of the produce. So you have to buy more each year. Brilliant marketing!  But what about for us in the future?  Sigh.  Not so good.

So there you have it.  Seeds 101.  Do your homework and start gathering seeds for your own seed vault.

Which seed kind is up to you – I’m kinda leaning towards the heirloom myself.  Just sayin

- Survivor Jane

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