A couple weeks ago the weather became favorable for a decent afternoon ride. We decided to take advantage of that bit of warmth and make it count in two ways. Riding and seeds! Seeds? Exactly that!
Margaret and I have been growing our own vegetables and herbs for over 10 years. The greatest success to our gardens have been due to our choice of seeds. It took awhile to understand that the best seeds are not the ones found in packages at your local garden store. Those seeds could have come from veggies from an entirely different region of the country, from different soil conditions, climate, elevation, etc. Which means their not acclimated to where we live.
We found Homestead Heritage many years ago and have attended seminars there to educate ourselves better about gardening. They grow their own crops and harvest the heirloom seeds from the strongest of the plants each year. This is often referred to as Seed Saving. By saving the strongest of the seeds from your crops the plants will become stronger and more acclimated to your local area based on temperatures, water, soil, and a whole bunch of other factors. If you diversify your crops to include many varieties of tomatoes for example, then you further strengthen the sustainability of your crops. For now we still purchase their seeds but we have begun saving our own with the purpose of eventually completely using our own seeds.
I don't want to turn this site into a political forum but I do want to mention something about seed saving and genetically modified foods (GMO's) since I have written about Healthy Living for Healthy Riding. It's very difficult in our world today, especially in the USA, to eat food that is healthy. I'm not talking about just eating healthy, I'm talking about whether the content of the healthy food you consume is healthy. A company named Monsanto is at the forefront of genetically modified foods. The Institute for Responsible Technology has an excellent write up on why GMO's are bad for you and I included the link instead of trying to explain it all here. There is also a LOT of funding by some of your popular companies such as PepsiCo for example that are strong advocates for the use of GMO's. Purchase a PepsiCo/Frito Lay product and you have become a supporter of Genetically Modified Foods. Congratulations.
What you purchase to eat can be healthy if you take the time to do a bit of research. I want to live a long life and be able to enjoy riding for as long as possible. A wonderful website called Eat Local Grown lists companies that do not use GMO products in their foods. They also list the companies that support GMO's and some products on the shelves associated with those companies for you to avoid.
GMO's are banned in Europe but unfortunately GMO's are still allowed in the US. I think everyone wants to eat healthy, live a long life, and in our case, ride a long life. What you put into your body is a primary factor in that goal which is one of the reasons we purchase our seeds from Homestead Heritage and grow our own garden.
Live Healthy, Ride Longer
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