This is the time of year when gardeners and farmers start to pore over seed catalogs, searching for the perfect varieties of veggies, flowers, and herbs to plant in the spring. While there’s some of that going on in the Farm Director’s office, we already have certain varieties pre-selected for inclusion in next year’s garden: those from which we saved our own seed!

Chosen for traits including success in our unique growing environment and camper-approved taste, the varieties that we’re bringing back from our own seed stock include Mayflower beans, Cascadia sugar snap peas, Black Cherry tomato, Red Russian kale, and many more. These seeds were collected and put into storage with the help of campers and students, who also had the opportunity to take seeds home with them for their own gardens. The extra seed will be donated to the seed lending library at Sturgis Library in Barnstable, where it will be made available to all members of the community free of charge.

Keep an eye on the Camp website for a new page about seed saving at Burgess Farm — it will be up sometime this winter!