Heirloom Seeds

Dawn Morden | May 11, 2016

By Dawn Morden, the Mountain Grove Seed Company

Seeds are alive. As they grow, they are constantly adapting to their surroundings. Seeds were traditionally passed from generation to generation as a means to survival. Each generation would select the healthiest, strongest, most fruitful plants, the ones that survived, and save their seeds.

There is no definitive definition for an heirloom seed. They are old seeds, which were passed down from generation to generation. They are pollinated by insects or the wind.

Heirloom vegetables come in many different shapes, sizes and colours. Round carrots, pink celery, lobed tomatoes or white beets. Most heirlooms are more nutritious than store bought ones, and different colours contain different vitamins. If you grow heirloooms, their seeds can be saved so that you can grow them again.

Garden seeds have evolved from wild plants. They were picked and planted again. The plants with desirable characteristics were used and grown again, slowly changing the way that the plants grew. The wild grain that is wheat had kernels that would ripen a few at a time. As people picked them, they were selecting seed for the timing when it would ripen. Gradually, more kernels on each blade of wheat were ripe for picking, at the same time.

This is how our food has evolved. Heirloom seeds are centuries of work from the past, and are the security of our future. Each seed is a legacy. Some come with stories. Here are a few of these stories.

1500-Year-Old Cave Bean. This bean has a very old story. The original seed was found in a cave, in New Mexico. It was carbon dated to 1500 years old. The Cave Bean is an ancestor of the Anasazi Bean. It is a green pole bean that grows on 10-foot long vines.

Noires des Carmes Melon. This melon has a treasured history. It was grown in sixteenth century France and has been preserved in France by the Carmelite Monks since 1787. The melon is fragrant, juicy and four inches round. Its skin turns near black when ripe, and it has also been called the Black Rock Melon.

Cherokee Trail of Tears Bean. This bean has a story of persecution and sorrow, and is part of our history in North America. It is a bean given to us by the Cherokee people. In the winter of 1838, they were driven from their homeland in Tennessee and forced to relocate in Oklahoma. Over 4000 people died. The path that they walked on, and shed many tears, was later named the Trail of Tears. They carried these bean seeds with them as they walked.

Stowell's Evergreen Sweet Corn. In this corn lies a story of extreme greed. In 1848 Nathanial Stowell cross pollinated a flour corn with an Iroquois sugar corn, to produce his own variety of corn. He was from Massachusetts. He reluctantly sold his friend two ears for four dollars with a promise that his friend would only grow it for himself to eat. His friend then sold the corn to a seed company for $20,000. It was a popular variety when it was introduced by the seed company in 1856.

Deseronto Bean. This bean has origins close to home, but has lost its story. It is an old bean from the Tyendinaga reserve. It is a delicious fresh green bean, and its dried beans are plump, white and smooth. It is very productive regardless of the weather each season.

Red Fig Tomato. This tomato has a story of sustenance. It originated in Italy during the sixteenth century. It was picked whole and dried the same way that figs are, for eating throughout the year. It is a pear shaped red cherry tomato that also tastes good fresh. They really do dry whole; they do not get mouldy.

Montreal Melon. This melon has a rich history. Brought to Montreal by French settlers, and grown along the St. Lawrence River, it became a famous culinary delicacy. Melons were sold to hotels and restaurants in the US where there was a high demand, as it was resold for up to $1.00 per slice. By 1907 it was so profitable that some Montreal farmers hired armed guards to protect their fields. It was extinct by the 1920s but in 1995, a few seeds were found at the US department of agriculture. A green fleshed cantaloupe with an average weight of 12 lbs.

Jimmy's White Lake Bean. This bean has an intriguing story to tell. It comes from the White Lake area, near Almonte. Some friends moved to White Lake. They bought some green beans at a local farm stand. They asked the farmer where else they could buy those beans. He said you don't buy them, you grow them, and he gave them some seeds. His name was Jimmy.

There are thousands of varieties of heirloom seeds, every vegetable you can think of, some with stories and some have long lost their stories. Many heirlooms have been lost. Varieties that people can remember can't be found anywhere, to grow again. As these varieities become extinct, so does the genetic diversity of our food. In 1981, there were approximately 350 different kinds of garden peas available from seed companies, by 2004, there were only about 200. There were over 130 varieties of celery available in 1981, but only 70 by 2004. Over half of the varieties of vegetables, even today, are grown and sold by only one seed company in North America. This puts them at high risk for becoming extinct. Each gardener should adapt at least one thing that they love, and save the seeds from it, forever. Keep growing it and saving your seeds. Share your seeds with your friends and neighbours. Keep the legacy alive.

The Mountain Grove Seed Company has collected, and is collecting local heirloom seeds, local historic seeds. Our area has many things that were grown by grandparents and other relatives. These are our special heirlooms. So far the collection includes asparagus, chives, dill, sweet william and sweet peas. The bonny best tomato was grown in the Parham area in the early 1900s. Our original seeds were not from the area, but now have been grown here for the past twelve years. If you have any special family heirloom seeds that you would like to be included with our collection of local historic seeds, or any information about what varieties of vegetables that your ancestors grew, let us know. You can contact us on facebook (Mountain Grove Seed Company), or by email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.. If you are interested in learning about saving seeds, there will be a seed saving workshop at the Sharbot Lake Farmer's Market on Saturday June 11, 2016.