Over fifty varieties of tubers offered in the Seed Savers Exchange Yearbook

Over fifty varieties of tubers offered in the Seed Savers Exchange Yearbook

This fall, SSE harvested over 50 varieties of potatoes and will be offering them in the Seed Savers Exchange Yearbook and the online Seed Exchange. SSE has been working for over 20 years to be able to distribute tubers that are virus-free.

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The Heritage Farm Collection: 'Michels' cowpea

The Heritage Farm Collection: 'Michels' cowpea

In 1941, Vince Michels,’ army unit held maneuvers by walking from Ft. Leonard Wood, Missouri to Tennessee.  During this march, Vince noticed they were walking through "a field of something planted with pods."  Vince picked a few pods, and mailed them to his father, Fred Michels, in Earling, Iowa.

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The Heritage Farm Collection: 'Halbert Honey' Watermelon

The Heritage Farm Collection: 'Halbert Honey' Watermelon

This historic variety of watermelon was developed by Mr. H.A. Halbert of Texas and introduced in 1902 by the W. Atlee Burpee seed house. That year, the Burpee catalog described it as “new to the general public” and as a selection by Mr. H. A. Halbert of Texas “who plants for his home trade thirty acres of this original pet of his, each season...”

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The Heritage Farm Collection: 'Grandma Hadley's' Lettuce

The Heritage Farm Collection: 'Grandma Hadley's' Lettuce

As an adult, Pam tried growing many different types of lettuce, but never found anything that worked as well for the wilted salad as her family’s variety.  Pam eventually called Flossie to ask what kind of lettuce they used to grow.  Flossie said she still had seed in the garage (she grew and saved seed from it each year) and put some in the mail for Pam.  When the seed arrived, Pam eagerly planted it and waited for it to germinate.  At that time Pam was living in Arizona, and when it finally sprouted, the “lettuce” looked like grass.  Pam called Flossie, who just about died laughing – she had mistakenly sent Pam grass seed which was on the same shelf as her lettuce seed.

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