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| Some friends of mine on a survivalist website posted this link this morning. I'm curious what you all think of what this guy has to say about things. I know what I thought immediately, but I'm curious for other input. :) |
Here is a link that might be useful: Survival Seeds
Follow-Up Postings:
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| For me, there's no way to wade in gently without this turning political. I prefer to keep politics out of my interactions on this website. There are plenty of other places to do it. This is a feel good forum for me and I want to keep it that way. Having said that, good for them for finding a niche in a tough economy! Fear will sell product. I'd love to see a set up where the buyers donate the surplus to food banks. |
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- Posted by dan_staley 5b/S 2b AHS 6-7 (My Page) on Sun, Mar 21, 10 at 12:57
| Uh, oh. I get to offer input! ;o) First of all, they quote WorldNut Daily, which is a big flashing red light, second, they don't vary the seeds by climate zone-long day/short-day, third, their use of fear of government to elicit emotion to persuade is typical of a certain %age of the population I prefer to avoid. And fourth we are unquestionably in decline but we have far too many resources and brains to fall this far. Sure I've thought of the homestead in the mountains near Canada & could do it for a while, but we ourselves don't need this. Our grandchildren may seriously consider it. We shouldn't. We have a minimum of at least a half-century before our paradigm will be inoperative and such a re-ordering will be required. Maybe a century. [/channels ghost of Aldo Leopold] Dan |
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| The sky is falling. Been hearing it for 80 years. Could be true this time. But I am too old to care. KennyP |
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| LOL I guess I should have been more specific up front. I can tell they're survivalist nutjobs, but I was hoping for people's feedback on what this website states about pretty much anything not heirloom being GM, Hybrid plants not setting seed, Heirlooms growing anywhere under any conditions, and foil wrapped seed packets that last 20 years. :D |
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- Posted by dan_staley 5b/S 2b AHS 6-7 (My Page) on Sun, Mar 21, 10 at 15:31
but will allow you to plant the seeds from the plants you grow unlike sterile hybrids. Most seed companies are now selling only "terminator" seeds which have been genetically modified and will not reproduce themselves. Fear and ignorance of botany. In fact, some studies show that these varieties are up to five times as nutritious as hybrid varieties. Hogwash. I'd call it a lie if they didn't seem two spoons short of a picnic. each seed package is sealed in a special foil packet with a very expensive desiccant designed to keep seeds fresh for 20 year Alternatively, you could just save some seed and not worry about it. More fear and ignorance. Yellow Of Parma Onion Ah, for the Idaho crazies. Not for the Ozark isolationists. Fools and their money: soon parted. Dan |
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| Well at least it was worth a laugh! It’s just sad that some people do actually waste their money on scams like this! SUCH A DEAL! ONLY: "$149 Until We Run Out! That's less than half of what everyone else will have to pay when the Survival Seed Bank hits the street. I'm making this "extra" discounted offer because our current customers deserve "first dibs" on something this important." I was way thinkin' "nut jobs" until I got down to the SPECIAL PRICE, and then I almost fell off my chair! Was too stunned to even be laughing at that point! Nut jobs doesn't even begin to describe them! So I did some lookin' up! I (EASILY) found everything they have on their list and could get it ALL for about $65! Maybe I should go into competition with them? I bet they make a lot of money! ~~~ "If you don't have the ability to grow your own food next year, your life may be in danger." Uh! Not worried here! ~~~ "Then, each seed package is sealed in a special foil packet with a very expensive desiccant designed to keep seeds fresh for 20 years at 70 degrees. However, if you freeze your "seed bank" you could increase the shelf life by five times or more beyond that. Uh! If we're going to need the seed by next year because we're starving, uh, why is it we'd want to bury them in the ground for TWENTY years? And, uh, if things are so messed up that there's no food to eat, does anybody REALLY think there's going to be electricity to keep them in the freezer? Very expensive desiccant = silica gel! And, uh, even if you DO dig a hole and bury them in their "special waterproof (practically indestructible) container," most of them aren't gonna be viable after twenty years anyway—but since we'll apparently all be dead by then I guess that doesn't matter too much, When the rodents manage to eat their way into the "practically indestructible" container, they can have a good meal of them! This whole thing is strictly 2 a.m. Infomercial! ~~~ "What will your family eat when grocery store shelves are empty?" Somebody who's never gardened before isn't gonna have a CLUE what to do with their expensive seeds when they get them---even if they could somehow manage to come up with an acre of land (is there a house on this land?) and have a source of water! Do they have a shovel? Hmmm! Farming an acre with a shovel! Hmmmm! And if things are that bad, uh, they just might need an arsenal to hold off all the other hungry people since the "grocery store shelves are empty!" (And they didn't even put in any winter squash—which would be one of the more easily stored things—since there probably won't be any way to can the other stuff!) ~~~ "*Important: We are in a very real "non-hybrid" seed shortage. This means we may have to substitute varieties if supplies become exhausted. All Seedbanks will contain the same amount of ONLY Heirloom seeds, enough to plant a full acre Crisis Garden!" Uh, so all these seeds are in such SHORT SUPPLY that I didn't have any problem at all finding them for sale all over the place, but they're actually gonna send you whatever they have laying around when they ship them! But they'll be heirlooms, whatever it is that you get! ~~~ "For the general public, the price will be a fat $297.00 - no discounts... even to FEMA or military personnel. Take it or leave it." Oh, no! Whatever will FEMA and the Military do when they can't get their seeds for the DISCOUNTED $149??? ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ I buy my seeds by the variety descriptions—some of them are open pollinated and some of them are hybrids. I sure can't tell any difference in germination or growth beyond that caused by year and soil-specific growing conditions—or, with germination, sometimes depending on the seed company! I'm looking for the ones I think taste the best. One of the corns they include in their "survival pack" is a field corn! Bet anybody who grows that is gonna be real surprised when they cook it and take a bite! My brother in Illinois rents the back of his property out to a farmer who grows different things on it, and one year when I was back there at sweet corn time and we had some, the sweet corn wasn't sweet! The farmer was growing field corn that year, and they had apparently crossed. My brother's corn was "almost" as good as store bought sweet corn! (That remark excludes Olathe sweet corn which is packed and shipped in chipped ice, and really IS good!) When it comes to "well sealed" seed lasting 20 years, don't count on it! Some of them would still be viable, and some of them wouldn't. See the link below for an idea of how long you can store many common veggie seeds and still get a reasonable germination. It's not like none of them would grow after that, just that the viability goes down so much it may not be worth the effort to plant them. On the other hand, I, personally, have found that some seeds are viable FAR beyond what the chart says. I have tomato and parsley seed that is WAY past ten years old, and it's always germinated very well for me. With old seeds I recommend "proofing" a few of them in moist paper towel in a baggie before taking the time to plant them outside. Since I took the time to look this up, I'm gonna copy it here—this is where I came up with my $65 for their seed list from! I just copied their list (the ones with the numbers, 1-22, before them, and then I copied info from the different seed sites below each. I already had links to some good heirloom seed sites, and I found some more while I was looking some of these up. If anybody is into heirlooms and would like links to them all, just let me know. There are LOTS of good REAL seed companies to buy from—and you get to pick what YOU want! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 1) Jacob's Cattle Bean – Originally cultivated by the Passamaquoddy Indians in Maine. The standard for baked beans in the Northeast. Plus, great for chili. 200 seeds per Seed Bank. O218 - JACOB’S CATTLE BEAN DRY BEAN 80-100 days - A very old New England favorite that can be used for baking or soup. A beautiful kidney shaped white bean that's speckled with maroon markings. A heavy yielding bush variety! 2) Black Valentine Bean, Stringless - Straight slender dark-green, nearly round pads, stringless at all stages. 16-18 in. plants, hardy, good for early plantings, good shipper, very old heirloom, pre-1850, introduced by seedsman Peter Henderson in 1897. 48 to 70 days. 300 seeds per Seed Bank. 204 - BLACK VALENTINE 67 days - Old heirloom variety first introduced in the 1850's. The dark green, stringless beans are 6 inches long and have exquisite flavor. Our best selling bush bean. Try some! 3)Bountiful Bean - In 1897 Abel Steele of Ferguson, Ontario won a $25.00 prize for naming this new variety from Peter Henderson & Company, previously known as "Green Bush Bean #1." Heavy crops of excellent quality, brittle, stringless 6-7" pods. Productive bush plants grow 16" tall, 47-50 days. 200 seeds per Seed Bank. 4)Cylindra Beet - Uniquely shaped beet that resembles a carrot and produces uniform round slices for eating and processing. Dark-red flesh is free from rings, sweet and easy to peel. Productive in small areas because the roots can grow down instead of out. 46-80 days. 330 seeds per Seed Bank. 5)Early Jersey Wakefield Cabbage - First grown in the U.S. by Francis Brill of Jersey City, New Jersey in 1840. The earliest market variety we offer. Conical, solid, tightly folded heads are 10-15" tall by 5-7" in diameter and weigh 3-4 pounds. Be careful not to plant too close together. 60-75 days from transplant. 300 seeds per Seed Bank. 6) Stowell's Evergreen Corn - The original strain of this variety was bred by Nathaniel Newman Stowell, born May 16, 1793 in New Ipswich, Massachusetts. After years of refining the strain, Nathaniel sold two ears of seed for $4.00 to a friend who agreed to use it only for his private use. His "friend" then turned around and sold the seed for $20,000 and it was introduced to the seed trade in 1848. His variety is still the leading white variety for home gardens and market growers. Ears grow 8-9" long and have 14-20 rows of kernels, 1-2 ears per stalk, holds well. 80-100 days. 250 seeds per Seed Bank. 7) Reid's Yellow Dent Corn - Old-timer, well adapted to Southern heat and soils, vigorous 6 – 7 ft. plant, 9-10 in. double well filled ears,high protein. Developed by James L. Reid in northern Illinois. This late large reddish corn was crossed with an earlier yellow dent to create the modern Reid’s Yellow Dent. 85-110 days. 300 seeds per Seed Bank. 8) White Wonder Cucumber - Introduced in 1893 by W. Atlee Burpee of Philadelphia who obtained the seeds from a customer in western New York. Fruits are 7" long by 2½" in diameter. Ivory-white at slicing stage and ivory-yellow when past maturity. Excellent eating quality, ideal for pickles or slicing, highly productive even in hot weather. 58 days. 90 seeds per Seed Bank. 9) Yellow Of Parma Onion - A top-quality, late-maturing onion with handsome, golden, upright globe-shaped bulbs. Average size is 1 pound. One of the best for storage. Imported from Italy. 110 days from transplant. 1000 seeds per Seed Bank. 10) Giant Nobel Spinach - Large, smooth leaves. Vigorous plant. Plant spreads up to 25 inches. Reliable producer. 45-50 days. 400 seeds per Seed Bank. [They don’t know how to spell Scarlet Nantes!)] 12) Red Salad Bowl Lettuce - Large decorative upright plants with wide leaves that are crisp and delicious. One of our best performers. Beautiful deep-lobed bronze leaves, 6" tall and 14-16" wide plants. Very slow to bolt. Introduced to U.S. gardeners in 1955. Looseleaf, 50 days. 1,750 seeds per Seed Bank. 13) Susan's Red Bibb Lettuce - Upright growth habit. Curled and blistered leaf edges are tinged with red, dark lime-green leaf centers, fairly wide mid-ribs. Mild flavor. Looseleaf, 50-60 days. 1,750 seeds per Seed Bank. 14) Schoon's Hard Shell Melon - Introduced in 1947 by F. H. Woodruff and Sons of Milford, Connecticut. Very hard shell, great shipper. Almost round 6½" fruits weigh 5-8 pounds. Thick apricot-colored flesh, sweet and highly flavored. Excellent for home and market gardens, keeps well. 88-95 days. 175 seeds per Seed Bank. 15) Green Arrow Pea - An English main crop variety, a standard home and market variety. Medium-size vines grow 24-28" tall. Slim pointed pods are 4-5" long and contain 8-11 small deep-green peas. Pods are almost always borne in doubles. Very heavy, reliable production. Shell, 62-70 days. 500 seeds per Seed Bank. 16) Fordhook Giant Chard - Introduced in 1934 by W. Atlee Burpee and Co. Broad dark green heavily crumpled leaves with white veins and stalks. Plants grow 24-28" high with 2½" wide stalks. Abundant crops all season and even after the first light frosts. 50-60 days. 200 seeds per Seed Bank. 17) Druzba Tomato - Bulgarian heirloom first offered by SSE member Carolyn Male. Translates as "friendship." Round 4" fruits are slightly flattened. Heavy set of smooth red fruits. Good flavor, sweet but tart. Indeterminate, 80 days from transplant. 200 seeds per Seed Bank. 18) Golden Treasure Pepper - Excellent Italian heirloom variety. Large tapered fruits are 8-9" long and 2" at the shoulder. Ripens from green to shiny yellow. Sweet medium-thick flesh and tender skin. 80 days from transplant. SWEET 50 seeds per Seed Bank. 19) Jimmy Nardello's Pepper - The seeds for this variety were given to SSE by Jimmy Nardello who lived in Naugatuck, Connecticut until his death in 1983. Mr. Nardello’s mother originally brought the seeds with her when she immigrated to the U.S. in 1887 with her husband Guiseppe. One of the very best for frying. Productive 24" plants are loaded with 10-12" long peppers. 80-90 days from transplant. SWEET. 50 seeds per Seed Bank. 20) French Breakfast Radish - Oblong and blunt, rose-scarlet with a white tip. White, crisp flesh, mildly pungent flavor, top quality. Sow in the spring or fall, pick when small. A garden standard since the 1880s. 30 days from transplant. 900 seeds per Seed Bank. 21) Pink Banana Squash - Cylindrical with tapered blossom end, 18-24 x 5.5-7 in. dia., 10 lbs., hard smooth deep-pink skin, thin brittle rind, solid fiberless yellow-orange flesh, for pies, common in American pioneer gardens. 100-120 days. 40 seeds per Seed Bank. 22) Rossa Bianca Eggplant - Stunning Italian heirloom, beautiful fruits are prized by chefs. Very meaty 4-6" round fruits, mild flavor and almost never bitter. Well suited for all of your cooking needs, great for Eggplant Parmisiana. 80 days from transplant. 50 seeds per seed bank. ROSA BIANCA 70-90 days – A lovely Italian heirloom that bears medium sized, 8 inch, oval fruits. The pink/lavender colored fruits are occasionally shaded with a cream color. Always sweet and mild, with no bitterness. |
Here is a link that might be useful: Storing Vegetable and Flower Seeds
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| Wow, Skybird! That beat the heck out of me, saying "149.00/22 = $6.77/pkt : that's kind of expensive." Bravo, Skybird! My little half a point is that I first saw something about this from a NBC political correspondent! What! Nothing like free nation-wide publicity. It was about a week ago that I looked at this webpage. I bet this guy is doing a land office business given the current tone of public discourse. Steve |
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| LOL, Digit! I REALLY hate to see people get ripped off! Human beings shouldn’t do that to other human beings! Human beings should treat each other with honesty and respect! Uh, can you tell I have an opinion—LOL! And, my $65 estimate is actually way overestimated too since I tried to calculate how much it would cost to get the actual amount of seed they say they send—which doesn’t make much more sense than anything else on that site! Forty squash seeds, fifty pepper seeds, and a THOUSAND onion seeds, and almost TWO THOUSAND lettuce seeds! This is going to be a VERY interesting garden. But they have WAY more of each of most of those seeds than anybody is ever realistically going to need, so if you ordered for a "normal" home garden—or even for an acre size garden—it would be considerably cheaper than $65! I never even thought of your way of dividing them to get a per pack price, Digit! Hey, for the Military and FEMA, and all the other unfortunate folks who don’t get the "discount" price, it’s gonna cost them $13.50 a pack! Such a deal! MzFuzz, I guess we’re all reacting to the site and not to your actual questions. I tried to answer a couple of them at the beginning of my post, but to answer one more of them, no, heirlooms are not going to "grow anywhere under any conditions" anymore than hybrids will. It all depends on where you are, how they’re taken care of, and what specific variety you have. The nice thing about the open pollinated varieties is that you can easily save seed, knowing it will come true in successive years, so you don’t need to keep buying it over and over—if you take the time to save it. And re the foil wrapped packs, I’ve never figured out if or how much difference that makes! Park does package some of their seeds in foil, but I’ve never used enough of it to determine it’s usefulness. Actually! I have some old foil (and non foil) wrapped Park seed down in the basement that’s about 40 years old! (NO! I DON’T throw out seeds!) I’m bettin’ some of it is still good—and some of it isn’t! The one year I did winter sowing I used some of those OLDE seeds—and some of them DID come up. Just depends on the seed. And I’m convinced that for us out here in high-dry-land, seeds last longer than they do in the midwest or other humid areas. There’s no direct correlation with this, but back in Illinois rubber bands disintegrate in a couple years (I have some good ones that are at least 30 years old), paper disintegrates much more quickly, and even fabric deteriorates much more quickly—even mayonnaise in a jar in the fridge turns rancid amazingly quickly. Not really proof of anything, but I just always assumed seeds keep better/longer out here too. Anyway, if you have any other questions about OP/heirloom seeds or packaging, we’ll all try to recover from our tangent and give you a serious answer. REAL seed companies are GOOD things! Skybird |
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| Wow - such great responses! I can't add anything better - but I think Dan's quote sums it up nicely "two spoons short of a picnic". I love it!!! I was wondering about the foil packaging as well - don't think I've seen any seeds packaged that way. That may be the only thing the mention that might have merit ... but, not $149! worth, that's for sure ;^) Thanks Skybird for the info on all those heirloom seed availabilities! |
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| Thanks for your thoughtful response, Skybird. I knew it was a bunch of bunk when I read it too, but I figured you guys would all get a kick out of someone trying to play on people's ignorance. I'm going to be linking this discussion back to my buddy's original post, so hopefully they think about things before they buy. lol |
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| I used to buy some things like Pomona Pectin from an internet outfit that was heavily into doomsday preparations for Y2K. About Dec 2001, they had some pretty awesome sales on case lots of #10 cans of dried, powdered carrots and other bunker food. Slightly off topic, but does anybody know any good recipes for powdered carrots? |
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| That article is a sales pitch! It is over three times the price that it would be from regular seed growers. The zero mile diet kit was running $ 40. Cdn and I regularly obtain a Prairie Farm Collection of seeds for under $30 Cdn. It is a good idea for a family to have a stored seed supply,but using fear to sell seeds is downright shabby. |
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- Posted by dan_staley 5b/S 2b AHS 6-7 (My Page) on Sun, Mar 21, 10 at 23:25
| I have some pepper and onion seed in foil packages, so its done. Just not like this...but I suspect the Idahoans are running short of supplies, need money, and came up with this bright idea. Dan |
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| I just almost had to clean a whole bunch of orange flavored yogurt off of my computer screen, DAVID! That’s what I was eating when I read your reply! Uhhh, about the powdered carrots—if you put them in water, you’ll have REHYDRATED dried carrots! Let’s see! How about some baked rehydrated dried carrots? Or some stewed rehydrated dried carrots? Maybe some fried rehydrated dried carrot patties??? Yum! ;-) I think I’m gonna post the heirloom seed companies I already had and those I found when I was looking up prices. The company names of some of them are listed with the prices I looked up, but this’ll save anybody who’s interested the time of looking for the sites. I’m sure there are more, so others might want to chime in and link more. This first one had almost everything on "that" list, and their prices seemed pretty reasonable. Didn’t check it out any further, but did notice they have a pretty good soil temperature and days to germination chart linked on the bottom! I haven’t really looked at it, but this place has a high altitude seeds section! Organic/untreated seeds Of all the places I looked, this was pretty much the most expensive! I’m probably missing some, but that’s all I see right now looking down my list! Don’t take any wooden nickels—uh—I mean, any wooden seeds, anybody! |
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- Posted by markmahlum (My Page) on Mon, Mar 22, 10 at 11:12
| It' unfortunate that people are so willing to scam others. I personally didn't buy into the 2YK hype although a fellow whom I know buried barrels of provisions that included non-hybrid seeds. Yes Dan, we are in significant (and I fear irreversible) decline. I suspect, however that you and I would have different opinions as to the cause. That said, some catastrophic collapse is highly unlikely, although not impossible. And yes, we are motivated by fear. Our government has in the past and continues to use fear as a tool of manipulation quite well, I think. On the other hand, I think it is prudent to live more like the ant than the grasshopper. I've thought the Mormon teaching along these lines has some merit. Anyway, considering the fact that I have no water (I haul mine), I'm largely dependent upon a functioning infrastructure, in spite of my instinctive self reliance and individualism. Without water, I'd be unable to grow even a cactus. (Hope this wasn't too political.) Mark |
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- Posted by ion_source_guy 5B Fort Collins (My Page) on Wed, Mar 31, 10 at 17:40
| MsFuzz, although a bit off topic, thank you for introducing this issue. It bothers me when I see folks like this seedbank guy using scare tactics to take advantage of those who are not smart enough, or not worldly enough, or not wise enough to recognize the falsehoods and misrepresentations in scams. PT Barnum said "there's a sucker born every minute" but that doesn't make it right to take advantage of them. Such behavior and tactics may be legal, but it's certainly unethical. I doubt this guy believes half of what he printed there. If he did and truly were motivated by his announced altruism, he would be giving the seedpacks away or selling them at a fair price. Whipping up people's fears to ones own advantage is loathsome. That said, I have been dismayed at the recent behaviors of national leaders (of my own political party) who have recently been engaged in just such fear mongering. I'm stunned at some of the things I've heard said on the radio, and even within the capitol building. Granted, we in the USA have a history of this kind of fear mongering within the US government ala Senator Joe McCarthy, but thank goodness the conventional wisdom now accepts that McCarthy was most certainly NOT acting in the best interest of the country, but rather was acting primarily in his own interest in many of his activities. I hope it won't take so long for this recent turn of fear mongering to be seen in a similar light. Moving on, I think we would be remiss if we do not take advantage of the opportunity presented by this discussion to think, and perhaps take action, to help insure that we are all prepared to deal with any temporary collapse of infrastructure. Here in the rocky mountain states, we are blessed with little risk of Tornadoes (at least those of us in or near the mountains), Hurricanes, and earthquakes. However, even though the risk is very low, we should not be ignorant of the possibility of a major volcano (did anyone pay attention to the recent heat up of the Yellowstone super volcano?), or terrorist attacks on power plants or water systems etc. (Has anyone been following these recent arrests of "Christian Militia"? Those wack-jobs scare me nearly as much as Al-qaeda) Have you ever noticed how much we rely on credit cards, which rely on internet to approve purchases? If electric power should go down for 2 weeks, do you have enough cash to last till the system is back up? If the water supply should go down for a week or two, do you have water stored to get by? Like Mark, I look at the Mormon plan and I realize there's some real sense in their ideas about having supplies set aside for a rainy day. How many of you folks have some kind of emergency supplies and cash set aside in case of.......???? Who knows? If you have an emergency kit, what do you have in it? I have some water, and a little cash, but I probably could do a better job of preparedness. What are other SENSIBLE things I should have in my kit? Bruce PS - Skybird, I think you have entirely too much time on your hands. It took a while to read all that, let alone write it! You need a winter hobby! |
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- Posted by markmahlum (My Page) on Wed, Mar 31, 10 at 18:44
| I tend to agree with Franklin, Jefferson and many of the Founding Fathers. The human entity they feared more than any on the planet is the same one I fear most. After all, a monopoly on the the legal use of violence is pretty intimidating. Since this thread began a poll showed that 79% of Americans think the economy could collapse. That's a huge number, although, having been fed fear for years, it's not surprising. Mark |
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| I couldn't help but laugh at that site. I love how they have their "special packaging." My special packaging involves me tossing some beans in a drawer, finding them several years later and sticking them in some dirt. I should start selling seeds. Too bad I'm too lazy to mess with it. |
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| Just a few more open Pollinated seed companys Seeds of Change Peaceful Valley Bountiful Garden Horizon Herbs I agree a fool and his money are soon parted. Gloria |
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| I couldn’t resist bumping this back up again after finding something on the Seeds Trust site! I was looking up info for somebody, and a little box on the side of the screen said: ~~~~~ Well, of course I HAD to check it out further, so I went here to find out about the Bucket of Seeds! MUCH better selection than the expensive ones that started this thread, and $59.95 is a wee tad better than $149.00 (plus $15 shipping!)—not to mention the $297.00 that FEMA and military personnel are going to have to pay! ;-) Then I saw a link on the left side of the Seeds Trust site that said "Reverend Seed," and of course I had to check that out! It went to "Reverend Seed’s Word," the Seeds Trust president’s blog, and I found this post: Share Having extra food and seeds around is something we promote. I’m just not sure it has anything real to do with survival. The thought of being the only family with a bountiful garden in an ocean of hungry neighbors, many of whom own guns, is informative if not somewhat disturbing. Real food security is at best a regional issue. The emergence of modern terms like "foodshed" are evidence of the serious thinking involved in this issue at neighborhood, community and regional levels. We even hear the USDA has grants available now for assessing the food security of each region. We try to encourage everyone who addresses this issue to get involved in finding out where their food comes from. We encourage them to work with others in their "foodshed" to explore the larger issues involved in food security. While important, this doesn’t address the immediate need for something that will make a difference in how people feel now. ~~more~~ I like this company! I think I might need to buy some seed from them next year! I sure hope your friend decided to not waste his money, MsFuzz. Skybird |
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| Hey Sky....Do you still have the link to that product? I'd love to be able to pass it on to the friends who started this whole thing, and give them a good alternative to what they were looking at! I went to your "more" link, and tried to backtrack, but couldn't find what you were talking about. Thanks much! |
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| Click the underlined "here" link, further up, MsFuzz. That takes you directly to the page with the "survival bucket" on it and you can go back to the Seeds Trust homepage--or anywhere else once you're there. If they're gonna buy something like this, it might as well be a decent selection from a real seed company---and at a reasonable price. (I looked down the list of seeds from "that original site" again, and many of them have changed! They're just putting in whatever they can buy in bulk, CHEAP!) Skybird |
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| So I'm on Costco's email list, and received one today for their Emergency Garden Seeds, and other emergency preparedness packages: Food For Health. This reminded me of this thread that was started in 2010, although this is Costco and they aren't making any outlandish claims/predictions. What do you think? I'm still wondering if it wouldn't be just as effective to pick up some seed packets at the end of the season, when they are cheapest, and just keep them until the next year. Then toss them, or use them in your next years garden and purchase some new ones for emergency storage. I suppose if there were some type of global or area catastrophe, having some seeds on hand may be a good idea. Along with water and emergency rations, of course. Marj |
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- Posted by pondgardener 5b (My Page) on Thu, Mar 1, 12 at 11:56
| I had a good laugh at some of the comments on the website. I received some 13 year old tomato seed that my now deceased aunt had squirreled away in a pill bottle from 1999 (maybe she had Y2K concerns). Anyway I started 6 seeds just for fun and got 5 that are just doing great. So much for special desiccant or freezer storage... |
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| Marj, That was quite a thread, wasn't it? I enjoyed re-reading it. I think it's good to be prepared. You have to decide for yourself how prepared you need to be. We've all been through a few blizzards over the years and it's nice to have enough water, food and fuel to weather the storm and not have to go out in it. pondgardener, that's awesome! I hope those turn out to be the best tomatoes you've ever had. Let us know how they turn out! Barb |
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| Posted by colokid . . . Sun, Mar 21, 10 at 13:41 The sky is falling. . . We have the Mayan calendar thing this year, altho', we have Mayan experts wondering why dates that come later are ignored . . . Harold Camping has been predicting the end of the world since 1996, including 2 dates that passed, last year. Harold Camping will be 92 soon. Sun Myung Moon just celebrated his 92nd birthday. I won't mention the denomination but I kind of grew up with the followers of the "Millerite Movement" who had to find something to occupy their communal hysteria after 1844. 1914 was such an important year for some folks. Predictions from about 70 years earlier was that it would be the end and we still have people who think that it was the end . . . just the beginning of the end. Of course, 1914 was the end for a lot of people including those killed in the "War to End All Wars" that began that summer. Before very many more years have passed, everyone on Earth will have been born after 1914. Those post-1914 people will include some who will be picking out new dates for The End of the World. My seed orders were very small this year. The simple fact is that the shelves downstairs are crowded with seed from large orders in 2010 & 2011. Most seed is viable for a few years. Just like Pondgardener has shown by germinating 5/6 from pre-Y2K seed. I save seed from tomatoes, peppers, beans, and 3 or 4 brassicas. Oh yeah, there's the Painted Mountain corn, Highlander millet, Terra Hulless oats . . . the stuff grows, I gather some seed. Not much different the shallots or the perennials that come back every year in our yard . . . Why don't we just have stock and re-stock? What's the big, neurotic deal!! We eat lots of pasta of one sort or another, lots of rice, lots of breakfast cereal, lots of bread - shop for large packages, rotate stock . . . No shopping? I can't imagine that we'd go hungry for an instant over the course of a long month. I did learn something after Y2K: batteries go dead fairly quickly when they are not used. Steve |
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| Ok, I'll play! Fun stiff, Digit! My favorite End of the World happened on April 22, 1959 when I was a junior in high school, sitting in English class--watching the clock as the last few minutes ticked down! No, I didn't remember the exact date--had to google for that! This was in small town Chicago suburbia, and the biggest thing we had going on for the week or two before The End! We were ALL sitting there, "glancing" at each other, and trying not to laugh out loud--even chewing gum got you in big trouble Back Then! I never heard much of what the teacher was saying, but NOBODY heard anything that day! Then the time passed--and life got boring again! In searching for that date I found a site listing "failed" predictions going back to 156 A.D.! Fire, and Brimstone, and Armageddon, oh, my! The Costco site doesn't have all the wacko kinds of stuff as is found on the original site linked on this thread, but as far as I'm concerned, Costco is just trying to cash in on the same fear that all the "survivalist" sites use--just trying to rake in the "overlap" from those types of sites. Just my opinion, guys! Not trying to say anybody else's opinion is any better or worse! Here are the "facts" as I see them! What kind of a "disaster" are we talking about? I'm not talking about The Grid being down for a week, or even a couple weeks! Unless you're gonna EAT them, seeds aren't gonna be any help at all in a situation like that! And keepin' on for even a couple weeks shouldn't be all THAT much of a problem, though I am always amazed by all the people who have to go running out to "stock up" on food when a snow storm is coming! Do these people REALLY not have anything to eat in the house? Canned food, dried beans/rice/pasta, frozen stuff in the freezer, cereal---COOKIES, CANDY! Every time that happens I just don't get it! If food were the only issue, I could EASILY survive more than a month! Might not be happy with what I was eating by the second month, but I wouldn't be starving! Water would run out sooner, but I always have several gallons of potable water around, and while I'd probably get pretty dirty, if I was careful I'd have drinking and cooking water for at least a week or two. Yeah, the milk and bread would be gone--but man does not live by milk and bread alone--or something like that!!! So, let's say we're talking about a REAL disaster! Terrorists somehow manage to disable ALL utilities--with no foreseeable reparations! Seeds! Hmm! Let's hope it's PLANTING TIME right when this happens! Let's hope The Affected Party has some DIRT to plant them in! Let's hope The Affected Party has, at some time in the past, ANY time in the past, planted seeds so they know they don't get buried six inches deep! (NO! I don't believe somebody can "read the booklet" and successfully grow a garden! Most of you around here have TRIED to grow seeds, and how many of you think a Newbie is going to get much out of Their Seeds on their first try? Sixty eight years "after the fact" I STILL have trouble with some of them! ) Let's hope The Affected Party has seeds that are appropriate for their location/climate/zone--not at all likely when you're getting "generic" seed from a place that sells them all over the country. The Costco "collection" has hubbard squash, listed on various sites as between 90 and 120 days! Not too many of us are gonna succeed with that! Let's hope The Affected Party has some way to water them--not at all likely without power since all utilities would be out so there wouldn't be any "city" water, and even folks with a well would be dealing with a "drilled" well--and, uh, I think they're gonna have trouble finding a bucket that they can lower down the shaft and a long enough rope to lower it to get the water out of Said Well! And good luck trying to dig a hand-dug well out here on our end of the world! Even if you're right over an aquifer I think you're gonna need an awfully long ladder to get in and out of it while you're digging it! So unless your dirt happens to be right next to a lake or stream---Poor Seeds! Let's hope The Affected Party has some VERY good system for Defense! When there are power outages in cities even for just a day there's looting and all sorts of mayhem! What are the odds that somebody growing a large, lush garden full of Good Edibles is going to be able to successfully grow that garden to it's "logical conclusion" with mobs of hungry people roaming around in search of whatever they can plunder! Now, let's assume that The Affected Party has ALL of the things they need for their seeds! Right time to plant, long growing season, good soil, lots of water, right seeds--GUNS and AMMUNITION---and 24-hour lookouts! Let's consider The Freakout Factor! If the Whole Country Goes Down, people aren't gonna be sitting around contemplating planting Their Seeds! A few MIGHT, but most are gonna be either running around frantically trying to figure out What to do Next--and that's not too likely to be "planting seeds," which would give them no Immediate Relief at all!, or they're gonna be Playing Ostrich, and hunkering down somewhere they consider to be "safe" in hopes of "sticking it out!" Let's face it! Most of us are Humans--whether we want to admit it or not! With NO communication except human-to-human, mouth-to mouth communication, ALL law and order breaks down! As Digit so aptly pointed out, batteries are a very poor substitute for "power!" Even those folks who might be able to get the Emergency Alert System for a while, assuming the government was able to broadcast, would run out of batteries pretty quickly. Not to mention, what could The Government TELL us in a situation like that--except to Remain Calm! That's helpful!!! Everybody who's addicted to the WWW, including many of us, and anybody who's addicted to their cell phones, especially anybody born within the last 30 years, is going to be going thru some SERIOUS withdrawal! That in itself would be enough to keep many people from even thinking about seeds--when "their" Whole World has just come Crashing Down Around Them! No one is prepared for such a scenario, and there is no way TOO prepare for such a scenario. There's some guy now who's converting old missile silos into luxury "survival homes!" The story has been on the news a couple times lately! So, you buy a multi-million dollar Survival Silo--and you SURVIVE! What do you do, hunker down for the next 10--20 years, during which the ensuing Chaos reigns--all by yourself---in a hole in the ground! Don't know about anybody else around here, but that's NOT my idea of "life," even if I've successfully planted my Seeds and have a Bountiful Harvest of fresh produce! If Yellowstone "goes off" in my lifetime, I hope it's big enough that I Buy It in "the first wave!" I don't want to die slowly by inhaling volcanic dust that cuts my lungs up little by little! If somebody is actually insane enough to drop another atom (or worse) bomb, I hope it's close enough to me to vaporize me! I don't want to die SLOWLY from radiation poisoning! And if the entire U. S. Grid goes down, I don't want to be in a silo--even a luxury one--talking to myself for 10 or 20 years! So, I guess what I'm saying is that Wishful Thinking and a Boxful of Seeds probably isn't gonna be much help if a truly catastrophic situation should develop! BUT, I DO agree with you, Misty, that it's a good idea to have seeds around--for those folks who "normally" garden and would know what to do with them, in case of a Lesser Catastrophe, where there might actually be the possibility of growing your own food--just like many of us do now. But most of us who DO garden already save many seeds, and they're the ones WE picked, and the ones we know are realistic for us to grow in our area. And being olde doesn't necessarily mean they need to be thrown out! The SunGold seeds I plant every year were "packed for '96!" When I went to the Costco site I started to read the "comments!" I was amazed! A whole lot of the people who got the "survival" seeds are planting them already! Huh? Folks having trouble surviving right now? And what are they gonna do when they "need to survive," and all their seeds are used up!!! Loved the one guy who liked it because of "the professionally chosed variety of seeds!" And he lives in an APARTMENT!!! How far do we think he's gonna get with his seeds! Those of us who know what seeds ARE, and what they can do, can select and save seeds far better--and cheaper, on our own, and those who DON'T know what seeds are aren't gonna be helped very much by a "bucket of long-lasting seeds!" IMO! BTW, I checked out the original link---and they STILL have their $149 seeds for sale--the "waterproof seed bank" is FREE---UNTIL THEY RUN OUT! That site is gonna "outlive" most of the survivalists that are buying their seed!!! If you sell it --- they will buy it! Skybird |
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| Skybird - you go, girl! ;^) Yeah, I was surprised Costco was selling the survival seed package. Yah, I just don't know what type of catastrophe would really benefit by having these seed packets on hand - makes much more sense to just be sure you have a few from your own gardening efforts year by year - but that's just a general good sense thing to do, and not necessarily for emergencies! Having canned goods, water, and that type of thing makes more sense for a emergency type of situation, really. Just remembered - 2012 is another Nostradamus prediction for the END! So that explains why Costco is promoting their emergency supplies, I'm sure. We best get ready for more of this type of advertising, there will probably be more to follow!! Marj |
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| I agree with Skybird. I don't pay much attention to all of the money making scams that are offered. I save seeds from much of what I grow. They are from varieties proven to grow here. If a person feels compelled to have some spare seeds stored I understand. But first do a little research and buy what will grow in your area and what you like to eat. I don't store seeds in any special manner. And usually have great germination rates on older seeds. I recently bought some seeds at an auction that were packed in 68&69 and going to see if I can get any germination from them. Basically there will be those who will buy something if offered and even hint of crisis is mentioned if it isn't practical. And businesses take advantage of that. In the end I try to use common sense. Some things we can't control and can't prepare for. Jay |
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| Best part of this whole thread is learning that Skybird keeps her seeds around for decades. |
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