Long term food storage means more than just a few weeks. We believe it is advisable to think in terms of a one year food supply. While this may seem like alot, this was normal life several decades ago. One never knew what the harvest might bring, and so it was common for people to stock up with a year’s supply. Many people fail to recognize the first and most basic level of food storage – seeds. When we’re talking about a year’s supply, that opens the door to growing some food during that appropriate season. Right now is a good time to assess your seed supply and for starters, we need to think about what kind of seed to purchase. Here are several important points to keep in mind.
First, the issue of GMO vs. Non GMO. Although some are touting the benefits of GMO, there are several concerns, including the problem that GMO would generally not produce viable seed. In other words, you would need to purchase more seed for the next season. On the other hand, if you purchase non GMO and non hybridized seed, you will be able to save your own seed for future planting – a much better option in terms of long term food storage. Another concern relates to health hazards of GMO seeds, but we won’t get into that subject here.
So where would we turn to find non-hybridized and non-GMO seeds? Perhaps the best source book is the Garden Seed Inventory. Along with helping the gardener find the beset varieties suited for a specific climate, the Garden Seed Inventory also identifies varieties which are both non-GMO and non-hybridized, as well as sources for purchasing the seeds. This great resource is published by the Seed Savers Exchange, a nonprofit organization founded in 1975 by Kent and Diane Whealy. Seed Savers now has nearly 8,000 members around the world, committed to preserving high quality seed.
Seeds are compact, and relatively inexpensive in terms of the food they will produce. For these reasons, a good supply of seeds is the first place to start in establishing your long term food supply.
Tags: long term food storage
January 30th, 2009 at 2:04 pm
You can find free detailed seed saving instructions on the website of this 20 year-old non-profit dedicated to seed saving:
http://www.seedsave.org/issi/issi_904.html