Seed Saving

Rebecca Bloom and Elizabeth Goodman with Reyna Quintana from Omaha Bryan High School

bout:

• Blooms Organic is certified organic and grows a large variety of annual and perennial flowering plants, herbs, and vegetable starts. Plant sales, restaurant orders, and farmer's markets are the primary outlets for both plant starts and produce, with an emphasis in supplying locally grown vegetables to Omaha restaurants.

• Passionate about seed saving, Blooms Organic prides itself on offering hundreds of different plant varieties not easily accessed through typical markets. Located in the loess hills of Crescent, Iowa Blooms Organic is mindful of caring for their incredibly fertile soil and following the plant life cycle from seed to seedling, mature plant to flowering, and back to seed.

Website/Contact:

• https://www.facebook.com/bloomsorganic/
• rebecca_bloom@hotmail.com

Objectives:

• To examine different types of vegetable operations
• To understand the complete plant cycle and seed saving

Discussion Questions:

• What is the history of seed saving, and why do current agricultural practices rarely continue the plant cycle by saving and replanting seeds?
• How does Blooms Organic compare to other vegetable operations? Seed saving operations?
• How does seed saving work?
• How would you measure the sustainability of Blooms Organic? What could be improved?