Seed Saving

Reason No 85

Seed Saving  Plan on acreage to grow just for seeds!

I am a strong believer in saving seeds to use year after year. I plant spinach each year from a packet I bought in 2009. I allowed just a small row, 5-10 plants to go to seed each year and then dried them. 

This kept me in spinach seed for over 10 years!  I know spinach seeds aren't that expensive but year after year, I saved some money. 

Now - doing this on a large scale is reason no 85 for a farm.

Check out Modern Farmers Seed Saving 101 for some insight.

 While gardening does allow seed saving from year to year, I would like to take it to another level. Each year, I would put aside an acre (or 1/2 an acre, depending on the size of the farm) and only grow plants that are left to go to seed. Some plants create seeds in their second year, carrots, flax, etc, While lettuce, spinach, radish, beans, and oh so many more, etc... provide a yearly seed bounty.
 

Drying and curing is necessary but I think setting aside a portion of the property to "grow seeds" would save a large amount in seed costs.