Chris Sanford runs Yonder Hill Farm with Garrett Lauten on the South Shore of Nova Scotia. Her seed journey is deeply anchored in a commitment to regional resilience from working to preserve the local Tancook Island Cabbage to breeding and establishing hardy hazelnut, chestnut, and walnut orchards.

In this episode, Chris shares the logistics of running a small-scale seed farm. We talk about how having backburner crops lets you adapt to the natural rhythms of the farm.Chris reflects on the power of community seed partnerships, highlighting how seed producers can work directly with market gardeners to stabilize and select regional strains.

In the deep dive, Chris and I get into growing eggplant seed. We break down how to plan your fruit harvest and seed extraction to get great germination. And we talk about why patience is a virtue for eggplants.

Enjoy the conversation!

Support the Seed Farmer Podcast https://www.farmerspreadsheetacademy.com//supportpodcast

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Episode links

Yonder Hill Farm website https://yonderhillfarm.ca/

Yonder Hill Farm on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/yonderhillfarm

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Tell me what crops you think I should cover in my summer Seed Farmer school. Fill out this form to let me know: https://forms.gle/sZES93eNahtXi44y7

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Stay in Touch Follow the Seed Farmer on instagram https://www.instagram.com/danbrisebois.farm/

Get my weekly seed newsletter https://www.farmerspreadsheetacademy.com/seeds

Order Tourne-Sol seeds (Canadian orders only) https://fermetournesol.qc.ca/

Get my new book The Seed Farmer https://danbrisebois.com/seedfarmerbook

❤️ Thanks for listening!

I've been encouraging you to go out and find any accidental crosses that might be in your fields. These can be the beginning of exciting breeding projects. But once you've found those very special individuals, what should you do? That's what this minisode is about!

In this episode we get into

• The difference between crossers and selfers • How many crossed up plants you need to start a breeding project • How to grow out your F2 generation tp get the best results • What to do if your crossed up plants want to go in many directions.

Enjoy the show!

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Tell me what crops you think I should cover in my summer Seed Farmer school. Fill out this form to let me know: https://forms.gle/sZES93eNahtXi44y7

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Support the Seed Farmer Podcast https://www.farmerspreadsheetacademy.com//supportpodcast

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Stay in Touch Follow the Seed Farmer on instagram https://www.instagram.com/danbrisebois.farm/

Get my weekly seed newsletter https://www.farmerspreadsheetacademy.com/seeds

Order Tourne-Sol seeds (Canadian orders only) https://fermetournesol.qc.ca/

Get my new book The Seed Farmer https://danbrisebois.com/seedfarmerbook

❤️ Thanks for listening!

Petra stewards Fruition Community Seed Farm with Matthew Goldfarb in the Finger Lakes region of New York. Petra's seed journey began at a young age in her father's garden, harvesting seeds and packing them into homemade seed packets to then share them with others. This early love for the magic of sharing seeds eventually led to founding Fruition.

In this episode, Petra shares the evolution of Fruition from a commercial regional seed company to a community seed farm. We discuss the structural pivot away from running a commercial online business toward a non-commercial gift economy model. Petra shares how they use interactive community storytelling, theater, and Seed Feasts to move past simple transaction-based seed swaps and cultivate collaborative relational seed stewardship instead.

In the deep dive, Petra and I get into two seed crops. First, we talk about breeding the Dulcinea carrot for uniformity and reliability in a market farm. Then, we talk about crossing collards and cabbage to develop Mermaid's Aurora, a gorgeous gene pool of tender greens with kaleidoscopic diversity. We also get into the technical seed production of each crop: growing second year carrots in high tunnels, harvesting seed umbels by hand, and how to thresh carrot seeds. For the brassica cross, we talk about how they harvest first year plants, how they overwinter in a root cellar, and of course how they clean the seeds.

Enjoy the conversation!

Support the Seed Farmer Podcast

https://www.farmerspreadsheetacademy.com//supportpodcast

Episode links

Fruition's Website

https://www.fruitionseeds.com/

Fruition on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/fruition_seeds

Stay in Touch

Follow the Seed Farmer on instagram

https://www.instagram.com/danbrisebois.farm/

Get my weekly seed newsletter

https://www.farmerspreadsheetacademy.com/seeds

Order Tourne-Sol seeds (Canadian orders only)

https://fermetournesol.qc.ca/

Get my new book The Seed Farmer

https://danbrisebois.com/seedfarmerbook

❤️ Thanks for listening!

Have you ever noticed a single red lettuce in a bed of green oakleaf, or a pepper that doesn't look like anything you planted? While some growers see these as mistakes to be culled, they are also opportunities to start a new breeding project.

This minisode is all about hidden treasures, specifically looking for crosses in your fields that could be the start of your next favorite variety.

In this episode, we'll get into…

• Why you should always carry flagging tape and a camera on your field walks

• Telling the difference between a handling mistake and a true cross-pollination event

• Techniques to get your special plants to seed

• How an unexpected cross turned into our own Carrot Bomb pepper

Enjoy the show!

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Support the Seed Farmer Podcast

https://www.farmerspreadsheetacademy.com//supportpodcast

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News links

Use code HARVESTREADY until May 30

for 50% off the Harvest System Designs course

https://www.farmerspreadsheetacademy.com//courses

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Stay in Touch

Follow the Seed Farmer on instagram

https://www.instagram.com/danbrisebois.farm/

Get my weekly seed newsletter

https://www.farmerspreadsheetacademy.com/seeds

Order Tourne-Sol seeds (Canadian orders only)

https://fermetournesol.qc.ca/

Get my new book The Seed Farmer

https://danbrisebois.com/seedfarmerbook

❤️ Thanks for listening!

Fanny Lebrun is the driving force behind Les Marequiers, a Belgian non-profit dedicated to regional food autonomy. Through their flagship program, Semences d'Ici (which translates to Seeds from Here), Fanny works to strengthen the local organic seed sector. Prior to that, Fanny started the seed company Cycle en Terre by herself then built it into a citizen-owned seed cooperative.

In this episode, Fanny shares the logistics and challenges of scaling a seed business from a one-person operation to a ten-person team. We discuss Fanny's transition into Les Marequiers and how she is trying to bridge the information gap from academic research to the practical realities of the farm. We also talk about the organic disease and pest management guide she has recently written.

In the deep dive, Fanny and I talk about growing carrots for seed. We get into the difficulties of growing seed carrots in humid, short-season climates, covering overwintering roots in a simple cellar and how to balance the harvest of primary and secondary umbels.

Enjoy the conversation!

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Support the Seed Farmer Podcast

https://www.farmerspreadsheetacademy.com//supportpodcast

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Episode links

Les Marequiers website

https://lesmarequiers.be/

French organic disease and pest management guide:

Gestion des bioagresseurs en production de semences potagères biologiques.

https://lesmarequiers.be/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/SDI-Dossiers-LesBioagresseurs.pdf

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Use code HARVESTREADY

for 50% off the Harvest System Designs course

https://www.farmerspreadsheetacademy.com//courses

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Stay in Touch

Follow the Seed Farmer on instagram

https://www.instagram.com/danbrisebois.farm/

Get my weekly seed newsletter

https://www.farmerspreadsheetacademy.com/seeds

Order Tourne-Sol seeds (Canadian orders only)

https://fermetournesol.qc.ca/

Get my new book The Seed Farmer

https://danbrisebois.com/seedfarmerbook

❤️ Thanks for listening!

Today, let's talk about how to set you up for successful seed harvests this summer. Taking a little time right now to make sure you have the right tools on hand means you can just head to the field and get those seeds when the weather is right!

Today's minisode is all about

• Setting up your Seed HQ for your summer seed work • Choosing your seed harvest tools • Building field screens • And protecting your lungs and bodies from all the dust and sharp bits

Enjoy the show!

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Use code HARVESTREADY for 50% off the Harvest System Designs course https://www.farmerspreadsheetacademy.com//courses

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Support the Seed Farmer Podcast https://www.farmerspreadsheetacademy.com//supportpodcast

🌱🌱🌱🌱🌱🌱

Stay in Touch Follow the Seed Farmer on instagram https://www.instagram.com/danbrisebois.farm/

Get my weekly seed newsletter https://www.farmerspreadsheetacademy.com/seeds

Order Tourne-Sol seeds (Canadian orders only) https://fermetournesol.qc.ca/

Get my new book The Seed Farmer https://danbrisebois.com/seedfarmerbook

❤️ Thanks for listening!

Josh Volk runs Cully Neighborhood Farm on a one-acre lot in Portland, Oregon, where he grows vegetables for a CSA. Josh also operates Slow Hand Farm, where he helps grow market gardens and community through his writing and technical support. He is the author of Compact Farms and Build Your Own Farm Tools. Across all his work, Josh brings an engineering mindset to farming.

In this episode, Josh explains how he integrates seed production into a busy market garden and grows seed mainly for his own use. Josh tells us how he determines what crops to keep for seed. We discuss Josh's "lazy" approach to growing seed which includes natural selection rather than intentional roguing, getting seed clean enough but not perfect, and embracing genetic diversity instead of trying to avoid all cross pollination.

In the deep dive, Josh and I talk about growing fava beans for seed. We get into fall-sown versus spring-sown crops, selecting for cold hardiness, and threshing using a vintage roller thresher. We also talk a lot about bean weevils.

Enjoy the conversation!

Support the Seed Farmer Podcast https://www.farmerspreadsheetacademy.com//supportpodcast

Episode links

Slow Hand Farm website https://slowhandfarm.com/

Slow Hand Farm on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/slowhandfarm/

Cully Neighborhood Farm website https://cullyneighborhoodfarm.com/

News links

May 21 Open House quarterly seed call https://seedalliance.org/events/virtual-open-house-quarterly-call-2/

Stay in Touch Follow the Seed Farmer on instagram https://www.instagram.com/danbrisebois.farm/

Get my weekly seed newsletter https://www.farmerspreadsheetacademy.com/seeds

Order Tourne-Sol seeds (Canadian orders only) https://fermetournesol.qc.ca/

Get my new book The Seed Farmer https://danbrisebois.com/seedfarmerbook

❤️ Thanks for listening!

Have you been feeling scared to keep the seeds from your crops? Have those seed books with their 1 to 2 mile isolation distances gotten you down? This minisode is all about how to cheat those formal isolation distances and still harvest seed that works for your farm.

In this episode we get into

• The four main isolation crop groups and what distances you can get away with

• How to create physical barriers are your farm to grow things even closer

• What crops you can grow in easy to make isolation cages

Of course, it wouldn't be a Seed Farmer episode if we didn't get into how a little bit of crossing is a good thing.

Enjoy the minisode!

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Support the Seed Farmer Podcast

https://www.farmerspreadsheetacademy.com//supportpodcast

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News links

June 18 webinar: Breeding to Purple: Crossing & Selecting Brassicas

https://farmfolkcityfolk.ca/event/breeding-to-purple-crossing-selecting-brassicas/

Watch the Seed Farmer book promo video

https://youtu.be/liHQmUz227E

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Stay in Touch

Follow the Seed Farmer on instagram

https://www.instagram.com/danbrisebois.farm/

Get my weekly seed newsletter

https://www.farmerspreadsheetacademy.com/seeds

Order Tourne-Sol seeds (Canadian orders only)

https://fermetournesol.qc.ca/

Get my new book The Seed Farmer

https://danbrisebois.com/seedfarmerbook

❤️ Thanks for listening!

Mélanie Ouellette runs the Ottawa Wildflower Seed Library from her home in Orleans, Ontario. This all began when she asked "What's preventing people from growing native plants in our region?"

In this episode, Mélanie shares the logistics of how the Ottawa Wildflower Seed Library works. How hundreds of volunteers harvest the seeds, pack seed packs, fulfill orders, and attend events to distribute the seeds to gardeners. We talk about the importance of genetic diversity, the difference between straight species and cultivars, and the importance of reciprocity in community stewardship.

In the deep dive, Mélanie and I focus on growing swamp milkweed for seed. We explore how it is a host plant for monarch butterflies, the technical nuances of harvesting and cleaning milkweed's fluffy seeds, and the importance of cold-moist stratification to ensure successful germination.

Enjoy the conversation!

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Support the Seed Farmer Podcast https://www.farmerspreadsheetacademy.com//supportpodcast

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Episode links Ottawa Wildflower Seed Library website https://wildflowerseedlibrary.ca/

Ottawa Wildflower Seed Library on Instangram https://www.instagram.com/ottawawildflower/

Ottawa Wildflower Seed Library Facebook Group https://www.facebook.com/share/g/1CV6G1cvGY/

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May 16: Seed Library Conference: Sustaining a Seed Library https://givebutter.com/sustaining-a-seed-library?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email

Register for the Harvest System Design Course https://www.farmerspreadsheetacademy.com//harvestsystems

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Stay in Touch Follow the Seed Farmer on instagram https://www.instagram.com/danbrisebois.farm/

Get my weekly seed newsletter https://www.farmerspreadsheetacademy.com/seeds

Order Tourne-Sol seeds (Canadian orders only) https://fermetournesol.qc.ca/

Get my new book The Seed Farmer https://danbrisebois.com/seedfarmerbook

❤️ Thanks for listening!

Today's minisode is all about getting ready for the season- farm photo season, that is!

Whether you want good visuals for the crops on your online store, or you want to document your breeding selections, or you're writing up standard operating procedures for your crew; having the right images makes all the difference.

Those pictures don't happen by themselves, you need a Farm Picture Plan!

In this episode, we'll get into…

• How to use your photo archives to understand your farm

• Figuring out what pictures you'll wish you had this fall

• Setting up your Picture Plan spreadsheet

• Tips for making sure you actually take the shots you need

Enjoy the minisode!

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Support the Seed Farmer Podcast

https://www.farmerspreadsheetacademy.com//supportpodcast

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News links

Tourne-Sol's new sweet corn variety

https://www.instagram.com/p/DWlyiE4jlvm/?img_index=1

Register for the Harvest System Design Course

https://www.farmerspreadsheetacademy.com//harvestsystems

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Stay in Touch

Follow the Seed Farmer on instagram

https://www.instagram.com/danbrisebois.farm/

Get my weekly seed newsletter

https://www.farmerspreadsheetacademy.com/seeds

Order Tourne-Sol seeds (Canadian orders only)

https://fermetournesol.qc.ca/

Get my new book The Seed Farmer

https://danbrisebois.com/seedfarmerbook

❤️ Thanks for listening!