In almost every interview on The Seed Farmer, my guests and I wind up talking about tools. And one tool that podcast guests have mentioned more than any other tool is the Winnow Wizard. We use the Winnow Wizard at Torne-Sol Farm to clean seeds, so I understand the love that folks have for this machine. But I really wasn't expecting it for it to just keep coming back, interview after interview. And since it has kept coming back, I thought we should spend some time with the person who designed the seed cleaning machine, Mark Luterra. Mark currently works at Adaptive Seeds in Sweet Home, Oregon, but he started his seed journey at Wild Garden Seed, where he designed and built the first Winnow Wizard to make his seed cleaning days easier. He then went on to build another 104 machines that have been shipped all over the U.S. and Canada. He's now transferred production of the Winnow Wizard to Oppen Works in Wisconsin. In today's episode, Mark tells us what the Winnow Wizard does and how it works, and we do a deep dive into seed cleaning. And of course, the Winnow Wizard plays the key part in the seed cleaning stories, but Mark also explains how seed harvest and screening are equally important steps to get your seed clean. Mark also reveals some secrets of using a shop vac for seed cleaning. During the discussion, we go through four seed cleaning scenarios and how Mark would tackle each of them. Mark then wraps up the conversation by telling us about his next seed project aimed at small-scale seed farmers.

Follow Mark on Instagram and check out his Substack

Follow Dan on Instagram, get his newsletter, & follow Tourne-Sol Cooperative Farm

PRE-ORDER Dan's new book, The Seed Farmer, from notillgrowers.com

Folks who support The Seed Farmer Podcast

The goal of the Culinary Breeding Network is to improve communication between plant breeders, seed growers, farmers, chefs, produce buyers and others to improve quality in vegetables, fruits and grains. Learn more and check out upcoming events!

Are you a farmer looking for educational resources in Canada? Check out Young Agrarians! They are a farmer-to-farmer educational resource network for new and young ecological, organic, and regenerative farmers.

This February, join thousands of farmers like you from across the U.S. for three days of community building and farmer-led learning at the 36th annual Marbleseed Organic Farming Conference in La Crosse, Wisconsin.

Truelove Seeds is a farm-based seed company offering culturally important and open pollinated vegetable, herb, and flower seeds. Check out their podcast, Seeds & Their People, wherever you're listening to The Seed Farmer Podcast!

Kim Delaney farms with Aaron Lyons and Stephen Surgenessie at Hawthorn Farm Organic Seeds in Mount Forest, Ontario. They grow certified organic seeds on two farm sites for their online store and to distribute through Seedy Saturdays and through their wholesale seed rack program. In this episode, Kim discusses how she began her seed journey working in tall grass prairie restoration and how that blossomed into growing and selling vegetable, flower, and herb seeds. Kim also talks about how she has established and manages wild collection areas on her farm to harvest seed for wild bergamot, black-eyed Susan, milkweed, prairie grasses, and other plants. Kim explains how Hawthorn has worked with local farmers to grow seed on their farms as part of a transition town project where market growers grow the seed crop and Hawthorne would harvest and clean the seed. We discuss Kim's vision of what that could look like as a cross-country project. Kim also describes some of the seed infrastructure they've set up at Hawthorn including a seed dryer in a shipping container and a DIY air column. For this episode's technical section, Kim talks about growing and harvesting seeds from two native prairie grasses, Indian grass and blue stem grass.

Follow Hawthorn Farm Organic Seeds on Instagram & check out their website

Follow Dan on Instagram, get his newsletter, & follow Tourne-Sol Cooperative Farm

PRE-ORDER Dan's new book, The Seed Farmer, from notillgrowers.com

Mentioned in the show…

The Organic Seed Grower by John Navazio

The Organic Seed Alliance

Real Seeds (UK) DIY seed cleaner

The Winnow Wizard

Folks who support The Seed Farmer Podcast

The goal of the Culinary Breeding Network is to improve communication between plant breeders, seed growers, farmers, chefs, produce buyers and others to improve quality in vegetables, fruits and grains. Learn more and check out upcoming events!

Are you a farmer looking for educational resources in Canada? Check out Young Agrarians! They are a farmer-to-farmer educational resource network for new and young ecological, organic, and regenerative farmers.

This February, join thousands of farmers like you from across the U.S. for three days of community building and farmer-led learning at the 36th annual Marbleseed Organic Farming Conference in La Crosse, Wisconsin.

Truelove Seeds is a farm-based seed company offering culturally important and open pollinated vegetable, herb, and flower seeds. Check out their podcast, Seeds & Their People, wherever you're listening to The Seed Farmer Podcast!

Dan Brisebois here, seed grower at Tourne-Sol Co-operative Farm, spreadsheet crop-planning enthusiast, and also host of The Seed Farmer Podcast. Wait... The Seed Farmer Podcast? Isn't this The Seed Growers Podcast feed? Well, you are right - but let me tell you why there is going to be a name change...

Mentioned in the show...

The Farmer Spreadsheet Academy

Order The Seed Farmer: A Complete Guide to Growing, Using, and Selling Your Own Seeds from notillgrowers.com to support the podcast

Canadian growers, get it directly from the author at... https://boutique.fermetournesol.qc.ca/en/products/the-seed-farmer

Stay tuned for the first episode of season two, coming August 21st, wherever you get your seedy podcasts.

You can plan for growing seed in as little or as much detail as you can plan for growing any other crop. Up until now, I've been encouraging you to slow down and take it easy. Start your seed growing small and learn from it. Don't worry about the details too much. But eventually, when you start feeling more comfortable growing seed, you're going to want to plan your seed crops more precisely.

This is the 5th and final weekly episode of a mini-series all about the basics you need to know so you can plan your first seed crop for the coming growing season.

I would love to know how you like these mini-episodes. Send me a DM or an email to tell me what you think - is this a format you'd like me to repeat in the future?

Mentioned in the show...

Seed Q&A Workshop on April 20

Crop Plan Template

Ask a question for future Seed Growers episodes

Dan's list of Seed Grower Resources

Follow Dan Brisebois on Instagram

The Seed Growers Podcast is produced, in part, by No-Till Growers

No-Till Growers is powered by the folks who support it every month over at patreon.com/notillgrowers, you can also pick up a copy of The Living Soil Handbook if you don't have one already, as well as a No-Till Growers hat, and you can ask you questions or share your insights into ecological market gardening on the brand new growers forum at notillgrowers.community.chat

What seed will you harvest this summer from your market garden?

In episodes 1-3 of this miniseries, we've talked about some key considerations for growing seed. We've discussed open pollinated and hybrid varieties. Selfer and crosser crops. Annual and biennial plant life cycles. Now, let's look at what crops you're actually growing for market or CSA or wholesale and let's see which of those crops would be great first seed crops.

This is the 4th of 5 weekly mini-episodes all about the basics you need to know so you can plan your first seed crop for the coming growing season.

I would love to know how you like these mini-episodes. Send me a DM or an email to tell me what you think - is this a format you'd like me to repeat in the future?

Mentioned in the show...

GUIDE SUR LA PRODUCTION DE SEMENCES À LA FERME

Ask a question for future Seed Growers episodes

Dan's list of Seed Grower Resources

Follow Dan Brisebois on Instagram

The Seed Growers Podcast is produced, in part, by No-Till Growers

No-Till Growers is powered by the folks who support it every month over at patreon.com/notillgrowers, you can also pick up a copy of The Living Soil Handbook if you don't have one already, as well as a No-Till Growers hat, and you can ask you questions or share your insights into ecological market gardening on the brand new growers forum at notillgrowers.community.chat

Have you ever had that perfect bed of lettuce in the field and a few days before you're going to cut it for market, you discover that the stems have all bolted, the lettuce has gone bitter, and you think to yourself "I should really be a seed grower?" But, once you're trying to harvest that seed, you're getting awfully close to the rainy days of autumn and your lettuce has barely begun to bolt, you're thinking, "I should have cut this lettuce and sent it to market!!!" If you want to reliably grow seeds, you need to align your farming systems to respect your plant's life cycles.

This is the third of 5 weekly mini-episodes all about the basics you need to know so you can plan your first seed crop for the coming growing season.

Mentioned in the show...

Ask a question for future Seed Growers episodes

Dan's list of Seed Grower Resources

Follow Dan Brisebois on Instagram

The Seed Growers Podcast is produced, in part, by No-Till Growers

No-Till Growers is powered by the folks who support it every month over at patreon.com/notillgrowers, you can also pick up a copy of The Living Soil Handbook if you don't have one already, as well as a No-Till Growers hat, and you can ask you questions or share your insights into ecological market gardening on the brand new growers forum at notillgrowers.community.chat

Are you afraid to keep your own seed on your farm? Does the terror of cross-pollination keep you up at night? Are you worried that any seed you kept would unleash legions of unruly crossed-up mutant plants onto your market gardens and that there would be no turning back the ensuing chaos? Let me put your mind to rest. It's not that dire.

This is the second of 5 weekly mini-episodes all about the basics you need to know so you can plan your first seed crop for the coming growing season.

Mentioned in the show...

Take Podcast Host Natalie's Survey!

Ask a question for future Seed Growers episodes

Dan's list of Seed Grower Resources

Follow Dan Brisebois on Instagram

The Seed Growers Podcast is produced, in part, by No-Till Growers

No-Till Growers is powered by the folks who support it every month over at patreon.com/notillgrowers, you can also pick up a copy of The Living Soil Handbook if you don't have one already, as well as a No-Till Growers hat, and you can ask you questions or share your insights into ecological market gardening on the brand new growers forum at notillgrowers.community.chat

You can grow seed on your farm. And it's easier than you think.

This is the first of 5 mini-episodes to get ready for the season 2 of The Seed Growers Podcast. Today's episode is about getting into the mindset for your first seed crop. By starting small and taking your time, there is a greater chance that seed growing seems realistic on your farm and that you persist and develop your seed skills. This is how you become a cornerstone in a resilient seed and farming community system.

Ask a question for future episodes

Dan's list of Seed Grower Resources

Follow Dan Brisebois on Instagram

The Seed Growers Podcast is produced, in part, by No-Till Growers

No-Till Growers is powered by the folks who support it every month over at patreon.com/notillgrowers, you can also pick up a copy of The Living Soil Handbook if you don't have one already, as well as a No-Till Growers hat, and you can ask you questions or share your insights into ecological market gardening on the brand new growers forum at notillgrowers.community.chat

Chris & Owen are the founders of Truelove Seeds,a Philadelphia, PA farm-based seed company offering seeds grown by 70+ small scale urban and rural growers. They discuss their seed stories, how they came to be seedkeepers (and how they intentionally use that word), and Truelove's network of seed growers and how they support the growing of culturally important seed. They also talk about the difference between technology and technique when harvesting and cleaning seed. For the technical breakdown, Chris talks about growing and harvesting crowder peas and Owen talks about cucuzza bottle gourd seed.

Truelove Seeds

https://trueloveseeds.com/

https://www.instagram.com/seedkeeping/

https://www.patreon.com/trueloveseeds

Seeds and Their People Podcast

https://trueloveseeds.com/blogs/satpradio

Sankofa Community Farm at Bartram's Garden

https://www.bartramsgarden.org/farm/

Please TAKE THIS SURVEY to tell Dan what you think of The Seed Growers Podcast and what you want to hear in season 2! Dan's Collection of Seed Saving Resources

The Organic Seed Alliance, a US-based nonprofit that advances ethical seed solutions to meet food and farming needs in a changing world. Join the community at organicseedcommons.org

The Bauta Family Initiative on Canadian Seed Security, producers of the Seed Heads Podcast, works in partnership with organic and agro-ecological seed producers and farmers to advance agricultural biodiversity across Canada.

and No-Till Growers. Check out some of our other podcasts and the No-Till Growers YouTube channel with over 400 videos, order a copy of The Living Soil Handbook, and sustain our mission of keeping our work free for growers everywhere by supporting it on Patreon.

Robin Tunnicliffe grows seeds and veg at Sea Bluff Farm in BC, Canada. She is also one of the co-owners of Saanich Organics Marketing Cooperative. Robin talks about how she selects veg for seed from a 10 acre farm and transplants them into a 1/4 acre seed plot, coordinating seed production and sales through the cooperative, her love of seed and farming conferences, and her work with the BC Eco Seed Cooperative, a 20+ member seed coop. For the technical breakdowns, she dives into brassica greens and Swiss chard.

Also mentioned in the show... All the Dirt (book) The Sucky Seed Separator Please TAKE THIS SURVEY to tell Dan what you think of The Seed Growers Podcast and what you want to hear in season 2!

Dan's Collection of Seed Saving Resources

The Organic Seed Alliance, a US-based nonprofit that advances ethical seed solutions to meet food and farming needs in a changing world. Join the community at organicseedcommons.org

The Bauta Family Initiative on Canadian Seed Security, producers of the Seed Heads Podcast, works in partnership with organic and agro-ecological seed producers and farmers to advance agricultural biodiversity across Canada.

and No-Till Growers. Check out some of our other podcasts and the No-Till Growers YouTube channel with over 400 videos, order a copy of The Living Soil Handbook, and sustain our mission of keeping our work free for growers everywhere by supporting it on Patreon.