… and we are temporarily not accepting new orders as we focus on filling existing orders.” That’s the online message posted on the Seed Savers Exchange website March 27. The heritage seed organization is rushing to reopen new-order acceptance as soon as possible.
April 8, 2020 By Jerry Carlson — Garden seed firms across America are experiencing a run on their seed supplies. One small firm says “We’re being slammed with five times our normal sales volume.” One of our favorite suppliers, Albert Lea Seed, reports “temporary limits on in-store seed shopping” in the midst of a surge in demand while their staff complies with Minnesota’s Covid-19 guidelines. A staff member at Albert Lea Seed tells us, “Farmers, gardeners — everyone’s trying to get seed early.”
CBS News posted a video reporting that many retail garden centers, which have already opened in warmer regions like California, are seeing double or triple normal sales.
I see the burst of new demand for garden seeds as a positive signal for Americans’ long-term nutritional health. During WWII, the campaign to raise “Victory Gardens” encouraged 20 million new gardens, which produced almost half of America’s fresh food needs. Today, some see the Covid-19 battle imposing a need to put America on a “war footing” again. One aspect of this: How-to-raise-food videos are sprouting across YouTube. Moms Across America today posted an urgent request to support small farmers who raise fresh organic produce. In many states, their local farmers’ markets are closed and helpers can’t come to work in the fields.
Families “socially distanced” at home are looking for productive together time, plus wanting to avoid some grocery-store trips. I expect their kids will discover that home-grown, fresh veggies actually taste good, compared with aging chainstore imports from Mexico or California. Even before the coronavirus crisis, a single-mom health care worker told us, “I teach my kids how to grow a vegetable garden, and how to fish. I don’t want them ever to be hungry.” If you’d like a refresher video on healthy soil and healthy gardening, here’s a link to an online “Your Best Garden” course with Matt Powers. Moms Across America is promoting this video this weekend.
Many farm families who normally have off-farm jobs could be constrained to the farm through April; possibly May. If they tap some of that home schooling and gardening with their children, their rewards will yield more than just good food.
My heritage on a southwest Iowa livestock farm included a big garden, plus an orchard full of fruit trees. We grew most of our vegetables, milk and meat on the farm — canning or freezing for year-round food security. Ironically, two out of three of our adult kids are doing the same, and so are some of our grandkids who have the land available. Our grandson Blake owns and operates “Deep Root Acres” here on a 20-acre patch. Almost all of the following photos were taken here over the past eight growing seasons. We, of course have huge growing advantages: We have an unlimited supply of WakeUP since we manufacture it, and we’ve field-tested dozens of biologicals and crop nutrients which WakeUP enhances.
If you’ve never tried WakeUP and would like a small amount for your garden, please call or e-mail us and we’ll try to accommodate you.
Enjoy the show!
