Victory Garden News

Current News & Information About the Victory Seed Company

Spring '03

Page 1

Welcome to VictorySeeds.com™
and the Web home of the Victory Seed Company.

A Longer Introduction

We are working to save old plant varieties by keeping them available to home gardeners.

Check out our Victory Seed Company weather station page and our "Victory FieldCam".

Recent
News

After we had our catalog printed in early winter, we established relationships with several new suppliers.

We are excited about adding a couple of new growers to our network and many new varieties to our line.

Check out the the new varieties by clicking here.

Web Site
 News

Content is added to the Web site on a continuing basis.  Since I do most of this work late at night when everything else is done, I often forget to make notes of what it was that was added.  I will try and be better about that.

Click here for the Gardener's Almanac for:

• April

• May

• June

Support Opportunities

Your orders are the primary method by which we are able to keep this work moving.  Please review our "Needs Page" to see if there are areas where you might be able to plug-in and help further our preservation work.

Seed Preservation Work

Preserving family and other rare seed varieties is the most satisfying part of our work.

If you are growing a family heirloom or a rare old time commercially released variety and would like help  preserving it, please consider sending us a sample.

Mike's Soap Box

Our headlines are filled with terms related to the current events.  Stories of emergency response and protecting our borders all point to a nationalistic pride and belief that we are still a strong, sovereign nation.  It is sad that it takes a time of conflict and threat to rekindle these feelings in our citizens.

A reoccurring theme in current farm journals and papers is that as a nation, our food supply is under serious threat from international competition.  A lot of our food has come from south of the border for years but we are now becoming increasingly dependant on China as well as many other parts of the world. It is hard to compete with nations that heavily subsidize and have minimal labor costs.

In a perfect world, with perfect relationships where we supported common goals, objectives and values, this would not be a problem.  But in a world of increasing conflict and divisive attitudes, our dependence on others for our food supply undermines the core of our nation's sovereignty.

In these tough economic times, it is hard to pass up cheap produce and processed foods at the market.  But I would like to challenge you to add some locally produced food to your diet.  Ask the produce manager at your favorite store to seek out local contracts.  Visit your local farmer's market.  Even consider taking a drive to the country to visit an actual farm stand. And of course, garden :)

Supporting your local farming community helps to keep valuable land preserved from development by keeping a farmer farming and at the same time,  strengthens your local economy.

 Seedsmen.org
New Resource

Researching and documenting the pedigrees of heirloom seeds is an integral part of our preservation work. It has become evident that certain individuals and company's stand out for their work and contributions.

We have created a new resource for the general public to honor these people.  Additionally, we are sponsoring a cooperative project for viewing classic seed catalogs.  You can visit the material online at Seedsmen.org.

If you find this project useful and would like to contribute, support can be as simple as an encouraging email, scans of catalog pages from your collection, financial contributions, or donations of old agricultural books, magazines and catalogs.

Flower Power

Although the emphasis of our preservation work is with food crops, we get a lot of requests for flowers.

We listen to you, our gardening friends, and are continually adding varieties to the list.

Additionally, we are excited about offering a selection of wildflower mixes formulated for various geographic and climatic zones.  We even have a "cut flower" and a "hummingbird & butterfly" mix.

Thank You

We wish to take this opportunity to again thank you for your continued support. As a small organization, we appreciate each of your orders, your donations, your feedback, and all of the word of mouth recommendations.  It is through your support that we are able to accomplish all that we do.

Best of gardening success to you!