Seed companies/Sources

Resource Hub Seed Companies
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Seed Companies in the US

Recommended Seed Sources for getting started with Landrace Gardening:

Look for “mix”, “grex”, or “landrace” from these companies, if available. The first seven companies are selling Joseph’s seeds, or descendants of them.

Experimental Farm Network
Giving Ground Seeds
The Buffalo Seed Company
Snake River Seed Cooperative
Wild Mountain Seeds
High Ground Gardens
Miss Penn’s Mountain Seeds

MASA Seed Foundation
Native Seeds SEARCH
Southern Exposure Seed Exchange
Adaptive Seeds
Seeds Trust
Cultivariable (for potato and tuber seeds)

Pinetree Garden Seeds sells mixed varieties in the same packet. This is a great way to get genetic diversity while minimizing cost.

(Everything below is added from the Thinkific Community. This is not comprehensive, feel free to add, edit, and add links to names where there are none, if you have “trust level 4” or admin powers)

Comprehensive spreadsheet compiled by Megan G: Link Here

Oregon Seed Companies
Peace Seedlings. This is the daughter company from peace seeds; literally, owned by Alan Kapuler’s daughter, Dylana Kapuler and Mario DiBenedetto.
Siskiyou Seeds
Nichols Garden Nursery
Adaptive seeds
Wild Garden Seeds
J L Hudson Seedsman

Garlic
Garlicana
Avram sells garlic and shallots. He does a lot of garlic breeding for better TGS germination and useful qualities.

Seed Saver’s Exchange with Sylvia Davatz - even included a kind note back and a few extra seed packets.

Minnesota
Seed Treasures

Companies that say where their seeds are sourced:

Snake River Seeds
Triple Divide Seeds

Turtle Tree grows most of their own seeds and lists the growers for each crop in their paper catalog: Growers · Turtle Tree Seed Initiative

Native Seeds Search specializes in seeds locally adapted to the desert southwest –

Fedco does a pretty good job with it: catalog codes - Fedco Seeds

Southern Exposure Seed Exchange lists their growers.

Fruition Seeds is a company with a focus on supplying regionally adapted seeds.

Canada

Getting Free Seeds:
If you’re starting out and looking for seeds, there are lots of seed swap groups on facebook, international and local. If you do a search for “seed swap” or “free seeds” or “seed swap + (plant type)” you’ll often get several relevant groups.

Share and Swap
Canada Seedfinder – This is a tool to find specific cultivars in Canadian seed companies. It’s not comprehensive and it can be a little outdates but I’ve found it useful.

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I added a few new sources to the spreadsheet, and at the same time I took the liberty of adding some additional light formatting as well. Please let me know if you would prefer me to undo the formatting.

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The Community Seed Exchange publishes a short list of seed vendors along with statistics on their sources: https://www.communityseedexchange.org/choosing-seed-companies

I have not filtered through it to add to our spreadsheet, but I thought I’d share the list in its original form for the time being:

Seed companies worth looking at:

  • Adaptive Seeds – Sweet Home, OR – grows 85% of its own seed – lists 21 growers
  • Bohemian Seeds – Occidental, CA – sells only at the Sebastopol Farmers Market
  • Fedco Seeds – Clinton, ME
  • High Mowing Organic Seeds – Wolcott, VT – grows 30% of its seeds
  • Living Seed Company - Point Reyes, CA – grows 25-30% of its seeds
  • Quail Seeds – Eel River, CA – trials varieties before offering them for sale
  • Open Circle Seeds – Potter Valley, CA – grows 100% of its own seeds
  • Redwood Seeds – Manton, CA – grows 90% of its own seed
  • Siskiyou Seeds – Williams, OR – 50% of its seed is from its home farm – lists 24 other growers
  • Sundial Seed Company – Willits, CA - lists 12 growers
  • Uprising Seeds – Bellingham, WA – 50% of its seed is from its home farm – lists 25 other growers
  • Wild Garden Seed – Philomath, OR – 100% of its seed is grown by 3 growers
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Here’s a wonderful interview with the founder of a new seed company, Ujamaa Seeds, which is trying to rediscover and re-create varieties from the African Diaspora (mostly African American). Some are landraces, or at least grexes - they sell “Ultracross” okra and collards that are mixes of dozens of varieties.
Interview here: ujamaa seeds, 'vessels of cultural heritage,' with bonnetta adeeb - A Way To Garden
Seed company website here: https://ujamaaseeds.com/

Edited to add: @julia.dakin this is the seed company I was telling you about yesterday.

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A while back I bought some Catawba Freeman okra from them. Looking forward to it.

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By the way, I have used seed treasures. I originally found them last year when searching for an odd variety of cucurbita moschata. They were the only source I could find on it. Their website does not accept payments like expected. I sent a check in the mail. I can vouch for them. They are a good seed company and have ordered again from them. I received a catalog after my first order. She has so many wonderful tomato seed descriptions.

The punta banda I got from them is the superstar for me so far this year, outpacing both creole and homestead, which is surprising for me. Homestead was bred in Florida and creole, Louisiana. Being that I live in Mississippi, I expected one of those to be the best.

I also ordered for my wife her cookbook. My wife has been trying one new recipe each week which is great!

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By the way, if anyone is interested in growing beets, researched the compound geosmin, and can’t wait for Badger Flame to come back in stock, I might have found a worthy substitute.

I have just ordered some Evansville Ember Beet and Blushing Not Bashful from Fruition Seeds. They have quite a description concerning the breeding of these beets. I am warning you, prepare for cringe identity ideology. Otherwise, I can’t wait to get these planted when the weather cools down some.

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I just found a sweet deal on Amazon. Itching to buy seeds and may take advantage of one of two of these packs.

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I have recently met the proprietor of a nursery in the east-central part of Kentucky at a regenerative agriculture event. That’s a similar humid Ohio Valley climate to far Southeastern KY where I am.

I heard in person that Peaceful Heritage Nursery has a focus on identifying and developing varieties adapted locally, and I’m more and more interested now that I’m seeing their website: https://peacefulheritage.com

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The free heirloom seed project has begun shipping seeds for the fall season. This is a way to have access to a variety of seeds that I don’t usually find on the rack locally, and with the benefit that they have been grown out at least one generation by an independent gardener.

Four packets of your choice are offered free. If you spend $10, they will ship you 15 different varieties. I have done this in the spring and it worked wonderfully.

It is mainly a program for the United States, although they mention a handful of other countries that they can send to. http://freeheirloomseeds.org/

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I have purchased from Jackie and Will, as well, and appreciate their wonderful bean varieties. They have both a pole bean and a bush bean “party mix,” that are adapted for shorter seasons. (I knew of her from her books and homesteading articles, she is a wealth of information.)

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I just ordered the larger fruited seminole Moschata from Southern Exposure Seed Exchange. They were out of stock every time I checked for probably a year or more. They have it in stock now.

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For anyone who didn’t know yet, EFN update is Jan 9. I don’t “need” anything but I’m probably getting a few things :face_with_peeking_eye::sweat_smile:

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Hi friends,
Please have a look at Nikitovka Seeds, based in Ukraine, and who ships to the US with a bit of paper work. I believe it is the best European website for making low cost grexes, as they sell many mixes + have an incredible amount of varieties with low prices… and eventually their packets are huge for this small price, 2 to 3 times bigger than the other europeans.
Unfortunately we can no longer access their seeds in the EU due to new regulations. But you can!
Page about paper work : https://nikitovka.com/en/content/7-us-shipments
Main website page : https://nikitovka.com/en/
Personnally I love the fact that you can access all what has been bred in Central Europe + north of the middle east (Turkey, etc.) through them. Notably melon and watermelons… For example there is the Kholodok watermelon (1$!), supposed to have been crossed with citron melon in Siberia, and which stores for about 3 months… But there are also mixes like this one of 13 watermelon varieties for 1.2$… Or this mix of 19 watermelon varieties with elongated ones and early round ones, for the same amount… Just to give you a few examples. A great way to start low cost grexes… or another way to bring some new genetics in your already mixes…

Plus they ship worldwide for a 4$ rate shipping, no matter how many seeds you buy

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Good find, or for north americans at least: vielajoie.com from Sainte Agathe de Lotbiniere, Quebec, Canada. So USDA 3/4 if I am right.
On this page, they sell only modern landraces (which here they translate into “variété population”): 18 of these.
“Vielajoie”, is actually a word game, the orginal word being “villageois”, i.e. villager, transformed into vie -la- joie, litterally “life and joy”.So a few “starter kits” for not that much money, and coming from arather cold place.

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I might have to try that Ukraine company, thanks for the info.

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