Seed Shelling Time

Today is a cold, rainy day and a perfect day for shelling seeds from the dried seed pods that we have saved from our Summer harvest. As a seed saver, I always look forward to late Summer and the early days of Fall when seed pods of various crop varieties begin to dry on the plants and are ready to be picked and stored for future use.

As it was in former times, a portion of the varieties being shelled are for food, and the remaining seeds are stored in canning jars or gourds, where they will remain until the following Spring when it is time for the farming season to begin again.

The wood burning stove in the Garden Shed provides warmth and a cheerful atmosphere as we sit and busy ourselves with shelling out field peas, butterbeans and other bean varieties. In one corner of the shed is a large pile of shoepeg corn which I am busy shelling.

As we continue our work, there is scarcely a place on the floor that is not covered with pea, bean and butterbean hulls, and a large pile of corn shucks is growing in size. At the end of the day, it will be a good feeling to know that our heritage seeds are being saved for the following year and for years to come.

– John Coykendall, Blackberry Farm Master Gardener