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The Seeds of Change organic seed company is out to inspire America! By giving away 100 million seeds this month, Seeds of Change is hoping to create a tsunami of excitement by encouraging families to discover the joy and satisfaction of tending a homegrown organic garden.
In addition to giving away all those organic seeds, Seeds of Change asked 10 of its featured bloggers to help promote the campaign.
I am very excited to be a part of this project! I started my very first organic garden 9 years ago when I was pregnant with baby #2. The garden was a mixed success .. some veggies grew unbelievably well (green beans, zucchini, tomatoes), while others were a dismal failure (cucumbers, cantaloupe).
I haven’t grown a garden since then other than tending my organic citrus trees and nurturing a small avocado tree, but had been talking with my kids about taking the plunge this spring when Kimberly Hartke, the Publicist for the Weston A. Price Foundation, called to give me the scoop about the Seeds of Change project.
Needless to say, I was pumped. It isn’ t everyday, after all, when blogging and leisure time segue together so beautifully!
Let’s Grow an Organic Garden Together!
I should be receiving my 25 packets of seeds from Seeds of Change in the mail any day now and will start planting immediately. I am challenging all of you, dear readers, to learn and grow right along with me. This blog is all about interaction and inspiring and learning from each other, so what better way to do this than with an organic garden?
Check out my shopping list for information on where to buy organic seeds for your family’s gardening project.
I’ll be tweeting and facebooking all about my garden’s progress, so to follow my updates along with the other Real Food Media bloggers, be sure to fan the Seeds of Change Facebook page.
To keep abreast of the Seeds of Change gardening tweets, be sure to follow Seeds of Change on Twitter as well. The special Twitter hashtag #sowingmillions is set up especially for everyone to tweet about their gardening successes, problems, and questions.
Confused about hashtags? I know I was! It’s really no big deal. It’s kind of like a cross between a conference call and group texting through Twitter. Try it! It’s really fun!
Never tweeted before? No worries, set up your free Twitter account today and get started! It is a fun and easy way to interact with your fellow Real Food devotees about their gardening activities!
Imagine how impressed your friends and family will be when you tell them you’re tweeting about your garden on Twitter! Maybe my Tween will even be impressed (one can always hope).
Post Your Progress!
I will be posting my gardening progress on Twitter and Facebook, but we all want to see YOUR progress as well! This is a group activity, after all!
To this end, Seeds of Change is encouraging all gardening team members (that’s YOU) to post pictures and updates of their organic gardening activities on the Seeds of Change Facebook page (you must “like” the page to post).
When you post your photos, post them to the Seeds of Change Facebook page Wall. Be sure to include a photo caption and a link to the Seeds of Change Virtual Garden photo album.
Admin stuff out of the way?
Check.
Let’s get planting!
Sarah, TheHealthyHomeEconomist.com
Please note: I wrote this post while participating in the Sowing Millions Project by Real Food Media on behalf of Seeds of Change. I received product and exclusive content to facilitate my post. My thoughts and opinions are my own and not of those of Real Food Media or Seeds of Change.
It’s really a shame that SOC was bought by Mars, the candy bar corporation in 1997 and has recently shut down the experimental gardens. I’ll never support that organization.
Sounds great! I’ve been using Seeds of Change seeds for several years now.
My biggest gardening problem is that most herbs and vegetables dote on sunlight. I have varying levels of shade to offer them (unless I want to plant just off the road, which I don’t! Road-Spludge!) Anyhow I’m working on more shade-tolerant plants this year — salad greens, mustards, cucumbers.
I desperately want my own garden, but I kill everything I try to grow–even Bamboo! :o(
My goal is to start composting this year (to cut down on food waste and to have some soil for next year) and then start a garden next year (but start planting early). It seems whenever I get the bug to start a garden, I’ve passed the season. This might be the kick in the pants I need to get started.
Like Kelli, I’ve grown herbs for many years, and enjoy being able to use them fresh. Tender oak leef lettuce greens sprouted in my Earthboxes this year from previous attempts, and have been quite welcome this spring. This blog helped rekindle my desire to grow some of my own food, so with seeds in hand, I planted a few melon seeds and sprouting sweet potatoes to see what would happen. So far so good. Since Florida summers are so inhospitable, I’m curious to see what you’ll be planting, Sarah!!
Cheers!
Kendra
Not much will grow past the end of June in FL as it is so very hot/humid/buggy, so I will need to get cracking pretty quickly. The herbs will have to be grown in my garden window in the house as it will be way too hot outside. I’m getting some flowers send also, so if they are heat hardy, will plant some of those too. I have a very slim window for planting. Ideally, I should be planted already .. some 6 weeks ago.
Wow, I wonder what it’s like to have to worry about the weather being too HOT to grow! 🙂 Here in Alaska, we have a super short growing season because it’s too cold! Last summer was almost too cold to grow anything – farms did pretty poorly. But I am trying to do some container gardening this year, so here’s hoping it’s warmer! Thanks for the post!
Ah, but isn’t it fun to grow things straight through the winter? Our little seedlings are doing wonderfully, and it’s December! I love it!
PRIMAL DAVE,
How much kelp do you use per gallon/ H2O?
Thanks for the tip.
Nelly
You are just supposed to mix the powder right in with the soil, the way I read it. But I suppose if you add some powder to water, you could “mineralize” throughout the year. For some plants (herbs, etc) this might not be a good idea though. Too many minerals can be as bad as not enough. Sort of like using manure – if you use real manure and it’s not well aged, you can burn your plants.
Wow, how timely this post is!
I just spent two hours this morning helping my sons’s preschool class plant some herbs in raised planter boxes. I also purchased on Seeds of Change Echinacea for another “germination” activity the teachers wants to start on Wednesday:)
I will be joining in on FB and just set up my first ever Twitter account on Friday. Thank you for providing all the “housekeeping” ends of this inspiring project.
Best, Holli
p.s. Thanks to previous posters for additional gardening tips.
I just got my seeds from Seeds of Change and we are so excited to get started! My tomatoes seedlings are getting so big! Gardening is such a fun way to spend time with my girls too!!
I’ve used the kelp (in liquid – it is so stinky!) and it rocked my berries last year! I had so many tasty organic blueberries we almost (**almost**) got sick of them. I just saw my container was empty today so I’m going to look for the dried version. thanks for the tip!
Sarah,
Do you know the source of these seeds? I ask because they don’t see, to be heirloom. Still a great cause, though.
And since we’re on the topic of gardens here.
Here’s a little garden tip that will help ANY plants you are growing. Dirt cheap kelp powder mixed into your soil will give your plants just about everything they need even in poor soil. I use frontier or starwest botanicals brand. You can find both at mothernature.com for about 6 bucks a lb. You can also mix some into a few gallons of water and water your plants once or twice a week with the mix. I’ll be doing a whole series on this shortly.
Ever wonder why it’s so lush around coastal areas? It’s all the minerals and nutrients… kelp brings that nutrient denseness right to your garden.
– Dave
Dave, your tip is SO timely! Thank you. Florida soil is very very sandy and I was just wondering this morning whether I should get a bunch of bags of potting soil for my garden bed. I was not relishing this thought as this would be a heavy loading/unloading/spreading job. I will do the kelp powder instead. Fantastic and easy alternative. Thanks again.
The seeds are heirloom, I’m almost sure, by the way.
Most of their seeds are heirloom, but some are not. If you click on any particular plant/seed it will say whether it is heirloom (or not) in the upper left-hand corner, right by the picture.
And thanks to Dave for that great tip. I’m always looking for inexpensive ways to make a garden grow better!
I too appreciate your garden tip. Here’s an extensive site for Heirloom seeds: http://www.seedsavers.org/
Memberships range from $10-1,000 – I’m not a member, but was just looking into Heirloom seeds last week while wanting to learn more.
I can easily purchase Seeds of Change seeds from my local food co-op; so, I usually buy them there.
I’ve been agrdening ever since I was a kid and it has always been the msot pleasurable and useful activity anyway could ever engage in. Really everyone should know how to grow their own food and medicine in the form of vegetables and herbs. I especially love herbs as you can use them for so many things such as medicine, cleaning, cookings, or simply grow for the sweet aroma.
Kelli C.
http://www.organic-herb-gardening-help.com