Thursday Snapshot: Trout Lily

Trout lilies along the Potomac River.

I had the great pleasure of attending a writer's conference near Washington, D.C. in March. While the sessions were wonderful, the adjacent regional park was even better. I found myself walking the trails for two hours at a time at the end of each day relaxing from a day of learning and most happily reacquainting myself with native flora and fauna. These trout lilies were among those I had the pleasure of meeting again.

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Finding Heirloom Seeds in Japan

Drying pods of heirloom Hutterite Soup Beans. Since moving to Japan eight years ago, one of my greatest challenges as a farmer-gardener has been to find heirloom or open-pollinated seeds. The majority of seeds available are not GMO (genetically modified organisms) as Japan, at this point, doesn't accept this material. Most seeds, though, are nearly all F1 varieties. Heirloom and F1 Varieties In plant breeding, F1 is the name given to the first generation of a cross between two true breeding parents. For example, if I decide to cross an Amish Paste Tomato with another heirloom variety tomato such as Emmy, in hopes of getting a gold paste tomato, the resulting generation of fruit is F1. In order to get that tomato of my culinary dreams, I'll need to choose members of that first generation that are headed in a direction I like - early ripening, medium-sized fruit, good taste - and save their seeds. I'll plant them and repeat the process again and again over time unti

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Japan Farmers Markets

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