Seed to Food Program Update
The crops that the Seed to Food program has donated the most are both from the Citizen Seed Trial kales; Winter Rainbow and Dazzling blue, at 86 lbs and 74 lbs respectively. We also donated 110 lbs of lemon cucumbers. The fasciated lemon cucumbers produce nearly double that of their non-fasciated counterparts. Check out our story on lemon cucumber fasciation if you’re interested in learning more about this phenomenon.
Some of the donated crops have been by-products of the CANOVI trials. At the farm, we have finished our evaluations of rutabaga and carrots. Our process is as follows; first, we lay out the harvest, making sure we are able to easily compare varieties. Second, we go through a series of evaluations such as disease resistance, marketability, and uniformity. We upload our evaluations to SeedLinked so we can compare our results to other farms. Finally, we prepare the food for donation. To do so, we remove the leafy tops, cut off excess roots, and give them a good wash.
In the kitchen, we have been busy fermenting tomato seeds and using the by-products to make sauce. We are carefully recording every step of this process to determine if this could be a profitable endeavour for seed farmers. Stay tuned to find out our results.
The Seed to Food program is funded by the Government of Canada through the United Way Emergency Community Support program.
