seed source(s)

[Guest guest]

I used these guys for a lot of my ranching supplies -- and for most non-feed

things they tended to be the cheapest in the area once the seed-shop in

Sacramento closed down.  This is the page with their 'sprouting' seeds on it:

http://www.groworganic.com/catalogsearch/result/?order=relevance & dir=desc & q=spro\

uting+seeds & x=0 & y=0

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about them and about other ways to do things that work as well, but take longer

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And I still use them to custom mix some of my cover-crop/green manure/pasture

mixes and they do exceptionally well - while I can't get a COMPLETE mix of what

I want, I can always bring some back from when I hit the valley floor and a

couple of the Sikh feed supply stores carry an astonishing array of seed, and I

like to mix some of their sweet grasses and clovers and legumes in with what the

'western' mixes normally carry just to add more to the soil, and a sweetness to

animals which are fresh (if any).  Right now I have just a couple I am watching

for a friend as he tours family in the south and up through the (burrr) Midwest

- and had him bring them over with his milking machine - no way I'm milking more

than a couple of goats every day -- and a single heifer will give as much in a

day as a goat will give in a week! But after about 2.5 weeks you can begin to

tell the difference in the flavor - esp of the butter -- one of the few times

I'll go for

fresh baked bread and sweet clover butter!  and boy-howy! do those Dogs put on

the weight! -- though I do shove a lot into one of the deep box freezers to keep

it for them --

What is the MINIMUM you guys buy in seeds for sprouting?  I know I can buy 5

pound sacks of some species of seed to add to my mixes.

Oh -- and PVF used to be really small -- worked out of one warehouse -- now

they've gone national, but I hear they still have the same service out of area (

along the coast and up and down the Sacramento Valley and foothills as far north

as Redding and do custom mixes from the High Plateaus of NE California (where I

use them in my co-habitation business and my range cattle ranch I share with my

partners), across through Weed and the Siskiyous,and on over to the

Mendocino-Eueryka-Petrolia-and the Coast, even up into Southern Coastal Gold

Beach/Coos Bay and Central (think the  'apple valley' area doing the

Medford-Bend triangle) that I personally know of.  ville and NW Nevada I

also use two supply stores in Reno or just East a hundred miles or so. 

have you ever thought of using seed that's meant for commercial use as a source

for your seed?  Often times you can get 5#-10# bags of seed for less than

$10-$15.  Now granted it will probably need to be washed or rinsed since they

use dichotomous earth to keep the larva down and the seed protected, but that's

what you wash off of of your brown rice rice when you are asked to 'rinse it off

under running water' -- and ditto your white rice, though there you DO need to

read, since often they add back in many of the minerals and vitamins they take

out when the dehull or degerm the seed.  And you won't find it at your local

super market, they'd not have a clue what you were looking for.  Call up a feed

store that sells seed, and ask them for the smallest quantity of X seed you can

buy.  Don't presume it's all treated with poison -- and that which is can easily

be washed off using soap and water in a dish tub.  (you won't be doing all

50#-100#'s at

once! - you'll be doing what ever you'll be using. 

Just doing a quick web search I found Nasturtiums from $22 a pound to $56 a

pound.  Pea seeds were 25# from $51.50 to  about $100, Broccoli 25# sack

(organic), from $320 to $455 -- so if you had a community or local 'club' -- you

could do yourself a very good deal --

COMPARISON PRICE: MUSTARD SEED BY THE PACK FROM PVF: 7 ounces for $5.00, from

feed store: 5# for $12.50.  So call it 1/2 pound for $5 vs 1/2 pound for $1.25

-- That's a $3.75 savings in my book. 

You just need to do your home work and look -- and if I were serious, I'd also

be calling - For example to get some native grasses and legumes etc mixed into

my PVF mix, I first had to call up a company out of Winnemucca (which harvested

native wild grasses and pastures)  then follow their lead to some wholesalers,

who then gave me the numbers of some local suppliers who would then sell me the

seed - if I bought enough.  And I STILL had to have it mixed with what I already

had bought! -- Lucky for me that I followed the track and found a supplier I

normally used for other equipment and some specialized seed --  had it mixed

THERE  (for the cost of the burlap sacks) -- but it took me about 3-4 days if I

recall to lead me to a place and people who own the warehouse where I buy a lot

of my reclamation equipment -- so it was a LONG round-about-way but it was well

worth it - and after the third year I got a VERY handsome price cut from the

wholesaler! 

You know -- Melody -- if you struck up a conversation with that one nurseryman

you were talking too, I'd be VERY surprised if he didn't have ideas for you --

and sometimes it's cheaper to have the seeds NOT come through his hands -- and

sometimes you can get VERY cheap prices if you PROMISE to pick up the same day -

so there's NO shelf-space or box-opening involved -- it it goes straight from

their hands to your hands, you'll be amazed at how that can save you 10% right

off the top - all he gets to keep is the packing slip -- and you COULD cheat him

and use the name on the box and go behind his back, but that would stab you in

the back if you needed another special order -- my bet is that he'd be MORE than

willing to work with you on that -- and heck, he might even be able to work a

deal with other nurseries where they all get together and reach a 'price break'

-- where it gets cheaper for everyone involved in that order.  

When I was doing range-reclamation for a part-time living, a lot of ranchers and

I could go in on things - from rolls of wire to sections of irrigation pipe to

tons of seed and save ourselves 25% or so -- that's a LOT of money when you are

talking about tens of thousands of dollars all going out at once - of course, I

tagged along as the orphan - but everyone pretty much liked me, if for no other

reason than I brought down more deer to hunt - though the idea was to share

range land with what normally was there - and we only made a tiny, but

increasing, percentage of their NET growth so we could decrease the number of

head they ran, increase their income, and we'd take our cut from that for 10

years.  So if they didn't make money, we didn't either -- it seemed only a fair

trade when you ask a rancher to cut the size of the heard they ran -- and then

told them they would make more!!!! But that's the way nature works sometimes! --

so Melody, you might be

VERY surprised at how helpful he would be in supplying you with seed -- and

remember -= MOST seed will freeze really well, so you CAN buy a pound of

Broccoli seed that has something like 130,000 seeds per pound -- BUT you can

freeze them for a good year or two and save a BUNDLE over buying say 3.5 ounces

for $8.  When you can get the same amount for $2.80 when you buy a 25# bag, or a

5# bag for $71.77 is what I found real quick.  and the 5# bag would give you 

$3.13 for 3,5 ounces.

so -- just a hint to go out on the net (web) and look in places people don't

obviously look - and you can save a bundle - and maybe even help out a new

'friend' and when you do nice things for each other, WONDERFUL things happen in

return -- it's called 'trading' only it's really just an exchange of favors,

doing nice things for each other! 

-- paul --

 

Dream Well. Travel Well.  May you Walk Your Path in Beauty.

" Somewhere, something incredible is waiting to be known. " Carl Sagan.

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[Guest guest]

Thank you . You make excellent suggestions.

Melody