Earlier this spring I took the plunge and joined an organization called Seeds of Diversity. Seeds of Diversity is Canada’s answer to the growing need for preservation of heritage varieties of annual and perennial flower and vegetable seeds. According to the Seeds of Diversity website,
Seeds of Diversity is a Canadian charitable organization dedicated to the conservation, documentation and use of public-domain non-hybrid plants of Canadian significance. Our 1400 members from coast to coast are gardeners, farmers, teachers, scientists, agricultural historians, researchers and seed vendors. Together we grow, propagate and distribute over 1900 varieties of vegetables, fruit, grains, flowers and herbs. We are a living gene bank.
Because it was a little bit late in the season when I joined, I had limited time in which to request any seeds of my fellow members. I was super-excited to learn that some members even accept Canadian Tire money in exchange for seeds. (For my American readers, Canadian Tire money is sort of like a shoppers reward points system for one of our major retail outlets. Instead of loading up a plastic card, Canadian Tire gives its customers paper money which they can then spend at any Canadian Tire store.) We always have Canadian Tire money hanging around the house in desk drawers, bedside tables, kitchen counters…it’s all over the place.
I decided that I didn’t want to put my membership to waste this year (most of the members place a deadline for seed requests up until May 1), so I requested Dragon’s Tongue beans from a fellow member, paying with $3.00 in Canadian Tire money. The payment for seeds covers the cost of the postage for the giver of the seeds, plus a little extra for their trouble.
My Dragon’s Tongue bean seeds arrived in the mail yesterday, with a lovely, but brief handwritten note from the member who had given me the seeds. When they’re all grown up and producing, the beans will look like this:
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Those are fine-looking beans. What a great idea to use Canadian Tire money. My son has been collecting it since he was about 6. We have quite the stack of it.
Love those beans!!! I also love that you can pay some people in seeds of diversity with canadian tire money
Great looking beans to be growing. Looking forward to seeing how they do in your garden. What would we do without Canadian Tire money. It is something you can never seem to get rid of … you spend it all at the store and presto they give you some more back for your purchase.
If its your first time growing DT beans you’re in for a treat! They are tidy little bush plants which produce a decent crop and taste delicious! The only down side is that the purpole markings disappear if you cook them but my harvests rarely made it all the way to the kitchen as I end up eating them all while still in the garden!!