The Seed Farmer Podcast

Chris Sanford runs Yonder Hill Farm with Garrett Lauten on the South Shore of Nova Scotia. Her seed journey is deeply anchored in a commitment to regional resilience from working to preserve the local Tancook Island Cabbage to breeding and establishing hardy hazelnut, chestnut, and walnut orchards. In this episode, Chris shares the logistics of running a small-scale seed farm. We talk about how having backburner crops lets you adapt to the natural rhythms of the farm.Chris reflects on the power of community seed partnerships, highlighting how seed producers can work directly with market gardeners to stabilize and select regional strains. In the deep dive, Chris and I get into growing eggplant seed. We break down how to plan your fruit harvest and seed extraction to get great germination. And we talk about why patience is a virtue for eggplants. Enjoy the conversation! Support the Seed Farmer Podcast https://www.farmerspreadsheetacademy.com//supportpodcast 🌱🌱🌱🌱🌱🌱 Episode links Yonder Hill Farm website https://yonderhillfarm.ca/ Yonder Hill Farm on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/yonderhillfarm 🌱🌱🌱🌱🌱🌱 Tell me what crops you think I should cover in my summer Seed Farmer school. Fill out this form to let me know: https://forms.gle/sZES93eNahtXi44y7 🌱🌱🌱🌱🌱🌱 Stay in Touch Follow the Seed Farmer on instagram https://www.instagram.com/danbrisebois.farm/ Get my weekly seed newsletter https://www.farmerspreadsheetacademy.com/seeds Order Tourne-Sol seeds (Canadian orders only) https://fermetournesol.qc.ca/ Get my new book The Seed Farmer https://danbrisebois.com/seedfarmerbook ❤️ Thanks for listening!

Petra stewards Fruition Community Seed Farm with Matthew Goldfarb in the Finger Lakes region of New York. Petra's seed journey began at a young age in her father's garden, harvesting seeds and packing them into homemade seed packets to then share them with others. This early love for the magic of sharing seeds eventually led to founding Fruition. In this episode, Petra shares the evolution of Fruition from a commercial regional seed company to a community seed farm. We discuss the structural pivot away from running a commercial online business toward a non-commercial gift economy model. Petra shares how they use interactive community storytelling, theater, and Seed Feasts to move past simple transaction-based seed swaps and cultivate collaborative relational seed stewardship instead. In the deep dive, Petra and I get into two seed crops. First, we talk about breeding the Dulcinea carrot for uniformity and reliability in a market farm. Then, we talk about crossing collards and cabbage to develop Mermaid's Aurora, a gorgeous gene pool of tender greens with kaleidoscopic diversity. We also get into the technical seed production of each crop: growing second year carrots in high tunnels, harvesting seed umbels by hand, and how to thresh carrot seeds. For the brassica cross, we talk about how they harvest first year plants, how they overwinter in a root cellar, and of course how they clean the seeds. Enjoy the conversation! Support the Seed Farmer Podcast https://www.farmerspreadsheetacademy.com//supportpodcast Episode links Fruition's Website https://www.fruitionseeds.com/ Fruition on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/fruition_seeds Stay in Touch Follow the Seed Farmer on instagram https://www.instagram.com/danbrisebois.farm/ Get my weekly seed newsletter https://www.farmerspreadsheetacademy.com/seeds Order Tourne-Sol seeds (Canadian orders only) https://fermetournesol.qc.ca/ Get my new book The Seed Farmer https://danbrisebois.com/seedfarmerbook ❤️ Thanks for listening!

Fanny Lebrun is the driving force behind Les Marequiers, a Belgian non-profit dedicated to regional food autonomy. Through their flagship program, Semences d'Ici (which translates to Seeds from Here), Fanny works to strengthen the local organic seed sector. Prior to that, Fanny started the seed company Cycle en Terre by herself then built it into a citizen-owned seed cooperative. In this episode, Fanny shares the logistics and challenges of scaling a seed business from a one-person operation to a ten-person team. We discuss Fanny's transition into Les Marequiers and how she is trying to bridge the information gap from academic research to the practical realities of the farm. We also talk about the organic disease and pest management guide she has recently written. In the deep dive, Fanny and I talk about growing carrots for seed. We get into the difficulties of growing seed carrots in humid, short-season climates, covering overwintering roots in a simple cellar and how to balance the harvest of primary and secondary umbels. Enjoy the conversation! 🌱🌱🌱🌱🌱🌱 Support the Seed Farmer Podcast https://www.farmerspreadsheetacademy.com//supportpodcast 🌱🌱🌱🌱🌱🌱 Episode links Les Marequiers website https://lesmarequiers.be/ French organic disease and pest management guide: Gestion des bioagresseurs en production de semences potagères biologiques. https://lesmarequiers.be/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/SDI-Dossiers-LesBioagresseurs.pdf 🌱🌱🌱🌱🌱🌱 Use code HARVESTREADY for 50% off the Harvest System Designs course https://www.farmerspreadsheetacademy.com//courses 🌱🌱🌱🌱🌱🌱 Stay in Touch Follow the Seed Farmer on instagram https://www.instagram.com/danbrisebois.farm/ Get my weekly seed newsletter https://www.farmerspreadsheetacademy.com/seeds Order Tourne-Sol seeds (Canadian orders only) https://fermetournesol.qc.ca/ Get my new book The Seed Farmer https://danbrisebois.com/seedfarmerbook ❤️ Thanks for listening!

Josh Volk runs Cully Neighborhood Farm on a one-acre lot in Portland, Oregon, where he grows vegetables for a CSA. Josh also operates Slow Hand Farm, where he helps grow market gardens and community through his writing and technical support. He is the author of Compact Farms and Build Your Own Farm Tools. Across all his work, Josh brings an engineering mindset to farming. In this episode, Josh explains how he integrates seed production into a busy market garden and grows seed mainly for his own use. Josh tells us how he determines what crops to keep for seed. We discuss Josh's "lazy" approach to growing seed which includes natural selection rather than intentional roguing, getting seed clean enough but not perfect, and embracing genetic diversity instead of trying to avoid all cross pollination. In the deep dive, Josh and I talk about growing fava beans for seed. We get into fall-sown versus spring-sown crops, selecting for cold hardiness, and threshing using a vintage roller thresher. We also talk a lot about bean weevils. Enjoy the conversation! Support the Seed Farmer Podcast https://www.farmerspreadsheetacademy.com//supportpodcast Episode links Slow Hand Farm website https://slowhandfarm.com/ Slow Hand Farm on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/slowhandfarm/ Cully Neighborhood Farm website https://cullyneighborhoodfarm.com/ News links May 21 Open House quarterly seed call https://seedalliance.org/events/virtual-open-house-quarterly-call-2/ Stay in Touch Follow the Seed Farmer on instagram https://www.instagram.com/danbrisebois.farm/ Get my weekly seed newsletter https://www.farmerspreadsheetacademy.com/seeds Order Tourne-Sol seeds (Canadian orders only) https://fermetournesol.qc.ca/ Get my new book The Seed Farmer https://danbrisebois.com/seedfarmerbook ❤️ Thanks for listening!

Bonnetta Adeeb is a founding member of the Ujamaa Cooperative Farming Alliance, a program of the non-profit STEAM Onward based in Maryland. Bonnetta is dedicated to increasing the number of BIPOC seed farmers stewarding culturally meaningful crops and liberating seeds from "seed jail". In this episode, Bonnetta shares her journey to find the Stone Mountain Watermelon, a variety mentioned in family lore that allowed her ancestors to purchase land after slavery. We discuss how the COVID-19 pandemic transformed a local gardening project into the Ujamaa Cooperative Farming Alliance, a regional network for seed production and training through the Ira Wallace Seed School. In the deep dive, Bonnetta and I get into Collard Greens. We cover using Ultra Crosses as a community breeding method, the necessity of cold snaps for seed production, and why Bonnetta describes collards as the Jazz of American Cuisine. We also explore how the rhythmic movements of harvest are like dancing. At the end, Bonnetta also talks about the upcoming Seeds & Culture 2026 Conference on March 6-7 in Washington DC. Enjoy the conversation! Support the Seed Farmer Podcast http://spreadsheet.farm/supportpodcast Episode links Ujamaa Seeds website Ujamaa Coop Farming Alliance on instagram Seeds & Culture 2026 Conference March 6–7, 2026 Washington DC. Columbia Ira Wallace Seed School Heirloom Collard Project Steam Onward website News Link Northern Latitudes: Sourcing and Saving Seeds from Similar Climates Stay in Touch Follow the Seed Farmer on instagram Get my weekly seed newsletter Order Tourne-Sol seeds (Canadian orders only) Get my new book The Seed Farmer https://danbrisebois.com/seedfarmerbook/ ❤️ Thanks for listening!

Shannon Jones runs Broadfork Farm with Bryan Dyck in River Hebert, Nova Scotia. They grow vegetables and cut flowers for market. I've been trying to get Shannon on the podcast since the beginning of the pod because Broadfork is a great example of how a market farm can integrate seed production into their vegetable and flower fields. And we finally found a time that worked for us to have a conversation. In this episode, Shannon shares how she and Bryan choose the seed crops they grow and how they manage seed harvest through the season, and clean seeds in the off season. She also explains about how they sell some of their own seeds during their spring seedling sales. In the deep dive, we explore growing Salad Turnips for seed. We start with why Shannon was looking for a Hakurei turnip alternative, then get into trialing different OP salad turnips to figure out which variety to work with, and finally cover planting, harvest, and cleaning. We also talk about Bupleurum and Onions for seed. Enjoy the conversation! Support the Seed Farmer Podcast http://spreadsheet.farm/supportpodcast Episode links Broadfork's website Broadfork Farm on instagram Freed Seed workshop: Botany of Seed Formation Stay in Touch Follow the Seed Farmer on instagram Get my weekly seed newsletter Order Tourne-Sol seeds (Canadian orders only) Get my new book The Seed Farmer https://danbrisebois.com/seedfarmerbook/ ❤️ Thanks for listening!

Chris Belnap is the owner of Cambridge Pacific, based in Cambridge, NY. Their tagline is The Folks Who Make The Packets, and that's exactly what they do: printing seed packs for a wide range of seed companies. In this episode, Chris shares the history of Cambridge Pacific and walks us through how seed packs actually get printed. We dig into what you should think about when designing your own seed packs. And we explore the Packet Maker magazine, their annual publication that documents Chris's travels to meet the companies that use their packs. In the deep dive, we talk about dragons and how they have become a signature of Cambridge Pacific. Enjoy the conversation! Support the Seed Farmer Podcast http://spreadsheet.farm/supportpodcast Episode links Cambridge Pacific website News Links My crop planning course Farm Spreadsheets For All Seasons is open for registrations. It comes with a full set of crop planning and harvest management spreadsheet templates. Stay in Touch Follow the Seed Farmer on instagram Get my weekly seed newsletter Order Tourne-Sol seeds (Canadian orders only) Get my new book The Seed Farmer https://danbrisebois.com/seedfarmerbook/ ❤️ Thanks for listening!