Quitting Your Job to Farm Seeds For a Living? 🌱
My friend Brijette used to be a green interior designer, making beautiful living walls. Not anymore. Now she farms for seeds in her own backyard in San Diego, CA and sells them to local farmers, gardeners, and on the internet.
She's one of, if not THE only certified organic local seed producer in the United States.
Saving seeds and creating new varieties that are adapted to local microclimates is vital in our changing climate. I think you're going to see a lot more "Brijettes" in the future...and she's leading the way.
In today's episode, I visit Brijette and we walk through the process of harvesting eggplants for seed, processing them, drying them, and grading them for quality. You'll learn how Brijette got started, but also super-interesting info about how the seeds you buy at the garden center actually get into those packets. We also talk a bit about heirloom seeds and how to save them.
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TIMESTAMPS 0:00 - Intro 1:58 - Black Beauty Eggplants 3:40 - Harvesting Seed Eggplants 7:53 - Getting Seeds Out of Eggplants 13:50 - Grading Dried Eggplant Seeds 19:34 - Using the Aspirator to Clean Seeds 23:05 - Outro
@johnchase4408
5 жыл бұрын
How is this profitable? 1/4 Acre only and she is going to sit and pick every seed then package them and sell them. Doesn't make sense. Maybe doing this for your own replanting or if you had hundreds of acres and a lot of employees.
@johnchase4408
5 жыл бұрын
I just Googled San Diego Seed Company and they have a Milwaukee Wisconsin phone number.
@johnchase4408
5 жыл бұрын
I give her a ton of credit. That's a helluva lot if work.
@PlantsaremyTherapy
5 жыл бұрын
Wow! You're a very efficient and organized person.
@nekomancer9157
4 жыл бұрын
take all the separated non seeds and weak seeds and package/sell them as a green manure blend. every cent counts.
this video is very encouraging to know that some producers are sincere about their products..integrity sells.
@Thankful_.
4 жыл бұрын
Diane Black I agree! I smiled so much while watching this. 🌱
@dianeblack6866
4 жыл бұрын
@@Thankful_. ..absolutely.
SEED SAVING SHOULD BE A COMMON PRACTICE!
@lindanwfirefighter4973
4 жыл бұрын
I’m guessing it will soon be illegal to collect and save seeds. Just as it is in many places to have a garden.
@slumpedguy9382
4 жыл бұрын
Linda NWFirefighter ur dumb why would it be Illegal to have a garden if you can grow weed legal in some states
@paladinsmith7050
4 жыл бұрын
@@slumpedguy9382 She's right everyone's freedoms are being taken away in the west, open your eyes. All forms of self sustainability will be gone eventually. All food will be GMO and lab grown meat.
@slumpedguy9382
4 жыл бұрын
Paladin Smith even if it does become illegal I’m still gonna grow my own food. How the frik are they gonna stop me so Many people grow weed illegally they aint gonna stop me bro.
@paladinsmith7050
4 жыл бұрын
@@slumpedguy9382 Same here mate i agree, if everyone was to do it they can't arrest us all. Just a heads up though as they want us on our knees reliant on them.
Amazing video, I used to watch my grandparents doing this with the winds in the high andes of Perú when i was a kid and they were keeping their seeds for barley, potatoes, corn, quinoa, wheat, faba beans, etc in their little room basement, they were also use as money between all the farmers to trade others seeds or get help to harvest or exchange for cheese, milk or meat between them like the Inca civilization used to do it. Thank you for this video!!
@sassygil6675
4 жыл бұрын
Interesting! I've been telling my husband that if the SHTF money will not be the currency, but Seeds, canned foods, gardening, trade/technical skills are what would be needed.
@natalie526
4 жыл бұрын
thank you for sharing!
@sophie511
3 жыл бұрын
Lovely to hear about this, thanks so much
@saritapatil1788
3 жыл бұрын
That is amazing..
This was really interesting! I would have loved to learned more about the “quitting your job to grow seed” part of their story, too!
@ardenpeters4386
2 жыл бұрын
Bidjette taught classes to Walter Anderson nursery. great teacher
This video made me so happy! I'm starting a seed business ,for my community, and I love how willing the other seed businesses are to share trade secrets! It put me at ease.
@everythingallin4905
4 жыл бұрын
Well unless you are talking about elite marijuana genetics they are not really worth any money.
@catherinegrace2366
3 жыл бұрын
What a fantastic idea! Good job!
@SimoneVPoise
3 жыл бұрын
That's what I love about the plant / green community. People love sharing info
We saved seeds each year when growing up in west Georgia. I remember we put beans in an old sack or pillow case and hung it up to dry inside the house. No air conditioning in those days but we had box fans.👍 Thanks.
Nice one guys, I sell seeds too here in Australia. Main reason is because it's hard to get good organic seeds. Australia is about to start treating all organic seeds for bio security reasons. Great to see your taking control of your seeds locally, so much in this,,a real science as you know. Love the vids,,,thanks so much Marty Ware
@epicgardening
5 жыл бұрын
This is awesome Marty, didn't know that Australia was going to do that. Good on you for taking some control
@martysgarden
5 жыл бұрын
@@epicgardening I am a way off yet getting to the stage here seen on this farm, but plan to get there eventually..so much to learn...loved the video,,helps me see that it's really possible. Cheers Marty
@epicgardening
5 жыл бұрын
let me know what other types of seed saving related videos you'd like to see Marty
@user-re7eu9hq6r
4 жыл бұрын
Creating a manipulative disaster from a healthy viable seed! People have to know where their food comes from!
@campbellbamble5138
4 жыл бұрын
But you're happy to use amazon, hmmmm so Greenpatch - Eden - Phoenix - greenharvest et al are all bad but you're a good'en, even though you are happy to use a company that does everything in its power to destroy local economies no worries mate... Love the honesty
Im a believer of seed-saving! Increasing adaptability of plant 💜
@thomassiegfried5409
3 жыл бұрын
Yes the seed is storing that years information to raise survivability in future years. Epigenetics and terroir...
One year later I am SOOO grateful for this video!! I just used the water method to filter down my radish seeds. I’m sooo excited to try this method with other seeds as well. THANK YOU! 🙏🏾🌱💫
@bradjohnston8687
Жыл бұрын
Radish seeds are like lettuce seeds where you can dry in pod, crumble them is a bin with hands & then blow out the chaff by dumping from one bin to another & use the wind or your lungs.
Harvesting seeds is quite a bit more involved than I thought. I happily lay down my money and support my local seed companies! Thanks for such a fun video!
I love how you collaborate with people, who have authority in gardening..Super love this and your vid feat Charles Dowding 😍😍
My family plans on going off grid and I'm trying to find everything that would help us and this is great.
This is by far one of your top 2 videos you've ever done! Thank you for this. Such a wealth of information and so inspirational!!! I find it so refreshing that you feature others on your channel!! Love love love!
I'm located in San Diego too and buy from San Diego Seed Company all the time - I took a class from Brijette @San Diego Seed Company at Cuyamaca College with my husband. She is full of knowledge. Thank you so much for sharing, hope to tour her garden some day ;o)
@epicgardening
5 жыл бұрын
She does tours once a month, I think! Thanks for tuning in
@ardenpeters4386
2 жыл бұрын
and who you see here is who she is. cool person
I love 💟 how Brijette radiates this beautiful aura , and very knowledgeable and passionate about what she does
I love her! Her personality and passion is showing from start to finish. ❤
I love how forthright this lady is 😀
Love the regionally adapted note. Fairly crucial so you’re not growing a northern adapted plant in the hot humid South
This was cool to see all the work going into the seed packet :) Thank you!
The clipper machine is so cool!
@applesomething
4 жыл бұрын
Wait, the aspirator is even cooler!
holy crap!!!!! regionally adapted genetics cannot be overstated enough. absolutely beautiful! inspiring!!!
12:43 "Always want to be careful at the end to not blow your load". Lol she gets it.
This particular year (in Britain at least), due to Covid-19 vegetable seeds became rather scarce because a lot more people decided to turn to gardening during lockdown. I think a lot of us classed as high-risk suddenly found something quite repellent about 'someone else' harvesting your fresh produce, just waiting to hear of an outbreak of Covid-19 among field workers. Thus, a lot of seed varieties sold out really fast, especially all the easier, beginner types like radishes, lettuce and beetroot. In fact, it was as well my neighbour decided to grow some of her own plants too, because we each couldn't find different things and were able to swap. I also found there were still some unusual vegetable seeds available, those not found in your everyday supermarkets. I trialled some Japanese vegetable seeds this year, and these have worked well in Scotland. That's been interesting, discovering new flavours. I'm already an ex-professional gardener and do save some seeds annually. Really stepping up my 'saving' this year, considering many more varieties. I have several vegetables in the flowering and pod stage right now. I certainly don't have the machinery your friend has, and Scotland is a very humid place, but I do have 3 dehumidifiers around the home, and hanging seeds in fine mesh bags above one dehumidifier for a couple of days does the trick for the varieties I have stored so far.
Those old machines are gorgeous. Old tech is amazingly productive. I worked voluntarily on a veg farm and separation of spuds from soil was amazing!
@epicgardening
5 жыл бұрын
Old tech is so fun to use!
@ChallengeTheNarrative
5 жыл бұрын
@@epicgardening absolutely. Elegant and simple. Us young folk can learn a lot. Most importantly carry it on... hopefully
Very interesting! I had no idea how labor intensive it is to process seeds. She definitely is passionate about her company and growing community. 😊
That is a lot of equipment! More detailed process than I would have imagined. Thanks for posting! Hello from San Luis Obispo, CA (a few hours north)
@epicgardening
5 жыл бұрын
Hello neighbor!
Praise our Creator, for inspiring this lovely person into protecting our future seeds. May she continue to teach anyone that wants know about seeds, and may her endeavors flourish, like the seeds.
@sishrac
3 жыл бұрын
Amen!
Impressive. Very inspiring. It just so happens last week I let a bitter gourd go to seed, ripe orange red, and harvested total of six good seeds. But that's good enough for me. It'll give me likely four vines that'll yield if not more at least 20 fruits each. Thank you for a wonderful presentation.
Great information, thank you!
Hello from Visalia, CA starting my own little garden, I'm happy to have run into this video.
Learnt so much from this video and really pleased my local public library in Western Australia is doing a seed/cutting swap day.
Very amazing !! Didn’t know they are local to me. Power to you and your business and hopes that Monsanto doesn’t try to destroy any of your hard work
B, I have been a follower as you know. Last night I saw this video while I was perusing utube and loved how you showed the process of waiting for seeds to be ripe, harvesting, processing, packaging, .. the best your still very excited about educating!
So wonderful to see youg people making a difference. I sell seedlings and as my business grows, this would be my next step. Thank you so much for sharing. Keep these videos coming❤ Learning tons!
Thank you for introducing me to SanDiegoSeedCompany. I love this approach and will buy seed here to perk up my own local stock for hardiness and pest resistance.
She is incredible, her idea is wonderful, and is a really big surprize she is the only certified organic seed producer in the US...that is incredible
@FatalLightAwareness
Жыл бұрын
She said URBAN organic seed farm.
This person was what the difference is between The genuine article and what a poser is. The way that she communicated made it so easy to learn. And it was a pleasure to listen to her and know she knew exactly what she was teaching. Now I want to learn more. Yep. Genuine article.
Well done. You two made an interesting interview. It helps me know the process better. Thank you.
Yep - not only is home saved seed adapted to your own microclimate, but you know the seed is FRESH - which is an issue when you buy in seed. I always have a bed or two set aside just for seed production - they're not cropped at all (except for seed). I loved this video - wonderful! I'd be happy to buy seed from Brijette, but I'm in Australia..
@epicgardening
5 жыл бұрын
Great point - that freshness factor is a big thing! Thanks for watching :)
this is so intense lol did not expect so many steps!! Can't wait to buy my seeds next spring ^_^
This is so FASCINATING! I have so much more appreciation for local (organic) seed growers
Amazing! I've been collecting my own seeds and growing them for years, but only for my family. Although I do share seeds with others, along with some of the plants as they grow. I found this video very interesting and informative. I live in Cornwall, UK
It's a total classic..That was awesome! What a great interview.
@epicgardening
5 жыл бұрын
Oh yeah?
That was great to see! Very interesting. I save a few seeds from tomatoes that I eat. Never thought about what it takes to actually save seed from other plants etc. THANK YOU BOTH!
I am so glad I bought their seeds. Very awesome story!
@epicgardening
5 жыл бұрын
That's cool! Glad you enjoyed
This was very fun and interesting to watch!! Thanks for the tour!
She's so cool and provides so much information.
Okay, this video is so awesome. It is difficult NOT to get knocked out of character a bit when a pretty girl says: "You just want to be careful at the end not to... blow your load." Kevin's chuckle said it all.
we do the same but not for a living;we collect Frisian sorts of beans,carrots,onions,grains,potatoes and othes sorts that have a connection with Frisian culture;we sell them in shops in order to cover the costs but is is a heavy job!very good for you to do this and a lot of people see the necessity of this way of collecting!have a good life and keep save and sound!
Great editing! Your channel has been beyond helpful, thanks.
Really enjoyed seeing the whole process. I’m just a novice gardener but I watch a lot of these farm videos and they never fully explain how they get to the final product. Thanks!
@epicgardening
5 жыл бұрын
Thank you! I wanted to show the entire process to build respect for seed farmers and the process they go through...it's a lot of work!
Absolutely fascinating. I bought San Diego Seed Company seeds for the first time this year! Sunset zone 23, South Bonsall
I never even knew this was a thing....Amazing and very informative. She knows her business well.
This was a nice change from gardening videos, seeing where seeds come from. Very enjoyable, I will look for a local grower here in OHio,
I love the idea of continuing traditional selective breeding for micro climates and I wish Brijette and her company the best of luck for the future.
This is awesome! Thank you for the great information!! So inspiring 🙂
I started a little back yard gardening eight or ten years ago, grow carrots, corn lettuce and such. I decided that the only crop worthwhile for me was lettuce. It was nice to be able to go in the backyard and pick lettuce fresh for salads. I only bought one package of lettuce seed, and I've been saving seed ever since. I have PLENTY! This year I'm going to experiment with milk jug gardening to start lettuce plants early and see how that works. Also, I plan to sew new plants every couple of weeks so that when they bolt and start to go to seed, I'll have new plants to pick. I live in urban Seattle, but use zero citiwater ---I save water, not just seeds. The garden uses more water than I do! What's the point of throwing rainwater away and then buying more water? It saves a few bucks, but I mainly don't like waste. I call it a hobby. Everybody needs a hobby, right?
I just purchased lots of your seeds at Green Thumb in San Marcos. Excited!!!
I just started saving heirlooms this year! Can't wait until next spring to see how I did 🤞 Very cool seed company!
Loved that video, so educational. I try every year to do a little more of my own seed saving. Actually trying out a new miniature watermelon seed today. Windowsill drying. I put some directly in the garden last week and so far I haven't seen anything.
The byproduct the ground up pulp from most plants can be fermented and extracted to be used as a natural nutrient for plants. Her compost pile is probably so awesome and diverse
Was just considering saving as much seed as possible from the garden last night, looking forward to watching/learning and doing what I can
Very cool video. She has so much enthusiasm!
I've just subscribed and have been kind of binge watching your videos and learning so much! I'm in NYC and just live in a room so I can only grow stuff on my window sill but I get the sun from about noon till sunset- and it gets hot enough where you can cook a turkey in the window! Lol!! I'd love to check out her company and get some good quality seeds- thank you so much for all you share with us! 😍🤗💗🌷
This was so awesome!! When I move back to California, I’ll be buying my seeds here ✅
very interesting video!! Thankyou!!!most of my vegies, I grew this year were mostly just for seed..& compost....I thought I was wierd, but now I have learnt even more...BEST video!!
Such an awesome Episode! Really enjoyed being behind the scenes!
Fascinating process, thanks so much for showing us so many of the steps and explaining each so well. Would be good for kids to see something like this to see how seeds are processed.
That girl's a gem ! Love to see that much passion
Wow super cool thanks for sharing this video,learned a lot and was inspiring to say the least.
I didn't notice any isolating of flowers. Possibly because everything was beyond the pollination stage. If you produce open pollinated seeds, the offspring will be a crap shoot. That's one of the major drawbacks of producing seed for the market.
Thanks for sharing! I enjoyed watching and learning.😊
There are local organic seeds farmers all over the. Southeast. I worked for one in Little Mountain sc. Rodger Winn grew for local sale and supplied snow true seed, Baker creek, and Southern seed exchange.
i grow to eat. i have saved my seeds each season, for decades. i pick the first ripe fruit from everything to save the seeds. would love to grow to sell seeds.
Awesome video. Thank you for making this! Loved it! I learned a lot about seeds today! Fascinating! I had no idea there was so much to know! So cool that you have the only organic seed farm in America! That's AMAZING!*. I will definitely forward this to someone who loves plants and wants to learn more! Thanks again! 💚
@FatalLightAwareness
Жыл бұрын
Urban organic seed farm!
I am saving seeds from grocery stores American products the imports are supposedly radiated at customs. Tomatoe seeds all sink while pepper seeds predominantly floated. Cherries can be opened using needle nosed pliers the cutting hole is perfectly sized to crack pits.. The peach and apricot I used lineman pliers and channel lock pliers. They have a second layer that has to be soaked for days a week until it shrivels up and you can pull it off then germination takes a few more weeks. Straight from the fruit may be a hybrid its just fascinating attempt to grow bonsai with pink blooms?
Those seeds are worth every penny!! Amazing long process to get seeds into those packages!!
Really interesting video with some very valuable information. Never imagined a food processor would be a part of the process. 💓
This is amazing! I'm so impressed!!
This is fantastic! Thank you EG for this valuable episode.
Thanks for the interesting tour. I love the old time machinery.
Very cool to watch!I need to start saving my own seeds next season.
I like her - Great energy and personality
I found you from our channel. Thank you very much for putting out this video, I really enjoy gardening for many years. I heard from someone else that money doesn't grow trees, BUT it really does, along with plants. Plus its money you can eat. looking forward to more videos. All the best, Paul
@epicgardening
5 жыл бұрын
Thanks for stopping by Paul! Money indeed does grow on trees
Love this. I save my seeds from my garden. Love the machines
Such a cool Video!! Thanks Kevin and Brijette! Now I know how all the seeds I get from Etsy are done! And how to collect my own seeds more efficiently 🌳✌😁🌳
Awesome video! Thanks for sharing! 😄
Love, love, LOVE San Diego Seed co. Such a great video!
I learnt a lot. Don't leave in San Diego. My garden currently is a table top. All my rocket and pak choi flowered so will soon aeed and i will harvest them. Seeds are amazing.
It is always good to save some seeds of your crops. If the batch you planted rots away or doesn't do well you will always have a spare batch.
Very cool! Bob's Adventures here hailing from Idaho
@nestorpadilla4668
4 жыл бұрын
Hey guys check out my brothers channel and please subscribe kzread.info/dash/bejne/g5WjybGYib3gm84.html
A neighbour here where I live went from a small market garden that earned her a few $1000 a year to a selling seeds off the same sized garden which earned her $10,000s a year. She too quit her main job.
periodically I continue to post for baby food jars and for silica packs to be saved and so far no luck! I will not give up'!!!
Awesome Brijette!
@epicgardening
5 жыл бұрын
See you tomorrow!
She's clearly got a lot more farm to show, I would definitely love a follow up episode.
@bradjohnston8687
Жыл бұрын
Follow her channel
Fantastic video!
omg the plinko seed sorter thing is soo cool
I need that Plinko machine! So cool. Cultivated.
That was a fab video long live passionate small business owners