A gift From a friend
Email from Rich:
I am trying to grow the rainbow, share the rainbow, here in Trenton NJ. I have enclosed a 1/10th share of the legendary Jere Gettle’s Jere Collection, which is one pack of each of Baker Creek seed company’s up to 1600 hundred varieties of vegetable, herb, fruit and flower seed they have in stock at their main store. They offer the first 1,025 packs for $1295.00 then pick the rest of the store at $1.00 a pack. This will be in the ballpark of $1,700.00-$1,800.00 depending on what is in stock. This is a pretty good discount considering most packs range between $2.50 up to $5.00 a pack, and I got brainwashed by their trippy catalogue, so I said I’ll take all of it. It will average out to $1.16 a pack or so. I kept half, and split the half other half into 5 portions. I had to get one of these to my favorite show. I want to encourage your audience, in general, to get extra variety by sharing seeds, but also be aware of the tedious process it can be to divide them up. Doing anything several thousands of times is rough, but if a group of people want to band together and endure a good amount of head-down, factory-work hardship, splitting a Jere Collection is totally doable, if…
You stay organized!
Get 2 – 1 packages of 50 gallon Ziploc freezer bags, and 2 packages of 1 quart Ziploc freezer bags to hold sorted sections of packets, and also to use for the sorted dime bag sections. I used 2” square plastic dime bags to hold the sorted seed shares. They come 1,000 for $11.99 on Amazon. This is by far the cheapest option. Organize each pack into sections out of the giant box which all packs will come into bag labeled Amaranth to Zinnia. You will have time to play with the seed later just sort it out. Working a section at a time is best. *Have sharpies to label and tape to reseal partial packs.* (I used staples and regretted it)
You are not going to hand write all of this, and xeroxing packs is way expensive. I just made a table and centered each variety name, printed it on paper, cut them, and stuffed each dimebag with a paper label and the seed share. I am making the word doc available to try to save anyone interested the step of typing labels.
The idea is to get the seeds from the pack to the dime bag in the least amount of steps. Good luck. Estimates and math helps, drug dealing experience could be useful. (Just kidding). Egg cartons help. I preferred to tap the amount out directly into the bag. I don’t think there is a right way or wrong way. Don’t get to precise with small seeds. The counts will average out. Order in advance and budget time. If you could split a pack in 1 minute the collection would take 26 hours to split up. I got my time down to 2-3 minutes a pack by the end, but was closer to 5-6 minutes a pack in the beginning. The collection can be split down to 1/10 shares but I wouldn’t split it any further. A 1/10th share will give you a pretty nice amount for a good time. Most pack counts are about double the minimum posted on the pack. Some of the rarer and smaller stuff is doled out more sparsely.
If you consider the tens of thousands of hours of work that went into saving this seed through the generations the work won’t seem so bad. Spending time with the packs and seed is also learning. I think I have most of the catalogue memorized by now.
If anyone else tries this, I am sorry in advance, and I would love to hear about it. My email is ************, and my 12 subscriber beginner youtube gardening channel is under Dinosaur Gardening.
I am making a few subeducational videos, and will uploading more NJ gardening videos soon with better variety. Good luck. Grow the Rainbow, share the Rainbow!
Rich’s channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCBnqwUspH6WzANonaxQyd6Q
https://steemit.com/@gardeningchannel
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/james.prigioni
LAWN TO HIGH PRODUCTION FOOD FOREST: https://youtu.be/7ByAh_0CIW8
CUCUMBERS, Everything You Need To Know! https://youtu.be/2dq2OQsFCjM
5 TIPS FOR BUILDING HEALTHY SOIL: https://youtu.be/7-Tyz7fGeZo
Good job James. We are not growers, but sowers 😉
very cool collection!
Yay! For Rich!!
This video got me excited so I can only imagine how psyched you were.
That is wonderful!!! I have purchased alot of seeds and cant wait to start them!!
I am just about to start a garden this coming spring. My grandpa was the one in the family that had the garden and he would spread the fruit the veggies throughout the whole family. He just passed away less than a month ago. I have all the farm animals and now im trying to learn and collect everything i need to start a garden. I already have a peach tree and blackberry bushes Everything else i am not familiar with. I am learning a lot from you so i really appreciate it.
Those seeds are worth a fortune in food, a better gift I can't imagine. Continues wait to see what next year brings in your gardens and what old or new plants are there. I would like to see the yellow flesh watermelons next year, that's my choice. Much love and respect, blessings.
I'm native from NJ but I moved to CA about 8 years ago. I miss NJ a lot, and the weather! Your videos help me feel less home sick as well as being really informative and fun. I love them, keep making them!
1000 seeds so awsome i love this video good luck
Have you ever tried planting mint? I'm considering it for my garden, but I've heard it can be invasive. Do you know if that's true?
I knew you were from Toms River!
how did you do your greenhouse James ?
I just discovered your channel. I am in the process of watching every single video. You have inspired me. Thank you for sharing your knowledge and exuberance.
Did you get those crazy tomatoes that were on the cover of the 2018 catalog?
you got me growing dude. Just started my new balcony garden (apartments suck) cant wait to see how things fit into place and what works with my super small space 🙂
I am planning on buying this exact collection (have been wanting it for years!) and I’ve been looking for an unboxing video for the longest! You beat me to it! Thank you so much for posting about the $1 deal (steal!) after the 1025 packages. I may give that a go. I know you’re going to have a lot of fun this fall, happy gardening!!!
I want to see all of the wonderful varieties of heirloom winter squash they have! I’ve always loved seeing the gorgeous displays in the fall, and baker Creek has so many gorgeous varieties.
um yea, i'm subscribing, love the concept of your food forest, can't wait to get out of vegas and get some land so we can have our own food forest, what an awesome gift.
Love your videos
you can FREEZE those seeds in MYLAR bags for 20 YEARS …yes,, YEARS 90 % will still be viable…your own seed vault James! What a GREAT gift! ( you can take out seeds and add seeds, no worries) need MYLAR BAGS sold on ebay… plant 1/2 the seeds of a variety , in case they bomb that year…..save 1/2 is prudent… DATE new seeds added to vault..again they sell little RESEALABLE MYLAR BAGS on ebay
HERBS can grow all winter in a greenhouse, they are MEDICINE GROW HERBS ( can move outside come spring …)
Santa Claus brought me a 8x8x7 high greenhouse!!!! Dwarf trees are on the way ….. ( zone 8b still nice weather Dec 10 2019 ) my herb garden is built and plants are in the ground THANKS JAMES! I sit and draw my garden design on paper every DAY….( I have a plant problem) I send SEEDS as Christmas presents… esp HERB collections … * Get 10 Free Flowering Trees – Arbor Day Foundation https://shop.arborday.org/memberships-ten-trees.aspx Get 10 Free Flowering Trees Or many other FREE trees available…your membership is only $10. … We inspire people to plant, nurture and celebrate trees. The Arbor Day Foundation is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit conservation and education organization. A million members, donors, and partners support our programs to make our world greener and healthier
Love your videos! <3 I’ve been watching them all for the last week hahaha Very informative! I’ve learned a lot for this season. You have me wondering about the dragons tongue, so I ordered seeds and I’m excited to grow it this year! Thanks for the videos! P.s. tuck is adorable! <3
Edit to add: do you have any plans for a seed shop?
❤️
I would like to see your creation of hybrids
It would be cool to see pomegranates growing in the food forest. There are many cold hardy varieties called “Russian varieties.”
Thank you for all the passion & awesome content. Here from Brick. Cant wait to see what's in store for this upcoming year from your channel!