#freeheirloomseeds.org

[friend-crow]

Free seeeeeeds!

[on-my-way-to-the-woods]

If anyone wants tomato seeds or pepper seeds (or many other kinds of seed), Free Heirloom Seeds is really trying to get the rest of their seed stock sent out before the end of planting season and you should check them out.  4 packets of seed per household per year.  The seeds are free, please donate $1.25 for shipping if you can, but you don’t have to. 

Note: they will ship outside the US, email them for details.

Tomato and pepper varieties as of 2/1/2021, check their website for the most recent list.

#TO1-Tomato - Amish Paste, (85 Days) Organic, Indeterminate, Wisconsin heirloom from Amish farmers dating back to around 1870 boats big oxheart fruits with consistent flavor

#TO3-Tomato - Japanese Black Trifele, (74 Days) Organic, 4-6 oz fruits with deep flavor, potato leafed indeterminate, harvest whe shoulders are still green for the best flavor, 5-10 seeds per request

#TO4-Tomato - Cherokee Purple, (77 Days) Organic, Heirloom tomato said to have originated from the Cherokee Indians is known to be one of the best tasting tomatos in the world. Brownish pirple skin & brick red flesh

#TO5-Tomato - Black Krim, (80 Days) Organic, red with deep brown shoulders, full flavored tomato has been described as "smoky", high yeilding indeterminate is sure to please, 5-10 seeds per request

#TO7-Tomato - Green Zebra, (77 Days) Organic, Slicing tomato ripens green with yellow stripes, very enjoyable out of hand. ALway a pleasure to grow

#TO8-Tomato - Fargo Yellow Pear, (82 Days) Organic, Vigorous determinate introduced in 1934. Each plant produces about 3 dozen 1 oz. fruits

#TO9-Tomato - Golden Jubilee, (80 Days) Organic, Indeterminate slicing tomato, 8 oz. gold tomato won AAS in 1943

#TO11-Tomato - Valencia, (85 Days) Organic, Indeterminate, Maine family heirloom is a nice small midsize bright orange tomato great for fresh eating.

#TO12-Tomato - Matt's Wild Cherry, (85 Days) Indeterminate, this bright red heirloom cherry tomato has origins tracing back to Hidalgo Mexico, where they grow wild. Full flavor cherry tomato.

#TO14-Tomato - Orange Banana, (85 Days) Organic, Indeterminate orange paste tomato of exceptional quality, also said to be a great choice for dried tomatoes

#TO15-Tomato - Sheboygan, (80 Days) Organic, Indeterminate red paste tomato, highly productive Lithuanian Heirloom

#TO16-Tomato - Peacevine, (78 Days) Organic, Small fruited red tomato, rampant indeterminate produces countless clusters of sweet fruit. Originally selected from sweet 100

#TO19-Tomato - Pink Brandywine, (82 Days) Organic, Indeterminate potato leaf variety. Possibly the most famous heirloom of all. Specially selected to offer the best that the Brandywine variety has to offer

#TO20-Tomato - Yellow Brandywine, (78 Days) Organic, Indeterminate potato leaf variety. Rich flavor from these large, meaty yellow fruits. 5-10 seeds per request

#TO21-Tomato - Principe Borghese, (75 Days) Organic, Vigorous determinate small fruited red tomato. Praised by people who have gotten this seed from us in the past as a great yielder with fantastic taste

#TO28-Tomato - Speckled Roman, (85 Days) Organic, Indeterminate,This pointed roma type tomato is great for fresh eating & is very easy on the eyes with orange stripes over red. One of our favorites! 

#PPH1-Pepper/Hot - Anaheim Hot Pepper (78 Days) The pepper for Chile Rellenos & so much more. Got it's name being grown for a factory near Anaheim around 1900

#PPH4-Pepper/Hot - Early Jalapeno (75 Days) a familar friend that packs the heat at 4000 to 6500 scovilles

#PPH5-Pepper/Hot - Hidalgo Serrano (75 Days) Organic, A bit hotter than Jalapeno, with quite a range from 2000 to 17,000 scovilles, prolific plants produce dozens of small finger sized peppers

#PPH6-Pepper/Hot - Fish (80 Days) Organic, A serrano pepper mutation dating back to the late 1800's. No joke at 5000 - 30,000 scovilles

#PPH7-Pepper/Hot - Poblano Ancho Grande(76 Days) The classic medium hot roasting chili pepper, appx. 10-20 seeds per request

#PPH8-Pepper/Hot - Hungarian Hot Wax (58 days pale yellow/83 red) Organic, Sunset ripening yellow, orange to red make for gorgeous pickled peppers, 5-10 seeds per request

#PPH9-Pepper/Hot - Habanero (80 days green/100 orange) Organic, Famous, flavorful extra hot pepper, an extremely pugent Habanero with hints of ctirus, 5 seeds per request

#PPS1-Pepper/Sweet - Golden Cal Wonder Bell Pepper (75 Days) Abundant producer of big blocky bell peppers that ripen to a deep gold. Appx. 10-20 seeds per request

#PPS2-Pepper/Sweet - Horizon Orange Bell Pepper (75 Days) Vigorous producer of full sized bells, known for it's premium "gourmet" color, appx. 5-10 seeds per request

#PPS4-Pepper/Sweet - Yolo Wonder L Bell Pepper (75 Days) Abundant producer of big blocky bell peppers that ripen to a deep red. Appx. 10-20 seeds per request

#PPS6-Pepper/Sweet - Karlo Paprika Pepper (70 Days) Organic, 3-5" pointed peppers, Semi-sweet/semi-hot pepper ripens to bright red, making an excellent choice for paprika, 5 seeds per request

#PPS7-Pepper/Sweet - Tangerine Pimiento Pepper (85 Days) Organic, Beautiful bright Tangerine color with outstanding sweetness fresh or roasted, appx 5-6 seeds per request

#PPS8-Pepper/Sweet - Greek Pepperoncini (65 Days)Classic Pepperoncini, sweet with just a little bite, produces an abundance of fruit on a compact plant, just over a foot tall. 5-6 seed per request

#PPS9-Pepper/Sweet - Klari Baby Cheese (65 Days) Organic, aka "Golden Delicious Apple Pepper" this Heirloom from Hungary produces small globe peppers about 3", that are fantastic for eating out of hand, 4 oz. fruits ripen from yellow to red, appx. 5-7 seeds per request

#PPS10-Pepper/Sweet - Sweet Pimiento (80 Days) Organic, early & productive red pimiento. You can't go wrong with this sweet fruity pepper, appx. 5-6 seeds per request

#PPS11-Pepper/Sweet - Chocolate Cake Sweet Pepper (90 Days) 3.5" thick walled pepper that makes a sweet green pepper that if allowed to ripen turns to a deep chocolate red. great, sweet flavor! appx. 6 seeds per request

#PPS12-Pepper/Sweet - Jimmy Nardello's Elongated Sweet Pepper (76 Days) Our favorite, long Italian sweet pepper, always a joy to eat & grow. Brought to the US in 1887 from Southern Italy  by Jimmy Nardello's mother. appx. 6 seeds per request

[journiland]

1/22/2021

I just requested seeds from these guys:

http://freeheirloomseeds.org/

It was only $1.25 for four, or five if you did the PayPal yourself instead of the button (which I did). So I requested:

SO1-Sorrel

ORA2-Orach (aka giant lambs quarters or mountain spinach)

AM3-Amaranth, Love-Lies-Bleeding

CLO1-Mammoth Red Clover

SHU-Shungiku Edible Chrysanthemum

Back-ups for out of stock:

CH3-Zloty Lan Chamomile

ANG-Angelica

I love seed mail. 🧡

[on-my-way-to-the-woods]

Cheap/Free Seeds & Plants

If you go to any given store, you’ll probably have to spend ~$3 (USD) per packet of seed, that adds up quickly if you have big plans for growing your own food.  Here are a few ideas for how to get cheap/free plants for your upcoming garden.

The Free Seed Project - www.robgreenfield.org/freeseedproject/ USA ONLY. If you can’t afford seeds, are growing food for others, and/or a first-time gardener you can sign up to get seeds through the free seed project.  In 2020 they were able to send out seed packets to 5,000 families/groups and this year they are hoping to do 10,000.  Their seed packets contain ~12 different kinds of seeds including carrots, kale, and herbs.  This is completely free, no postage charges.

Free Heirloom Seeds - www.freeheirloomseeds.org They have sent seeds internationally before, contact them for details.  Free Heirloom Seeds will send 4 free packets of seeds per year to any household that signs up.  There are many many varieties to choose from.  They ask for donations ($1.25 (cheaper than SASE)) to cover shipping, but will send you seeds anyway if you can’t afford that. If you’re looking to buy seeds for an entire garden, they suggest a $10 donation to cover shipping for 15 packets of seeds.

Self-Addressed Stamped Envelope (SASE) A number of social media sites (Facebook, reddit, etc.) have groups for seed sharing.  Most of those offers are for Self-Addressed Stamped Envelopes.  All you need to do is get an envelope, add a stamp, address it to yourself, and then put that envelope inside another envelope that is stamped and addressed to the person you are getting seeds from.  When they receive your letter, all they have to do is open it, put the seeds inside the envelope that’s addressed to you, and put it out in their mailbox.  The cost to you is that of two envelopes and two stamps.

Seed Libraries If you’re lucky, you may have a small seed library nearby.  I’ve seen them in regular book libraries before.  Usually you “check out” (take) the seeds you want to grow and then in the fall you seed save from that plant and “return” (give) some of those saved seeds back to the library so others can grow it. There are a few different websites that try to keep track of seed libraries, but definitely also try to research if there is one in your town since not every library makes it onto those maps.

Seed Swaps Either in person or by mail.  If you have a bunch of seeds from last year, you can trade with people for other varieties.  Online groups can be found through social media (Facebook, reddit, etc.)  In person groups are harder, but try looking for a local gardening club.

Propagation Many plants can be grown from small snippets of adult plants.  Tomatoes are excellent at this as well as a number of herbs.  Figure out what plants other people are growing around you, look up propagation methods for those plants, and then ask your neighbor if you can take a few cuttings from their rosemary bush.

Produce Many different kinds of plants can be grown either through seeds collected from food you buy at the store or the root ends.  I’ve grown plants from leek ends, celery ends, lettuce ends, pineapple tops, potatoes, and squash seeds.  Many of the plants you’ll find in grocery stores are hybrids so you might not get the same exact sort of fruit you planted (or any fruit), but you have it already from food you bought so you might as well try it.

Wild Plants There are edible plants around, all you have to do is learn to identify them.  They don’t have to grow in just the wild though, we’ve been growing purslane in our garden that we started from cuttings found in the wild.  If you have a favorite wild plant you can always bring it back to grow close to home.  (Obviously, don’t introduce anything invasive and be 100% sure you have identified the plant properly)

The Seed Saver’s Exchange - https://exchange.seedsavers.org/ I’ve listed this one last because, depending on what you’re looking for, this one can be a bit more like buying stuff.  (I’ve even found Baker Creek peddling their seeds in there). Seeds are supposed to be free, with the money exchanged being for shipping/handling.  You can find excellent deals (especially if you’re looking for cuttings off of fruit trees/plants), but it all depends on the seller.  So what I’m saying is that there are definitely overpriced seeds on there, but it’s worth going through especially if you want a particular variety.  Even when prices are similar to what you’d find in a catalog, the shipping is the price so basically you can treat this as a seed catalog with free shipping.

[on-my-way-to-the-woods]

freeheirloomseeds.org has 370 different varieties listed right now. Which is giving me a really hard time to narrow down to an order.

They will send 4 varieties for free per household (or more with a donation of postage). They ship both in and out of the US. Please read the directions on their website carefully.

[on-my-way-to-the-woods]

This (December 2021) is the last month to get your 2021 free seeds from http://freeheirloomseeds.org/. Every household (including households outside the US) can get 4 packets of free heirloom seeds per year mailed directly to your house.

If possible, please donate the cost of shipping ($1.40 for 4 varieties of small seeds) to help them keep going. If you miss it this year, you can still get seeds in 2022. Their largest seed list is supposed to go up sometime around February 1, 2022.

They also have an active seed trading Facebook group at https://www.facebook.com/groups/freeheirloomseeds

[on-my-way-to-the-woods]

Thank you for posting about freeheirloomseeds.org! I ordered some seeds and was happy to donate to such a good cause, but I didn't even know they existed until your post!

Thank you! I found them a bit over a year ago and couldn’t find any information on them to check if it was a scam or not. It’s been fun to watch them grow since that point. They started out as a little family run organization out of their bead store and have grown to have actual volunteers, offer seeds year round, and are starting a species preservation initiative.

I hadn’t expected the post to go much further than my followers (I’m more of a 0-3 notes kind of blog) or I would have included the link in the text of my post instead of the source. Oops

[on-my-way-to-the-woods]

www.freeheirloomseeds.org will be taking a break starting June 1, 2021. If you haven't yet ordered your free seeds for this year, and you would like to, please submit your request ASAP. They do send seeds outside of the US (with some restrictions), check their International Requests page for details.

Be sure to read their directions! It saves the volunteers a lot of time

Their list as of May 18, 2021 has 140 regular-sized and 78 oversized seed varieties. (Referring to the size of the seed, not the plant, it's a lot more expensive to ship pea seeds without them getting crushed than it is tomato seeds since tomato seeds are smaller)

If you can afford it, please donate the cost of shipping. As little as $1.25 (cheaper than sending a SASE) covers shipping costs for 4 different varieties of regular-sized seeds.

[on-my-way-to-the-woods]

Free Heirloom Seeds

I wanted to let y’all know about www.freeheirloomseeds.org.  The project sends out 4 packs of your choice of heirloom seeds, just asking you to grow and share the seeds you receive.  For those that can, they really appreciate receiving a $1.10 donation (about what it would cost to send a self-addressed stamped envelope to them) to help keep them going, but it isn’t required.  They still have a lot of seeds left this year (2020) and are encouraging people to make requests.  I have received seeds from them twice now as well as two of my friends

Their goal is to get more people growing locally and saving seeds to save at risk varieties, reduce pollution, encourage sustainable practices, provide easy access to healthy food, reduce the impact of corporations, and help create self-sufficient communities.  These seeds are for everyone, not just those of us struggling financially, but if you are able please do send them a donation.  Four packs of seeds could easily run you $12 if you bought them from a store.

[ID: A screenshot of a Facebook post by the ‘Free Heirloom Seeds’ page in the ‘Free Heirloom Seeds Community’ group.  The post reads “We appreciate, but no longer require a stamp to request seeds from www.FreeHeirloomSeeds.org - 4 free packs of seed per household, per year. We still have lots left for this year. Send us a request if you haven't yet! & Thanks for sharing this link!”]

They’re based in the US, but have sent seeds internationally.  You’ll have to contact them for the restrictions on that.