Gardening Bloggers Wanted to Help Save Historic Landreth Heirloom Non-GMO Seed Company

NEW IDEA: Ask your local businesses related to gardening such as nurseries and feed stores that sell seed and plants whether they are aware they can pre-order these beautiful 2012 Heirloom and Vintage Seed Catalogues to ship in late November or December in time for Christmas.

They’ll make perfect holiday gifts and a unique product to offer their customers.

There is a unique reason why I am publishing this post today. The oldest seed company in the United States is in danger of going out of business and we, as bloggers and users of social media, can make sure that does not happen. I am asking all gardening bloggers (and anyone else who is willing) to act to keep historic heirloom non-GMO Landreth Seed Company alive.  They need to raise $1 million dollars within 30 days [by September 30, 2011] – and with our help they CAN do that. Heirloom seeds are critical to maintaining genetic diversity and preventing another major disaster like the Irish Potato Famine. In Heritage and Heirloom Foods, Sustainable Table cites the Center for Biodiversity and Conservation “Biodiversity and Your Food: Did You Know?” statistic:

Almost 96% of the commercial vegetable varieties available in 1903 are now extinct.

Almost all corn is ONE variety and almost everything Americans eat contains that one ingredient. If that crop fails there could be widespread starvation. Food prices are already spiraling upward and will continue to do so. 

WHAT YOU CAN DO TO HELP:

1. Buy a seed catalog – only $5 toward making sure heirloom seeds are still available
2. Order seeds – They have many special collections including an Heirloom Seed Collection, seeds to plant a patio garden, African American Heritage Seeds and a children’s garden collection. Also check out their holiday gardening gifts (buy now for your favorite gardener and kill two birds with one stone) and seeds in a sack collections.
3. Donate on ChipIn: Includes additional information such as the Garnishment Letter
4. BLOGGERS: Blog in support of them.
5. TWITTER: Follow them @LandrethSeedCo and spread the word by tweeting and retweeting and share this post with your followers. Use a hashtag so that more people will see your tweet. Some are using #SAVELANDRETH but I also recommend #gardening #organic #gmo – Anyone have others? Leave them in the comments and I’ll share them here.
6. FACEBOOK:Like them on Facebook, add them to your page’s favorites, share these tips with your friends, share any of the posts about their situation.
7. STUMBLEUPON: First thumb up and then review any of the posts about their situation. Schedule tweets using su.pr. (If you need assistance in how to do that leave your questions in the comments here or tweet to @GrowMap or find me on Skype (I’m the only GrowMap there) and I will assist you.

This Treehugger post explains How We Can Help Save One of America’s Heirloom, Non-GMO Seed Houses and other bloggers are sharing why they are rallying to keep Landreth alive:

• @MrBrownThumb started the #SaveLandreth campaign on Twitter and wrote this post at Chicago Garden:Help Save America’s Oldest Seed Company – THIS POST has the letter from the owner
• NEW: Eatocracy: A company rooted in American history refuses to wither away
• NEW: Solari: Help Save One of Americas Heirloom Non-GMO Seed Houses
• in.gredients Heirlooms and Why They Matter
• Mike Nowak Chicagoland Gardening Radio Show: Sustainable Food Fundamentals: Saving Landreth Seed Company one catalog at a time
• Nova Gardener: Save Landreth Seed Co.
• White Hat Writing: Save an Heirloom; Eat a Tomato
• Garden Girl: Please Help Save a National Treasure
• Washington Gardener: Landreth Seed Company Needs Our Help! and this wonderful Interview with Landreth Seed Co co-owner Barbara Melera that contains tips on heirloom seed varieties and answers to the most asked questions about which to plant.
• Head Butler: Could A $5 Catalogue Save America’s Oldest Seed Company?
• Huffington Post: Could A Beautiful $5 Catalogue Save America’s Oldest Heirloom Seed Company?
• Small Time Cook: Save the Seeds
• The Garden Faerie Home and Garden: America’s oldest seed company is in danger of closing “The catalog is worth the price; it is printed on thick, nice paper with old-style illustrations, beautiful photos, and plant information”…”It’s important to have smaller seed companies that sell heirloom seeds. Many larger seed companies sell only hybrid or genetically-modified seeds, and offer a limited variety of plants and flowers.”
• Home Grown Goodness Forum has more details on what happened that caused the Landreth financial challenges – a lawsuit beyond their control.
• Telegraph ~ America’s oldest seed association is in risk of closing
• Laura Bruno ~ Help Save One of America’s Non-GMO Seed Houses
• An Aesthete’s Lament~ Save D. Landreth Seed Company

INTERESTING: Landreth Seed Co Timeline from before they were founded in 1784 through today.

Click Image for Where to Get This Book

One of our primary goals is to get bloggers collaborating with other bloggers in their niche and geographic location. To that end we create pages like this one so they can more easily find each other. Read why geographic niche blogging is important for every blogger. Below you will find a list of quality garden blogs. As time allows, those that are DoFollow and have CommentLuv and KeywordLuv installed will be moved to the top of the list. If your blog qualifies please leave a comment to that effect with a link to your blog and your location to be included. Below that a list of excellent lists of gardening blogs.  You can find many more excellent blogs using those lists. If you have a gardening blog list please leave a link in the comments and I will add it to that list. If you would like to be part of a blog collaboration, be introduced to other blogs in your niche and location, or lead a blog collaboration please let me know. I offer free mentoring to groups of bloggers and am publishing a blogging collaborations process on what to do.

DOFOLLOW COMMENTLUV GARDENING BLOGGERS:

• Master Gardener Stephanie Suesan Smith’s Gardening Questions Answered, Northeast Texas

Gardening Bloggers:

Currently in no particular order:

• NEW: TN Nursery in Altamont Tennessee Tree Nursery
  
• The Urban Heirlooms Project
• Novagardener: Gardening in North Virginia
• Green Soil Tea
• The Pure Gardener
• A Way to Garden
• Sustainable Gardening Blog
• Veggie Gardening Tips
• Gardening Tips n Ideas
• The Illustrated Garden
• Sharing Nature’s Garden
• The Growing Edge
• Mike’s Garden Blog
• Natural Gardening
• This Garden Is Illegal
• GardenRant
• Cold Climate Gardening
• Backyard Gardening Blog
• Diggin’ It
• The Survivalist Blog
• Gardening Gone Wild
• North Coast Gardening
• Veg Plotting
• Musings of a Garden Historian
• Digging
• You Grow Girl: The Dirt
• Bumblebee Blog
• Dirt By Amy Stewart
• Your Small Kitchen Garden
• Gardener to Farmer
• May Dreams Gardens
• dlyn
• Blue Ridge blog
• A Homesteading Neophyte
• Shawn Ann’s World
• Ledge and Gardens
• Transatlantic Plantsman
• Farmmama
• Flowergardengirl
• Blackpitts.co.uk
• Tracylive
• Anthrome
• Doug Greens Blog
• Garden Bliss
• Studio ‘g’
• Ewa in the Garden
• Shirley Bovshows Eden Makers Blog
• Zanthan Gardens
• The Manic Gardener – An Organic Gardening Blog
• Busy-at-Home
• Northern Indiana ~ Backyard Gardening
• B&D Lilies Garden Blog
• The Garden of Eaden
• Mr. McGregors Daughter
• Miss Rumphius’ Rules
• Gardening Examiner
• The Texas Triffid Ranch
• Growing with Plants
• Farmmama
• Compostings
• Bella Madris
• (not so) Urban Hennery
• Kale for Sale
• Down to Earth
• Daphne’s Dandelions
• Gardenmama
• Throwback at Trapper Creek
• The Family Garden
• One Green Generation
• Skippy’s Vegetable Garden
• Homegrown
• Limes & Lycopene
• Suburban Sharecroppers
• Viggies Veggies
• Sicilian Sisters Grow Some Food
• Sono-Ma
• Flower Hill Farm
• Maybelline’s Garden
• Our Garden Blog
• Black Hills Garden

Gardening Blog Lists:

• BlogRank Top 50 Gardening Blogs
• Cold Climate Gardening: Garden Blog Directory by Location
• Flower Garden Girls: Best Garden Blogs by State and Zone
• Sheila Lennon’s Annotated List of Garden Blogs at Projo
• Veggie Gardener: Top 15 Best Gardening Blogs
• How to Garden Advice List of Gardening Blogs
• A Sonoma Garden: List of the Best Gardening Blogs

THREATS TO GARDENING:

Bills that have ALREADY PASSED that impose outrageous penalties of up to $1 MILLION dollars for sharing food we grow or raised:

1. First watch The Garden Police are Coming to understand the issues.
2. TheNew “Food Safety” Law Passed Senate
3. Food Safety Bill Passes House &Senate, President to sign, Gardens illegal?
4. Obama Signs 35 New Laws Including Food Safety!

GARDEN LAW ENFORCEMENT ACTIONS:

• Feds Raid Amish Dairy
• Police Begin “Guns Drawn” Raids on Organic Food Stores in California
• Organic Farms and Gardens Destroyed by HR 875: The Food Safety Modernization Act
• LeaveMyFoodAlone.org Petition to Defeat HR 875

Tagged as: gardening, heirloom seeds, non-gmo seeds