FAQ
What are heirloom seeds?
Very simply heirloom seeds conform to a few loose ‘ideals’. They are 1) Open Pollinated 2) They do not have any Plant Breeders Rights attached to them. 3) They (the variety) are generally older than 1950. 4) They have a history of being passed down from year to year with the seed being saved each year.
What is the mission of Livingseeds.co.za?
Our ‘mission’ if you would to call it that, is to provide heirloom and open pollinated seed to private gardeners and small scale market gardeners. Seed that can be harvested, and kept from year to year without the need for people to buy specialist seed from large corporations every year.
In addition to this, we would like to see people become more self sufficient and take back the ability to produce their own foods. Livingseeds.co.za is one way that we can assist in doing this.
Where does Livingseeds.co.za get their seeds from?
We are proud to say that Livingseeds.co.za is one of the few seedhouses in South Africa that produces almost all (over 95%) of our seed on our own property, a few lines are specially grown for us by one or two other seedhouses and are only offered via our site. This ensures that you are recieving seed that has been grown in local conditions and is not seed that has been imported and that may be subject to a restricted or experimental status.
We currently have well over 200 seed varieties in our repository and are expanding our catalogue on a monthly basis. Most new seed is released after about 2-3 years of work. This includes the initial planting, seed saving, a grow-out trial, and a final germination test by ourselves.
Is the plastic that you pack the seeds in bio-degradable?
Good question, the ‘plastic’ sachets that we send our seeds in is actually cellulose (a type of paper) and is fully biodegradable. Out of interest, to tell the difference between real cellulose and plastic, light it. If it smells like plastic, it’s plastic. However if it smells like burnt sugar… it’s 100% natural cellulose. You can put the plastic into your compost heap or worm bin, it will soon be gone.
How does your seed count work?
Simple, the focus of Livingseeds.co.za is to supply seed that can be planted, the fruit harvested for consumption and seed saved from this fruit for the next years planting. This is the whole purpose behind heirloom and open pollinated seeds. We generally supply enough seed that if based on a 80% germination rate (which is poor) most families (i.e. 2.1 kids and a dog and a hamster) will be able to use or process all of the fruits in a single season. Then all one needs to do is take the seed out of a single fruit, the best looking of course, for the following season and you can plant as many as you wish…. at no cost to you for the rest of your life. That I think is a bargain.
The stated seed counts on the site and packaging is a minimum seed count, typically you will find between 10% and 50% more seed in each individual packet.
In addition to this there are certain varieties that require a minimum population to maintain their genetic diversity (Corn/mielies) are a very good example where 80 plants are required to ensure that the genetic diversity is carried over from year to year. We supply enough seed for you to maintain this genetic diversity within your own planting, any less and we would be doing you a disfavour and it would not be in keeping with the spirit of heirloom and open pollinated seed.
I have XXXXX variety of heirloom seed that I’m willing to sell you [Sean adds or trade] are you willing to buy from me?
This is an interesting question and it is open to discussion on a case by case basis, most of the seed that we have has been given to us as a direct gift in the tradition that heirloom seeds have come to represent. We encourage you to share your seeds with friends and family. They make a perfect Christmas of birthday gift, one that keeps of giving.
If you have a particularly unique seed and feel that a trade is required for you to share your seed, by all means please email us and we can discuss.
How do you post your seed?
Our seed is shipped either via registered post or Ordinary Parcel Post for orders under 1 kg and Ordinary Parcel Post for any orders over 1 kg.
We have literally sent out many hundreds of orders and to date have not experienced any issues with missing and lost parcels, if you are concerned about your parcel going missing then please choose the registered post option as it has an insurance option that we can make use of.
We have priced courier services and they are on average 5 times what the South African Post Office charges.
Do you allow visits to your farm?
The nature of our business at this point does not allow us the luxury of visitors, we do not have the staff, infrastructure or the time at this point to accommodate visitors. We are hoping that in the near future will be able to open our property to day visitors. Most likely this will be on one or two selected days to start with.
Do you ship outside South Africa?
Yes we do, we will ship anywhere in the SADC region. All parcels are packed in plain white bubble wrap envelopes with no identification as to the contents. There is no additional charge for shipping outside of ZA.
| Robet Asks: Hi there sorry to bother you could you tell me how you store your seeds someone said put them in the fridge? so i put mine in zipplock packets and in a airtight container in the fridge is that ok ..
Seeds can be stored in the fridge or in the freezer. Freezer is best. We store all of our repository and back-up seeds in the freezer and use those in case of a crop failure. Just make sure they are dry and then bag in an airtight container/bag and freeze. Freezing is also a great way to kill off bugs and other gogga’s |
If you have any questions that you feel should be in this FAQ please do not hesitate to contact us and we will be glad to add the question (and the answer) to this list. Drop us a mail
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