We all know that our vegetable gardens grow from seeds. It is very important to have a good source of reliable seeds for having a good harvest.

We get our vegetable seeds donated by Hope Seeds International, a wonderful and very important ministry that serves God’s hungry people around the world. Under the capable leadership of Dave and Maxine Balsbaugh, Hope Seeds International donates important life-saving seeds to organizations around the world that help hungry people break their cycle of poverty and conquer food insecurity with dignity and long-term success. Hope Seeds stresses the importance of saving seeds from crop to crop so that their beneficiaries will always have “seeds forever.” We fully embrace that idea, and Wilner teaches seed saving at our Agricultural Training Center (ATC).

Here, we see the guys harvesting seeds from some mature “spinach” plants. In Haiti, the “spinach” is really Amaranth, a nutritious leafy plant often grown for its seeds (like Quinoa). Haitians love the tender young greens, boiled and served as “spinach.”

The seeds we originally got from Hope Seeds are heirloom, open-pollinated, and selected for their good growing in the Haitian environment. Since they are open-pollinated, not “hybrid,” we can save the seeds and get true crops each time the seeds are planted.

These pictures show the mature seed heads, the drying of those seed heads, the separation of the seeds from the chaff, thrashing, and winnowing, and finally, the saving of a large number of seeds for many future plantings. Following this easy procedure will ensure we have “seeds forever.”

A huge thank you to the Balsbaugh’s of Hope Seeds and to all our donors who support our sustainability programs. You are providing “food for life.”

Rad Hazelip, Assistant Executive Director