Q: What is Friends on Unity With Nature?

A: F.U.N.(L.I.) is a committee of the Long Island Quarterly Meeting of the Society of Friends (Quakers). The committee concerns itself with the spiritual dimension of ecological issues and seeks to deepen our awareness of God's immanence in all creation.

Q: What are open-pollinated seeds?

A: Open-pollinated varieties are the traditional varieties which have been grown and selected for their desirable traits for millennia. They grow well without high inputs because they have been selected under organic conditions. These varieties have better flavor, are hardier and have more flexibility than hybrid varieties. Breeders cannot manipulate complex characteristics such as flavor as easily as they can size and shape. These seeds are dynamic, that is they mutate and adapt to the local ecosystem, as opposed to modern hybrids, which are static. Commercial breeders lack the incentive to produce new open pollinated varieties from which farmers could save seed and replant..

Q: What is the importance of heirloom seeds?

A: Heirloom vegetables are generally identified as open-pollinated (non-hybrid) varieties which have been passed down since the turn of the century, or earlier. In some instances, the varieties have been grown for several centuries.

Heirloom varieties offer several advantages over hybrids, which are genetically uniform. For example, heirloom varieties represent a greater reservoir of genetic possibilities and each variety has distinctive useful characteristics (disease resistance, flavor, drought resistance etc.). Heirlooms are more likely to be adapted to regional variations in climate and soil conditions than the all-purpose hybrid varieties generally offered by the large seed companies. In addition, most heirlooms were grown before the use of chemical sprays and fertilizers were widespread and they produced abundantly without reliance on pesticides or irrigation.

Hybrid plants produce seed which is either sterile or inferior to the parent plants. For this reason, gardeners are unable to save the seeds from the vegetables they grow and become dependent on the seed companies for fresh seed each year. This is obviously more expensive than raising your own seed and it also exposes the gardener to changing fashions in gardening as a favorite variety may not be offered in future years. Hybrids are very productive, but their genetic uniformity greatly increases their vulnerability to disease. A well known historical example of this is the blight which affected the Irish potato crop, leading to widespread famine and suffering. Our food supply remains vulnerable to blights such as this. For example, a study performed several years ago revealed over 70% of our commercially-grown beans consisted of only three varieties and 69% of our sweet potato crop consisted of one variety.

Finally, growing heirloom vegetables gives people a sense of their roots and a connection with the past. Individuals may not be able to save the California condor or the blue whale, but each gardener can preserve an heirloom specie and help to stem the loss of biodiversity which ultimately threatens all of us. We welcome feedback regarding your experiences with these heirloom varieties.

Start At Home
The goal of biodiversity is simply to maintain the largest number of plant varieties possible. By selecting and saving seeds from your garden, you can preserve and share heirloom varieties that have been and will continue to be around for a very long time. When you plant them next year, be sure to watch for extra special plants--the gift of nature's creativity.