Back to the garden

Heirloom seed company educates the public about natural, non-GMO food

By Marcy Joyce 
Wine Country Lifestyle / Spring 2018

Self-described “garden geek” Jere Gettle was never one to stay indoors and play video games, and as such…he reaps what he sows. Having planted his first garden at the age of 3, his impassioned hobby led him to begin trading seeds and publishing a seed catalog in 1998 at age 17 with offerings of his collections. This has since evolved into the Baker Creek Heirloom Seed Company which boasts varieties from all over the world.

The company offers an ever-growing number of nearly 2,000 heirloom vegetable, flower and herb seeds—a selection that is recognized as the largest in the United States. Its mission is to educate the public about pure, natural, and non-GMO food, prompted by the growing farm to table movement which stems from a desire for more locally produced, not so industrialized food that is healthier and has more flavor. This has gotten many more people outside, tilling soil.

What is an “heirloom” seed?

The term “heirloom seed” refers to those that are not hybridized or genetically modified. Heirloom varietal seeds yield the identical plant and produce each year, delivering vegetables with better taste and nutrition. They are open-pollinated, usually more than 50 years old and passed down through generations of growing and seed saving.

Commercially mass-produced seeds tend to be hybrids or genetically modified, combining or manipulating characteristics from the pure varieties. If the seeds produced from these plants are replanted, a different plant resembling only one of the two parent plants is the result, thereby ensuring repeat business for hybrid or GMO seeds (that grow the less tasty and less nutritious produce.)

To this day, the seed company thrives from coast to coast and is headquartered in Missouri where Jere lives with his wife Emilee and two children. It has established brick-and-mortar locations in Connecticut and California. The latter has been known by Sonoma County locals since 2009 as the Petaluma Seed Bank, which occupies the 1920s-era downtown bank building that is reminiscent of early agrarian days.

As an heirloom seed company symbolises a return to agricultural roots and a horticultural museum of sorts, it seemed only fitting to look for a historic building for both locations rather than a more contemporary warehouse setting, which is what Jere and Emilee did, purchasing a 19th century building in New England and moving into the old 10,000-square-foot Sonoma County National Bank after scoping out much of the West Coast.

But just as a living healthy being expands and contracts as it breathes, the Petaluma Seed Bank is downsizing to a smaller location this spring, only a block away. While a fun nostalgic place to work, it is decidedly more space than needed. The Seed Bank’s new home is also in Petaluma’s historic downtown, though just a quarter of the size of the original.

The Petaluma store had become like a gardening department store with not only seeds but product lines representing the many ramifications of gardening: tools, books, and hundreds of local hand-made gifts and food items.

Now they will refer customers to other businesses close by that carry garden tools and other items so that they can get back to basics and focus on selling seeds and continuing to be a resource for gardeners, not only through in-store consultation and publishing catalogs, magazines and books but also organizing events like Santa Rosa’s annual National Heirloom Exposition which will be held this year from September 11 through 13 at Sonoma County Fairgrounds. More information about this can be found online at theheirloomexpo.com.

The Baker Creek Heirloom Seed Catalogue includes more than 200 pages and is mailed to more than 300,000 gardeners annually. It is a comprehensive guide to the varieties sought after by gardeners, many of whom have grown certain vegetables or flowers for generations and intend to keep doing so in order to preserve their family’s horticultural legacy.

The catalog can be downloaded from the company’s website, rareseeds.com.

Petaluma Seed Bank store hours are:  Friday, Sunday, & Monday 9:00 am – 5:00 pm, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday 9:00 am – 6:00 pm. Closed Saturdays. For more information, call (707) 773-1336  or visit www.rareseeds.com/petaluma-seed-bank.