Quote:
Originally Posted by Granny
Yes of course. That wasn't what I was commenting on, but rather the fact that these are for SSE members only.
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Granny, SSE was started in 1975 with a mission of preservation of seeds, grains, herbs, flowers ( the latter two is a separate membership), and later heirloom apples.
Since then folks who agree with that mission have joined SSE and have supported it with their membership monies, and if they list varieties as said above, they're listed members and if they don't list varietis they're unlisted members.
Anyone who wants access to the weath of varieties you see listed above needs to become an SSE member and can go to seedsavers.org to read about SSE and membership and much more.
The SSE Yearbook is not to be seen as a seed source for the public, there's a separate public catalog as most folks know.
Although I can tell you that almost all commercial seed sites I know got their starts from SSE as SSE members.
Years ago I wanted to send seeds for trial to several commercial places and checked with Kent at that time. He was all for that b'c it helps ensure preservation.
So in the past I've sent seeds for trial to Pinetree, Shepherd's Seeds, TGS, and Sandhill. For the past 7 years I've sent seeds for trial to only TGS and Sandhill and now I'm sending a few to Mike at Victory Seeds.
The public would not have the choices they have today if it weren't for the varieties listed in the annual Yearbooks that are then made available to those persons who are SSE members and also SSE owners of seed sites, or someone has sent those owners seeds for trial separately.
I don't think using the Yearbook is for everyone b'c I think a person should have some knowledge of growing tomatoes first, and knowing when to rogue out wrong plants, so I often will suggest that newbies use conventional sources to start with and build up some experience before becoming an SSE member.
Craig ( nctomatoman) and I are both long term, Life members of SSE; I think Craig joined in maybe 1987 or 1988 and I joined in 1989, I think. And we've been close friends since about 1990.
I can't tell you how many wonderful friends I've made over the years I've been a member. There are some long time SSE friends with whom I've exchanged varieties almost every year. That means I'll send them the best of my new ones for the preceding summer and they do the same for me.
But that's between individuals who are close friends b'c the Yearbook is NOT a place to trade seeds. When the Yearbook comes out both listed and unlisted persons send a request form to the person listing along with the request price and that price is a bit higher for unlisted members than it is for listed members.
In my blurb at the front of the book where personal contact information and more is given for each listed member I don't exactly go along with the suggested request prices. More specifically I ask the same for all members in the US and Canada and lower the price for all other countries.
SSE has been a major force in my gardening experience in terms of accessibility to so many varieties not available elsewhere.
I feel badly now that I can't grow the several hundreds of tomato plants that I used to, being in this walker, but gardenmama in VA grows my about 14 plants for me and bcday has been doing the seed production for me, bless them both, and Freda my cleaning lady and gardener and so much more, plants them and cares for them as she does for everything else outside here at home. I've switched to growing only varieties both new to me and almost everyone. And this summer, so far, 10 of those 14 varieties will be brand new heirlooms.
And I'll be excited as can be to see what they look and taste like, as I always am with any variety I'm growing for the first time.