He is passionate about heirlooms - that's good for all of us looking for interesting seeds! 

Good luck to all the gardeners in the contest - grand prize is 2 roundtrip flights (from any destination in the U.S. or Canada) to San Francisco, plus accommodation, to attend the 2nd Annual National Heirloom Expo!

A few notes he touched on - different varieties were made to produce in different areas of the country.  That is very important!  If we do not keep the current diversity and lose in favor of hybrids we also lose all of that work adapting a plant to produce best 'in our neck of the woods', so to say.  Commercially selected hybrids are not (often or always) selected for taste, or nutrition, or the type of 'hardiness' we would appreciate in our own gardens.  They are selected for how easy it is for big machines to plant them, weed them, harvest and collect the seeds.  This can be in direct opposition to what the 'best' traits a home gardener would want for their food supply, and it can even 'lose' established varieties such that the tomato we expect to carry that name no longer tastes or grows as we remember...

I also loved what he had to say about an 'independent pot' - what we cook from our own produce and/or swap with locals is something that did not come from out of the country, or from a system that the community cannot sustain in harder times.  That pot comes from us, and we know what it is, what is in it, how it got there, and how to do it again.  I'm not saying we feed the entire world - but that we keep the culture and knowledge to feed ourselves and pass it to our children.

I am growing Baker Creek Heirloom Moon and Stars and Banana Melons in my greenhouse in Amsterdam - and they are climbing all over the place and flowering like mad. I look forward to my first fruits!

Yes, it is fabulous to have control over our own food and where it comes from!