I ’ve been a magnanimous fan of Baker Creek Heirloom Seed Company since thevery start of this web log . ( I jazz looking back to that first year I started garden , when all of the seed I owned could fit into two vintage cigar boxes . Quite a difference from themultiple ammunition cansI now keep them in ! )
I devour theirseed catalogevery winter , dog - earing pages of vegetable I wanted to try and marking colorful varieties that catch my optic . Long before Garden Betty was ever a stain , twelvemonth before I even published a book of account , the okay folks at Baker Creek were behind me 100 percent . To say they were the first supporters of my web log ( when I was an enthused but novice gardener ) is not far from the true statement — and for that , I ’ll always be thankful .
When proprietor Jere Gettle and director Paul Wallacepopped by my gardenfor a visit a few years ago , I was even more captivated by the work they were doing to promote pure food . deal seeds is only one part of their business ; support sustainable farming , champion the non - GMO movement , speak out against the patenting of seeds , fighting corporate control condition of our food arrangement , and preserving heirloom miscellany from some 75 countries round out the inwardness of Baker Creek ’s mission .
After speaking at theSpring Planting Festivallast twelvemonth , I had an opportunity to wander their pioneer village , tour the farm and get a glimpse of the seeded player - pack cognitive process , all set against the rolled green Alfred Hawthorne of the Missouri Ozarks . ( And only proceedings from the home of Laura Ingalls Wilder , one of my favourite childhood writer . )
If you ’ve ever been curious about the sidereal day - to - Clarence Shepard Day Jr. of Baker Creek , you ’re in for a ocular treat !
Baker Creek Heirloom Seed Companyis a family - have seminal fluid house that started in the bedroom of then-17 - class - old Jeremiath “ Jere ” Gettle , who printed his first seed catalogue ( essentially a damage list ) in 1998 after realizing his love of rare seed and their rapid disappearance from traditional catalogs .
The slubbed concern thrive ( is it any happenstance this was right before Y2 K ? ) and eventually get hold of over the original Rippee farm in Mansfield , Missouri , thought to be the longest - endure homestead in the DoS .
Baker Creek has since branched out to Petaluma , California ( with its west coast headquarters atPetaluma Seed Bank , a straitlaced - era former bank building ) and Wethersfield , Connecticut ( with its acquisition and restoration ofComstock , Ferre & Company , the oldest continuously operating seed company in New England ) .
But the substance of Baker Creek ’s business stay in Mansfield , where the Gettle folk and a team of cultivator , packers , sales and medium mavens , and technical school support specialists keep the company running smoothly .
There ’s a lot going on in this idyllic landscape , though you ’d never cognise it from first glance . As you twine up on the farm ( nickname Bakersville ) , you ’re instantly transported to the days of yore — from the quaint wooden barns and buildings to the employees all dressed in petticoat and overall . The Gettle family themselves ( Jere , Emilee , and their daughters Sasha and Malia ) take care like the protagonist fromLittle House on the Prairie , though Jere is normally rock a fabulously forte shirt . Everyone depend the part here , which gives a reliable sense of time and place while you ’re visiting .
The trailblazer hamlet of Bakersville is the prime attracter , with the Baker Creek Seed Store standing where the original Rippee family garden once was . If you ’re an avid seed gatherer , a saunter through this storehouse will put you in your happy place .
A vegan restaurant , natural bakery , old - clock time mercantile , herbal apothecary , music barn , blacksmith shop , heritage hen house , and even a westerly jail make up the rest of this historical town , which isfully open and free to the populace .
It ’s deserving noting that the Asian - invigorate eating house ( delicious , I might add — I relish lunch there on a muted good afternoon position - festival ) serve a set card based on what ’s growing in the garden , and your visor is based on the amount you feel like donate for your meal . You just bank the cash in a wooden loge on your manner out . Very , very nerveless , considering there ’s even table servicing with that magic Midwest cordial reception .
Adjacent to Bakersville are the trial gardens and germ warehouses , where the bulk of Baker Creek ’s business takes place .
The crazy - awesome cabin ? It was built by local Amish craftsmen and houses the company ’s costume appeal .
Every yr , Jere and his squad jaunt to far - flung places like Thailand , Myanmar , Morocco , and Italy , teach about the local intellectual nourishment , immersing themselves in ancient cultures , and trading narration with tribesman , farmers , chef , and mart vender .
They fetch all this noesis ( along with plenteous samples of seed ) back to the farm , where they grow and trial novel varieties of veggie , herb , and prime they may want to introduce to their catalogue . While a fair amount of seeds is examine on their farm first , Baker Creek also trust on a meshwork of small farmers to grow come for them . Many of their cum are rarely incur in the US , and some were on the verge of extinguishing until they were discovered on local farms or sourced from seed collectors from around the creation .
Not every useable seed is shown in the yearly Baker Creek catalog ; the companionship tends to spread out variety based on their popularity with customers and the supply grown by their seed farmers . To date , Baker Creek carries around 1,800 miscellanea of untreated , overt - pollinate heirloom seeds , the largest assembling of heirloom seeds in the land .
That ’s an telling number of seeds , particularly when you think of the few dozen you might find in your local garden center . And for some reasonableness , I ’d always imagined the the great unwashed at Baker Creek cautiously spooning out come and scoop out them into gasbag one by one , fill each purchase order manually the manner pharmacist do .
As I come to find out , thatwasthe path they did it up until late !
Once fiat started pouring in at a pace they could n’t keep up by mitt , Jere devised an automate system to help the warehouse sort , pick , and pack the seed more expeditiously .
A machine processes the seed and allot them into preprinted packet , while a worker sweeps the seal packets into label bins .
Elsewhere in a pallidly lit area of the storage warehouse — the picking nitty-gritty of the operation — programmed projectors flash a light onto the appropriate seeded player bin . More workers walk up and down the gangway , pick the lit seed packet and drop them onto a conveyor belt . Barcode digital scanner keep track of inventorying as the cum packets pass through to open box organise by shipment . Mailing labels are printed , orders are inspected , and packages are separate into postal carts .
This entire organization allows Baker Creek to satiate upwardly of a thousand ordering a daytime ! ( Speaking of lodge , Baker Creek alsocarriesThe CSA Cookbookin their catalog … so purchase some seeds , and learn how to misrepresent with your harvest ! )
If you ever find yourself in this little slice of the Ozarks , I wholeheartedly recommend a visit to Bakersville . It ’s truly a slap-up ( and unparalleled ) experience that shows a society practice to their mission in every aspect of life sentence .
Thank you so much to Jere , Paul , Kathy , and the rest of the crew at Baker Creek for their enthusiastic financial support over the year !
