Happy New Year’s SHTF Homies
This subject may bring back memories of an era for some of you that’d you just as soon forget. Ranger Man, being not only a self-proclaimed survival ninja, has an interest in the history of survivalism as well. I particularly like the WWI era “War Gardens” and the WWII era “Victory Gardens”. My interest extends to the point of collecting some of this memorabilia.
Check out this sweet piece I scored a few years ago, a Cold War era can of “Survival Garden” vacuum packed seeds. Produced by Clyde Robin Seed Company of Castro Valley, CA, this can has never been opened. “Complete instructions for planting are included” it states on the side. I see the company is still in existence – http://www.clyderobin.com/ – but they no longer offer cool stuff like this. This particular can was shipped to someone in Washington, D.C. on January 13, 1971.
Description on the can reads:
Specially conditioned premium seeds are vacuum sealed in this moisture-proof can. After special treatment to prolong their life and their power to germinate with vigor, these superior seeds were immediately deposited in this sanitary container. Here their added vigor remains and their life span is greatly increased as they lie unmolested, figuratively “Out of This World”, ready to produce in abundance when the can is opened.
See what the can contains:
Does anybody know a source that sells vacuum sealed SHTF seeds like this? I contemplated buying bulk heirloom seeds and vacuum sealing them myself to sell through this website . . . . . then I thought . . . nah . . . or maybe one of you wants to give me a pile of cash for this rare SHTF collectible! 😉
– Ranger Man
10 comments
I bought a can like that from Walton Feed acouple of years ago. It was about $18.00. I think they still sell them.
I bought a can back in early 90’s and actually planted the seeds in the late 90’s. they grew fine.
Check with your Nitro-Pac. they have some thing similer
http://www.arkinstitute.com/nonhybridseed.htm
Check EMERGENCY ESSENTIALS at http://www.Be Prepared.com Garden Seeds in a #10 Can – ZU1-FG-S200 …….$34.95…….December Catalog Price
Those are pretty cool. I don’t think that anybody should rely solely on one can of seeds but having a few of those around would be pretty good. Also they would make a great trade/barter item.
Vacuum packing seeds would probably degrade them, since seeds are living things and the vaccuum would likely kill them.
What you probably want to do is nitrogen flush them in a sealed container and store them in a cool dark location.
Note that the germination rate will fall every year in storage. You might be able to increase the germination rate by storing them in the refrigerator or freezer. I suspect the some varieties will store better in freezer/refridgerator tempertures. Some will probably survive better with temperatures near 60F.
The best approach would be to set up a garden to start a renewable seed collection instead of food production. This would at least provide you with some gardning and seed preservation experience.
On-line Seed suppliers
http://www.heirloomacresseeds.com
http://www.johnnyseeds.com
http://www.rhshumway.com
http://www.superseeds.com
Keep in mind that you will need to preserve more than one seasons worth of seeds. Its likely that you run into a bad season that kills off your crop (drought, insects, blight, etc). You need to have a back up incase you have a crop failure.
One other comment is that in a previous post, you mentions that you thought you could plant enough food on a small plot of land. I will have to disagree. What if you have a near total crop loss for the season. You need enough land to plant multiple years worth of food so that when you have a crop failure you have sufficient food to get you trough the next season. This is especially important since you live in Maine and the weather can be unforgiving at times.
I packaged these seeds in 1969. They were vacuum sealed. We get calls every year asking about them. Recently, a woman submitted that she had planted them and gotten most of them to germinate just fine. Remember, vacuum sealed over 40 years ago and still held a vacuum. Note also that these seeds were all “specially treated” (dried down) for long term storage. The “Survival Garden” is a registered trade mark of the Clyde Robin Seed Company, Inc.
mredepot.com sells these seeds.
http://www.arkinstitute.com has a fairly comprehensive seed package
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