Seed Saving, Cosmos & My Mom

In the past, seed saving has always been something I have thought about only in relation to crops.  The strongest/best fruits and veggies whose seeds are harvested in order to preserve their awesomeness and feed the people for generations to come.  I guess I have always thought of seed saving as an act for the future and have, until recently, forgotten the fact that your have to preserve the past in order to secure the future.  I have also only recently realized that seed saving in any form is a link to the past.

Cosmos in our garden for the first time last summer!

Last winter, on our way back to Santa Fe from a day trip to Taos, we stopped at my Aunt’s house in Picuris to give her some seeds we had saved from last summer’s garden.  In bringing her the seeds I was simply thinking about bringing her a gift that she could use, that was cheap and had some meaning attached to it.  She was so happy to get the beans, corn, sunflowers, morning glories and squash and, in turn, gave me some kota tea seed and some cosmo seeds.

My mom and Aunt when they were Littles in NYC

This was happy trade that was made even happier by the the fact that, apparently, my mom, aunt and grandma had been saving and trading cosmos seeds for about 40 years!  Now, my grandma passed about 15 years ago and my mom passed 5 years ago, so the fact that my aunt continued saving the seeds from her garden, sowed from seeds they had shared for so many years, is (in my mind) super cool.

Baby Me and my mom (with her larger-than-life attitude and super cool ’70’s boots)

I brought my new seeds home feeling like I was now part of this awesome cycle.  A couple of weekends ago, I put those seeds in the ground and I am now anxiously awaiting their germination.  This spring has been very dry and pretty chilly, so everything’s delayed a bit, but I’m sure they’ll peek soon!

My Grandma Eve in the ’80’s

My hope is to grow some fantastically beautiful cosmos, collect their seeds, and take some back to my Aunt in order to help continue the cycle.  How cool will it be in 5, 15 or 25 years to see cosmos growing in my daughter’s or (still imagined) grandchild’s gardens that came from seeds that  were planted by my mom, aunt and grandma?!?  Super cool!

Cheers!