Ecological Crop Improvement For and By Farmers
Welcome to our 2019 catalog and website!
We are an organic seed farm in the Pacific Northwest, established in 1994, owned and operated by Frank and Karen Morton. We are known for farm-original varieties of many salad greens, vegetables, herbs, and flowers.
All of our seed is Organically Grown by Shoulder to Shoulder Farm
in cooperation with allies at Avoca and Gathering Together Farms, in the heart of Oregon’s Willamette Valley,
a world class place to grow specialty seeds.
Few places on Earth have the climate, latitude, soil, water, and intellectual resources found in this rare north-sloping river valley. Seed companies from every continent come to the Willamette Valley to contract quality seed production. We are fortunate enough to live and farm here.
Many of these varieties originated in our on-farm breeding program for organic conditions and fresh market quality, denoted by our  farm-original mark. Other varieties have come to us over thirty-odd years of farming, either as heirlooms or good commercial standards, now with generations of selection on the farm. All seed at risk of GMO contamination has been tested and found free of genetic engineering components.
Our ecological approach to plant breeding and crop protection generates superior varieties for farmers who don’t use chemical crop protectants and fertilizers. The small-scale care and authentic fertility of our farm fields yield fat seed with exceptional seedling vigor, a key trait for organic crop success. This seed is organically bred to be organically grown, just like your crops.
We are partners in the Open Source Seed Initiative, and have dedicated all of our original varieties and breeding populations to the Open Source Seed Pledge:
“You have the right to use these OSSI-pledged seeds in any way you choose. In return, you pledge not to restrict others’ use of these seeds or their derivatives by patents or other means, and to include this Pledge with any transfer of these seeds or their derivatives.”
New Additions for 2019
These are a few of our new offerings. Be sure to check out all our new additions on our New Products Page, and our Collection Of Flowers!
Lemon Basil
I love this basil if only for the smell of it as I brush by heading into the tomato patch. So refreshing! Also makes one of the finest fresh herbs to add brightness and surprise to summer salads. Two or three of the small leaves per serving is all it takes to make a salad spring to life.
Pricing and More Information |
Bandit Leek
A dark blue-green winter leek, very cold hardy, with nice upright leaves and thick shanks, uniform and heavy set for good yields late into the harvest season.
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Shades of Belgian Blue Leeks
 From the Belgian Breeders Mix, a broadleaf blue-blushed winter leek, selected especially for resistance to rust, which seems to be an increasing problem in both leek and garlic around here. Still plenty of genetic diversity for further selection in your own location, but this population has a strong expression of blue (to purple) pigments, with thick to medium shafts well wrapped for blanching. Farm Original Variety!
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Delft Perpetual Leeks
Selected out of 'Delft' for a propensity to self-propagate by cloving garlic-like offsets around the root plate. A real "permaculture leek" if harvested by carefully cutting the leek above the root or allowing unharvested leeks to flower before cutting back. New leeks appear in clumps around the base of each mother plant, forming long tender shanks in autumn. Farm Original Variety!
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Camo Savoy Gem Lettuce
This is a tight little jewel throwing a lot of color, red on green leaves are puckered and crisped, creating texture and a thick leaf with good flavor. Small enough with tight spacing for single serving split-head salad. Farm Original Variety!
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San Juan Lettuce
This is a great sandwich lettuce. The golden-green red flecked leaves are large, flat, and loosely whorled for easy picking. The size and shape fit a sandwich or bun perfectly. This is something between a leaf lettuce and a romaine. The flavor is mild and sweet. Farm Original Variety!
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Orcas Lettuce
A midi sized gem, about 9" across at full size. Savoyed, medium green with red spotting, short, broad leaves. Farm Original Variety!
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Lopez Lettuce
A true mini, 6" or less across, dark green with less red splashing inside than the other Islanders. Would make a good single serving lettuce. Somewhat buttery taste and texture. Uniform. Farm Original Variety!
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Posey Lettuce
A uniformly small, dark green gem with internal red speckling more pronounced than its sister Lopez. Farm Original Variety!
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Shaw Lettuce
Sister variety to 'Fawn', more of a medium green, similar but worth comparing in different locations for taste and performance distinctions. Very uniform. Farm Original Variety!
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Fawn Lettuce
A uniformly small, dark green gem with red speckling, 6" across at maturity. Farm Original Variety!
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Cocoa Cherry Quinoa
From crosses between our 'Cherry Vanilla' and WSU material, a first release with a mixture of milk chocolate brown and cherry red seeds. Selected for yield and stem strength in 2018. Farm Original Variety!
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Buffy Quinoa
This buff colored seed variety is the first release from crosses between our 'Oro de Valle' and material from the WSU quinoa breeding program. Selected most recently for high yield and stem strength, an important trait combination. We will be testing this for high amylopectin content (like its parent, Oro de Valle), for use as a processing/noodle quinoa. Farm Original Variety!
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White Spike Quinoa
Antique white panicles on stout stems yield an antique white fine seed. Appears to be head sprout resistant. Farm Original Variety!
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Golden Apple Peppers
Out of Stocky Gold popped this nearly round little pepper that fits in the palm of your hand. Makes a good snack, maybe the right size to entice kids to take up sweet peppers as finger food. Farm Original Variety!
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Rattail Radish
This radish from SE Asia is grown for its edible immature seed pods, similar in texture to pea pods, but with the full flavor of radish. The true rattail variety has slim purple siliques (the botanical term for brassica family seed pods), the earliest being over a foot long with a glossy waxed sheen. Surprising as a crudite, mysterious in stirfry (like, What is this?), and divine whole alongside a salad for nibbling. This comes to us from Jim Ternier and family at Prairie Garden Seeds in central Canada, and I think it's the truest to the form described in the 1885 Vilmorin Catalog (The Vegetable Garden). If you scan the other rattail offerings online, you'll see they look like typical radish pods, short, greenish, broad, and bumpy--nothing like a rat's tail. These may be descended from the Madras Radish, also described by Vilmorin, a fleshy version of the normal radish silique. The Ternier's selection is the real thing, albeit with some variation toward the common radish pod. These cross readily with common radish, so keeping purity is a challenge. Very productive plants. Direct sow after frost, and space at least 12" apart. A bit of trellis will keep the 3' plants upright, with pods hanging straight and off the ground for easy picking.
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Homestead Tomato
This is one of the parents to our in-house tomatoes, an heirloom workhorse variety developed in Florida in the mid 1950s. It has been recognized for its productivity in very hot humid climates, like its sister variety Flora-Dade, which has a worldwide reputation for fruit-set under sub-tropical conditions. This may be related to an abnormally high chromosome number, 2n=26 vs the normal 24, that has been confirmed for Flora-Dade and other sister lines, and in both parents that produced these progeny (Walter and Florida 2153). Our outdoor conditions are neither hot nor humid in western Oregon, but the field fruit set on the 6' determinate Homestead is prodigious. Fruits are about 8 oz, with that idealized red tomato shape, a smooth slightly flattened globe, recommended for slicing and canning. Resistant to Fusarium, generally healthy and vigorous, this may be a good hoophouse or greenhouse variety that avoids heat suppression of fruit set in northern settings, as well as the humid south.
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| Remember to check the New Products Page for all 41 of this year's introductions, and our Collection Of Flowers! |
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