Ecological Crop Improvement For and By FarmersWelcome to our 2012 catalog and
website! We
are an organic seed and vegetable farm in the Pacific Northwest. We produce farm-original varieties of many salad greens, vegetables, herbs and a few flowers.
All of our seed is Organically Grown
at Gathering Together Farm
along the winding Marys River on the edge of Philomath, Oregon. All of this seed is open pollinated, untreated, germ and vigor tested in living soil mix, and well cleaned. These varieties have proven themselves popular and profitable in farmer's markets locally and in fine restaurants on both coasts. Many of these same seeds are for sale in the other catalogs that we supply, but this is the only source for the entire commercial collection of Wild Garden Seed from Gathering Together Farm, organically certified since 1987.
Most stock seed for our crop production has been reselected under stress and disease pressure in our breeding nurseries at GTF and Shoulder to Shoulder Farm, five miles upriver in the colder dry foothills of the Oregon Coast Range. Many of these varieties originated in our on-farm breeding program for organic conditions and improved fresh market quality. These are denoted by our farm-original mark  . Other varieties have come to us over twenty years as heirlooms or reliable commercial standards, now with generations of selection on the farm.
Our ecological approach to plant breeding and crop protection generates superior strains and varieties for farmers who don't use chemical crop protectants and fertilizers. The small-scale care and authentic fertility of our production fields yield fat seed with exceptional seedling vigor, a key trait for organic crop success.
New Additions for 2012
These are a few of our new offerings. Be sure to check out all our new additions on our New Products Page.
Oro de Valle Quinoa
 This gold-headed strain has been selected out of our 'Brightest Brilliant Rainbow' for growing in the heart of the Willamette Valley. The head is composed of relatively loose seed clusters, which helps prevent molding or head-sprouting in humid conditions. Stocky plants are about 4' tall at maturity. Seed is golden-brown when harvested at the peak of seedhead color.
Farm Original Variety!
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Karma Peppers
How's your karma? Judge by your fruitfulness. If you would like to enhance that, try the latest fruit from our ongoing "out of hybrid" Italian pepper breeding project. This more refined red Italian type is a bright orange-red (Crayola scale), smooth walled, 6-7" long, sweet salad, frying or roasting pepper. 'Karma' comes out of 'Stocky Red Roaster' heritage, with selection for bright vs. dark red at maturity, a broader-flatter crown, and more 3-lobed fruits that make large straight peppers.
Farm Original Variety!
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Green Lotus Lettuce
Another new form from the fountain of Merlox variations. 'Green Lotus' is a dark glossed green minihead, compactly formed from dense layers of short broadly cupped leaves, the largest being the size and shape of a cupped hand. The texture reveals the blending of romaine and crisphead parentage, with the disease package of 'Merlot.'
Farm Original Variety!
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Red Ball Jets Lettuce
When I was a young kid, everyone wore Red Ball Jets on their feet. Summer started with a new pair, and ended with your toes poking through the canvas. The Red Ball in the center of every sole could make you "run faster and jump higher"—perhaps the first claim for athletic enhancement via shoes. Looking down on a maturing bed of this new intensely red lettuce, its round, savoyed, ruffle-edged leaves lifting upward around red crystal-crisp ballheads, was enough to make me think of firing rocket engines...in fact, I thought of Red Ball Jets. No tip-burn, no downy mildew, no bolting—just amazing.
Farm Original Variety!
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Minigreen Merlox Mix Lettuce
A combination of three miniature "iceberg" types from the Merlox variations. Shades of different greens and maturity dates, forming heads from tennis to softball size that make nice one or two-serving salads. Leaves are sweet and crisp for cutting salads even before head formation, with rounded to toothed margins. Strong mildew resistance and a beautiful gloss inherited from 'Merlot.'
Farm Original Variety!
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Frank's Unsung Crispy Mix Lettuce
This is another take on the 'Morton's Secret Mix' concept—an early release of unnamed breeding material related to upcoming varieties. The 'Unsung Crispy' include variations on 'Red Ball Jets,' a tight crisp coppertone minihead underlain with red splashes, a dense bright green toothy-edged and wavy-margined crisphead, and a bigger than average Merlox green heading type. All of these have disease resistance derived from 'Merlot,' combined with the fancy-leaf crisphead qualities of 'Reine d' Glaces,' and tastes from various romaines. A lot of crunchy critters in this one.
Farm Original Variety!
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