Mother’s Day is just around the corner. If you are looking for a uniquely local present, visit one of our Uniquely Local partners for an unforgettable gift to remind Mom just how special she is!

Our plant nursery, farms and landscaping partners have an array of unforgettable gifts that keeps giving season after season. From mixed containers and spectacular hanging baskets to perennials, shrubs, trees, mixed herb pots for the culinary lover—and even locally made pottery and gift certificates. For gift giving inspiration, visit our Farm Fresh Blog to read about a love affair with peonies (CLICK HERE).

For the foodie in your life, May 10th typically marks the last spring frost date in Haywood County. This is a great time to plant your herb, vegetable and flower gardens. Vegetable and herb starts can be purchased at local nurseries, farmer and tailgate markets along with shrubs, flowers and perennials.

Our Uniquely Local-Artisan Produced partners, like Copper Pot & Wooden Spoon, offer individual jars of jams, jellies, savory spreads and artisan pickled products. Chef Jessica DeMarco has created a wonderful selection of gift boxes and even offers a Seasonal Pantry membership (half-year or year long) that can be picked up in person or shipped to your loved ones far away.

Buy Haywood specialty retail partners, like Mountain Favors, will create a beautifully packed gift box for you.  You walk in with an idea and leave with a spectacular surprise that is sure to WOW.  Bennington carefully curates the inventory at Mountain Favors to include only locally made items, for a sneak peak CLICK HERE to visit our Youtube Channel for a video tour if Mountain Favors.

Finally, let’s talk Mother’s Day dinner!  Get local and take the ladies in your life on a culinary adventure by dining with one of our farm-to-table partners.  For a list of “local flavors” in Haywood County, visit our website.

A listing of Buy Haywood partners can be found on our Online Directory or by picking up a printed “Find your Adventure! 2015 Agritourism Guide” available at area visitor centers and other locations.

“Subscribe” to Buy Haywood to receive notifications of new blog posts, local events, recipes and updates!

Happy Mother’s Day to all our Uniquely Local farm ladies, bee keepers, chefs, artisan producers, hops growers, microbrewers and specialty retail partners.  Buy Haywood celebrates you!

Buy Haywood is a project of the
Haywood Advancement Foundation.

Hybrid Hullabaloo

Guest Post
by:
Kathy Olsen, Adult Services Librarian
Curator of the Seed Library of Waynesville

I get asked the following questions on a regular basis, “Why do you accept only heirloom or open-pollinated seeds in the Seed Library of Waynesville? Haven’t farmers been creating hybrids for a long time now? Aren’t hybrid and GMO seeds the same thing?”

I know it can be confusing so let’s explore this issue keeping in mind that I am not a botany expert, I am a librarian that knows in order to learn about something, you read whatever you can get your hands on about the topic from the most reputable sources that you can. So first, let’s define some terms so we are all on the same page.

Heirlooms (aka open pollinated):

An heirloom seed is one that has been handed down for generations in a particular region or area; it is usually hand-selected by gardeners for a special trait. Heirloom vegetables are open-pollinated, which means they’re pollinated by insects or wind without human intervention. Open pollinated varieties or heirlooms are the best types to choose if you want to save seed.

Hybrids (aka F1):

A Hybrid (sometimes referred to as F1) seed results from the deliberate crossing of two different parent varieties from the same species. F1 refers to the “first generation of off-spring” from these two distinct parent varieties. If you plant seed saved from a hybrid variety, you will not get the same result as the parent plant (it will not be ‘true to type”). The off-spring will revert back to the different traits of the separate parent varieties. Natural hybridization is not the same as genetic modification on a cellular level.

GMO Seeds (genetically modified organism):

GMO seeds are different from hybrids as they are not created using natural methods. GMO seed varieties are created in a lab using high-tech and sophisticated techniques like gene-splicing. They are not a cross between related plants such as; when an acorn squash and a sweet dumpling are crossed to get a carnival squash. Instead, GMOs go far beyond the bounds of nature so that instead of crossing two different, but related varieties of a plant, different biological kingdoms are crossed. Here are two examples of this that you may have heard of;  corn crossed with DNA from soil bacteria that is naturally immune to the chemical Roundup (http://www.pbs.org/wnet/dna/pop_genetic_gallery/page2.htmland) and goats injected with spider genes to produce milk with proteins stronger than Kevlar for use in industrial products (http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/CuttingEdge/spinning-tough-spider-silk-goat-milk/story?id=98095).

So you can see why it’s so important that we accept only open pollinated seeds into the Seed Library of Waynesville. We must maintain the assurance that a Hubbard Squash seed is going to produce a Hubbard Squash plant! Hybrid seeds are not necessarily a bad thing, it is just important to understand that they can be an inconvenience for a gardener as you cannot save seed from your plants to use the next season. And, for farmers this can be much more than an inconvenience as they are required to buy hybrid seeds every year, a cost that can be prohibitive for some.

Check out the Seed Library of Waynesville, we have an amazing array of seeds this year!

http://haywoodlibrary.libguides.com/seeds

Follow our Blog at www.seedylibrarian.com for updates on new seed additions and all things ‘seedy.’

Happy planting,

Kathy Olsen
Adult Services Librarian
Haywood County Public Library
828.356.2507