The year is 2018. I had just moved to the western slope of Colorado expecting a new chapter to begin, only to find myself back on the front range a month later. I had planned a trip to the Organic Seed Growers Biennial Conference in Corvallis, OR and, while emotionally rocky, I decided to go.
I flew into Portland to stay with friends from college before venturing down to the conference. Maybe it is old habits dying hard, or just wanting to feel better, but one night I drank more than enough. Waking up the next morning on a very stale couch still in my clothes I was hit with realization of a fork in the road. One side was to quit drinking, the other was to continue knowing full well it would dramatically alter my life. It was in that moment I decided to take a break after 11 years of steady use (the first of a couple).
As my brain recalibrated without the liquid dopamine hits, I found myself spiraling deeper into darkness. My mind stopped working while going through what I can only call withdrawals. I could barely remember things, I was easily confused, and generally in a bad headspace. I was completely lost and alone in a sea of people who felt like they knew exactly why they had travelled across the country to a seed farming conference.
It was at this moment I met Casey Piscura of Wild Mountain Seeds. I can’t remember where we were but once he started talking, I realized this person had probably forgotten more about seeds than I would ever learn.
Casey’s seed company, Wild Mountain Seeds, was built on the breeding of landrace crops adapted to his Rocky Mountain farm. Altitude, extreme temperature shifts, high tunnels, cold nights, and biological soils were the parameters in which he selected his market crops.
Producing landrace seed is wizardry, especially in a self-pollinating crop like tomatoes. It starts by Casey growing every single beefsteak tomato variety he can find (50 plus different strains of seed), planting them together, and cross pollinating them with each other. This genetic scrambling effect combined with tough growing conditions weeds out the weak and highlights local performers. Once a baseline is established after years of selection you have a new variety. Casey did this with many garden crops creating his own unique gene pool of mountain produce especially highlighting tomatoes, peppers, and winter squash.
If you have eaten an heirloom tomato from my farm, then you have experienced Casey’s handiwork. Open pollinated, vigorous strains that perform in tough conditions. I have pulled 3-pound fruits off his plants and am a firm believer in the work he was doing.
Seed diversity has sharply decreased in the last 100 years, leaving most growers producing near identical crops. Every farmer I know grows the same variety of winter storage carrot, a hybrid which cannot be saved for seed. There was once a time when every valley in Eurasia had a unique storage carrot saved and selected by and for the growers who farmed it. Nowadays the catalogs are full of mass-produced hybrids often grown in foreign countries to avoid labor costs.
Regional seed growing has died off slightly slower than lamp lighting did when electricity came to town. It is a tough business because seed growers are competing with a global market of industrial proportions. Furthermore, farmers are choosing to grow modern hybrids exclaiming they have higher and more consistent yields. Saving seed from hybrids does not produce true-to-type seed, meaning farmers are unable to save seed from these varieties. In the end, this means more profit for seed companies.
Casey is a beacon in a seedy world. I watched as his varieties began to enter larger catalogs and become incorporated into more mainstream market channels. It took years of dedication to get there, and I know, having tried a similar thing, that was not easy.
Wild Mountain Seeds was pulled up on my web browser to order when I heard of Casey’s passing. The seed and biological farming communities have lost a warrior, and it saddens me deeply to see someone I very much consider a role model no longer around.
Regional seed production needs a change, a shift, something to bring it back to the forefront in people’s minds. The industry has changed rapidly, and I worry about the continuance of these impressive and unique lines maintaining diversity in a mass-produced world.
I have 3 packets of Casey’s heirloom tomatoes sitting in my personal collection and in honor of Casey’s life I will be selecting and saving seed from them this season. Rest in peace, Casey.
Farm News
Seeds are on the mind. We have just sown a round of onions, shallots, and leeks for this year’s markets and CSA. Much more to come as the nursery gets cranking.
With a month till Spring Equinox your support through the purchase of a CSA Share means more now than ever. We are putting in tons of energy to get crops to market. It is great, and expensive, work that carries with it the large price tag of daily plant checks, heating bills, and increased labor needs.
*Reminder, the Super Share allows the purchase of ANY Farmstand product. This includes honey, bread, eggs, and fruit! If you have considered a CSA purchase maybe a friend would be interested in splitting one? Single and Family Shares receive 10% off all non-farm goods as well.
Why wait till spring is already here and you are busy? Preorder your plant starts today! This will help us grow the right amount and get you access to the finest organically grown plants around. Consider placing an order today.
Casey trained me in 2021, working on Wild Mountain Seeds came as a turning point for me too. It's wonderful to read something from someone else who met him. His passing has been a absolute blow to the seed community.
Regionally adapted seed is so vital and thankfully there are a few of us keeping on his good work.