There is currently a battle going on over our food supply. I was able to stop in at a company that is fighting to keep real food real, natural, and healthy. Without food, we will die and without good food, we will become poisoned and diseased.

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Good, healthy lives can be linked to good, healthy food, which comes from real, natural seeds.

There are those that wish to remove such seeds from existence, and there are those who struggle and fight to keep them alive. Here is my story about one such group of people, the Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds Company.

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As I travel around for a variety of reasons, it’s amazing where I sometimes wind up. As I was cutting through Missouri the other day, I passed a sign for “Mansfield.” For some reason, that name sounded familiar, but I couldn’t place it. Then, I started seeing billboards with pictures of this guy on them.

Immediately, I realized where I was, and I was suddenly incredibly excited. I “just happened” to be right in the backyard of the Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds Company. If you’re into gardening or non-GMO and heirloom seeds from around the world, then you may already know who I’m talking about.

At the time, I was still heading east and had some other business to attend to a few towns over, but I was hoping that I could get back while they were still open. Well, I finished my other business and quickly tried to look up the number on my phone. However, I was out in 1X country at best, and could get no signal for the internet or even for a phone call. I was definitely out in “the boonies.” Before too long I made it back into 3G land and was able to look up the number and address. I plugged in the address into my GPS and began to listen to the rings on the phone. A kind-sounding gentleman answered and I asked how long they would be open. He said 4pm. Well, my GPS said that I would arrive at 3:57pm, which would not give me too much time. I explained my situation to the gentleman and he told me not to worry about. He’d let the lady at the shop know that I was coming and they would have no problem waiting for me.

This was an incredible relief. I had no desire to be so close and still have to miss out. Though the visit was unplanned and spontaneous, it looked like it was going to be a success.

I had noticed on the website that they suggested using an alternative route to what the GPS systems are known to recommend. The dirt road may be quicker, but there were some benefits to following the longer, paved way around. I’m not one to be too concerned with pleasantries like that, so we roughed it straight up that zig-zagging, rugged dirt path and eventually pulled up.

Wouldn’t you know it, the second I unload the three of my children who happened to be with me we ran into Mr. David Leroy Kaiser himself! Now, Mr. Kaiser is not the owner, but he has kind of become the mascot, or “face” of Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds. It was his face that I had seen on the billboards. He is an incredibly kind and polite gentleman who had no hesitation posing with the kids for a few photos. We found him sitting on the front porch of this peculiar cabin when we pulled in.

The owner and founder, Mr. Jere Gettle has had an interest in gardening and planting since he was three years old, and he printed the first Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds Catalog in 1998, when he was just 17 years old. Because they have grown to offer about 1800 different varieties of seeds from over 75 countries of origin and supply almost 750,000 gardeners with seeds, the company has made periodically made national news.

They have also signed the “Safe Seed Pledge” created by the Safe Seed Initiative, because of the growing need to preserve genetically stable seeds to ensure that we have the solid foundation of seeds and agriculture to pass on to the next generation. I believe that this is becoming an ever more important issue, and am willing to do all that I can to provide natural, uncontaminated foods for my children and the generations to come. Without food, we will die, and I personally see nothing wrong with eating raw foods the way that we were supposed to.

Since it was already late in the day and getting to be about closing time for them, I asked Mr. Kaiser to direct us to the store, and soon, we were in a gardener’s version of heaven on earth. I have honestly never seen anything like it, and definitely would like to go back soon to spend at least and hour or two inside. Primarily, it is the incredibly large variety of seeds that intrigues me, but they have so much more to offer.

The main part of the store is a giant room lined with shelves of seeds. It is truly a sight to behold. If every seed in that room was planted, I can’t even imagine how many people it would feed. I browsed for a while, and grabbed some excellent seed packets, but I definitely desire to head back and check out everything a little more. Since I save seeds already from so many of my staple crops, I’m always interested in diversifying my produce and growing weirder and stranger foods from around the world.

The rustic and traditional look of the shop was also very inviting and beautiful.

Among the other incredible seeds were these guys. I absolutely love Stinging Nettles! I even did a post about using it as a wild edible a bit ago. Thanks to Baker Creek, you can just order some seeds and grow your own.

I even got to see these guys.

I ordered a packet of each of these kinds of seeds over the winter and planted them this spring. We are still reaping an incredible harvest from those vines, and I even did a Garden Plant Spotlight on the Chinese Red Noodle Bean a while ago on steemit, which launched the Steemit Seed Swap. I was just eating a few fresh Chinese Green Noodle Beans fresh from my own garden as I'm proofreading this.

It didn't take the children too long to find a familiar face around there either. In fact, as the "mascot" of the company, Mr. Kaiser was popping up everywhere.

From original paintings of the man...

To a projected image of him inviting people into the cinema...

To him being featured in the promotional and educational short film playing in the cinema, he was indeed everywhere.

Not only did the store have some very intriguing and incredible rustic decor, it also provided a lot of options for self-sufficiency and homesteading that were not seeds.

From locally built bee hive kits...

To compost bags...

To Tulip bulbs...

To giant bars of homemade soap, they definitely had a lot of great items to offer, not to mention the excellent books and educational materials. I chose to pick up a few bars of dark chocolate for my wife as an added bonus.

Even the smallest of my children had ideas about what to buy.

It's signs like this that make be glad to be making the choices that I am for myself and my children, when it comes to food and nutrition. With so many links between health and food, I feel so much more comfortable growing and raising more of our own food, naturally and chemical free. It makes me appreciate Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds all the more for their hard work in searching the globe to make excellent, un-tampered seeds so readily available.

The checkout was another "adventure in seed-land." First, I had to choose between Cilantro seeds and Non-GMO Cabbage seeds, because you can choose one with every purchase. I went with Cilantro, because of how much salsa and pico de gallo I make.

Then, there was the Whole Seed Catalog. It retails for $9.95, but they had it at the store for $6.50. However, when I attempted to purchase a copy, the lady refused. She insisted on giving it to me for free, and said that the owner would appreciate what I am up to these days! The kindness and generosity of all the employees that we met blew me away!

Once we were done shopping, we chose to roam the grounds of the property a bit. The super-friendly staff reassured us that we could just explore and enjoy ourselves.

It was so encouraging to see things like this, where "expired" flower heads had been pruned off and were finishing drying in the sun. It's a hobby that I've enjoyed for years, and these folks had made it their business. We will see what becomes of it in my future.

Not only does Baker Creek offer an incredible amount of seeds for growing edible plants, they also have a nice variety of ornamentals and flowers.

Just look at how beautiful some of these are.

Even a baby knows the blessing of getting a good whiff.

I was also very pleased to see giant "Elephant Ear" plants and Banana trees. They brought back a flood of memories from when I lived in New Orleans, and I was glad to see my children enjoying some of those plants.

Since it was a little later in the day, we did not bother checking out the Ozark Hotel Restaurant, but I can only imagine from the lunch special sign how amazing the food there must be.

A good portion of the property is dedicated just to growing plants for food and seed, but there are also some beautiful animals at Baker Creek.

The best part is that all these animals get to enjoy some “real food” as well, as this sign in the bathroom notified me.

As we began to explore some of the larger outdoor gardens, one of my children ran up to me as I was talking to an employee and said, “Dad, look what we found!” Inside I recoiled in horror, as I saw two tiny hands full of a fruit that resembles a cross between jelly beans and watermelons. The last thing that I want is for my children to think that it is appropriate for them to pick fruit from other people’s gardens without permission, especially when it’s their livelihood.

Once again though, the most hospitable and generous staff told me that it was alright and I need not worry. It turns out that those fruit were actually leftovers that my children had found on the ground anyway, so they weren’t ripping them off of the vines.

Though it was getting seriously late and the staff were starting to pack up and leave, they still allowed me to check out the greenhouse and the back field, snapping photos the whole time.

I knew that they had a little greenhouse from the catalog, and that two of the plants that they grew in there were figs and pomegranates. As I mentioned in my recent post Why the best time to be a gardener is NOW, I love how easy it now is to get seeds from around the world and how we can extend the growing season or grow less hardy plants just by erecting a greenhouse.

Sure enough, they definitely had some figs and other plants growing inside.

Some of the fig trees were even producing some fruit.

Another nice option was the Citrus tree that they had growing.

Outside, a beautiful overripe garden was still putting the remainder of its effort into producing seed. Just like I shared in my Seed Saving post, some of the plants were almost becoming unrecognizable.

These pole variety Green Beans are way past their table-ready edible phase, but the seeds inside are finishing maturing and curing. Once you realize the future potential of things like this, it becomes a beautiful sight to behold.

I recognized these ones right away too, because it looked so similar to my garden. These Chinese Noodle Beans were allowed to fully mature too, and were starting to shrivel up and dry out. Those are some excellent seeds that can produce some super productive vines, and these ones here are probably the siblings of the ones that I am growing, because both of our seeds came from the crop that was produced here last year. It may seem weird, but I’m intrigued and encouraged just by seeing it!

It is also neat to think that some varieties of the popcorn we grew that we shared in my Grow Your Own Popcorn post were the descendants of some that grew here last year.

Of course, @papa-pepper was plenty pleased to peruse these pepper plants too.

One of the most incredible things that I took away from my visit is what can be accomplished when just a small portion of this earth is entrusted into faithful hands of a man with a vision. The property itself, at least what I observed as being actively used in the process of growing, saving, and selling is not all that many acres. Yet, with almost ¾ of a million gardeners purchasing seeds from this one little company, millions of mouths are being fed using seeds grown here. I only have six mouths to feed in my family, and I know that our tiny garden produces above and beyond our needs, which is why I love to share the blessing as well.

Specific members of the Baker Creek team actually travel around the world periodically and find seeds from rare fruits and vegetables that we could be growing here. Then, they bring them back, grow the crop and are willing to distribute to any of us, for just the small purchase price of a package. What an exciting adventure for them, and an exciting opportunity for us.

If you just want to stop in and check out the company like I did, their store hours are Sunday thru Friday from 8 am to 4 am. If you’re ever cutting across Missouri, or even across the United States, consider stopping in and saying hi. I know that the staff will lovingly welcome you in, and the company is a fantastic business as well. If you are unable to stop by in person, please check out their website at http://www.rareseeds.com/

For those of you who would prefer to check out one of the exciting festivals that happen at Baker Creek, the biggest event is the Spring Planting Festival in May, where over 10,000 gardeners gather. They also host Heritage Day Festivals held monthly on the first Sunday of each month from March thru October. From what I hear, there's a lot of music, crafts, produce and even garden speakers! I'll have to try to make it to some of these next year!

For those of you in California, you may check out The National Heirloom Expo - World's Pure Food Fair. This year's event was just the other weekend, so I apologize for not tipping you off sooner. For more info, please check http://theheirloomexpo.com/

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In the end, I was able to walk away with a handful of seeds, a head-full of ideas and inspiration, and a heart-full of joy.

And all because I just "happened to be passing through."

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All info that was not original was taken from the Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds Company website - http://www.rareseeds.com/

All photos taken by @papa-pepper

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I hope you enjoyed this adventure, as I often travel around the country and beyond. I'll post some more as the @papa-pepper adventure continues to expand.

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As always, I'm @papa-pepper, and here's the proof:

proof-of-preserving-and-planting-company

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