'Full-Blown War' in Ethiopia: Rebels Seize Three Airports

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The Ready Brief #206

Practical preparedness for uncertain times

I saved tomato seeds last fall. Scooped them out of the best tomatoes from my garden, fermented them in a jar for three days (sounds weird, works perfectly), dried them on a paper towel, and stored them in a labeled envelope. This spring, those seeds will produce the same tomatoes without buying a single seed packet. The garden that feeds itself. That's seed saving.

Here's what I've got today.

Seed Saving: The Garden That Replants Itself

We covered container gardening (Issue 52), microgreens (Issue 76), and grain storage (Issue 136). Today's issue addresses the skill that makes food growing permanently self-sustaining: saving seeds from your harvest to plant next season.

The concept is simple. Plants produce seeds. You collect those seeds instead of composting them. You store them properly. Next season, you plant them instead of buying new seeds. Over time, the seeds adapt to your specific soil, climate, and growing conditions, producing better results each year.

Open-pollinated and heirloom varieties produce seeds that grow true to the parent plant. Hybrid varieties (labeled "F1" on seed packets) don't. Their seeds produce unpredictable offspring. For seed saving, plant open-pollinated or heirloom varieties. Seed Savers Exchange and Baker Creek are reliable sources.

Easy seeds to start with: tomatoes, peppers, beans, peas, and lettuce. These are largely self-pollinating, meaning the seeds reliably produce plants identical to the parent. Squash, corn, and brassicas (cabbage, broccoli) cross-pollinate easily and require isolation techniques for pure seed saving. Start with the easy ones.

Tomato seed saving: scoop seeds and surrounding gel from a ripe tomato into a jar with a small amount of water. Let it ferment at room temperature for 2 to 3 days (a mold layer will form on top, this is normal). Rinse seeds in a strainer. Dry on a paper plate for a week. Store in a labeled envelope in a cool, dry place.

Bean and pea seed saving: leave pods on the plant until they're dry and brown. Pick the dried pods. Shell the seeds. Dry further indoors for a week. Store in envelopes or jars.

Proper storage extends seed viability for years. Cool, dry, and dark. A sealed jar with a desiccant packet in a refrigerator or cool basement keeps most seeds viable for 3 to 5 years. Some seeds (onion, parsnip) are short-lived (1 to 2 years). Others (tomato, squash, cucumber) last 5+ years.

The preparedness value: seed saving eliminates dependence on seed companies and supply chains. A household that saves seeds from a diverse garden has a permanent, renewable food source that improves with each generation of saved seed.

Save seeds from one vegetable you eat this week.

A tomato, a pepper, or a dried bean from the grocery store. Scoop or collect the seeds. Dry them. Store them. Even if you don't plant them this year, you've practiced the skill.

Bird Flu Hits 20 US Flocks and 560,000 Birds in 30 Days

USDA recorded eight new H5N1 bird flu outbreaks in poultry this week, six of them in Minnesota, according to CIDRAP. Over the past 30 days the virus has been confirmed in 20 US flocks and 560,000 birds. On Sept. 20, the 30-day count stood at 16 flocks and about 400,000 birds. Minnesota also logged at least 40 wild-bird detections in 10 days, mostly around Minneapolis-St. Paul, including three bald eagles. USDA says detections run higher each fall and spring as wild birds migrate. The CDC has counted 71 human H5 cases since February 2024, nearly all farm workers. If you keep backyard chickens, cover feed and water and keep wild birds out. We'll keep tracking the count.

Source: CIDRAP, Medical Daily, USDA APHIS

Carol Deppe holds a PhD in genetics from Harvard and breeds open-pollinated corn, beans and squash on her Oregon farm, varieties anyone can grow and save seed from. In The Resilient Gardener, she builds a self-reliant garden around five staples (potatoes, corn, beans, squash and eggs) and covers how to grow, store and save your own seed from them. About $21 for the paperback.

The takeaway for seed savers: start with varieties that already do well where you live, then save seed from your best plants each year. Over a few seasons, the garden gets better suited to your own conditions.

'Full-Blown War' in Ethiopia: Rebels Seize Three Airports

Fighting between Ethiopia's federal government and Tigrayan forces has spread from Tigray into the neighboring Afar and Amhara regions. On Wednesday, Tigrayan forces took over the airports in Mekelle, Axum and Shire, and Ethiopian Airlines suspended all flights into the region. The army says it killed 272 Tigrayan fighters in Amhara's North Wollo zone. Tigrayan officials say 21 airstrikes on Alamata killed 14 civilians and injured 22. Neither side's figures have been verified. TPLF vice president Amanuel Assefa told AFP the region is in "full-blown war," four years after a 2022 peace deal. About 750,000 people displaced by the last war still live inside Tigray, according to UN migration data.

Flights out of a region can stop in one day. If you or family travel abroad, enroll in the State Department's free STEP program so the embassy can reach you, and carry a paper copy of your passport.

Source: Al Jazeera, Al Jazeera, EEPA, Euronews

Seed Library (First Year Collection)

Our first-year seed library covers 8 varieties saved last season: 3 tomato types, 2 pepper types, green beans, snap peas, and lettuce. Each variety is stored in a labeled coin envelope inside a mason jar with a silica gel desiccant packet in the refrigerator.

Germination test (planting 10 seeds from each envelope on a wet paper towel): 7 out of 8 varieties showed 80%+ germination rates. The lettuce was lower (60%), which is normal for lettuce seed. Total cost: $0 (seeds came from the garden harvest).

Budget alternative: Save seeds from grocery store tomatoes and peppers. They may or may not be open-pollinated (you won't know until you grow them), but the practice of saving, drying, and storing seeds is identical. Free.

Overrated: "Survival seed vaults" sold in preparedness stores ($50 to $150). They often contain varieties unsuited to your climate, in quantities too large to use before viability expires. Building your own seed collection from varieties you've successfully grown in your garden is more practical and much cheaper.

Underrated: Seed Savers Exchange as a community resource. This nonprofit maintains thousands of heirloom varieties and connects gardeners who share seeds. Membership is donation-based and includes access to member-only seed offerings. The community knowledge is as valuable as the seeds themselves.

Chainsaw safety and emergency tree removal. The power tool that clears storm damage but demands respect and proper technique.

How was today's issue? Tap one below. If you pick "Could be better," tell us what to fix.

PS: Those saved tomato seeds cost me nothing. The seed packets they replace cost $3 to $5 each. Across 8 varieties, I saved about $30 this season. More importantly, those seeds are adapted to my specific garden conditions because they came from plants that thrived there last year. Each generation gets better. That's the magic of seed saving.