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WILLIAMS Siskiyou Seeds founder says locally grown seeds are critical to a region Comment By Jeff Duewel Grants Pass Daily Courier MailTribune.com By Jeff Duewel Grants Pass Daily Courier Posted Aug. 13, 2016 at 12:01 AM By Jeff Duewel Grants Pass Daily Courier Posted Aug. 13, 2016 at 12:01 AM » Social News WILLIAMS — Don Tipping walked through a patch of zinnias that blazed orange, yellow and magenta, and yanked one of the big flowers out of the ground. It didn't have the petal design he was looking for, like some others in the swath of color. "I rogued it," he said. "It's a verb we use in breeding, meaning I removed all the ones I don't like, for any number of reasons." Tipping runs his Siskiyou Seeds operation like a rogue scientist, tinkering with plant size, heat tolerance, yield and a bundle of other traits, to find the best plants — and therefore the best seeds. A retail business since 2009, Siskiyou Seeds is a unique organic seed operation, with 30 seed racks in Southern Oregon and sales in every state but Delaware. Tipping started his 40-acre Seven Seeds Farm in 2000, selling wholesale, but wanted to expand his sales horizons and formed Siskiyou Seeds. With a climate-controlled seed room, he can grow seeds that will sell for four years, unlike the vegetables with one crop. The local emphasis makes Siskiyou Seeds stand out. It's also a player in the anti-GMO movement, advocating for the Rogue Valley to be a "refuge" from GMOs. Unlike genetically modified plants, plants grown at Seven Seeds Farm have plants crossing with one another — called open pollination — in four different plots, producing variation. "He's one of the few who specialize in only open-pollinated, and only organically sourced seeds, 100 percent from growers and not from the international seed trade," said Jonathan Spero, who operates nearby Lupine Knoll Farm and sells seeds to Tipping. "A large part of even the organic seed companies come from Europe. He's innovative, and more than that his standards are very high." Half of Siskiyou Seeds customers are in Oregon, and mostly backyard gardeners. Although Siskiyou Seeds has 75 varieties of flowers, it sells more than 500 varieties of food plant seeds. "Part of the reason we do this work is to support the community," Tipping said. "We're helping people garden. Ultimately, we provide a service." Tipping's entire philosophy boils down to localization. "We grow over half the seeds we sell," Tipping said. "We tell you where the seed was grown. Plants adapt to drought heat, pests, cold … the ones that do better produce more seed. "It's really the foundation of civilization and agriculture — how our crops adapt to our region, so we have a stable food supply. Local seeds are more important than local food, by a long way. They are imprinted on a region. They perform better." Pryce Wortham of Takilma purchased some Native American corn varieties this week, and was asked why he couldn't just buy seeds from Fred Meyer or Bi-Mart. "I wouldn't know where they came from, or what their ideals were," he said. For Tipping, keeping track of about 600 plant varieties becomes a huge undertaking. He has a staff of seven, watering, composting, planting, harvesting, mulching, pruning, packaging. He does most of the record keeping. "We have 50 kinds of tomatoes, 40 kinds of lettuce … you can imagine the Excel spreadsheet is pretty crazy," Tipping said. "There's no way to make it simple." While the menial tasks get monotonous, Tipping embraces the fun part of selecting traits and experimenting with new varieties. "This is where your right-brain creative side is able to come out. This is stellar, this plant is unique, how do we get that to express itself more. The more I do this work, the more fascinated I get." It's also fun to try outlandish varieties, such as a hot pepper from Bolivia. "Nobody gets super excited about beets, but people into hot peppers are really into hot peppers" Tipping said. He set up the four different plots to isolate those plants that he doesn't want cross pollinating each other. "How far do bees travel? That's how far we have to isolate them." Growing seeds is actually more difficult than growing plants. "You have to grow the plant first. Then there's another whole step after that," Tipping said But it's worth it. Three or four baskets of Siskiyou sweet onions inside the seed barn, an estimated 150 pounds, would sell for $300. "If I let those go to seed, it'll be worth $3,000 as seed," Tipping said. "It's more work. But we have a relatively small land base. We'll plant those around the fall equinox and make seed for next year." The reason Tipping wants to see GMOs (plants that contain genetically modified organisms) out of the Rogue Valley is all the organic farming going on here, including his own. "Who is growing produce here? Organic farmers." Siskiyou Seeds was an intervenor in a lawsuit against Josephine County by GMO growers outside Cave Junction, on the plaintiff side. The county's GMO ban was approved by voters in 2014, but was overturned in court earlier this summer. That decision is on appeal. Tipping said he's not under threat from GMOs in the isolated Williams Valley yet, but wants to speak for the whole Rogue Valley. He calls GMOs a form of genetic trespassing, because they can send pollen over to cross-pollinate with non-GMO plants. "I look at GMOs as kind of like a neighbor burning trash," he said. "The Rogue Valley can be a refuge from GMO. It ain't over yet." Reach reporter Jeff Duewel at 541-474-3720 or [email protected]. By Jeff Duewel Grants Pass Daily Courier MailTribune.com By Jeff Duewel Grants Pass Daily Courier Posted Aug. 13, 2016 at 12:01 AM » Comment or view comments Reader Reaction » STAY INFORMED Email NewsLetter Sign Up Today Sign up for our newsletter and have the top headlines from your community delivered right to your inbox. Southern Oregon Directory Featured Businesses Loading... 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