Preparing for the 2017 BC Seed Trials

Preparing for the 2017 BC Seed Trials

It has been a while since we have posted a BC Seed Trials update which means we have been hard at work! Here is a quick update on our 2017 crop selection:   Golden Beets Amount: 6 – 8 varieties: a similar selection as 2016 with a few changes Sowing: Grown as bunching beets as last year […]

First Peek! 2016 BC Seed Trials Results

First Peek! 2016 BC Seed Trials Results

We are happy to share with you the crop reports for the 2016 BC Seed Trials! — The BC Seed Trials project is a collaboration between the Bauta Family Initiative on Canadian Seed Security, the Centre for Sustainable Food Systems at UBC Farm, and FarmFolk CityFolk. Through conducting vegetable variety trials on farms throughout the […]

Continuing with Beet Trial Evaluations

Continuing with Beet Trial Evaluations

For the past months we have been deep into evaluating beets! It has been a real pleasure visiting the farms and hearing farmers’ insights into the different varieties. The UBC Farm beet evaluation, which is the most comprehensive, was completed in mid-July. BC Seed Trials Lead Researcher, Alex Lyon along with UBC Farm Seed Hub […]

Unbeatable! Golden Beet Tasting at UBC Farm

Unbeatable! Golden Beet Tasting at UBC Farm

Saturday, July 9 was the tastiest day of the BC Seed Trials so far – The Unbeatable Beet Tasting! The tasting, held at the UBC Farm Saturday market, was a chance to showcase 10 of the beets in the trials and get consumer feedback on their favourite varieties. While much of the BC Seed Trials work happens […]

Final Two Beet Trials Sowings!

Final Two Beet Trials Sowings!

In the last week we have gotten our final two beet trials sown. One in the Courtenay area of Vancouver Island with Robin Sturley at Ripple Farm of Merville Organics and the other in Prince George by Serena Black of Northern Grown Consulting. Above, Serena and her partner Wyatt are finishing up their beet planting […]

Golden Beets Growing well

Golden Beets Growing well

I had the chance to head out to Local Harvest Farm last week to check out the progress of their Golden Beet seed crop. We planted out the stecklings for this crop on March 19 and it has really been growing well ever since! We had really good growth on most of the stecklings we […]

Saanich Organics Beet Sowing

Saanich Organics Beet Sowing

Saanich Organics trials are being managed by Lisa Willott. Lisa has also participated in our Seed Grow-Outs program and has been very active in the seed growing community for many years. Lisa coordinates seed production activities at Saanich Organics. It has been fun receiving notice from growers that they have planted their beets. I didn’t […]