Part 1: As an avid gardener and co-founder of Your Backyard Farmer, Donna Smith demonstrates how to harvest fresh seeds from the food garden. Saving seeds from prior harvests for future plantings, completes the garden cycle. It also provides the means of selecting seeds with the right mix of desired traits, to preserve or extend the breeding process on successive generations.

Not all seeds look alike! Many are nestled inside of pods, others are attached to the flowerhead, and some are brazenly out in the open. Smith takes us through her local community garden and shows us when it is time to harvest a variety of seeds, including: lettuce, mizuna mustard, beet, dill, onion, bean, and sunflower.

In part 2 on Thursday, fellow co-founder Robyn Streeter, shows how to successfully store garden seeds for next year’s plantings.

Check out their story in this related video: Organic Foods: Backyard Agriculture