
Katherine Deumling describes her experience at a recent Northern Organic Vegetable Improvement Collaborative (NOVIC) tasting, where she gathered with her community to evaluate twelve peppers, four of which were grown by former OSA board member Frank Morton at Gathering Together Farm in the Willamette Valley. In Katherine’s words on Culinate:
We ranked color, structure, overall flavor, sweetness, and texture of each pepper in three states: raw, sautéed, and roasted. And I paid close attention to something I rarely give much thought — the immense amount of work and passion it takes to develop these varieties so that farmers can have a thriving, profitable crop and eaters like me can enjoy such a variety of local produce year-round. I left the tasting feeling grateful, grateful in a slightly more informed way, for this serious, challenging, and very skilled work that farmers and seed breeders do every day.
On Monday, November 1, join OSA for another NOVIC tasting – carrots and beets! – and be a part of the growing network of regional, organic seed production that brings together farmers, researchers, and consumers to develop the best organic vegetable seed varieties for our food future.