True to her passion, Buskirk—who has a degree in agronomy from California State University, Chico—continues to dabble in plant breeding. She created a series of award-winning hybrid tomatoes called “Chef ’s Choice” based on the old-fashioned Brandywine tomato. Colors include orange, green, pink, red, yellow and black. She’s also won awards for peppers, watermelons and cucumbers. You won’t see the Seeds by Design name on seed packets, however. Buskirk grows the seed for several hundred customers, many in the U.S., but others as far away as France or India. Customers include big names such as W.A. Burpee, Park Seed and Ferry Morse, as well as smaller companies including J.L. Hudson and Renee’s Garden. “Customers come to us a year or two in advance. They give us a list of what they want, and I contract with a grower,” she said. A global network Cleaning and conditioning the seeds after harvest signals the beginning of another months-long process, so it can take as long as two years to go from order to shipment. “The seed has to be milled. It has to be kept dry.
It has to be tested to make sure it meets germination and purit y levels before it can be packaged,” Buskirk explained. Hybrid varieties take much longer from idea to market, as much as five to seven years. Much of the seed is kept in her warehouses. It turns out California’s Mediterranean climate also provides the perfect storage conditions for seed: dependable, hot weather and not too much moisture in the air, but not too little. Inventory ranges from a high of about 3,500 types of seed in winter to a much lower number in summer as stocks are depleted. “One warehouse is mostly bin upon bin, bucket upon bucket of seeds,” Buskirk said. “Seeds are a living, breathing inventory, so we don’t want to seal themup.” Staff members package and ship the seeds directly fromthe warehouse to retail companies to sell. She calls the secondwarehouse her “conditioning warehouse.” It holds seeds, of course, but also the equipment needed for milling, dust collection and conditioning. “We work, we package and we ship every day,” she said, adding that office staff work on rotating shifts so someone is on duty 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. “Calls come in from all parts of the world on different time zones. It’s a global network.”
Photo courtesy of Seeds by Design
A transplanter and tractor, above,
stand ready to plant watermelon plants for seed production. Buskirk’s warehouses hold as many as 3,500 types of seeds, including ones for summer squash, right.
Photos by Fred Greaves
Rodolfo Meza and Raffaella Guzman, above, pack seeds for shipment, while Buskirk, right, inspects giant sunflowers.
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