10 Years of Seeds for Generations!

Seeds for Generations is celebrating our 10th birthday in 2023!

What a whirlwind has happened in just one decade. As part of the celebration, we thought we’d share lots of pictures and tell our story here, to share our journey with you. Enjoy!

~The Beginning~

Lydia in 2006

I have been gardening my entire life – literally!

Before I could walk, my parents had me out in the garden with them, and once I could walk, the garden became my pasture for grazing.

They planted important seeds in me – love for God’s creation, enjoyment of working with my hands, and an appreciation for the thought and effort that goes into growing food.

We’ve been doing similar work with our seven children, working to pass on the legacy of gardening to them. We’ve done this for years now – our oldest daughter has been in the garden helping since she could walk.

Seeds for Generations is Planted in 2013!

Over a decade ago, I was looking for an opportunity to have my kids work alongside me and with each other.

One winter, I had an epiphany:

Our family loves heirloom seeds and vegetables, so why not share them with others?

So I decided to start a small cottage industry as a way to give my children an opportunity to work together with me in a family business.

Seeds for Generations was born!

The Seedling Begins to Grow…

Our family business started selling heirloom vegetable seeds and related gardening products. We started vending at events as we were able, as well as promoting our new business through Jason’s other business ventures at the time.

At first, we sold mainly heirloom seeds and a few other gift items like T-shirts. But slowly, as our business grew, we started adding more products.

Since early on, Jason has taught webinars to teach gardeners how to start seeds and plan their gardens, and also designed planning tools to help folks implement what they learned wherever they lived.

2015

2016

2017

The Garden Gets a Little Bigger… 

For many years, we’d been looking for a homestead for our family, but every possibilty kept falling through. Until 2018, when friends of ours who we met when we first moved to Virginia found themselves having to move to care for aging relatives.

One thing led to another, and we were able to purchase their amazing homestead with a log home with wood heat, shop, outbuildings, garden, perennial crops, and more.

And with it, came more space for Seeds for Generations, both space for our office and product inventory, well as land for growing even more crops and raising many animals that we could never have before.

2018

2019

In our second growing season at our new homestead, we continued to expand our gardens and livestock operations, as well as expand our product offerings for our customers.

In May 2019, Jason also retired from the Air Force Reserves. We had no idea what would happen next….

Time for a Growth Spurt…

As for most of you, 2020 started much like any other year. Our business was slowly growing, so we were just gearing up for a regular ol’ seed buying season.

Then Covid hit.

Overnight, families were worried about their food supply and started turning to gardening for security. 

As larger companies shut down and restricted orders, Seeds for Generations order load exploded in March. It became the mother of all seed buying seasons! Our entire family actually took a couple weeks off homeschool during the thick of it, just so we could keep up with the boost in sales. All hands on deck!

2020 was the turning point for us. Seeds for Generations quickly became our family’s primary income stream. Because of our customers’ fantastic support and loyalty, we were able to drastically expand our product selection with more seeds, books, apparel products, live plants, and more.

2020

2021

After our record year of explosive growth in 2020, we weren’t sure what to expect this year, but it seems everyone wanted to avoid the seed shortages of the prior year and January started off with a bang and we were off to the races!

 It was a great year of growing as well, both for our gardens, and for our kids. 

2022

Our growth continued after our first full year as a full time family business, and we added some new part time members to our team packing and shipping products, which freed up the kids to spend even more time outside in the garden.

A Storm Arrives…

We started 2023 rearing to go for another seed buying and gardening season. The year started off a bit slower than it had been the last few years, but we had big plans to add even more products and launches to our calendar.

But once again, life took an unexpected turn.

On January 28th, an electrical fire started in our shop, which housed almost EVERYTHING for our seed business – including product inventory, office and shipping supplies, equipment, event booth supplies, and more.

2023

The fire wasn’t caught in time, so it destroyed nearly everything inside the building (including the business office, a lot of homestead equipment, and our guest loft that stored lots of personal items).

And it was right at the beginning of our busy season – the worst time of year it could possibly happen.

We were in shock.

A friend of ours immediately started a fundraiser for us, which got shared widely on social media (including Gab). Before we knew it, hundreds of people all over the country were supporting us, including many who were complete strangers and not even our customers.

Thanks to the generous support of so many and the Lord’s kind Providence in so many different ways (you can read our journal here), we were able to install a temporary building and buy new inventory, and we were shipping orders again in just a few weeks.

We worked hard to make up for lost time – in one of the most important seasons of the calendar year for gardeners.  We were way behind our normal sales level when we reopened, which unfortunately continued throughout the year, but we pushed ahead and continued growing our gardens, animals, and our children, because the fire of adversity didn’t remove our responsibility to serve those who we had a duty to lead and provide for.

Happy 10th Birthday, Seeds for Generations!

But now, we’re SO thankful to be celebrating our milestone birthday, 10 whole years!

We have so many other exciting things planned, including a few projects that had to go to the back burner after the shop fire in January.

But today, we want to thank you – our friends, family, customers, and other loyal supporters who have helped make Seeds for Generations a thriving family business.

10 years ago, we named our business Seeds for Generations for several reasons.

First, the business is a vehicle for passing on a love for heirloom seeds and gardening to our descendants and community.

Second, we want to help expand the circle of people reconnecting with the land and growing more of their own food. All life and economic activity ultimately comes from two physical sources: the land and the sun. More people growing means more people literally using seeds for generating life and productivity, an important activity in our consumer economy that’s coming apart at the seams – now more than ever.

So whether you’re just starting your gardening adventure this year, or have have been growing for a while now, please consider supporting our family’s effort to plant seeds in our children and our world that will yield a fruitful increase over the next ten years (and beyond), Lord willing. 

Check out the amazing deals we have available now during our 10th Anniversary Sale!