ISSUE 95, HEIRLOOM SEED COMPANIES, Part 7: Heavenly Seed LLC
Heavenly Seed
Those who pursue rare or heirloom garden seed as a vocation do so out of a variety of motives. The roll of seedsmen and seedswomen include scientists concerned about loss of crop diversity, survivalists, champions of regional and/or ethnic heritage, and followers of a spiritual calling. Mike Watkins of Heavenly Seed in South Carolina undertook his business both as an expression of Christian stewardship of the earth and as an expression of his commitment to the horticultural vision of his mentor, Dr. David Bradshaw of Clemson University, horticulturist and preserver of South Carolina’s garden heritage.
When Watkins retired from Clemson’s Foundation Seed Program in 2009, he started up Heavenly Seed, in large part to give Bradshaw’s collection of heirloom regional seed a public outlet. Clemson in the early 2010s was in one of its industrial ag cycles, and were neglecting Bradshaw’s donated collection, a bank of heirloom seeds particularly rich in beans, corn, and garden vegetables. In the annual catalogs, Watkins takes care to identify items derived from the Bradshaw collection. Some are rare indeed: The Whitfield Pole Butter Pea, the Yin Ywang Bean, John Haulk Corn, and the Plumgranny melon.
The single most famous Bradshaw offering is the Bradshaw Sweet Potato, a baking sweet that weeps sugar in the oven. It has developed a following over the last 15 years and is often listed as sold out.
Watkins being a trained plantsman himself, features numbers of heirlooms that do not appear in the Bradshaw trove. Heavenly Seeds selection of cucumbers is noteworthy, with a broad array of the very best cultivars for hot humid climates, both pickling sorts, such as Sumter to 19th-century heirlooms such as lemon and long green improved , to alt-flavored items such as the sweet suyo long or the acidless Tendergreen burpless.
Also listed are two ancient okra strains: an antebellum SC item, Choppee, and the huge classic cowhorn. Among the squash he lists three cushaw types: the green striped, the orange striped, and the white .There are 13 sunflower varieties as well.
Though Heavenly Seed is modest in scale, it has a noble purpose and several areas of distinct strength. I’ve given Mike Watkins seed for a few things, a sign of trust.