If the economic downturn continues and turns to hyper-inflation, goods will become far more valuable than money itself. This has happened many times all over the world. In these extreme circumstances basic necessities such as food, and seeds become the most valuable goods available. As money declines in value these things rise right along with gold, other precious metals and other basic commodities.

Vegetable garden seeds, being a concentrated food-source, are perhaps the MOST valuable commodity of all in such conditions. Certainly the most compact value one can think of! For most of 2008, gold was valued between $700 and $900 an ounce. If paper money “tanks” and hard goods become king, seed will dominate the landscape. and…..who knows, maybe seeds will reach hundreds of dollars an ounce. Heirloom Organics is preparing for just this sort of occurrence with the Open Seed Exchange (OSX), an online trading system for high-value seeds in a hyper-inflationary economy. In short, if you buy seeds from Heirloom Organics now, you will have access to the trading system once it becomes necessary and available and will be able to trade seeds for cash or other commodities. We are sorry, OSX is available ONLY to owners of Heirloom Organics non-hybrid seeds in unopened archival packaging. Since we can only guarantee seeds we know, we can only provide this trading platform to those who own the seeds we know.

In my pursuit of learning how to grow organic foods I found a really down-to-earth and a real back to basics website about “Keeping Pet Chickens”.    I had not given it much thought because I am an urban city dweller living a back to basics lifestyle.  I have been growing hydroponic veggies and learning how to eat better organic foods, but this is a story for another time.

What I learned is that it is possible to produce my own organic eggs right in my own back yard!  And I can care for and keep my chickens as pets.  Since I am not a full time vegetarian it has been a real challenge to find natural and organic foods.  (If you have ever seen a poultry farm you will never want to eat those type of eggs again.  Trust me.)

I hope you will visit keepingpetchickens.com and find out how easy it really is to start raising your own pet chickens, even if you live as a city and urban dweller.  I have just started building a small hen house in my back yard and will keep you posted on my progress.

I want to end this post with what I am learning about natural and organic farming.  It  is sustainability.  It’s about maintaining natural ecological balances. Of course it is chemical free, no fertilizers or pesticides.  It is good for the environment.  It helps to maintain our open spaces.  It’s good for wildlife.  This beautiful balance gives us much more than just healthy fruits, vegetables and now organic eggs, it puts us back to basics, the way it should be.

I hope you enjoyed the post and I’d love to hear about your experiences and journeys.

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