Mark Wilcox/Daily Mining Gazette Many of the seeds available at Erickson Feed, Seed and Pet Supply in Hurontown are labeled "non-GMO."

I have great faith in a seed … Convince me that you have a seed there, and I am prepared to expect wonders — Henry David Thoreau

With exceptions made for potatoes, garlic, strawberries and the like, most plants grown in our gardens have one basic thing in common — they start as seeds. From the tallest corn stalk to the smallest green onion, almost everything in our gardens comes from a seed.

Like so much these days, buying a seed isn’t nearly as simple as it used to be. Decades ago, you just wandered down to the local hardware or general store and picked out the seeds you needed. If you were really adventurous, you waited for the Burpee catalog and mail ordered some exotic veggies like foot long beans, five pound tomatoes and pumpkins the size of a Volkswagen Beetle. Today, seeds come in a wide variety of options. For the purpose of this article, we’ll look at just a few — heirloom, hybrid, GMO and Non-GMO.

Heirloom seeds, also referred to as Heritage seeds, are taken from plant varieties that have been cultivated and preserved for a period of time. Burpee’s website (don’t panic, they still send out catalogs) says Heirlooms come with long histories and have been grown for many years, passed down from generation to generation. To some, in order to qualify as an heirloom, seeds must come from plants and flowers introduced at least 50 years ago, while others maintain true heirloom plants must originate pre World War II. Another characteristic of heirlooms is that they come from open-pollinated plants. According to Burpees, open-pollination occurs when bees and other natural pollinators fertilize the plants. Burpees website offers more than 300 different heirloom seed varieties for purchase. Another option, perhaps the simplest, is to purchase heirloom produce from a local farm, grocery store or farmers market and save some of the seeds for next year’s garden.

Hybrid seeds, on the other hand, are produced by crossing two different, genetically distinct, varieties of the same plant species to create plants with specific, desirable traits. This controlled breeding process combines the strengths of each parent, resulting in plants that often exhibit increased vigor, higher yields, and improved disease resistance. Making a canine comparison, heirlooms are your purebred dogs while hybrids are cross breeds (nicer than saying “mutt”). For example, Yorkshire terriers and poodles are heirloom breeds while Yorkiepoos are hybrids.

So if heirlooms have amazing flavor, a diversity of colors and proven pedigrees that go back generations, why would you even want a hybrid? Again, according to Burpees, a trade-off for the many wonderful attributes that heirlooms bring to the table, gardening with them takes patience. Lacking the vigor of hybrids, they tend to grow slower, and produce smaller yields. In areas with shorter growing seasons, like ours, vegetables specifically designed to produce in a shorter period of time are certainly more desirable.

Taking the concept of hybrid plants at step further are GMO (genetically modified organisms) seeds. GMO seeds are created through genetic engineering, a process where scientists modify an organism’s DNA to introduce specific traits. Unlike hybrid seeds, which are produced through cross-pollination of different varieties within the same species, GMO seeds are often created through genetic engineering in a lab.

According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), GMO seeds are used to plant more than 90% of all corn, cotton, and soy grown in the United States, which means that many of the foods you eat likely contain GMOs. In the commercial farming industry, GMO crops have had genes added to them for various reasons such as improving growth, nutritional content, sustainability, pest resistance and ease of farming.

Although the long term effects of GMO seeds and plants are largely unknown, their use has caused some concern. According to the Non-GMO Project, most GMOs are a direct extension of chemical agriculture and are developed and sold by the world’s largest chemical companies. The long-term impacts of these GMOs are unknown. Once released into the environment, these novel organisms cannot be recalled.

According to the company Sow True Seed, “Though GMO foods are regulated by the FDA like other food products, many people worry that the crops are not subject to adequate testing for long-term health effects. The argument goes that GM crops have traits that are unlike anything humans have ever eaten in the past, and a few years of FDA study are not enough to fully determine their safety.”

It seems that, at least locally, more people are sharing that skepticism over genetically modified seeds. Kristin Hart of Erickson Feed, Seed and Pet Supply in Hurontown, has noticed a growing interest in Non-GMO seeds locally. “For a while it seemed the interest was focused on organic seeds and gardening,” Hart said. “But recently more and more people are asking if we carry Non-GMO seeds and we do have quite a bit. There really seems to be an increased popularity of Non-GMO seeds here.”

Growing your own food has so many positives — cost savings, improved health, environmental advantages and a deeper connection with nature. It allows for greater control over what you eat, ensuring freshness, higher nutritional value, and pesticide-free options. It is rewarding on so many levels. As a bonuys, when holiday season comes around, home=made gifts from the garden such as jam, pickles, relish, salsa, apple butter, etc add a deeply personal touch.

Regardless of your reason for sinking a seed into soil, a little bit of research and some thoughtfulness can lead to, like Thoreau, an expectation of wonders.