Moon Calendar January-February 2026
Enhance nourishment & resilience by saving seeds
By Monique Macfarlane
Seed saving is one of the most beautiful acts of resilience and nourishment we can do for ourselves, our communities, our future, and the ecosystems we find ourselves in. Each year on our farm, I save more and more varieties, and it is incredible to witness just how quickly they adapt and strengthen within our farm organism. Everything I grow from the seed we saved ourselves is healthier, abundant, easeful, and has a strength, vitality and density that is unrivalled.
I started with the easy crops โ pumpkins, tomatoes, potatoes. Then added in more flowers like calendula, cornflower, strawflower, sunflowers. Then came brassicas: kale and broccoli. There was the year where I was so proud to do zucchini for the first time โ not realising how itโs best to hand pollinate for seed saving โ the following year I had the most incredible array of fruits and colours, that all came from the same one fruit! Nature is absolutely incredible.
In biodynamics, we save seed at particular times that are favourable for what we are wanting to produce. So for flowers, I typically save seed on ascending flower days. For pumpkins and tomatoes I save seed on ascending fruit and seed days. For potatoes we always harvest on descending root days for better longevity in storing, and this is correct for seed saving too.
This year, I am trying something new, as there is always so much to learn and experiment with. When the moon is opposite Saturn, calcium and silica are in balance, which makes for true-to-form, balanced growth, so I am interested to see what seed saving at this time does for all the crops that might be ready at this very specific time.
Remember, seed should only be taken from well developed plants, not those which run to seed quickly and do not flow through their full expression. And of course โ sharing seed is key!
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Monique Macfarlane is a holistic food systems facilitator, teaching biodynamics, planting by the moon, no-dig food growing and self-sufficiency. See www.natural-wisdom.net
Monique co-creates with organic, biodynamic, regenerative, no-till, and natural principles on eight hectares in Waihi that includes a small market garden, orchard, pastoral grazing, chickens and agroforestry.
Images: Arina-Ulyasheva, VeraPetruk
