Job's Tears Jewelry

 

I first started growing Job’s Tears five years ago.  I was then ten years old, and the idea of growing a bead sounded like a very novel idea to me; I still think it is.

I had that summer started my seed company: Quixlan Heirloom Seeds, then known as Clara’s Seed Company.  Really, if it had not been for my wanting to grow Job’s Tears, I might not ever have started my seed company, at least not until much later.  I do think it would have started sometime, as I had always enjoyed gathering seeds from wild flowers and selling them to my grandmother.

That summer, when my Job’s Tears produced their intriguing seeds, I had the idea of making a catalog, (as well as a seed company) through which to sell the Job’s Tears seed.    My mother also had in her garden a White Swiss Chard plant that had over-wintered and as a result that spring had produced seed quiet prolifically.  When I made that first catalog, the only two types of seed in it were: Job’s Tears and White Swiss Chard.

 

I never really did anything with my Job’s Tears (besides plant and sell them) until about three years ago when I made myself a bracelet.  It broke within six months and, for some reason, I have never gotten around to making myself another one.  However, that first bracelet was the beginning of something, like the seeds it was made of.  About a year ago, when I was fourteen, I tried making some nicer Job’s Tears jewelry with chain and wire instead of string, and colorful beads instead of just Job’s Tears (not that Job’s Tears are not beautiful enough on their own, far from it!)  Adding some pretty, colorful glass beads just seemed to enhance their natural beauty.  I have even dried bits of Seminole Pumpkin, made them into beads, and added them to the jewelry.  They dry a sunny, golden color, and, combined with other pretty or unique seeds, they create very beautiful “garden jewelry.”

People are always amazed at the fact that you can grow these beautiful beads that really are seeds, and even more so when I tell them that they have a natural hole through the center.  But to me it is only as amazing as the fact that a handful of sunflower seed will produce thousands of handfuls of sunflower seed, as well as giants that can grow 19 plus feet tall.  They also characterize the diversity in the world of seed, a diversity that I have always marveled at.