Episode Eleven - The Stories in Seeds

Discuss

• The U.S. Department of Agriculture was founded in 1862; distributing free seeds to farmers was originally one of its primary functions.  What would have been the purpose of such a program at the time?  What effects would it have had on American agriculture?  

• What is a patent?  Why would a gardener register a patent on a rose that had been propagated?  What effects do you think patenting plantstock would have on agricultural practices?  

• Look at the 1931 patent application for Henry Bosenberg’s “New Dawn” rose.  What special features justify his claim to have “invented” a new kind of rose? 

• What’s the difference between “open” and “controlled” pollination?  What are the advantages and drawbacks of “open-pollination” practices? 

• Why might farmers choose to grow heritage or heirloom varieties from seed, rather than buying corporate seedstock?  Why might farmers make the opposite choice?  

• Seedsavers argue that seeds are not just packages of genetic material, but contain complex histories and cultural significance. What do you think?  What sorts of cultural heritage are embedded in seeds?

Listen

In this interview, Bill McDorman discusses the effects of the past 50 years on major biodiversity loss, and how seed saving will be necessary for a well-adapted local agriculture.

The Native Seed Pod is a podcast that explores and celebrates Native foodways, ancestral seeds, and Traditional Ecological Knowledge, highlighting the importance of protecting and restoring agrobiodiversity and food sovereignty to sustain resilient communities.

Seeds and Their People features seed stories told by the people who truly love them.

Watch

Seed: The Untold Story “Few things on Earth are as miraculous and vital as seeds. Worshipped and treasured since the dawn of humankind. SEED: The Untold Story follows passionate seed keepers protecting our 12,000 year-old food legacy. In the last century, 94% of our seed varieties have disappeared. As biotech chemical companies control the majority of our seeds, farmers, scientists, lawyers, and indigenous seed keepers fight a David and Goliath battle to defend the future of our food. In a harrowing and heartening story, these reluctant heroes rekindle a lost connection to our most treasured resource and revive a culture connected to seeds. SEED features Vandana Shiva, Dr. Jane Goodall, Andrew Kimbrell, Winona Laduke and Raj Patel.” 

Open Sesame: The Story of Seeds 

What's So Special About Organic Seed?

Working With Open-Pollinated Plants is one of a series of videos by Frank Morton, organic seed-breeder and owner of Wild Garden Seed. 

Read

Where Our Food Comes From: Retracing Nikolay Vavilov's Quest to End Famine, Gary Paul Nabhan, Island Press, 2011. 

Heirloom Seeds and Their Keepers: Marginality and Memory in the Conservation of Biological Diversity, Virginia Nazarea, University of Arizona Press, 2015

Seeds of Resistance, Mark Schapiro, Hot Books, 2018.  

Here are the websites for Ohio Heirloom Seeds, and for Southern Exposure Seed Exchange, the latter of which is featured in this episode. 

And here is the website for The Cleveland Seed Bank. The Cleveland Seed Bank is the domestic work of  The Hummingbird Project, an international nonprofit based in Cleveland, Ohio, also featured in this episode. 

Connect here with Branstrator Farm, also featured in this episode, to learn about Jon Branstrator’s work with heritage grain. 

The Rocky Mountain Seed Alliance is a leader in seed-saving education in the United States. They offer seed schools and heritage grain schools, among many other initiatives. 

Check out the Native American Seed Sanctuary at the Hudson Valley Farm Hub. 

Native Seeds/SEARCH seeks to find, protect, promote and conserve traditional arid-adapted crop seed so that these arid adapted crops may benefit all peoples and nourish a changing world.  

They have a robust citizen science corps and community seed network and also offer seeds through their seed catalog.

The Maine Farmer Saving the World's Rarest Heirloom Seeds 

Some resources for seed-saving:
Seed to seed : seed saving techniques for the vegetable gardener, Suzanne Ashworth, Decorah, Iowa, Seed Savers Exchange, 2002.

Do

Seed Balls are a fun way to reseed areas with native plants. 

Set up a Seed exchange with your neighbors.  Seed Savers Exchange  is the largest non-governmental seed bank in the United States. At their exchange website, people from anywhere in the world can share and exchange seeds. 

Eat

Try making these seed crackers.

Here are ten additional recipes featuring seeds.