Printing the Yearbook

The Seed Savers Exchange (SSE) Yearbook has been sent to the printer! If you’re a long-time member, the arrival of the Yearbook may be the most anticipated garden-planning event of the year. If you’re new to SSE, however, the term ‘Yearbook’ can be a bit perplexing, and may conjure up memories of unfortunate portraits and embarrassing club associations.

The annual Yearbook is one way of accessing the Seed Savers Exchange, a network of gardeners, farmers, plant breeders and chefs who contribute to the most diverse seed exchange on the planet. Heritage Farm (where our staff maintains a permanent seed collection, sells seeds commercially, hosts events and publishes the seed exchange) is one part of this network.

Each year, hundreds of SSE members put together a list of fruit, vegetable, grain, flower and herb seeds they have harvested and would like to share with others. These seeds are organized in a database that is available online (exchange.seedsavers.org) and printed out annually as our Yearbook.

Entering thousands of open-pollinated plants into a publicly accessible database each year requires hundreds of hours of staff time. From September to January, SSE staff is busy pouring through lists of tomatoes, beans, squash, peppers, potatoes, watermelons, rutabagas, apples, peaches, kiwis, sunflowers, hops, hollyhocks and zinnias (and at least 200 other plant types). When these lists are entered, we have about a week to proof 500 pages of nearly 20,000 offerings.

Since 1975, the Seed Savers Exchange has been connecting our members to one another through the annual Yearbook. All SSE members can participate in the seed exchange by requesting seeds (there are 13,000+ different varieties to choose from), offering seeds, or both.

It is never too late to offer seeds; although the 2014 Yearbook is already being printed and shipped, the Online Seed Exchange is always open to new members and new seeds.

The Seed Savers Exchange is one of the most resilient tools for preserving rare garden varieties. As a member, you have the opportunity to contribute to the seed exchange by growing your favorite fruits and vegetables, saving seeds, and sharing those seeds with others.

To browse the exchange online, learn how to save your own seeds, request rare varieties, or to offer seeds yourself, visit exchange.seedsavers.org. Membership is required to log in, but educational resources are open to everyone. If you’d like to be a part of the exchange and receive the-500 page Yearbook, join SSE today.

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Seed Savers Exchange is a non-profit organization located in Decorah, Iowa, with a mission to conserve and promote America's culturally diverse but endangered garden and food crop heritage for future generations by collecting, growing, and sharing heirloom seeds and plants.

Healthy Food Systems with Dan Carmody

This year's Harvest Festival was filled with presentations and workshops from SSE staff as well as two guest speakers presenting as part of our Harvest Lecture Series. Dan Carmody, president of the Detroit Eastern Market, spoke in the final hour of the event, describing the history and future of Detroit, the market, and the larger narrative of regionally-based food systems. Dan's presentation discusses issues with current food systems (energy use, nutrition, subsidies, distribution) as well as strategies for reform. Using the Eastern Market as an example, he describes the potential for local food systems to bring about transformative economic, social, and ecological change - particularly in urban areas.

The audio below contains the entirety of Dan's lecture: from Detroit's long decline to its recent rebirth; from the surging community gardening movement to the rebuilding of a local food processing infrastructure.

The Great Famine, Green Acres and Detroit

[audio: http://blog.seedsavers.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/dc01greenacresanddetroit.mp3]

An Effect Greater Than Carpet Bombing

[audio: http://blog.seedsavers.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/dc02aneffectgreaterthancarpetbombing.mp3]

This Narrative of Rebirth and Detroit Eastern Market

[audio: http://blog.seedsavers.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/dc03thisnarrativeofrebirth.mp3]

Offering Food and Conviviality, Food Systems and Energy

[audio: http://blog.seedsavers.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/dc04sellingfoodandconviviality.mp3]

A Host of Problems, Favorite Dichotomies and Local Food Production

[audio: http://blog.seedsavers.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/dc05ahostofproblems.mp3]

Department of Defense and Rebuilding a Regional-Based Food System

[audio: http://blog.seedsavers.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/dc06rebuildingregionalfoodsystems.mp3]

The Community Gardening Movement and Our Future Food Systems (Excluding Underwater Cities of Tomorrow)

[audio: http://blog.seedsavers.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/dc07ourfuturefoodsystems.mp3]

Eastern Market Capital Plan, Pickles and Custard Pie

[audio: http://blog.seedsavers.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/dc08ourcapitalplan.mp3]

$20 Million Worth of Meat and Pieces of the Food System

[audio: http://blog.seedsavers.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/dc09piecesofthefoodsystem.mp3]

Graffiti, Bloody-Run Creek, Food Access and Engagement

[audio: http://blog.seedsavers.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/dc10graffitiandfoodaccess.mp3]

This Country Deserves More Than Two Hams and How We Feed Cities

[audio: http://blog.seedsavers.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/dc11howwefeedcities.mp3]

Food and Local Economies, Craft Beer and Furgency

[audio: http://blog.seedsavers.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/dc12foodandlocaleconomies.mp3]

Lectures were supported by a grant from the Leopold Center for Sustainable Agriculture

Seed Savers Exchange Member Profile - Russ Crow (IL CR R)

Each year, hundreds of gardeners from all corners of the world share heirloom vegetable and fruit varieties they’ve collected from their own backyards.

Within Seed Savers Exchange they’re known as Listed Members, the core of our seed exchange and the source of more than 10,000 varieties that are listed in our annual Yearbook. To other SSE members, they’re often known individually by their listed member code (IL CR R).

Each month, we’ll be profiling one of our listed members in order to give our audience a closer look at some of the individuals responsible for preserving America’s endangered garden heritage.

I had the opportunity to interview Russ Crow in the spring of 2012. Russ was a part of Seed Savers Exchange back when the organization was just getting started in the mid-1970’s. Though he took a break from gardening in the 90s, Russ has since returned to one of his horticultural passions—beans—and currently serves as an important informational resource to our seed historian.

The following audio clips describe Russ’s discovery and subsequent stabilization of a new bean variety discovered in his garden in 1977, as well as his initial forays into seed saving and the reason he continues saving seeds himself.

Blue Jay bean (Russ Crow audio) [audio: http://blog.seedsavers.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/russcrowbluejay.mp3|titles=Russ Crow - Blue Jay Bean]

How I Started Saving Seeds (Russ Crow audio) [audio: http://blog.seedsavers.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/08/russcrowhowistartedseedsaving.mp3|titles=Russ Crow - How I Started Saving Seeds]

To learn how to access the largest heirloom seed catalog in the world and browse over 12,000 listings from Russ and hundreds of other members, visit seedsavers.org.