Gary Paul Nabhan Speaks at Seed Savers Exchange

At this year's 33rd Annual Conference and Campout, Seed Savers Exchange (SSE) was more than happy to welcome back a long-time friend, Gary Paul Nabhan. Gary has been a supporter of Seed Savers Exchange going back to before 1980, and has since appeared at numerous SSE Conference and Campouts. Having recently published a book titled "Growing Food in a Hotter, Drier Land," he spoke this year about climate uncertainty becoming the new normal and the importance of adapting our food systems to a changing climate. Stressing the importance of agrobiodiversity in mitigating the effects of climate change, the Ecumenical Franciscan brother led Conference attendees in a renewal of their vows—to seeds. Repeating after him, the crowd recited:

I, (name), a gardener, farmer, seed saver, and eater,

wish to renew our sacred vows

to take care, love and serve,

the astonishing diversity of life on this earth.

Through sickness and in health ("I bet you knew that line," Gary laughed),

in times of crisis and times of joy,

to sow the seeds of food justice,

to sow the seeds of food security,

to sow the seeds of food democracy,

to sow the seeds of true food sovereignty,

through our own actions and our own eating patterns

so that we may all eat what we have truly sown.

I reaffirm our covenant with this earth,

to humbly be one more way that seeds themselves regenerate into more seeds to nourish all of us.

View the video of Gary Paul Nabhan's keynote address at the 2013 Conference and Campout:

Check out Gary's website here, and his recent article in the New York Times here.

Stop back to our blog in the coming weeks for more coverage of this year's Conference, as well as the Harvest Edition of the Heritage Farm Companion coming out this Autumn.

Seed Savers Exchange is a non-profit, 501(c)(3), member supported organization that saves and shares the heirloom seeds of our garden heritage, forming a living legacy that can be passed down through generations. Our mission is 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.

2013 Conference and Campout Slideshow

With nearly 400 attendees from across the U.S. and beyond, the 33rd Annual Seed Savers Exchange Conference and Campout was a huge success. Seed Savers Exchange (SSE) members are passionate about what they do, and events like this are important for networking, seed swapping, and sharing knowledge. The conference also introduced new seed savers and gardeners to resources, information, and gave many the inspiration to get started.

For the first time ever, Seed Savers Exchange held a Member Field Day on Friday before the conference started. Over 150 members were given behind-the-scenes tours and discussed possibilities for future member engagements with SSE staff and board members. It was a wonderfully productive day that is sure to become a fixture at future SSE Conferences.

Another highlight from the Conference was the distribution of former SSE member Mary Ann Fox's bean collection. SSE inherited Mary Ann's enormous seed collection after her passing in February, and successfully distributed the entire collection to seed savers at the Conference who were eager to carry on her legacy. Read about Mary Ann Fox in our blog and in Modern Farmer Magazine, and look to the Harvest edition of our membership publication, The Heritage Farm Companion, for in-depth coverage of both the member field day and the distribution of Mary Ann's bean collection.

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Click here to read about the 2014 Conference and Campout set for July 18-20, 2014

Check back on our blog to see more coverage of the 2013 Conference and Campout. Now posted: Gary Paul Nabhan's keynote address!

Located six miles north of Decorah, Seed Savers Exchange is a non-profit membership organization dedicated to the preservation and distribution of heirloom seeds.  Seed Savers maintains a collection of thousands of open pollinated varieties, making it one of the largest non-governmental seed banks in the United States.  For more information, go to seedsavers.org

Mary Ann Fox: Legacy of a Seed Saver

In my role as an inventory technician for the Preservation Collection at Heritage Farm, I encounter the mundane and meaningful in almost equal parts. There’s no reliable rhythm to it. Some days are complete numbers-data tedium, while others are full of gratifying meaning.

My work over the past few weeks has been leaning heavily (in a good way) toward the gratifyingly meaningful. We have in just the past week received at Heritage Farm a large seed collection comprising just over two hundred bean varieties. This collection came to us from Mary Ann Fox, longtime listed member of Seed Savers Exchange from Shelbyville, Indiana, who died this past February at the age of 71. Mary Ann’s relatives, realizing the worth and importance of the collection and having to confront its monumental scope, were especially anxious to identify someone who could not only take the mass of seed off their hands, but who could also find eager stewards of Mary Ann’s seed-saving legacy.

Enter Jim Kelly, SSE member and friend to Mary Ann. Not only did Jim find a temporary storage location for the collection and move the countless plastic seed-filled bottles to the location, he also began imagining ways in which the collection could be shared among seed savers. Eventually Jim contacted Heritage Farm to find out if there were a way the staff here could collaborate and assist. Together, we came up with a plan to distribute Mary Ann’s seed collection at the Seed Savers Exchange 2013 Conference and Campout.

An important step in preparing the collection for distribution is a thorough inventory and labeling of each seed sample. This has been my task over the past few days and will likely take another few days to complete. While the work may seem tedious and mundane to the outside observer, handling these artifacts of Mary Ann’s legacy—noting the care with which she filed and labeled each variety—is a profoundly meaningful “chore.”

Would you like to celebrate and honor Mary Ann’s seed-saving legacy right in your own garden? Will you be attending the July 2013 Conference and Campout? Look for the tent with racks of beautiful bean seeds in clear plastic bottles. I’ll be there with a collection catalog to help you choose the two or three (or four or more!) varieties that you want to take home to your garden. Or just come by to meet and talk with me and other seed savers. There will be great conversations about the ways in which we have all benefited from past seed savers, and you might even be inspired to get more actively involved in seed saving yourself. See you there!

2013 Conference Preview: Evaluating Heritage Poultry

Jeannette Beranger and Alison Martin will be at the 2013 Seed Savers Exchange Conference and Campout representing the American Livestock Breeds Conservancy. They will be teaching a workshop titled Evaluating a Poultry Flock for Breeding. We asked them to fill us in on what to expect from their workshop.

Backyard Chickens Are Back!

By Alison Martin, American Livestock Breeds Conservancy

Look around you: more than ever, chickens are showing up in back yards or being incorporated into sustainable farms.  No matter the size of your flock, a question that comes up each year is “which of these chickens should I keep as breeders for next year?”  Our workshop, Evaluating a Poultry Flock for Breeding, will give you the hands-on skills and knowledge to make those decisions.

For those of you who don’t know us, the American Livestock Breeds Conservancy (ALBC) works with farmers to conserve heritage breeds of livestock and poultry.  Like heirloom plants, America has lost many of the breeds that were important in times past.  In fact, in 1976 organizers of a Bicentennial celebration at Old Sturbridge Village in New England had trouble finding animals that would have been on the farm in 1776.  The more they thought about it, the more this bothered them, and together with concerned breeders and scientists, they formed the (then) American Minor Breeds Conservancy.  In the 36 years since, we haven’t lost a breed!

Unlike Seed Savers Exchange, ALBC doesn’t sell animals.  For one thing, they’re harder to gather and store than seeds!  We do facilitate participatory conservation.  Like Seed Savers Exchange, we help breeders network with each other so they can share and exchange breeding stock and best practices.  Our Master Breeder project documents the wisdom of long-time breeders, and passes that along to new breeders.  We have restored productivity to breeds that have been neglected, and brought other breeds back from the brink of extinction.  All this and more conserves agricultural biodiversity and maintains options for farming.

The time is right for heritage poultry and livestock.  Many have regional adaptations and history that fit right in with the local foods movement.  Farmers are discovering that their hardiness and thrift make them a wonderful fit for small farms, and consumers who care where their food comes from are discovering the benefits of rich and diverse flavors.  And heritage animals complement heirloom seeds well, as you’ve probably seen at Heritage Farm.

Jeannette and I are excited about our first visit to the SSE Conference and Campout.  We want to meet with you and hear about your homesteads.  And we want to share our experience – between us we have more than 50 years experience with poultry!  This year we helped Seed Savers Exchange source some excellent Buckeye chickens, and that’s what we’ll be evaluating in the workshop.  The birds selected as breeders will be banded, and at the end of the season they will go to the winner of the Mother Earth News Heritage Chicken Giveaway!

If you would like to learn more about Buckeye chickens, chicken assessment, or ALBC, check us out online at www.albc-usa.org.  See you in Decorah!

Thoughts from Jeremy Cherfas

As the 2013 Seed Savers Exchange Conference and Campout approaches, featured speaker Jeremy Cherfas took the time to give us a preview of what to expect from his talk.

Is Everything Not Permitted Still Forbidden?

By Jeremy Cherfas

The European Union’s current seed laws operate from a fundamentally strange foundation: everything not permitted is forbidden. In other words, if a seed variety is not registered on the Common Catalogue, it cannot be marketed. And marketing covers giving seeds away and swapping them. The new proposals do not change this fundamental principle. Instead, they expand somewhat the list of things that are permitted. Gardeners, for example, can now swap seeds.

These new proposals have provoked an outcry, especially among people who weren’t familiar with the existing regime. People have also rejected the whole notion of rules and regulations concerning seeds. As one person commented on my website, “Also, WHY would you NEED regulation for seeds?”.

Because seeds are fundamentally different from other goods one can buy and sell (except possibly computer software and 3D printers). As Jack Kloppenburg [editors note: Kloppenburg will also speak at SSE's 2013 Conference] has pointed out, they are both the product **and** the means of production. That is, you can eat a seed — possibly inside a fruit such as a tomato — or you can use it to produce more seeds. Furthermore, there is nothing visible on the outside of the seed that gives a clue as to the genes inside, and it is the genes inside that growers are actually interested in, because they determine the final product. As a result seeds have been subject to all sorts of sharp practices over the years.

We need regulations to protect people from fraud, to ensure that when you get seeds of a specific variety, they are what they say they are and that, given the right treatment, they will germinate. These conditions can be taken care of by existing legislation. In England, for example, we have the Sale of Goods Act, first passed in 1893, which says that things must be fit for purpose and of satisfactory quality, with tests for both.

Some seeds need more protection. Commercial farmers, for example, may want varieties bred for their specific needs. Seed companies exist to meet those needs (although some would say they also create many of the needs they meet) and they’re not going to invest in research and development to create a new variety unless they can be reasonably sure that they will get their money back, with a profit. That’s one reason why commercial breeders really like F1 hybrids, because they don’t breed true, and therefore growers who don’t want to get into breeding for themselves have no choice but to buy new seeds each season. F1 hybrids break the link between seed as product and seed as means of production. It is also why commercial breeders have lobbied long and hard for additional forms of protection, such as plant breeders' rights and plant patents.

More power to them, I say. If a grower is convinced that the extra cost of those highly-regulated seeds is worthwhile, why shouldn’t they have the freedom to buy them? But the reverse is also true. If I want to grow a different variety which, for one reason or another, doesn’t even try to meet the standards for additional regulation and protection, why should I not be equally free to make my choice? Of course there’s a risk that the seeds aren’t what they claim to be, or will fail to germinate, but I know that, and I know that existing laws might help me get redress if I really think that’s what I want.

Around the world, that’s possible. There are seed registration schemes, but there is also freedom not to take advantage of registered seeds. Except in Europe where, even if the new proposals are accepted without changes, everything not permitted will still be forbidden.

View the Conference website for more information on speakers, workshops, and activities planned for the July 19-21 weekend.

Our mission is to conserve and promote America’s culturally diverse but endangered food crop heritage for future generations by collecting, growing, and sharing heirloom seeds and plants. Visit seedsavers.org

Talking Trees Installation at Heritage Farm

Talking Trees is an outdoor sound installation created by Brooke Joyce and Harvey Sollberger.

Talking Trees began as a casual, post-concert conversation between composers Brooke Joyce and Harvey Sollberger in 2009. A shared interest in making music in non-traditional venues was discovered, as well as a love for nature and the wonderful landscape of northeast Iowa. Four years later, we are excited to share the fruits of our labor at the beautiful Seed Savers Heritage Farm.

Our goal is to provide visitors with a sensory experience that compliments rather than overwhelms the natural soundscape. As you walk the southern side of the Valley Trail, you will encounter four large, metal tripods, designed and built by Kelly Ludeking, which contain four small speakers. You’ll hear sounds that were recorded at Seed Savers last May. Each tripod features a single sonic theme:

I. Water

A stream runs parallel to most of the Valley Trail. You’ll hear sounds from this water source, along with raindrops and wind chimes. As the day progresses, the sounds become more resonant and reverberant.

II. Birds

Many varieties of songbirds make their home at Seed Savers. Several are featured in this part of the installation. The bird calls become less frequent and more resonant as the day progresses.

III. Frogs

Elsewhere on the farm are areas favored by frogs, captured here in the twilight hours. As dawn moves to dusk, the frog sounds become more reverberant, spacious, and sustained.

IV. Insects

In particular, chirping crickets and buzzing flies. As time passes, the buzzing becomes more sustained, and we begin to hear a more defined pitch center.

We invite you to wander and linger as you like. Begin by making your way to the Valley Trail, and take the right fork when it branches. The distance from the parking lot to the end of the installation is approximately 1.25 miles and takes about 25 minutes to walk (without stopping).

Throughout the month of May the installation will run every day from 9 a.m. – 7 p.m., rain or shine. If you visit at different times of day, you’ll experience different sounds, as each station in the installation goes through a transformation throughout the 10-hour cycle.

Please share your thoughts, either by writing on the notebook outside the visitors center, or by visiting brookejoyce.com and clicking on “Talking Trees.”

Coinciding with this art installation is an additional exhibit at Heritage Farm, titled "Grassfed." Both art exhibits kick-off on May 4th, accompanied by a rare plant sale from the preservation collection at Seed Savers Exchange. Read about "Grassfed" and the rare plant sale here.

Structural Design by Kelly Ludeking, technical assistance from Bruce Larson (electronics), Dennis Pottratz (solar panel) and Steve Smith (programming).  Technical Information:

• Sound Device: Raspberry Pi, running Linux
• Software: Pure Data
• Solar Panel: SunWize 55W
• Battery: Dura-Start Deep Cycle Marine Battery
• Speakers: Pyle PLMCA20 Motorcycle Speakers

Funding:

• Iowa Arts Council
• Luther College

Special Thanks:

Hugh Livingston, Benji Nichols, Brandon Schmidt and Dan Trueman

The Lillian Goldman Visitors Center at Seed Savers Exchange is open Monday through Friday 9 a.m. - 5 p.m. and Weekends 10 a.m. - 5 p.m. Directions here.

Join the Facebook event here!

Slow Food, Slow Money... Slow Seeds

Over the past several months I’ve identified with the Johnny Cash song, “I’ve Been Everywhere.” I’ve been speaking at seed guilds, seed libraries, seed banks, seed rallies, seed conferences and seed classes. But my audience hasn’t been limited to only seed enthusiasts and gardeners. I’ve found myself helping to restore the neglected bridge between seeds and food, culture, and society. Recently I returned from speaking in Pennsylvania at a Slow Food Harrisburg Farm-to-Table dinner. For many Seed Savers Exchange supporters, the connection between Slow Food and heirloom seeds is clear. We need to preserve our food crop heritage for future generations, and seeds are a vital aspect of this task. You can see all the wonderful SSE seed varieties nominated to Slow Food’s Ark of Taste here.

Soon I’ll be leaving for Boulder, Colorado to speak at the Slow Money National Gathering. Slow Money describes itself as a new kind of investing concentrated on replacing an economy based on extraction and consumption with an economy based on preservation and restoration. Our mission at Seed Savers Exchange is similarly focused on preservation and restoration. Slow Money founder Woody Tasch explains: "For someone who knows what diversity means, knows how important it is, this is a form of economic diversity... Taking those same principles and not just doing it with your seeds, but doing it with where your capital is going, where your money is being invested."

From Slow Food to Slow Money, slow seeds may indeed be the critical link that holds this and so much more together in our world.

Our mission is to conserve and promote America's culturally diverse but endangered food crop heritage for future generations by collecting, growing, and sharing heirloom seeds and plants. www.seedsavers.org

Cow Art. Talking Trees. Rare Plants.

Seed Savers Exchange will host two month-long outdoor art exhibits at Heritage Farm beginning in May.

•  “Grassfed,” by artist Valerie Miller of Steel Cow studio in Waukon, Iowa, features larger than life outdoor portraits of the Ancient White Park Cattle living at Heritage Farm.
• “Talking Trees,” a sound installation by Brooke Joyce from Luther College in Decorah, mixes the sounds of nature with composed music.

Both exhibits will run concurrently through May and are free to the public. These events will premiere on Saturday, May 4, 2013 (10 a.m. - 5 p.m.).  In conjunction with the exhibit opening, Seed Savers Exchange will be offering unique vegetable transplants from the preservation seed bank for sale to the public, on May 4 only. Local chef Justin Scardina from La Rana Bistro will be on site preparing food that day.

Rare Plants

The preservation plant sale, which will consist of hard to find vegetable varieties, will include staff favorites like the deep maroon amaranth ‘Kerala Red,’ a nearly black lettuce ‘Revolution-Evolution,’ a classic mustard known as ‘Myers’ Family Heirloom, and the relentlessly fruitful tomato ‘Tiny Tim Yellow.’  Transplants will be sold for $3 for 3 inch pots, and $4 for 4-packs, available in limited quantities.  SSE staff will also be on hand during the event to answer gardening and seed saving questions.

Cow Art

“Grassfed” is an outdoor exhibition of larger than life canvases by Waukon artist Valerie Miller of Steel Cow Gallery. The exhibit shows Valerie's Ancient White Park 'girls' and 12 of their closest bovine friends. Walk along the trails to view these jumbo prints placed in the pastures at SSE's Heritage Farm. The Ancient White Park cattle, a threatened heritage breed, roamed the British Isles over 2,000 years ago.

Kids of all ages are invited to help Valerie paint an outdoor mural on May 4th.

What is Steel Cow? With a camera around her neck and sketch pad in hand, Valerie Miller stomps around fields and farms all over the world searching out the perfect cows to become one of "the girls” in the Steel Cow collection. Each has her own whimsy, wit and personality, and is branded with either their farm given name or the names of family and friends.  The end result is an image that has the spirit and sweetness of each cow rarely seen by anybody other than the farmer.

Talking Trees

The Iowa Arts Council has awarded a major grant to Luther College associate professor of music Brooke Joyce.  Professor Joyce is using the money to create an outdoor sound installation at Seed Savers Exchange in Decorah.

On May 4^th, and throughout the month of May, all ages will be invited to travel to Seed Savers Exchange to experience the outdoor sound installation, "Talking Trees," in which the sounds of nature mingle with music created by composers Brooke Joyce and University of California-San Diego composer-in residence Harvey Sollberger.

The project will provide a walk through the forest that mixes composed music with the natural sounds like rushing water and birds chirping. The type of music and sounds being played will vary according to the time of day and atmospheric conditions.

There will be four or five canopies placed along a trail at Seed Savers Exchange, each equipped with four speakers.  Joyce and Sollberger will power these canopies with solar panels and battery energy.

Both “Grassfed” and “Talking Trees” will be on display at Seed Savers Exchange throughout the month of May.  The Lillian Goldman Visitors Center is open Monday through Friday 9 a.m. - 5 p.m. and Weekends 10 a.m. - 5 p.m. Directions here.

View, print, and share the May 4 Event Poster.

For more information, contact: Shannon Carmody Seed Savers Exchange shannon@seedsavers.org 563-387-5630

To schedule interviews with the artists or SSE staff, contact: Steve Carlson Seed Savers Exchange steve@seedsavers.org 563-387-5686

Located six miles north of Decorah, Seed Savers Exchange is a non-profit membership organization dedicated to the preservation and distribution of heirloom seeds.  Seed Savers maintains a collection of thousands of open pollinated varieties, making it one of the largest non-governmental seed banks in the United States.  For more information, go to seedsavers.org

Apple Grafting to Preserve Diversity

“This apple comes from an old tree at my grandmother’s home, and it is the best apple I have ever tasted.” We hear this story a lot around here, and usually, the story ends like this: “Now the tree is dying, and nobody in the family remembers what variety it is.”

Well, there is only one thing to do, graft! Apples are propagated by grafting a part of the old tree, called scionwood, onto a new rootstock. Grafting is necessary because apple seed produces offspring unlike the parent plant. This propagation technique allows you to determine how large the tree will eventually grow – choose dwarfing rootstocks for a small backyard or a large pot on a patio, or graft onto a standard rootstock to grow a full-sized tree that will survive generations.

Join us and learn this ancient skill by attending one of SSE’s bench grafting workshops held on April 5 and April 12, 2014 (editors note: registration is now closed). Attendees will go home with three heritage apple varieties and the skills to start their own orchard. Workshops are led by Seed Savers Exchange orchard manager and apple historian Dan Bussey, who is nearing completion of his book documenting all of the named apple varieties grown in North America since the 1600s.

Listen to Dan Bussey's talk, "Our Apple Heritage," here.

View a short video introduction to apple grafting from Dan:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=37KdQHL9koo[/youtube]

View a past SSE webinar on apple grafting here:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mujxy4MG8wA[/youtube]

Remembering Tom Knoche

Tom Knoche (OH KN T), 1938-2013

Sardinia, OH

By Diane Ott Whealy

Kent and I first met Tom and Sue Knoche in 1981 when they attended the first Seed Savers Exchange campout in Princeton, Missouri. I recall how the first thing Tom said after giving affectionate hugs was, "I drove over 650 miles to get here! I have never met anyone in my life that I could talk to about my collection of seed. I always gardened with my granny and we saved seeds. No one else ever understood or shared my excitement."

Tom once said, "My grandma is going on eighty-nine years old, and she's said all her life that no bean was worth eating unless you had to string it first. A lot of the old folks say that about the string beans."

Tom was known as "the squash collector." When asked about his squash collection in the early 1980s, Tom said, "The squash that I've collected and that I'm the most concerned about are the large-fruited ones. These types are dying out so fast that there is no way they're going to be preserved if somebody doesn't take an interest in them. People want the little tiny handy size. Nobody wants to raise the large family sized types anymore. If I were to take some of my precious squash to our County Fair, there'd be no place for them. They have everything so categorized that if mine isn't a Hubbard or a Butternut or a Bush Scallop, there's no place for them. That's how bad things have gotten. And how on earth are young people ever going to know that there's anything different? I went to the State Fair for several years and tried to acquire seed from some of the growers. But there's so little interest that they don't even bother anymore to put the names of the growers on the specimens at the State Fair."

Tom and Sue were early members who truly loved Seed Savers Exchange. We cherish their spirit, enthusiasm and expertise that gave SSE the courage to move forward with our mission over 35 years ago, a time when no one else was noticing. John Swenson, another long time member, once had a wonderful description of those who have joined us over the years. "Of those who have contributed over the years," he said, "they become one of the sparkles on a gem." We will miss Tom's stories, but his spirit and seeds are very much alive in our organization. There is one sparkle on that gem that shines brighter today.

Over three decades ago Kent and I wanted to meet our early members to hear their voices. The last time I saw Tom was at the Seed Savers Exchange 2011 Campout. I am somewhat comforted knowing we recorded his voice and stories to be heard again by the new members of Seed Savers Exchange. Are there stories in your life that need to be recorded?

Tom Knoche speaking at the 2011 SSE Conference (part 1)

[audio: http://blog.seedsavers.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/knochepart1.mp3]

Tom Knoche speaking at the 2011 SSE Conference (part 2)

[audio: http://blog.seedsavers.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/knochepart2.mp3]

"I may not be a very big grower anymore, but I am thankful that I could contribute to the ongoing success of the Seed Savers Exchange."