Seed Savers Exchange featured on Public Television

Market to Market Features Seed Savers Exchange

(Johnston, Iowa)  -- Market to Market, the weekly journal of rural America, will include a story about Seed Savers Exchange and the River Root Farm in its October 26, 2012 edition of the series.

The story features Decorah, Iowa-based Seed Savers Exchange, a nonprofit seed bank that maintains thousands of heirloom vegetables, herbs, flowers, and plants. One of the nation’s largest non-governmental seed banks, Seed Savers Exchange carries heirloom varieties that have been passed down through generations of farmers and gardeners. These varieties are valued for their genetic diversity and adaptability to pressures such as climate change.

Seed Savers Exchange seeks to preserve and share agricultural heritage with its membership and the public. The Millennium Seed Bank Partnership estimates that about 25 percent of all plants are in danger of becoming extinct.

“We believe strongly that given the changes that are occurring with weather and climate, regional differences, that it’s really important that all seeds be maintained for future generations,” said John Torgrimson, president and executive director of Seed Savers Exchange. “A hundred years from now we might not know what seeds in our seed bank are best adaptable to the conditions that might exist…here in Decorah, Iowa.”

Market to Market also talked to Mike Bollinger and Katie Prochaska of the River Root Farm, a diversified vegetable and seed farm located near Decorah. River Root Farm grows garlic with seed stock from Seed Savers, and provides the organization with garlic for retail sale.

Market to Market is produced by Iowa Public Television and broadcast in 20 states on more than 114 public television stations. Hosted by Mike Pearson, Market to Market covers the $100+ billion business of food, and issues affecting the 56 million residents of rural America.

In Iowa, Market to Market can be seen at 8:30 p.m. Friday, October 26, and again at 1 p.m. on Sunday, October 28. This week’s broadcast times reflect a temporary schedule change due to political coverage on IPTV.

Market to Market can also be seen online beginning Friday evening at www.iptv.org/mtom. Additional analysis from Market to Market experts is also available on this website.

For more information about Market to Market, contact Iowa Public Television at 515-242-3146.

Information on programming channels, reception, and more can be found at www.iptv.org.

Antique apple varieties on display at Seed Savers Exchange’s Harvest Festival

If you love apples, then you won’t want to miss the Harvest Festival at Seed Savers Exchange on Saturday, October 13, 10:00 am – 4:00 pm. Come learn that there is more to American apple diversity than Red Delicious and all her modern cousins.

Bring your seeds saved from this year’s harvest for the seed swap. Sample antique apple varieties and vote in the Harvest Soup Cook-off featuring area chefs from La Rana, McCaffrey’s Dolce Vita, Oneota Community Food Cooperative, and QUARTER/quarter.

Other events taking place at the Seed Savers Exchange Harvest Festival—tours, seed swap, apple pressing, and hayrides—begin at noon.  Children’s activities—squash squisher, pumpkin carving & seed saving, seed packet making and collecting, pillow sack threshing, and a garden scavenger hunt—will be happening all day.

Harvest Lecture Series

This year Seed Savers Exchange presents several lectures, including two speakers who are devoted to using healthy food as a tool for developing communities. 

• 10:00am Seed Savers Exchange—“Seed Processing.” Learn how to process seeds and prepare them for storage.
• 11:00am Seed Savers Exchange—“Seed Stories.” Hear the stories and learn how some of our favorite varieties came to be. Seed Savers Exchange launched the Collection Origins Research Effort (CORE), a massive sleuthing effort to collect and record complete histories of thousands of varieties.
• 12:00pm Seed Savers Exchange—“Hard Cider Making.”  Learn various ways hard cider can be made.
• 1:00pm Emily Torgrimson—“Sponsoring community meals to support charitable organizations.”  Torgrimson is founder of Eat for Equity, a non-profit that stages community meals and uses the donations to fund the work of charitable organizations. Featured on the TODAY Show, Eat for Equity has branches in Minneapolis, Boston, Portland, Washington D.C. and Phoenix.
• 3:00 pm Dan Carmody—"Developing Regional Food Systems." Carmody is the President of the Eastern Market Corporation, Detroit, Michigan, where he leads the non-profit charged with converting one of the nation’s oldest and largest public markets into the nation’s most comprehensive healthy metropolitan food hub.

Seed Saving Workshop

For the garden enthusiast, a full-day workshop on the fundamentals of seed saving will be held on Sunday, October 14, from 10:00 am - 4:00 pm. This includes an introduction to seed saving, saving biennials, wet and dry processing and storing seeds. Participants will get hands-on seed saving experience. Preregistration is required. Cost is $40 and includes a box lunch (Seed Savers Exchange members receive a 10% discount). Register here.

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 Exchange maintains a collection of thousands of open pollinated varieties, making it one of the largest non-governmental seed banks in the United States.  For information visit www.seedsavers.org.

For more information contact:

Shannon Carmody Seed Savers Exchange shannon@seedsavers.org 563-387-5630

Tomato Tasting and Seed Saving Workshop

Seed Savers Exchange near Decorah, Iowa, is hosting a free Tomato Tasting and Seed Saving Workshop on Saturday, September 1, 2012. The Tomato Tasting will run from 1:00 – 4:00 pm, offering visitors the opportunity to sample a wide variety of heirloom tomatoes and learn how to save tomato seeds.

The event will be held at the Lillian Goldman Visitors Center. More than 40 varieties of tomatoes of all colors and sizes will be available, including yellow cherry, pink beefsteak, striped stuffing, red grape and green roma’s. This year’s tasting will include 10 rare varieties from Seed Savers Exchange’s seed bank collection. Last year, Dester, a beefsteak tomato from the rare varieties was voted most popular.

The Oneota Food Co-op in Decorah is sponsoring this year’s Salsa Contest. Limited to 25 entrants, applications are available at the Co-op, by calling 563-382-4666, and online at www.oneotacoop.com. The registration deadline is Monday, August 27. The co-op will also be providing food for purchase during the event.

There will be tomato seed saving workshops beginning at 12:00 noon featuring Seed Savers Exchange staff as well as tomato advisor and expert Craig LeHoullier. LeHoullier will give two talks, Tasting the Biodiversity of Tomatoes and Tomatoes with Great Stories and Great Flavors. Visitors will be able to tour Seed Savers Exchange’s tomato gardens. Guided hayride tours begin at 12:00 noon and are scheduled for every 45 minutes.

“This family event gives people the opportunity to experience the wide diversity of tomatoes available, and learn how to improve their own gardening experience,” says Diane Ott Whealy, co-founder of Seed Savers Exchange. The event will include music with special activities planned for kids.

All events are free to the public.

Founded in 1975, Seed Savers Exchange operates an 890-acre farm in northeast Iowa where thousands of rare fruit, vegetable, and other plant varieties are regenerated and preserved in a central collection. Its non-profit mission is conserving and promoting America’s culturally diverse but endangered food crop heritage for future generations by collecting, growing, and sharing heirloom seeds and plants. For information visit www.seedsavers.org

For more information contact:

Shannon Carmody Seed Savers Exchange shannon@seedsavers.org 563-387-5630

Seed Savers Exchange announces Harvest Lecture Series

Decorah, Iowa – Seed Savers Exchange, Inc., a leading non-profit organization dedicated to saving and sharing heirloom seeds, announces its Harvest Lecture Series. The series is designed to connect everyday gardeners and eaters with professionals in the food and seed industries. The Harvest Lecture Series is based on the Science Café model of engaging the general public in a casual setting, an atmosphere where everyone joins in. These lectures and discussions are meant to involve people who may not typically have these conversations.

The lecture series, which will take place in the barn loft at historic Heritage Farm near Decorah, feature

• September 7: Dr. Bill Tracy, "Public Plant Breeding and the Role of Land Grant Universities"
• October 13: Dan Carmody, "Developing Regional Food Systems" and Emily Torgrimson, “Eat for Equity: using community meals to support charitable organizations” (rescheduled from August 17)
• October 19: Dan Bussey, "Our Apple Heritage"

Dr. William Tracy, Ph.D., Professor of Agronomy at UW-Madison, is a sweet corn breeder. To improve eating quality and pest resistance, Bill works with corn varieties from around the world. He creates and releases improved populations, inbreds, and hybrids.

Dan Carmody is the President of the Eastern Market Corporation, Detroit, MI, where he leads the non-profit charged with converting one of the nation’s oldest and largest public markets into the nation’s most comprehensive healthy metropolitan food hub.

Carmody will be joined by Emily Torgrimson, founder and Executive Director of Eat for Equity, a non-profit that stages community meals and uses the donations to fund the work of charitable organizations. Featured on the Today Show, Eat for Equity has branches in Minneapolis, Boston, Portland, Washington D.C. and Phoenix.

Dan Bussey is the Orchard Manager at Seed Savers Exchange. Apple historian and orchard keeper, Bussey has written a book on 14,000 apple varieties grown in North America since the 1600s which is scheduled to be published later this year. He owns a four-acre orchard in Wisconsin featuring more than 250 apple varieties.

Each lecture begins at 7:30 pm and costs $10 ($5 in advance). Refreshments will be served by Oneota Food Coop in Decorah beginning at 6:30.  Register here.

Founded in 1975, Seed Savers Exchange operates an 890-acre farm in northeast Iowa where thousands of rare fruit, vegetable, and other plant varieties are regenerated and preserved in a central collection. Its non-profit mission is conserving and promoting America’s culturally diverse but endangered food crop heritage for future generations by collecting, growing, and sharing heirloom seeds and plants. For information visit www.seedsavers.org.

This event is co-sponsored by the Leopold Center.

For more information contact: Shannon Carmody, Public Programs Manager shannon@seedsavers.org 563-387-5630

Illinois gardener to lead Seed Savers Exchange board

Decorah, Iowa – Seed Savers Exchange, Inc., a leading non-profit organization dedicated to saving and sharing heirloom seeds, announces the election of Keith Crotz as chair of its board of directors. The decision was made at the board’s July 19th meeting.

Crotz succeeds Amy P. Goldman, who is stepping down after serving on the board for more than 10 years, half of that time as board chair. Goldman will become a special advisor to the board of directors.

Mr. Crotz, 58, has served on the board of directors since 2008 and has been active in board committees related to finances and publications. He is an agricultural literature historian and rare book dealer and owner of American Botanist Booksellers, which does collection development for colleges, universities and individuals. While on the board, Keith has been instrumental in the development of the rare books collection at Seed Savers Exchange, which includes historic seed catalogs and related ephemera. He lives in Chillicothe, Illinois, and has been a member of Seed Savers Exchange since 1984.

"This change in leadership comes at a time of unprecedented growth at Seed Savers Exchange,” Crotz said, noting that Seed Savers Exchange has more than 13,000 members in all 50 states and 40 countries. “I am proud to be asked by my colleagues to help lead this organization into the next phase of its development.”

Crotz credits Ms. Goldman of Rhinebeck, New York, the author of three books on heirloom varieties, for helping to transform Seed Savers Exchange, saying, “During Amy’s tenure as board chair, SSE doubled its membership, brought focus and professionalism to its operations, and strengthened programs that fulfill its mission.” 

“Seed Savers Exchange is in excellent hands,” Goldman said. “The board and staff have just completed a strategic long range plan and share a common vision for the future. This is the perfect time to transition to new leadership.”

Founded in 1975, Seed Savers Exchange operates an 890-acre farm in northeast Iowa where thousands of rare fruit, vegetable, and other plant varieties are regenerated and preserved in a central collection. Its mission is conserving and promoting America’s culturally diverse but endangered food crop heritage for future generations by collecting, growing, and sharing heirloom seeds and plants. For information visit www.seedsavers.org

For more information contact John Torgrimson, Executive Director john@seedsavers.org 563-387-5631