Learning in action at Heritage Farm

Luther College students (left to right) Shaubhagya Khadka, Jill Richards, Elsa Thonn, Laura Duffield, and Brandon Heilskov spent their January term at Heritage Farm gaining hands-on experience in seed preservation, storage, and dissemination.

Seed Savers Exchange’s Heritage Farm headquarters is just a quick, five-mile jaunt down US 52 from Luther College in Decorah, Iowa. And this past January, five inquisitive Luther students took advantage of that proximity to spend more than three weeks immersed in the work of saving and sharing open-pollinated seeds.

The quintet included Laura Duffield, a junior biology and environmental studies major; Brandon Heilkov, a senior business major; Shaubhagya Khadka, a senior biology major; Jill Richards, a sophomore biology major; and Elsa Thonn, a junior environmental studies major. Brandon pitched in with seed sales, while Laura, Shaubhagya, Jill, and Elsa spent their days working alongside Preservation team members. All had the opportunity to see up close the important role SSE plays in preserving our agricultural heritage for future generations.

“The main focus of my internship was to gain a better understanding of Seed Savers Exchange and help with any ongoing projects in the Preservation department,” says Jill, noting that her work evaluating seeds and researching historic commercial garden varieties helped her “connect concepts I’ve learned in biology courses to the work the Preservation team is doing, specifically preserving and maintaining biological and genetic diversity.”

Jill Richards checks dimensions of an open-pollinated bean variety.

Elsa, meanwhile, researched seed histories, evaluated and packaged seeds, and performed germination tests. “What I took away from my internship how important it is to not only save seeds but also preserve the history and stories behind the seed donations,” she says. “I learned that Seed Savers is both a seed bank and a museum of sorts. I also learned that when people are passionate about their work, they are very willing to explain what they do and welcome as many questions as one can ask.” 

For Shaubhagya, who worked with Preservation team members to test the germination rates and moisture content of the seeds in the collection, the internship provided the opportunity to see firsthand how SSE collects and stores rare and open-pollinated seeds. “I also learned that, along with the people who work at the Seed Savers Exchange, the seed donors and the volunteers help this organization to function and thrive,” he says. “From a biological standpoint, I discovered that the positive effects of increasing crop and garden biodiversity include increased farmland biodiversity, improved pollination rates, better disease resistance, and decreased need for fertilizers, pesticides, and irrigation.”

Shaubhagya Khadka collects data on seed size.

Across a gravel path in the SSE Seed House, Brandon picked and packed seeds mailed across the United States and prepared a competition-comparison analysis. “I researched Seed Savers Exchange’s wholesale seed competitors to learn about different pricing models and how seeds are priced differently depending on how they are being sold,” he says. “It was a very hands-on, very rewarding experience.”

Of course, as Jill points out, no intern experience at SSE would be complete without enjoying (and analyzing!) food produced by the seeds the organization stewards: “One morning, Steffen [Mirsky, evaluation and trials manager] cooked up nearly two dozen varieties of lima beans and cowpeas, and, with the Preservation staff, we spent part of the late morning sampling little morsels and scribbling down descriptors such as ‘creamy’ and ‘starchy’ like amateur legume sommeliers!”