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