Over six weeks, we’ll follow the seed-saving process from the botany behind it to the community that keeps it growing:
September 28: The Botany of Seed Saving October 5: Harvesting and Cleaning Seeds—Dry Processing October 12: Harvesting and Cleaning Seeds—Wet Processing October 19: Seed Quality and Storage October 26: Growing and Saving Seed with Regional Experts November 2: Next Steps—Connecting to Community
Classes are live on Zoom on Monday evenings, with time for questions and conversation. Recordings will also be available to registered participants. This course is a Seed Savers Exchange offering, sponsored by the Organic Seed Alliance.
This Seed Savers Exchange course will take place over six weeks. Zoom webinars will be presented live each Monday at 7:00 pm Eastern Time from October 7-November 11. Beginning at 6:30 pm Eastern there will be an optional online Seed Social. Students will also have access to a shared folder with webinar recordings and additional educational content.
This series is intended for beginning seed savers and those looking to expand their seed-saving knowledge to new crops and techniques.
Required text: The class series will be based on The Seed Garden, and students will need a copy of the book to participate.
For questions on this workshop series, please contact events@seedsavers.org, or Seed Savers Exchange customer service at (563) 382-5990. Customer service hours are 9 am – 4 pm Central, Monday through Friday. $60 – $110. To register visit www.seedsavers.org
In 2024, Seed Savers Exchange’s annual conference will take place over the course of four days in four different months. Join us virtually for inspiring keynote speakers, informational workshops, and a chance to connect with the larger seed community. By registering you will have access to all four days of programming, and recordings of any sessions you may have missed. There is no need to register for individual days. The June 10 roster is described below. To register, visit www.seedsavers.org.
The Foodways day begins with a keynote panel with Bonetta Adeeb, Ira Wallace, Hanna Garth, and Vivien Sansour at 11 am Eastern. Then, Anita Thompson will speak on Tracing the Trail of the Scarlet Runner Bean. Scarlet runner beans have graced gardens and fields around the world and are especially well loved in the Southwestern United States for their history, cultural relevance, ease of growth, and colorful seeds and flowers. This session will trace their path from native habitat to current gardens, highlighting their geographic and cultural significance.
At 1 pm, Nikki Rose will lecture on Protecting Heirloom Seeds in Crete, Greece via Education and Outreach. Since 1997, Crete’s Culinary Sanctuaries has spread the word about the necessity of preserving our heirloom seeds and supporting organic farmers, which also helps to preserve safe and delicious local food sources. In this session, the organization’s founder will highlight stories of people in Crete, Greece, striving to protect their cultural, natural, and agricultural heritage, which is all at risk. It will include clips of their documentary, Heritage Protectors, that spotlight heirloom seed savers.
Everyone will enjoy Julia Skinner’s Our Fermented Lives: The Global History of Fermentation, at 2 pm. Fermentation has influenced our lives and diets in many different ways throughout history. This session by the author of the award-winning book Our Fermented Lives explores fermented foods and their intersection with preserving, health, flavor, and community.
Gabriel Bravo follows with a talk on Costa Rican Heirlooms. Costa Rica is well known for its national parks and rich biodiversity. Yet it’s also one of the most heavy pesticide users in the world, with a big agroindustrial influence and worrying genetic erosion. This session will explore the context and important historic, cultural, and culinary aspects of several Costa Rican heirloom varieties; it will also address how a lack of a significant seed-saving culture has made it even more imperative for home gardeners and farmers to rescue and promote these varieties.
The Land is My Relative is presented by Teresa Peterson. Join Dakota gardener, writer, and relative, Teresa Peterson on a seasonal journey of gardening, foraging, storing the harvest, and preparing foods. In this session, she’ll explore how this way of life heals both person and place, provides inspiration calling us to to care for and be a good relative to the land that sustains us, and, if time allows, share a story, poem, or recipe from her new book, Perennial Ceremony: Lessons and Gifts from a Dakota Garden.
More programming for this date will be announced soon.
In 2024, Seed Savers Exchange’s annual conference will take place over the course of four days in four different months. Join us virtually for inspiring keynote speakers, informational workshops, and a chance to connect with the larger seed community. By registering you will have access to all four days of programming, and recordings of any sessions you may have missed. There is no need to register for individual days.
On Friday, May 3, 11:00 am Eastern – From Seed to Community. All it takes is one tiny tomato seed to help build community. In this presentation, Chicago-based writer Megy Karydes reflects on an enriching gardening journey that began during the COVID-19 pandemic. During the first month of lockdown, she stumbled upon a Facebook group offering seeds to neighbors. Those tiny tomato seeds grew more than two dozen plants, but even more importantly, introduced her to one of the most generous communities of friends and mentors. This session will help those interested in building a stronger community connection with neighbors by sharing seeds, seedlings, garden supplies, and more.
Then, join Anita Thompson for Growing an Ancestry Garden – Celebrating Your Personal History with Seeds. An ancestry garden can help gardeners celebrate themselves and their history. This presentation will share tips and techniques to source seed and grow your family history.
Following Anita, Kathy Jentz will celebrate the history of National Seed Swap Day. National Seed Swap Day—held the last Saturday of January since 2006—is a fixture on the calendars of many gardeners and seed savers. Learn about the origins of this celebration from its founder, Kathy Jentz, who will also provide examples of successful seed swaps and offer expert guidance on how to host an impactful seed-swapping event in your community.
At 3:30, Denise Cusack will speak on Using Mutual Aid in Community Seed Network Building. Mutual aid systems can work in communities to provide accessible seeds, grow community, and redistribute resources to create gardens in any neighborhood. This session will explore how one seed-grant program created community-based mutual aid models that rely on collaborative networks, not just financial systems, to build local seed systems that help introduce uncommon, culturally relevant seeds important to reclaiming food and medicine.
Meghan Hess Shamdasani follows with From Seeds to STEM: Growing a School Garden Community. The garden program at SouthTech Academy in Florida expanded dramatically from 2020-23—growing from three to more than 50 hydroponic systems and from two to 20 outdoor garden beds that today produce fresh food for more than 600 students. In this session, the teacher and students who developed this interdisciplinary gardening community will explore the key components of its success, including focusing on what students and teachers wanted out of the program and ensuring students were included in the planning process.
At 6 pm, Devon Meyer will conduct a virtual Art Journaling Workshop. Art journaling can help gardeners capture thoughts and observations while looking deeper into the process of growing, harvesting, and preparing food. This session is a hands-on sketching and watercolor-painting class that will help participants learn simple and beautiful techniques to record observations and experiences in the garden, the kitchen, and the community.
Finally, at 7 pm, Stephen Stresow will speak on Horticultural Diplomacy: A Community Science and Justice, Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Demonstration Garden Project. Beyond growing food, gardens can be used to build community and address social issues. This session highlights a statewide vegetable trial garden program that used a “horticultural diplomacy” framework to introduce Master Gardener volunteers to diverse crops and cultures relevant to Latin America and East Asia. Including relevant recipes and bed groupings helped participants build garden skills, contribute to an online database of well-performing varieties across climates, and gain a greater appreciation for other cultures. We outline steps that made this new iteration successful and note areas for improvement.
Registration is now open. In future posts we will cover the speakers and topics for the following sessions, but to learn more visit www.seedsavers.org
The Board of Trustees of Native Plant Trust today announced the appointment of Tim Johnson as its new Chief Executive Officer. Native Plant Trust is the nation’s first plant conservation organization and the only one solely focused on New England’s native plants. Johnson joins Native Plant Trust from Smith College, where he was Director of the Botanic Garden and Professor of Practice.
Johnson will lead the conservation and horticulture organization, including 45-acre Garden in the Woods in Framingham, MA; Nasami Farm, a native plant nursery in Whately, MA; and expanded seed-processing and storage facilities to support the new Northeast Seed Network, a regional initiative led by Native Plant Trust to create a sustainable source of seed to meet the increased demand for native plants. Johnson brings a background in environmental horticulture and biological science to a long-standing career in conservation and botanic garden administration and leadership, pillars of Native Plant Trust’s mission and organization.
At Smith College, Johnson expanded the impact of scientific programming and conservation science research, mentorship and education. He oversaw the financial management of the renowned botanic garden, and guided the development of organizational vision in alignment with mission. He grew the botanic garden’s fundraising capacity, led strategic planning including the first comprehensive plan in its 128-year history, and restructured and strengthened internal and external communications. He modernized links to the college curriculum, oversaw membership growth, audience diversification and founded the garden’s germplasm conservation collections by partnering with Botanic Gardens Conservation International. Prior to his role at Smith, Johnson was Head of Preservation and
Seed Bank Manager at Seed Savers Exchange, an international non-profit that stewards America’s culturally diverse and endangered garden and food crop legacy through the preservation and collection of 27,000 heirloom seed varieties.
A native of Wisconsin, Johnson focused his studies on biology and environmental horticulture, earning a Bachelor of Science in biological sciences at the University of Wisconsin- Eau Claire and a PhD in environmental horticulture from the University of Florida. The appointment is the culmination of a national search, and follows the retirement of Executive Director Debbi Edelstein in January 2024 after fifteen years of distinguished service to the organization. Johnson will begin his role as CEO at Native Plant Trust on January 29, 2024.
Slow Food USA’s 2024 Plant a Seed campaign will explore eight different roots and grains, and a partnership with Seed Savers Exchange and its ADAPT program will give gardeners the opportunity to build community and test out new seed varieties. This announcement came on December 5, on World Soil Day, an annual awareness day commemorated by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO). Through educating the world about soil health, World Soil Day , this initiative emphasizes the vital connection between soil, human and planetary health.
In 2024, Seed Savers Exchange, a nonprofit dedicated to gardeners growing heirloom seeds, will bring Slow Food USA growers into its ADAPT program, allowing Slow Food USA’s garden-loving network to engage in this community science initiative. Sorghum and carrots are among the 10 experiments Seed Savers Exchange has planned for 2024, to intersect with next year’s Plant a Seed campaign, and interested participants can sign up here until January 26, 2024. Participants of this program will trial varieties from the seed bank in their own gardens and send feedback on their performance. This information will help highlight the adaptability of these seeds in different environments and will guide the selection process for new introductions into the Seed Savers Exchange catalog.
Trees can define a garden, but their siting and placement can confound gardeners, particularly when smaller specimens are being planted. This October 16 Berkshire Botanical Garden class, taught by Lee Buttala in person at the garden in West Stockbridge, examines the root structures, growth habits, and the mature size of a range of species and varieties, large and small, for use in the residential landscape. Attendees will walk away with a new approach to selecting woody plants that will provide their gardens with desired structure and form throughout the years, while taking into consideration underplanting and the tree’s harmonious coexistence with other garden features and elements in the ever-evolving landscape. This class hopes to prevent gardeners from needing to remove maturing trees because they were planted in the wrong place, by demonstrating how better siting or selection (or regular pruning or training) can allow these coveted plants to mature in the garden.
In his life as a gardener, nonprofit leader and writer, Lee Buttala has explored the world of gardening from many angles. He is the former Executive Director of Seed Savers Exchange, a seed bank dedicated to the sharing and saving of seeds that define America’s food and garden heritage, and the only non-governmental organization storing seed at the Svalbard Global Seed Vault. He previously served as Director of Marketing Communications for BBG and Preservation Manager for the Garden Conservancy, and currently serves as chair of the Historic Landscapes Committee of the APGA. Lee won an Emmy award for his role as a garden television producer for Martha Stewart Living and was the creator of PBS’s Cultivating Life. He is the editor of the award-winning book, The Seed Garden: The Art and Practice of Saving Seed, writes a weekly garden column for the Berkshire Edge and serves on the board of Hollister House Garden in Washington, CT. Lee studied garden design at the Chelsea Physic Garden, the New York Botanical Garden and the Kyoto School of Art and Design. He lives in Brooklyn and Ashley Falls, MA.
Find your green thumb at The Homestead Resort’s In The Garden weekend over the dates of August 19-21, 2016. You will learn time-honored gardening tips from top professionals and enjoy your choice of hands-on garden themed classes amid the resort’s breathtaking scenery. Speakers include Craig LeHoullier, gardener, author and educator, Mark Weathington, Director of the JC Raulston Arboretum at NC State University and Andre Viette, Horticulturalist, author and lecturer.
Possessing a PhD in chemistry, Craig LeHoullier’s professional career involved various positions in a major pharmaceutical company. Craig’s passion for tomatoes in particular exploded after joining the Seed Savers Exchange in 1986, and all gardens since focus on open pollinated (non-hybrid) varieties, in a wide range of colors, sizes and flavors. He is responsible for naming, developing and introducing many varieties, such as Cherokee Purple and Lucky Cross, and has been co-leading a unique all-volunteer project to create new dwarf-growing varieties. The project is responsible for 25 new tomatoes available through a variety of seed companies, particularly valuable for space-constrained gardeners who wish to grow wonderful tomatoes on decks or patios.
Mark Weathington is the Director of the JC Raulston Arboretum at NC State University where he is passionate in his work to connect people with plants. His career in public horticulture has also included the Norfolk Botanical Garden where he served as Director of Horticulture and the Atlanta Botanical Garden as a horticulturist. Mark travels extensively searching for new plants to diversify the American landscape and lecturing on a variety of topics in horticulture to further the JC Raulston Arboretum’s vision of “Planning and Planting a Better World.” Mark is currently writing Growing the Southeast Garden, a modern guide to gardening in the southeast, for Timber Press.
Horticulturist, author and lecturer, Andre Viette earned his Biological Science Certificate at The State University of New York at Farmingdale, and is a graduate of The School of Floriculture of Cornell University. Mr. Viette hosts his own talk show entitled “In the Garden” and has written several books including Beautiful Roses Made Easy, Mid-Atlantic Gardener’s Guide, and his newest book Mid-Atlantic Getting Started Garden Guide. He has developed André Viette Farm and Nursery in Fishersville, Virginia, which grows over 3,000 varieties of perennials for the sun and shade.
The time-honored tradition of saving seeds merges botany, history, observation, and experience. On Thursday, October 15, from 7 – 8:30 in the Hunnewell Building at the Arnold Arboretum, Lee Buttala, editor of The Seed Garden, by the Seed Savers Exchange, will provide an overview of plant reproduction and pollination, how to preserve varietal traits, and the many reasons for saving seeds from your favorite heirloom and open-pollinated plants. Even if you don’t have seeds to save, Lee will help you understand the origin of that heirloom tomato that you picked up at the farmers market and share knowledge that has been passed down through generations by farmers and home gardeners for preserving the plants that sustain us. Lee Buttala is an Emmy Award–winning television producer of Martha Stewart Living and was the creator, producer, and director of Cultivating Life, a PBS series on outdoor living and gardening. He has written for The New York Times, Martha Stewart Living, New York, and Metropolitan Home. He also served as the preservation program manager for the Garden Conservancy and has studied garden design at the Kyoto University of Art and Design, the Chelsea Physic Garden, and the New York Botanical Garden. Free for Arboretum members, $5 nonmembers. Register at my.arboretum.harvard.edu or call 617-384-5277.
We have a wonderful, diverse history of fruit growing in this country and are fortunate to have many collections of precious fruit types representing cultivation from the earliest times of settlement to the present. Unlike the Svaalbard “Doomsday” seed vault in Norway, fruit collections of heirloom apples, pears, cherries and all manner of fruit are in the ground and subject to climate change, variations in growing conditions and new or old pest pressures. Maintaining these precious collections becomes more difficult with each passing year. What strategies must we consider for these living things in order to be available to future generations. Come to Tower Hill Botanic Garden on Saturday, October 10 and hear Dan Bussey give a free presentation on Saving the Heirloom Apple, beginning at 2 pm. Visit www.towerhillbg.org for more information and directions.
Dan Bussey was born and raised in Wisconsin in the house his father built in the middle of the family farm orchard. Being surrounded by old apple trees since the time he could remember likely contributed much to Dan’s interest in planting trees and having his own orchard. Dan has collected heirloom fruit varieties since 1979. Along with the orchard, Dan operated a community cider press for 24 years and is now the Orchard Manager and apple historian for the Seed Savers Exchange. Discovering information on old apple varieties has been his lifelong passion and he has compiled a soon to be printed, 7 volume encyclopedia of apples that have been grown in North America since 1623. The Illustrated History of the Apple in North Americais the largest work on apples of its kind ever published and will be available later this year. Image from the New York Times.
