Visit Us
Heritage Farm in Decorah, Iowa is the headquarters of Seed Savers Exchange.
When you visit Heritage Farm, you’ll find our Lillian Goldman Visitors Center and gift and garden store, miles of hiking trails, display gardens, and our Historic and Goldman orchards. It’s also where we host events and house our seed collection. Our entire team (including our preservation and education staff, donor and member services, the garden crew, and the order fulfillment team) is based here, too.
Visit Us: Shop & Explore
We’re located in the northeast corner of Iowa, just outside the city of Decorah (population: 8,000). Our 890-acre farm boasts rolling hills, stoney bluffs, and beautiful rivers and streams as well as multiple gardens where we grow nearly 1,000 varieties of seed each year.
Address: 3074 North Winn Rd, Decorah, IA 52101
Phone: (563) 382-6104
The Lillian Goldman Visitors Center
The best place to start any visit to Heritage Farm is at the Lillian Goldman Visitors Center. We’ll give you an introduction to the history of Seed Savers Exchange and Heritage Farm and serve as your home base as you explore our display gardens and trails.
Shop seeds, garden gear and tools, food and garden-themed gifts, local art, books, and more.
Visitor Center Hours
The Lillian Goldman Visitors Center at Heritage Farm will CLOSE on Sunday (October 27) at 5:00 pm until March 2025.
The Lillian Goldman Visitors Center is open from March through October, seven days a week, 10:00 am–5:00 pm, CT. The LGVC is closed on Easter Sunday, Memorial Day, Juneteenth, July 4, and Labor Day. Heritage Farm’s trails, gardens, and trout streams are open to the public, sunrise to sunset year-round.
Gardens, Trails, and More
When you visit Heritage Farm, make sure to experience:
- Display gardens featuring varieties from our collection and catalog
- Diane’s Garden—a beautiful garden designed and maintained by Diane Ott Whealy, SSE co-founder
- The Historic Orchard, with hundreds of unique varieties of apple trees, and the Amy Goldman Heritage Orchard featuring Midwestern apple varieties. Guests are invited to pick apples for personal use. Please limit to 5 gallon buckets.
- Heritage poultry breeds housed by the barn
- Ancient White Park cattle
- Our beautiful century barn
- Hike miles of trails
- Fish in our trout stream
Request a Tour
Guided tours of the lower campus gardens are available May through September, Monday through Friday, for groups of 15 or more people. Cost is $8 per person for a 45-60 minute history of Seed Savers Exchange, garden tour, and Q&A.
$5 per person (recommended for ages 5-12) for a 30-45 minute interactive garden experience.
Guided tours must be scheduled two weeks ahead of time.
2024 Events
Seed Savers Exchange offers a mix of virtual and in-person events throughout the year. Learn from our knowledgeable staff as well as experienced growers and seed savers in our network, and support our nonprofit mission to save America’s heirloom seeds.
About the Area
Located in the heart of the Driftless region, Decorah and the surround area offer plenty of things to do and see. Learn more about other local events, attractions, dining, and overnight accommodations at VisitDecorah.com.
A Few Notes About Visiting
- Due to tobacco mosaic virus, there is no smoking allowed on the grounds.
- The Lillian Goldman Visitors Center has set hours, but the trails and grounds are open during daylight hours, sunrise to sunset.
- You may bring your pet if it is on a leash and you clean up after it. We discourage bringing pets at any time during a Seed Savers Exchange event in consideration of all of our guests. Service animals only inside the Lillian Goldman Visitors Center.
