two little girls in bib overalls holding tomatoes

Hope and Practice: Niki Stevens

My path to seed saving started around the age of four. I knew that those red things (tomatoes) my mom had picked were bad news.

A woman addresses a crowd of people sitting at tables under a large tent

Job Openings

Story Collecting and Celebration Intern

The Story Collecting & Celebration Intern will play a key role in preparing for and supporting Seed Savers Exchange’s 50th-anniversary celebration on August 8–9, 2025. Their primary responsibilities will focus on collecting and documenting stories of seed stewardship, coordinating personal outreach to supporters, supporting visitor readiness efforts, and contributing to post-event archiving and communications.

sitting man in a red, collared shirt, holding and surrounded by cucumbers

Stewardship Stories

Hope and Practice: Jay Tracy

While gardening in Arizona, I discovered the snake melon and carosello cucumbers as well as many other muskmelons that, for millennia, have been cultivated as delicious cucumbers.

Many pepper plants growing in a large hoop greenhouse

Job Openings

Farm Coordinator

The farm coordinator supports Seed Savers Exchange through the work of onsite seed productions of open-pollinated, heirloom varieties. With a focus on assisting with field preparations, transplanting, field maintenance, seed harvesting, and seed processing, this year-round position also includes propagation in the greenhouse, as well as seed packaging and supporting with order fulfillment duties in the winter months.

man in plaid shirt and woman in purple sweater stand in front of green garden

Stewardship Stories

Hope and Practice: Kris Fox

My fascination with seed diversity started when I saw a colorful display of dry beans in one of the seed catalogs I had requested.

A small plant with four starter leaves in a plastic cell with soil.

How Tos

Thinning Seedlings

What?! I have to toss some of these perfectly healthy seedlings I worked so hard to start? Which do I save and which do I not? That is the reaction of many a new gardener upon first learning that thinning seedlings is a necessary step to ensure healthy growth of plant starts. The reality is that, if left in crowded environs, your seedlings will eventually suffer.

woman in sleeveless top stands in garden surrounded by white picket fence

Stewardship Stories

Hope and Practice: Jeanine Scheffert

Jeanine Scheffert, an artist native to Decorah—and Seed Savers Exchange’s education and engagement director for nearly a decade—looks at a project (any project) like a canvas, full of opportunity and potential.

people form circle in front of small, red hen house

Stewardship Stories

Hope and Practice: Glenn Drowns

It seems like just yesterday when I first stumbled across a small advertisement in the back of a magazine in the fall of 1978. The ad was plain and simple: “Send $3 for a copy of the Seed Savers Exchange list of members and seeds.”

sunflower growing with two buildings and mountains in the background

Stewardship Stories

Hope and Practice: Terrence Kerwin

I’ve been a Seed Savers Exchange member since about 1980, but I didn’t join the Exchange until three years ago, when I offered two tomato varieties from my garden in Silverton, Colorado.

man and woman sitting outdoors behind a table displaying beans in jars and fresh flowers

Stewardship Stories

Hope and Practice: Gayle Saberniak

I’m a lifelong gardener and plant nut. I started saving seeds in the early ’90s when my favorite ‘California Giant’ petunias started disappearing from catalogs and the local store that carried the seeds closed.

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