‘Aunt Mae’s Bibb’ lettuce checks all the boxes

In 1937, Nestor and Amber Keene acquired a very special Bibb lettuce from Nestor’s Aunt Mae Smith of Millheim, Pennsylvania, who had, in turn, received it from “local folks named Zimmerman who had grown it for decades in Brush Valley.”

Varieties

Preorder your garlic now!

There are myriad reasons humans have consumed garlic for thousands of years. For starters, it’s easy to grow, easy to harvest, easy to use, and, yes, easy to enjoy. And this year Seed Savers Exchange is making it easy to order too.

A pile of orange-pink sweet potatoes of various shapes

Growing Guides

Growing Guide: Sweet Potatoes

Sweet potatoes have significant cultural and culinary histories and uses across the globe. Growing sweet potatoes has very different requirements from growing potatoes.

A bouquet of yellow and orange safflowers.

Varieties

‘Lorenzo Trussoni Heirloom’ safflower brings beauty, history to any garden.

In July 2015, a few Seed Savers Exchange preservation staff members drove about an hour-and-a-half from Decorah, Iowa, to Genoa, Wisconsin. Their mission? To meet Marilyn Leum, longtime steward of the ‘Lorenzo Trussoni Heirloom’ safflower, at an annual picnic held on the Fourth of July at St. Charles Borromeo Catholic Church.

A pie with a slice taken out on a wooden table, and a basket of small yellow melons and apples.

Recipes

‘Mother Mary’s Pie’ Melon Pie

Recipe submitted by Diane Ott Whealy, SSE co-founder and board member. In 1997, a Minnesota family donated the small, round ‘Mother Mary’s Pie’ melon to Seed Savers Exchange. Named after the donor’s mother, this melon was grown by three generations of the family since about 1914 and frequently used in pies.

Varieties

‘German Pink’: the tomato that started it all

Here at Heritage Farm—the Northeast Iowa home of Seed Savers Exchange—the ‘German Pink’ tomato is perhaps best known as “tomato number one” or “the tomato that started it all.”

Three purple eggplant with green leaves lie on a rock surface

Recipes

Eggplant Caponata

Rustic and versatile, it’s often served cold as an antipasto or appetizer or warm as a side to roast meat or as a pasta sauce or on crusty bread. Chef and SSE board member, Carina Cavagnaro believes the sweet-and-sour sauce paired with the creamy eggplant and briny notes can sway even the biggest eggplant skeptic.

A hand holding white and black speckled bean seeds.

Seed Rematriation

Planting Sacred Seeds in a Modern World

Rowen White reflects on her ancestral seed collection and the sacred significance of diverse corn varieties within the Haudenosaunee community. Through a journey of seed stewardship, she explores the cultural dimensions of biodiversity, emphasizing the role of cultural memory, tradition, and community relationships in preserving and restoring these seeds that have witnessed generations of history and nourished diverse cultures.

Four sliced beets of different colors (white and yellow, red, yellow, and white) lined up.

Learn

SSE’s ADAPT program seeks community scientists

Do you enjoy gardening? Do you like growing truly unique varieties? Do you love knowing that you are contributing to a good cause like increasing biodiversity? Do you want to try something new in 2024? If you answered “yes” to any (or all) of these questions, then Seed Savers Exchange has an exciting opportunity for you: the Community Science ADAPT program.