Baked Winter Squash with Maple Nut/Seed Butter, submitted by Ros Creasy, author and Seed Savers Exchange advisor. A wonderful complement to squash is a nut or seed butter as the rich flavors seem meant for each other.
Apple-Mustard Glazed Chicken Thighs by Beth Dooley, chef and author, “A good apple is the taste of balance—a range of natural acids and sugars, with notes so complex that they come in waves of flavor with each bite,” says Beth, reflecting on one of the main ingredients of this favorite recipe. “Real apples, cultivated with care, of our heritage, are regal reminders of our country’s true flavors.”
Crader Family Lettuce by Mary Katherine Crader Daniels, submitted for the 2022 Seed Savers Exchange Conference, “I hope you will enjoy this lettuce recipe as much as we have over the years,” says Mary Katherine. “It’s an old German recipe—my mother had a special way of wilting the lettuce.”
Italian Sausage with Crush ‘Ausilio’ Pepper Flakes by Chad Ogle-Riccelli, donor of the ‘Ausilio Thin Skin Italian’ pepper; submitted by Michele Ogle-Riccelli. “Our family has many warmhearted memories of spending time with Grandpa Nicholas Domenico ‘Nick’ Riccelli in the kitchen making Italian sausage,” says Michele. “Grandma Theresa (Ausilio) Riccelli (97 years old) remembers all the times her family would spend together stuffing sausage into casings and later adding it to their pasta sauce. She will tell you that her children and grandchildren loved shaping the Italian sausage into patties and having them as a sandwich topped, of course, with fried ‘Ausilio Thin Skin Italian’ peppers and provolone cheese.
Craig and his childhood friend David Theodoropoulos decided to hitch-hike 2,400 miles from northern California to Dimondale, Michigan in an effort to preserve Harry Saier’s seed collection. Ultimately, this was the catalyst that helped Craig found Redwood City Seed Company, and allowed David to start J.L. Hudson Seedsman.
Strategic planning is part of any good garden design, and companion planting is one of the best strategies to help gardeners do more with any space, no matter how big or how small.
Craig discovered a passion for heirloom tomatoes when he joined Seed Savers Exchange in 1986 and today serves as SSE’s tomato adviser.
He has named and popularized many well-known tomatoes, including ‘Cherokee Purple,’ and in 2005 added amateur tomato breeding to his garden resumé. He continues to co-lead a space-limited breeding project, responsible for creating 125 (and counting) new compact growing varieties for space-challenged gardeners.
It’s a fact—the Exchange remains a vibrant source of unique, awe-worthy seeds because of our passionate listers and their distinctive interests. One such lister is Bloomington, Indiana, resident Steve Strickler, a grower of state record-breaking produce.
Julie Sheen is a farmer, growing and sharing seed adapted to the Mountain West through her seed company, Giving Ground Seeds. In the past, Julie has also shared seeds via the Exchange, our gardener-to-gardener seed swap.
Meet Seed Savers Exchange member Curzio Caravati, self-described “horticultural researcher,” caretaker of rare potato varieties, and founder of the Kenosha Potato Project (KPP)—an initiative to augment the work of Seed Savers Exchange, the U.S. Potato Genebank, and others to safeguard the genetic diversity of the potato, one of the most important crops in the world.