Hope and Practice: Spencer Carter, A Heart Filled With Hope. To celebrate Seed Savers Exchange’s 50th anniversary we will be featuring the work and inspiration of Exchange listers in the Hope and Practice series.
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When an unexpected challenge wiped out Norma’s supply of ‘Angelica’s Little Diablo’ seeds, she turned to Seed Savers Exchange for help. Thankfully, SSE had been stewarding these seeds and was able to reunite Norma with her beloved heirloom pepper. Without Seed Savers Exchange, this priceless variety and its history would likely have been lost.
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The 2025 Seed Savers Exchange Catalog proudly offers more than 600 unique, open-pollinated varieties, but its cover showcases only two—the delightfully delicious ‘German Pink’ tomato and the mighty yet majestic ‘Grandpa Ott’s’ morning glory (with the historic barn at Heritage Farm providing the backdrop).
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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.
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Russ Crow’s earliest gardening memories are with his father, planting tomatoes. Inspired, Russ convinced his father to build a 2×2 foot plot in the yard to cultivate. “I planted it entirely in radishes. Solid radishes,” laughed Russ, nostalgically.
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Ron Thuma has spent a lifetime serving his community as a civic leader, an educator, a firefighter, and a model gardener.
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Kathleen Plunkett-Black grew up in Vermont, gardening with her father. One year, he decided to let Kathleen and her two siblings each have their own small plots planted with anything they wanted. “I picked celery, my brother picked peanuts, and my sister picked Brussels sprouts,” she remembers, laughing.
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John Swenson’s successful career in law translates seamlessly into every aspect of his life including his passion for alliums (the genus that includes garlic, onions, and leeks).
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John Coykendall was born and raised in Knoxville, Tennessee by his mother and father—a school teacher and a banker, respectively. John’s grandfather owned a farm and was a congressman by profession. In 1954, when John was 11, his father taught him to plant potatoes and corn. It was then that John found his love of gardening. “I still get the same thrill out of digging new potatoes that I did the first year!” remembers John.
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Jim Tjepkema, like many seed savers, gardened as a child with his parents. “My dad always had a garden as I was growing up. I helped some with planting it,” he remembers, “You know, my mother liked to do canning too, so we always had canned vegetables and some frozen as well, so that started me out in gardening.”
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