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.
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Discover expert tips on growing healthy, vibrant collard greens with Ira Wallace, a collard connoisseur and seed-saving advocate. Learn her top five tips for cultivating collards, plus get two delicious recipes, from Brazilian Garlic Collards to classic Southern-style greens. A must-read for gardening enthusiasts and collard lovers alike!
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“The corn is one of my greatest teachers,” says Jessika Greendeer, a Ho-Chunk Nation tribal member from Baraboo, Wisconsin, and a Deer Clan member who serves as a seed keeper and farm manager for Dream of Wild Health. The Minneapolis-based organization works to recover knowledge of and access to healthy Indigenous foods, medicines, and lifeways.
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“You can’t have food sovereignty without seed sovereignty,” says Jessika Greendeer, former seed keeper and farm manager at Dream of Wild Health in Hugo, Minnesota. “That is why this work is so important.” The “work” to which Greendeer refers is seed rematriation, a growing movement Rowen White, founder of Sierra Seeds, explored in the Heritage Farm Companion, Seed Savers Exchange’s member magazine. “In the Indigenous seed-sovereignty movement, we have begun to use the word ‘rematriation’ as it relates to bringing our seeds home again,”
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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.
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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.
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Celebrate the passion behind Seed Savers Exchange’s Community Science Program through the inspiring stories of volunteers like Dorene Pasekoff. Discover her journey from community gardening to farming and seed saving, and learn how she’s helping steward heirloom varieties for future generations through the ADAPT and RENEW programs. A tribute to biodiversity, sustainable agriculture, and the love of growing.
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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.
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In the summer of 2018, Seed Savers Exchange regenerated, or “resurrected” three rare seed varieties from the collection, including a runner bean, black oats, and corn.
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