Mode of Program Participation
Academic Scholarship
Participation Type
Panel
Session Title
Seeds Bind Us to Place: Seed Saving & and Forming a Seed Library
Session Abstract or Summary
Seeds bind us to place. They yield the strength of our soil and share the stories of previous generations, who picked and saved specific seeds because they tasted good and proved resilient. Virginia Nazarea writes in Heirloom seeds and their keepers: marginality and memory in the conservation of biological diversity (2005) that “With heirloom plants, seedsavers embroider the landscape with memories that awaken connections to past and place in many of us.” Seeds share the stories of a moving, changing community. Seed Libraries hold the opportunity to document and store these stories, along with the seeds that they keep and lend out.
This panel will discuss seed saving as an historical practice and vehicle from which we can explore themes like sense of place, landscape transformations, historical memory, economic development, and labor conflict. The panel will discuss the the importance of interpersonal relationships in seed saving, and ways that seed libraries can, and cannot, sustain important aspects of traditional seed sharing. Drawing from two mountain spaces, the Colorado Rockies, and the southern Appalachians, we will share how two communities developed seed libraries to better “see our lives connected with the lives, struggles and understandings of previous generations,” as Helen Matthews Lewis writes (2012), and to hold onto resilient plants.
Presentation #1 Title
Forming a Seed Library in Boone, North Carolina
Presentation #1 Abstract or Summary
Dave Walker will describe how Boone, North Carolina created a seed library through a public-private collaboration. While the seed library bore fruit in 2016, its roots stretch back to earlier community initiatives, like the founding of Blue Ridge Women in Agriculture and the High Country Seed Swap and Growers School, as well as more informal seed sharing relationships. He will describe how these grassroots projects helped generate support for a formal seed library. He will also share the specific strategies that the community engaged to 1.) save heirloom seeds, unique to the community and 2.) form a space for new and experienced seed savers to exchange histories. As Chris Dockery reflects in “Heirloom Seed and Story Keepers: Arts-Based Research as Community Discourse in Southern Appalachia” (2014), “As vital as heirloom seed keeping traditions are to our sustainable future, perhaps the greater issue is that building creative bridges of communication between ‘came-heres’ and ‘been-heres’ is imperative to our common interests, and we have much to learn from each other.”
At-A-Glance Bio- Presenter #1
David Walker works with Beginning Farmers at Blue Ridge Women in Agriculture in Boone, North Carolina. He received his MA in Appalachian Studies with a Concentration in Sustainable Development and a Graduate Certificate in Geographic Information Science from Appalachian State University and BA in American Studies from Sewanee: The University of the South.
Presentation #2 Title
Seed Saving and Seed Libraries: Bringing People Together & Strengthening Local Ties
Presentation #2 Abstract or Summary
William Ritter will discuss the importance of interpersonal relationships in seed saving, and ways that seed libraries can, and cannot, sustain important aspects of traditional seed sharing. A staggering array of "heirloom" seeds are available via web businesses that specialize in rare and open pollinated seeds. Groups like the Seed Saver's Exchange boast tome-like member listings that offer thousands of seeds for sale. These efforts go a long way towards trying to stem the rapid loss of seed diversity in the world, but they also side step traditional and local seed sharing. Cultivar names like Pete Ingram beans or Lillian's Yellow tomato bear witness to the importance of "who from" and "where from" in seed saving. Seed libraries admirably attempt to serve as a means by which communities can exchange and hopefully keep seeds in the local community. As seed libraries pop up around the country, special care should be taken to maintain more than just seed diversity and unique germplasm. Dedicated heirloom seed enthusiasts should develop programs that bring people together and strengthen local ties—so that seeds are still passed along hand-to-hand.
At-A-Glance Bio- Presenter #2
William Ritter is pursuing his master's degree in Appalachian Culture at Appalachian State University. He is particularly interested in old songs, old stories, heritage apple trees and heirloom seeds from the mountains of North Carolina.
Presentation #3 Title
Mountains to Mountains: Establishing a Seed Library and Preserving Stories with Seeds
Presentation #3 Abstract or Summary
Karen Lemke will describe how the San Luis Valley Local Foods Coalition in Alamosa, Colorado, partnered with Adams State University to host a seed library on the university campus. She describes the process of organizing the library itself as well as the kick-off events and follow-up gardening workshops and other seed-related events. Like the seed library in Boone, NC, there were antecedent annual activities such as informal and formal seed swaps. She will discuss the “cat-herding” challenges of aligning multiple non-profit, for-profit and university groups to achieve something together that is an asset that all can share. The groups created a series of coordinated events related to seed exchange & saving, organic gardening, beekeeping, community gardening, container gardening, wild foraging, flower seed harvesting, greenhouse/season extenders, food preservation, and community resilience in the face of climate change. The grand opening for the seed library included a seed swap, guest speakers, local food tastings, a film screening, and discussions about next steps. An important challenge this seed library faces is preserving the stories with the seeds, and Karen will discuss how the library is attempting to capture that information. Today, the seeds of the San Luis Valley seed library are stored in an old oak card catalog cabinet next to the circulation desk in Nielsen Library on the Adams State University campus.
At-A-Glance Bio- Presenter #3
Karen Lemke is an Appalachian State University doctoral student exploring relocalization of food systems. She was a founding member of the San Luis Valley Local Foods Coalition in Alamosa, Colorado.
Presentation #4 Title
Storykeepers: The environmental historiography of seedsaving in southern Appalachia
Presentation #4 Abstract or Summary
Cody Miller will explore the environmental historiography of seeds in Appalachia, placing the region within the broader conversation about seed saving. By identifying current themes, trends, and theories in previous scholarship, he will also point to future directions and possible points of departure. Ultimately, he will highlight how seeds serve as important vehicles for historical analysis. Seeds provide excellent vantage points from which we can explore themes like sense of place, landscape transformations, historical memory, economic development, and labor conflict. Most importantly, seeds are tangible representations of environmental knowledge systems and can point to deeper, nuanced examples of agency and power. In Appalachia, one might only have to look to home gardeners to get at such historical realities. In his 2008 article “The History and Survival of Traditional Heirloom Vegetable Varieties in the Southern Appalachian Mountains of Western North Carolina,” Jim Veteto argues “the homegarden remains the principal place where a diversity of traditional southern Appalachian heirloom vegetable varieties can be found. The homegardens of southern Appalachia are modern links to the entire agricultural history of the region.” By tracing the history of seeds and seed saving, we can also better understand how critical connections between people and the natural world in Appalachia might instruct future activism both locally and globally.
At-A-Glance Bio- Presenter #4
Cody Miller is a Ph.D. Candidate in Environmental and Agricultural History at the University of Maine. A graduate of Virginia Tech and Appalachian State University, he currently lives in Boone, North Carolina where he is an instructor at Appalachian State University.
Forming a Seed Library in Boone, North Carolina
Dave Walker will describe how Boone, North Carolina created a seed library through a public-private collaboration. While the seed library bore fruit in 2016, its roots stretch back to earlier community initiatives, like the founding of Blue Ridge Women in Agriculture and the High Country Seed Swap and Growers School, as well as more informal seed sharing relationships. He will describe how these grassroots projects helped generate support for a formal seed library. He will also share the specific strategies that the community engaged to 1.) save heirloom seeds, unique to the community and 2.) form a space for new and experienced seed savers to exchange histories. As Chris Dockery reflects in “Heirloom Seed and Story Keepers: Arts-Based Research as Community Discourse in Southern Appalachia” (2014), “As vital as heirloom seed keeping traditions are to our sustainable future, perhaps the greater issue is that building creative bridges of communication between ‘came-heres’ and ‘been-heres’ is imperative to our common interests, and we have much to learn from each other.”
